PRONGSLET AND THE CERYNEIAN GUARDIAN

Chapter Sixty-Eight

"And what about you?" 

There was a grin on Milo's face before he let out a light chuckle. "Don't worry about me, Cedric, I'll be fine."

They made their way to Hagrid's hut and a million questions were racing through Cedric's mind at the time. It seemed there was plenty that Milo was getting involved in that he wasn't even close to being aware of. He had to wonder how Milo had found so much time to get involved in so many things, but it was probably best not to question it all in that moment. Milo was on some sort of mission and if Cedric was correct, they hadn't even taken a chip out of the tip of the iceberg that was going to be coming their way.

Before they reached the front of the hut, Milo dragged Cedric down, as the two boys could see Harry, Ron, and Hermione approaching the hut as well.

"Why are we hiding from your brother and his friends?" Cedric questioned. 

"Because I didn't expect them to be here, that's not going to work with my plan," he sighed before they crawled their way to the back of the hut. They could clearly hear Hagrid's sorrowful words when it came to Buckbeak's execution.

"Isn't there anything anyone can do, Hagrid?" They recognised Harry's voice and Milo could just mutter a 'thank you' under his breath. At least he wasn't alone in his thoughts. "Dumbledore—"

"He's tried, Hagrid answered. "He's got no power ter overrule the Committee."

"I'm calling a load of dung on that one," Milo whispered to Cedric, but the boy seemed incredibly confused as he didn't even know half as to what was going on.

"He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared... Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like... threatened 'em, I expect... an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's... but it'll be quick an' clean... an' I'll be beside him....Dumbledore's gonna come down while it—while it happens. Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter—ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore..."

"Alright, I heard enough of that," Milo said pushing himself up and grabbing Cedric's arm, however, just as they were getting ready to leave, Milo heard the end of what Hermione cried out. 

"Ron! I—I don't believe it—it's Scabbers!"

Cedric watched as Milo froze completely and then hurried back in the direction of the hut's window. Milo peered inside to see Ron grabbing his rat in his hands, looking to be in a state of shock, not to mention thrilled that the rat was alive. He wasn't the only one, especially as Milo whipped around again and grabbed Cedric again before they started running.

"Milo, where are we going?"

The older boy certainly didn't like the idea of running into the Forbidden Forest, but of course, that's exactly where they were going.

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If poor Cedric thought he wasn't confused enough, he was even more thrown off when Milo started barking inside the forest.

"Milo," he thought the boy was experiencing a mental break of some sort, " are you feeling alright, are you-"

He was cut off when the scene of the large black dog that he had seen a couple of times before appeared from behind a tree, running over in Milo's direction. Leave it to Milo to form communication between him and the dog through actual barking. Whenever Cedric thought about what terms came along with dating, there was nothing that ever would have prepared him for dating Milo, not that he was complaining, it certainly kept him entertained. 

"Listen to me, I need to talk to you," Milo said to the dog and Cedric wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel embarrassed, perhaps a bit of both. However, all the humour faded as the dog looked directly at Cedric. "He's fine, he's going to figure all this stuff out anyways. Just do it. If he tries anything, I'll stop him, I promise."

Cedric gave Milo a look wondering what he was talking about, but he was definitely about to get an answer. Within seconds, he watched as the dog started shifting and finally, it took the form of a man. But not just any man, the man that appeared before them was Sirius Black. 

"Sirius, I-" Milo went to tell Sirius that he had spotted Scabbers and that it was true, the rat was alive and still on the castle grounds. In fact, he was back in the hands of his owner. Of course, that's what Milo would have told him right away if it wasn't for the fact that Cedric fainted.

Sirius and Milo were silent as Cedric laid on the forest ground after collapsing, leaving the two to exchange glances. Milo walked over and placed his hand over Cedric to make sure that he was alright.

"Maybe that wasn't the best way to reveal everything," Milo said, " but you know, I guess there really isn't a better way to break this kind of news. Suprise, I've been hanging out with an accused murderer. No offence."

"Did you bring your friend out here to faint?" Sirius asked him.

"Uh, no, I brought my boyfriend out here because he insisted that I couldn't go out alone, but that's not why I'm here. Sirius, Scabbers is alive. I know where he is, he's alive and he's on the castle grounds. He's with Ron now and-"

Sirius didn't have to hear any more from Milo as he was already walking away but Milo stopped him by grabbing him by the back of the man's robe. "Um, you can't go strolling onto the grounds, Fudge is here, with an executioner! I mean, the executioner is not for you, it's for a hippogriff, but that would certainly make the Ministry's day if you showed up. I'm sure Elspeth is with Fudge right now, you don't want to put her in that sort of position."

The man seemed to actually take Milo's words into consideration as he turned back to face him and he had a certain set of instructions that he wanted Milo to follow. He wanted Milo to make his way to the Whomping Willow where he would find the entrance to a secret passageway, they would meet up there and Sirius promised he would bring back the rat by any means. Milo didn't like the idea at all but Sirius wasn't going to take no as he transformed back into his dog form and took off. It left Milo alone in the Forbidden Forest with an unconscious Cedric and he didn't have a lot of time to get to the Whomping Willow as instructed. 

"Oh please, don't let him do anything stupid. Who am I kidding, this whole situation speaks of stupid," Milo huffed before lowering himself down to Cedric's side. He quickly began patting the side of the boy's face. "Cedric, it's time to wake up now. We've got things to do, places to be and people to see. WAKE UP!"

Cedric woke with a frightful look on his face, confused as he looked around and didn't see the infamous Sirius Black standing around or the dog.

"M-Mi-Milo, what's going on?"

"Uh, we have somewhere to be, Cedric," Milo said grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him up. "I'll explain more on the way-"

Suddenly, as he tried to lead the way, Cedric's arms wrapped around his waist holding Milo in place and preventing him from going any further. "Are you mental?! Are you actually mental? Are you mad?"

Milo turned his head over his shoulder and looked up at Cedric with the most innocent look he could muster. "Uh no, that's Sirius actually, he's mad...barking mad actually."