Pariah: The Other Malfoy

Chapter 25: Buckbeak

A few weeks after I returned to Hogwarts, seemingly due to the lack of anything interesting occurring, Sirius struck again. We were all still coming down from celebrating another successful Quidditch match, having gone to bed at around one o'clock. Harry had successfully cast a Patronus charm against some Dementors that attacked him during the match, but it turned out to be my brother and his friends - they all received detention along with humiliation at being struck by Harry's Patronus.

We were awoken by screaming and windows smashing from the direction of the boys dorms. Hermione and I were amongst the first down to the common room, where the third year boys soon appeared, looking shaken.

I was somewhat annoyed at Sirius, given I had said not to try break in again, but obviously I wasn't working quick enough for him.

Ron explained that he had woken up to see Sirius Black holding a knife over his bed, but had yelled so loudly he had woken everyone else up and forced him to flee - out the window apparently.

"I bet he got the wrong bed, he was going for Harry," Seamus said, and there were murmurs of agreement.

"That's preposterous, Weasley. How could Sirius Black possibly have got through the portrait hole?" McGonagall asked, dressed in a tartan robe and looking annoyed at being awoken so late.

"I don't know how he got in! I was a bit busy dodging his knife," Ron said, flinching as Crookshanks weaved through his legs, "And this bloody cat ate my rat!"

"That's a lie!" Hermione yelled, picking Crookshanks up.

"It is not and you bloody well know it!" Ron argued.

"Silence!" McGonagall turned to Sir Cadogan, who was still sitting in the open portrait hole, waving his sword about, "Sir Cadogan, is it possible you let a mysterious man into Gryffindor Tower tonight?"

"Certainly, good lady! He had the password. Had the whole week's, in fact. On a little piece of paper," Sir Cadogan affirmed, smiling.

"Which abysmally foolish person wrote down the passwords and then proceeded to lose them!" McGonagall cried and we all shifted our gaze to Neville, "Is it always going to be you, Longbottom?"

"I'm afraid so, ma'am," Neville said sheepishly and I felt awful for him.

"While we know Sirius Black is gone tonight, I think you can safely assume he will, at some future time, attempt to return. Let me be clear. You are not to move about the castle alone. And you are not to write down the password! Understood!" We all nodded at her words, "Very well then. Off to bed."

Everyone slowly drifted off, leaving me with Hermione, Ron and Harry. Ron was glaring at Hermione and Crookshanks, pure hatred in his eyes over the loss of what he thought was a beloved pet. I doubted Crookshanks had actually finished him off, from my understanding we would be seeing a dead body by now.

"I could've killed him," we all turned to Harry who was staring out the window, "He was right there. Close enough to touch. I could've killed him."

Ron and Hermione were locked in an argument after that. Hermione was adamant that Crookshanks was innocent while Ron was furious at her for her denial. Harry was preoccupied with thoughts of Sirius, and Tobias and I had no desire to get involved in that argument. There were no winners.

Sir Cadogan had been sacked after the incident and the Fat Lady returned, on the condition she was guarded by trolls the entire time. They leered at every Gryffindor who tried to enter, making us feel more uncomfortable than safe.

Harry had received a Firebolt for Christmas from a mystery person after his Nimbus broke and, after weeks of it being tested for tampering, he had finally got it back. This meant Gryffindor beat Slytherin in the last match of the season, Harry catching the Snitch in around ten minutes, and therefore meant we won the Quidditch Cup!