Emma Potter

82: Sirius Saved

Me, Harry and Hermione listened closely. We heard footsteps, thesoft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more."Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around."We'll have to hide in here," said Hermione, who looked veryshaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle.Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window.He won't be there for another couple of hours. . . . Oh, this is going to be difficult. . . ." 

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of theforest. The sun was setting now."We're going to have to move,"I said, thinking hard."We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won'tknow what's going on." 

"Okay," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak'srope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, guys, remember. . . ." 

We moved around the edge of the forest, darkness fallingthickly around us, until we were hidden behind a clump oftrees through which we could make out the Willow. 

"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air."Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —" 

And then we saw three more figures materialize out of nowhere. I watched myself, Harry and Hermione chasing after Ron. 

Then I saw Ron dive.

 "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —" 

"There's Sirius!"I said. 

The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. We saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron. . . .

 "Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Harry, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots. "Ouch — look, I just got walloped by the tree — and so did you Emma— this is weird —" 

The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; we could see ourselves darting here and there,trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.

 "That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.

 "And there we go . . . ," I muttered. "We're in." 

The moment we disappeared, the tree began to move again.Seconds later, we heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore,Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. 

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" said Hermione."If only Dumbledore had come with us . . ."

 "Macnair and Fudge would've come too," said Harry bitterly. "I bet you anything Fudge would've told Macnair to murder Sirius onthe spot. . . ."

We watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then —

"Here comes Lupin!" said Harry as we saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring toward the Willow.

I looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely. We watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground andprod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin,too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.

"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry. "It's just lyingthere. . . ." 

He turned to Hermione and me.

 "If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape'd never be ableto get it and —" 

"Harry, we mustn't be seen!"

 "How can you stand this?" he asked Hermione fiercely. "Juststanding here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm goingto grab the cloak!"

 "Harry, no!" I seized the back of Harry's robes not a moment toosoon. Just then, we heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, makinghis way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from hishands.