I sighed, tapping my wristwatch impatiently as I waited in the Gryffindor tower for the trio to emerge. It had been fifteen minutes since my arrival, The Fat Lady telling me I needed to go and find my 'other Slytherin friends', that 'Gryffindor's and Slytherin's don't mix'. And I thought Slytherin were supposed to be the most prejudiced house...
"Em? You ready?" I flinched, my eyes finding the trio of friends as they stood outside the portrait, looking at me as though I was crazy being lost in my own thoughts, to the point I hadn't even noticed their presence.
"Sorry. That Fat Lady is driving me bloody insane." I cursed, pointing angrily towards the portrait as she began to argue her case determinedly; repeating those phrases exactly as she had when I had been waiting for my brother and his friends...Her outward segregation was pushing me to the end of my tether.
"Right, then I suggest we get going." Hermione diverted the subject as we took a step on one of the moving staircases, headed for the courtyard. "Where exactly are we going? Steaking out the grounds or..." I trailed away, waiting for one of the friends to answer. Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Not tonight, Em. We're going to see Hagrid first."
I nodded, instantly feeling guilty that I could have possibly forgot for a brief moment that tonight wasn't the night it was...The night Buckbeak would be executed...Pouting, I nodded in understanding and fixed my jacket as we made our way out of the school and towards Hagrid's Hut.
It was silent, and mellow...Hagrid's sadness projecting across the room as we sat there...Quietly supporting our friend and Professor. "I'll make us some tea." I spoke, breaking the moment at long last and putting the teapot on the stove. Hagrid outstretched a hand towards me, squeezing it in 'thanks'.
"Oh, look at him. He loved the smell of the trees when the wind blows through em'." Hagrid noted, his eyes hypnotic as he watched the bird from his window, taking a sip of his tea. "I'm so sorry we couldn't have done more, Hagrid." I sighed sympathetically, exchanging a short glance with a very tearful Hermione.
"Why don't we just set him free?" Harry questioned, exasperatedly. But Hagrid shook his head, dismissing the notion immediately, "Nah, they'd know it was me. Dumbledore would get into trouble..." Hagrid noted solemnly. Trying to think around his answer, I knew it was futile; Buckbeak was going to die, and there was nothing any of us (not even Draco Malfoy) could do about it.
"Dumbledore's going to come down, you know? When they-" Hagrid cut himself short, unable to finish the last part of his sentence. It was too unbearable for him to say and for any of us to hear. "When it happens." Hagrid sighed, his voice breaking a little from the tears that threatened to fall.
"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid!" Ron spoke adamantly, but Hagrid's eyes filled with a fury I had only seen a small number of times, "You will do no such thing! I don't want you seeing something like that!" He pointed out the window, where Buckbeak sat absentmindedly pecking at the pumpkins growing in Hagrid's garden.
"No, you lot just drink your tea and be off." A sudden realisation occurred in Hagrid's eyes, "Oh! Before you do, Ron..." He trailed away, reaching into one of his many cages and fishing out Ron's, newly missing and now found, rat.
"Scabbers! You're alive!" Ron cried, taking him carefully from Hagrid's grasp. The half-giant nodded, "You best keep a closer eye on your pets." He reprimanded the boy, a glare crossing Hermione's face, "I think you owe someone an apology." She spat, sharing a small glance with myself. I nodded, agreeing with her statement.
"Right, sorry Emerald." I accepted his apology, his eyes now finding Hermione's, "And next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know." The red-head smirked, only warranting a slap on the arm from me as Hermione continued to argue with the boy, "I meant me!"
The five of us gasped as a pot in the room broke so suddenly. Had it been Hermione, in her momentary and justifiable fit of rage? No, I confirmed, looking at the pebble that had hit the pot. Someone or something had thrown it through the window. Luckily they had, for as we looked in the direction from whence it came, a group of adults were making their way towards us, down the hill; Dumbledore, The Minister for Magic and the Executioner.
"Shit!" I cursed, immediately getting cut short by Hagrid, "Language, young lady!"
