Hermione, Lucifer, and Ron were all sitting in a corner of the Common Room after he'd got back from his Divination exam.
They'd already been there, feeling uneasy and when he showed up, he knew why and felt the same.
Hagrid had lost the Appeal, and Buckbeak was set to be executed at Sunset.
Harry walked in, looking like he'd just been told he was actually a Slytherin since First Year.
"Professor Trelawney's..." he was panting as he walked up to them, "just told me-"
He must have seen their faces, because he stopped talking.
Ron began to speak weakly, "Buckbeak lost... Hagrid sent this just before I arrived here..."
Harry read the note after Hermione handed it to him, "We've got to go," he said at once, "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the Executioner!"
"Sunset, though?" Ron asked him, "We'd never be allowed... especially you, Harry."
Harry sat down, sulking, "If only we had the Invisibility Cloak..."
"Where is it?" Lucifer asked, tearing his gaze from the window for the first time in a half hour.
"It's in the passageway of the One-Eyed Witch," Harry said and Lucifer let out a chuckle, finding the dark humor in the fact it was a One-Eyed Witch.
His own would most surely have been gone, if he was just a human.
"Problem is, if Snape sees me anywhere near there again, I'm going to be in serious trouble."
"That's true," Lucifer confirmed, standing up, "If he sees you there."
"Where are you going?" Ron asked.
"Where do you think?" Lucifer asked back and walked out.
He returned a half hour later with the Cloak under his robes. Hermione was smiling in awe of him.
Honestly she had been about to do the same thing, but he beat her to it.
She ultimately decided she could live with it, but only because it was him.
xxxxxx
That evening at Dinner, they had gone down with everyone else, but they did not follow.
Harry had to hide the Cloak, and they all skulked off into an empty classroom until the coast had been clear.
They all squeezed under the Cloak, barely able to fit all four of them, and they exited the Castle and down the stone steps, the sun had already begun to set behind the Canopy of the Forest.
They reach Hagrid's Cabin in no time and knocked.
He opened the door after a minute and looked around, pale faced, "Hagrid, it's us, we're under the Cloak!" Harry said to him,
"Let us in so we can take it off."
"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered distractedly.
He closed the door and Harry threw the Cloak off them all.
Hagrid wasn't crying, and he didn't throw himself upon them.
He looked like a man who didn't know where he was or what to do,
"Wan' some tea?" He asked as his great hands began to shake erratically.
"Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" Hermione asked quietly and hesitantly.
"I - I took him outside," Hagrid said as he began spilling milk all over the table. "He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an' - an' smell fresh air - before..."
His hands trembled so violently that the milk jug slipped from his grasp and shattered all over the floor.
"I'll do it, Hagrid," Hermione quickly jumped up and hurried over to start the clean up process.
"There's another one in the cupboard..." Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead on his sleeve.
Lucifer went over to the cupboard to retrieve it.
"Isn't there anything anyone can do?" Harry asked, grasping for anything to hope for, "Dumbledore-"
"He's tried," Hagrid said sullenly, "He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared... yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like... threatened 'em, I s'pect... an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an ol' pal o' Malfoy's... but it'll be quick an' clean... an' I'll be beside him..."
Lucifer had halted in getting a new milk jug to listen to Hagrid talk.
A single tear ran down his face as he opened the cupboard and pulled out the milk jug.
He went to pour a milk bottle into the empty jug when something moved in it.
He peered into the jug and could not believe what he was seeing, "Weasely!" He got everyone's attention.
"I think you owe Rowena and Crookshanks an apology!"
"What for?" Ron asked, more curious than spiteful.
"Because Scabbers is alive," He walked over to Ron and let him peer into the jug.
Ron gasped and held his hands out so that Lucifer could drop the rat into them.
When he was in his hands, Lucifer noticed he was trying desperately to get back into the jug.
"Scabbers!" Ron said happily, "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"
The rat struggled desperately to get free of his grasp.
Ron held him up to the light and the rat looked absolutely dreadful.
He was thinner than ever, large tufts of hair had fallen out leaving wide bald patches, and he was squeaking annoyingly, as though he was afraid of something.
"It's OK, Scabbers! No cats or birds! There's nothing here to hurt you!"
Something suddenly flew in through the window, breaking the empty milk jug.
Another something flew in through the window again, but this time it almost hit Lucifer in his right eye, if not for him catching it again.
But it did turn him around and his eyes widened, "Guys! They're coming! We gotta go!"
Everyone turned to see that a group of men were in fact walking down the castle steps.
"Yeh gotta go," Hagrid said, every inch of him trembling, "They mustn' find yeh here... go on, now."
Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket, Hermione picked up the cloak, and they all scurried out of the back door.
The four of them went up and around the path near the edge of the Forest.
It was cumbersome trying to all move underneath the Cloak, so they got in the treeline and removed it.
Harry stuffed it safely away and they watched the men, which included Macnair, Fudge, and Dumbledore.
But, the girl suddenly turned around.
"Hermione?" Lucifer spoke her name inquisitively.
