Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Wing Goes to Hogwarts ❯ The Shrieking Shack ( Chapter 18 )

Warning - Adherents to the story/movie timeline beware! Yeah, I read the book, but now I'm totally pitching it out the window. These Harry Potter characters are now my evil prisoners! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

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Chapter 18: The Shrieking Shack

The end of finals was a celebratory time for most students, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were very upset. The minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge, arrived at the castle with a prosecutor, ostensibly to hear Buckbeak's appeal, but since he also brought an executioner, it was pretty clear which way the appeal was going to go. Hagrid was devastated and urged the children to stay away, but the three would have none of that. Using Harry's invisibility cloak, they planned to sneak down to Hagrid's hut to see if there was anything they could do. They hid near the front hall and waited until everyone was gone before sneaking out, the invisibility cloak thrown over their heads.

“Where are you going?”

The three youngsters, on their way out the door, nearly leaped out of their skins.

“Roku!” Harry exclaimed. “Don't scare us like that! And how did you know we were here?”

Roku shrugged. “I can smell you, remember? So where are you going?”

“To see Hagrid,” Harry said. “We think they're going to execute Buckbeak tonight and we have to stop them somehow.”

“May I come with you?”

“We can't fit anyone else under here,” Ron said.

“That's ok. No one will notice me.” Roku shifted into the shape of a brown owl and flew out the door.

“He makes that look so easy!” Ron complained.

The three of them hurried after Roku, trying not to trip each other as they dashed along in a bunch.

At Hagrid's cabin, Hagrid was glad to see them, but he also urged them to leave. “It's `opeless,” he moaned. “Yeh don' wan' ter see this.”

Roku, who had changed back to his human form, gazed out the window. “That's interesting,” he murmured. Then he ducked. An instant later, one of Hagrid's ceramic pots shattered, revealing the emaciated, mangy-looking form of Ron's rat Scabbers.

“Scabbers!” Ron cried. He scooped the rat up quickly before it could escape and shoved it inside his pocket.

“I told you Crookshanks didn't eat him!” Hermione declared, a little triumphantly.

“That doesn't matter,” said Harry. “We have to do something about Buckbeak!”

“Too late!” Hagrid groaned. “They're here. You kids have teh get out o' here.” He shooed them out the back door, where they hid in the pumpkin patch until the men were inside. Then they set out for the castle with sinking hearts.

“We can't let them do this!” Hermione cried. “We just can't!”

Above their heads, once more an owl, Roku floated along on soundless wings. “Don't worry,” he hooted. “It's going to be all right.”

But just as he spoke, they all heard the sound of the executioner's axe fall with a loud thunk.

“No!” Hermione cried.

They all stopped and stared at each other. Then Ron began to squirm as Scabbers began struggling in his pocket. After that, several things happened very fast. Scabbers escaped Ron's pocket and made a run for it with Crookshanks, who had appeared out of the shadows, hard on its heels. With a shout, Ron threw off the invisibility cloak and took off after them. Hermione and Harry raced after Ron, shouting for him to come back. Roku flew soundlessly above their heads. When Harry and Hermione caught up with Ron, he had recaptured Scabbers. But before the three could get back under the invisibility cloak, a large black dog charged them, knocking Harry down. Ron jumped in the way before the dog could attack again and, to everyone's surprise, it dragged him away by the arm.

“Ron!” Harry cried, but when he tried to follow, he was knocked off his feet by a flying branch of the Whomping Willow.

“Ouch!” Hermione cried as she was clipped by another branch.

Roku dropped to the ground out of range of the tree and shimmered into tiger form. “That's Sirius Black.”

“What?!” Harry exclaimed, but he did not appear to be listening. He and Hermione were trying to figure out how to get to the trunk of the tree, where the black dog had just dragged Ron into a hole at its base.

Duo jogged up to them from out of the darkness. “Hey guys, did you see a big black dog go by just now?”

“Yes,” Roku replied. “That dog is Sirius Black. He just dragged Ron Weasley under that tree, but we can't get close because of the branches.”

“So that dog is Sirius Black, eh?” Duo said. “That explains a lot.”

“Explains what?”

