I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.
Chapter 27
Devyn, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had just reached the entrance courtyard and walked around the fountain carefully, noticing that there was a very large man sharpening an axe sitting on the other side.
The executioner, Devyn thought, taking in his black medieval-looking garb. Hermione folded her arms when she saw him and glared at him dangerously. The executioner didn't seem to mind, but then why would he?
He was getting paid for this, Devyn figured bitterly; what did he care if a few kids were upset about a Hippogriff being murdered for doing something that was in his nature?
The executioner watched them as they passed by him, and Hermione stalked on towards the covered bridge they knew so well.
"I can't believe they're going to kill Buckbeak, it's just too horrible," Hermione said. They had exited the covered bridge and were about to start the descent down the well-beaten hill that would take them to Hagrid's home.
"It just got worse," Ron and Devyn said in unison, for they had just noticed the last three people they wanted to see.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Pike. Devyn wondered briefly where Goyle had gotten to, but then she found she didn't especially care.
Malfoy and his two idiot cronies were standing grouped behind one of the large stone pillars and Malfoy was holding a pair of binoculars. "Did I tell you?" the blonde slug asked his companions. "Father said I can keep the hippogriff's head. I think I'll donate it to the Gryffindor Common Room."
"Wicked," Crabbe muttered, and that seemed to be the undoing for both Hermione and Devyn. Devyn was about to charge Malfoy and beat him to a bloody pulp for being such an insensitive wart, but Hermione beat her to the punch.
"Look who's here!" Crabbe exclaimed as the three of them turned around to face the group of Gryffindors.
"Ah, come to see the show?" Malfoy asked jokingly. Something in Hermione must have snapped then because she advanced quickly on Malfoy and snarled, "You! You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
Hermione had whipped out her wand and was now pointing it at Malfoy's face, having backed him up against the pillar. The little coward was cringing, probably because, despite what he may have thought about her personally, even he couldn't deny she was skilled with a wand – far more skilled than he – and could permanently damage him if she wanted to.
"Hermione, no! He's not worth it!" Ron called out, although it seemed halfheartedly. Neville had closed his hand around Devyn's wrist, silently telling her to stay out of this and let Hermione handle this one. Devyn, for once, had no urge whatsoever to hurt Malfoy, mostly because she knew Hermione wouldn't let him get away with being so callous and horrid.
Malfoy was practically whimpering as Hermione finally lowered her wand. Devyn almost laughed aloud at the ridiculously relieved look on Malfoy's face before Malfoy started laughing with his friends.
"Wait for it," Devyn whispered to Neville, who was looking both relieved and angry that Hermione hadn't cursed Malfoy. Hermione turned, as though she was going to simply walk away, but then she hauled off and punched Malfoy right in the nose.
Malfoy called out in pain as his head snapped back against the stone pillar. "Malfoy, are you okay?!" Crabbe shouted. "Let's go!"
He and Pike seized Malfoy by the arms and rushed him away from the five Gryffindors. They turned to watch the Slytherins disappear through the covered bridge and then looked back at Hermione, who was smiling to herself.
"That felt good," Hermione commented. Harry was grinning and Ron looked shocked but very pleased.
"Not good," he said. "Brilliant!"
Devyn and Neville nodded and Devyn said, "That was priceless! Did you see his face! Oh my god, that was great!"
"You punch him all the time, Devyn," Hermione said. "Why are you so happy about this?"
"Hermione, if I'd punched him, it just would've been another tick on the tally marker. But since you punched him, it seriously caught him off guard. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you snapped and cracked him in the face."
Hermione grinned and after a few seconds of modest shock, amazement, and pride, they continued their journey down to Hagrid's house. When they reached the end of the hill and walked up to Hagrid's door, they turned to look at Buckbeak, who was sitting in the garden, almost seemingly unaware of what was about to happen to him.
His obliviousness was heartbreaking to Devyn. He was a sweet creature, really…it was Malfoy's fault that he hadn't been listening to Hagrid when he said not to insult a Hippogriff. Besides, all Malfoy got was a bad scratch, which Madam Pomfrey probably fixed in about five seconds.
If Buckbeak had seriously maimed Malfoy, or even killed him, then Devyn could understand executing Buckbeak, even if she didn't agree with the idea. But Buckbeak had been positively lenient with Malfoy and he didn't deserve to have his life taken from him.
The only reason Buckbeak was getting executed (and why he didn't have a fair trial in the first place) was because of Lucius Malfoy. He had everyone in his pocket and everyone was terrified of him. It was sick, corrupt world they lived in, and Devyn, for as much as she loved her world, really hated that part of it sometimes. And this was one of those times.
Harry knocked on Hagrid's door and their oversized friend opened it in response.
"'Ello, you five. Come in, come in…I'll make a pot o' tea…"
Hagrid seemed entirely too glum to be allowed, but Devyn had no idea how to make him feel any better. The only thing that would help Hagrid now was if the execution was called off and Buckbeak's charges were dropped.
