Chapter 9: Quidditch, Trouble and Concerns.
Harry was flying high as he searched the air for the ever-elusive snitch. The rest of the Gryffindor team had scored enough points and it was time for Harry to catch the snitch. Now if only he could find it.
Harry turned slightly to look at Cho Chang, the opposing Seeker. She was a year older than him and had black hair and brown eyes. She was trailing him while trying to catch the snitch but Harry's new broom was faster so he wasn't too worried about her strategy unless she spotted it before him. While looking down in his search, something distracted him.
"Oh my!" Cho gasped out as they saw two Dementors gliding towards the pitch. Harry immediately thought up a happy memory of previously winning the Quidditch cup, grabbed his wand, and pointed it towards the ground.
Yes, Professor Lupin had gotten back to him about their lessons.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry shouted and a bright light shot out of his wand and hit the two Dementors just as Harry shot his hand out and grabbed the snitch, ending the game.
Everyone on the Gryffindor stands cheered and hurried down to the pitch, wanting to congratulate the team for winning another game.
Harry waved the hand clutching the snitch proudly and his teammates hugged him in congratulations before they finally let him go. Harry watched as Hermione hurried over. She had seen him cast the spell along with its aftermath and wanted to show him the results.
"I did it!" Harry exclaimed and Hermione grinned.
"Yeah you did, but it wasn't quite what you expected," Hermione told him as she grabbed his hand and yanked him over to where he had sent the spell over to the Dementors.
Harry came to a stop and noticed that the black robes seemed to be struggling. He frowned at this and grew even more puzzled when a head started to pop out of the cloaks. When he saw that it was Pansy, however, he fought to hide a smile of amusement. It turned out that there were four Slytherin students in the cloaks, all intent on sabotaging the game.
"Unworthy trick!" McGonagall shouted at the students. "50 points from Slytherin and detentions for trying to sabotage Gryffindor's seeker. Just you wait until Dumbledore hears about this." She looked up to see Dumbledore walking towards them. "Ah, here he comes now."
Harry couldn't help but laugh as he shared a glance with Hermione.
"They thought by dressing up as Dementors that they would cause me to fall off my broom?" he asked and Hermione shot him an amused look.
"Yeah, plus they would have won the Quidditch cup if Cho had gotten the snitch," Hermione explained and Harry shook his head.
"That was a stupid idea," Harry told her. Hermione just laughed as she grabbed Harry's hand and led him over to the rest of the team and their housemates, where the entire group proceeded to Gryffindor's common room to have a celebration.
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Harry was in the boy's dormitory later that night searching under his bed for his broom servicing kit when he heard someone coming into the room. He looked and saw Ron's familiar trainers walking by.
"Hey Ron, have you seen my broom cleaning kit that Hermione got me for my birthday? I swore I put it under my bed." Harry told him.
"It's in your trunk - you placed it there because Crookshanks kept rubbing against it every time he came in here," Ron replied. Harry rolled his eyes as he remembered.
"Thanks," Harry told him as he came back out from under the bed. Ron was sitting on his bed and looked a little puzzled. "What's wrong?" Harry got himself off the floor and sat down on the top of his own bed, facing his best friend.
"Scabbers is gone," Ron, told them.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, confused.
"I can't find him anywhere. He's gone," Ron explained and Harry sighed.
"Come on, we'll ask the girls if they've seen him," Harry consoled him and they made their way down to the common room. Hermione was stretched out on the couch with Mia sitting sideways beside her as she flipped through the pages of her book. Hermione, on the other hand, was so engrossed in her own book that she didn't notice anyone walking near her.
"Hey guys," Mia greeted and Harry nodded back.
"Hey, have you seen Scabbers? Ron's lost him," Harry told her. Mia frowned before she shook her head.
"No, sorry - besides, yours is not the only pet that has gone missing," Mia told them. "Crookshanks seems to have taken a vacation."
"Great," Ron muttered. "I'm gonna go see if anyone else has seen Scabbers."
"I'll come with you," Mia told him. "This way I can check to see if anyone has found anything yet to help my dad." She stood up and they both left the common room, all unnoticed by Hermione.
"Hermione," Harry called out and Hermione turned her dazed eyes towards him before she shook her head, bringing her back to reality. Harry couldn't help but smile at how cute he thought she seemed at that moment.
