Malignant Pet Devours Master? The Grim's True Identity

After chasing Scabbers for a while, Ron pounced and caught it in his hand.

The three people chasing after Ron stopped in their tracks, staring at a large tree behind him.

"The Whomping Willow '," Aaron forced a smile. "If I remember correctly, that rat was his pet, wasn't it?"

Taking him to the Whomping Willow is a recipe for disaster!

"Ron, run!" Harry shouted urgently.

The Whomping Willow seemed to sense that someone had invaded the edge of its territory, and several branches swayed slowly, poised to strike.

Upon hearing the sound, Ron instinctively looked up, but before he could realize his predicament, he pointed at the three of them in a panic, his fingers twitching incessantly.

"Run! It's the Grim!"

The three immediately turned around and saw a large black dog growling and staring at them with sharp eyes.

"Harry," Aaron said with a hint of disdain, "You think this is the Grim thing you see?"

"It's terrifying, isn't it!" Harry said nervously. "I've seen it several times."

Aaron curled his lip, drew his Wand, and stood in front of the two. "Give me the Grim scepter, and you can have that unlucky Ron."

Before he could finish speaking, the big black dog roared and charged over.

Aaron waved his Wand, and several earthen walls rose from the ground, blocking the path that the black dog was bound to take.

To his surprise, the black dog didn't seem to intend to attack them. It swiftly bypassed the first three walls, stepped onto the fourth earthen wall, and leaped towards Ron.

It bit Ron's leg and kept dragging him backward.

"Harry!" Ron cried out pitifully for help, but the big black dog was too strong, and his struggles were futile.

Harry quickly caught up, but Aaron was faster and grabbed Ron's arm in time, preventing him from being dragged away.

"I saved you once," Aaron said, then pointed his Wand at the big black dog that was biting him tightly, "Tongtong Stone."

Harry bumped into Aaron, causing the Stone Curse to miss its mark.

"Wortefa..."

Aaron stared in disbelief, never expecting that Ron's best friend would stop him.

Just as he was about to ask why, he heard a whistling wind, and a long willow branch struck the spot where he had been standing, leaving a shallow furrow in the ground.

Upon seeing this, Aaron couldn't help but gasp.

If these willow branches were to hit someone, they would surely tear the skin and cause flesh to bleed; even he would probably be clutching his wounds and crying out in pain.

The Whomping Willow seemed to be angered; several thick branches tightened like fists, and countless willow twigs creaked in the gale, lashing back and forth like whips.

Aaron immediately Cairo, narrowly avoiding the several thick branches that were swung down at him.

The big black dog suddenly exerted its strength and dragged Ron into the tree hole, only managing to let out a scream.

"Sorry, it really wasn't intentional," Aaron said awkwardly to Harry and Hermione, who had entered the Whomping Willow's attack range. He admitted that he really had no choice in the situation.

He held a Wand in one hand and was pulling Ron and the big black dog in a tug-of-war with the other. To the lively Whomping Willow, he was a sitting duck, and his mobility was almost negligible.

In fact, he could have kept his hand on the branch, but that would have made Ron a stationary target with no defense. If a few branches hit him, he would be severely crippled.

"Forget about that, we need to get in and save him right away," Harry said, panting heavily as he dodged the attacking branches by leaping up, down, left, and right.

"We need to get help," Hermione said anxiously, looking even more disheveled than Harry, her arm bleeding from the blows.

"No, there's no time. By the time we get back, the Grim will have already eaten him."

"But we can't get in with just our roots." Hermione was on the verge of tears when a branch swept across her legs, knocking her to the ground. Then, the massive tree canopy came crashing down like a fist.

"Help, help..." Hermione cried out as she lay on the ground, her heart filled with Despair.

If that tree canopy, which is even bigger than her, hit her, she would be crippled even if she didn't die, and might spend the rest of her life in bed.

Several gray stone pillars rose from the ground, encircling Hermione and blocking the Whomping Willow's 'fist'.

Hermione nervously opened her eyes, then stared blankly at the gray stone pillars around her.

"Don't shout so loudly, I can hear you." Aaron picked at his ear and helped Hermione up.

"What about me?" Harry shouted urgently.

"Hold on!"

Aaron took a deep breath and quickly rushed out of the circle of stone pillars.

He dodged several branches that were pulled at him, his fist clenched, the crimson flames standing out starkly in the night.

"Dragon's Iron Fist".

Aaron punched the center of the Whomping Willow tree, and the fire shockwave instantly engulfed almost half of the tree trunk.

The Whomping Willow seemed to have fallen into a daze, remaining motionless like an ordinary cypress, but almost all of its green leaves fell off in an instant.