But thinking that occurrence had even a snowball's chance in hell was optimistic to the point of pure idiocy. The five of them entered Hagrid's home and sat down at the giant table. Soon enough, Hagrid put cups of steaming, delicious tea in front of each of them and placed an extra-large cup in front of his place.
They drank in mostly silence, except for Hagrid asking how their classes were going, and if anything interesting had happened.
"Hermione punched Malfoy in the face," Ron said suddenly. Hermione glared at him, but he just shrugged. Hagrid wasn't going to turn them in, least of all Hermione, especially not for something as little as punching Malfoy in the face.
However, Hagrid turned wide-eyed to Hermione and looked at her in shock. Hermione flushed a light pink before beginning to defend or justify her actions.
"You should have heard what he was saying, Hagrid. He's such an foul…loathsome…evil little…" Hermione said, clearly struggling to come up with a word insulting enough to describe Malfoy. Devyn, from behind the rim of her tea cup, supplied the perfect word.
"Shite."
All of her friends, including Hagrid, turned their shock-filled eyes and she shrugged defiantly. "What?" she demanded. "He is a little shite. You were all thinking it; I'm just the one who said it."
Hagrid blinked a few times and then turned back to Hermione. "Moving past that fitting description for tha' boy, Hermione, you really shouldn't 'ave punched him."
"But, Hagrid, you'd have beaten to him a pulp if you heard -!" Hermione said. Hagrid held up a hand to stop her and she fell silent.
"However, I'm not entirely opposed to the fact that yah did punch him. In fact, he pro'bly deserved it," Hagrid finished. Ron, Harry, and Neville grinned in amusement, Devyn laughed, and Hermione blushed, clearly pleased that Hagrid hadn't reprimanded her.
Devyn had highly doubted that Hagrid would, because he disliked Malfoy just as much as they did, and after all, the little bug did try his hardest to get Hagrid sacked, and that put him in very dangerous waters with all of them.
It was one thing to mess with them…but to go after Hagrid was starting a firestorm that no one in their right mind would want to get into. And Malfoy had started it for sure. Hagrid had wanted to be a teacher for years, and simply couldn't, mainly because of the fact that there were no spots open, but also because of the fact that Hagrid had never graduated Hogwarts and never got any formal training to be a teacher. And then, when he finally gets to live his dream, Malfoy threatens to take it away from him just because the little maggot can't deal with a bad cut from a Hippogriff? He dares to destroy Hagrid's dreams because he isn't capable of dealing with any slight problem without whining to his father to fix it?
Well…as the sayings go…you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us; you mess with the bull, you get the horns; play with fire and you'll get burned; and so on and so forth. The bottom line was that they will protect their own from any who would dare to try to harm them.
And now Malfoy had to learn that the hard way.
"So what was Malfoy sayin' anyways? He musta been sayin' something awful for you to hit him, Hermione. Devyn, I'd understand –"
"Hey!" Devyn protested. "I don't hit him just because I feel like it. I hit him because he deserves it. Every time I've hit him or cursed him or whatever, he's been making fun of Neville, or Hermione, or Ron, or Harry; or making some comment about my parents. Besides, the last time I hit him was when he called Hermione a Mudblood. I would have hit him today, if Hermione hadn't beaten me to the punch."
"Literally," Ron commented, and everyone groaned at the stupid pun, making Ron grin.
Hagrid conceded, nodding as he said, "Alright, I'll give yeh tha' much. You only hit him when he deserves it. But my point still stands. Devyn has no problem whacking someone around when they get too high and mighty…but you, Hermione…usually you just use your words. So what was he saying?"
Hermione didn't say anything at first; instead, she looked down at her light pink sweatshirt and then glanced out the window at Buckbeak. Hagrid followed her line of sight and nodded when he caught on.
"Oh," Hagrid said, his voice sounding oddly small for someone his size. Hermione nodded and she said, "I couldn't let him get away with it, Hagrid. I just couldn't."
Hagrid sighed and was silent for a moment before suddenly exclaiming sadly, making them all jump. They hadn't been expecting Hagrid to say anything, but he said, "Oh, look at 'im. He loves the smell o' the trees when the wind blows through 'em."
"Why don't we just set him free?" Harry asked. Devyn lowered her eyes and shook her head. That would never have worked. Evidently Hagrid agreed with her because he said, "Ah, they'd know it was me. And then Dumbledore'd get inter trouble. He's comin' down you know, Dumbledore. Says he wants ter be with me when they…when it happens. Great man, Dumbledore…great man."
They all nodded in agreement. Dumbledore was a very great man indeed, and luckily, he was also a very good man.
"We'll stay with you, too, Hagrid!" Hermione told him firmly. Only one person would have been able to argue with Hermione when she was using that tone of voice and that person was Hagrid.