"I thought I saw... never mind..." she turned back around and they hurried along the Forest edge.
Ron was struggling to keep Scabbers still all the while.
They were walking up the path and back into the Castle when distant voices caught their attention.
They all turned around, just as the Axe was raised into the air, before it was violently brought downward.
They all stood there, motionless.
"They... th-they..." Hermione whispered and began to cry.
She looked up at Lucifer, but he had a distant look in his eye. She got closer to him for some sense of comfort, and felt a little better when his arm went around her, holding her closer to him.
"Hagrid," Harry said, and made to go back down the path.
Lucifer reached out and grabbed his shirt, jostling Hermione in the process.
"Potter, we can't. If we are caught out, and they know that we've been to see him, it'll put him in more trouble, and get us into a lot of trouble," Lucifer said.
If Fudge caught him out here like this, it might be cause enough for him to revoke his legalized Adulthood, and destroy one of the best things.
Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven, "How - could - they!?" She choked out.
They turned to finally set into the Castle, but Scabbers wasn't holding still and he was trying to violently break free from Ron's grasp, going so far as to bite him.
As it grew darker, they almost missed something approaching them.
It was a familiar something, being Hermione's Cat.
"Crookshanks! No, go away!" She tried to get her cat to leave, "Crookshanks! Go away!"
He didn't listen to her and kept coming closer.
Scabbers finally freed himself from Ron's grasp and made a Mad dash away from them.
Crookshanks made a Mad dash himself after the rat, and Rowena, who must have been flying overhead, swooped down to try and get the rat as well.
"Rowena!" Lucifer hissed at his bird, but she refused to listen.
Ron bolted from there and after his animal.
The other three followed him, which was thankfully away from Hagrid's Hut.
Ron chased Scabbers for a few minutes, trying to get him before either animal did.
He succeeded, and both animals backed away, which Lucifer found odd, or at least he did until he saw a massive Black Dog.
He immediately came to the conclusion that that dog was the one Harry mentioned he saw.
He doubted it was a stray, though.
Things were too convenient for it to belong to someone as well.
Which left only one conclusion he could draw to. 'That Dog... that - that must be Sirius Black.'
The Dog lunged for Ron, grabbing him by the arm and dragged him away underneath a tree.
Ron tried to hang on with his leg as it was caught on the tree, but a sickening crack was heard.
Ron's leg had been completely broken and probably dislocated.
Crookshanks and Rowena were both nearby and got closer to them, but stopped a few feet away.
Rowena came to rest on the ground next to Crookshanks, "Why did they stop?" Hermione asked.
Lucifer looked back to the tree in time to see a branch rapidly approaching.
He shoved his two friends and then fell backwards himself, the branch impacting the ground where they had just been.
"Of all the trees, it had to be this one!" He yelled angrily.
They began to dodge tree branches while Crookshanks ran forward towards the tree.
They each had minor cuts and scrapes, Harry had a decent gash on his temple, and Hermione had a split upper lip on its left side, but other than that, they were fine.
Crookshanks had disappeared under the tree, but then, it suddenly stopped attacking them.
Rowena took the chance to fly down the hole at the base of the tree.
The three of them also took the chance before Crookshanks decided to not let them through.
"How did Crookshanks know?" Hermione asked.
"He and Rowena are friends with that big dog," Harry said grimly, almost spitefully, "Get your wands out."
They all did and crept along the underground path, following the two pets.
They had to almost crawl on all fours to keep going, but soon the tunnel began to open up again, "Where does this tunnel lead?" Hermione asked them.
"I don't know, but my best guess is towards Hogsmeade. Fred and George said it had never been gotten into that they knew of, and it's opening is marked on the Marauder's Map, but goes off the map's edge," Harry said, being informative.
"If it goes to Hogsmeade... I think I know where it comes out," Lucifer said almost in a whisper.
"Where?" Hermione asked.
"Think about it, what's the one place no one has gone to in Hogsmeade? The one place that someone would be raving about in the Great Hall at Dinnertime?" He asked her.
Hermione gasped upon realization, "The Shrieking Shack!"
"Exactly... I have a theory that the Shrieking Shack isn't exactly haunted. Not by Ghosts at least," Lucifer said and they came to an area somewhere underneath the Shack, scratch marks were everywhere and some furniture destroyed all over.
"Ghosts didn't do this..." Harry said in agreement.
At that moment, they heard a creaking above them.
They carefully and quietly walked up the wooden staircase nearby to a landing, and it was dark up there, especially in the dark of night.
They came across a door and they heard rustling behind it.
Lucifer walked up to the door and listened a moment. He heard the rustling a bit more clearly, but couldn't tell if there was more than one person or not.
He grabbed the knob and twisted, but it didn't budge. 'Alohomora,' he said, unlocking the door.
They crept in carefully and saw Ron laying on the floor beside a dusty four-poster bed that Crookshanks was laying on.
They all rushed over to him.
"Where is Sirius Black?" Lucifer directly asked him.
"How do you-" Harry was about to ask him, but the door behind them closed and it was revealed that Black was standing behind it.
He was mangy looking and in desperate need of a bath with how he looked and smelled.
