𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹, draco malfoy

˗ˋ 33

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
✧
-: third year :-

── IN WHICH THEY'RE FREE

. . .

"Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around. Marlie, him and Hermione were hid the the wood besides Hagrid's hut, a rather impatient Buckbeak beside them - who didn't really seem to understand that they had just saved him from his own execution.

"We'll have to hide in here." Hermione replied, sounding rather shaken up. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then 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.."

"We'll be fine." Marlie reassured them, although she was feeling incredibly nervous. "We've done the hardest part, right? I mean we didn't have a lot of time to get Buckbeak, and if it's just a matter of getting up to the window then we should be fine." 

The girl patted the Hippogriff on his neck, a little more worry feeding into her expression. "We should also try and keep an eye on what's going on with past us."

Hermione nodded, glancing over her shoulder and up at the sky. The sun was only just setting now, so it would be a little while until the action would pick up again. 

"We're going to have to move," Harry said, face screwed up in concentration. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on."

"Okay," Hermione replied, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry, Marlie, remember.."

And so with her knuckles turning white from how tight she was holding the rope, Marlie urged Buckbeak forwards. They moved around the edge of the forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.

"There's Ron!" Harry pointed out suddenly. 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 they saw three more figures materialize out of nowhere. Marlie watched as herself, Harry and Hermione chased after Ron. "Blimey I run quick, don't I. Oliver would be proud of that." She murmured, head tilted as they watched Ron dive. 

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat-"

"There's Sirius!" Marlie said. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. They saw him bowl Harry over, then seize onto Ron's leg, beginning to drag him towards the tree. 

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

"Ouch." The Potter girl's hand instinctively moved to her face as she watched a branch of the Whomping Willow knocked her to the ground. "There's more blood than I remember. I'm surprised I didn't break my nose, if I'm honest." She added.

 The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; they could see themselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.