They snuck down the hill, hearing the insistent caws of the crows, past the pumpkin patch and past a wooden structure holding dead ferrets for Buckbeak to eat. The hippogriff, too, was there, chained to a post, looking afraid.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Rosalyn eventually got to his hut. And when they were there the four of them started to do stuff for him because he was sad and he was shaking quite a lot.

Rosalyn put the kettle on whilst Hermione uttered a few comforting words to Hagrid and Harry and Ron fed Fang. When the kettle had boiled Rosalyn put tea bags (she had had enough of leaves) in mugs and poured the steaming water into them.

Hagrid, meanwhile, was watching Buckbeak through the open window. Rosalyn looked at Buckbeak. Horse body, bird's head, kind yellow eyes that, in Rosie's opinion, wouldn't hurt a soul. Hagrid suddenly said softly as they all observed the creature.

"Ah, look at him. loves the smell o' the trees as the wind blows through them. He'll miss that, I think," it was nostalgic, but the quartet understood it.

"Why can't you just set him free?" Harry asked, but Rosalyn and Hermione already knew the answer to this.

"Hagrid would just get into more trouble if he set Buckbeak free!" Rosalyn said.

"Yeah, Harry, she's right, they'd know it was me, and Dumbledore'd get into trouble," Hagrid kept his eyes fixed determinedly on the window. "He's comin' down yeh know, Dumbledore. Says he wants teh be there when they-"

He stopped, and Rosalyn felt truly sorry for him. For it wasn't his fault that he was in this situation, or his fault that he was put in it.

"-When it happens," Hagrid sighed, he swallowed and moved on. "Great man, Dumbledore, great man."

He chucked some food at Fang, wanting to help Harry and Ron, and Rosalyn exchanged a look with her brother. Their expressions were both stony. They both were wondering the same thing though, how could Malfoy do all this then turn a blind eye to the killing of an innocent beast. Did he have a heart at all?

Rosalyn didn't know. But in the second she had thought of this, Hermione had stood up, saying bravely.

"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid."

"Yeah, we'll tell them the truth," Rosalyn agreed, standing up beside her best friend and gripping her hand.

But, hopeful as they were, Hagrid turned them down immediately.

"You'll do no such thing!" He said fiercely, shaking his hands at them. "I don' want yeh seeing summat like that! No... yeh'll jus' drink yeh're tea and be off."

He suddenly remembered something. "Oh, an' before yeh do, Ron..." He wandered over to his cupboard, and all four of the quartet wondered what was going on.

He turned round, holding something that Rosalyn found very familiar. She recognised the missing toe, the pale, bare fur, and the wormy tail.

"Scabbers!" Ron said, absolutely mystified that his pet was back among them. "You're alive!"

"You want teh be taking better care of you're pets Ron," Hagrid said, looking over at Hermione.

For a few seconds Ron delighted in having his rat back. But then Rosalyn stood up and said. "So did Scabbers come back from the dead or have you got something you need to say?"

"Yeah, I think that means you owe someone an apology," said Hermione, standing up beside her best friend.

Ron was still being a jerk, though, and he obviously didn't want to admit he was wrong. "Right, next time I see Crookshanks, I'll tell him."

"I meant me!" Hermione said, and Rosalyn rolled her eyes.

"Ron, would you just bloody shelf your pride for a minute and admit you're wrong?" She asked.

Ron looked down in shame and he muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Hermione and Rosalyn asked, each putting a hand to their ears.

"I'm sorry!" Ron shouted across the room.

"Accepted," Hermione said shortly, looking at Rosalyn, who nodded.

Just then a sugar pot on the wooden table in the hut smashed in half. All five in the hut jumped round, looking at it warily.

"Blimey, what was that?" Hagrid asked, but no one had the answer he was interested in it.

Hermione picked up a small, jet black stone. It looked like a fossil of some sort, but it wasn't.

Rosalyn, who was near the window, suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. "Ow!" She yelled as it made contact. She picked up a stone of the same sort and said. "Who threw these?"

"Dunno," Harry and Ron said in unison.

Rosalyn looked out the window, but instead of seeing the perpetrator, she saw something much different. Cornelius Fudge, Professor Dumbledore and the executioner were walking down the path to the hut.

"Hagrid," She called him over. The crows were cawing again but Hagrid was more worried about the three men nearing his home.

"Crikey," He said slowly. He turned round, though and then his talking quickened. "It's nearly dark, yoy shouldn't be here! Someone sees yeh outside the castle a' this hour you'll all be in trouble, big trouble, especially you, Rosalyn," He pointed at her and she nodded.

There was a knock at the door and Hagrid yelled. "I'll be with you in a momen'!"

He chucked their mugs in the sink and hurried them away. Rosalyn didn't want to leave him, and neither did Harry, so the two of them both turned round and told him. "Hagrid!"

He turned as Rosalyn stuttered on what to say. "I'll be fine," she said. "They- they won't-"

But she didn't get to finish her sentence because Harry was pulling her round the corner.

The three of them peeked round the side of the hut, looking as Dumbledore, Fudge and the executioner were let in by Hagrid. Once Dumbledore and Fudge were inside, the three of them ran out. They were wary of the executioner, but Hagrid kept his attention on him as Rosalyn heard him ask where 'the beast' was.

Anyway, Hermione led them behind the pumpkins just before he looked round at Buckbeak. Hagrid, however, just wanted him inside the house and not insulting Buckbeak, so soon, he was inside as well.

Once they were behind teh pumpkins, they watched, and listened.

