TRUST ME, harry potter ( very slow updates )

FIFTY-FIVE - BUCKBEAK'S RESCUE!

HARRY GLANCED AROUND THEM, before whispering "Wait here," to the two girls, "I'll do it," he said.

As Fudge's voice started again, Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch, and approached Buckbeak.

Cassie and Hermione looked at each other; Though Cassie knew they manage to set Buckbeak free, she couldn't help but worry — What if she saw it wrong?

"It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the Hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall he executed on the sixth of June at sundown sentenced to execution by beheading, to be carried out by the Committee's appointed executioner, Walden Macnair..."

"Come on, Buckbeak," Cassie heard Harry murmured, "come on, we're going to help you. Quietly... quietly..."

"... as witnessed below. Hagrid, you sign here..."

Cassie rushed out, grabbing Buckbeak's rope. Buckbeak nodded, "Come on, Buckbeak," she said quietly, as Harry took the rope off her.

"Well, let's get this over with," said the reedy voice of the Committee member from inside Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stay inside—"

"No, I — I wan' ter be with him... I don' wan' him ter be alone —"

Footsteps echoed from within the cabin.

"Buckbeak, move!" Harry hissed.

As Harry tugged harder on the rope, the Hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door. "One moment, please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice. "You need to sign too." The footsteps stopped.

Cassie called out Buckbeak's name, pulling on the rope. Hermione's poked her head out from a tree, gesturing for them to hurry.

They could still hear Dumbledore's voice talking from within the cabin. They gave the rope another wrench. Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees...

"Quick! Quick!" Hermione moaned, darting out from behind her tree, seizing the rope too and adding her weight to make Buckbeak move faster. Finally, they were out of sight.

"Stop!" Harry whispered to Hermione. "They might hear us."

Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang. Harry, Cassie, Hermione, and Buckbeak stood quite still; even the Hippogriff seemed to be listening intently. Silence... then —

"Where is it?" said the reedy voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" said the executioner furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary," said Dumbledore. There was a note of amusement in his voice. He knew, of course he did.

"Beaky!" said Hagrid huskily. Cassie stood in front of Buckbeak, stopping him from running towards Hagrid.

There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger. And then came the howling, and this time they could hear Hagrid's words through his sobs.

"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling. "We should search the grounds, the forest."

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" said Dumbledore, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"O' — o' course, Professor," said Hagrid, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in..."

They listened closely. They heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.

"Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around.

"We'll have to hide in here," said Hermione, who looked very shaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for another couple of hours... Oh, this is going to be difficult..."

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the forest. The sun was setting now. "We need to know what's happening, though," Cassie said, "Y'know, up in the Whomping Willow?"

Cassie knew Harry was the one to save him, Hermione and Sirius from the Dementors. He was the one to save Callie and Aurora, too.

"Yeah," Harry said, "It would help a lot with everything."

"Okay," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, guys, remember..."

"No shit," Cassie blurted.

As they moved around the edge of the forest, the darkness was falling thickly around them. They stopped moving when they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.

"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.

A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air. "Get away from him — get away — come here —"

And then they saw four more figures appear out of nowhere. They watched themselves and Callie chase after Ron. Then they saw Ron dive. "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"

"There's Sirius!" said Harry. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. They watched Cassie grin as the dog gave her a nod.

They watched Cassie pull Harry out of the way, and even from afar, they could see both of their faces turn red. Hermione looked at the present Harry and Cassie with a smirk.

"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Harry as they watched the dog pulling Ron into the roots, with Callie holding onto its fur. "Ouch — look, Callie just got walloped by the tree — and so did you, Hermione — this is weird,"

The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches. They watched Harry light up his wand. "Look, I just got walloped by the tree," he said.

Cassie watched herself gesture for Crookshanks to go press the knot on the tree, before it finally froze.

"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.

"I wonder who gave Crookshanks that genius idea," Cassie muttered, "Oh, yeah, the genius also known as Cassiopeia Dorcas Smith!"

"And there we go..." Harry muttered, reaching for Cassie's hand. "We're in."

A/N: It was quite hard to do this chapter — I had to copy and paste my other chapters into my notes to write this.
QOTD: who do you think cassie will go to the yule ball with ( hint: it may not be harry )?