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chapter fifteen | the execution

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MADDIE'S DISTRACTION WORKED, unsurprisingly, and Hermione effortlessly retrieved Harry's Invisibility Cloak, what with the staff's attention based purely on the chaos in another corridor.

"That's so cool!" Maddie gushed excitedly, as the bushy haired girl stuffed the silvery cloak under her robes. "Oh, please can I have a go?"

"You probably will, soon, if you come with us to see Hagrid,"

Maddie grinned to herself as they hurried away, her mind much too focused on the cloak to care about whoever might be soon hunting her down for her diversion.

"Hermione, I don't know what's gotten into you lately!" said Ron, astounded, once the two girls returned to the common room. "First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney-"

Hermione looked rather flattered. Maddie felt like a proud mum.

"It wasn't all me..." she said, before going on to start explaining about Maddie's execution of breaking into Filch's office and creating some turmoil for the teachers.

They went down to dinner with everybody else, Maddie meeting back up with Jess and Jake and having to restrain herself from expressing her elation at the fact that Harry has a cloak that turns you fucking invisible. But she did not join them in returning to Gryffindor Tower afterward, and instead followed the golden trio into an empty chamber off the entrance hall, listening, until they were sure it was deserted.

They'd just heard the last pair of people hurrying across the hall when Hermione poked her head around the door.

"Okay - no one there - cloak on-"

"Holy fucking shit!" Maddie expressed a bit too loudly.

"Shut up, Maddie," Ron hushed.

Walking very close together so that nobody would see them, they crossed the hall on tiptoe beneath the cloak, then walked down the stone front steps into the grounds. The sun was already sinking behind the Forbidden Forest, gilding the top branches of the trees.

They reached Hagrid's cabin and knocked. He was a minute in answering, and when he did, he looked all around for his visitor, pale-faced and trembling.

"It's us," Harry hissed. "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered, but he stood back, and they stepped inside. Hagrid shut the door quickly and Harry pulled off the cloak.

Hagrid blinked in surprise upon the realisation that there had been in fact four students under the cloak instead of the usual three.

"Maddie?" He said in disbelief. "What're you doin' here?!"

Maddie shrugged. "I helped with that Hippogriff as well. It's only right,"

Hagrid was not crying, nor did he throw himself upon their necks. He looked completely lost - like a man who did not know where he was or what to do. This helplessness was worse to watch than tears.

"Wan' some tea?" he said, his great hands trembling as they reached for the kettle.

"Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" Hermione asked, hesitantly.

"I - I took him outside," said Hagrid, spilling milk all over the table as he filled up the jug. "He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an' - an' smell fresh air - before-"

Hagrid's hand trembled so violently that the milk jug slipped from his grasp and shattered all over the floor.

"I'll do it, Hagrid," said Hermione quickly, hurrying over and starting to clean up the mess.

"There's another one in the cupboard," Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead on his sleeve. Harry glanced at Ron, who looked back hopelessly. Maddie's lips folded in a thin line, also unsure of what to do.

She decided to look around. She'd never been in Hagrid's cabin, before. It was only one room - hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. The window was beside the doorway, and a basket was placed on the floor for his dog.

"Nice place," Maddie said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. She didn't think it would work, truth be told, but she didn't know what else to do. Hagrid forced a polite, weak smile in return.

"Isn't there anything anyone can do, Hagrid?" Harry asked fiercely, sitting down next to him. "Dumbledore-"

"He's tried," said Hagrid. "He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared...Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like...threatened 'em, I expect...an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's...but it'll be quick an' clean...an' I'll be beside him...."

Hagrid swallowed. His eyes were darting all over the cabin as though looking for some shred of hope or comfort.

"Dumbledore's gonna come down while it - while it happens. Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter - ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore...."

Maddie bit the side of her cheek and exchanged sad glances with Ron. Hermione, who had been rummaging in Hagrid's cupboard for another milk jug, let out a small, quickly stifled sob. She straightened up with the new jug in her hands, fighting back tears.

"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid," she began, but Hagrid shook his shaggy head.

"Yeh're ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don' wan' yeh watchin'. An' yeh shouldn' be down here anyway...If Fudge an' Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, Harry, yeh'll be in big trouble."

