Chapter 29: The Harsh Truth

Kiba still couldn't believe that Luna was an animal wizard. Kiba flicked through many many pages of his book too see if he could find out more about Animagi, or maybe how to become one as well. If Luna could do it, so could he.. right? To Kiba's surprise it was indeed inside one of his books from Borgin and Burke's, with a detailed description on how to do it. He read the page quickly and memorized the steps. 'i should ask McGonagall for more information' he thought to himself.

After his transfiguration lesson that day the boy approached the professor. "yes, Mister Scamander?"

"I was wondering, Professor, if you could tell me more of Animagi" Kiba asked carefully. McGonagal looked at the boy sharply before softening her expression. "ever since we started with them I've been thinking about it allot, to the point where i can't think of anything else" he added

"What is it that you want to know?" she asked

"Well, does it take skill to become one? Is it Magically challenging?" Kiba said

"not really, it does take a certain magical talent." McGonagal replied "it takes time, dedication and determination most of all. Other then finding the right supplies it is not particularly challenging" she said

"and the forms, could one for instance find out what they'd turn into?"

"Well, your Animagi form is strongly bound to your personality" the professor explained "but it is difficult to determine before the initial transformation"

"Is there a limit to animals that an Animagi can become?"

"Usually just one, there hasn't been a historical recording of an Animagi being able to transform into different forms"

"And Magical Creature transformations?"

"There was one wizard, who's Animagus form was a Dragon, other then that however there have been none"

"Thank you professor," Kiba said "now i can focus on other things. Those question were stuck in my head for a while"

"glad i could help, Mister Scamander" she looked as the boy began walking out of the classroom, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

'today is a full moon, i should get started tonight' Kiba thought as he entered the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom. Everyone took their seats when Snape suddenly burst through the door. With a flick of his wand he covered the windows with dark curtains, before counjering a white board at the front of the class. He stopped and turned towards the class,

"Turn to page Three-hundred-and-ninety-four" he began walking past the rows towards a projector, he walked past Ron who was slowly flipping through his pages and with a flick of his wand slammed good book to the right page.

"Excuse me, sir" Harry began politely "where is professor Lupin?"

"That's not really your concern, now is it Potter?" Snape replied "sufficient to say that your teacher finds himself Incapable of teaching at the present time" he tapped the projector with his wand and it beamed onto the whiteboard "your prior teaching of this subject has been disturbingly lacking, so today we will be discussing Werewolves"

"But professor, we've just started learning about Redcaps and Hinkeypunks" Hermione said "were not supposed to start nocturnal beasts for weeks"

"quiet!" Snape sneered as he returned to the front of the class "now, which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a Werewolf?" Hermione raised her hand but Snape didn't acknowledge it "no one?"

"Please sir, an Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal, a Werewolf has no choice. With each full moon he transforms and no longer remembered who is, furthermore he only responds to the call of his own kind" Hermione answered the question, whilest Draco let out a mocking howl.

"Thank you for that assessment, Mister Malfoy" Snape said calmly as he stepped closer to Hermione "that is the second time you've spoken out of turn Miss Granger, are you Incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know it all?"

"You asked a Question!" Kiba said "she knew the answer, why ask if you don't want to hear it" Snape glared at Kiba his eyes narrowing almost angrily

"Ten points from Gryffindor" Snape added "As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk by Monday morning, two rolls of parchment on the Werewolf with particular emphasis on recognizing it!" he announced to the class loudly. Most of the class groaned I'm response but noted down their homework. Snape strolled towards the back of the class, instructing everyone to watch the projections as he began monologuing about Werewolves.

