All eight of us stood in shock. I can't believe that they would do it! Behind us, I heard a wild howling.

"Hagrid." Harry and I muttered simultaneously.

Without thinking about what we were doing, we made to turn back, but the others grabbed us.

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

Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven.

"How - could - they?" She choked. "How COULD they?"

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

Us Insurgents transformed into our Animagi forms and the others threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves.

We set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep the others hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time we reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around us.

"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!"

"Ron, will you shut up!" Fred whispered urgently, transforming back. "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 I had just seen - slinking towards us, his body low to the ground, wide yellow eyes glinting eerily in the darkness - Crookshanks. Whether he could see us, or was following the sound of Scabbers's squeaks, I couldn't tell.

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

But the cat was getting nearer -

"Scabbers - NO!"

Too late - the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before anyone could stop us, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself, and us two pelted away into the darkness.

"Daisy! Ron!" Hermione moaned.

I heard the others thundering after us. I snapped and growled at Crookshanks, snapping at his tail. I barked at him, but he still chased after Scabbers. 

"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come HERE -" Ron was shouting.

Ron was almost on Scabbers - I dived at Crookshanks, and distracted him long enough for Ron to grab Scabbers.

"GOTCHA! Get off, you stinking cat -" Ron shoved Crookshanks off me from where he had leapt on top of me.

The others nearly fell on top of us when they caught up. 

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

But before they could all cover themselves again, before we could even catch our breath, I heard the soft pounding of gigantic paws. Something was bounding towards us out of the dark - an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

Harry reached for his wand, but too late - the dog had made an enormous leap and it's front paws hit him on the chest. He keeled over backwards in a whirl of hair; I yelped and dived for them -

But the force of its leap had carried it too far; it rolled off him; Harry tried to stand up; the dog was growling as it skidded around for a new attack; I hopped in front of my brother.

Ron was on his feet. As the dog sprang back towards us, he pushed Harry and I aside; the dog's jaws fastened around Ron's outstretched arm. George lunged at it and seized a handful of the brute's hair as I transformed back, but it was dragging Ron away as easily as if he were a rag-doll -

Then, out of nowhere, something hit me so hard across the face I was knocked off my feet. I heard the others shriek with pain and fall, too. I groped for my wand, blinking blood out of my eyes -

"Lumos!" I whispered.

The wand-light showed me the trunk of a thick tree; we had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backwards and forwards to stop us going nearer.

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

"Ginger Idiot!" I shouted, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and I was forced backwards again.

All we could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog pulling him further underground. Then a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg had broken, and next second, his foot had vanished from sight.

"Guys - we've got to go for help -" Hermione cried; she was bleeding, too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.

"No! Are you mad! That thing's big enough to eat him, we haven't got time -" I called back.

"We're never going to get through without help -" Draco said.

Another branch whipped down at us, twigs clenched like knuckles.

"If that dog can get in, we can." Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he obviously couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.

"Oh, help, help." Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly in the spot. "Please..."

Crookshanks darted forwards. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk.

Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped my arm hard. "How did he know -?"

"He's friends with that dog." Harry said grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on - and keep your wands out -"

We covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before we had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottle-brush tail. I went next; I crawled forwards, 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 my wand. Seconds later, Harry slithered down beside me.

"Where's the idiot?" He whispered as the others came next, one after another.

"This way." I said after they had all dropped down, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.

"Where does this bloody dammed tunnel come out?" Terry asked unamusedly behind me.

"I don't know...it's marked on the Marauder's Map but no one's ever got into it. It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it ends up in Hogsmeade..." I said.

We moved as fast as we could, bent almost double; ahead of us, 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 I could think of was Ron, and what the enormous dog might be doing to him...I 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. Instead, I could see a patch of dim light through a small opening.

We all paused, gasping for breath, edging forwards. We raised our wands to see what lay beyond.

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.

I glanced around at everyone. They all looked either frightened, bored, or excited, but they nodded.

I pulled myself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to our right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway. Fred suddenly grabbed my arm, his eyes travelling around the boarded windows.

"Softpaw, I think we're finally in the Shrieking Shack!" He whispered excitedly.

"YES!" I cheered, then remembered. "Sorry!" I hissed.

