To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 27.

"It's not your fault, Hagrid," comforted George, shifting on his shared seat. "Can't Dumbledore stop it?"

Hagrid seemed to be holding back tears as he shook his head with regret. The man looked at the clock sitting on one of the walls, grabbing his coat and putting it on.

"Yeh better get goin'," he said. "The Minister will be arrivin' soon... an' the executioner. Go on, then! I don' wan' yeh to get in any more trouble."

Hagrid ushered them out the door. They could hear him crying when he walked back inside.

"Poor Hagrid," pouted Nina, "... and Buckbeak."

The hipogriff was tied to a wooden post near Hagrid's hut, right in the center of a pumpkin patch that the man had, resting on the ground with its feathery head resting on it legs.

"Nina, we need to get moving before Snape comes looking for us," reminded George, pulling on her arm to continue their trek, Fred right behind.

It seemed only yesterday Nina had been standing in the exact spot she was now, facing the mysterious and eery Forbidden Forest. The only thing that calmed her was that now, she had the twins going with her.

Helena was aware that Sirius knew how to enter the secret passageway that was hidden under the Whomping Willow without getting beaten by the tree, yet the man entered the Forbidden Forest.

"Are you sure we want to do this?" asked Fred, looking up and gazing at the tree line.

"You're not gonna chicken out on me, are you?" Nina giggled, remembering what he had said to her when they were about to mess up the Potions classroom.

"Very funny, Hell."

And they marched into the forest, the sun behind them slowly disappearing the further they went.

The forest was very quiet, with only the sound of cracking twigs and leafs underneath each step made. No matter how pleasant the weather had been these last few days, the Forbidden Forest was still cold, with chilling currents of winds passing by them often.

"Let's hope we find Sirius soon," said Nina, hugging herself to keep warm.

"Wouldn't be the first time we've lost a dog, aye George?" Fred joked, nudging his brother and the two of them laughed.

"D'you think Mr. Noodles was an illegal Animagi?" asked George. "It would've been weird si--"

Helena clamped a hand over the boy's mouth.

"Did you see som--"

And did the same with Fred.

The rustling sound from tree branches could be heard in the distance, growing louder with each passing second. Nina cautiously took a few steps forward to get a better glimpse of which direction the noise was coming from, her wand in hand pointing infront of her.

The three of them stood frozen, unsure of who or what was obviously headed their way.

All of a sudden, darkness washed over Helena's surroundings. The little light that had managed to seep through the dense forest was now gone.

But she could still hear something moving around her. And not knowing what it was, triggered her. Helena instinctively crouched down, kneeling onto the cold ground, tightly shutting her eyes close.

She forgot why she was here in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

She forgot she was not alone.