"It's late. It's nearly dark, you lot shouldn't be here." Hagrid continued to pace, "If someone sees you outside the castle this time of night you'll be in trouble. Big trouble! Particularly, you two." Hagrid spoke accusingly, pointing towards Harry and I. "Quick, Quick!" He ushered us out the back door as a knocking sounded from outside. Just as Hagrid opened the door, we quickly ran outside and ducked behind a pile of pumpkins.
"Great! What do we do now?" Ron cursed, trying to look around for a way in which we could make our escape.
"We better make a run for it." I sighed, slightly out of breath for running was not an area of my expertise, "I don't want to see this."
Harry took my hand as we began running back up the hill, taking short glances back to make sure nobody had seen us or exited the Hut. Taking one more glance at Buckbeak who let out a small and somber croak of sorts, I held my breath to prevent the tears that stung my eyes from falling. No creature deserved a fate such as his. So cruel and heartless. They could have set him free. We should have set him free...
We watched in the distance as a loud slice of a blade sounded throughout the hills and a flock of crows dispersed from where Buckbeak was sitting. It was heart-breaking. To think he had no idea what was happening to him or why...I fell into my brother's arms as he held me tightly, sobbing into his chest.
"Em I..." My sobs quietened, as did Hermione's. As she pulled away from Ron and I looked over Harry's shoulder to find none other than a guilt-ridden Draco Malfoy, standing with his posse.
"I tried to tell my father..." Draco began, but I was already stalking towards him at this point, my eyes ablaze and my fists clenched as an intangible knot formed in my stomach that I couldn't subdue. I needed to let my anger and frustration out on someone. Anyone. Draco just so happened to be the first person to speak. And before he could even finish his sentence, I landed a slap across his cheek, "YOU BASTARD!"
The slap echoed throughout the courtyard as I went to grab the shocked boy by his shirt collar, his eyes red in anticipation of the tears that were, no doubt, only waiting to fall. Before I could do anymore damage, however, a pair of arms grabbed me and began dragging me away from the terrified Slytherin. "Em, no! He's not worth it!" Harry shouted out above my grunts to get free. Forcing my head backwards, I knocked Harry in the nose, forcing him to lose his grip for a moment. Darting back to Draco, who now laid on the ground, still in disbelief from the events unfolding. As I neared him, however, he thrashed about in search of his wand. He was too late, however, as I pointed my own one towards him, causing him to freeze like a deer in the headlights.
"Be grateful..." I paused, catching my breath for a moment as my eyes found his icy, blue ones. "I'm not doing worse to you, Malfoy! Your father is a horrible man...That doesn't mean you have to be one too." I spat through a grimace, knowing in my heart that Draco could have done more. From what the other Slytherin's had told me, his father adored him and would do anything as the boy so wished. Draco could have easily done more. He was a coward...
"Scabbers!" Ron cried, drawing my attention from the boy and his friends as they helped him to his feet and began running back towards the castle. The red-head had dropped his rat as it began fleeing in the direction of the Whomping Willow.
"Ron, No!" I called out, grabbing Harry and Hermione's arms as to prevent them from getting any closer to the tree. I was protected. Harry and Hermione were not.
Things were only about to get a whole lot worse, however, as Ron plopped down on the floor next to his rat, too close to the tree to be safe. "Get away from that tree!" Harry shrieked, plunging Ron from the rat in his hand for a moment as it squealed and bit at the boy's fingers to be free.
Ron's eyes widened at us...No, something behind us. "Run! It's the Grim!" We turned to face a black dog with beady, glowing eyes. Those same eyes Harry and I had seen the night the Knight Bus collected us from Privet Drive. He had been following us. Watching us this entire time. And in a momentary realisation, it occurred to me what Remus' revelation had meant. Their codenames...Their secret group. Peter Pettigrew showing up on the school map coincidentally the week Scabbers went missing...
"Oh. My. God." I gasped, quieter than a whisper as the black dog lunged at Ron and Scabbers, grabbing our friend by the leg and dragging him towards the hole in the tree before it had a chance to attack. And without a second thought, I ran towards the tree and dove in after him...