CANDY! ✯ RON WEASLEY

xvi. The Shrieking Shack

"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Ron, and Hermione. Maddie lunged forward and grabbed ahold of his arm to help the two. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew...What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Maddie's, Hermione's and Ron's restraint and lunged forward.

"Harry, NO!"

Perhaps it was the shock of Harry doing something so stupid, but Black didn't raise the wands in time - one of Harry's hands fastened over his wrist, forcing the wand tips away. The knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward, into the wall.

Hermione was screaming, Ron was yelling, Maddie was swearing. There was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches.

But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat.

"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long-"

His fingers tightened and Harry choked, his glasses askew. Maddie fidgeted in a panic. She had to do something. What could she do? She needed to think...

And then Hermione's foot swung out of nowhere. Black let go of Harry with a grunt of pain, as Ron threw himself on Black's wand hand. Maddie's hand clasped around the rags draped around the man in an attempt to hold him back, but a faint clatter soon sounded as she came tumbling down to the ground alongside her friends.

She couldn't see much, her hair was tangled around her face - but the girl swatted her arms around all the same searching for some kind of grip on the murderer.

A hiss sounded that told the girl Crookshanks had joined the fray.

"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry. Maddie didn't know why, she was struggling to free herself - but she did see him aim a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting. Harry snatched up his wand and turned.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at the three.

They didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up the other wands. Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg. Maddie threw herself as far back as possible, swearing loudly because she thumped her back on the corner of the bed.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.

Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.

"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.

Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.

"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, a furious pounding in his ears. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."