"You... killed it?" Harry asked, somewhat taken aback.

"You're concerned about the wrong thing, aren't you?" Aaron said speechlessly. "If we don't get it sorted out, we'll be in big trouble."

Besides, I didn't kill it; I just knocked it unconscious. I don't want to pay the school money.

Gollum!

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance and swallowed hard.

This is a real Whomping Willow! One punch and it'll behave. Nobody would believe it if you told them.

But after the initial shock came immense relief.

With a teammate like this, minor the Grim shouldn't be a problem, right?

"We need to hurry."

Harry walked to the tree trunk and slid into the hole in the tree, with Aaron and Hermione following closely behind.

"Lumos." A white light flashed at the tip of Aaron's Wand, illuminating the dark tunnel. "This should be the Marauder's Map!"

"Harry, where does it lead?"

"I don't know." Harry shook his head. "George and Fred haven't been here either. It leads to the edge of the Marauder's Map, which should be Hogsmeade Village."

"Where's the map? Let me see."

"Professor Lupin confiscated it."

Aaron:...

You're really something, confiscating something so important.

The three of them followed the dense path quickly, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw a glimmer of light.

After passing through a Trapdoor, the three carefully crawled out of the secret passage, not daring to make a sound.

The exit was a messy room, with broken and tattered furniture, as if it had been ransacked by robbers.

Aaron wiped the dust off the stairs and frowned slightly. "It's been a long time since anyone's been here."

"That's normal." Hermione looked at the windows boarded up and swallowed hard. "This is the Shrieking Shack. Hogsmeade Village is a notorious haunted house. Legend has it that it emits strange screams at night."

"Really? I don't think there's anything ghostly here."

Even if they did, we're Warlock, so it's not certain who'd defeat whom!

"Shh!" Harry made a shushing gesture, then pointed to the top of the stairs, "Listen."

Ron's sobbing came from upstairs. The three of them exchanged a glance and carefully walked up the stairs.

Among the thick layer of dust, there was an irregular welt, clearly caused by Ron being dragged by the black dog.

The three followed the trail carefully and quietly, climbing up the stairs.

Hearing the sobbing coming from inside, Aaron frowned slightly. "Wait, don't go in yet. Something seems wrong."

It's the Grim. That big black dog went through so much trouble to grab Ron, but judging from the sound, it didn't seem to have done anything to him.

They neither treated him as food nor as an enemy, but rather as something unrelated, simply leaving him there.

"I can't worry about that anymore." Harry kicked open the dilapidated door.

Aaron tried to stop him, but he didn't have time, and Hermione accidentally crawled in as well.

Ron was sitting on a bed covered with curtains, holding his bleeding leg. He looked extremely disheveled, but surprisingly, he was not in any life-threatening danger.

"Ron, it's good that you're alright." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

Where is the dog?

"He's the big dog, he's Animagus." Ron pointed bitterly at the other side. "Harry, this is a trap."

The two paused for a moment, then followed Ron's gaze.

At the end of a row of plum blossom footprints stood a middle-aged man with messy hair, sunken eyes, and skin and bones. He looked like he had escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp. He was none other than Sirius Black Black, the wanted man on the wanted poster.

"Expelliarmus!" Sirius Black shouted, using Ron's Wand to cast Disarming Charm, knocking Harry and Hermione's Wand away, before calmly closing the door.

He grinned, revealing yellow and black teeth.

"I knew you would come to save your friend, and I knew your mother would do the same to me."

You were very brave not to run to the teacher; that makes things much easier.

When Harry heard this, he felt it was a mockery of his own father, who had once treated his friends the same way, only to be betrayed and lose his life.

He instinctively wanted to rush out and fight for his life, but Ron and Hermione held him back tightly.

"No, Harry, no," Hermione pleaded.

"If you want to kill Harry, then kill us too," Ron said firmly.

A bittersweet glint flashed in Sirius Black's eyes as he slowly shook his head. "No, only one person will die tonight."

Also, you'd better lie down, otherwise your leg injury will get worse.

Creak!

The door suddenly opened, and Aaron quickly cast Disarming Charm.

"Expelliarmus."

A flash of white light, Sirius Black's Wand was knocked from his hand.

"Perhaps you're right. Only one person will die tonight," Aaron said calmly, then walked up to the three of them. "I told you, don't go in yet, why won't you listen?"

Luckily I was here, otherwise you lot would definitely be in Elphias Doge.

"I'm sorry." Hermione lowered her head awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Aaron.

Sirius Black was about to pick up his Wand when Aaron pointed Wand at him. "Don't move. I haven't learned the Killing Curse, but I'm pretty good at the Cruciatus Curse."

Trust me, you won't want to try it.