After his duties with the magical creatures Kiba quietly crept into the greenhouses. "the first step, keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth from one full moon to the next.." Kiba whispered to himself "this'll be difficult. But i can do this" he found a mandrake with a nice crown of leafs and swiftly cut one off before hightailing it out off the greenhouse and towards the common room. He sat on his bed quietly as he watched the leaf in his hand, he was really going to do this, and once he started he had to keep going. Otherwise what would be the point, right? He wanted to proof that he can use his talent in magic for other things then murder.. that's all he's ever really accomplished. He placed the leaf on his tongue and closed his mouth, to his surprise the leaf didn't taste of dirt, it actually tasted good, kind of like a lemon drop.

Kiba opened the book again, 'i should probably get the ingredients ready for that potion, and i have to think of a place to store and safely transform once it's ready' he thought to himself. 'let's see.. Chrysalis of a Deaths-head Hawkmoth, these can most commonly be found in Africa or Europe however buried underneath the ground. Alright, my own hair and dew that's been untouched by human feet and sunlight for Seven days.. I'll collect the dew and store it tomorrow, and I'll try to find one of those Chrysalis' during the time i take care of the magical creatures.. maybe I'll find one. I should also find a vial, maybe from Snape's stores' Kiba put his book away again and went to sleep, trying his hardest to not swallow or chew the leaf.

For the most part, Kiba got used to the leaf in his mouth. He told his friends that he had been hurt by one of the magic creatures and that Madam Pomfrey had given him the leaf. Eating remained a difficult task, given that Kiba had to try really hard to not chew the leaf and swallow it along with his food. Luckily, Hermione had barely any time to ask questions about the leaf since she was simply being overwhelmed by her school work, and Harry was to busy preparing for his first quidditch match and Ron, well Ron didn't care, really..

November Eighth had come around and most Gryffindor's were able to congratulate Kiba on turning Fourteen. Ron had given Kiba a pack of small firecrackers that would explode several times when thrown on the ground for instance, along with it he told him that his brothers Fred and George had dropped a whole pack down their stairs once and they heard them exploding and bouncing around for several hours. Harry didn't really have anything to give Kiba and Hermione gave him a Necklace. It was shorter then the one that Faye had given him two years earlier, and from it hung a silver Arrow the tip of which pointed downward. He put it on immediately and thanked Hermione for it with a big hug. The four spent some time together between classes before Harry had to leave, he had a warm-up for his match that day and the weather was awful, as it had been the whole week.

Not everyone came to watch the opening match. A few Ravenclaws could be seen, mostly players that wanted to study their opponents, Hufflepuffs that supported their team, many Slytherins most likely there to laugh at the misfortune of the other teams since they had used Draco injury to get out of playing in the rain, and then there were three Gryffindor's.. almost everyone was there to support their house team, Seamus even had his face painted Scarlett and gold to show his house pride.

The match itself was difficult to watch. Through the roar of the thunder and the wind, the announcer Lee Jordan couldn't even be heard. The players were nothing but blurry colors of red and yellow. "must be a Horror for Harry" Kiba said to hermine beside him "he probably see more without his glasses at this point" the match had gone on for a while already and the storm had only gotten worse. Gryffindor was up fifty points when Wood called for a timeout. Hermione suddenly jumped into her feet and ran down towards the large umbrella that covered the Gryffindor team, she stayed there until the match resumed at which point she had returned to Kiba's side. "what did you do down there?" Kiba asked the girl who's busy hair was now as flat as ever

"Just this thing called the Impervious Charm" she replied "Harry won't have any trouble with his glasses now"

"Brilliant… truly" Kiba muttered. Hermione was no longer facing him, she had returned her gaze towards the match with a great big smile. Kiba found himself stareing at her again, like that night in the great Hall. He pulled his eyes away quickly and also watched the match. Harry was much more in it now and soon dashed after Cedric Diggory, the Captain and Seeker of Hufflepuff who was chasing the snitch. He flew higher and higher when he suddenly stopped and looked into the empty stands illuminated by the lightning in the sky. For a moment, Kiba thought he saw the black silhouette of a dog, but when he tried to get a better look at it through some binoculars it was gone, and Harry was chasing Diggory again.

