* Longest chapter yet! My arm is all cramped up too. Well, the summer weather has officially moved in. I feel like I'm dying in a pool of sweat... Ew... I disgust myself. Anyway, Hope you enjoy!
Clara took a deep, shuddering breath. Her head was still mulling over the fact that the law allowed an innocent animal to be murdered. Clara didn't even look away when she felt the warm tears glide down her cheek. She did, however, wipe them furiously with anger. A horrid, pained howl emerged from behind them
"Hagrid," Harry said glumly. He began walking toward Hagrid's hut.
John made a face. "I'm not sure-"
Harry shook his head, signifying that he didn't really care.
Hermione shook her head. "No. I mean, how could they? How dare they?"
Ron, whose teeth were chattering, persuaded everyone to walk back to the castle. Clara didn't have the energy to argue. Hell, she didn't have the energy to care that she was walking beside John, the person Clara swore she hated. But, Clara briefly remembered her confession to John. "I don't know, but it would've hurt us both."
The sun was setting rapidly, and Ron's cat- Scabbers, seemed to be getting more and more restless… It kept squirming, and trying to wiggle its way out of Ron's grasp.
"What's the matter with him?" Ron complained. Clara hitched a breath when she saw the trouble. It was Crookshanks, leaning on the ground. His eyes were gleaming yellow, and they had an angry glint in them.
Hermione pestered the cat to go away, while John muttered something about 'stupid cats.'
But, in two seconds, Ron's rat jumped out of his hand, and sprinted away, with Crookshanks on his tail. Stupidly, Ron followed. Which, in then caused everybody else to run after him.
Then, Ron stopped running abruptly. Clara nearly fell on from her fast break in speed. Ron seemed to have caught Scabbers, and held him tightly in his pocket.
"We need to get back under the cloak," Hermione said. She looked at Clara and John. "Oh, I don't know what to do about you-"
John cleared his throat. "That'll be easy." With one, swift, fluid motion, he waved his wand. Instantly, Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"Where are you?"
John answered, "Still here, just unnoticeable. Came across the spell in a book…"
Hermione nodded. "OK…"
But, then a rustling sound appeared from Clara's right. There was a soft pounding sound, and shuddering breaths. With wide eyes, Clara saw the big, shaggy, black dog appear,
Everybody reached for their wands, but they were too late. The dog pounced, and jumped on Harry's chest.
"Harry!" Clara shrieked.
But, the dog rolled off Harry. It stood up, then attacked Ron. It bit into Ron's arm, and Clara cringed. Clara reminded herself that this wasn't the time to be disgusted. Ron cried out in pain, and Clara attempted to use a spell on the dog, but she missed terribly. It was probably because she was so emotional she couldn't cast a spell right.
The dog dragged Ron, who had stopped yelling in pain-
Thump! Something hit Clara right across the face. Clara stifled a shout of pain, and felt warm blood sliding down her face. Clara hadn't realized that she'd been knocked to the ground. Dizzily, she attempted to stand upright again.
From beside her, John whispered, "Lumos."
Harry did the same, and Clara gasped when she saw that they had run all the way to the Whomping Willow. Its branches were swaying back and forth, tauntingly.
"Ro!" Harry shouted. He took a few steps forward, before Clara stopped him.
"Harry-Branch!"
Harry instantly ducked out of harm's way. He rubbed his face of the grime that dirtied it.
Clara felt sick when she saw Ron's leg catch a root. She clenched her stomach when a crack! Ripped through through the air of Ron's leg snapping. The dog seemed to be dragging Ron to a large gap in between the roots. A second later, his foot was gone.
Hermione was gasping and spitting everywhere. She seemed to be in worse condition that Clara. "We-have-got to-"
Clara faintly noticed the fact that John was staring at her face. Touching her cheek, she caught some blood on her hands. Looking at Hermione, she was bleeding out of her shoulder. Clara cursed herself when she felt sick while looking at John's neck and chest, which had bruises. His robes had tattered a bit, and left blood soaking through faster. Clara realized that the Invisibility Spell, or whatever, must've not worked properly, as she could see John and herself.
"If the dog can get in, then so can we," Harry decided. Clara hadn't realized that she didn't pay any slight attention to what was going on. She nodded vaguely.
Clearing her throat, she added, "It's going to be four of us. We can do it."
