'AAARGH!' he yelled, pointing at Harry's head. Then he turned tail and ran, at breakneck speed, back down the hill, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.
Harry tugged the Cloak up again, but the damage was done.
'Harry!' Ron said, stumbling forward and staring hopelessly at the point where Harry had disappeared, 'you'd better run for it! If Malfoy tells anyone – you'd better get back to the castle, quick –'
'See you later,' said Harry, and without another word, we tore back down the path towards Hogsmeade.
Would Malfoy believe what he had seen? Would anyone believe Malfoy? Nobody else other than Amy knew about the Invisibility Cloak – nobody except Dumbledore. Dumbledore would know exactly what had happened if he found out, so it was crucial we got back fast enough to make Malfoy sound ridiculous.
Back into Honeydukes, back down the cellar steps, across the stone floor, through the trapdoor – Harry pulled off the Cloak, tucked it under his arm, and ran, flat out, along the passage, with Demelza and I right behind him. It was safe to say Demelza's first visit to Hogsmeade hadn't exactly gone to plan.
Malfoy would get back first … how long would it take him to find a teacher? Panting, a sharp pain in our sides, we reached the slide which led up to the witch statue. Harry turned and spoke to us.
"Look, you two will need to stay here for a little while. Keep the cloak on and hide in that corner there" He pointed into the darkness underneath the slide. "It'll be too much of a giveaway if Malfoy has told a teacher. Wait like half an hour then try and get back up to the common room. It's much better if I'm caught than either of you two"
I was confused, surely it would be fine if we all just wore the cloak back up to Gryffindor Tower? People in the common room would definitely lie for us, I thought. But clearly Harry didn't, because before we could say anything, he threw himself out from under the cloak and sped off up the chute.
We moved into the place he had indicated and sat down. It wasn't exactly comfortable down here, but we didn't really have a choice.
"So, how's Stefan?" I asked Demelza
"He's really great, having a boyfriend 2 years older means I've got a fair few fourth year mates, especially the Hufflepuffs. He's immensely caring, though I must say he can be a bit overprotective at times, there's been moments where he's even moved to defend me from harm when people were clearly just messing around"
"You gonna do a double date with Amy and Andrew at any point?"
"Yeah, probably, we've talked about it, although it might be better if we wait for you and Harry to be official first, then we can make it a triple"
"That would be nice, and maybe it's best if we wait till next school year when we can all visit Hogsmeade legally"
"Harpies are doing well at the moment" said Demelza
"Yes, and what a win that was against Portree last night, Hermione was fuming" I said, laughing at the memory
"I can't believe I forgot it was on, would have been so good to listen to!"
"Don't think she'll get to see Eva Smacktold play for them live, she's defo gonna jump ship with the form they're in, she's too good for them"
"Absolutely"
We continued discussing Quidditch for another 20 minutes or so, before we headed back up the tunnel. I opened the statue, and motioned hurriedly for Demelza to follow me out, where we covered ourselves with the cloak again, and headed up to the common room. One we entered, we found Hermione, Amy and Andrew sitting together.
At the moment we uncovered ourselves, Andrew jumped in shock
"What the- is that a-"
"An Invisibility Cloak, yeah, it's Harry's" I said
"Do you know what happened?" Demelza asked Amy and Andrew
They nodded
She told them about how we had to wait before going back out of the statue tunnel.
"When did Harry get this cloak?" asked Andrew
"Christmas 1991. It was his dad's, who'd left it with Dumbledore before he died" I told him.
Hermione chewed her lip
"Harry was lucky not to be caught last time" she said. "I knew it was a disaster waiting to happen, him going into Hogsmeade illegally"
"Well, with a bit more luck, he's managed to worm his way out of trouble this time too" I said
About 10 minutes later, Harry and Ron entered the common room.
"What happened?" we all asked right away. Demelza and I gave Harry his cloak as he and Ron sat down with us.
"I got away with it but I was very lucky. Snape was walking up to the statue entrance as soon as I got out of it. He took me to his office, and it was looking pretty bleak until Ron arrived. He told Snape he'd given me the map and the other stuff we bought today last time. Snape then called Lupin, and Lupin covered up for me, apparently he's met the people who made the map. He's taken it though, I don't have it anymore. Snape seems like he knows who made it too, as he thinks I got it from the manufacturers"
"You ought not to do it again mate" said Hermione. "You've gotten away by the skin of your teeth twice now. I can't make you see sense but surely it isn't worth the risk anymore"
"Lupin said the same thing, and that he wouldn't cover up for me again"
At that point we were interrupted by a tapping on the window next to us. It was an owl, with a letter addressed to Hermione. She opened it, and her face fell, tears forming in her eyes.
"What?" we all said.
She chewed her lip, then said "Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed.'
"No!" I said, saddened
Hermione gave me the letter, and I read it out loud.
Dear Hermione, We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you gave us. Hagrid
'They can't do this,' said Harry. 'They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous.'
'Malfoy's dad's frightened the Committee into it,' said Hermione, wiping her eyes. 'You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal, though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope … nothing will have changed.'
'Yeah, it will,' said Ron fiercely. 'You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help.'
"So will I!" I added determinedly, as did Harry
Hermione fist bumped us, re-energized
"You're such amazing friends" she said "Together we'll put this right!"