The two Seeker rise high above the pitch when suddenly everything seemed to stop, the roar of thunder, and then lighting struck. Diggory's broom was suddenly set ablaze, he dove for the ground and leaped of it rolling through the mud. But Harry chased on, but the sounds seemed to miss.. Kiba felt strange, he couldn't even hear Hermione and Ron cheering beside him, he didn't hear the rain and it seemed as had the storm forgotten to roar. Kiba felt cold, really cold and sad. He scanned the pitch and there he saw it, they where everywhere. Dementors! They swarmed the pitch and flew after Harry, at least a hundred.. or more.

Kiba could only stare blankly as he watched Harry slip off his broom and fall. Hermione grabbed Kiba's arm and buried her face in his shoulder as Ron shouted something beside him. The players all stopped and flew to the ground. Cedric, who had gotten a different broom to continue, had the snitch in his hand and therefore they were declared the winners of the match. Kiba heard him talk to madam Hooch about a rematch as he followed Harry who was being carried away by Hagrid.

The Gryffindor team all followed then to the hospital and Ron soon joined aswell, he had returned with Harry's broom, the Nimbus Two-Thousand. "he does look a bit peaky" Ron said in response to one of the Gryffindor chasers

"he fell over a hundred feet, what did you expect?" asked fred

"Yeah," George agreed "let's walk you off the astronomy tower, Ron. See what you look like"

"probably a right side better then he normally does" Harry said

"how are you feeling?" Hermione agreed carefully

"Oh, brilliant" Harry replied sarcastically "so what happened, who won?"

"Cedric got the snitch just after you fell. He didn't know it had happened, he pleaded for a rematch," Wood said "but like madam Hooch said, they won fair and square"

"No one blames you Harry" Kiba said after seeing his friends face of defeat. The Gryffindor team soon left to take a shower and Harry spotted his broom at the for if his bed.

"blew into the whomping willow" Ron said "i got what i could" Harry looked even worse now

"The Dementors?" he asked

"Dumbledore was furious," Hermione said "I've never seen him like that before. They aren't meant to come into the ground, after he saved you he shot some silvery stuff at them.. send them straight off. Then he helped getting you here. Hagrid carried you at first but then Dumbledore magicked up a stretcher and brought you" Harry dropped down to his pillow again. He had lost a Quidditch match, he had nearly fallen to his death and his broom was broken beyond repair.

'maybe Trelawney was right, maybe i do have the Grim' The black haired wizard thought to himself.

The month went by quickly as December began, Kiba had spent his time reading up on animal wizards, in other words Animagi. He had secretly duplicated a vial from Snape's stores, had collected and stored the dew and was lucky to find a Chrysalis the day of the full moon. He knew that he needed the full light of the full moon, there could be no clouds in his way out he would have to start anew. He was sitting in the common room with Hotaru on his lap as he still thought of a dark and quiet place to store the potion. 'what about the shrieking shack?' Hotaru asked her voice sounding sleepy.

"I wouldn't," Kiba replied "someone might go in and find it" Kiba sighed. There had to be a place only he could acce… "the chamber…" Kiba muttered

'the chamber?' Hotaru echoed

"The chamber of Secrets" Kiba said again, "Dumbledore only sealed the gateway"

'so how are you going to get in?'

"Good question.. Could you Apparate with me?"

'I'm not sure, should be possible… but I've never been in the chamber itself'

"so if i imagine it? It could work, we should give it a shot"

'right now?'

"It'll likely take it's toll for you to take me along, tonight, when the potion of ready" The evening soon came and Kiba quietly slipped away after the feast, avoiding the peering eyes of Percy and the other Prefects. And waited until his watched showed that it was midnight. He opened the vial in which he had stored the dew and took the leaf from his mouth, luckily the leaf hadn't gone soggy and fallen apart during the entire month and he placed it into the vial aswell. He took the Chrysalis and added it aswell before he ripped out a hair or two from his own head and placed them inside as well. He put the top into the vial and held it up towards the moon. Kiba was lucky, there she was clear showing every star and the moon in all its might.

