Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Fifty Eight

Nothing better than writing when the weather is rubbish and you have music and a cup of tea in front of you. Happy Sunday everyone!

RECAP: HARRY, BELLA, AND HERMIONE HAD JUST SAVED BUCKBEAK AND ARE NOW DECIDING WHAT TO DO NEXT. DON'T REMEMBER? GO BACK AND READ AGAIN :) 

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"We'll have to hide in here," Hermione said, she looked very shaken up if I do say so myself. Not like I can blame her. That was a close call. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for another couple of hours...oh, this is going to be difficult..."

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the Forest. The sun was setting now. Then an idea suddenly came to my head. 

"We're going to have to move," I said to them. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on"

"OK," Hermione said, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, remember..."

We moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around us, until we were hidden behind a clump of trees through which we could make out the Willow. 

"There's Ron!" Harry said suddenly, making me jump. Damn that boy can be like a ninja sometimes...

I looked to see a dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air. 

"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here -"

And then we saw three more figures materialise out of nowhere. I watched myself, Harry, and Hermione chase after Ron. Then I saw Ron dive. 

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat -"

"There's my Dad!" I said. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. We saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron...

"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" Harry said, watching as the dog pulled Ron into the roots. "Ouch - look, I just got walloped by the tree - and so did you two - this is weird -"

"Like I said, we'll never get a normal year at Hogwarts..." I mumbled. 

We watched as the Whomping Willow creaked and lashed out with its lower branches; we could see ourselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.

"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," Hermione told us. 

"And there we go..." I muttered. "We're in"

The moment they disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, we heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. 

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" Hermione said. "If only Dumbledore had come with us..."

"Yeah but Macnair and Fudge would've come too..." I said, looking at Buckbeak. 

Harry nodded, a bitter look on his face. "I bet you anything Fudge would've told Macnair to murder Sirius on the spot..."

I winced looking down. I can't lose my Dad now...I've already lost him once and spent most of my life not knowing who he was, then finding out that he was the supposed murderer when actually it turns out he's innocent. I have a lot of making up to do with him.

We watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes, nothing happened. The scene was deserted. Then - 

"Here comes Lupin!" I said, as we saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. I looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.