“The weird way he sounds. I kept hearing what I thought were someone's thoughts but it would turn to muttering or something and I could never make it out. It felt really odd, so I've been trying to find who it is. Then just a few minutes ago, I heard it again and realized it was coming from that dog. So I was following him.”

“He didn't notice you?”

“He seemed really intent on something. I kept upwind of him and he never heard me. But since you say he attacked Ron, that must have been what he was concentrating on.”

“Look!” Hermione cried, pointing. Her cat Crookshanks was snaking along the ground below the range of the Whomping Willow's whipping branches. The cat reached the tree and leaned on a protruding knot. To everyone's surprise, the tree stopped moving.

“That's it!” Harry cried. “Let's go!”

The group charged forward just as Crookshanks slithered into the hole in the base of the tree. Harry, Hermione, Roku and Duo followed and entered a low damp tunnel.

“I'll go first!” Roku cried gleefully and he scampered down the tunnel, his low-slung tiger form fitting easily into the passage. Everyone else had to hunch over and scurry along as best they could. When the passage ended, they crawled out into an old room populated by rickety broken furniture, spider webs and dust. “This way!” Roku called and he bounded up the stairs and along the hall to the only room showing a light.

Harry had his wand out as soon as he charged into the room. “Get away from Ron!” he cried dramatically, but it was sort of pointless because Roku already had a filthy, scruffy-looking man pinned to the floor several feet away from Ron. Ron was huddled against the side of an ornate four-poster bed, pale and sweating as he clutched his obviously broken leg.

“Wait!” the man cried, “Just let me kill him first! Then you may do whatever you like with me!”

“I'm not going to let you kill Ron!” Harry shouted.

“Not him!” Sirius exclaimed. He struggled to escape Roku's hold. “Pettigrew! He's responsible for your parents' deaths!”

“You're lying!”

“Let's listen to him first. I think he might be telling the truth” said Professor Lupin. The rather emaciated Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor stepped through the open door, his wand at the ready.

“Took you long enough to get here,” Duo remarked calmly from where he was leaning against the wall just inside the door.

“I'm sorry,” Lupin said. “I didn't know you were expecting me.”

“I heard you coming.”

“Indeed?” Remus blinked at him. “I thought I was being stealthy.”

Duo tapped the side of his head. “You need to hold your thoughts in when you're sneaking.”

“You're a telepath?”

“Yup.”

“Excuse me!” Harry interrupted loudly. “What do you mean he might not be lying?”

“James Potter, Sirius Black and I were best friends when we attended Hogwarts together. I have never completely believed Sirius betrayed them.”

“I didn't,” Sirius moaned. “It was Peter Pettigrew. And he's hiding in that boy's shirt!”

“What?!” Hermione exclaimed. “But that's just Scabbers, his rat!”

“Oh, yeah?” Duo crossed the room to Ron and unceremoniously snatched Scabbers out of Ron's pocket.

Ron let out a yelp of surprise. “Give him back!”

Duo held the half-bald rat in front of his eyes. “This is quite interesting. I get the same kind of half-thoughts I was getting from the dog. I think this rat is an animagus in animal form.”

Ron goggled. “He can't be!”

“Let's see,” said Lupin and he pointed his wand at Scabbers. He muttered a spell and the rat's small form suddenly elongated and became a chubby little man in a tattered suit, his straggly hair streaked with gray.

With a sudden surge of strength, Sirius shoved Roku away and jumped to his feet. He charged toward Peter Pettigrew and the former rat darted away with a squeal of fear. Harry shouted something incomprehensible and charged after Sirius, firing spells from his wand at random. Hermione dashed after Harry, trying to catch his wand hand, but mostly just managing to spoil his aim. Duo and Lupin dove to the floor to avoid getting blasted by the misfiring spells. Roku moved to block the door, apparently oblivious to the spells occasionally blasting through his fur. Ron huddled on the floor where he lay, hunched around his broken leg.

“What is the meaning of all this?!” Severus Snape shouted, appearing suddenly in the doorway. He struck an authoritarian pose and was promptly smacked in the face by one of Harry's spells. He went completely rigid and fell backward without a sound, except when his head smacked the floor with a resounding thump.

