Blood Ties
Part 30
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note: Thanks Joahn for beta-reading the story!
The gang, minus Buffy, were stepping out of the castle when they were immediately greeted by Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle who were standing there, overseeing Hagrid's hut and the pumpkin field outside where Buckbeak was. It made everyone's blood boil watching the trio chatting and laughing; Crabbe even had a bag of popcorns in his hand, as if waiting for the movie to start.
"This day has just gotten worse..." Ron frowned.
The three Slytherins turned their attentions towards Ron and Hermione. "Ah." Draco smirked. "Come to see the show?"
The usually calm Hermione finally had enough. She pulled out her wand and stormed towards the blonde, the tip of her wand pressing against his neck. The young Malfoy stumbled backwards until his back was pressed against the tree, staring at Hermione nervously.
"'Mione! No!" Willow shouted. Hermione glanced at the redhead, but did not let go of the blonde.
"C'mon 'Mione."
The gang turned around, and found Buffy standing there, evidence of tears could still be seen on her face. "Buffy..."
The blonde Gryffindor ignored Xander, instead focusing on Hermione. "He's not worth it." She told her friend quietly.
Everyone held their breath as Hermione glared at Draco with a look that could kill. After almost a life time, the Gryffindor bookworm finally retreated her wand and turned away.
Draco sighed in relief, a smirk slowly fishing back onto his pale face when Hermione suddenly turned back towards him. Next thing everyone knew was Draco kneeling on the ground, his hands covering his face. Hermione had punched him in the face, effectively breaking his nose.
Ron, Xander and Harry's jaws dropped comically. Crabbe and Goyle immediately went to help Draco up, and pulled him towards the entrance of the castle.
Draco halted when he reached Willow and reached out for her. "Will-"
Willow took a step back, avoiding the other boy's hand. "Just go." She whispered.
Harry immediately moved forward, shielding Willow away from Draco. The blonde Slytherin glared at Harry; the glare hardened when he spotted their connecting hands. "C'mon!" Crabbe said, pulling Draco and running back into the castle with Goyle.
After the three Slytherins finally left, the gang turned towards Buffy, who smiled at her friends. "Nice punch." She told Hermione.
"Nice?" Ron finally managed to close his jaw. "That's brilliant!"
Everyone grinned.
Willow was standing by the window inside Hagrid's hut with Hagrid, watching Buckbeak who was napping in the pumpkin field. "Look at 'em." Hagrid sighed. "Loves the smell o' trees when the wind blows..."
"Why don't you set him free, Hagrid?" Harry asked, standing next to Willow.
"Yeh will do no s'ch thing!" Hagrid shook his head and turned towards Harry. "They'd know I did it. And tha' would only get Dumbledore in trouble. Gonna come down, yeh know. Says he wants ter be with me when it..." He sighed again. "... when it happens. Great man, Dumbledore. Great man."
Willow looked at Hagrid. "We'll stay too, Hagrid."
"Yeh will not! Think I wan' yeh seein' a thing like this? No. Yeh'll drink yer tea an' be off." He nodded at the tea on the table. "Oh, but before yeh do, Ron," the half giant moved towards the self nearby and opened an old cookies' tin and took out a familiar rat.
"Scabbers! You're alive!" The redhead Gryffindor immediately rushed forward and held his pet rat.
Hagrid smiled. "Yeh should keep a closer eye on yer pet, Ron."
Hermione stood. "I think that means you owe someone an apology."
"Right." Ron snorted. "Next time I see Crookshanks I'll let him know."
"I meant me!"
Suddenly, the jar on table behind Hermione shattered. Hermione frowned, and picked up a smooth round shaped stone next to it.
"Ouch!"
Everyone immediately turned towards Harry, who had his hand smoothing the back of his head. Someone had just thrown a stone at him.
"Are you alright?"
Seeing the worried expression on Willow's face, Harry immediately smiled and took her hand into his own. "I'm fine."
Willow was about to sigh in relief when her breath was caught. "Hagrid!" She shouted and pointed.
Everyone looked out of the window, and found Dumbledore, Fudge and a man wearing a black hook, holding a big axe that screamed 'executioner' walking towards the hut. Hagrid immediately turned back towards his students. "Someone sees yeh outside the castle it'll be trouble! Big trouble! 'pecially yeh Willow-"
BANG! BANG!
Everyone spun towards the wooden door. "C'MING!" Hagrid shouted before turning back towards the children. "Quick!"
Buffy stood, and started pulling Xander towards the back door, with Ron, Hermione and Willow quickly following. Harry was about to follow when he turned back towards Hagrid. "Hagrid, it's going to be fine. It's going to be okay."
Hagrid nodded nervously. "Go on! Go!"
Hermione opened the back door quietly, waiting for the headmaster, the minister and the executioner to step into Hagrid's hut before running out from the back door with others quickly hiding themselves behind the piles of super sized pumpkins.
The gang peeked over the pumpkins, watching as Hagrid began talking to the three newcomers. Suddenly, Hermione felt something behind her. She spun around, and stared into the dark forest.
"What?" Xander asked, and followed his classmate's line of sight towards the woods.
"I thought I just saw..." Hermione frowned. "Nothing."
"C'mon." Buffy urged. The gang immediately ran back towards the castle. None of them stopped until they reached the huge tree just outside the castle and looked back down at the hut, just in time to see the executioner swinging its axe towards where Buckbeak had been.
Hermione immediately turned away, hanging onto Ron who was standing next to her. Buffy and Xander both closed their eyes, unable make themselves watch as Buckbeak was beheaded. Harry looked down at his hand that was linking to Willow's, feeling that the redhead's small hand was losing its grip. He squeezed the hand lightly, but received no response as the redhead continued to stare.
"Oww." Everyone turned towards Ron, who was holding his figure. "He bit me!" He frowned, looking around for his rat that he had dropped when it bit him, before taking off after it towards the other side away from the castle. "Scabbers! Come back!"
"Ron!" Buffy shouted and ran after her friend with the others quickly followed. "Wait!" The blonde suddenly halted, causing the others to run into her back. They all watched as the redhead Gryffindor fell onto the ground, barely catching his pet rat, not noticing the giant willow tree behind him.
"Harry, you do realize what tree it is." Hermione said nervously.
"This is not good." Harry whispered to himself before shouting at Ron. "RON! RUN!"
Ron looked up at his friends, confused. But then the confused look on his face suddenly turned into one of panic. He pointed at the gang with a shaky finger. "BEHIND YOU! RUN!" Everyone spun around, and found a huge black dog snarling at them. "IT'S THE GRIM!"
Before anyone could react, the dog ran and jumped over them, and heading straight towards the redheaded Gryffindor.