I looked around. My eyes fell on a wooden chair near us. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.

"Ghosts didn't do that." Terry said slowly, voicing my thoughts.

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. All of us looked up at the ceiling. Draco had grabbed my arm; his grip on it was so tight I was losing feeling in my fingers. I raised my eyebrows at him; he nodded and let go, him slightly pink, me silently pissing myself laughing.

Quietly as we could, we 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.

We reached the dark landing.

"Nox." We all whispered together, and the lights at the end of our wands went out. Only one door was open. As we crept towards it, we heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. We exchanged a last look, a last nod.

Wand held tightly before me, I kicked the door wide open. 

On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings, lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of us. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

We dashed across to him. 

"Hi, Ginger Idiot -"

"Oi, that's my name!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Both of you shut the fuck up -"

"No one cares, honestly -"

"I mean, really?"

"Ron - are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog." Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Daisy - Harry - it's a trap -"

"What -"

"He's on crack -"

"He's the dog...he's an Animagus like you..."

Ron was staring over my shoulder. I wheeled around. With a snap, the man in the shadows closed the door behind us.

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.

"Expelliarmus!" He croaked, pointing Ron's wand at us.

All of our wands shot out of our hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer. His eyes were flickering between Harry and I.

"I thought you'd both come and help your friend." He said hoarsely. His voice sounded as though he had long ago lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful...it will make everything much easier..."

The taunt about my father rang in my ears as though Black had bellowed it. A boiling hate erupted in my chest, leaving no place for fear. For the first time in my life, I wanted my wand back in my hand, not to defend myself, but to attack...to kill. Without knowing what I was doing, I started forwards, but there was a sudden movement on either side of me and three pairs of hands grabbed me and held me back. 

"No, Softpaw!" Terry gasped in a petrified whisper; Draco, however, spoke to Black.

"If you want to kill the twins, you'll have to kill us, too!" He said fiercely, even though his face was paper-white, and he was plainly terrified.

Ron nodded furiously, though the effort of standing up had drained him of still more colour, and he swayed slightly as he did so.

Everyone moved in front of Harry and I, arms folded across their chests in bravery. 

Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.

"Lie down." He said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear Draco?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to me to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all -" he quickly counted - "eight of us!"

"There'll only be one murder here tonight." Black said, and his grin widened.

"Why's that?" I spat, trying to wrench myself free of Terry, Draco, and Ron. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew...what's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Why only one? Why not kill both of us twins, isn't that what you're looking for?" Harry snarled. "Which of us is it gonna be? Me, because you want to give Daisy to Voldemort when you bring him back, or her, once you've stolen her powers?"

"Daisy, Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" I roared, and with a huge effort I broke free of Terry, Draco, and Ron's restraint and lunged forwards -

I had forgotten about magic - I had forgotten that I was short and skinny and thirteen, whereas Black was a tall, full-grown man. All I knew was that I wanted to hurt Black as badly as I could and that I didn't care how much I got hurt in return...

Perhaps it was the shock of me doing something so stupid, but Black didn't raise the wands in time. One of my hands fastened over Black's wasted wrist, forcing the wandtips away; the knuckles of my other hand collided with the side of Black's head and we fell, backwards, into the wall -

Hermione was screaming; Fred was yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent into the air a jet of sparks which missed my face by inches; I felt the shrunken arm under my fingers twisting madly, but I clung on, my other hand punching every part of Black it could find.

Black's free hand tried to shove me off. 

"No." He hissed. "I've waited too long -"

Then I saw Harry's foot swing out of nowhere. Black let go of me with a grunt of pain. George had thrown himself on Black's wand hand and I heard a faint clatter -

I fought free of the tangle of bodies and saw my own wand rolling across the floor; I threw myself towards it but -

"Argh!" 

Crookshanks had joined the fray; both sets of front claws had sunk themselves deep into my arm; I threw him off, but Crookshanks now darted towards my wand -

"NO YOU DON'T!" I roared, and I aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting; I snatched up my wand and turned -

"Get out of the way!" I shouted at everyone.

