A Young Wizard's Journey - Prisoner of Azkaban

Unearthing the rat

It was a mark as to how badly affected Y/N was that he didn't feel the cloak until it was almost on top of them.

'Come on,' said Harry's voice, 'we need to go.'

'Hagrid needs us,' said Y/N.

'I know-' began Harry.

'No!' hissed Ron at once. 'We'll get Hagrid in more trouble, we need to get back up to the castle.'

'We can't just leave him! We need-!' began Y/N and suddenly Ron materialised in front of him. He was looking in Y/N's general direction, so Y/N held his gaze. Scabbers was still fighting his grip, but Ron was doing a good job of holding him.

'We need to go,' said Ron flatly. 'I want to go down there as much as you do, but Fudge, Dumbledore, and the executioner are all down there. We'll all get expelled. They still think Black's after Harry and we've got Scabbers now. We need answers.'

Y/N opened his mouth to respond but there was a look on Ron's face, one he hadn't seen there before, that made him falter.

'Yeah, okay,' said Y/N. 'Let's-'

'Crookshanks, no!' hissed Hermione.

Y/N span around to see Crookshanks sunk low to the ground, creeping steadily towards him.

'Sorry Mione,' he said as his wand shot out of the holster. 'Impedimenta!'

Crookshanks froze in his tracks.

'Let's go quick, before Black-' but even as he was saying it, Y/N could feel it was too late. His gaze travelled back towards Hagrid's hut and saw the massive black dog barrelling towards them.

Of course, it knew Crookshanks. It made sense it was also working with Black, especially with how smart it was. Y/N pushed past his friends and removed his own disillusionment charm.

The dog slid to a halt a distance away from them, its eyes on Y/N.

'Tell Black we've got Scabbers, we'll get our own answers and report to him if we need to.'

The dog stood stock still for a few seconds. Y/N could have sworn he saw a look of apology cross the features before it lunged. Both paws went into Y/N's chest and he was sent crashing to the ground. The dog used him as a platform to leap off and continued its sprint towards Ron.

The dog sank its teeth around Ron's arm and began dragging him away. Y/N rolled onto his front and pushed himself up searching for his wand. Unfortunately, the dog disarming him had brought enough time for Crookshanks to get free. A split-second later and he saw the ginger flash running past with a very familiar looking stick of wood in his mouth.

'Blasted smart cat,' he snarled as he got to his feet. He went to give chase, but his heart sank as he heard a shriek of pain and span around. Both Harry and Hermione were on the floor. They had given chase to the dog which was dragging Ron towards the Whomping Willow and the flailing branches had hit both of them to the ground.

Y/N sprinted forward just as the tree reared back. He shoved himself between the swinging branch and Hermione just as it connected. He felt the harsh wood lash across his back and could have sworn he felt his shirt rip.

He grabbed her under the arms and scooped her onto her feet just as Harry scrambled to his own and they moved out the way of the flailing branches.

'Lumos!' said Harry, the end of his wand ignited and revealed the trunk where there seemed to be an opening. The torso of Ron was just disappearing through it. Y/N watched him wrap his foot around one of the roots in an attempt to prevent the dog dragging him away.