Prisoner of Lies (HP Fan Fic)

The Shrieking Shack

Chapter 19: The Shrieking Shack

I jumped out of my bed to see what was happening outside. I looked out the window and saw Ron, Harry, and Hermione going down to Hagrid's hut. I started to run down to the main doors to see if I could somehow change what was about to happen. By the time I got outside, I saw Ron get dragged into the tree by Sirius in dog form. The branches started to beat down and attack Harry and Hermione.

"Guys, hurry!" I yelled as I took a long twig and pressed the knot in the tree, causing it to freeze. Harry crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down into the tree. Hermione followed after him and I quickly got in after her. I slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a low tunnel. Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, was down here with us.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione whispered in a terrified voice.

"This way," I said, setting off towards the stairs I saw in my dream.

We moved as fast as we could, bent over. On and on went the passage. All I could think about was Ron and what Sirius could be doing to him. I was drawing breath in sharp, painful gasps, running at a crouch along with Harry and Hermione behind me.

And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted. Harry and Hermione paused, gasping for breath, edging forward. We all raised our wands when I saw the one of the rooms that I thought they had entered.

It was 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. They weren't in this room.

I glanced back at Harry and Hermione who both looked very frightened. "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack." Hermione whispered.

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. I looked up at the ceiling. Hermione was gripping Harry's arm rather hard. Quietly as we could, we crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase that I remembered. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs. We reached the dark landing.

"Nox," Harry and Hermione whispered, making the ends of their wands go dark. Only one door was open. As we crept towards it, I heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. We exchanged a last look, a last nod.

Wand held tightly before me, I kicked the door wide open.

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

Harry and Hermione dashed across to him as I looked around for my father. He was here, somewhere.

"Ron-are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. I could see his teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap-"

"What-"

"He's the dog...he's an Animagus..." I told them as I pointed my wand at the figure hiding behind the door. With a snap, he closed the door and stepped out from where he was.

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 tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was my father, Sirius Black.

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at Harry and Hermione. Their wands flew right into his hands. He kept two of the wands in his pocket and one in his hand, pointed at me.