We ran down the spiral steps as fast as we could. I was about to fall and trip, but at least Harry would break my fall if I did trip on the steps.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked Harry.

"I don't know, but I think it has something to do with Sirius," Harry replied.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Harry. Of course it has something to do with Sirius! Who else would she be talking about? Do you think that was him whispering our names in that crystal ball?"

"I don't know, Max! Right now, I'm just trying to get to Potions on time," he replied, running a little bit faster this time.

"Potions? That's what you're worried about? At a time like this, Harry? Oh, hell no, I'm skipping all my classes today," I told him.

Harry stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at me like I had gone mad. "Are you crazy?! Why do you think that's a good idea, Max?! You'll get into all kinds of trouble!"

I rolled my eyes at him again. "Harry, it's Friday, and I frankly don't give a damn. I can't focus in class now, because I just found out that a mass murderer is coming here tonight and out of all the people here in this school, he's coming after us!" I told him in a very irritated and loud tone. "We have to get that map back, Harry. If he really is coming here tonight, then I need to know where he's at when I'm roaming around the castle."

"Wait a second," he cut me off. "You? You actually think you're going to do all of this alone?" Harry grinned at me.

I grinned back at him. "You in?"

He sighed, "I guess. I can't believe you dragged me into this."

"Hey, you agreed to it, didn't you?" I said, going past him down the steps.

We went back to the Gryffindor Tower after deciding to find Sirius. Luckily, no teachers were out in the hallways on the way there. We changed into regular clothes and went straight to work on how we were actually gonna do this without getting caught. Obviously, it was gonna be hard, but Harry knew that if we worked together then this would be a piece of cake. That was until another thought came into mind.

Today was the day that Buckbeak was going to be executed.

I totally forgot about that. I remembered the day we asked Hagrid about it. And by we, I meant me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Who else would care about Buckbeak other than the four of us?

*******

"So, how did it go, Hagrid? The hearing?" Hermione asked Hagrid.

It was yesterday, on a cloudy day, and the four of us went down to the lake with Hagrid to ask him about the hearing with Buckbeak. Hermione and Ron were standing up while I sat with Harry on a huge rock. We were about to listen to what Hagrid was about to tell us.

"Well, first off, the committee members took turns talking about why we were there," he started. He had a handful of rocks and was skipping them between each sentence. "Then, I got up and did my piece. Said how Buckbeak was a good hippogriff, always cleaned his feathers. I mean, Buckbeak was always a good hippogriff, never harmed anyone before. This was actually the first time he's done anything like that. You know Draco, he just didn' know any better.

"And then Lucius Malfoy got up. Well, yer can imagine what he would say. He said Buckbeak was a deadly and dangerous creature, who would kill you as soon as he looked at yeh."

"And then?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid skipped another rock before he continued. "And then he asked for the worst, did old Lucius."

"They're not sacking you!" Ron blurted out.

Hagrid sighed at Ron's comment. "No, I'm not sacked." He skipped another rock before he finished his last sentence. "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" he cried. He slammed the last rock in the water and started to silently cry there.

*******

I felt bad for Hagrid. We all felt bad for him, actually. Buckbeak could never harm anyone. Malfoy was just being dramatic when he was attacked. He probably lied about his arm being broken. It wasn't that big of a deal, really. Stupid Malfoy. Lucius was stupid, too. That was probably where he got his stupidity from.

So back to our plan. Since it was a Friday and there were no classes tomorrow, we decided to go to Hagrid's Hut after classes were over. We both thought he needed the company when they were killing Buckbeak. But the real issue was when it got dark. Plus, Ron and Hermione would want to come with us. Well, actually, I really didn't care if they came with us.

The next problem was what happened if we did end up running into Sirius Black himself. Obviously, we weren't going to kill him. Well, Harry said he was, but I wasn't going to do that. I had better morals than to kill someone. But seriously, I didn't know what we would do if we found Sirius. It would be dangerous and of course he could kill us and I really didn't want to die so young. Thirteen really was an unlucky number.

After we figured everything out, or we thought we did, we chilled in the Gryffindor Common Room all day. Hopefully, no one would notice our absence. If they did, well, frankly, I didn't give a damn. Finding Sirius Black was more important than learning. I hoped Hermione would never hear me saying that.

Before we knew it, classes ended. We must've fallen asleep, because I heard the portal open and I whacked Harry's arm.

He woke up, confused. "What?"

"Everyone is coming back, we need to hide!"

