Cassia's POV
Buckbeak's execution was this evening. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I had decided to go see Hagrid because we wanted to be there for him.
As we walked through the courtyard, we saw the executioner sharpening his axe. He stopped for a moment and looked up at us, flashing an evil grin. I shook it off and we left him there to continue sharpening the blade that would end Buckbeak's life in a matter of minutes.
"I can't believe they're going to kill Buckbeak. It's just too horrible," Hermione said as we walked across the bridge.
I shook my head. "Malfoy just had to go and insult him and then go crying to his daddy. This is all his fault."
"Just got worse," Ron spoke, making the rest of us come to a stop. There was Malfoy and his two goons, watching Buckbeak from behind a huge stone, just mere feet away from us.
"Speak of the devil..." I muttered.
Malfoy looked up to see us approaching. "Ah, come to see the show?" he taunted us.
That was the last straw for any of us. Malfoy had insulted us a lot, but causing an innocent creature to be sentenced to death because of his stupid mistakes was crossing the line. Hermione was going to march over to him and give him a piece of her mind, but I beat her to it.
"This is all your fault, you slimy, ferret-faced jerk!" I yelled, slapping him across the face as hard as I possibly could.
"The thing scratched me, in case you forgot!" Malfoy argued.
I yanked him to his feet and forced him up against the stone behind him, clamping my hands around his wrists. "Hagrid warned us not to insult a Hippogriff, and you went ahead and did it anyway! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to poke a grizzly bear with a stick?!" I snapped, getting all up in his face. I took his wrists in one hand, using my other hand to point my wand at him.
"You're nothing but a foul, loathsome, evil little COCKROACH!" Hermione added, coming to stand next to me. She also had her wand pointed at Malfoy. "Mark my words, you will pay for this."
Before either of us could cause any real damage, Ron spoke up, "Guys, let him go. He's not worth it."
I exchanged glances with Hermione, and then we both looked at Malfoy. His eyes were closed and he was whimpering. He looked genuinely frightened. We slowly lowered our wands, keeping eye contact with him. The second we turned around, however, Malfoy started laughing. What happened next completely took me by surprise. Hermione whirled around and punched Malfoy right in the face, making him fall to his knees. She definitely broke his nose- I heard a crack when her fist made contact with it. Ha! Serves him right!
"Malfoy, you okay?" Crabbe asked. He and Goyle both had to help Malfoy to his feet.
"Let's go!" Goyle said. He, Crabbe, and Malfoy started to retreat away from us. As an extra little bit of payback, I threw a fireball at their butts. They screamed bloody murder and ran so fast that they were all-out sprinting back to the castle. I smirked in satisfaction and blew on my fingernails.
"That felt good," Hermione remarked.
"Not good. Brilliant," Ron corrected her.
I shrugged. "What can I say? He had that coming."
We quickly made our way down to Hagrid's hut, and were welcomed in immediately.
"Oh, look at him. Loves the smell o' the trees when the wind blows through 'em," Hagrid said, staring at Buckbeak, who was sitting in the pumpkin patch outside the window. I felt so bad for both of them.
"Why don't you just set him free, Hagrid?" Harry asked.
Hagrid sighed. "They'd know it was me. Dumbledore'd get into trouble. Comin' down, yeh know, Dumbledore. Says he wants to be with me, when it...when it happens. Great man, Dumbledore. Great man."
"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid," I insisted.
"You'll do no such thing!" Hagrid refused, "Think I want yeh seein' something like that? No. Just drink yer tea and be off. Oh, before yeh do, Ron..." He crossed over to a table and opened a tin box, pulling out -- to our surprise -- Scabbers.
"Scabbers, you're alive!" Ron exclaimed, taking the rat into his arms.
"Keep a closer eye on your pets, Ron," Hagrid scolded him.
"That means you owe somebody an apology," Hermione snapped, standing up.
I crossed my arms, glaring daggers at him. "Actually, you owe two somebodies an apology." I held up two fingers.
Ron nodded. "Right. Next time I see Cricket and Crookshanks, I'll let them know."
"I meant us!" Hermione snapped. Suddenly, a vase near me shattered in half, making us all jump.
"Blimey, what was that?" Hagrid asked.
"Ow!" Harry suddenly exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. Either he bumped his head on something or someone from outside threw a rock at him. It could have been Malfoy, but I decided against it. Malfoy may be a bully, but he wouldn't try something as basic as throwing rocks.
I glanced out the window and almost jumped. Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner were heading for the hut. "Hagrid..."
Hagrid came over to the window and looked. He started to get nervous. "Oh, boy..." he muttered. "It's late. Nearly dark. You shouldn't be here. Someone sees yeh outside the castle at this hour, you'll be in trouble. Big trouble. particularly you, Harry. You too, Cass," he warned us.
Someone pounded on the door.
"I'll be there in a moment," Hagrid called out. We all hurried to the back door, but Harry and I turned back to face him.
"Hagrid, It'll be fine," Harry assured him.
"It'll be okay," I added.
All four of us snuck out the back door and hid behind some giant pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, watching the discussion going on inside the hut. It was interrupted when Hermione turned around to face the trees behind us, making us all snap our heads in that direction.
"What happened?" I asked, looking back at Hermione.
