The euphoria of Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup quickly settled because exams started only a little more than a week later and everyone had been revising thoroughly. Some Gryffindors even claimed that they saw Fred and George studying for their O.W.Ls. Katie had found her exams to be dreadful, and was extremely relieved as she climbed to Professor Trelawney's classroom for her final exam of the year.
Professor Trelawney called everyone through the trapdoor one by one, and when they emerged after being examined, they refused to tell anyone what had happened because Professor Trelawney told them that horrible things would happen to them if they did.
Katie was second to last to be called up. Professor Trelawney made her look into a crystal ball and report on what she saw. Quite frankly, Katie couldn't see anything in the ball other than swirling, white smoke. She remembered a comment that Ron had made while working with the crystal balls one day in Divination class ("It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight,") and she laughed out loud in the middle of her exam. Professor Trelawney gave her a calculating look before sending her back through the trapdoor.
"How did it go?" Harry asked apprehensively as Katie climbed down the silver ladder.
"Terrible."
"Harry Potter." Trelawney called.
Harry's exam didn't take long at all. He emerged from the trapdoor after not even five minutes looking pale and shaken, as though he had seen a ghost. Katie jumped to her feet.
"Harry, what happened?"
"P-Professor Trelawney she..." Harry's voice quivered with fear. "She sort of seized up... and her voice went all hoarse, and she told me that Voldemort will rise again, and — and that his servant will return to him tonight."
Katie placed a shocked hand over her mouth. She believed that Professor Trelawney was an old fraud, but Harry seemed to be extremely shaken up, so she knew this must be serious.
Not really knowing how to calm Harry down, Katie suggested that they go find Hermione and Ron. Harry agreed, and the pair rushed down from the North Tower together. Just as they reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione and Ron came bursting in the doors.
"You won't believe what Professor Trelawney just told me—" Harry stopped abruptly when he saw the distraught expressions that Ron and Hermione were wearing.
"We've just been to see Hagrid." Hermione said in a shaky voice. Her eyes started to fill with tears.
"And?" Katie pressed, fearing the worst.
"They're executing Buckbeak at sundown. Hagrid told us we can't be there—"
Ron didn't get time to finish before Harry bolted out the doors. The trio followed behind him and they all rushed down to Hagrid's hut. They all stopped, however, when they spotted Draco Malfoy and a small group of Slytherins huddled behind a tree. They were laughing and pointing at Buckbeak tethered to a fence and awaiting the executioner.
Hermione stood and stared for a few short moments before marching towards the Slytherins. Ron glanced at his friends with fear in his eyes and they quickly followed Hermione.
"Look who's here." Crabbe said, pointing at a very enraged Hermione Granger.
Draco beamed evilly. "Ah, come to see the show?"
"You!" Hermione screeched. "You foul, loathsome and evil little cockroach!"
Hermione whipped out her wand and pressed it up against Draco's throat. He was trapped between the tree and Hermione, and his Slytherin friends had frozen in a state of panic. Draco looked to Katie for help, but she just shrugged at him. She honestly believed that Draco deserved anything that Hermione gave him because of what he had done to Hagrid and Buckbeak (and to her, but she tried not to think about that).
"Hermione, no!" Ron cried weakly. "He's not worth it!"
It took Hermione a few moments to calm down, but she eventually did. She put her wand away. When she turned back around, Katie almost fell over. Hermione's brooding eyebrows and flared nostrils scared even Katie.
Draco started laughing, mocking Hermione, and his friends joined in. Finally having enough, Hermione whirled around at light speed and punched him square in the jaw. His friends, and Hermione's friends, all gasped in shock.
Draco quickly gathered himself from the blow and tore off with the other Slytherins. Although Katie had been laughing and was very impressed by Hermione, she couldn't help it when her stomach twisted horribly upon seeing Draco run away.
"Hermione!" Ron said, sounding both stunned and impressed. Katie and Harry were grinning wildly at Hermione.
"That felt good." Hermione smirked, try as she might to keep her expression modest.