"Yeah, Harry?" she asked, once she was sufficiently focused.
"When was the last time you saw Crookshanks?" Harry asked and Hermione paused a bit to think about it.
"Yesterday morning. I was assuming that he had found somewhere else to amuse himself," Hermione told him as she lifted her feet to give Harry space to sit down before placing her feet back on his lap. Harry looked down at his lap and bit back a smile when he saw that she had painted her toenails a baby pink colour before he looked back up at Hermione.
"Have you already gotten bored with you birthday present from me?" Harry teased and Hermione's head snapped up with a worried look only to glare at him when she saw that he was teasing.
"Very funny," she scolded him. "He's a cat. You don't need to keep them on a leash - besides, I'm sure he's still coming back for meals because his bowl is always empty in the morning after I fill them each night." Harry nodded, grateful that Crookshanks was still alive. None of the other girls in Gryffindor had cats, so it meant Crookshanks had to be the one eating the food out of the bowl.
"I'm sure he will, just make sure you have him back before the end of term- I don't fancy hunting around the whole castle for Crookshanks," Harry told her. She gently hit his leg with her feet, causing him to laugh as he rested the back of his head on the top of the couch while keeping his eyes focused on her smile.
"What?" Hermione asked, curious to what he was looking at and Harry shook his head.
"Nothing, I just haven't seen you this relaxed in ages," Harry told her and she laughed.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Today I scheduled some time off from studying, so I'm catching up on my leisure reading," she told him. Harry nodded and closed his eyes and drifted away listening to Hermione mumble softly under her voice as she continued to read the book that she had in front of her. He couldn't believe how peaceful it could be just listening to her like this.
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A few days later, Harry made his way into the library, looking for Hermione. He made his way over to the back of the library and saw her hunched over one of her favourite tables, scribbling frantically on some parchment. Harry arched his eyebrows before he rounded the table and sat down across from Hermione.
"Hermione…" Harry started but Hermione looked up at him with a wild and panicked look in her eyes, scaring him.
"Sorry, but I'm too busy to talk to you Harry," Hermione told him monotonically before she turned back to her work.
"Do you think you could take a small break?" Harry suggested only getting a quick negative headshake in return.
"I have to do this first!" Hermione exclaimed as she worked through her parchments. Harry couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination at how fast Hermione was working - she was alternating between studying and taking notes at a scary pace.
"Don't you think you should take a break?" Harry asked.
"No time," Hermione replied as she shifted papers and books aside, looking for something. Harry couldn't help but be worried about what was going on with his friend.
"Hermione, you are taking on way too much - you need to have a break every now and then," Harry told her but Hermione shook her head.
"I'll get lunch later," Hermione told him absently as she brushed her hair out of her face. It was the last straw for Harry and he stood up.
"Come on, we're taking a break," Harry told her as he grabbed her hands and pulled her up from the table. He grabbed his wand and placed a concealment charm on Hermione's stuff before dragging her out of the library.
"Harry, I don't have time for this!" Hermione exclaimed but Harry just continued to drag her out of the castle without stopping or slowing.
When they reached the lake and Harry planted Hermione down on the ground and sat down next to her.
"You're going to take a break and I'm going to make sure that you do it properly," Harry informed her. Hermione just huffed as she leaned back against the tree and looked off toward the lake. When Harry turned to the lake, Hermione finally let slip a small smile.
They just relaxed in the sunshine, forgetting that the world outside existed. Hermione leaned over and rested her head on Harry's shoulder, causing Harry to wrap an arm around her shoulders to hold her close.
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Later Mia was making her way into the library. She looked around for a short while before she walked over to Madam Pince. It was time for their last class of the day but no one could find Hermione. Harry had told them of how he had had to literally drag Hermione away from the library earlier, but he hadn't seen her since and assumed that she had headed back to the library. Mia had volunteered to go and drag her away once again.
"Hey Madam Pince," Mia greeted and the librarian looked down at Mia.
"Good afternoon Mia, how can I help you?" she asked.
"Have you seen Hermione? We have class and none of us can find her," Mia explained and the librarian smiled.
"She's at the back at her usual table," Madam Pince informed and Mia gave her a smile of thanks before she headed into the back of the library, looking at all the tables that she passed until she saw a familiar body of bushy hair sitting at the table, bent over, scribbling madly.