Harry hid behind the chair Ron usually sat in and I hid under the desk, where Hermione usually did her homework at. No one seemed to notice us, but I did hear our names a few times. And Malfoy's name as well. In the same sentence. Did people think that I actually liked Malfoy? Did I need to knock some sense into them, so they could understand that MALFOY AND I WOULD NEVER BE TOGETHER?! I would rather get shot in the face with a Muggle gun than be with Malfoy, out of all the people in the world!

Ron and Hermione were the last ones to come in and they were talking about us.

"Where did they go after Divination? They both went to return the crystal ball that you knocked over earlier! Which, thanks to you, we didn't do anything for the rest of class, so, thank you, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well, I also heard that Malfoy was giving you three a hard time, especially to Max. What does he even have against her, anyway?" Hermione asked curiously.

"A lot of things, Hermione," I mumbled under my breath.

"Hermione, she's Harry Potter's twin, The-Girl-Who-Lived! Of course he's going to hate her as well! Max is right, they're never gonna get together."

Well, at least he agreed with me. Thank you, Ron!

Harry looked at me and stood up. Hermione and Ron saw him and looked at him.

"Harry! Where have you two been?! Everyone's been asking about you and Max! Are you two okay?"

I hit my head on the bottom of the desk. "Ow! Hey, guys!" I bumped my head again under the desk. "Ow! Shit, yeah, we're fine," I said as I got out from under there and went up to them. "We have a plan."

"A plan? Should we be worried about this plan you guys have?" Ron asked.

"No, why?" I asked.

"Does it involve spiders?"

"No."

"Okay, well, I'm in," he said.

I looked at him, confused, but then I turned to Hermione. "You in?"

"Of course." She smiled. "What do we need to do first?"

"First, you two can change into regular clothes and meet us back down here," Harry told them.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked him.

"We're going down to Hagrid's."

So the two obliged, heading upstairs. Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione came back down, wearing different clothes. The four of us left through the portal and headed out of the castle to go down to Hagrid's Hut. It was probably gonna be hard for him, watching Buckbeak die today. We all loved Buckbeak, we really did. I just hated it that he was going to be executed for no reason at all.

Before we left the castle, we heard someone. We walked carefully to where we heard the noise and we were shocked. It was the executor, sharpening his blade, the one he was gonna use to kill Buckbeak.

"I can't believe they're going to kill Buckbeak, it's just too horrible!" Hermione said.

"And it just got worse," Ron said as we got outside.

It was Malfoy, Crabbe, and another Slytherin that I didn't know. We just stood there, listening to Malfoy, talking about keeping Buckbeak's head and how he was gonna donate it to the Gryffindor Common Room and how rich seeing Buckbeak die was gonna be. All we had to do was get past them and ignore them. It wasn't that hard. But Hermione had another idea.

She ran down to him, with an angry expression on her face. The three of us looked at each other with worried looks and followed her down. None of us had seen her like this before. Clearly, she was beyond pissed at Malfoy and what he and his father did to Buckbeak.

"Look who's here!" Crabbe exclaimed to Malfoy.

All three of them got up when they saw us. Malfoy had a big smirk on his face. "Ah, come to see the show?"

Hermione did not find this funny at all. "You...you foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach!" she yelled, taking her wand out and pointing it at him. Malfoy whimpered against the wall.

"Hermione, no!" Ron stopped her. "He's not worth it!"

For a moment, Hermione stood there, looking at Malfoy. She was conflicted whether or not she was going to hex Malfoy, or let him live just this once. If it was up to me...I would have let him go. He saved my arse twice, so it would have made us even.

Hermione slowly put her wand down and looked at Malfoy with anger. But just as she turned around, Malfoy and his friends started snickering again. And that was when Hermione did the smartest thing ever.

She turned back around quickly and punched Malfoy square in the nose.

He groaned and looked at his nose and started running away from us. He started talking about us regretting it and we'll be sorry. HA, no. We looked at Hermione, shocked at what she did. To be honest, I didn't think she had it in her to punch Malfoy, let alone anyone.

She grinned at us. "That felt good."

"Not good, brilliant!" Ron corrected her.

"Come on, let's go down to Hagrid's," Harry said.

And with that, we followed Hermione, who led the way down to Hagrid's Hut.

There were so many steps that led down to Hagrid's Hut. It was just a hill, really, a very steep hill, actually. I was about to hurt myself every time I went up and down the steps. It actually took work, which I was able to live with at times. But I knew when enough was enough.