"You'll do no such thing…you think I want yeh seein' somethin' like tha'? No. Yeh just drink yer tea an' be off. Oh, but before yeh do, Ron," Hagrid said, sounding as though something had just come back to him. He got up from the table and got something from a cupboard.
"Scabbers!" Ron exclaimed. "You're alive!"
Devyn looked up from her tea and nearly dropped her cup. Now being held in Ron's hands was Scabbers the rat. His long rubbery looking tail twitched from side to side, almost irritably…had he been hiding for some reason?
"Yeh'll want to keep a closer eye on yer pets, Ron!"
Ron looked so overjoyed that Scabbers was alive, but Devyn was growing very suspicious. Something about this seemed so odd. Why would Scabbers have taken off like that? And why was he so aggravated at being back with his owner?
Sirius Black was an Animagus…he turned into a dog…it explained his nickname in the very least…Padfoot…dogs had little pads on their paws to protect them from damage. It wasn't so crazy to assume that James, Peter and Devyn's father, Michael were all Animagi too. And if Black's nickname came from a characteristic of his Animagus form…wouldn't it have made sense for the others' to as well?
Moony was fairly obvious. It referred to her godfather's conflict with the full moon.
Hoot was also pretty clear. Her father clearly had the ability to transform into an owl.
Prongs was little more difficult…perhaps a bull? But bulls didn't have prongs, they had horns…well, 'prongs' was another word for antlers, so maybe James had been a stag.
And finally…Wormtail… Devyn didn't really know what to make of that, but as she was thinking, she watched Scabbers' tail flick back and forth…back and forth…it was a strange little appendage that the rat had…almost like a…like…like a worm.
WORMTAIL, Devyn thought, an imaginary light bulb illuminating over her head. Pettigrew can transform into a rat. But that in itself is difficult enough…there are rats everywhere…if he's even alive, he could be anywhere…but Black chose to come to Hogwarts to hunt down Pettigrew…so it makes sense to think that Pettigrew - again operating on the belief that he actually is alive and Black's not just an insane pathological liar and killer - would also be at Hogwarts…and if he does turn into rat…but there are tons of rats running around Hogwarts. How can Black be sure he knows Pettigrew is actually here, if he's hiding in his rat form, which would make the most sense. He must have seen Pettigrew around somewhere recently and figured out that he would be at Hogwarts…but where? And if Pettigrew really is a rat…then it's possible that Scabbers is Pettigrew. Unlikely, but not impossible.
Devyn's eyes went from Scabbers' tail to his paw…which was missing one of its' toes. All they could find of Pettigrew was his finger. Was it really so insane to think he might have cut it off himself in order to frame Black and make his escape? It would have been easy enough…Black was already a suspect Death Eater because of his family history…it would have been only too easy to frame Black for the murder of twelve Muggles and a 'poor, defenseless good guy' like Pettigrew would have been pretending to be…and for handing the Potters, two of the most skilled fighters the good side had, over to Voldemort, who had been hunting them anyway.
It's entirely possible, Devyn figured, that Peter Pettigrew was the real Death Eater and traitor and Black, an innocent man, had served twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't, could never commit.
Whoa girl…slow it down, Dev. You're getting way ahead of yourself here. I won't argue with the fact that Pettigrew could in fact be Scabbers, but you're getting way too far in your little fantasy world. You need to calm down and get out of your head.
And there was Snow. Right on time, Devyn noted. Every time her thoughts got a little wild or her mind started dashing off in every which way, Snow usually popped up to restore order. It helped immensely and Devyn forced herself out of her mind after thanking Snow mentally.
"I think you owe someone an apology," Hermione said, her inflection clearly dropping a hint.
"Right," Ron said, turning to Hermione, clutching 'Scabbers' in his hands. Devyn forced her eyes off the rat and onto her friends. "Next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know."
Devyn rolled her eyes and groaned internally. She looked at Harry and Neville and their expressions told her that they were doing the same.
"I meant me!" Hermione growled. Ron had no time to retort because at the moment, a small object flew into the room, shattering Hagrid's window and a clay pot that it hit.
"Blimey!" Hagrid exclaimed. "What was tha'?"
Harry picked up the small object and looked at it. Devyn noticed that it looked like a shell, but she wasn't completely sure.
"Ow!" Harry cried as another shell hit the back of his head. "Ah…"
He rubbed the sore spot on his head and turned around to look out the window. And that was when he saw them. Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner were making their way down to Hagrid's hut.
"Hagrid…" he said warningly.
"Oh, crikey," Hagrid muttered when he spotted them. Devyn's heart sank in her chest when she realized what this meant. Buckbeak's clock had run out. His time was up…his final hour was at hand, and Devyn found her heart was breaking.
She didn't want Buckbeak to go. It wasn't his fault and this wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair and this simple truth upset her more than a complex one ever could.
And when Hagrid turned to look at them with fear and pain in his dark eyes, Devyn's only wish in the world was that she would never have to see that look in his eyes ever again.
This wasn't fair.