"Hermione," Mia called out. Hermione looked over at her shoulder and located Mia.
"Sorry Mia, but I'm busy," Hermione told her. Mia shook her head as she packed up Hermione's bag. The last book to be packed was one that Hermione was struggling to hold onto, resulting in a tug-of-war to determine holding rights to the book. Mia won the fight and shoved it into Hermione's bag before zipping it up.
"We have Divination," Mia told her as she took Hermione's arm and dragged her up to class. "You can't miss class."
"Oh," Hermione groaned. "I don't want to hear about how Harry is going to die because of a stupid grim."
"I know you don't sweetie, but it's still a class and you can't lose your 'perfect student' reputation," Mia reminded as she slipped her arm through Hermione's and they both left the library together.
Neither of them saw someone watching them as they walked off.
As everyone settled themselves in their classroom and around their tables are they waited for their teacher to come out and get a start on their lesson - thankfully, for them, it was their last class of their day.
"Students, welcome," Trelawney, told them all as she came into view from seemingly nowhere once again. Mia just placed her head on her arms, which were crossed on the table. Ron propped his cheek on one hand while Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione was flipping through a book as Trelawney moved closer to them. "Today, we are going to start on seeing crystals."
"Whoo hoo," Mia mumbled under her breath as Trelawney moved still closer.
"So open your inner eyes and broaden your mind - cast yourself into the crystal and see what the future hold for you!"
Hermione and Mia were sharing a crystal ball together. Hermione started to mutter under her breath about how she could be catching up on her useful work and that it could certainly use her attention more than this class.
"What is up with you?" Ron whispered to Hermione only to get a hard enough glare in return to make Ron place his hand in the air to indicate his sudden desire for peace. He turned back to Harry, who was stifling a smile before he leaned in.
"You see anything?" Harry asked and Ron nodded.
"Yeah, someone spilled their candle on the table," Ron told him as he pointed to the burnt spot on the other side of the ball, causing Harry to snort with laugher as Trelawney moved over to them.
"Are you in your crystal, young man?" Trelawney asked, putting her face quite close to Ron, startling him.
"I guess," Ron told Trelawney while shooting Harry a confused look. Harry just shrugged back as Trelawney looked at Harry.
"What about you?" she asked. "What can you see?" she asked. Harry leaned into the crystal ball once more.
"Something dark," Harry told her and Trelawney covered her mouth as sadness filled her eyes.
"Oh my," she whispered. Harry barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "Is there anything else?" Hermione jumped in.
"Can I?" Hermione asked, causing Trelawney to look at her. "The Grim, possibly?" Trelawney's lips pinched together, making her look like a blowfish.
"Every since you stepped into my class, I've noticed that you didn't have the correct aura around you, my dear," Trelawney told her as she took Hermione's hand. "Your hands tell me that you will grow up to be a bitter spinster woman because your soul is as dry and dusty as the pages of the books you like to absorb yourself in."
"Excuse me," Hermione told her as she yanked her hand out of Trelawney's. She stood up just as abruptly, taking her bag with her. She then swung her bag over her shoulder, knocking the crystal ball that until that moment had been sitting in the middle of their table off its perch and roll off the table on the other side. Hermione made her way over to the trapdoor, kicked it open and left the class without looking back.
Harry just stared after Hermione; she had finally cracked. Everything must have finally unhinged her because there was no way that Hermione Jane Granger would walk out of class.
Mia, on the other hand, just smirked. She had listened to Hermione complain about this class and its teacher. She wasn't surprised that Hermione had finally had enough and stormed out of class.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed as he stared at the trapdoor with wide eyes. Everyone else was sitting still in apparent shock while Trelawney turned to Harry's table.
"Was it something I said?" she asked.
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Three weeks later Hermione's abrupt departure from Divination was turning into some kind of Hogwarts legend. Rumours around the school after the incident made most of her classmates scared to go anywhere near her since that time due to her performance and now consistently frayed temper. Because she has been holed up in the library, though, many found it easy enough to avoid her anyway.
Harry had been frustrated with his lack of real progress in finding out what was going on with Hermione. He had an idea of what was up with her but he needed to get more evidence before he could confront her or anyone else with his suspicions. It certainly didn't help that Wood had been antsy about the last Quidditch match against Slytherin that was coming up. He had been calling extra practices recently to make sure that the team was ready for anything. It seemed that the attempt by Slytherin to sabotage Gryffindor's match against Ravenclaw had Wood sweating at night because at each of those extra practices Wood asked Harry if he had perfected his Patronus spell.