He could feel the vial vibrate in his grasp as the ingredients combined into a blueish mixture. He looked in in awe, it seemed he had gotten this far. Now he had to wait for a thunderstorm and lightning.. "Hotaru, you ready?" the dragon nodded and landed on Kiba's shoulder. The boy closed his eyes and thought back to last year, he dreaded the memory but it was the perfect place. He imagined the chamber. The giant head of Salazar Slytherin, the serpent statues that stood on both sides of the walkway, the body of the basilisk which undoubtedly remained. He opened it his eyes and there it was, like he remembered it. The basilisk had lost most of it's skin but the body could still be seen and it smelled quite bad. Kiba retrieved the vial hold from his bag and placed the vial inside admiring the shimmering blue substance once more before Hotaru took them back to the castle grounds.

Hotaru was absolutely exhausted at that point and fell asleep on the spot. Kiba carried her back to the common room and also went to sleep preparing for the ritual he would have to perform from then on until lightning strikes. When Kiba woke up that morning he didn't waste time, he sat upright and grabbed his wand. He placed the tip to his heart and closed his eyes "Amato Animo Animato Animagus" he whispered. He sat on his bed a while longer before finally opening his curtains and getting dressed. Kiba had intended to go back to London and find a new home but now that he was waiting for lightning he couldn't, Hermione stayed as well, more to keep an eye on Harry but also because she needed the library.

Winter had come quickly and snow began to fall, and Christmas decorations were already being hung up by the teachers in mid December along with the announcement of a second Hogsmeade trip on the last weekend of term before the break. Ron had eaten almost all of his sweets from the last visit and was excited to get more, Hermione wanted to look for a Christmas present for her parents and Kiba just wanted to get Butterbeer in the three broomsticks. Harry of course still wanted to go and thought many times that he could just take his invisibility cloak and join them but figured that he needed a better way.

Kiba once again walked with Hermione closely followed by Ron, Seamus and Dean down towards the village at that final weekend. They headed into Honeyduke's immediately, Ron bought his sweets quickly and Kiba also stocked up a bit. They stood near the unusual tastes shelf debating what sweets they could bring Harry "no, they're probably made for Vampire's" Hermione muttered

"what about Cockroach clusters?" Ron asked

"definitely not" said a fourth voice beside the trio, they all turned and saw the scar bearing wizard

"Harry, how did you?" Kiba asked

"What are you doing here?!" Hermione interrupted "you shouldn't be here, you're going to get in allot of trouble" she added

"Don't worry, i can get back before anyone notices i was even gone" Harry said, he urged his three friends out of the shop and to a nearby bench out of hearing range from the others. "look.. I solemnly swear that i am up to no good" he tapped a piece of parchment with his wand and showed it to the others "it's a live map of Hogwarts. It shows you everyone, where they are, what they're doing, every minute of every day" he explained "and it's also a map for the hidden passages in and out of the castle"

"How did you get that?" Kiba asked

"Fred and George stole it from Filch in their first year, said that i needed it more" Harry replied

"they never told me anything.." Ron complained "I'm their brother"

"You should turn it in Harry" Hermione jumped in

"along with his invisibility cloak, why should he?" Ron asked

"well, what if Black knows if the passages. With this may the teachers could find him" Hermione said convincingly

"mischief managed' Harry said taking the parchment once more. The footprints disappeared and The map turned into an empty parchment "I'm not going to hand it in. Fred said that Filch knows of the passages" he said.

"guys let's head to the three broomsticks" Kiba suggested, seeing that Harry was shivering to the core "bring a coat next time Harry" he added with a smile. The four headed for the pub where they sat down at a table in the back room by the fireplace between the window and a Christmas tree, Ron offered to get their drinks for them just so he could talk to Rosmerta. She was the owner of the three broomsticks, had a curvy body, red hair and a pretty face and Ron turned bead red at the bar as he ordered they're drinks. He soon returned with four foaming tankards of got Butterbeer.

