Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Forty-Six

Hermione was screaming; Harry and Ron were yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent into the air a jet of sparks which missed my face by inches, I felt the shrunken arm under my fingers twisting madly, but I clung on, my other hand punching every part of Black it could find.

But Black's free hand had found my throat - 

"No," he hissed. "I've waited too long -"

The fingers tightened and I choked. 

Then I saw Harry's foot swing out of nowhere. Black let go of me with a grunt of pain. Ron had thrown himself on Black's wand hand and I heard a faint clatter. I fought free of the tangle bodies and saw my own wand rolling across the floor, I threw myself towards it but -

"Argh!"

Crookshanks had joined the fray; both sets of claws had sunk themselves deep into my arm; I threw him off, but Crookshanks now darted towards my wand -

"NO YOU DON'T!" Harry roared, and together we aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting; I snatched up my wand and turned -

"Get out of the way!" I shouted at Ron and Hermione.

Thankfully, they didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up her and Ron's wands. Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His think chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched me walking slowly nearer, my wand pointing straight at Black's heart. 

"Going to kill me, Bella?" he whispered.

I could feel Harry's gaze on me. "Do it, Bella. Do it for our parents"

I stopped right above him, my wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.

"You killed mine and Harry's parents," I said, my voice shaking slightly but my wand hand was quite steady. "And yet some people say you're my dad...I don't really believe it. My dad wouldn't do something so stupid like follow Voldemorts orders"

Black stared up at me out of those sunken eyes.

"I don't deny it," he said, very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story -"

"The whole story?" I repeated, a furious pounding in my ears. "You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know!"

"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't...you don't understand..."

"We understand a lot better than you think," Harry said, his voice shaking more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum...trying to stop Voldemort from killing me...and you did that...you did it..."

Before either of us could say another word, something ginger streaked past me; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest, and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.

"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.

But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to me, and looked up at me with those great yellow eyes. To my right, Hermione gave a dry sob. 

I stared down at Black and Crookshanks, my grip tightening on the wand. So what if I had to kill the cat, too? It was in league with Black...if it was prepared to die, trying to protect Black, that wasn't my business...if Black wanted to save it, that only proved he cared more for Crookshanks than mine and Harry's parents...