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Harry was flying around the pitch, determined to get to the Snitch first. The Gryffindor team was finally playing its game against Slytherin. It was their last match of the year and due to their team's lead it was time to grab the snitch for the Cup. He had already spent the first 20 minutes of the match futilely searching for the elusive object when he caught a flash of golden light some distance ahead.
Harry shot after it with his broom, laying down flat against the handle and urging it faster. Malfoy was chasing after him as they both fought to get to the snitch first. Harry was getting closer now stretched his arm out in anticipation of the catch.
"GO HARRY!" Hermione shouted when she saw that Harry was getting within range of the snitch. "GO! GO! GO! GO!"
Harry's hand clenched tight around the snitch and he pulled of the dive and flew down to the middle of the Quidditch pitch. He lifted his hand into the air, showing everyone that he had finished the game.
"YES!" everyone - apart from Slytherin - screamed in joy. Harry could see that Hermione was clapping and cheering enthusiastically. Mia was looking at Hermione with an amused smirk before she looked down at Harry and gave him thumbs up. Ron was whooping. McGonagall was wiping her eyes filled with tears while smiling.
Harry felt himself get enveloped in a huge group hug from the entire team in celebration.
"WE WON, WE WON!" the Gryffindor stands shouted over and over again, causing Mia to plug her fingers into her ears to block the sound off. But she had to smile when she saw Hermione jumping on her seat screaming like mad. Ron was right beside Mia, laughing at everyone's' antics.
The rush down to the ground from the stands continued as Dumbledore made his own way over to the pitch before he sent sparks into the sky to call for silence. A gradual hush fell over the stadium and soon all were looking towards Dumbledore.
"The winner of the Quidditch Cup is Gryffindor!" Dumbledore announced as he handed Harry the cup.
Harry took the cup and thrusted it high into the air. The twins lifted Harry up on their shoulders and everyone cheered once more. They had won the Quidditch cup.
Once they let Harry down, Harry made his way over to McGonagall and smiled up at her.
"Here you go Professor," Harry told her as he handed her the cup. "You earned it as much as we did." McGonagall smiled down at Harry as she took the cup into her hands. Harry felt himself get bombarded by a hard hug and laughed when he saw it was Hermione. He wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her in a circle before putting her back down.
"You won!" Hermione exclaimed with excitement shining brightly in her eyes. Harry smiled down at her before he hugged her closely once more.
"And it was thanks to you," Harry whispered into her ear. Hermione just smiled brilliantly at him before they pulled apart and saw that everyone was looking at them. "What?" Harry asked self-consciously.
Everyone just muttered as they turned away.
"WE WON!" Seamus shouted once more, causing everyone else to jump back in with chants of victory. Harry and Hermione smiled at them all, confused at what had just happened.
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Before they knew it the term was nearly over and exams were on top of them. While Ron was moaning that he hadn't had enough time to study, Harry and Mia were calm because they had faced more difficult tests in the past. Hermione, on the other hand, was continuing her hectic study schedule, running back and forth between different subjects in some kind of scholastic frenzy.
"This is crazy," Ron muttered as he came out of their Transfiguration class exam. Harry, Mia and Ron only had one more class to go to, while Hermione had another two after that. Their exams had even harder than they would have imagined because the teachers had spent much of their time doing nothing but breathing down their necks.
"It's alright for you - you only have one more exam, and it doesn't require any thought whatsoever," Hermione snipped before she walked off, leaving the three of them alone.
"We need to find on what the hell is going on with her because if it's just her time of month, it has been a very long month," Mia told Harry, who just sighed.
"I have a feeling that I know what's going on with her but I want to talk to her about it first before I say anything," Harry told them and got nods in return.
"Come on, let's head up to Divination and get this over and done with," Ron, told them as they made their way over to the north tower.
Harry was sitting on the floor next to the ladder leading up to the trapdoor as he waited to be called. The students were being called one-by-one to take a personal test with Trelawney.
Ron and Mia had already been up and left the area wanting to get away from the area as fast as possible.
"Harry Potter," the female voice called out. Harry just raised his eyes heavenward and started up the ladder.
