moon-struck....harry james potter

3.10| the whole truth

3.10| the whole truth

They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottlebrush tail. Harry went next; he crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. Crookshanks was a little way along, his eyes flashing in the light from Harry’s wand. Seconds later, Alex came down then Hermione.

“Where’s Ron?” Hermione whispered in a terrified voice.

“This way" said Harry, setting off, bent- backed, after Crookshanks. The two girls shared looks but followed him nonetheless. They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; ahead of them, Crookshanks’s tail bobbed in and out of view. On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes All Alex could think of was Ron and what the enormous dog might be doing to him, She was drawing breath in sharp, painful gasps, running at a crouch. And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Ahead Alex could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. They edged foward. Their wands drawn. 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 were all boarded up. Harry looked back at the girls who nodded, Harry pulled himself out of the hole, staring around. The girls soon coming to his side. The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.

"I think" Hermione said, sounding terrified. "I think we're in the shrieking shack"

"Ghosts don't do that" Alex said pointing at a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely. Quietly as they could, they 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. They reached the dark landing. Only one door was open. As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. The three exchanged a last look, a last nod. Wand held tightly before him, Harry kicked the door wide open. On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

"Ron!" Alex said rushing towards the boy, her two friends following behind.

"Are you okay Ron?—" asked Hermione.

“Where’s the dog?”

"It's not a dog—it was a trap. He's an animagus!—" Ron said staring over Harry's shoulder. 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. Alex stared at him Blankly, his grey eyes matching hers.

“Expelliarmus!” he croaked, pointing Ron’s wand at them. Their wands flew out of their hands, he caught the wands stepping closer to them. His eyes fixed on Alex and Harry.

“I thought you’d come and help your friend" he said hoarsely. The two exchanged glances. His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. Alex took Harry's hand, holding it tight and protectively.

“If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!” Ron said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke. Something flickered in Black’s shadowed eyes.

"Lie down” he said quietly to Ron. “You will damage that leg even more"

“Did you hear me?” Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. “You’ll have to kill all four of us!”