"Not good! Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
The four of them then quickly dashed down to Hagrid's. They glanced sadly at Buckbeak, who was tied to a post in Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Hagrid must have seen the four teenagers coming from his window, because the door to the hut opened abruptly and he ushered them in.
"What do yeh think yer doin'?" Hagrid scolded. "If any of yer Professors see yeh out, especially you, Harry—"
But Harry wasn't paying attention. He had drifted over to the window and was staring at Buckbeak.
"Why don't we just set him free?" Harry suggested.
"Ah, they'd know it was me... and Dumbledore would get into trouble. He's comin' down, Dumbledore. Says he wants to be with me when they..."
Katie and Hermione promptly distracted themselves by getting to work on making some tea. Katie noticed the silent tears that were rolling down Hermione's cheeks, but she said nothing, because Hermione was making quite the effort to hide her tears from everyone else.
"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid." Ron said suddenly. Hagrid instantly shot him down.
"Yeh'll do no such thing!" he barked. "Think I want you seeing somethin' like that? No! You just drink your tea and be off. Oh, before you do, Ron, I've got something fer yeh."
Hagrid approached his small counter and took the lid off a small tin. Katie leaned to the side, wobbling a bit on her chair, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the tin. What she didn't expect was for Hagrid to pull out—
"Scabbers! You're alive!"
Quite frankly, Katie hadn't even known that Ron had lost Scabbers until that very moment. She had been so preoccupied with exams that she had not been spending much time with her friends.
"Yeh'd better keep a closer eye on yer pets, Ron." Hagrid warned as he handed the rat to a beaming Ron.
Hermione snappily wiped her tears and strode towards Ron. "I think that means you owe someone an apology."
"Right, next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know!"
Katie let out a sigh of realisation. Ron thought that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers. In all fairness, that cat had it out for Scabbers since day one, and Hermione seemed to be the only one that was oblivious to it.
"I meant me!" Hermione said angrily.
A sudden smash made everyone inside the hut jump from fright. A vase that was sat on Hagrid's table smashed for seemingly no reason at all. Katie squinted in suspicion, then spotted something out of the ordinary. A small rock had appeared to have broken the vase. She picked it up, twirled it around her fingers and showed it to Hermione, who stared at it with the same blank expression as Katie.
"Ow!" Harry cried, massaging the back of his head. A second rock had flew through the open window, and this time it struck Harry in the back of the head.
Katie's eyes snapped towards the window, and that's when she saw Dumbledore striding down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's hut, his silver beard glittering in the setting sun. He was accompanied by Cornelius Fudge and — Katie's stomach lurched — the executioner.
There was a sudden knock on the door.
"I'll be with yeh in a moment!" Hagrid called. He turned to the four students and shuffled them out the backdoor. "Quick! Quick!"
Katie turned back around. "Hagrid... it'll be fine. It'll be OK." But she knew well enough that she was trying to convince herself more than she was Hagrid.
As soon as they got outside, Katie and her friends tore back off through the grounds. Hermione was crying, muttering about how they needed to get away quickly before Buckbeak was killed. However, they had barely made it two minutes up the lawn when they heard the unmistakable sound of a swooshing axe, followed by a loud thud.
Hermione whimpered and burst into tears. Katie went rigid with horror, but her attention was quickly averted to Ron when he let out a wail.
"Scabbers! He bit me!"
Ron broke away and started chasing Scabbers across the grounds. His friends sprinted after him, calling his name, but he ignored them completely. Only when he reached the shadow of the Whomping Willow did Ron throw himself forward onto the ground and grasp Scabbers with both of his hands.
"Ron!" Hermione cried. "That's the Whomping Willow!"
But Ron was fixated on something else. His usually bright eyes were wide with pure terror as he stared wildly at a spot just over Katie's shoulder. Ron slowly raised his trembling hand and pointed.
"HARRY! HARRY, RUN!" Ron's voice was hoarse with fear. "IT'S THE GRIM!"