“Oops,” Roku murmured.

“Harry!” Remus cried. “Get hold of yourself!”

“Somebody here killed my parents!” Harry cried. “I'll blast them both!”

“I think he's lost it,” Duo said. “Gimme a second.” He squeezed his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Harry clapped a hand to his forehead and stumbled to his knees. Since Hermione was right on his heels, she promptly tripped over him and sent them both sprawling.

“My head!” Harry groaned.

Duo grinned. “That should do it. Instant blinding headache.”

“That's mean, Papa Duo,” Roku said.

“Better than having him blow the place up with us in it.” Duo stood up. “Now then…” he began, and noticed that Sirius Black was trying to strangle Peter Pettigrew. “Just a minute, stop that.” He concentrated again and Sirius clapped his hands to his head with a grunt.

The instant he was released, Pettigrew shifted back into his rat form and scampered away, but he did not get far. Roku pounced on him eagerly, pinning the terrified rat to the floor with one giant paw.

“Now, then,” Duo said again, “I want to hear the whole story. Mr. Black, please begin.” Rubbing his temples and squinting, Sirius Black quickly explained how Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to their deaths so many years ago. When he was done, Duo glanced at Roku. “Well?”

“He's not lying,” Roku confirmed.

“The fact that Pettigrew is not dead confirms it,” Remus said. “Sirius Black did not collude with the dark lord to kill James and Lily Potter.”

“That's good enough for me,” Duo said. “Let's take this whole mess to Dumbledore.”

Pettigrew began struggling furiously and with a flick of his paw, Roku flipped him into his storage space. “That will keep him out of trouble until we need him.”

“Good idea.”

Harry and Hermione tried to help Ron to his feet, but Ron nearly fainted as soon as he tried to shift his leg.

“Ron needs to go to the infirmary,” Hermione said.

“He might need to as well,” Duo remarked. He pointed at the still unconscious Snape.

“Allow me,” Remus said. He pointed his wand at Snape and the unconscious Potions master swung to his feet. “It's a marionette spell,” he said. “Very useful with unconscious persons.”

“Indeed,” said Duo. He squatted down next to Ron. “We should immobilize this leg first. What have you got in the way of a splint, Roku?” Roku produced splints and bandages, and Duo deftly wrapped up Ron's leg. “Got any painkillers?'

“Yup.” Roku pulled a bottle of pills from under his arm.

Duo shook one out onto his palm. “Just chew it.”

Ron made a face, but he managed to choke the pill down.

“All right,” said Duo. “Let's get out of here.”

Harry and Hermione supported Ron between them and helped him carefully to his feet. The party proceeded back through the tunnel and out from under the Whomping Willow. Unfortunately, as soon as they stepped clear of the tree's branches, they were bathed in the silvery white light of the full moon.

Remus stopped in his tracks. “Oh, dear!” he murmured. With expressions ranging from stunned to highly curious, everyone watched as the slender Professor changed into a rather impressive werewolf.

“This might be a problem,” Duo said.

A long, deep, angry growl rumbled from the werewolf's throat.

“This is definitely a problem,” said Duo.

“I can handle him,” Sirius said. “Get away!” He changed into his dog form and attacked the werewolf. The two creatures began to fight.

Roku sat down on his haunches to watch. “He's going about that all wrong. Dog attacks are designed to cripple or kill and he doesn't want to do either. They're just going to hurt each other.” At that moment, Sirius raced away and Lupin ran after him. “I'll make sure they don't kill each other,” Roku said and he galloped after them.

“Wait!” Harry cried and he ran after Roku, leaving Ron leaning heavily on Hermione.

“Harry!” Hermione shouted, but burdened with Ron on her shoulder, she could not follow.

Snape, who had collapsed to the ground like a sack of grain as soon as Remus' spell was no longer holding him, sat up with a groan. “What's going on?” Then his eyes focused and he scowled angrily. “Where's Black?”

“He'll be back,” Duo said. “Let's get Ron to the infirmary.”

“You do it,” Snape growled. “I'm going to find Black.” His head whipped around as snarls, yelps and angry howls indicated the fight had resumed. “Aha!” He rushed away, his robe flapping around his skinny frame.