"My last exam, thank Merlin," Harry muttered to himself. When he arrived in the classroom he moved over to the table where the exam was obviously going to take place - Trelawney was sitting there in front of a crystal ball.
"Good day dear... take a look into the orb and tell me what you see," she informed him as Harry sat down on the chair opposite of her.
Harry looked into the orb and decided to make something up rather than sit there for ages without seeing anything.
"There's a dark shape in the middle of the ball," Harry told her.
"Yes? What does it look like to you?" Trelawney asked eagerly.
"A hippogriff," Harry told her and Trelawney sighed.
"You are seeing the future for your friend, Hagrid," she informed him. "Does it have its head?"
"Yes, it's flying away," Harry, told her and Trelawney looked at him before she sighed.
"Well, we'll leave it there for now. I'm sure you did you best," she informed him and he nodded as he picked up his bag and stood up. He was about to leave when something stopped him.
"It will happen tonight." A loud harsh voice spoke behind him, causing Harry to spin around and see Trelawney had gone ridged with her eyes unfocused. "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master…" Her head suddenly fell forward then snapped back up. Her eyes were clear as she looked at Harry with a concerned look on her face.
"Oh, sorry, I fell asleep," she told him. "Are you okay dear?" Harry nodded, shakily.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he told her before he hurried out of the classroom and sought out his best friends.
He hurried into the Common Room and saw them. "You're not gonna believe this," Harry told them, causing them to look at him, concerned.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Trelawney did a prediction - she told me that Voldemort's," Ron grimaced at that. "Servant is going to go back to him before midnight and that Voldemort will rise once more but only this time, greater and more terrible than before," Harry told them.
"Shit," Mia cursed as she stood up, running a hand through her hair. "Did she say when he might come back? I mean, you can't just bring someone back from the dead - there'll have to be a ritual or something to bring him a body."
"No, just the servant," Harry told her.
"You think it might be Peter?" Ron asked as he leaned forward. Harry shrugged.
"I don't know, she said that the servant had been chained for twelve years - it could be someone from Azkaban getting freed or something," Harry told them. Hermione sighed as she rested her head on the back of a chair when a cool breeze came into the room, startling them.
Hedwig came in from the window. She hooted softly as she flew over to the back of the couch. Harry looked up and saw that she had a letter tied to her claw.
"Hey girl, who is this from?" Harry asked her as he reached up and stroked her feathers before he untied the letter and took it from her. He opened the letter and read it, jaw dropping once he comprehended its meaning. "Oh Merlin."
"What?" Hermione demanded as she took the letter out of his hand and read it out loud.
"Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it. Hagrid."
"I knew it!" Mia exclaimed. "I knew that bastard Malfoy would get his way by bribing them! That's it! They are going down - the whole Ministry!"
"Erm…" Ron started but Mia waved her hand.
"Don't worry, when I'm finished with the Ministry - I'll damn well make sure that your dad gets the job of being Minister - he'll do a far better job than those idiots. He wouldn't touch Lucius was a 10-foot pole let alone take his money," Mia informed him before she turned to face Harry. "Are you sure you want to save this world?"
"Let me give it one more chance - they've used up two already so maybe the third time will be the charm," Harry told her and she nodded.
"We can't just sit around and do nothing!" Hermione exclaimed as she turned her teary eyes to Harry. "We can't let Hagrid be alone when they kill Buckbeak!"
"It's okay... we've never followed bad orders before, and we're not gonna do it now," Harry soothed her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.
"We'll go down just before the Ministry comes up. That means it'll be before dark - thus no Dementors," Mia told them.
"You're getting no arguments from me," Ron told her. "Are you sure there's nothing you can do?"
"Nope, if Malfoy has paid off the Ministry, then there's no point. All we can do is try and figure out some way to free Buckbeak. But it won't be easy," Mia told him.
"Why is Pansy doing this?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed as he rubbed his hand on her shoulder.
"Because she can. Pansy belongs to a group of people who believe that Purebloods are superior to the rest of us," Harry explained. Hermione just rested her head on his shoulder, wishing for once that they could change the rules.
Everyone was dressed in their robes as they made their way down to the grounds, eager to see Hagrid and console him in this moment of abused justice.
