"We have to get down!" Granger yelled. Edward glanced upwards to see Harry and Granger in the air. They were supported by the branches of the weeping willow which had somehow come alive and was swishing the Gryffindors around.

Edward clapped and slammed his fist into the tree trunk. The wispy branches holding onto Harry and Granger broke and the Gryffindors crashed onto the ground.

"How did you-" Granger gasped but there was no time for Edward to listen.

Edward leapt nimbly aside, dodging a branch which was hurling through the air towards him. It was as if the tree was taking revenge on him. Every time he dodged, a new branch appeared and Edward had to duck before the tree could kill him.

His luck ran out on him. One of the tendrils caught hold of his leg. There was a rush of air and smell of pine as the tree lifted Edward into the air. And let go of him.

Edward dropped to the ground and saw that the fat cat had placed its front paws on a knot in the tree trunk.

The tree was deadly still.

"Crookshanks!" Granger whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Harry's arm hard. "How did he know?"

"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on and keep your wand out. You too, Ed."

"I didn't bring my wand," Edward said quietly but he followed them.

They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, the fat cat had slid into it with a flick of his bottlebrush tail. Edward went next. He crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. The fat cat was a little way along, his eyes flashing in the light.

"Where's Ron?" Granger whispered in a terrified voice.

"This way," said Edward, setting off, bent-backed after the cat.

"Where does this tunnel come out?" Granger asked breathlessly from behind him.

"I don't know..." Harry said. "It's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it. It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade."

They moved as fast as they could. The Gryffindors had to bend more than Edward because of their height so they moved a little slower.

The cat's tail bobbed in and out of view. The passage went on. It felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes. And then the tunnel began to rise. Moments later it twisted, and the cat had gone. Instead, Edward could see a patch of dim light through a small opening.

Harry and Granger raised their wands which was emitting an eerie green light to see.

It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls. There were stains all over the floor and every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.

Edward went first, pulling himself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway. Granger suddenly grabbed Harry's arm again. Her wide eyes were traveling around the boarded windows.

"Guys," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."

Edward looked around. His eyes fell on a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.

"Ghosts can't do that," Harry said slowly.

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something was moving upstairs. The students looked up at the ceiling. Quietly as they could, they crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs.

They reached the dark landing.

"Nox," Harry and Granger whispered together, and the lights at the end of their sticks went out. Only one door was open. As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring.

Wand held tightly before him, Harry kicked the door wide open.

On a four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay the fat cat, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Weasley.

Harry and Granger dashed across to him while Edward stayed behind, studying the room carefully for danger.

"Ron- are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Weasley moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap-"

"What-"

"He's the dog... he's an Animagus."

Edward saw him before Weasley could point him out. A man in the shadows closed the door behind them. He was a mass of filthy, matted hair which hung to his elbows. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. Sirius Black.

"Expelliarmus!" Black croaked, pointing Weasley's wand at them.

Harry's and Granger's wands shot out of their hands and Black caught them.

"You don't have a wand," Black said to Edward, a slow curious smile ghosting his lips.

"You don't need to have one either," Edward retorted, glaring at him. This was Malfoy's relative! The Death Eater relative.

Black laughed harshly. Then he took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful. It will make everything much

easier. Now that all of you are harmless…"

The taunt about his father made Harry stiffen. Edward saw him grit his teeth in frustration. Harry snatched at the air near his pocket where he kept his wand. His eyes were murderous.

Edward remembered that look. Winry wore that look when she first knew Scar killed her parents. She wore that look when she looked at Scar. She wore that look when she pointed the Magnum at Scar.

Harry started moving forward and Edward leapt to hold him back but his friends were faster. Granger snatched his arm and pulled him back. Weasley merely held on weakly to his leg from his foetal position on the ground.

"No, Harry!" Granger gasped in a petrified whisper.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Weasley said fiercely.

Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.

"Lie down," he said quietly to Weasley. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" Weasley said painfully. "You'll have to kill all four of us!"

"You know what?" Edward said mildly, watching Weasley's face drain of colour from the pain. "I'd like to be not included to the to-kill list."

Granger opened her mouth to retort but Edward clapped his hands with a resounding smack of metal against flesh.

"And you know what?" Edward shouted, interrupting whatever Harry was about to say. "We're not harmless."

"And you know what else?" Edward roared, slapping the wooden floor. The ground heaved and groaned as it transformed. "I don't need a wand!"