John spoke up. "I don't think you should-"
Clara whipped her head around to face john. "Look, we have to save Ron. No one else will die tonight, OK?"
John nodded sadly and defeated.
The four of them darted between the branches of the tree, sweating. Clara wasn't sure if she was the only one, but she was crying. Her face was numb, and everything was spiralling out of control.
It was however, no use. They didn't get a foot closer to the opening, and Hermione was panicking.
Crookshanks slithered forward. He snaked his way through the obstacles, and touch a paw a knot on the trunk.
Surprisingly, the tree stopped moving. It froze instantly; not even a leaf moved. Clara gasped for air.
Hermione was obviously confused. She had her hand on Harry's arm tight, but Clara wasn't jealous. There were more pressing matters than this.
Harry muttered, "The cat is friends with the dog." Anger flashed through his eyes.
Hesitantly, the four walked toward the hole. However, a problem arose when they were expected to crawl through the gap in the roots. Crookshanks, with a flick of a tail, slipped in.
"I'll go first," Clara offered. "Smallest," she justified when she saw the looks from the others.
John shook his head. "It's not safe-"
"Nothing is safe John. Just, let me go first, please."
Opening his mouth, then closing it, John seemed to silently agree. Harry, however, shook his head.
"I should go first-"
Clara quirked an eyebrow. "Doesn't it make more sense for the smallest to go first?" Without waiting for an answer, she got on her knees and crawled through. Harry followed.
"Eyes front, soldier," Clara joked to lighten the mood.
"Sorry?" Harry asked, though there was a bit of a nervous shake in his voice.
Maintaining her crawling pace, Clara added, "You have a good view of my rear back there."
Coughing and spluttering came from behind her. Apparently, John had heard, because the next thing she knew- "I hope everything is PG there!"
"What's PG?" Harry whispered anxiously.
Clara laughed. "Muggle thing," she said dismissively.
"But aren't you a pure-"
His sentence didn't finish, for he ran into Clara, who had stopped at the end of the tunnel. Clara wiped her dirty hands on her skirt.
"Nice one, Harry."
Blushing, Harry nodded. Hermione and John appeared seconds later. John glared in Harry's direction.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione whimpered, bringing Clara's attention back to the problem at hand.
Harry claned his cracked glasses on his shirt. "This way," he said, and they all followed Crookshanks.
"Where did the tunnel take us?" John's voice asked, surprising Clara.
"Well, I think it's marked on the Marauder's Map…" Harry's voice trailed off while Clara raised an eyebrow.
"Long story," Harry explained.
"It probably was."
"Anyway, this map, shows all these secret paths. This specific one runs off the map, but it seems to head for Hogsmeade."
Clara nodded, and they walked as fast as they could, while they followed Crookshanks. Clara shuddered when she recalled the snapping sound of Ron's leg. However, Clara was distracted when she realized that Crookshanks went around a corner and was gone.
A small, bright opening shone from ahead. With great longing, Clara pushed herself to get to the light.
Gasping, Clara found herself, along with the three others, in a small, dark room. Unnatural brown and rust coloured stains painted the floor. All the furniture was broken, and the seats had been ripped apart furiously
A door to the right was opened, and without thinking, Clara went through it.
"Clara!" Hermione shrieked softly. "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack!"
Clara stopped. "What?" She looked at the broken chair legs on the ground, and a shattered piece of glass. Clara shook her head, and continued on more carefully.
Clara coughed when she walked, for the hallway she was walking in, was covered in dust. But, there was a stripe of shiny brown where something had been dragged…
"Nox."
Clara pushed open the door that was before her. There, on a four-poster bed lay Crookshanks lazily. Leaning against the bed, Ron was clutching his leg, which was bent oddly.
Ron was sweating, and groaning. Something kicked inside Clara, and she hurried to help Ron.
"Shh, shh… It's fine."
Ron whimpered again when Clara tenderly touched his leg. Frowning, Clara removed her cloak.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked.
Without removing her eyes from Ron's leg, she answered, "Saving him." She forcefully ripped her cloak and grabbed a piece of broken chair.
Harry knelt next to Ron and asked, "Ron- Ron, where is the dog?"
Ron moaned when Clara tied the splint she made. But he added, "Not a dog- Harry, it's a trap."
Clara stopped momentarily, but kept working.
"What do you mean?" John asked.
