A week later, I was really beginning to regret taking on Animagus lessons with Sirius Black.

Naturally, he had sworn me to secrecy. I couldn’t exactly tell everyone that I was becoming an unregistered Animagus under the guidance of Sirius Black.

I spent almost all my time in the library.

One afternoon, I was writing out my exam timetable – the exams were fast approaching.

MONDAY

9 o’clock, Arithmancy

9 o’clock, Transfiguration

Lunch

1 o’clock, Charms

1 o’clock, Ancient Runes

Blaise and Anja walked over to the desk I was sitting at. “Uh, Jade?” Anja asked.

I looked up. “What?”

“How in Merlin’s name are you going to sit two –” she began.

I shook my head. “I’ve told you not to ask me that kind of thing!”

Blaise looked suspicious. “And where are you on Sunday afternoons?”

That was the time of my lessons with Sirius. “In the library, isn’t it obvious?” I grabbed my half-written essay and continued writing it. “I’ve got so much work to do!”

Anja raised her eyebrows. “Well, honestly, Jade, just drop a subject or two!”

“I can’t do that!” I gasped. That would be insulting to the teachers, after all. The only subject I didn’t enjoy was Care of Magical Creatures.

“Actually…” I trailed off. “I could drop Care of Magical Creatures.”

Anja and Blaise looked at each other. Blaise was taking Care of Magical Creatures and we spent the whole class muttering in undertones how boring the classes were.

All we ever did was feed these boring creatures called Flobberworms.

“What…what’s it like?” Anja asked uncertainly.

I explained how we fed Flobberworms…and fed Flobberworms…and fed more Flobberworms.

But I didn’t drop any subjects. I did all the exams.

***

Some were definitely easier than others.

For Transfiguration, we had to turn a teapot into a tortoise. I succeeded, though I wasn’t sure how much like a tortoise it actually looked.

Next was Charms. We had to do Cheering Charms. I did quite well – Blaise burst out laughing and grinned all of that exam.

The Care of Magical Creatures exam was extremely boring – we had to keep our Flobberworms alive for an hour.

In Potions, we had to make a Confusing Concoction. It wasn’t very difficult, I was very good at Potions – an inherited talent.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, we had to pass an obstacle course made up of the creatures that we had learnt about in class previously.

I got to the last obstacle easily. I knew this one would be a Boggart. I climbed into the trunk and a Dementor appeared. “Riddikulus!” I shouted and the Dementor started dancing, then tripped over.

I laughed and climbed back out of the trunk, still smiling.

Lupin smiled at me. “Well done.”

Did he know that his old school friend was in the grounds right now, in the shape of a dog?

My last exam was Divination.

Anja and Blaise went long before me, so I hung around with Holly and Kaya.

Just before Holly, a girl called Faye Godwin went. She came out looking extremely happy.

“Holly Burton,” Trelawney’s voice called.

Kaya raised her eyebrows and then commented in a whisper, “Good luck…you’re going to need it.”

Holly and I snorted.

She disappeared up the ladder. When she came back down, she was grinning.

Mischief Mode activated.

“I saw a lot of fog, some clouds, sheep, and a marshmallow,” she told us very seriously. “Oh, and meet me as near to the Whomping Willow as you can get. I’ve got something to show you.”

She walked off down the corridor.

I wondered what it was that she had to show us.

“Kaya Adams.”

Kaya’s face turned mock-terrified. “Oh no! I’m going to fail!”

I smirked. “Why did you even choose Divination?”

She grinned. “Oh, because I wanted to make sure that nobody can tell me with a straight face that I am about to die.”

I laughed, then pushed her towards the ladder.

She came back down with a slightly guilty expression on her face. “I saw the Grim attacking Trelawney. Supposedly.”

“Jade Evans.”

I looked at Ron, Neville and Harry, who were sitting together.

Sighing, I climbed up the ladder. Trelawney turned to look at me.

I sat down in front of the crystal ball.

“Well?” Professor Trelawney prompted me. “What do you see?”

I looked closer. I could see some dots – they could be people – and some kind of tree.

I invented my vision. “I can see two people…a boy and a girl…”

“Yes? What are they doing?”

“They’re…umm…getting attacked by the Whomping Willow.”

She looked pleased.

Probably because there was violence involved.

“Excellent. Anything else?”

I thought for a while, pretending to examine the crystal ball.

“I think…I think that’s Sirius Black!” I exclaimed, trying to sound horrified.

Trelawney gave a small scream and dropped her parchment. “What is – what is Black doing?”

