Diving Into You | Fred Weasley

17 | The Shrieking Shack

Scabbers moved to escape and Ron held on to him as the Rat struggled. "Scabbers, what- OUCH! He bit me!"

The four Gryffindors just left Hagrid's hut after Buckbeak's execution and were making their way up to the castle. From the corner of the trees, Naia spotted Hermione's cat waiting to pounce.

"Hermione, it's Crookshanks!"

"Crookshanks, go away!" Hermione scolded, but the rat scampered away, leading Ron to run after it, and the three to soon follow after him.

Ron had fallen over, but he managed to catch the rat in his hands. Naia stopped and crouched to where Ron was on the ground.

'Ron! Ron, you alright? C'mon, get under the cloak, Dumbledore will leave the hut in a bit-"

And then they heard it, sounds of heavy paws on the ground and a loud growl. The four had turned their heads to see none other than the black shaggy dog Harry and Naia had seen throughout the semester. '

Except this time, Naia knew who it was.

The dog pounced on Ron, grabbing his leg and dragging him off to a hole by the Whomping Willow.

"We have to get to him!"

"No, we need to get help!" Hermione protested.

"No, there's no time," Harry said. "We need to get him, if that dog can get in, we can-"

Suddenly, the tree had begun attacking them. They dodged blows left and right, rolling over and jumping. She saw a branch come for Hermione from behind. "Hermione look out!"

Hermione jumped out of the way, landing on the ground, but in the last second, another big lump of wood from the tree went to stomp on her, and there wasn't enough time for her to roll out of the way. On instinct, Naia shielded Hermione from above, maneuvering her body to throw an insanely strong gust of wind that blew the large branch the other way. Hermione watched her friend in shock as she looked at her right to see a branch coming for Harry. With a move of Naia's arms, she threw another strong gust of air in his direction, making the branch miss him by a couple of feet.

"Naia! How did you-?!"

"I'll explain later, c'mon-" Naia said as she helped Hermione up. She closed her eyes for a moment, as her palms lay open on her side. She felt the familiar hum in her chest as she felt for the water in the tree. She felt every root, every leaf, carefully sensing for the element she could get a hold of. This was the first time she would attempt to control the water in a plant as big as a tree. She only hoped she could get this right so her friends could at least make it.

"Naia, what are you-"

"Look out!" The willow tree was just about to smash the three friends just as Naia held her palms up in the air, halting the tree in its tracks. She had to remain fully concentrated on the water without losing control, or else she could kill the tree by draining its water source.

Hermione and Harry watched aghast as Naia skillfully moved her arms in a slow and fluid motion, sweat lining her brow as she tried to remain concentrated. Wherever her arms moved, the tree seemed to follow at her command, it was tiring her out though. "Go! Now!"

"But-"

"I'll be right behind you!" And at that, Harry and Hermione crawled into the hole as she held the tree in place. Naia shortly followed them. "Where does this lead to?" Naia asked shakily as Harry lead them through the tunnel with his wand on lumos.

"I don't know... it's marked on the Marauder's Map, you've seen it Naia?" She nodded. "I think it leads to Hogsmeade."

Naia was shaky at the thought of Ron being with her father. Why had he grabbed him and dragged him off here? Why Ron of all people?