Blood Ties
Part 31
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note 1: Again, thank you Joahn:)
Note 2: Nothing much except a bit of Willow / Xander. Hope u guys still like it. ;p
Everyone watched in horror as the dog reached Ron in a blink of an eye and fastened its jaws around the redhead's leg. "HEEEEEEEEEELP!" Ron screamed, reaching out for his friend while the dog started dragging him backwards as if his weight was nothing.
Buffy lunged forward, and threw herself towards Ron's outstretched hand, but it was too late as the dog quickly dragged Ron down into the gap between the roots of the Whomping Willow. "RON!" Without a second thought, Buffy threw herself into the gap, and disappeared with Ron into the darkness.
Hermione, Willow, Harry and Xander ran towards their friends, but then, out of nowhere, a huge branch hit them in their chests and sent them flying back several feet. Xander's head hit a huge rock nearby and was quickly knocked unconscious. Hermione immediately crawled towards him while Harry went to help Willow to her feet. "How is he?" Harry asked as he spotted Xander and Hermione.
"Knocked out." Hermione said. "We can't leave him here. And how are we going to get passed the tree?"
Willow studied the tree as its thick tree branch moving slightly against the light wind. "I'll stay." She took a step forward and held her hands up, her palm facing the Whomping Willow. "HOLD!" She shouted.
A wave of invisible force went passed Hermione and Harry and towards the Whomping Willow. The moving tree branch halted, but then slowly moved forward as it fought against the invisible bind. Hermione, wasting no time, threw herself into the huge gap. Harry followed his friend but halted, turning towards the redhead. "Willow!"
"GO!" Willow ordered, and Harry couldn't help but flinch a bit as he watched black expanding and taking over her green eyes. Nodding, he ran, and disappeared into the gap.
Willow released the hold she had on the Whomping Willow, and immediately fell back onto the ground, exhausted.
Hermione pulled out her wand as a light glow came out from its tip, walking quietly with Harry down the dark tunnel. "Where do you suppose this goes?"
"I have a hunch." Harry answered. "I just hope I'm wrong..."
It didn't take long for the two students to reach the end of the tunnel. Looking up, they could see a small opening just above them. Harry climbed up first, quickly followed by Hermione who had put her wand back into her back pocket. "It's..."
"The Shrieking Shack." Harry whispered back. They looked down at the dusty floor, and followed the dog prints and drag marks towards the second floor.
The two Gryffindors rushed towards the opened room at the end of the corridor, and immediately found Buffy and Ron sitting at the corner, the redhead still holding onto his rat. They rushed towards their friend. "You're okay-" "The dog. Where's-"
The shaking redhead looked up, and pointed behind his friends. "He's the dog, Harry. It's a trap. He's an Animagus..."
Hermione and Harry froze. They followed the dog foot prints on the floor, watching as the paws slowly transformed into human foot prints until it reached a pair for dirty feet. Slowly, they looked up, and found themselves staring at a filthy, crazy looking man.
Sirius Black.
"Hello Harry."
Xander slowly opened his eyes, and had to blink couple of times before he could focus the face in front of him. "Wha...?"
"You okay?" Willow moved back a bit and helped the black haired Gryffindor sat up. "Careful. You hurt your head."
"Tell me about it." Xander groaned at the killing headache. He looked down the white handkenife that had fallen onto his lap from his head. "Where're-"
"'Mione and Harry went after Ron and Buffy." Willow answered as she took the handkerchief, frowned at the blood on it, before re-folding it so the clean part was facing outwards, and pressed it against the cut at the side of Xander's forehead.
"So why didn't you-"
"Someone had to stay with you." Willow pulled back her hand a bit to study the cut. "It has stopped bleeding. We'd better get Madam Pomfrey to check that out though. Can you walk?"
Xander stared at Willow for a moment, his headache forgotten. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you keep doing this? Is it because of Harry?"
The redhead's head dropped. "I won't hurt him."
"I don't mean it like that." Willow looked up. "I just... I just don't get it... okay, you fancy Harry," Willow's face immediately turned interesting shades of red. "So you help him. But why even bother with us?"
"Because you are my friends!" Xander frowned. "I know you and Ron don't like me... but I still think of you as my friends." Willow explained. "I don't have many of them, even back when I was still in Sunnydale. I... I was a geek. No one wanted to be my friend. Most of the time other people talked to me was because they were laughing at me or making fun of me. I mean, sure, I got the coven. But including me there are only three people in it and the other two were almost three times my age. The only reason they were willing to include me was because they needed a third. And after Amy..." Willow shook her head. "I learned a long time ago that I've got to treasure the little that I have, including friends."
"You're a Slytherin." Xander pointed out.
"I'm still the girl you helped in Diagon Alley. Being sorted into the Slytherin house doesn't change who I am."
"That's not what I mean, either." Xander sighed. "Look, it's hard for me..." Willow's head dropped. "... but I guess since you're friends with Harry and 'Mione and Buffy..." He held out his hand.
Willow blinked. She slowly looked up at Xander, then to the hand, then back to Xander again. She smiled and shook the offered hand. "Friends."