Silent tears were now streaming down Hermione's face, but she hid them from Hagrid, bustling around making tea. Then, as she picked up the milk bottle to pour some into the jug, she let out a shriek.

"Ron, I don't believe it - it's Scabbers!"

Ron gaped at her.

"Oh, not this," Maddie sighed. "Cat versus rat, again?"

But Ron ignored her. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione carried the milk jug over to the table and turned it upside down. With a frantic squeak, and much scrambling to get back inside, Scabbers the rat came sliding out onto the table.

"Scabbers!" said Ron blankly. "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"

He grabbed the struggling rat and held him up to the light. Scabbers looked dreadful. He was thinner than ever, large tufts of hair had fallen out leaving wide bald patches, and he writhed in Ron's hands as though desperate to free himself.

"It's okay, Scabbers!" said Ron. "No cats! There's nothing here to hurt you!"

"Ron..." Maddie said slowly, pulling a face. "How old is your rat?"

"We've had him for twelve years,"

"Bloody hell, no wonder he looks like shit,"

Maddie paused, and quickly glanced sideways towards Hagrid to see if he'd tell her off for cussing. But he didn't - he stood up, his eyes fixed on the window. His normally ruddy face had gone the color of parchment.

"They're comin'...."

Maddie felt sick. Not because she'd get told off, she didn't care about that bit, but because Buckbeak was actually going to be executed very soon. It was an awful feeling.

The four whipped around to see a group of men walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him trotted Cornelius Fudge. Behind them came the feeble old Committee member and the executioner, Macnair.

"Yeh gotta go," said Hagrid. Every inch of him was trembling. "They mustn' find yeh here...Go now..."

Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket and Hermione picked up the cloak. "I'll let yeh out the back way," said Hagrid.

They followed him to the door into his back garden. Maddie wanted to cry, and even more so when she saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. The Hippogriff seemed to know something was happening. He turned his sharp head from side to side and pawed the ground nervously.

"It's okay, Beaky," said Hagrid softly. "It's okay..." He turned to the four teens. "Go on," he said. "Get goin'."

But they didn't move.

"Hagrid, we can't-"

"We'll tell them what really happened-"

"They can't kill him-"

"Go!" said Hagrid fiercely. "It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"

"Oh, yeah, because that doesn't happen, ever," Maddie said, but she knew they had no choice.

As Hermione threw the cloak over Maddie, Harry and Ron, they heard voices at the front of the cabin. Hagrid looked at the place where they had just vanished from sight.

"Go quick," he said hoarsely. "Don' listen..."

And he strode back into his cabin as someone knocked at the front door.

Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap.

"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it...."

They started up the sloping lawn toward the castle. The sun was sinking fast now; the sky had turned to a clear, purple-tinged gray, but to the west there was a ruby-red glow.

"Ron, why are you walking like you've shit yourself?" said Maddie, giving the ginger a weird look.

Ron stopped dead.

"Oh, please, Ron," Hermione began.

"It's Scabbers - he won't - stay put-"

Ron was bent over, trying to keep Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat was going berserk; squeaking madly, twisting and flailing, trying to sink his teeth into Ron's hand.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," Ron hissed.

They heard a door open behind them and men's voices.

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione breathed.

"Okay - Scabbers, stay put-"

They walked forward. Maddie was trying her very best not to listen to the rumble of voices behind them. Ron stopped again.

"I can't hold him - Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us-"

The rat was squealing wildly, but not loudly enough to cover up the sounds drifting from Hagrid's garden. There was a jumble of indistinct male voices, a silence, and then, without warning, the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe.

Maddie's mouth dropped open.

Hermione swayed on the spot. "They did it!" she whispered. "I don't believe it - they did it!"

The four of them stood transfixed with horror under the Invisibility Cloak. The very last rays of the setting sun were casting a bloody light over the long-shadowed grounds. Soon after they heard a wild howling behind them.

"Hagrid," Harry muttered. He made to turn back, but both Ron and Hermione seized his arms.

"We can't," said Ron, who was paper-white. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him..."

"I can't believe they actually did it," Maddie said in disbelief. "I'm gonna stick that axe up Malfoy's ass,"

Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven.

"How could they?" she choked. "How could they?"

"Come on," said Ron, whose teeth seemed to be chattering.

They set off back toward the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the cloak. The light was fading fast now.

