Riddle Me This

Chapter 21

Catherine's POV

A few weeks later I was with Hermione, Ron, and Harry. We were headed to Hagrid's to make sure he would be okay during Buckbeak's execution that day, and at the top of the steps, low and behold, there's Draco, Pike, and Crabbe.

"Come to see the show?" Draco asked when he saw us, binoculars in his hand, and when he saw me, he seemed to realize his crappy word choice, but Hermione pinning him to the wall with her wand to his throat almost made me wonder if I should egg her on or calm her down. Ron told her not to hex Draco, which made me happy, but then she turned and punched Draco in the face, his head bouncing off the rock behind him. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Deserve it Draco." I laughed, and he ran off again, but paused at the stairs leading into the castle, turning to me.

"You staying with them or coming with us?" He asked, the evident 'I will not leave you alone again' look on his face. I smiled.

"I want to be there for Hagrid." I said. He rolled his eyes then.

"See you back in the common room." He said, before hurrying off. I smiled lightly before turning and heading down to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was very obviously upset, and told us Dumbledore would be there with him when everything happened, but said we couldn't stay.

"Please Hagrid." I begged, tears already covering my face at the thought.

"No, you don't need to see something like that." I clenched my fists.

"Then... can... can I at least help you bury him?" I asked, a tremble in my voice. "To pay my respects." Hagrid still said no. Then he changed the subject and gave Ron his rat, which he'd lost months ago because he doesn't know how to leave the damn thing in a cage.

That's around the time we had to leave, because the minister of magic, Dumbledore, and the executioner were on their way down. So we snuck out the back and then up the stairs. When we turned we saw the executioner's axe fall, but not the result of Buckbeak. I buried my face in my hands as I felt Harry pull me into his shoulder to cry.

And low and behold, Ron's rat bit him and scurried off, so we had to chase him. And once Ron grabbed the stupid thing under the Whomping Willow, he got dragged under the tree by the Grim, aka, black dog of death. Harry, Hermione and I then went after him, getting scratched up by the willow in the process. I looked around once we were under the willow.

"There's a passageway?" I asked as we walked through.

"Apparently." Harry said as we followed it all the way to the Shrieking Shack. We went up the stairs and found Ron sitting on a bed, only for him to tell us it's a trap and that the dog's an animagus, and as the door closed, there stood Sirius Black. I bit my lip as I wanted to move in front of Harry, but instead he ran over and tried to kill Sirius, which didn't work because Professor Lupin came in and disarmed him.

And then Lupin helped Sirius off the floor and it turned out their friends. And then Hermione pointed out that Lupin's a werewolf. I just threw my hands in the air.

"Where have I been during all of this?" I asked.

"Snogging Malfoy." Ron muttered, but I heard him, blushed, and slapped him over the head. "Ow, what the bloody hell was that for."

"I'm not even dating Draco, let alone kissing him. He's still trying to get in my good graces for being a prat and getting Buckbeak-" I stopped talking and bit my tongue. "Anyways, as you were saying Professor? Something about Harry needing to know something?" And so Lupin tried to explain what was going on, when Snape came in. Watching Snape and Sirius go back and forth made me nervous. And then BOOM, Harry attacked Snape.