The trio jumped around and, sure enough, standing all but five feet away was a great, big dog. It had shaggy black hair and bore enormous yellow teeth. One of its paws was almost the size of Katie's face. The dog's fierce growls put the fear of Merlin in the young girl.
The dog bound towards them, yet none of them could find the strength to spring out of the way. They stood rooted to the spot and shaking with fear. Just as it seemed as though the dog was going to collide with Harry, it jumped straight over their heads and went for Ron instead.
The beast bit down hard on Ron's leg, making the redhead let out a scream of pain, and started dragging him into the secret passage under the Whomping Willow.
"RON!" Harry screamed and dove forward, desperately trying to grab Ron's hand, but the dog was too quick.
Acting on impulse rather than logic, Katie leapt over Harry, dodged a single swing from the Whomping Willow and threw herself down the hole after Ron.
"KATIE!" Hermione had screamed.
When she was in the hole, Katie couldn't see a thing. She pulled out her wand and muttered, "Lumos!" and suddenly the area was illuminated with a mystical blue glow. It was definitely a secret passage, like Harry had said, and squint as she might, Katie couldn't seem to see the end of the passage.
Ron was nowhere in sight, but his shouts of pain and fear still vividly echoed through the tunnel. Katie didn't have time to wait for Harry and Hermione to join her. That dog could probably swallow Ron whole in one, swift bite.
Katie sprinted, panting, for what seemed like hours. Her heart was beating hard and she was clutching a violent stitch in her side.
Finally, the tunnel began to rise. It welded into creaky wooden steps that sounded as though they were going to break under Katie's weight.
She emerged in a dingy looking room. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, apart from a shining stripe that had been wiped clear. Paint was peeling off the walls and every bit of furniture was broken.
Katie wasn't quite sure what to do next, but then she heard a soft whimper coming from a closed door to her left. She quickly put out her light, took a deep, quavering breath, and kicked the door in.
Ron was sat on the floor next to a very old, very broken four poster bed. He was clutching his bleeding leg in agony and letting out whimper after whimper.
"Ron!"
Katie rushed forward and instantly got to work on stopping Ron's profuse bleeding. Ron, however, only shoved her off, letting out a string of incoherent sounds.
"What? Ron? What?" Katie snapped nervously.
"Harry. Tell Harry. Go back. Tell Harry—" Ron was saying.
"Ron, what is happening!"
No more than five seconds later, there was a loud thunder of footsteps as Harry and Hermione bound up the creaky stairs and burst through the open door of the room. Harry's frightened eyes flickered between Katie, who was pale with fear, and Ron, who was pale with agony as he clutched his leg.
"Ron! You're OK! Where's the dog?" Harry said quickly, sounding out of breath, as he and Hermione rushed over to Katie and Ron's side.
"Harry, it's a trap!" Ron finally managed to force out coherent words. "He's the dog! He's an Animagus!"
Ron pointed straight ahead, towards the door that Katie had kicked open. Harry and Hermione slowly turned their bodies to face the door, and like something out of Katie's nightmares, the door swung shut, and standing on the other side was a man with a shoulder-length mop of filthy, dangled hair, a shrunken face, and a grin that exposed his horrible yellow teeth.
Katie sucked in a sharp, rattling breath and held it while her entire frame started to shake uncontrollably. She tightly clutched Ron's arm and Hermione courageously stepped in front of Harry.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too." she said to Sirius Black.
"No, only one will die tonight." Sirius sneered menacingly.
"Then it'll be you!" Harry bellowed and sprung forward.
Katie screamed and she and Hermione made an effort to grab Harry. "HARRY!"
In one swift movement, Harry's hands locked around Black's throat and he threw him to the dusty floor. Then, keeping him steady with one hand, Harry used his free hand to pull out his wand. He pointed it straight at Sirius's face. Katie's grip on Ron's arm tightened and his hand started to grow numb, but he was too scared to form the words to tell her to stop.
Sirius Black chuckled. "Are you going to kill me, Harry?"
Without warning, the door burst open once more, and this time, a tattered looking Professor Lupin appeared in the room.