He aimed a wand, Ron's wand, Lucifer assumed, at them, "Expelliarmus !" He said, all three of their wands flew out of their hands.
Lucifer wasn't worried, though. He knew if Black even dared to threaten Hermione, he'd go all Celestial Magic on this fool, but there were a few questions he had for the man.
With them disarmed, mostly, he did walk over in front of Hermione, putting himself in between her and Black.
The one thing Black found odd was that none of them were as afraid as he expected, "Considering what the papers are saying about me, I figured you three would be more terrified?"
"So long as Lucifer's here, we have no reason to be. If you put me in danger, he's an almost unstoppable force," Hermione said, peering from around her boyfriend's arm to tell him as much.
"No matter, I had a feeling you all would come to help your friend. Especially you, Harry. You're that much like James. He'd have done the same for me in a heartbeat," Sirius explained.
In his peripheral, Lucifer saw Harry move forward, but he grabbed him, "Potter, cool your jets, will you?"
"If you want to kill Harry," Ron said, struggling to stand up, "You'll have to kill all of us."
"Lie down," Black said in an oddly sympathetic voice, "You'll damage that leg even more."
"Didn't you hear me?" Ron asked and was about to go on.
"Ron," Lucifer said sternly, "Lie. Down. Crookshanks, could you please move?"
The cat blinked at him, but hopped off and went over to a table, which Lucifer only noticed that his bird was on.
Ron begrudgingly laid down on the bed.
"There'll be only one murder here tonight," Black said, his voice changing to that of a maniac.
"Why's that?" Harry spat at him.
Lucifer maintained his firm grip on Harry's arm, "Didn't care last time did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all of those innocent Muggles to kill Peter Pettigrew did you? Gone soft in Azkaban, have you?"
"Potter, shut up. You haven't gotten all sides to the story," Lucifer tried to reason.
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry yelled.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW!?" Lucifer spun him around as he yelled, facing him directly, "How do you know? Because the Minister said so?"
"You were there, Lucifer, you hear them talk about it!" Harry yelled.
"Think about it a moment! Back on the night he was in our dorm room! If he wanted you dead, he could've easily done so, but he was over Weasely's bed... you want to know why I think he was over there?" Lucifer asked, the last person sane in there.
Sirius was standing carefully in the dark, wanting to see where this went before he acted.
Harry struggled against his grip, but it was like iron welded around something, he wasn't letting go, "Why?" He asked angrily.
"He was looking for someone, but obviously not Weasely. Who would be in bed otherwise?" Lucifer asked, his voice was calm, easy to understand.
"What do you mean? Just Ron," Harry looked at him like he was having a lapse in judgment.
"Really? No one else? No one small and furry?" Lucifer helped him out a bit.
"Scabbers?" Harry asked, dumbfounded, "Why would he be after Scabbers?"
"That's something I asked myself almost every day since it happened, 'why would Sirius Black be looking for Scabbers?' But it wasn't until recently when I came up with my own answer... Scabbers is like Black... an Animagus. Why else would he live for twelve years?" Lucifer said, making a lot of good points.
"And Crookshanks and Rowena, they both knew..." Hermione said, trailing off as realization hit her.
"Those are both the most intelligent pets I've ever seen... no offence to your cat," Black spoke up talking about Eve, which only fueled the hatred Harry had for him at that moment.
"But how do YOU know, Lucifer? How do you know any of this?" Harry asked with venom in his voice.
"I don't KNOW anything right now, it's all conjecture at the moment, but unlike how you're acting right now, I'm willing to listen to Black's side of the story. I've heard the tale from people who found the aftermath of the scene, but we haven't actually heard it from someone who was there," Lucifer said, now letting go of Harry.
"I don't need to hear his story! I know he killed my parents!"
"I don't deny that I may as well have killed them, Harry," Black said, "but like Lucifer said, if you knew the whole story, if you understood it-"
"I understand it a lot better than you think!" Harry's voice shook horribly as he yelled at Black.
"You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it..."
Harry eyed him for a moment longer, before he suddenly broke out into a run and tackled Sirius Black, grabbing his wand out of Black's hand, aiming it at his chest.
Crookshanks and Rowena sprang into action and got on top of Black.
Harry showed no sign of caring they were in the way, and even though his pet was in Harry's way, it was only when Hermione let out a sob that Lucifer did something about it.
He ran over to Harry and pulled him violently off Black, restraining him.
Hermione heard movement down below them, "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE - SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"
The room door suddenly burst open and Professor Lupin was standing there, his wand aimed at them, but he hesitated for a moment when he saw Lucifer.
He was getting angry, and Lupin knew that the worse it would be the angrier he got.
Lupin put his hands up, "Lucifer, will you let me explain myself?"
"It's not me - that needs the - explanation," he said, looking at the struggling Harry he was restraining.
"Harry, please? Can I explain the situation?" Lupin asked him.
Harry looked frustrated, but stopped struggling.
Lucifer did not let him go, however. "Fine, explain yourself, not like I'm going to be given a choice."
xxxxxx
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