Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

48) The Execution

Ron stopped suddenly.

"Oh, please, Ron," Hermione started.

"It's Scabbers — he won't — stay put —"

Ron bent over, struggling to keep Scabbers in his pocket. The rat was flailing wildly, trying to bite Ron.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," he hissed.

I heard a door open behind us, and the men's voices rang out.

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione whispered.

"Okay — Scabbers, stay put —"

We walked forward, all of us trying to ignore the voices behind us.

Ron stopped again.

"I can't hold him — Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us —"

Scabbers was squealing loudly, though not loud enough to cover the sounds behind us. There was a jumble of voices, a silence, then the unmistakable swish and thud of the axe.

Hermione swayed, and I suddenly found my breathing erratic. Fast and shallow.

"They did it!" Hermione whispered. "I d-don't believe it — they did it!"

Even Scabbers stopped moving for the moment. I felt Ron put a hand on my shoulder, and turned to see that he had gone paper-white. Behind us, when the sun dipped down completely, I heard wild howling.

"Hagrid," Harry mumbled. He made to turn back, but we each grabbed at him, stopping him.

"We can't," Ron said shakily. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him...."

"How — could — they?" I choked out. "How could they?"

"Come on," Ron said,

We turned back towards the castle, careful to walk slow so we'd stay hidden beneath the Cloak. The little light that was left was fading, and by the time we reached flat ground, darkness had settled completely.

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed suddenly, clamping his hand over his pocket. Scabbers was writhing again. Ron stopped suddenly, struggling to force the rat farther into his pocket. "What's the matter with you, you stupid rat? Stay still — OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, be quiet," Hermione whispered. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute —"

"He won't — stay — put —"

The rat was clearly terrified. It wriggled with all its might, struggling to escape Ron's grip.

"What's the matter with him?"

Slinking towards us was Crookshanks. It could either see us or hear Scabbers' squeaks, but the cat was coming either way."

"Crookshanks!" Hermione groaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

The cat just came closer.

"Scabbers — NO!"

The rat had slipped between Ron's fingers, hit the ground, and thundered away. Crookshanks tore after him, and Ron pulled the Cloak off of him, chasing the animals into the darkness.

"Ron!" Hermione groaned.

We all looked at each-other, then followed at a sprint. It wasn't easy to run under the Cloak, so we pulled it off, letting it stream behind us for a moment. We could hear Ron ahead of us.

"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —" There was a loud thud. "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"

We nearly fell over Ron. He was sprawled on the grass, his hands covering the quivering lump in his pocket.

"Ron — come on — back under the Cloak —" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore — the Minister — they'll be coming back out in a minute —"

Before we could cover ourselves again, before we could even catch our breath, the thundering of giant paws roared through our ears. Something was pelting towards us in the dark — an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

I reached for Riptide, but it was too late. The dog gave a gigantic leap, paws hitting Harry. Harry fell back onto me, and I dropped my sword, groaning when his elbow dig into my ribs with the force of the dog behind it. Harry struggled to stand, and I heard the growling of the dog, knowing it was preparing for another attack.

Ron was on his feet. As the dog shot towards Harry, Ron pushed him out of the way. The dog's jaw fastened around Ron's outstretched arm. I stumbled up, lunging towards the beast. It was dragging Ron away easily, as if he were a rag doll.

Suddenly, something hard slammed into my chest, and I fell, suddenly finding it difficult to do much but cough. I heard a grunt of pain from Harry, and a scream from Hermione.

Harry's wand lit up, and I groaned at the sight. We'd chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow. It's branches were creaking, whipping around wildly as it tried to keep us away. Near the base of the tree, I could see the dog dragging Ron into a large gap in the roots.

"Ron!" I screamed, scrambling to my feet and ignoring the pain in my chest. I went to step forward, but had to stop as a branch whipped dangerously at me.

All I could see of Ron was one of his legs. He had hooked it around a root in the hopes of not getting pulled away by the dog. A horrible crack rang through the air as Ron's leg snapped. A moment later, his foot vanished from sight.

"Guys — we've got to go for help —" Hermione gasped. There was a cut on her shoulder.

"No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time —"

"We're never going to get through without help —"

Another branch whipped towards us, and it clipped the side of my face. I stumbled backwards, hissing at the sting.

"If that dog can get in, we can," Harry said, darting around trying to find an opening.

"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered uncertainly, doing a little dance, "please..."

I almost forgot to post today :/ sorry. Uh. So I got questioned by the police earlier, and it wasn't for murder. But yeah, it was weird, and wasn't really giving evidence so much as them asking about me. It was kind of weird, and I'm not gonna go into detail, but yeah. Kadee also got questioned. Um. You know my mom's ex? Yeah, he got arrested. Yay! Like for real, yay. He's bad news dudes. Apparently they found meth in his system (that's big bad), and he completely failed his polygraph. But yeah. We went and ate with my grandparents, and my grandpa said he had almost killed mr. ex. That was fun. I got a 5/11 on my geometry quiz today. I really don't understand the whole AAS thing, I just guessed on most of that. But yeah. Uh. I told Kadee that girls could detach their ears. That was hilarious. When we were younger, we had convinced Kadee that she would turn into a boy, and she cried for hours. It was great.

Annnnnyway, I hope you have had a majestic Monday, and I will see you on Wednesday. Love ya!