"The dog- Animagus…"
Clara realized Ron's gaze was directed toward behind her shoulder. Glad to be done, but horrified to find what was behind her, she turned. She gasped.
The animagus in question snapped the door shut, making Hermione jump. A man sauntered out of the shadows. Clara felt something rise in her chest when she saw him with deep circles under his eyes, hair to his elbows, and raggedy clothing.
Clara put a hand to her face when she felt a tear slide down. She didn't know why she was even crying!
"Sirius Black?" she asked quietly, with a shaky breath.
She wasn't sure if he heard, for he then raised his wand. "Expelliarmus!" Clara didn't even notice that the wand was Ron's
Clara's wand flew from her left hand, and the same occurred to Harry and Hermione. Clara shivered when the steely, but empty grey eyes stared at Harry.
"I thought you would come and help your friend. Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… it will make things much easier…" The voice was rough, and full of pain. Clara could tell that it hadn't been used in a while. She rubbed the tears away again.
Stop crying!
Sirius Black must've noticed her crying. He knelt in front of her, his sour breath making Clara gag. "Am I making you cry, little girl?"
"Stay away from her!" John shouted.
It touched Clara how much John cared for her. It hurt, even. But, Clara defiantly shook her head in Black's question.
Sneering, Black whipped his head. "Because I cried too! It hurt so much… So much…"
"I know," Clara whispered.
"What's that? You don't know anything!" Black knocked at his head. "You have no idea what they did to my head…" he shivered. Taking a step closer, Clara flinched.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER, OR ANYMORE OF MY FRIENDS!" Harry bellowed.
Sirius Black cackled manically. "Only one person will be hurt tonight. Only one death."
"Oh, and why's that?" Harry spat.
"Harry!" Clara croaked, but her voice failed her.
"You didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind killing those Muggles for Pettigrew… did you get soft in Azkaban?"
"Harry!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Be quiet!"
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!"
Clara couldn't stop what happened next, or maybe she could've. But, Harry jumped forward, and punched Black square in the jaw.
Hermione screamed something, while Ron was yelling no words at all.
"HARRY!" Clara screamed.
Harry was now in Black's angry clutches, and was about to be choked. But, Hermione kicked violently.
Black let go, and Harry stumbled out of his grasp. Clara clenched her fist.
"You, crazy son of a bitch!" She shrieked.
To Clara's horror, Black laughed. "It's so true… so true!"
Clara's nose flared. She kneed him, and Black's knees buckled. "You bloody bastard!" She kicked him. "Betraying Harry like that, he doesn't even know-" Clara's voice broke. She collapsed. Saliva dribbled down Clara's lip, but Clara didn't care.
Everything was a blurry haze, and John limped to Clara's side, and pulled her out of the fight. Harry and managed to grab his wand, and Ron was, with great pain, pinning Black down. Hermione helped too, but Harry was so angry.
"GET BACK!" he roared.
Ron scampered to the top of the bed, clutching his leg. Part of the splint had come undone. Hermione was on the other side of the room, her lip bleeding angrily.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius Black whispered tauntingly. His nose was bleeding, and a bruise was forming around his left eye.
"You killed my parents," Harry whispered back, pointing the wand harder at Black's chest.
"No!" John yelled.
Clara let a hazy eye glance at John.
"Just because he killed your parents, it doesn't mean that you can kill him! What would that make you then, huh?" John asked.
Not looking away from Black's eye, Harry answered, "The winner."
John shook his head, "No, no, no. That's what everybody thinks. That's what I thought. No, it makes you the loser. If you kill him, you're just as bad as he is."
Harry thrusted his wand once more. "No, you don't understand!"
Black interrupted them both. "You're both right. But, you're also wrong." He looked deep into Harry's eyes. "Harry, perhaps your opinion would change if you knew the whole story."
"I completely understand!" Harry cried. "You never heard her… That night, when she tried to stop Voldemort from killing me… Her screams, Sirius! You never heard those screams! AND YOU CAUSED ALL OF IT!"
Crookshanks humped playfully onto Black's lap. Then, as if a wave of betrayal hit him, Crookshanks dug his nails into Sirius's chest.
Hermione sobbed from her corner.
Clara's throat tightened when she realized Harry's intentions of killing the cat too… Harry raised his wand.
Time stopped. Both Clara and John screamed "No!"
And then, steps were heard from downstairs.
