Joanne Murray - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

‘Black’s not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade,’ said Ron. ‘Ask McGonagall if you can go this time, Harry, the next one might not be for ages -’

‘Ron!’ said Hermione. ‘Harry’s supposed to stay in school —’

‘He can’t be the only third-year left behind,’ said Ron. ‘Ask McGonagall, go on, Harry -’

‘Yeah, I think I will,’ said Harry, making up his mind.

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment Crookshanks leapt lightly onto her lap. A large, dead spider was dangling from his mouth.

‘Does he have to eat that in front of us?’ said Ron, scowling. ‘Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?’ said Hermione.

Crookshanks slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed insolently on Ron.

‘Just keep him over there, that’s all,’ said Ron irritably, turning back to his star chart. ‘I’ve got Scabbers asleep in my bag.’

Harry yawned. He really wanted to go to bed, but he still had his own star chart to complete. He pulled his bag towards him, took out parchment, ink and quill, and started work.

‘You can copy mine, if you like,’ said Ron, labelling his last star with a flourish and shoving the chart towards Harry.

Hermione, who disapproved of copying, pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything. Crookshanks was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced.

‘OY!’ Ron roared, seizing his bag, as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deeply into it, and began tearing ferociously. ‘GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!’

Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.

‘Ron, don’t hurt him!’ squealed Hermione. The whole common room was watching; Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top -

‘CATCH THAT CAT!’ Ron yelled, as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table and chased after the terrified Scabbers.

George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed;

Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs and started making furious swipes beneath the chest of drawers with his front paw.

Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.

‘Look at him!’ he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. ‘He’s skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!’

‘Crookshanks doesn’t understand it’s wrong!’ said Hermione, her voice shaking. ‘All cats chase rats, Ron!’

‘There’s something funny about that animal!’ said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. ‘It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!’

‘Oh, what rubbish,’ said Hermione impatiently. ‘Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d’you think -’

‘That cat’s got it in for Scabbers!’ said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. ‘And Scabbers was here first, and he’s ill!’

Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories.

*

Ron was still in a bad mood with Hermione next day. He barely talked to her all through Herbology, even though he, Harry and Hermione were working together on the same Puffapod.

‘How’s Scabbers?’ Hermione asked timidly, as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.

‘He’s hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking,’ said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor.

‘Careful, Weasley, careful!’ cried Professor Sprout, as the beans burst into bloom before their very eyes.

They had Transfiguration next. Harry, who had resolved to ask Professor McGonagall after the lesson whether he could go into Hogsmeade with the rest, joined the queue outside the classroom, trying to decide how he was going to argue his case. He was distracted, however, by a disturbance at the front of the line.

Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm

around her, and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious.

‘What’s the matter, Lavender?’ said Hermione anxiously, as she, Harry and Ron went to join the group.

‘She got a letter from home this morning,’ Parvati whispered. ‘It’s her rabbit, Binky. He’s been killed by a fox.’

‘Oh,’ said Hermione. ‘I’m sorry, Lavender.’

‘I should have known!’ said Lavender tragically. ‘You know what day it is?’

‘Er -’

‘The sixteenth of October! “That thing you’re dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!” Remember? She was right, she was right!’

The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she said, ‘You

- you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?’

‘Well, not necessarily by a fox,’ said Lavender, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, ‘but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn’t I?’

‘Oh,’ said Hermione. She paused again. Then -‘Was Binky an old rabbit?’

‘N-no!’ sobbed Lavender. ‘H-he was only a baby!’

Parvati tightened her arm around Lavender’s shoulders.

‘But then, why would you dread him dying?’ said Hermione. Parvati glared at her.

‘Well, look at it logically,’ said Hermione, turning to the rest of the group. ‘I mean, Binky didn’t even die today, did he, Lavender just got the news today -’ Lavender wailed loudly ‘- and she can’t have been dreading it, because it’s come as a real shock -’

‘Don’t mind Hermione, Lavender,’ said Ron loudly, ‘she doesn’t think other people’s pets matter very much.’

Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and when they got into class, they seated themselves either side of Harry, and didn’t talk to each other all lesson.

Harry still hadn’t decided what he was going to say to Professor McGonagall when the bell rang at the end of the lesson, but it was she who brought up the subject of Hogsmeade first.

‘One moment, please!’ she called, as the class made to leave. ‘As you’re all in my house, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Hallowe’en. No form, no visiting the village, so don’t forget!’

Neville put up his hand.

‘Please, Professor, I - I think I’ve lost -’

‘Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that’s all, you may leave.’

‘Ask her now,’ Ron hissed at Harry.

‘Oh, but -’ Hermione began.

‘Go for it, Harry,’ said Ron stubbornly.

Harry waited for the rest of the class to disappear, then headed nervously for Professor McGonagall’s desk.

‘Yes, Potter?’

Harry took a deep breath.

‘Professor, my aunt and uncle - er - forgot to sign my form,’ he said.

Professor McGonagall looked over her square spectacles at him, but didn’t say anything.

‘So - er - d’you think it would be all right - I mean, will it be OK if I - if I go to Hogsmeade?’

Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk.