Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

96

Hermione hadn't even turned her head around when running right past her was a large, jet-black dog and it headed towards Ron. Ron turned to run, but the dog had its jaws locked tight around his ankle and was pulling towards a hole near the roots of the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione hadn't even got a foot near the tree when it started to try and get a swing at them. 

"We need to help!" Hermione shouted, ducking from a vine that aimed for her head. 

"I know, Hermione! But how are we going to get..." Harry started when the branches stopped swinging at them. They glanced down to find Crookshanks sitting by the roots of the tree, lightly licking himself, near a knot on the trunk. 

"How did he know to do that?" Hermione asked, bewildered, while she walked over just as Crookshanks crawled into the gap in the tree. 

"He's friends with the dog," Harry mumbled while he bent down and climbed in, "I've seen them together." 

Hermione followed behind, her wand drawn out in front of her. They crawled the tunnel, which seemed to go on for ages till they spotted a dim light glaring down inside the end of the tunnel. Harry scurried in first and Hermione came after. It was a disordered, dusty room. The wallpaper was stained and peeling off the wall, there were stains all floor and the furniture was broken like someone smashed it while the windows were boarded up. 

"Harry, I think this is the Shrieking Shack." Hermione whispered just as there was something creaking overhead, causing them to glance up at the ceiling. 

"I think this way," Harry mumbled. 

"Hang on, let have some back up first," Hermione told him as she pulled out a dog whistle. She pressed her lips on the tip and blew, but she quickly stopped when there was suddenly a loud banging from above that made her nervous about blowing it again. 

"Keep that on hand," Harry ordered her as they hurried down the hallway and up the stairs. They hurried to the second floor where only one door was opened wide. As they crept towards it, there was a deep, loud purring and a low moan. They held up their wands and peered inside. On a four-poster bed with dusty hangings, Crookshanks laid purring loudly at the sight of them. Then on the floor beside him, clutching his leg was Ron. They dashed across the room towards him, Hermione slipping her wand into her back pocket,  as she sat beside Ron's side. 

"Ron-- are you okay?" 

"Where's the dog?" 

"Not a dog! Harry, it's a trap! He's the dog! He's an Animagus!" Ron shouted, pointing right behind Harry and Hermione. Slowly, they (Hermione standing up) turned around till they were face to face with none other than Sirius Black. 

"Expelliarmus!" He croaked, causing Harry's wand to fly across the air, while he took a step closer towards them. His eyes were deadly fixed on Harry.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend, 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..." Sirius told them. Harry made a run at Black, but Hermione grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him right behind her. 

"If you want to kill Harry, yo'll have to kill us too!" Ron shouted before trying to climb to his feet. 

"Stay down, you will damage that leg even more." Black ordered Ron. 

"Ron's right! You'll have to kill all three of us!" Hermione shouted at Black. 

"Oh no! Only one will die tonight... and it will be him!" Sirius growled, pointing over at Ron. But it wasn't Ron he was pointing to, but Scabbers.  Everyone darted a look of confusion at each other.

"You three don't get it? That damn rat right there in his hands ruined my life! The yellow-bellied coward! He's the one, who killed James and Lily! Then he went murdering all those muggles and left me to take the fall! You filthy, backstabbing bugger, I'm going to make you suffer for that! Look at my hair, you foul demon! I used to have the most shiniest and smoothest of all hair and now look at it! Look at it! It's greasy and matted..." Sirius went on a rant of complete nonsense as he paced around the room, shooting a few glares at Scabbers, and leaving Hermione, Harry and Ron in a state of trying to figure out what they were even supposed to say in this situation. 

"I think he's finally gone mental." Ron mumbled to them. To Hermione's surprise, Crookshanks jumped from its cozy spot on the bed and walked across the room towards Sirius and jumped onto his chest. Sirius began lightly petting Crookshanks back as he was nodding his head.

"I know, Crookshanks, I know! See! The cat knows better than you three, how that rat ruined my life... and yours Harry!" Black shot at them, gently pressing his head against the cat's head. Harry turned towards them as his mouth clenched and unclenched. 

"Then even the cat's gone mental." Ron murmured to Hermione. Before she could shot a remark to him, they could hear muffled footsteps echoing up through the floor and moving up towards them. 

"Help! We're up here! Sirius Black! Quick!" Hermione called out, hoping it was Fenrir or Scabior. However, rushing right into the room wasn't either. It was Remus. Hermione sighed in relief, knowing they were save... until...

"Where is he, Sirius?" he said in a tense voice. Sirius pointed right at Ron again and mumbled 'he's in the boy's hand'. 

"Is everybody going mental today?" Ron shouted, clinging tighter to Scabbers, while Lupin moved over to Sirius's side. 

"Merlin's beard, Elka was right! Should have known, Elka always seems to be right about everything. It's like she has a secret agent working for her that tells her every little secret." Lupin mumbled to himself. Hermione's eyes widened. 

"No! I trusted you! And all this time.... you've been his friend... and I've covered for you! I knew your secret and covered for you! But all this time... you sneak, awful man!" Hermione shouted at him before turning to Ron and Harry, "He's a werewolf! It's why he's been missing classes!" 

"How long have you known?" he asked her as she turned to face him again. 

"Since Professor Snape had us write the essay about werewolves," 

"Well, well, well, I'm really impressed, Hermione. You really are the brightest witch of your age." Lupin told her, "Now I insist you three listen to us. We can explain everything." 

They looked at each other, Hermione cling tightly to the dog whistle in her hand, ready to blow on it to drive them mad. 

"If you weren't helping him, how did you know he was here?" Harry asked. 

"The Marauder's Map." 

"You know how to work it?" 

"Of course I know how to work it, I'd help written it. I'm Moony!" 

"You wrote--" 

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening because I had an idea the three of you would try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid. And I was right? Even with your father's old cloak, Harry--" 

"How do you know about the cloak?"

"Please! The number of times I saw James disappearing under it, but the point is-- even wearing it, you still show up on the map! However, on your return from Hagrid's hut, I saw you were now accompanied by someone else."

"But we weren't!" Hermione shot at him. 

"I couldn't believe my eyes, I thought the map was malfunctioning  because according to everybody else-- well almost everybody else-- this person's supposed to be dead! But then I remembered running into Elka after Hermione was found and asked her how she could possible believe Sirius was innocent and she told me this theory of hers that I thought her quite mad! However, it seems she was right when I saw Black go off carrying two of you into the Whomping Willow--" 

"One of us!" Ron said angrily. 

"No, Ron, two of you." Lupin said, "your rat, Ron, I would like to see him." 

"What does Scabbers have to do with any of this?" Ron asked. 

"Because he's not a rat! He's a wizard! An Animagus!" Black shouted suddenly, "by the name of Peter--- Pettingrew!"