"Expelliarmus!" he cried. Harry's wand flew from his hand and Lupin caught it, then cocked his head, telling Harry to move. Harry obeyed, standing away from Sirius, and Hermione pulled him back towards the wall. Katie didn't know where to look, but she was trying with all her might not to look at the gaping gash on Ron's leg.
"Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged, aren't we?" Lupin taunted, pacing towards Black, his wand outstretched. "Finally the flesh reflects the madness within."
"You'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" Sirius replied. A shiver ran down Katie's spine as she took in what happened next. Lupin lowered his wand, helped Black to his feet and embraced him like a brother.
"I found him," Sirius whispered, sounding deranged. "He's here."
"I know."
"Let's kill him."
"NO!" Hermione yelled. She stepped forward. "I trusted you, and all this time, you've been his friend! He's a werwolf! That's why he's been missing classes!"
As though her eyes were suddenly opened, Katie's brain whirred, putting together the pieces of the puzzle in a few short seconds. Lupin missing classes when there was a full moon, Harry telling her about a strange potion that Snape had been bringing to Lupin, Snape setting the essay on werewolves. But why would Dumbledore allow a werewolf to teach at Hogwarts?
"How long have you known?" Lupin asked seriously, stepping away from Sirius and towards Hermione, who drifted back a few steps.
"Since Professor Snape set the essay."
"Well, well, well, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met—"
"Enough talk, Remus! Come on, let's kill him!" Black cried desperately.
"Wait!" Lupin demanded.
"I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!" Sirius screamed. His screams were filled with so much pain, so much agony, and Katie felt a chill run through her bones.
"Very well, kill him," Lupin sighed, tossing Harry's wand to Black. "But wait one more minute. Harry has the right to know why—"
"I know why," Harry finally spoke in a quivering voice. "You betrayed my parents. You're the reason they're dead."
Harry spoke with the same amount of pain in his voice as Black, only Harry had something else — hatred — and it terrified Katie to see her best friend so full of burning hatred and a thirst for revenge.
"No Harry, it wasn't him. Somebody did betray your parents, but it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead." Lupin claimed.
"Who was it then?" Harry demanded.
"Peter Pettigrew!" Black shrieked. "And he's in this room — right now. Come out, come out, Peter! Come out, come out and play!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Black and Lupin were suddenly disarmed. Professor Snape was stood in the door frame, aiming his wand at Black's chest, a devilish grin on his face. Katie almost fainted on the spot — this day just kept on getting more and more insane.
"Vengeance is sweet," Snape drawled. "How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you."
"Severus—" Lupin tried to reason with Snape, but quickly stepped down when Snape shifted the focus of his wand to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle and, now! Here's the proof."
"Brilliant, Snape; once again you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and as usual come to the wrong conclusion. Now if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to." Sirius taunted the Professor, which was a bold move for an unarmed man. Sure enough, Snape placed his wand to Black's throat. The four teenagers stood, stunned, in silence as they watched the scene before them unfold.
"Give me a reason. I beg you." Snape spat.
"Severus, don't be a fool." Lupin pleaded.
Black almost laughed. "He can't help it. It's habit by now."
"Sirius, be quiet—"
"Be quiet yourself, Remus!"
Snape spoke again. "Listen to you two, quarreling like an old married couple."
"Why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set?"
Although it was probably a strange thought process to be having, given the current, dangerous situation they were in, Katie almost chuckled at the fact that, were he not a deranged, murdering lunatic, she might actually get along quite well with Sirius Black.
Black made a move towards Snape, but he only put more pressure on the man's throat.
"I could do it, you know," he threatened. "But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Ah, yes. The Dementor's Kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. Its said to be nearly unbearable to witness but I'll do my best."
Katie hadn't the faintest idea as to what the Dementor's Kiss was, but judging from the terror in Black's eyes (that he was trying desperately to hide) and the quiver of his lip, she could tell that it was something quite horrible.
"Severus, please..." Lupin was begging now. Katie and Ron looked at each other with the same expression painted on their fearful faces — helplessness.
Katie was too late to notice Harry reach into Hermione's pocket and extract her wand. He pointed it at Sirius Black, before rounding on Snape.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry's blast hit Snape square in the chest and he was flung backwards atop of an old, creaky four-poster bed.
"Harry, what did you just do!" Ron cried weakly.
"You attacked a teacher!" Katie said in the same tone as Ron before her.
"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew." Harry snapped at Black, but instead, Lupin responded.
"He was at school with us, we thought he was out friend."
"No, Pettigrew is dead..." Harry stated, though he now sounded uncertain. He pointed to Sirius. "You killed him!"
Lupin jumped in front of Black and held his hands up, beckoning for Harry to relax. "No, he didn't — I thought so too until earlier today I saw Pettigrew on the Marauder's Map."
"The Map was lying then!"
"The Map never lies," Black exclaimed. "Pettigrew's alive, and he's right there." Black pointed at Ron.
Katie stiffened.
"Me?" Ron croaked. "That's mental!"
Black hissed in annoyance. "Not you! Your rat!"
Ron sounded offended by the accusation when he said, "Scabbers had been in my family for—"
"Twelve years! Curiously long life for a common garden rat. He's missing a toe, isn't he?"
"So what?"
After what felt like an eternity of saying nothing, Katie finally joined the conversation, remembering what she had heard that day at the Three Broomsticks. "All they could find of Pettigrew was his—"
"Finger!" Black yelled. "The dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead. Then he transformed into a rat."
"Show me." Harry said firmly.
Black yanked the struggling, screeching rat out of Ron's sweaty hands.
"What are you trying to do to him?" Ron whimpered. "Scabbers! Leave him alone!"
Curiosity getting the better of them, Katie and Hermione held Ron back to stop him from trying to snatch his rat back.
Black threw the rat down on a table and it made a great effort to scamper away as Black and Lupin flourished their wands at it. Just as Scabbers jumped through a whole in the wooden wall, Black caught him with his spell, and what had been a rat only milliseconds ago was now a squirming, quivering little man.
Black and Lupin grabbed the man by his shoulders and aggressively heaved him to his face. Katie stood, thunderstruck, her wide eyes dancing between Harry and who she assumed was Peter Pettigrew. He was short and plump and sported a lot of saggy skin. His nose definitely resembled that of a rat, and he twisted his long, filthy fingers around each other nervously.
"Remus? S-S-Sirius? My old friends..."
With that being said, Pettigrew lunged for the doors, but Black and Lupin were too quick for him. They shoved him back into the centre of the room and shielded the doorway with their bodies.
Peter swiveled around and his beady eyes landed on Harry. He rushed towards him and Harry backed away until he hit the wall.
"Harry, look at you! You look so much like your father — James, we were the best of friends—"
Sirius intervened. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY! HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM!" he roared.
Pettigrew dashed behind an old table that had two broken legs, desperately trying to escape Black and Lupin, but they had him surrounded.
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort, didn't you?"
"I didn't mean to!" Pettigrew cried. "The Dark Lord... you've no idea the weapons he possesses. What would you have done, Sirius?" What would you have done?"
"I would've died! I would've died rather than betray my friends!" Sirius yelled, seeming offended by the fact that Pettigrew even thought that he would betray Lily and James.
Katie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sirius Black, a convicted mass murderer, a prisoner of Azkaban, a man that she had feared her entire life, was innocent.
Pettigrew ducked under the table, crawled across the floor, then tried to make for the door, but Harry jumped into the door frame, halting Pettigrew's escape.
"Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed," Pettigrew whispered at a very uncomfortable Harry Potter. "Your dad — your dad would have spared me. He would show me mercy—!"
Pettigrew screamed as Lupin and Black grabbed a hold of him and pulled him away from Harry.
"You should've realised, Peter, that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would!" Sirius snarled angrily. "Together!"
"No!" Harry objected loudly. Katie couldn't think of anything to do but blink at him.