"Merry Christmas!" Harry said raising his tankard

"Merry Christmas" the other three said in unison as they touched tankards. They drank deeply enjoying the taste of the hot liquid that warmed their bodies. With a cold breeze the door to the pub opened and in stepped a familiar face, followed by two more and then a rather large bearded man. Hermione and Kiba quickly pushed Harry underneath the table, Professor McGonagal and Professor Flitwick had just entered the pub along with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge who took off his green bowler hat and too a seat at a table close to the quartet.

"Mobiliarbus" Hermione whispered causing the Christmas tree to float over to their table and land so they were concealed from the adults. The four we soon joined by Rosmerta herself as they talked about things. Their conversation moved through several topics and then to the Dementors and why they were her.

"necessary precaution, my dear" Fudge said apologetically "but they are here to protect us from worse"

"I still can't really believe it. If all the people to turn to the dark side, i never thought it would be Black" Rosmerta said

"you don't even know the worst of it," McGonagal replied

"What could be worse?"

"Well do you remember who is best friend was?"

"Of course, they were inseparable. They used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, James Potter and Sirius Black" A loud this was hard underneath the table of the students as Harry had dropped his tankard.

"one could have easily taken them for brothers" Flitwick added

"indeed," McGonagal continued "Potter trusted none of his friends more then he trusted Black. That didn't change when they left school, Black was best man at James and Lily's wedding"

"Lily Evans?" Rosmerta asked "i never knew. Black and Potter did pay for her and her friends drinks occasionally, what was her name?"

"Amelia, she and Lily were quite inseparable as well" Hagrid replied

"Amelia…" Kiba muttered under his breath

"but that's not all," McGonagal said "When little Harry was born they named Black his Godfather. Harry doesn't know, of course, think of how it would torment him" McGonagal paused

"Why? Because Black was found to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Rosmerta asked in confusion

"Worse then that, my dear" Fudge began lowering his voice "very few were aware that the Potters knew that You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore was working tirelessly against the Dark lord and had spies who alerted him and he urged the couple to go into hiding under the concealment of the fidelius charm"

"How does that work"

"Very complex spell" Flitwick squeaked "it involves the concealment of a secret within a living soul. The chosen person then becomes known as the secret keeper. If the secret were a location of an object then no one could ever find it even if it stood right before their eyes, unless of course the secret keeper would divulge the information"

"and Black was their secret keeper"

"naturally," McGonagal answered "James thought that Sirius would for rather then better him. Dumbledore however offered to be their secret keeper, he suspected that someone close to the Potters was giving information to You-Know-Who"

"Dumbledore suspected Black?"

"Yes, only a week after the fidelius charm was formed…"

"Black betrayed them.." Hagrid murmured angrily

"But, as we know. You-Know-Who met his downfall at the have of Harry that night" Fudge continued "this left Black in a difficult situation as he had just revealed his true colors"

"filthy turncoat!" Hagrid added "i comforted the lyin' traitor at the house! Almos' gave 'im 'arry too, bu' i was on Dumbledore's orders. If only i'd known it then, i would have taken 'im straight ter Dumbledore" silenced followed

"But he didn't get away, the ministry caught him" Rosmerta said

"If only we had," Fudge corrected her "young Peter Pettigrew, filled with grief, found him first, took him on himself"

"Peter Pettigrew?" Rosmerta asked

"Pettigrew… fat little lump of a boy always taking after Potter and Black. He worshipped the two. But he was never in their league" McGonagal replied, her voice filling with sadness

"Pettigrew died a Hero's death Minerva," Fudge added.

