Adventures at Hogwarts

Chapter 11: Buckbeak's Execution

A couple hours after Meg and Draco had reached the hill that overlooked Hagrid's hut, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came rushing down to where Draco and Meg were. Hermione was furious. Not at the sight of her best friend being with her arch-nemesis, but at the sight of Draco himself. Meg heard her friends footsteps, she nudged Draco to turn around. As soon as he saw Hermione rushing towards him, he said, "Ah! Come to see the show?" Without another word, Hermione stood right in front of Draco and said, "YOU! YOU FOUL, LOATHSOME, EVIL, LITTLE COCKROACH!!" She pointed her wand at Draco's neck. Meg shouted at her best friend, "HERMIONE, NO! HE'S NOT WORTH IT!" Hermione hesitated. Her wand was still pointed at Draco. She finally lowered her wand. Draco sighed in relief. Hermione turned around and without another word, she punched Draco square in the nose. He fell backwards in pain. Crabbe and Goyle grabbed him and the three boys ran back to the castle. Meg didn't go after them, but she stood in shock. Hermione finally spoke up, "That felt good." Ron added, "Not good; brilliant!" Meg didn't approve but she knew Hermione was going to go off on Draco about Buckbeak sooner or later. She just didn't know how.

A few minutes later, the four friends ran down the hill towards Hagrid's hut. As they approached the entrance, they saw Buckbeak tied up to a pole in the middle of a pumpkin patch. Hagrid saw the four friends approach his hut so he let them in. Once they got inside, he made them some tea. Harry was the first to ask Hagrid what all four of them were thinking. "Why do we just set him free?" Hagrid replied, "'Cause they would know it was me. Dumbledore would get into trouble. Good man Dumbledore. He said he wants to be with me when they... do it." Harry sighed. Hagrid spoke to Ron this time, "Oh by the way, Ron. I have something you may be looking for." Hagrid pulled Ron's pet rat out of a box and handed it to him. Ron was overjoyed. "Scabbers! How did you find him?" Hagrid said, "You need to be more cautious about your pets." Hermione spoke up, "Which means you owe someone an apology." Ron mocked her, "Right. Next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know." Hermione got angry. "I meant me!" before anyone could say their next sentence, a jar of tea broke and something hit Harry in the back of the head. Harry looked out the window and saw Dumbledore, the Minister of Magic, and the executioner coming down the hill towards Hagrid's hut. Hagrid started freaking out. He covered up every weird creature and moving furniture throughout the hut. He started urging the four friends to leave. Meg protested, "We'll stay with you, Hagrid!" Hagrid didn't like this idea. He retaliated, "You will do no such thing! Besides, you're not supposed to be out of the castle at this hour. You'll get in trouble. You have to go." He began forcing the four friends out the back door. Hermione tried to comfor Hagrid one last time, "It'll be okay, Hagrid." On that note, the four friends made it out of the hut and into the back of the pumpkin patch where Buckbeak was. They waited till Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner were inside Hagrid's hut. Once the adults were inside, the four friends ran up the hill to the place where Hermione punched Draco and overlooked the scene. A few moments later, the executioner went outside to where Buckbeak was. Hermione turned and cried on Ron's shoulder, and Meg cried on Harry's. The four friends couldn't see the scene very well, but they heard a slice of something rough and crows scattered. Meg and Hermione cried for a bit when something happened. Scabbers bit Ron's index finger and ran away. Ron ran after him and Harry, Hermione and Meg ran after their friend. When Ron caught up with his rat, he sat down in front of a tree and held his rat. Harry, Hermione, and Meg recognized the tree immediately. It was the Whomping Willow. Hermione spoke up, "Harry, Meg, ya'll do realize what tree this is." Harry said, "That's not good. RON RUN!" Ron looked up at his three friends and shouted, "HARRY, MEG, HERMIONE RUN! IT'S THE GRIMM!" The trio turned around and saw a black dog running towards them. The trio got out of the way, but it was to no avail. The dog grabbed Ron's feet and pulled him into the tree. Harry, Hermione, and Meg ran after him. Harry jumped at his friend to try to catch him, but failed. Then, Meg hurled herself to grab Ron. She had a good grip on him, but the dog pulled harder on him and Meg lost her grip and let go of her friend. She screamed, "Ron!" Then Harry pulled Meg out of the way of the Whomping Willow. A few seconds later, Hermione was caught in one of the branches and was flying all over the place. Harry and Meg got separated by one of the branches. It grabbed Meg but knocked Harry on the ground without his glasses. Both Hermione and Meg were screaming. Hermione's branch flew close to Harry where Hermione grabbed Harry by the shirt and carried him with her. Both branches eventually let the trio go. Hermione's branch threw both her and Harry inside the tree trunk and Meg flew in and landed on top of Harry. She apologized but Harry said jokingly, "Don't worry. It's my turn to break your fall." Meg laughed. Hermione spoke up, "Where do you suppose this goes?" Harry answered her, "I have a hunch. I just hope I'm wrong." The trio walked through the inside. The trio arrived in the upper floor of the Shrieking Shack. They walked through a hall that lead them to a room that was dusty and rotting. The trio saw Ron and ran to him. Harry asked, "Ron, where's the dog?" Ron answered him in fear, "Harry, it's a trap! He's the dog! He's an animagus!" Harry, Meg, and Hermione turned around to see a scruffy looking man standing behind a door. He had dark circles underneath his eyes, his clothes were torn, and his hair was scruffy and messy. The four friends recognized him. This WAS Sirius Black! This was the man everyone was talking about! Meg took action. She stood in front of Harry and said to Sirius, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Sirius retaliated immediately, "No! Only one will die tonight!" Harry shouted, "Then it will be you!" He shoved Meg to the floor and attacked Sirius. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it right at Sirius. Sirius scoffed, "Are you going to kill me, Harry?" Harry hesitated. Withing seconds, Harry was disarmed by Remus Lupin. Harry stood up and ran back to his three friends. All of them were surprised to see Lupin out of the castle at that hour. Remus helped Siruis stand up. Without another word, the two men hugged. The four friends over heard their conversation, "He's here! Let's kill him!" Hermione protested, "No! I trusted you! After all this time, you've been his friend!" She turned to her friends this time, "He's a Werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes!" Remus walked toward Hermione and asked, "How long have you known?" Hermione was hesitant. Meg answered for her friend, "Ever since Professor Snape sent out the essay!" Remus then congratulated the two girls, "You really are the brightest witches of your age." Before Remus could continue, Sirius shouted, "Enough talk Remus! LET'S KILL HIM!!" Remus tried to stop Sirius but it was to no avail. Sirius continued, "I DID MY WAITING!!! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!!" The four friends were in awe. They didn't know how to react to any of this. Remus reluctantly handed Sirius his wand and said, "Very well; kill him. But wait one more minute, Harry has the rite to know why." Harry jumped in, "I know why..You betrayed my parents...You're the reason they're dead!" Remus stepped in, "No, Harry it wasn't him. Someone did betray your parents but it was somebody who until quite recently I believed to be dead." Harry questioned, "Who was it then?!?" Sirius answered, "Peter Petigrew. And he's in this room. Right now. Come out come out, Peter!" All of a sudden, Snape came up from behind Sirius and disarmed him. "Ah! Vengeance is sweet. I'd hope to be the one who catches you." Snape said gleefully to Sirius. Remus stepped in, but it didn't help. Snape's focus was still on Sirius. Snape gestured to Remus, "I had told Dumbledore that you were helping an old friend into the castle. Now, here's the proof." Sirius spoke up, "Brilliant, Snape. Once again you put your keen mind to the task and come up with the wrong conclusion." Snape didn't like that comment. Sirius continued, "Now if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to." Snape held his wand up to Sirius head and said, "Give me a reason. I beg you." Remus spoke up for his friend, "Severus, don't be a fool." Sirius interrupted him and said, "He can't help it. He's gotta be happy right now." For a few more seconds, Remus and Sirius argues until Snape jumped in, "Look at you two. Arguing like an old married couple." Sirius retaliated, "Why don't you run along and play with your Chemistry set." Snape continued, "I could do it, you know. But why deny the Dementors. They've been so anxious to find you. Do I detect fear? Ah yes, the Dementor's kiss. One could only imagine what that must be like to endure. But I'll do my best." Before either of the three men could do anything, Harry reached towards Meg and grabbed her wand out of her pocket. Ron pulled Meg closer to him to keep her from stopping Harry. Harry raised Meg's wand and shot Snape into a bed post. Meg, Ron, and Hermione were stunned. Ron spoke up, "Harry, what did you do?" Hermione finished his statement, "You attacked a teacher!" Harry ignored his friends a questioned Sirius. "Tell me about Peter Petigrew." Remus began to describe their old "friend". "He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend!" Harry questioned, "No. Petigrew's dead. You killed him." He pointed to Sirius but Remus corrected Harry. "No he didn't. And I thought that was true until you told me that you saw Petigrew on the map." Harry spoke, "The map was lying then." Sirius interrupted him, "The map never lies. Petigrew's alive. And he's right there." Sirius pointed to Ron. Ron freaked out, "Me?!?!? He's mental." Sirius continued, "Not you. Your rat!" Ron continued, "Scabbers has been in my family for..." Sirius interrupted him, "Twelve years!? Quite a long time for a common garden rat! He's missing a toe isn't he?" Ron argued, "So what?" Harry began to put the pieces together. "The only thing they could find left of Petigrew was his finger. Show me!" Sirius grabbed Scabbers and began to transform him back into a human. Ron was screaming. When Sirius was successful, all of them saw a short man who looked a lot like a rat. The four friends were in shock. Petigrew reunited with his old friends but they wouldn't have it. Petigrew then saw Harry and began to tell him, "Harry! You look just like your father, James!" Sirius shouted, "How dare you talk about James in front of him!" Remus then yelled at Petigrew, "You sold James and Lilly to Voldemort's didn't you?" Petigrew then babbled on with excuses. Then he turned to Sirius and asked him what he would do. Sirius replied, "I would've died! I would rather die than betray my friends!" Petigrew then ran to Harry and muttered something that pissed Remus and Sirius off. The two men put Petigrew on the floor. Remus and Sirius wanted to kill Petigrew but Harry argued, "We'll take you to the castle. After that, the Dementors can have you!" Petigrew thanked Harry but Harry didn't like it. They all headed outside the Whomping Willow and discussed what they were going to do next.