"...Execution of the hippogriff named Buckbeak..."

"...He shall be executed at sundown..."

"...Now, now, Minister, Macnair, quiet down, Hagrid is upset enough..."

That was Dumbledore, and the four of them smiled slightly to know that he was still standing up for Hagrid. They all listened some more until a twig snapped behind them.

The boys didn't have as quick reflexes as the girls here, who snapped round immediately. They looked behind them, but there was only the foliage of the forest, which was right there.

"What?" Harry asked, as Rosalyn and Hermione determinedly checked the darkness that lay beyond the trees.

"I thought I just saw-" Hermione started, but she stopped. "Never mind."

"Let's go!" Ron said, and Rosalyn agreed with him.

They rushed up the hill, a pit in their stomachs. They all felt sick and they all knew it was almost time. They didn't look back at Buckbeak all the way up the hill, but now, when they turned round, they were far away. But they could still see the executioner, and his prey.

He walked towards Buckbeak, and Hermione gave a small cry, and intake of breath.

They had Buckbeak's neck on a wooden stool, sort of. And as the executioner raised his axe, they all knew he couldn't escape, despite all them wishing him to.

The axe was brought down, and seconds seemed to last minutes until they heard the clunk of the axe on the wood. He had cut straight through.

Hermione turned round and leant on Ron's shoulder, crying into it. Rosalyn wasn't crying yet, but her eyes were glassy as she put her head on Harry's shoulder. Her brother put his arms around her and Rosalyn closed her eyes, a lump in her throat.

The scene was quite heart warming, until Ron suddenly jumped. Rosalyn looked up and turned to him, she saw the reason. He no longer had a small, pale, skinny rat in his hands.

"He bit me!" Ron exclaimed, then he yelped. "Scabbers!"

He ran along the top of the ridge in the hill, and Hermione shouted. "Ron!" But he ignored her, running faster to keep up with his escaped rat.

"Ron!" The girls shouted together.

"Scabbers, come back!"

"Wait!" The three of them bellowed to him as they ran after him, they had no choice.

They ran up to where the Whomping Willow was and then, about fifteen feet from the trunk, Ron dove and caught Scabbers.

"Let's follow him," Harry said turning to Rosalyn and Hermione.

"Harry... you do realise what tree this is?" Hermione said.

Harry hadn't realised, but as the penny dropped, he shouted to his best friend. "Ron, RUN!"

Ron sat up, holding Scabbers, but then his expression of relief turned to one of terror. He pointed to a point behind them, and then he started screaming.

"Harry! Rosalyn! Hermione, run!" They looked behind them and to the point that he was staring at.

"It's- it's the grim!"

It certainly was. It was the black, shaggy dog that Rosalyn had seen at the platform on the way to the train.

But there was also another animal next to it. A fox. This fox was magnetic; with pure orange fur and a black-tipped tail.

And it, along with the dog, both had their eyes locked on Ron, ready to pounce.

And so they did. They ran at Rosalyn, Harry and Hermione but jumped straight over them, as they were surprised to see. They made a beeline for Ron and when they got to him, the dog grabbed his left leg in its mouth and the fox got a grip on one of his  arms. Then, despite Ron's agonising yells, they pulled him towards the tree.

"Ha-ha- Harry, Herm- Hermione, Rosalyn!" Ron yelled as he was dragged away.

"Ron! Ron wait!" Harry shouted above the snarling, barking, yelling and the poundings of their feet on the ground.

"RON!" Hermione also tried to help, but it didn't work.

When they got closer to Ron, none of them realised that the tree wasn't moving, but they didn't care. Harry dove to the ground and tried to grab Ron's hand, but the dog was dragging him too fast.

Ron was soon down a tunnel, hidden beneath the roots of the tree, and out of sight.

"RON!" Harry shouted.

"RON!" They all shouted, but he wasn't coming back.

"Harry, we might have a bigger problem right now..." Rosalyn said.

"What?" Harry asked. "What could possibly- ARRRRH!"

The Whomping Willow had struck again. A branch had pushed them away by their abdomens and they were all slightly winded by the time they hit the ground.

But they tried again. They had debated it, silently, but as they heard Ron's yells, Rosalyn said. "Come on!" And they headed back.

They had to dodge branches that laid down on the ground to try and flatten them, but they did.

They got closer and then Hermione suddenly yelled. "Duck!" But though Harry and Hermione did, Rosalyn was too slow. She got hit again by the branch and the impact was harder than the last time.

She was knocked to the ground but she got back up, just in time to see Hermione jump a branch then get picked up by one.

Harry was getting closer to the trunk and the tunnel, but Rosalyn then had to roll over as a big part of the tree banged on the grass.

Harry was now down the tunnel and waiting for the other two. Rosalyn and Hermione were still outside. Hermione was still attached to the branch that was flinging her all about the place.

Hermione's scream was a tell-tale for when she had to duck, and she did, Hermione continuing to scream.

Rosalyn ducked and then closed her eyes, she didn't know why, she just did. But when she opened them, Hermione was there, and she put her hand on her T-shirt, bringing her with her.

They flew through the air together until they reached the right place, then Hermione released Rosalyn, and she flew down the hole.

She saw Harry, who said. "Rosie! I thought you'd never- ow!"

Hermione had landed on top of him, she said. "Sorry," in a sad voice, then the three of them looked up. They were in a dark, rocky, earthy tunnel, and they all didn't want to be there.

"Where d'you suppose this goes?" Hermione asked.

"I have a hunch," Rosalyn answered before Harry could. "But I really, really hope I'm wrong."