"Black killed him?" Rosmerta questioned the minister

"Black was vicious! He didn't kill Pettigrew.. he destroyed him!" Fudge said "a finger, that's ask that was left of him. A finger" Fudge began to explain the scene of the murder in detail. They Muggles that had died in the explosion and how many ministry officials it took to finally take black down.

"Was he mad?"

"I wish i could say.." Fudge replied "the fall of You-Know-Who unhinged him for a while.. the murder of those Muggles and Pettigrew were the actions of a cornered, desperate man... Cruel and pointless. But i meet him on my last inspection of Azkaban. Most of You-Know-Who's followers sit there, muttering to themselves in the dark. I was surprised at how.. normal he appeared. He spoke to me quite rationally and almost seemed bored, even asked me for my newspaper and if he could do the crossword puzzle. The Dementors seemed to have very little effect on him"

"Why has he broken out then?"

"to rejoin You-Know-Who eventually. He is possibly his most devoted servant. I shudder at what Black might do to bring his master back, and how fast he will rise to power once more" Fudge sat his glass down with a clink. "There you have it, Rosmerta. That is why we need the Dementors here"

"Cornelius, we should head back to the castle" McGonagal said "we'll be in time to dine with the headmaster" one by one the adults left the their table and Harry didn't resurface. The three other stuck their heads beneath the table, Harry sat motionless on all fours stareing at the ground. Kiba couldn't think clearly either, he could fathom how a man could betray his best friend in such a way. Not just his friend, but his godson too… but Kiba couldn't imagine what was going on in Harry's head now. If Black obliterated Pettigrew along with several muggles, how was Harry supposed to survive if he found him?

The four barely spoke a word a they left the pub. Harry returned to Honeyduke's and the other three too the regular path, they were soon reunited in the boys dorm where Harry pulled out a leather book filled with pictures. He didn't even acknowledge the others watching him as he flipped to the picture of his parents wedding day, he traced his finger over the picture from a Woman that he did not recognize to Lily, his Mom, then James, his Dad and then.. Sirius Black. he barely recognized him from the posters. His face wasn't sunken in and waxy, full of rage and madness. No, it was a young handsome face full of laughter and kindness.

He slammed the book shut and stuffed it into his cabinet, still not speaking. "We're going to the feast, Harry." Kiba said carefully "are you coming too?" Harry shook his head lightly as he took off his glasses. The three quickly left the boy to himself and proceeded to the great Hall worrying like never before… Harry wasn't present for breakfast the next morning either and even around lunchtime Harry had still been in his bed leaving the common room empty but for Ron, Hermione and Kiba. They discussed amongst each other about what they should tell him, they figured he wanted revenge after what he had heard, they figured he might do something… unwise.

Eventually Harry came down the stairs, he seemed groggy and as though he hadn't slept for weeks. "where is everyone?" he asked

"It's Christmas break," Kiba answers looking up from his book. He was sitting in oner if the chairs reading with Hotaru on his lap and Crookshanks by his feet near the fireplace. Ron was just there eating sweets and Hermione had her homework spread out over two tables. "were about the only Gryffindor's that stayed"

"It's almost lunch time," Ron added "we were gonna wake you in just a minute" Harry sat down in one of the chairs near the fireplace aswell.

"you really don't look well," Hermione said peering anxiously into Harry's face. She exchanged a quick glance with Kiba before she turned away from her work "Harry. We know your upset because of what we heard yesterday, but you mustn't go do anything stupid"

"Like what?" the black haired boy replied

"Like going after Black" Kiba replied sharply. Harry didn't answer he started absently into the fire.

"do you guys know what i have to hear, every time a Dementor comes near me?" Harry asked, the the shook their head and Harry looked them all dead in the eyes "i hear my Mum.. Screaming, pleading with Voldemort. I can hear him murdering her. You wouldn't forget something like that in a hurry either. And knowing, that someone who was supposed to be their friend had betrayed them, that-"

"there's nothing you can do," Hermione cut him off "the Dementors will find him and he'll go back to Azkaban"

"And you heard what he did to a trained wizard. Pettigrew.." Kiba added "he'd do it to you without even hesitating"

"But he's the reason my parents are dead," Harry retorted "Malfoy knew, remember what he said? He was right, i want revenge"

"it's not what your parents would want Harry" Hermione said in an effort to can Harry down.

