The Prisoner of Azkaban | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book Three)

31. The End Of Third Year

Y/N's POV

Off we set, taking Buckbeak with us, through the Forbidden Forest. Finally, we saw the Whomping Willow.

We stood in the bushes, watching Harry and Hermione enter the tree, after they disappeared, the three of us just stood there.

"Here comes Lupin!" I said as we saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and halting toward the Willow. I looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.

We watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod a knot on the trunk. The tree stopped, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.

"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry, "it's just lying there..."

He turned to Hermione.

"If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape would never be able to get it and-"

"Harry, we mustn't be seen!"

"How can you stand this?" he asked Hermione fiercely. "Just standing here and watching it happen?" he hesitated. "I'm going to grab the cloak!"

"Harry, no!" I yelled, grabbing him. "It's too dangerous!"

Barely two minutes later, Snape came, running toward the Willow.

Snape seized the branch Lupin had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put on the cloak.

"So that's it," said Hermione quietly, "we're all down there, and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again..."

She took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it securely around the nearest tree, then sat down on the dry ground, arms around her knees. Me and Harry joined her. We started talking about what had happened by the lake, Hermione was confused to why the Dementors didn't get Black.

"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the Dementors go," said Harry, "a real Patronus. A powerful one."

"But who conjured it?" asked Hermione.

"I think-" Harry swallowed, "I think it was my dad. Him and someone else."

I didn't say anything, Harry's dad was dead. There was no way he could've conjured the Patronus. The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned toward the Willow, waiting. I was next to her, but not talking. Everyone was silent.

And then, at last, after over an hour...

"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.

We got to our feet and saw all of us plus Ron, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew walking out the Willow. I was watching the clouds, any minute now they would shift and expose the full moon.

The moon slid out from behind its cloud. We saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop. Then we saw movement-

"There goes Lupin," Hermione whispered, "he's transforming."

"Hermione!" I said suddenly. "We've got to move!"

"We mustn't, we can't be seen!"

"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the forest, right at us!"

Hermione gasped.

"Quick!" she exclaimed, dashing to untie Buckbeak. "The Dementors will be coming any moment!"

We rushed around frantically, trying our best to avoid Lupin in his werewolf form. Luckily, we didn't run into the werewolf...

But then there were the Dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake...