WILDEST DREAM ➛ʜ.ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡɪɴ ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀ

020

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over his chest. The rat was wriggling madly. Ron came to a sudden halt, trying to force Scabbers deeper into his pocket. "What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still -- OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a
minute --"

"He won't -- stay -- put --"
Scabbers was plainly terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.

"Ugh I'll slit out this rat Ron." I grunted at the rat.

We all stood at the side of the castle as we just watched the horrified scene of Buckbeak being death by the ministry at Hagrid's hut.

We visited him before the accident to cheer him up or even more but of course it wouldn't. I can't believe Draco would do this even after telling him. After that day we are not talking and now he didn't even made a step to stop it.

I seriously need to spek to him.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Harry.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!" Crookshanks came and started to follow the rat.

"Scabbers -- NO!"

Too late -- the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the
ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him,
and before we could stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.

"Ron!" Hermione moaned.

She and Harry looked at each other, then followed at a sprint; it as
impossible to run full out under the cloak; they pulled it off and it
streamed behind them like a banner as they hurtled after Ron; they could
hear his feet thundering along ahead and his shouts at Crookshanks.

"Get away from him -- get away -- Scabbers, come here --"

There was a loud thud.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat --"

Ron was sprawled on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket; he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump.

"Ron -- come on back under the cloak --" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore
the Minister -- they'll be coming back out in a minute --"

But we could cover overselves again or catch pur breath we heard a soft pounding of gigantic paws.
Something was bounding toward us, quiet as a shadow -- an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

"Snuffles!" I grinned.

He had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit Harry on the chest; he keeled over backward in a whirl of hair; he felt its hot breath, saw inch- long teeth - But the force of its leap had carried it too far; it rolled off him.

"Snuffles! That's Harry I told you about him!" I shouted trying to get his attention.

Now he leaped to his new attacker.
Ron was on his feet. As snuffles sprang back toward them he pushed Harry
aside; snuffles jaws fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm.

Harry lunged forward, he seized a handful of the brute's hair, but it
was dragging Ron away as easily as though he were a rag doll --
Suddenly something hit me that I was on the group. I let out a groan.

"Lumos!" Harry whisperd.

The wand light showed him the trunk of a thick tree; we had chased
Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop us going nearer.

And there, at the base of the trunk, was Snuffles, dragging Ron backward
into a large gap in the roots -- Ron was fighting furiously, but his
head and torso were slipping out of sight --

"Ron!" We shouted, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and we were forced backward again.

"Harry -- we've got to go for help --" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding
too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.

"No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time --"

"Harry -- we're never going to get through without help --"

Another branch whipped down at us, twigs clenched like knuckles.

"If that dog can get in, we can," Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.

"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered frantically, dancing un certainly
on the spot, "Please..."

Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk.

Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped
moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.

"What the fu–" I gasped as I saw the cat go inside.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Harry's
arm painfully hard. "How did he kno--?"

"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on -- and keep your wand out --"

"Why do you name the dog Snuffles?" Harry asked as we went towards the tree.

"I've been meeting him every day and feeding him, he's my friend!" I scoffed as they gave me a look.

"He's a fucking beast is what he is!" Harry exclaimed kneeling down infront of the tree.

"This bit–" I let out a scream as Hermione pushed ne inside the tree where Harry went and I hit my butt on the ground letting out a groan.

"Sorry." Hermione whispered as soon as she came.
"Where's Ron?" she whispered in a terrified voice.

"This way," said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.

"Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from
behind him.

"I don't know... It's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George
said no one's ever gotten into it.... It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade..."

We moved as fast as we could, bent almost double; ahead of them,
Crookshanks's tail bobbed in and out of view.

As I was walking I thought why would snuffles do that and not listen to me? It's something to do with it.

We got more inside the tunnel and saw a light coming from a place. It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.

The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway. Hermione suddenly grabbed Harry's arm again. Her wide eyes were traveling around the boarded windows.

On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks,
purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching
his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

We dashed across to him.

"Ron -- are you okay?"

"Bloody hell you look ghastly!"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap --"

"What --"

"He's the dog... he's an Animagus."

Ron was staring over Harry's shoulder. I and Harry wheeled around. With a
snap, the man in the shadows closed the door behind them.

A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so over his cheekbone but not so much. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin.

It was Sirius Black.