HEART LIKE YOURS | H.POTTER

015

After their past selves left, Diana, Harry, and Hermione darted out of the trees and over to the pumpkins. Hermione nudged Harry to go and get Buckbeck. He walked over to the creature, bowing before he grabbed the leash and spoke. Diana and Hermione came up behind him.

"Okay, Buckbeck. Come quickly. Come with us now C'mon" Harry tried to urge Buckbeck, but the hippogriff refused to move.

Hermione grabbed some dead ferrets and waved them at Buckbeck. Bucky got up as Hermione threw a ferret at the creature. The girl waved to the creature as she walked back towards the forest. Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang making the trio and Buckbeck stand still; even the hippogriff seemed to be listening intently.

Silence.

"Where is it?" A reedy voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"

The trio and Buckbeck all spirited into the forest as they heard the executioners cursing, Dumbledore's amusement, and Hagrid's wails.

"How extraordinary," Their headmaster mused. There was a note of amusement in his voice.

"Bucky!" Hagrid said huskily.

There was a swishing noise and the thud of an ax. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger. And then came the howling, and this time they could hear Hagrid's words through his sobs.

"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Bucky, yeh clever boy!"

Buckbeck started to strain against the rope, trying to get back to Hagrid but Harry and Diana tightened their grip and dug their heels into the forest floor to stop him.

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling. "We should search the grounds, the forest—"

"Macnair, if Buckbeck has indeed been stolen, do you think the thief will have led him away on foot?" Dumbledore said, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"Of course, Professor," Hagrid said, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in..."

Diana, Harry, and Hermione listened closely as they heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more. They all sprinted off into the forest.

"Now what?" Harry asked as they stopped in the middle of the forest.

"We save Sirius," Hermione replied.

"And how do we do that?"

Hermione shrugged. "No idea."

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 said suddenly.

A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shouts echoed through the still night air.

"Get away from him—get away—Scabbers, come here—"

And then they saw more figures materialize out of nowhere. Diana watched herself, Harry, and Hermione chasing after Ron. Then she saw Ron dive.