“Well, there’s an owl there flying around him,” I replied confidently. “I think he’s talking to it.”

She looked terrified. “Oh, dear me! Well – well done, dear. You may go now.”

I climbed down the ladder, feeling pleased. I had actually done well!

Since I was meant to go to the Whomping Willow, which obviously wasn’t allowed, I grabbed my Invisibility Cloak. Anja and Blaise were nowhere to be seen – I suspected that they were with Alex.

When I got out to the Willow, the two Ravenclaw girls were already there, Kaya looking a little worried about breaking the rules and Holly looking excited.

I crept up behind the two of them.

“When d’you think Jade’ll be here?” Kaya asked.

“Right now,” I replied casually, taking off my Cloak.

Both of them jumped. Holly gasped, looking at my Cloak. “You’ve got an Invisibility Cloak?!!”

I grinned. “Yeah. So, Holly…?”

I motioned for her to speak.

“Oh, right! Come here! See that root at the base of the Whomping Willow? It stops the branches from moving!”

I knew about this, but the other two weren’t to know that.

Kaya raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. “How did you find that out?”

Holly shrugged. “There was an orange cat –”

“Crookshanks,” I said without thinking.

Both the girl stared at me. “What?” Holly asked, frowning.

“The orange cat is called Crookshanks,” I repeated.

“How d’you know?” Kaya questioned.

“He’s Hermione’s – Hermione Granger’s.”

“Anyway,” Holly continued, “he put his paw on the knot.”

Kaya looked suspicious. “You saw that…which means you must have been out of the grounds before.”

Holly smiled mischievously.

Before I met Holly, I had thought all Ravenclaws were obsessed with work.

Even Alex was like that.

But now…

Definitely not.

“Well, who says that leaving the castle is a bad thing? We’re out of the castle right now,” I pointed.

Kaya smirked. “I didn’t know Slytherins liked breaking the rules.”

I shrugged. “We don’t mind. But please don’t say that –”

“All Slytherins are evil?” Kaya interrupted. “I know you too well for that. It’s extremely obvious that not all Slytherins are evil.”

“But most are,” I said softly.

Kaya frowned. “What was that?”

I shook my head. “Nevermind.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Right. So, do you guys want to go investigate that thing or not?” She nodded at the base of the tree.

I knew what we would encounter if we went through the tunnel.

Sirius Black.

And, obviously, he wasn’t a threat, but Kaya and Holly didn’t know that, did they?

“Wait!” I exclaimed quickly. The others stared at me. “We have to have dinner. Otherwise people will wonder where we are.”

Kaya nodded, turning to Holly. “Jade’s right. People will get suspicious.”

Holly sighed. “Okay…so can we come here after dinner then?”

“Alright,” I agreed, “but we’ll have to use the Invisibility Cloak.”

That said, we left to go back to the castle, just in time for dinner.

***

We were under the Cloak together. It was almost sunset.

Walking together towards the Whomping Willow, we heard distant voices behind us.

I couldn’t make out their exact conversation, but I caught the words ‘hippogriff’ and ‘execution’ several times.

I turned around and saw three unfamiliar men, one carrying an axe.

I felt sick.

“I think they’re executing Buckbeak today!” I hissed to the others.

That was just our luck.

We were only coming out here for a bit of innocent…uh…rule-breaking…

Anyway, there was a chance we could be expelled for being out of the grounds.

That was great, just great.

Kaya looked worried, but Holly didn’t seem fazed.

Typical.

I led the others to a bush I had seen earlier. We hid under it until the voices had passed, but then I heard more voices. But these were disembodied.

It didn’t take me long to work out who they belonged to.

Who else did I know who owned an Invisibility Cloak?

Who was always around when there was trouble?

The answer to both questions was the same: Harry Potter.

So this was clearly Harry, Hermione and Ron.

They were talking about Hagrid. I knew they were close to him, so they must have just been to visit him.

I smirked as I realised that we weren’t the only ones breaking the school rules.

Ron sounded as if he was having some sort of struggle with someone called Scabbers.

With a start, I realised exactly who Scabbers was. ‘The pet of a young wizard named Ronald Weasley.’

That rat wasn’t a rat, he was a murderer. He had effectively killed Harry’s parents, betrayed his friends and blown apart a bunch of Muggles.

Footsteps moved closer to us, and then stopped as I heard the thud of an axe.

They had killed Buckbeak.

“They did it!” The unmistakeable voice of Hermione whispered. “I d-don’t believe it – they did it!”