Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow - an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.
Charlie reached for his wand, but was too late - the dog had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit him hard on the chest; he kneeled over backward, the wind completely knocked out of him, as one of its claws managed to cut him.
"Charlie!" Hermione yelled in a panic tone. She tried to move towards him, but Harry seized her by the arm, preventing her from putting herself in harms way.
The force of the dog's leap had carried it too far; it rolled off of the brown eyed boy. Dazed, feeling as though his ribs were broken with blood running down his cheek, Charlie tried to stand up; he could hear the dog growling as it skidded around for a new attack.
Ron was on his feet next to Harry and Hermione. As the dog sprang back toward them, he pushed them aside; the dog's jaws fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm. Harry lunged forward to stop him, but it was no use, as the dog was dragging Ron as easily as though he were a rag doll -
Then, out of nowhere, something hit Harry so hard across the face that he was knocked off his feet. Charlie had just stood up when he heard Hermione shriek with pain and fall too.
Charlie's eyes widened as he turned around, the light from the moon showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop them going nearer.
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There, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backward into a large gap in the roots - the ginger was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight -
"Ron!" Charlie shouted, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and he was thrown backward, falling next to Hermione.
The two of them shared a glance as they rose to their feet, almost relieved that the other was alright. They held the gaze for awhile before moving towards Harry and helping him to his feet.
When they looked towards the tree, all they could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground - but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg had broken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight.
"We've - we've got to go for help -" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.
Harry argues, "No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time -"
Charlie tried to reason, "Harry - we're never going to get through without help -"
"If that dog can get in, we can," Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.