Along the way they spotted someone that looked like an executioner. He was dressed in a black outfit with a black facemask over his face and carrying a large axe. Hermione had faltered briefly when she saw this but Harry placed a hand on the small of her back to encourage her to keep walking. Mia just shot a cold glare toward the man that went unnoticed by its target before she turned back to the path.
As they were making their way past the stone circle they saw Pansy leaning against one of the stones next to two other Slytherin girls.
"This is so pathetic," Pansy told her friends. "And to think that that stupid half blood actually thought she would win the case." The girls giggled in agreement.
"I would have won if you hadn't gotten Malfoy to pay the Ministry off," a cold voice informed them from behind. Pansy spun around and paled when she saw Mia standing behind her with her hands on her hips. "I'd be careful Pansy - sooner or later what goes around, comes around."
"Shut up!" Pansy shouted. "You know nothing! Mr. Malfoy won the case fair and square - they all saw how that awful creature was dangerous." Mia arched an eyebrow.
"Yeah, funny isn't it? How your arm just seemed to heal overnight after the court case?" Mia asked with a pointed look. "You know just as well I do that I would have won the case if you and Malfoy hadn't bribed them. One of these days you will get yourself in a sticky mess that not even all your money will be enough to buy your way out.
"Doesn't matter anyway, does it?" Pansy asked with a smirk. "I won. Would you like the Hippogriff's head? My dad says I can have it. I'm sure that fat oaf of a friend of yours would like to visit it every now and then." Hermione lost her temper.
"You spoiled evil BITCH!" Hermione shouted as she ran in front of the group and pointed her wand right up at Pansy's face. Pansy started to whimper as Millicent and Lisa Moon - the other two Slytherin girls - just stared at Hermione in shock.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed as he started off to get her.
"She's been hanging around you too much!" Ron informed Mia as they both chased after Harry.
"Come on Hermione, let's go - she's not worth it!" Harry pleaded. "Hagrid needs us more than she does."
"Fine," Hermione finally muttered as she pulled her wand away and stuck it back in her robe pocket. Pansy let out a sigh of relief before she started to laugh condescendingly. Hermione turned her back slowly before quickly spinning back around and throwing a right hook directly into Pansy's nose, causing it to crack under the pressure and blood to start gushing out. "Serves you right!" hissed Hermione.
Pansy just whimpered as Millicent and Lisa grabbed her by the arms and led her up to the castle. Hermione turned back to face Harry, Mia and Ron, who were looking at her, stunned.
"I don't know what hell has gotten in to you this year!" Ron exclaimed. "First you walk out on Trelawney and now you punched Pansy!"
"That felt good," Hermione admitted but Mia just shook her head.
"That wasn't good - that was fucking brilliant!" Mia exclaimed. Harry just shook his head, amused.
"Come on, Hagrid is waiting for us," Harry told them and they followed him down.
They came to a stop outside the hut and Ron banged on the door. They waited for a minute until Hagrid opened it.
"What are you four doing here?" Hagrid demanded.
"We got your letter. You didn't think we were going to stay behind, did you?" Mia demanded as she pushed her way into the hut. "I can't believe they went with Lucius."
"He does have a lot of power," Hagrid reminded her. Mia snorted.
"More like money and threats," Mia informed him before she looked at Hagrid. "Can't you just set him free?"
"No, not unless I want to be arrested," Hagrid explained.
"Damn," Hermione muttered. "I'll get some tea," she told them as she moved into the back of the hut.
"So, who from the Ministry is coming?" Harry asked.
"Fudge is coming and so is the executioner Macnair. Dumbledore is coming down too," Hagrid told them when Harry's eyes narrowed at a name.
"Wait a minute, Macnair?" Harry started. "As in Death Eater Macnair?"
"I suppose so. Though it was never proven he was a death eater," Hagrid told him and Harry shook his head.
"Oh trust me... if he is a friend of Malfoy, he's a Death Eater," Harry responded. Mia shook her head.
"More people to add to our list," Mia told him as Hermione brought over a pot to heat some water. She opened the lid and gasped out loud when she saw something.
"Ron," she called out. Ron looked at her and widened his eyes in disbelief when he saw she was pulling out of the pot.
"Scabbers," Harry and Ron exclaimed at the same time. "How the hell did he get here?" Harry demanded.
"I guess he just ran for the first place that seemed safe to him - animals from the castle rarely hang out over here don't they?" Hermione suggested.
