Chapter Twenty Six
They'd just made it to Hagrid's door when Hermione stopped.
"That's my cat." She whispered, pointing over the grass, "What's he doing out here?"
"Crookshanks?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded, "He shouldn't be out here."
Hermione took a couple of steps away from the door. Crookshanks stared at them, unblinking, with his yellow eyes.
"Hermione, I'm sure he'll be fine." Harry told her.
Hermione shook his head, "No. Something's up."
She walked across the grass towards Crookshanks who waited for her. Harry and Pansy followed. Crookshanks wove in between Hermione's legs, purring, for a moment before walking off up the grassy hill.
He stopped when he noticed they weren't following and meowed loudly. The sound was eerie on such a quiet night.
"He wants us to follow him." Hermione whispered.
"And let me guess, we're going to?" Pansy grumbled, hoping she'd be warm in Hagrid's hut by now with a cup of tea but already walking to follow the cat.
It wasn't long before it was clear what he was leading them to. Harry put an arm out to stop them.
"Is that the whomping willow?" Hermione asked, "The one Ron crashed into last year?"
Harry nodded.
"It doesn't look very nasty."
She'd barely finished the sentence when the tree shifted and started thrashing around. Thumping it's long limps on the ground. Crookshanks seemed completely unfased though and moved through the tree's limbs.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried before Harry put his hand over her mouth. She pulled it away, "He's going to get himself killed!"
"No look." Harry told her pointing.
The tree had stopped and now looked like a completely normal tree.
"What happened?" Pansy asked.
Harry was already pulling them forward, "It's a long story, just trust me."
He pulled them into the reach of the tree's branches and both girls flinched but nothing happened. Harry quickly circled the tree to next to Crookshanks, who was sitting next to a large hole in the base of the tree's roots.
"Ladies first." Harry said, ushering them down the hole.
Pansy sighed and slid down followed by Hermione.
"Thank you." Harry said, giving Crookshanks a stroke, the tree started to slowly move, "You coming?"
Crookshanks shook his head and headed back off into the night. Harry slid down the hole and into the darkness.
"If this is a trap I am going to haunt you forever Harry Potter." Pansy hissed at him.
Harry lit his wand and pointed it towards the tunnel that lead from the entrance way.
"What the..." Hermione said.
"Don't worry, we'll be safe, just start walking." Harry told her.
They walked down the long pathway, often having to stoop to fit under the low dirt roof. After ten minutes or so the tunnel began to move upwards steeply.
"There's something here." Hermione told him, pushing on the wood above her head.
"It should be unlocked." Harry called forward.
Hermione gave it a good shove and it swung, slowly, open. It clearly hadn't been touched in a while as a shower of cobwebs and dust fell on her.
"Lovely." she muttered climbing into the room above and helping Pansy.
Harry climbed up and shut the door behind him before looking around. The place was a mess. A ripped and decaying sofa in the room they were in with a staircase that went up and was missing several steps.
"Where are we?" Pansy asked, looking around.
"We're in the shrieking shack." Harry told them, pulling over some old wooden boxes for them to sit on, "Don't worry it's not haunted, never was."
"Harry people have been hearing the ghosts for years." Hermione pointed out, wrapping her arms around herself.
"No, they heard Remus when he transformed." Harry sighed, "This is where he stayed. Dumbledore built the tunnel and planted the tree so he could have somewhere safe to stay. Safe for other people anyway."
Harry looked at the shredded wall paper, many of the tears were laced with blood, "He hated it, it's painful and they're always looking for someone else so when he couldn't find anyone he would attack himself. That's the noises that people would hear."
Hermione ran a hand over the wall marks and tried not to cry, "It's horrible."
Harry nodded, "Yeah. Most people don't really view them as human, they can't normally get jobs or go to school. Professor Dumbledore took a huge risk letting Remus in."
"Why?" Hermione asked, "He was a child. He had every right to be in school."
"Because even young werewolves are a huge danger and it's only recently that the potion has been around in order to help." Pansy said, pulling the wolfsbane from her robes, "And the younger a victim the less of the Lycanthropy they need to be fully turned. Not safe in a school full of children."
"But it's not their fault." Hermione said, rather indignantly.
Harry shrugged, "Not all of them, but even Remus will tell you there are some bad ones out there. Like the one who turned him for example. Because they don't have a huge role in society some of them over lash out and can be...well nasty."
There was a rustle upstairs that made the three children jump to their feet.
"I thought you said it wasn't haunted." Hermione whispered.
"It's not." Harry hissed back, pointing his wand at the stairs.
There were a few definite footsteps moving closer to the stairs, soft and padded.
"Harry… is there any chance that… well that Professor Lupin also came here? If this is where he used to?" Pansy whispered, her fingers undoing the potion bottle.