By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them.

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over his chest. The rat was wriggling madly. Ron came to a sudden halt, trying to force Scabbers deeper into his pocket. "What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still - OUCH! He bit me!"

"Maybe he's had enough of you, after twelve years,"

"Ron, Maddie! Be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute-"

"He won't - stay - put-"

Scabbers was plainly terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.

"What's the matter with him?"

But Maddie had just seen - slowly walking toward them, his body low to the ground, wide yellow eyes glinting eerily in the darkness was Hermione's cat. Whether he could see them or was following the sound of Scabbers's squeaks, she wasn't sure.

"Oh, for fucks sake, typical," she muttered.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whined. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

But the cat was getting nearer.

"I swear, all that cat thinks about all day is murder-" said Maddie. Ron cut her off with a yell.

"Scabbers - NO!"

But Ron was too late - the rat had slipped between his clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away.

In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before Maddie, Harry or Hermione could stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.

"Dick," Maddie said, before removing the cloak herself, shortly followed by Harry and Hermione. It was impossible to sprint under that thing, especially with two other people, okay?

They all hurtled after Ron, listening to his feet thundering along ahead and his shouts at Crookshanks.

"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here-"

There was a loud thud.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat-"

Maddie almost fell over Ron, skidding to a stop right in front of him. Hermione and Harry were right behind her.

The Weasley was sprawled on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket - he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump.

"Well that was a stupid fucking choice," Maddie said, leaning forward to catch her breath.

"Ron, come back under the cloak," Hermione panted. "Dumbledore, the Minister - they'll be coming back out in a minute,"

But before they could cover themselves again, before they could even catch their breath, they heard the soft pounding of gigantic paws....

Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow. Maddie turned and her eyes widened at the sight of an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

It made an enormous leap and the front paws hit Harry on the chest. He keeled over backward in a whirl of hair. Maddie swore, and swung her arm forward in an attempt to push the dog away - but the force of its leap had carried it too far and it rolled off Harry by himself.

Ron was on his feet. As the dog sprang back toward them, he pushed Harry aside - the dog's jaws fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm.

"No!"

Harry lunged forward, seizing a handful of the brute's hair, but it was dragging Ron away as easily as though he were a rag doll.

Maddie began sprinting, but was knocked off her feet with a sharp slap across her ankles. Harry was hit across the face, and the sound of Hermione shrieking with pain signified she too had fallen.

"What the fuck?!" Maddie yelled.

"Lumos!" Harry whispered, and the light from his wand showed them the trunk of a thick tree - they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow. It's branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop them going nearer.

And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backward into a large gap in the roots - Ron was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight.

Maddie yelled his name, getting back up to her feet and starting to run forwards yet again.

She could hear Harry behind her, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and he was forced backward again.

But Maddie was good at dodging. And she was a fast runner. She's had fourteen years of practice from Lee and his god awful tarantula, not to mention whatever else he and his friends had thought would be funny to prank her with.

The curly haired girl kept her eyes peeled as she ran, carefully placing one leg at a time in front of her between her leaps, gradually edging closer to the trunk.

All she could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground - but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot.

Ron's leg had broken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight.

The crack had distracted Maddie, and so she was unable to dodge the thin branch slice across her stomach. She dropped to her knees.

"Harry - we've got to go for help-" Hermione gasped. She was bleeding too - the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.

"No! That thing's big enough to eat him, we haven't got time-"

"We're never going to get through without help - Maddie, no!"

Maddie was back up again and sprinting faster than before.

"Fuck that! I'm not getting beaten by a fucking tree!" she called back to the two.

Another branch whipped down at her, twigs clenched like knuckles. Maddie jumped it.

"If that dog can get in, we can," she heard Harry pant.

A branch from the centre of the tree came swooping down towards the young Jordan, and without thinking, she grabbed it. It was much too powerful, and in fact lifted her off her feet, leaving a sharp cut in her palms - but before it could fling her back she heaved herself forwards and let go, flying feet first to the ground.

And, before she could quite believe it herself, Maddie had reached the base of the tree.

She did not wait for Harry and Hermione, and instead went searching for her Potions partner by herself.

The girl slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel.

"I'm gonna turn that tree into a fucking table. Or a wardrobe. Or a stool - whatever piece of furniture I feel like," she muttered to herself, examining the deepest cut which had been placed on her forehead.
Blood was gushing out of it, but it really wasn't her main concern this moment. And Maddie wasn't exactly a stranger to wounds.

The sounds of Harry and Hermione's voices could be heard from the ground above her, as Maddie swiftly moved through the tunnel.

"Ron?!" she yelled. "Where are you?!"

The passage seemed to go on forever - the young Jordan couldn't quite believe a dog had managed to drag a fourteen year old boy through it, but then again, that was definitely no normal dog.

And then the tunnel began to rise. Ahead Maddie could just make out a patch of dim light through a small opening.

"Ron!" she called out yet again. "Please don't tell me you've been eaten?! I can't deal with that shit!"

She paused, her hands trembling slightly. Of course, she was scared shitless, but she had to focus on poor Ron. She edged forward, slowly.

It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls, there were stains all over the floor, every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows had all been boarded up.

The girl pulled herself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to her right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.

For a second she thought she'd heard voices a few steps behind her, but she ignored it and continued in. Where is this place?

At that moment, there was a creak overhead, and Maddie's head snapped up towards the ceiling. Something had moved upstairs.

She sighed.

I'm actually about to die Maddie thought, scrunching her face in fear as she slowly moved up the stairs. I'm going to die looking for a ginger because he's way too attached to his rat...

She crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs.

Maddie's breath hitched in her throat, as she reached the dark landing. Only one door was open. As she crept toward it, she heard movement from behind it - a low voice.

It was the same voice she heard yelling the night Sirius Black had snuck into Gryffindor tower.

"Ron," she whispered, her eyes widening.

Wand held tightly before her, Maddie edged the door wide open.

The Weasley was sitting on the floor, next to a magnificent four poster bed. He was clutching his leg, which was sticking out at a strange angle. His face paled at the sight of Maddie all by herself.

"Ron," she said. "Where's - what's - the dog?"

He shook his head with a grim expression. "Not a dog - you need to go - warn Harry-"

"Huh?"

"It's him - he's an Animagus-"

He pointed behind Maddie's shoulder and she whipped around to see a man in the shadows, closing the door behind her.

He looked just the same as he did in the posters.

It was Sirius Black.

"It's fucking him?!" she said with a horrified tone, backing away to where Ron was slowly. "Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no, no!"

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at Maddie's and causing it to fly out of her hand and across the room. She stood still, frozen in shock.

"Mads - go-"

"Oh, Ron, we are dead, we're so fucking dead-"

"Maddie!" Ron raised his voice. "Not if you go - warn Harry! It's him he's after!"

"What, and leave you?"

"Don't you see?! He's using me as a trap to get Harry here! Go and warn him!"

Maddie seemed to come to her senses in that moment, and edged back to the door, but Black stepped forward in her way blocking it. She stopped, defeated.

"Um..." she said slowly. What can I say that might not get me killed? "Can you move... please?"

Ron let out a sigh, and Sirius Black's lips curved upwards.

"No," he replied.

"Alright..." Maddie held up her hands in surrender and backed away instead, her eyes focused on the wand held firmly in his palm.

"Leave her alone!" Ron called over. "She's not even close with Harry, she shouldn't have anything to do with this!"

"Well, she's here now-"

"Yeah, and that's my fault," Ron said, turning to Maddie with a pained expression. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice shaking. "I shouldn't - I shouldn't have gotten you involved with any of it, I-"

"Ronnie," Maddie said sternly, shutting him up. "I chose to get involved, because I'm a nosy bitch. It's not your fault. And anyway," she added, although the fake lighthearted tone in her voice did not cancel out the fear that clearly presented itself behind it. "If I'm gonna die, I think doing it on an infamous end-of-year Potter mission is one memorable way to go,"

She swallowed, and clenched her jaw, ignoring the slight sting prickling at her eyelids. Madison, you better not fucking cry. You're not dying in tears, no way.

Maddie backed away towards where Ron was sitting, just as a scuffling sounded outside the door.

It edged open slightly, and Hermione's cat appeared, purring loudly.

Crookshanks leaped onto the bed and curled up, just as the sound of muffled voices appeared through the floor.

Maddie and Ron exchanged terrified glances.

Harry.