"You crazy rat! Do you have any idea how long I spent looking for you?" Ron asked as he took Scabbers into his hands, though it was a struggle to hold on to him. "What is up with you?"
Harry noticed that every time Scabbers looked at Mia, he seemed to get more frantic. He started to inspect Mia closely, wondering if someone had taken on her appearance. Mia arched an eyebrow at Harry.
"What are you looking at?" Mia asked. "Take a picture, it lasts longer."
"Who are you?" Harry demanded, causing Mia's eyes to widen in confusion. Hermione and Ron exchanged puzzled looks with each other before looking at Harry.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hagrid asked.
"Every time Scabbers looks at Mia, he freaks out even more," Harry explained and Mia narrowed her eyes at the rat.
"Are you sure?" Mia asked Harry.
"Yeah, so who the hell are you?" Harry asked.
"It's me! Mia!" Mia exclaimed only to huff out after a brief silence. "Fine - I used to sleep with Pingu the penguin when I was younger." Harry nodded.
"OK - she's Mia. So why is Scabbers suddenly freaking out over her?" Harry asked.
"Maybe he saw her go crazy and thinks she'll do something to him?" Ron suggested but Hermione shook her head as she moved over to the window and gasped.
"Whatever it is, there's no time for it right now - the ministry is coming down!" she exclaimed, causing Harry to rush over next to her.
"Out the back, all four of you!" Hagrid ordered and all four of them hurried over to the backdoor and slipped out with Hagrid closing the door behind them. They looked around the side of the hut and saw that Dumbledore was pointing at something in the opposite direction, taking the Ministry's attention away from them and allowing them to slip over to the pumpkin patch.
Mia peered over a stack of pumpkins and watched as Dumbledore finished his point before Hagrid opened the door and allowed them to walk in.
"Coast is clear," she whispered to them and they hurried up the hill towards the stone circle. They stopped when they heard muffled voices and waited.
There was a swish of something heavy through the air and then a dull crack before a sickening thud came with it. Hermione covered her mouth in horror while Mia just closed her eyes, fighting the bile that was trying to rise in her throat. Ron just shook his head in denial and looked down at the ground. Harry just stared at the landscape with a stoic look on his face.
"They killed him," Hermione whispered as she turned to Harry. "They killed him!" Harry just took her into his arms and held her close while Ron and Mia shared a murderous look. Suddenly Ron let out a yelp.
"He bit me!" Ron exclaimed. "Scabbers bit me!" he started chasing after the rat who had fallen to the ground after he bit Ron and ran off.
"Ron!" Harry called out before he pulled away from Hermione and chased after him. Hermione and Mia started chasing after Harry to catch up with their friends.
They finally caught up to Ron as he threw himself onto the ground, grabbing a squealing Scabbers in his hands.
"Scabbers, what is up with you?" Ron demanded. Harry came to a sudden stop when he realised just how close Ron was to the Whomping Willow. He threw his arms out sideways, stopping the girls.
"Oh my, is that..." Hermione trailed off when she saw the tree.
"Yeah, it is," Harry, confirmed. The tree was beginning to move its branches, obviously unhappy with the fact that the Weasley boy was too close for its own liking. "Ron, you might wanna move," warned Harry as he kept one eye on the tree.
Ron rolled onto his back away from the tree and towards the others and widened his eyes in surprise when he saw something behind the trio.
"Harry! Look out!" Ron shouted as he pointed behind them. They spun around only for Mia to be flung in one direction while Harry had grabbed Hermione close to him and they were flung in the other direction. They all landed on their backs with a hard thud before Hermione scrambled and rolled onto her front, lying on top of Harry. Mia propped herself up onto her elbows and saw a black dog rushing towards Ron before he leapt into the air and landed his other side.
Ron let out a scream of agony as the dog's mouth clamped down over his leg and dragged him over to the entrance that was hidden by the Whomping Willow.
"HARRY!" Ron shouted only to disappear out of sight, leaving the three of them dumbstruck.
"What was that!?" Hermione exclaimed as she stared at the point where the dog had dragged Ron down near the roots of the Whomping Willow. Harry, Hermione and Mia looked at each other before they turned back to the entrance once more and groaned.
TBC
This is Chapter 9 and 10 put together - my beta and I agreed that chapter 9 was a little too short so he helped me make this a lot smoother.
Thanks to my beta for his hard work helping me with this chapter!
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