Duo grinned at Hermione and Ron. “This has gotten rather messy, hasn't it? Let's go. That leg needs to get tended.”

“But what about Harry?” Hermione asked worriedly.

“Roku will take care of him.” Duo scooped Ron up without warning. “Let's go.”

“I can hobble!” Ron protested, his cheeks turning bright red.

“Yeah, sure,” Duo replied good-naturedly. “But this is faster.” He broke into a trot.

Some distance away, Harry watched the dog and werewolf fighting in alarm. “Roku, do something! Sirius is losing!”

“Yeah, it looks like he is,” Roku agreed. He jumped into the fray with his right paw raised and clouted Remus hard on the side of the head. Remus went tumbling and was momentarily stunned. When he got to his feet, he shook his head in confusion, stared at the other three briefly, and then crashed off into the underbrush, heading for the Forbidden Forest.

Sirius collapsed onto his side breathing hard, with blood streaming from several deep cuts. His dog form faded, revealing his raggedy human form.

“Oh, no!” Harry cried. He rushed to Sirius' side. “Sirius! Are you all right?!”

“I'm fine,” Sirius whispered. “I'm just glad you know now that I did not kill your parents. They were my dearest friends.”

A sudden drop in temperature made everyone look up. Dozens of dementors were descending on them, eager to recapture their prey. Harry gasped in dismay. Cold panic clutched at him and he completely forgot his patronus lessons, confronted by so many icy, soul-sucking monsters. He felt as if the life was being drained right out of him.

“Hmm…” Roku murmured. “Dementor flambé… Excuse me a moment, Harry.”

Harry stared in alarm, his eyes flicking in panic from the horrifying aspect of the circle of dementors to Roku, who shimmered from his tiger form into a medium-size black and orange dragon. Roku sat back on his heels and shot a long jet of bright orange flame into the sky, roasting dementors indiscriminately. A second later, a brilliant cone of stark white light filled the sky, blasting the remaining dementors into an undignified retreat.

“A patronus!” Harry exclaimed weakly. He stared toward the source of the light. “Was that my father?”

“I don't think so,” Roku said. He grinned. “We better get back to the castle. Get on. I'll fly you back.”

“H… Hold on there!” A decidedly flustered Snape demanded. He approached slowly, his wand extended in front of him in a trembling hand. “Nobody's flying anywhere! I'm placing Sirius Black under arrest!”

“He's innocent!” Harry gasped, struggling to regain his feet.

“That's true,” Roku rumbled. His voice was rather deep in his dragon form and Snape flinched away. “Anyway, Mr. Black is hurt, so I'm going to take him to the infirmary. You can meet us there.”

“Wait a minute!” Snape exclaimed. He pointed his shaking wand at Roku. “I'm not afraid of you!”

Roku flicked his tail. “We really don't have time for this,” he said, sounding almost annoyed. “So shoo!” He shot a thin jet of flame at Snape.

“Ah!” Snape cried. He danced back, using his wand to deflect the flame. “How… How dare you attack a teacher?!”

“You call that an attack?” Roku chuckled. “This is an attack.” And he charged at Snape with a loud roar, all of his sharp white teeth glittering in the moonlight.

“AH!” Snape shrieked. He whirled around and scurried away with his arms waving above of his head. Then his feet got tangled in his robe and he went down in a heap.

Roku snapped his jaws closed and trotted back to Harry. “Ok, let's get Mr. Black on my back and get out of here. How's your levitation?”

“My what?” Harry asked in confusion. His head was still muzzy from the dementor attack.

“Never mind, I'll do it.” Roku spread his wings and looked at Sirius. The injured man floated up into the air and onto Roku's back. Roku looked at Harry. “Your turn.” Harry squeaked in alarm as he floated up into the air and settled onto Roku's back behind Sirius. “Make sure he doesn't fall off,” Roku said, and he jumped up into the air with a sharp downstroke of his wings.

“No!” Snape howled as they flew away.

Roku landed in the courtyard, which caused quite a stir, especially when he calmly shifted back into his tiger form just as several professors and an assortment of students hurried outside, along with all the Gundam pilots except for Duo.