"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed frantically. "WE'RE UP HERE-SIRIUS BLACK-QUICK!"
Harry's hand twitched as Sirius moved out of the way. The footsteps were getting closer… and closer…
The door burst and professor Lupin charged in. His eyes glanced at Ron, Hermione, then Clara and John.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.
Everybody's wands flew into Lupin's hands. Clara felt herself trembling.
"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin whispered.
Clara felt like throwing up. Had she had her wand, she would've hexed her teacher. He.. he was in league with Black! Only Harry was the one who hadn't caught on yet… Everything told Clara to curse, scream, and yell, but something stopped her.
"But then…" Professor Lupin muttered. "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unles… Unless he was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?"
With sickening silence, Lupin lowered his wand. Black nodded.
Clara's heart sank like the bloody Titanic.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione cried. She raised herself from where she had been curled up. "You-you-"
"Hermione-"
"-you and him!"
"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering up for you-"
"Listen to me, please!"
Clara was shaking. Hermione rarely got this upset.
"I trusted you!" Harry bellowed. And all the time, you've been his best friend!"
"You're wrong," Lupin said calmly. "I haven't been his friend until now."
"NO!" Hermione shrieked again. "Don't trust him Harry, don't trust him! He wants you dead! He's a werewolf!"
"Hermione, please," Lupin begged. "You are ⅓ correct in that I am certainly a werewolf but- I have not been helping Sirius, and I do not by any standards wish for Harry to be dead."
Ron tried to get up from the bed, but collapsed once more.
Lupin made a move, looking concerned, but Ron wasn't buying it.
"Get away from me, werewolf!"
Lupin stopped abruptly, before turning toward Hermione. "How long have you known?"
To Clara's disgust, Hermione said quite proudly, "Ages, since Professor Snape's essay…"
Lupin smiled colly. "Star charts? Boggart?"
"Both."
"Wait, how the hell did they let a werewolf be a teacher?" John asked.
Lupin cocked his head. "You, John, are quite interesting. I must say, you're Boggart surprised me, to say the least-"
John cut him off. "Stop trying to save time. Answer the question. I'm not the one who's being interrogated here."
"Neither am I"
John cracked his knuckles. "Well, you are now."
Lupin chuckled. "I never realized just how sly you are, John. Quite ambitious, determined… If I didn't trust the Sorting Hat's judgement, I would've said you belonged in Slytherin."
John nodded. "Now's not the time for small-talk. I'm in Gryffindor because I chose to be. Now, if you're not going to answer, I will."
Lupin raised his eyebrows.
"It doesn't matter."
Harry choked, Hermione spluttered, Clara frowned.
"-It doesn't matter because you have so far been the best teacher in a very long while, and I gave a feeling something else is going on…"
"Really, what?"
John smiled. "Don't know, and that's the best part, isn't it?"
Sirius nodded. "He's right… There is more!"
"Harry, I wrote the Marauder's Map, along with your father… But that's not important now. What does matter is, do you use your Invisibility Cloak?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, I can still see your name on the map when you're using it. So, that night when you visited Hagrid's, and I had the Map, I saw someone with you…"
"Yeah, Ron and Hermione!"
Lupin shook his head. "No. Not them. At first, I thought it was a malfunction-"
"No one was with us!"
"-And I saw a name: Sirius Black."
A cool, chilling feeling ran down Clara's spine at the name being used.
"I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled the two of you into the Whomping Willow-"
"One of us!" Ron shouted angrily.
Hot realization sprang into Clara's eyes. She knew why she was crying, she had known all along.
"No, Ron. Two of you." Lupin moved toward Ron. "May I have a look at the rat?"
"What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
"Don't do it, Ron!" Harry shouted.
Ron protected Scabbers once more.
Clara mustered all the strength she could. "Ron, give him the bloody damn rat!"
"But-"
"Just bloody do it!"
Hesitating, Ron pulled out the thrashing rat, holding him by the tail. Lupin examined the rat with awe, but it was the kind of curiosity that emanated hate.
"That's not a rat," Clara croaked.
"What?" Harry, Hermione, and Ron all asked at once. John remained silent.
Nodding quietly, Lupin said, "Quite right. You are more brilliant than I had imagined, Miss Oswald."
Clara wasn't sure to be offended or not.
Showing his yellow teeth, Sirius Black added, "That rat is an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."
Somehow, Clara had known this all along.