And here comes the next part. Enjoy!

PART SIXTEEN - The Cave

“Come back! Don’t you dare run off with it!”, someone shouted behind me. I turned my head quickly. The man was waving his wand threatingly at me and started running, but suddenly he tripped and fell down. I would’ve laughed, had I been in human form. Instead I tore down the main street of Hogsmeade, the freshly stolen newspaper held firmly with my teeth.

I only stopped after I had left the town behind me and had reached the security of the forest. I let the newspaper drop to the ground and tried to regain my breath.

Where should I go now? I needed to find a place around here, so I could be close to Harry. I didn’t know if he would really need me, but I had a better feeling when I was close to him. He would surely be a little angry when he found out that I was here, but after the incident with the Goblet of Fire I just had to try and protect him.

And suddenly it hit me: the cave! James, Remus and I had discovered it back in our sixth year, when he had returned to Hogwarts after a rather enjoyable (and forbidden) evening at the Three Broomsticks. Somehow we had managed to get lost in the forest and had stumbled upon it and then even spent the night there. McGonagall gave us two months of detention for it.

I got up again, picked up the paper with my teeth and made my way to the hidden cave. I had to crawl through the forest and then across a field of stones. It was unusually hot for this time of the year and the sun would have burned my skin, had it not been protected by the thick black fur of my Animagus form. The disadvantage of the fur: it was terribly hot.

I was starting to get tired when I finally spotted it. It was just as I remembered. Tiny. Invisible from the outside. Perfect for me.

I clambered through the bushes and transformed inside. Luckily it was cool inside. I would be able to stay here. Buckbeak, who was currently hidden in the forest, would also have enough space.

I dropped the paper onto the floor and went to inspect the cave. Buckbeak could hide in the back, where nobody who came by would ever spot him and I could “live” in the front. I needed to see if someone came towards us.

Buckbeak was already waiting for me, when I returned to him an hour later. “Hello, my friend”, I said to him before going over to pet him. By now he trusted me so much that I didn’t need to bow in front of him anymore. After all we’d been fugitives together for many months. He closed his eyes like a dog that’s being petted. I took the rope around his neck and led him back to the cave. It was difficult bringing him through the narrow entrance, but somehow we managed it. When he was finally inside, he first looked at his surroundings and then at me, as though he were saying, “I like it here. We can stay if you like.”

I smiled. Finally I could fulfill my duty as godfather