“What have you been doing, young man?” Quatre demanded sternly. “Why weren't you at dinner?”

“Well, um…”

“Mr. Winner,” Professor McGonagall said even more sternly, “I don't recall you mentioning a dragon as one of your animal forms.”

“Oh, well…”

“I say,” Professor Flitwick remarked, “isn't that Sirius Black?”

“It is,” Dumbledore interrupted gravely, “and there is too much going on here for everyone to be standing about discussing it. All students are to return to their houses immediately. I would like all teachers to wait for me in the Great Hall.” Since Dumbledore seldom took such a firm tone, the students obeyed without protest. The teachers grumbled a lot, but they obeyed as well, even McGonagall. Dumbledore then approached Harry, who was supporting a semi-conscious Sirius Black a little unsteadily.

“He needs to go to the infirmary,” Harry said.

“So it would appear,” Dumbledore said. He gestured and a floating stretcher appeared. Harry eased Sirius onto the stretcher and Dumbledore floated him to the infirmary. When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey immediately took over.

Hermione, who had been sitting beside Ron's bed, rushed to Harry's side. “Harry! What happened to Professor Lupin?”

“He ran off,” Harry said. He turned to Dumbledore. “Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black did not kill my parents. It was Peter Pettigrew. Roku has him in his storage space.”

Dumbledore turned sparkling eyes on Roku. “Do you really?”

“Um hm.”

“Well, this is very interesting. I think I will have to keep Black under arrest for his own protection for the moment, but in the meantime, there is someone else you could save, since you seem to be in a lifesaving frame of mind.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hermione.

“I think you know, Miss Granger,” Dumbledore grinned. “You should only need about three hours.”

Hermione's eyes went wide. “Of course! Why didn't I think of that?”

“I shall have to lock the door to this infirmary to keep anyone from entering or leaving, so you'd better hurry.” Dumbledore drifted out with that wide grin still plastered on his face.

“Get close, Harry,” Hermione said quickly.

“What is it?” Harry said. He stared as Hermione looped a gold chain that was around her neck around his as well.

“Do you want to come, Roku?” Hermione asked.

“No, thank you,” Roku said. “Overlapping myself gives me a headache.”

“What?!” Harry stared from one to the other in confusion.

“Hold still,” Hermione said and she twisted a little gold hourglass charm that was attached to the chain

The world shifted and suddenly it was late afternoon.

“What did you do?!” Harry exclaimed.

“How do you think I've been getting to all my classes?” Hermione said briskly. “It's a time turner. Let's hurry. We've got to be down at Hagrid's hut in time to rescue Buckbeak before his execution.”

“So that's what Dumbledore meant!”

“Right! Let's go.” And the two Gryffindors raced out the infirmary door.

Back in the evening timeline, Ron stared at where Hermione and Harry had disappeared. “Did you see that?” he whispered to Roku.

“Yeah,” Roku said. He plopped down on his belly and began cleaning his paws. “They'll be back. How's your leg?”

“It's better, but I hate Skelegrow.”

Roku chuckled. “But won't it be better to have your leg whole by morning?”

“I guess so. Um…” Ron shifted uncomfortably. “How's Scabbers? I mean Pettigrew. Can he breathe in there?”

“He's fine. He's really not a rat, you know.”

Ron scrunched down in his cot with an unhappy expression. “He's been with our family for years.”

“He was hiding.”

“Do you think Harry's mad at me?”

“Why would he be mad?”

“If what Black said is true…”

“Harry won't blame you. You were fooled just like everyone else.” Roku sat up. “Want me to wash your face? You still have lots of dirt on it from the tunnel under the Whomping Willow.”

“It's fine!” Ron said quickly. “I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would wash it if I asked.”

“Why bother her?” Roku said. He hopped up onto Ron's cot and began licking his face with quick swipes of his wide tongue.

“Yuck! Roku, stop! I'd rather be dirty!”

“A good layer of spit will protect you from skin mites.”

“I don't have skin mites!”

“And now you won't get any.” Roku planted a paw in the middle of Ron's chest. “Hold still, I'll wash your hair.”

“NOOOO!!!!”