"I thought I just saw...never mind," she replied, shaking her head.
"Let's go," Ron said. We ran back up the hill, but stopped halfway to watch the execution. I know Hagrid said we shouldn't be seeing it, but I didn't care. The executioner made his way over to Buckbeak and raised the axe above his head, before letting it drop. I felt a pain in my heart as he did. Buckbeak was so nice. He didn't deserve this. I buried my face in Harry's chest, beginning to cry, and I could hear Hermione shedding a few tears as well.
"He bit me! Scabbers!" Ron suddenly exclaimed. We all looked in his direction, only to see him running away from us.
"Ron? Ron!" Hermione almost yelled.
"Scabbers, come back!" Ron pleaded. He tripped and fell over near the Whomping Willow and picked up Scabbers. Oh, no. I didn't want to think about what that tree would do to him, especially after what happened last year with Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia.
"Harry, Cassia, you do realize what tree this is," Hermione panted.
Harry's eyes widened. "That's not good. Ron! Run!"
Ron looked up at us, and then his eyes went wide with fear. "Harry, Hermione, Cassia, run! It's the Grim!" He pointed a shaky finger behind us.
The three of us turned around to see a vicious-looking black dog. I couldn't tell who it was snarling at, us or Ron. It let out a single bark leapt right over us, heading straight for Ron. Then it grabbed Ron by the leg and dragged him away, into an underground cave. We tried to chase after the dog to try and grab Ron's hand, but the dog was way too fast.
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed.
"Let our friend go!" I yelled, hurling a fireball into the mouth of the cave. I knew I missed, because I didn't hear the sound of the 'Grim' dog whimpering or letting go of Ron. As if that wasn't bad enough, one of the Whomping Willow's branches whacked us all in the gut, knocking us back several feet away from the cave. Luckily, none of us weren't hurt.
"Did you get it?" Hermione asked, looking over at me.
I buried my face in my hands. "No..." I was both frustrated and disappointed in myself right now. Ugh! Why did you have to miss, Cassia?! "I'm sorry, I tried," I apologized.
My brother and my best girl friend crawled over and engulfed me into a group hug. "It's okay, sis," Harry reassured me, though I could hear the concern for Ron in his voice.
"No...no, it isn't," I whispered, shaking my head as I felt myself starting to cry. "I could've saved him, but I missed. Who knows what'll happen to Ron now?"
"Cassi, listen to me. It's not your fault," Hermione said as she started to rub my back in an attempt to calm me down.
I still felt really guilty for not being able to save Ron, but Harry and Hermione made me feel a little better. Our group hug was cut short when we heard Ron screaming. I heaved a sigh of relief. He was alive.
Harry leapt to his feet. "Come on," he said, beckoning us to follow him. We ran towards the cave, trying our best to avoid the branches swinging at us from every direction.
"Move!" I yelled, pulling us out of the way of an oncoming branch. It slammed down in between Hermione and I, barely missing our heads. Another one came straight at us, even faster than the first branch. It was a miracle we were able to dodge that one.
"Duck!" Hermione warned us.
I was able to avoid the branch swinging at me, but Harry wasn't so lucky. It hit him and he flew back at least 3 feet. A lower one came at Hermione and I, trying to trip us. We managed to jump over it, but the branch coming after it got us. It took all the upper-arm strength we had to hold on, because the branch thrashed around like crazy, trying to buck us off. It swing straight up and then down towards the tree itself. I had to keep my head down to avoid taking twigs to the face. Soon, my arms gave out and I couldn't hold on any longer, and I was forced to let go of the branch. I dropped to the ground, landing -- miraculously -- right next to the cave.
"Okay, that's just pure luck," I muttered to myself as I shook my arms out, trying to get the blood circulating in them again. I looked up once I heard my brother screaming. Hermione was still on the Willow's branch, and she had Harry by his shirt collar, basically pulling him around like a rag doll. But it didn't last for very long. She lost her grip on Harry and he fell right into the cave.
I ran in and helped him stand up. "You okay?"
"Yeah...just a little winded," he replied.
Hermione soon fell into the cave, landing at our feet. My brother and I immediately grabbed her hands and helped her to her feet.
"Thanks," she said.
"No problem," Harry and I replied (once again, in unison).
"Where do you suppose this goes?" Hermione asked, eyeing the path in front of us.
"I have a hunch. I just hope I'm wrong," Harry replied.
We advanced deeper into the cave, only to find a dead end in a matter of minutes. For a moment, we were stumped. Then we looked up and saw a trapdoor above us.
Hermione pushed it open, emitting a loud creak. Okay, that was a little spooky. "We're in the Shrieking Shack...aren't we?" she questioned.
The three of us exchanged worried looks with each other. Our fears were confirmed when we heard Ron screaming. It sounded like he was upstairs. We climbed the stairs and found him in a bedroom, sitting in an old-looking chair. His leg had a really nasty bite on it. Ouch, that Grim really got him good!
"Ron! Are you okay?" Hermione asked.
"Where's the dog? Where is he?" Harry added.
"Harry, Cassia, it's a trap! He's the dog! And he's an Animagus!" Ron cried, pointing behind us. We turned and saw several muddy pawprints leading straight for the door.
A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black.