"how would you know? They can't have told you" Harry shot back

"Your parents gave their lives for yours, Harry!" Kiba said raising his voice "and gambling their sacrifice for something as stupid as revenge is a poor way to repay them, don't you think?" Harry stared at Kiba angrily without answering.

"Hey, look… it's Christmas, we should relax… and… let's go see Hagrid" Ron said in an attempt to defuse the tention

"You're right, let's go see Hagrid" Harry said getting up "then he can explain why he never told me about Sirius Black" the for grabbed their coats and headed out I'm the snow towards Hagrid's hut. It took several yells and knocks before Hagrid finally opened the door. Hagrid's face was swollen red and his eyes leaked tears like waterfalls. He let the for enter and when they asked what was wrong he slumped down in his chair and bent over his table, sobbing loudly. He pushed a letter towards them which Harry read aloud.

'Dear Mister Hagrid,

Further into our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on a student in your class, we gave accepted the assurance of professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.

However, we must register our concern about the Hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mister Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your Hippogriff at the committee's offices in London on that date in the meantime, the Hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated.

Yours in fellowship,

The Governors of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

The four could only stared at Hagrid. "there must be something we can do" Kiba said breaking the silence

"it's no use" Hagrid sobbed "Them Gargoyles at the committee, they're all in Malfoys pocket, dead scared o' 'im" he added. They all looked at the Hippogriff in the corner of the hutt "if i lose the case, than Buckbeak-" they all knew what it meant.

"were all witnesses," Kiba said "we can vouch for you and Buckbeak. We'll build up a strong defense"

"'fraid there's no witnesses allowed ter come with me"

"what about Dumbledore, can't he do something?" Harry said

"He's got enough on 'is plate as is" Hagrid replied "with keepi' them Dementors outta the castle. Can't stand 'em either" Hagrid shuddered as he thought of the hooded creatures "they make me feel ruddy terrible. Gotta walk past 'em every time i get a drink at the three broomsticks. It's like bein' back in Azkaban" they fell silent as Ron brought over some tea that he had just made to cheer Hagrid up. They all had forgotten that Harry's had been in Azkaban last year, however brief it was.

"is it awful in there, Hagrid?" asked Hermione timidly

"yer have no idea." Hagrid replied stopping to sip his tea. "Never bin anywhere like it. Thought i was goin' mad. Kep' goin' over horrible stuff in me mind… the day i got expelled from Hogwarts… day me Dad died… day i had ter let Norbert go" Tears filled Hagrid's eyes anew "Yeh can' really remember who yeh are after a while. An' yeh can' see the point o' livin' at all. Used ter hope I'd die in me sleep. Gettin' out o' there, it was like bein' reborn. It was the bes' feelin' in the world. Mind, the Dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go."

"but you were innocent" Hermione said

"Think tha' matters ter them?" Hagrid replied "they don' care. Long as they've got a couple o' hundred humans stuck there with 'em, so they can leech at the happiness out of 'em, they don' give a damn who's guilty an' who's not… i thought o' lettin' Buckbeak go, sendin' 'im away bu' im scared of breakin' the law" he looked at them with tears flowing down his cheeks "I don' ever want ter go back ter Azkaban" he cried out loudly again as the four Gryffindor's tried to comfort him the best they could. Kiba felt heartbroken as he watched the grown man cry out of sadness and fear alike, and he too didn't want a innocent creature executed because of Malfoy.

'he's going to get it one day..' Kiba thought angrily 'Draco..'

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AN: hey, would really love to get some reviews and maybe some character PM's. it would help me keep going at the story. Thanks for Reading!