Lupin sighed deeply. "Harry, this man is—"
"I know what he is. But we'll take him to the castle." Harry said. Pettigrew fell at his feet.
"Bless you, boy! Bless you!"
"Get off!" Harry snapped, kicking Pettigrew's hands off his shoes. "I said we'll take you to the castle. After that the dementors can have you."
Pettigrew trembled in fear and his already pasty white skin seemed to pale even more.
Lupin waved his wand and suddenly Pettigrew was bound with tight rope. Sirius warned him that, were he to transform, they would kill him on the spot.
"Ron!" Katie said suddenly. "Your fingers! They're blue!"
"W-well, yeah, you see — I sort of can't feel my arm. I mean, you've been gripping it awfully tight—"
Katie let go at once. "Merlin's Beard! I'm sorry! You should've said something."
"I was a bit preoccupied with the whole my rat is a man and Sirius Black has actually been good all along thing." Ron countered.
Katie let out a short breath of laughter before carefully walking over to Harry, who seemed to be in a daze, staring at the wall and wearing an expression that Katie couldn't quite read. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and took note of how he tensed up at the conact.
"Are you alright?" Katie asked softy. Harry gulped and looked at her. His eyes were glassy, as though he could cry at any moment.
"Yeah, just a bit shaken, that's all." he breathed weakly. Katie gave him a small but reassuring smile.
Sirius turned around. "Right — err — Ron, isn't it?"
Ron didn't say anything. He just nodded. Black still seemed to put the fear of God in the redhead.
"Harry, would you mind?" Black said, gesturing towards Ron, who definitely would not be walking on his leg any time soon.
With a nod, Harry helped Sirius pull Ron to his feet. The Weasley wobbled around and winced in pain, but was ultimately able to be dragged along the secret passage way with the help of Harry and Sirius.
It was quite an odd grouping. At the front there was Pettigrew and Lupin, a man who had faked his death and disguised himself as a rat for twelve years, and a werewolf who happened to be a Hogwarts Professor. Next was Sirius Black, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, a convicted mass murderer who spent twelve years in a high security prison and became the first escapee, the Boy Who Lived, and a boy who'd had his leg punctured by his best friend's godfather. Last were Hermione and Katie, a muggle born who was probably the most brilliant witch Katie had ever known, and the only known Slytherin in a long line of Gryffindors.
Of course there was also Professor Snape, but Black had insisted on leaving him behind, saying that he was sure he had enough brains to make his way back through the tunnels. Something told Katie the Black and Snape had a lot of history together.
Without thinking about it, Katie blurted out a question that had been etching at her mind ever since she discovered Black's innocence.
"Err — Mr Black — Sirius?"
Black almost snapped his neck with the speed that he whipped around at. The dingy man looked gobsmacked, as though being addressed in a polite way was something that he had long forgotten.
"Yes? Uhm... so sorry, I don't think I caught your name."
"Katerina — Katie." she told him.
"Katerina," Black said thoughtfully. "Beautiful name."
Katie blushed slightly. "I hope you don't mind my asking, and apologies if this is a sensitive subject, but how exactly did you escape from Azkaban?"
Sirius visibly shivered and Katie felt a great sensation of regret and guilt bubble up in her stomach, but she relaxed when Black answered her question.
"I'm an Animagus, as you know. Unregistered with the Ministry. Eventually, I'd grown so thin, living on so little food, you see, that I could transform into a dog and slip through the bars. The dementors can't sense animal emotions as well as they can humans, so I escaped them and swam to shore."
"Epic." Ron grinned, followed by a grunt of pain.
"Sorry about the bite," Black said. "I reckon that twinges a bit."
"A bit? A bit? You almost tore my leg off!" Ron cried in exasperation.
"Well, I was going for the rat," Sirius defended himself. "Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog. In fact, more than once, James suggested that I make the change permanent. The tail I can live with, but the fleas, they're murder."
Katie, Harry and Hermione chuckled, but Ron was in too much agony to focus on jokes.
"Hell of a night, huh?" Hermione said to Katie, a small smile on her face.
"Hell of a night."