They didn't need telling twice. Terry, gasping for breath, his lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up his and everyone else's wands. Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg. The twins scurried back and collapsed against the wall, noses bleeding simultaneously (XD). Harry, Draco, and Hermione slunk back, too.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched me walking slowly nearer, my wand pointing straight at Black's heart.

"Going to kill me, Daisy?" He whispered.

I stopped right above him, my wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.

"Go on...kill him...he took what you should have had your entire life...he betrayed your parents..." A soft, familiar voice whispered in the back of my mind. I shuddered, shaking it away.

"You killed my parents." I said, my voice shaking slightly, but my wand hand quite steady.

Black stared up at me out of those sunken eyes. I felt a sudden flicker of evil run through me - I didn't feel quite myself. A hint of fear and confusion flickered in his eyes for a second before it disappeared - it must have been something in my face that he saw...something that wasn't mine...

"I don't deny it." He said, very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story -"

"The whole story?" I repeated, a furious pounding in my ears. "You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know!"

"You've got to listen to me." Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't...you don't understand..."

"I understand a lot better than you think." I said, and my voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum...trying to stop Voldemort killing us...and you did that...you did it..."

Before either of us could say another word, something ginger streaked past me; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest, and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.

"Get off." He murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.

But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to me, and looked up at me with those great yellow eyes. To my right, Hermione gave a dry sob.

I stared down at Black and Crookshanks, my grip tightening on the wand. 

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I said, and Crookshanks flew off him.

I raised the wand again. Now was the moment to do it. Now was the moment to avenge my mother and father. I was going to kill Black. I had to kill Black. This was my chance...

The seconds lengthened, and still I stood frozen there, wand poised, Black staring up at me. Ron's ragged breathing came from the bed; the others were quite silent.

And then came a new sound -

Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor - someone - no, it sounded like two people - were moving downstairs.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE - SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"

Black made a sudden movement; I gripped my wand convulsively - Do it now! said a voice in my head - but the footsteps were thundering up the stairs and I still hadn't done it.

The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and I wheeled around as Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. There was a woman by his side; her waist-length dark brown, almost black hair trailed behind her in waves, her almost black eyes sparkled with both mischievousness and concern, and her face held that sort-of grin that all pranksters have, no matter what the situation, like Terry, the twins, and I.

"Xylophone!" Black choked, his eyes tearing up slightly when he saw the woman.

Xylophone? The fuck kind of name is that?

Their eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, over the twins and Terry, watching with slight amusement and anxiousness at the same time, over Draco, who was holding himself up on the windowsill, over Harry, who was wavering in the middle of the room, to me, standing there with my wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at my feet.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

My wand flew once more out of my hand; so did the seven Terry was holding. Lupin and the woman caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, both staring at Black.

I stood there, feeling suddenly empty. I hadn't done it. My nerve had failed me. Black was going to be handed back to the Dementors.

Then Lupin spoke, in an odd voice, a voice that shook with some suppressed emotion. "Where is he, Sirius?" 

I looked quickly at Lupin. I didn't understand what Lupin meant. Who was Lupin talking about? I turned to look at Black again.

Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand, and pointed straight at Ron. Mystified, I glanced around at Ron, who shrugged at me, looking bewildered.

"But then..." The woman muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed she was trying to read his mind.

"Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless -" Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest of us could see, "- unless HE was the one...unless you switched...without telling me?"

Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.

"Professor Lupin." I interrupted loudly. "What's going -"

But I never finished the question, because what I saw made my voice die in my throat. Lupin was lowering his wand. Next moment, he had walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet, and embraced Black like a brother.

I felt as though the bottom had dropped out of my stomach.

Hermione screamed at him and revealed that he was a werewolf. Lupin tried to say that he wasn't helping Black.

"If you haven't been helping him," I said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?" 

"The map." Lupin said. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it -"

"You know how to work it?" I said suspiciously.

"Of course I know how to work it." Lupin said, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

"You WROTE -? OH MY FUCKING GODRIC -"

He interrupted us four Insurgents' simultaneous yelling by telling us why he was watching us.

"And you might have been wearing your father's old Cloak -"

"How d'you know about the Cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it..."

"Ah yes." 'Xylophone' said dreamily. "I remember that Cloak, it was awesome..."

Also, why did Sirius Black call her Xylophone?