Hagrid saw us and invited us in. I looked out the window with Hagrid and Harry and saw Buckbeak just sitting there. An innocent creature who didn't deserve to die. The Malfoys just hated everything. And it just tore me up that they wanted this magnificent creature like Buckbeak dead. And...okay, I was about to cry now.

"Look at him," Hagrid said. "Loves the smell of the trees when the wind blows through them."

"Why don't you just set him free?" I asked him.

He sighed at the question. "They'd know it was me and then Dumbledore would get into trouble. He's coming down, Dumbledore. Says he wants to be with me when they..." Hagrid trailed off.

"When it happens," I finished for him.

He just stood there in silence for a moment. "Great man, Dumbledore. A great man."

Hermione stood up. "Hagrid, we'll stay with you, too."

"You'll do no such thing! Think I want the four of you seeing something like that? No. Just drink your tea and be off. But first, Ron..." Hagrid went over to a box and opened it. It was Scabbers, Ron's pet rat that he lost and blamed Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, for eating him.

"Scabbers! You're alive!" Ron cheered with joy.

"Keep a closer eye on yer pet, Ron," he warned him.

Hermione stood there, glaring at Ron. "I think you owe someone an apology."

"Right. Next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know."

"I meant me!"

Their argument was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking.

"Blimey. What was that?" Hagrid asked.

Harry and I just stood there by the window, watching Hermione pick up something and studying it. We were lost in our own thoughts, really. For a moment, it felt like Harry was thinking about Buckbeak. I was thinking about...well, the same thing, actually. But our thoughts were interrupted by a pain in the back of our heads.

"Ow!" Harry and I cried at the same time, looking out the window.

"What the hell was that?" I cried.

"Hagrid!" Harry said. I looked out the window and saw Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executor coming our way.

"It's late. It's nearly dark. Yeh shouldn't be here. Someone sees the four of you outside this time of night, you'll be in trouble. Especially Harry and Max. Quick! Out the back door!"

We all rushed out the back door and waited when it was safe enough to make a run behind the pumpkins. Ron sprinted out first, then Hermione, then me, then Harry. We all hid behind the pumpkins for a minute or two. The sound of twigs snapping caught Hermione's attention and she turned around. But there was nothing there.

"What?" Harry asked her.

"I thought I just saw--" Hermione was starting to say, but she quickly changed her mind about it, shaking her head. "Never mind."

"Let's go!" Ron said. We made a run for the stairs again and stopped when we got back up the hill. That hill was going to be the death of me. I panted and looked down at Hagrid's Hut. They were all coming back outside, getting ready to execute Buckbeak. Any moment now and they were going to slice his head off. Malfoy was probably wishing he could see this moment right now.

The other three were sad. Hermione was about to cry and frankly so was I. I took Harry's hand and held it tightly. A few tears were escaping my eyes and soon they were going to fall down like a waterfall. At least I would have Harry be the one to be there for me. He always comforted me. And I thought he needed me as well right now. We were both suffering. Hell, all four of us were suffering.

He lifted his weapon up in the air. The sharp blade was pointing up high. It was shining from all the way up here. There it went...

Crows were terrified and flew away. I hugged Harry, wrapping my arms around his neck and silently cried. He hugged me back and I heard Hermione crying, too. It was just too horrible. Buckbeak was dead. They killed him. That monster killed him. Three monsters killed him. Not just the executor, but Malfoy and his arrogant father as well.

Our mourning was interrupted by Ron.

"Ow!" he cried in pain and we watched as he dropped Scabbers and went chasing after him. We followed him, calling him to come back, but he ignored us and went on with catching his pet rat. He finally caught him, but caught him at the wrong place...

"Do you guys know what tree this is?" Oh, hell yes, we did, Hermione.

It was the Whomping Willow.

"RON, RUN!" Harry yelled at him.

Ron looked up at us and his expression went from relief to fear. His eyes widened and he pointed straight at us. "HARRY! HERMIONE! MAX! RUN!"

We turned around and our eyes widened as well. For once, I was taking Ron's advice into consideration. But we were so shocked to even move. Because what we saw couldn't be true. But sadly, it was.

"IT'S THE GRIM!"

~~~~~~~

A/N: HI THERE!

So yeah I just left you here, hanging for your life.

Well, I hope you like this chapter! I got so into it, like no joke. I'll slow down on the updating soon, because school is back on Monday, and I really don't want to go back! Plus, my friend, who's like my sister, just came back from DC, and it's been like FOREVER since I've seen her. And we also have unfinished business to take care of...

Okay well comment, vote, and wait patiently. BYE!

-A