Emrys Riddle and The Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3 of the four Ribbons Series)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I hate cats

We were almost back to the castle, when Ron suddenly lost his grip on his rat, who scampered off into the darkness. Ron chased after him, and both Harry and Hermione followed. " I'll see you back in the common." I told Cass, before I chased after the trio. I nearly tripped over them as I caught up, but before I could regain my balance I was knocked off my feet, and rolled. Feeling a real sense of de ja vu, I looked up to find Ron being dragged toward the base of a large tree by a black dog who had his teeth locked around his arm, where they soon disappeared.

Harry and Hermone scrambled over to me as the branches of the tree came alive. " Emrys, are you alright?" Hermione asked, and I reached to touch my now throbbing head. " What do we do?" I asked.

" We have to help Ron." Harry said, before Hermione's large orange cat, Crookshanks ran over to place it's paw against a knot in the tree. " You couldn't have done that sooner?" I asked, still slightly dazed. Harry and Hermione followed after the cat, and I trailed along after them. We followed the cat along a winding path, our wands lighting the dark passage before us. When we finally reached the end of it, we found ourselves standing in the shrieking shack.

We heard the floorboards creak above us, and after exchanging a look, we started up the stairs. We found Ron and Crookshanks in a one of the rooms, Ron's leg had been broken and was lying at an odd angle. " Ron, are you okay?" Hermione asked. " Where's the dog?"

" Not a dog." Ron moaned in pain." Harry, it's a trap."

" What?" Harry asked

" He's the dog. He's an animagus." Ron stared passed us, and we turned as the door swung closed to reveal a thin, pale man with dirty, black hair, and a wild, crazed look in his eyes. Sirius Black.

He disarmed us, and I was to stunned to even block his spell. His focus was on Harry as he stepped closer, and I found myself stepping closer to the trio with narrowed eyes. " I knew you'd come help your friend. Your father would have done the same for me." He told Harry. " Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful, that will things a lot easier."

Harry started toward the mass murderer, and we held him back as Ron spoke. " If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us to."

Black cautioned Ron about his leg as he tried to stand, but Ron ignored him. " Did you hear me? You'll have to kill all four of us."

" There will be only one murder here tonight."

" Why's that?" Harry said angrily." Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those muggles to get at Pettigrew? What's that matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

Hermione pleaded with him to be quiet, but Harry wasn't listening. " You killed my mum and dad." Harry shot forward, out of Ron and Hermione's grasp, and threw himself at Black, knocking them both to the ground. I was to startled to do anything as Hermione and Ron went to Harry's aid, I was pretty sure I had a concussion. Harry scramled for his wand as he broke free of the fray, and I watched a Crookshanks launched himself at Harry and latched on with his claws.

Harry threw him off and I grabbed the cat off the ground, ignoring the pain as claws dug into my arms. Hermione and Ron moved away from Black as Harry aimed his wand at him. " Going to kill me, Harry?" Black questioned as Harry approached him again.

" You killed my parents."

" I don't deny it, but if you knew the whole story-"

" The whole story. You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know."

" You've got to listen to me. You'll regret it if you don't. You don't understand. "

" I understand a lot better then you think. You never heard her, did you? My mum trying to stop Voldemort from killing me, and you did that. You did it."

" Ouch." I cried as Crookshanks swiped at my cheek, forcing me to let go. He ran over to settle himself on Black's chest, and wouldn't budge from the spot. Footsteps echoed downstairs and Hermione called out to whoever it was. When the door opened, it was revealed to be Professor Lupin.

Lupin disarmed Harry, and then spoke to the criminal on the floor. " Where is he, Sirius? He asked and Black motioned to Ron, who looked just as confused as the rest of us.  " But then, why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless..." Lupin muttered. " Unless he was the one. Unless you switched, without telling me. " Lupin added and Black nodded.

" Professor, what's going.." Harry trailed off as Lupin lowered his wand, helped Black to his feet and hugged him. It was then that Hermione revealed to us that Lupin was a werewolf, something that he didn't deny, before asking how she had figured it out.

" Spencer figured it out to." I muttered. " We thought he was talking nonsense. Cass isn't gonna be to happy since she bet him five galleons he was wrong." I added, I was talking nonsense now, the throbbing in my head starting to get to me as I leaned against the bedframe. Lupin explained how he had known we would be here, before asking to see Scabbers. Ron pulled the rat out of his pocket and Lupin moved closer to look at the squirming rodent, Crookshanks hissed it as the two of them told us that Scabbers was actually someone long believed dead.

Peter Pettigrew