Chronicles Of Arth: Prince Of Shadows

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at them.

Their wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of us- ing 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..."

"Can we wait just one moment, I need clarification." Said Arth while holding up his hand.

"What?"

Arth ignored the confused Sirius Black and turned towards Ron.

"Are you saying that the Grim is actually Sirius Black?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure it wasn't just Sirius controlling a dog?"

"No, it wasn't."

Arth crumpled to the floor.

"Are you saying that the Big Black Dog was actually Sirius Black?"

"Er..." Ron stared at Arth with a confused look. "What else would it mean?"

"So you are saying that my cute little adorable Grim is actually a convict on the loose?"

"...yes."

"...damn it. Fine, you two can continue."

Harry and Sirius exchanges looks before Harry started forward, as if he wanted to strangle Sirius Black.

However, there was a sudden movement on either side of him and two pairs of hands grabbed him and held him back.

"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper. Ron, however, spoke to Black.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.

Arth couldn't help but inwardly clap. Ron was mostly stupid but you have to say he was sometimes a loyal friend. Sometimes.

Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.

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

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

Arth couldn't help but frown.

Why did he have to die with them? All they had to do was beat Sirius if push came to shove, not that it mattered.

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

"Why's that?" Harry spat. "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?"

If anyone went soft in Azkaban, it would be because they were a rotting corpse, Arth wanted to say. However, he stayed silent as he didn't want to ruin the show of misunderstandings.

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

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Hermione's and Ron's restraint and lunged forward.

Damn, how exciting.

One of Harry's hands fastened over Sirius's wasted wrist, forcing the wand tips away; the knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward, into the wall.

Hermione was screaming; Ron was yelling; Arth was looking to see if he had any popcorn in his briefcase; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches. Harry was still desperately clutching onto Sirius's neck.

But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat.

"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long —"

Arth finally found a bag of popcorn and was now looking for a microwave.

Hermione kicked Sirius off of Harry who in turn let go of Harry with a grunt of pain; Ron had thrown himself on Black's wand hand and Arth heard a faint clatter —

He saw the tangle of bodies and knew how lucky he was to be a bystander.

"Argh!" Screamed Harry.

Crookshanks had joined the fray; both sets of front claws had sunk themselves deep into Harry's arm; Harry threw him off, but Crookshanks now darted toward Harry's wand.

"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry, and he aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting; Harry snatched up his wand and turned —

Arthur realized that he was a wizard and didn't need a microwave. He proceeded to heat up the popcorn.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at Ron and Hermione. They didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up her and Ron's wands. Ron crawled to the fourposter and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg.

"Are you going to help me at all Arth?"

Arth raised an eyebrow while munching on his popcorn.

"It seems that you handled it pretty well without me. Carry on."

"Fine, Whatever."

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin c.h.e.s.t rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Black whispered.

Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's c.h.e.s.t, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.

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

Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.

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

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, a furious pounding in his 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," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it..."

"And lets all stop right here, the misunderstandings have been fun however, it's time we cleared things up before things get messy."

Arth had finished his popcorn.