"I don't know." Harry shook his head, "I didn't think of that but if we all die blame Hermione; it was her cat that lead us here."
A large black shape moved down the stairs on soft paws. Harry let out a sigh of relief and flopped against the wall.
"It's OK Sirius; it's just us." he called out to the dog on the stairs. It looked at them before turning into Harry's Godfather.
"You scared us to death." Pansy snarled at him, doing the potion bottle up.
"Sorry but likewise. I wasn't expecting voices." Sirius smirked, "What are you doing here?"
"It's a very long story." Hermione told him, "What are you doing here?"
"I… well I was thinking of meeting a friend." Sirius told them.
"They know." Harry said, "About Remus being a werewolf."
Sirius huffed at him, "Why do they know?"
"I refer you back to the long story remark." Hermione told him; it was too late for this, she just wanted to sleep.
"I've been sneaking into the castle to keep Remus company every month, he was worried about being around so many people." Sirius told them, "Only when I went to his office the potion was gone but so was he. I assumed that he didn't feel the office was safe for whatever reason tonight so we always said the back up was to meet here."
Pansy showed him the potion bottle, "He never took the potion. Is he going to come here?"
Sirius shook his head, "No. He hates this place, unless he was thinking clearly he would never come here. I imagine he'll just have fun running around the forest for a night. It's huge, I highly doubt he's going to run into anyone else don't worry."
Harry sighed, well at least that was one bit of good news.
"Your turn, I think we have a while for a long story." Sirius said, he pulled out his wand and drew up four large, comfy chairs for them to sit in.
Harry filled him in about the prophecy, Bellatrix, the wild goose chase but left out the time turner, looking to Hermione, he didn't want to spill her secrets without her permission.
She sighed and showed him, "It's why we're hiding out here. I wasn't meant to use it for anything other than classes or tell anyone about it, yet here we are."
"Well I'm glad you're here safe. When do you need to be back in the hospital wing?" Sirius said, trying not to have a go at Harry for being so stupid. Apart from anything else he knew that it was exactly what he and James would have done.
"Half past twelve." Harry said, "But it's OK of we're a bit late because Draco is covering for me."
"Then get some sleep. I'll wake you up at twelve." Sirius told them. He waved his wand over the old sofa and it turned into three beds that mostly filled the room.
Harry climbed into one of them but he couldn't sleep. He just lay awake staring at the ceiling until Sirius came and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Well the girls are asleep. Penny for you thoughts?" Sirius asked.
Harry sat up and leaned against the headboard, "Lots of things, you might need more than one penny."
Sirius let out a snort.
"I just feel like I've really messed everything up this year." Harry sighed, "When Dad found me by the lake he was so upset and I've been a total arse to him this year."
Sirius squeezed Harry's hand, "I wouldn't worry about it. I was an arse to him for best part of a decade and we're OK now."
Harry nodded and smiled, "Yeah."
"I've sent a message to Dumbledore, about Pettigrew, I'm sure he'll be able to sort everything out. Stop him from escaping." Sirius said.
"Was it awful?" Harry asked, "Watching your friend go through this every month."
"They're not my happiest memories that's for sure." Sirius told him, "But we made do and it got us to push ourselves, becoming Animagi to help him. And we had loads of fun those nights, putting half the town in danger but there you go."
Harry grinned, "I made a Patronus tonight. It was a stag, like James's."
Sirius looked down at him so proudly, "Really? That's amazing. Your mother's used to be a doe, changed after Danica was born."
Harry nodded.
"I know that you worried about ending up with your Aunt and Uncle if your mother had died that night as well." Sirius told him, "It's been a tough year for you working out where your family is and how it stands. It's not like you've had a normal family dynamic. You wouldn't of though, ended up with your aunt and uncle, I wouldn't have let that happen. You could have come and live with me and Remus. We would have been all right."
Harry smiled and nodded, he didn't mention that if Lily had died, in all likelihood Sirius would have gone to Azkaban and the ministry would never have let Remus raise him alone.
"Family is weird." Harry said, "How's it going with you a Nikka?"
Sirius looked down.
"I like her. I feel like she fits with our family you know? Sirius?" Harry asked.
"I broke up with her. I wanted to be able to protect you, after the fall you had a the Quidditch game. It's the other reason I've kept sneaking into the school. Make sure everything is OK." Sirius sighed, "And yet even without being with her, the night you need me most, you only find me by accident."
Harry sighed, "You miss her?"
Sirius nodded, "All the time, it's like there is a hole in my heart knowing she's out there without me."
"Then make it better. I know you can. If you can stand next to Dad when he married Lily, in James's place and not blow something up, you can fix this." Harry snorted.
Sirius smirked, "You're right there. Now get some sleep."
Harry nodded and managed to let sleep take him for a while.
