The Girl Who Found Hope [2]

Year 3 - 36

The moments of silence was the broken by an exclamation of pain from Ron.

"He bit me." Ron said, his rat falling to the floor and running off. "Scabbers?" He called, rushing after his rat.

"Ron?" Hermione called.

"Ron! Wait!" Harry called. And with that the four were chasing after Ron- Cassiopeia at the front and Hermione at the rear. They watched as Ron dived to the floor and held Scabbers in his hand. But he didn't realise that he was sitting in front of the Whomping Willow.

"You do realise what tree this is?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Harry said. But Cassiopeia just rushed towards Ron, not caring if she got hit by a tree- he was more important. Cassiopeia got by Ron's side just in time for Harry to shout.

"Ron! Cass! Run!" Harry yelled, the pair looked to him. Cassiopeia and Ron both went pale, Ron pointed behind the pair.

"Harry, Hermione, Amelia! Run! It's the grim!" Ron shouted. They turned to see the dog, but then the dog barked and ran at them, the dog jumped over Harry, Hermione and Amelia and then rushed towards the other two. Cassiopeia stood in front of Ron, but the dog pounced on her and pushed her to the floor- then growled in her face. The dog then jumped towards Ron and grabbed his leg between his teeth. The dog then began dragging Ron to the tree, Cassiopeia jumped into action and grabbed Ron's open hand, resulting in herself being dragged too.

"Ron! Cass!" Harry called.

"Harry! Help!" Ron called, while being dragged away. Harry dived to the floor, and was close to grabbing Cassiopeia's foot, but was just short. The pair were then dragged through a hole under the roots of the tree. The three stood and went to move down the hole, but then a tree branch hit them back and knocked them off their feet. The helped each other up and looked to see the branches swaying, ready to defend itself. But after hearing another cry of pain from Ron, they were ready to face the tree. The trio attempted to stick together, holding hands as they went towards the tree. But the tree had other plans as it sent branches at them to separate them. Harry was knocked down and Hermione was hit, but she managed to grab onto the branch and was taken up into the air. Amelia rushed to Harry and handed him his glasses. But before they knew it Hermione had come back around and grabbed a fistful of Amelia's top, and in retaliation she grabbed a fistful of Harry's. The trio were now flying through the air until they could let go and fall right on top of the hole. Harry fell first, landing on his stomach with a groan, and the Amelia landed on top of him with a small gasp.

"I'm sorry." She said to him.

"It's alright." He replied, they then started to get up, but with a scream Hermione landed on them and they were both on the floor again.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione said.

"That's alright." Harry and Amelia replied.

"Where do you suppose this goes?" Hermione asked.

"I have a hunch, I just hope I'm wrong." Harry replied. And with that the trio made their way down the tunnel. They came to the end of the tunnel and climbed through the trapdoor above them to a house. The place was covered in dust apart from drag marks along the floor. Hermione grabbed both of her friend's hands and looked around.

"We're in the Shrieking Shack, aren't we?" Hermione said.

"Come on." Harry said, pulling the pair up the stairs where the marks led. They followed the sound of someone muttering something and found Ron and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia was muttering an incantation to wrap Ron's leg up.

"Ron, Cass, where's the dog?" Harry asked.

"Harry, he's the dog! It's a trap! He's an Animagus!" Ron exclaimed, pointing behind the door. Harry, Hermione and Amelia followed the prints until they stopped behind the door. The door was pushed closed and there stood Sirius Black. Hermione and Amelia moved in front of Cassiopeia and Harry.