The Black Queen | F. Weasley

20. Peter the rat

Salem was forced to let go of Ron's other leg halfway through the tunnel, but she tried to keep up with them to the best of her ability. She was entirely covered in dirt and had even gotten some sand in her mouth.

It felt as if she had been walking for ages, but the tunnel finally began to rise and Salem readied herself for the view of what the Shrieking Shack looked like from the inside. It was even worse than she imagined.

She saw that they had put an effort into making the house a second home for her dad, but the furniture was moth-eaten or smashed to pieces. Not a ray of natural sunlight was able to shine through the windows since they were all boarded up.

A long time ago the foyer, which she was standing in right now, would've probably looked beautiful, but sadly it couldn't be described with that word anymore. Paper was peeling from the walls and everything was as dusty as her own house looked when she returned back home from another year at Hogwarts and had left it in Kreacher's care.

A pained cry from upstairs gained her attention and she took the stairs two at a time. Ron made eye contact with her and relief washed over his face. The boy was as white as a sheet, but that wasn't a big surprise seeing as his leg looked as painful as it probably felt and he had just been dragged from Hogwarts all the way to the Shrieking Shack.

She made her way over to him quickly kneeling down at his leg and cast a concerned look at the weird angle it was in.

"Salem, watch out, behind you. He's an animagus, he- it's Sirius Black."

The girl cast a glance over at her uncle and sent an angry glare his way. "Are you happy now? You broke his leg!"

The man had the audacity to look guilty and smiled apologetically. He ran a hand through his hair nervously as he waited near the piano which stood behind the door.

Ron stared at her in horror, did she just scold a convicted murderer? Now they were definitely going to die.

"Ron, look at me."

His panic stricken brown eyes met her warm gaze. She had grabbed her wand out of her pocket and motioned with her other hand at his broken leg.

"I can try to fix your leg, I promise that I won't make the bones disappear like Lockhart did with Harry." She joked and a small smile timidly broke out on the boy's face. "But I'll only try if you want me to, I'm not going to do anything without your permission."

Ron clenched his jaw in determination and nodded. He observed how Salem moved her wand in a circle and said clearly: "Episkey."

The red haired boy howled out in pain and she looked up at him guiltily. The spell hadn't worked like she had wanted it to, because although his leg wasn't at a weird angle anymore it certainly was still very much broken.

"Fuck, shit, okay. Ron, your bone was pushed back into the right position, but the spell wasn't strong enough to actually repair it completely. The injury is too big, but I can bandage it for you if you want?"

They were interrupted by two pairs of footsteps stomping up the stairs and in a matter of seconds they were joined in the room by Harry, Hermione and Crookshanks. The door hid Sirius from view and so Harry and Hermione were ready to rush to Ron and Salem's side.

"Ron, are you alright?" He questioned worriedly. "Where is the dog?"

"It's not a dog," Ron groaned in pain while shaking his head. "It's a trap, Harry."

Harry looked a this friend in confusion and shared a look with Hermione. "What ar-"

Ron looked over Harry's shoulder to the door which Sirius was hiding behind. "He is the dog... he is an animagus..."