Chapter 17
"All of you are in very deep trouble." Snape says in a low voice. "Especially you two." He says to me and Parker.
We walk into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey rushed to us. Snape lays Harry on the bed, then walks out with Sirius, without giving any explanation to Madam Pomfrey.
"Felicity on a bed. Ms. Granger, can you lay Mr. Weasley on that bed." Madam Pomfrey commands. "Parker. explanation of everyone's injuries, please." Parker explains everything while Madam Pomfrey runs between Harry and Ron. She ultimately decides to wait until Harry wakes up to deal with him and work on me and Ron, after quickly helping Hermione and Parker.
Once she's done with Ron, she walks over to me and has me lay down. She waves her wand over my chest. A screen looking thing pops up in front of her.
"Cracked ribs. It's a wonder they didn't break. Especially when you turned into your animagus form. You got lucky. Doing what you did could've caused one of your ribs to break and puncture a lung." She says after inspecting the screen. I gulp and shrink down a bit. I know I was a little reckless but something told me I had to protect my friends.
"This might sting a bit." She says before sliding her wand down my chest. A slight pain starts moving through my chest, following the movements of the wand. As soon as the wand leaves my chest, so does the pain.
"Now sit up so I can heal your shoulder." She commands. I sit up slowly and scoot to the edge of the bed.
"This is going to hurt a lot." She says before quickly popping my shoulder into place.
"Mother trucker!" I shout trying not to cuss. I feel bandages wrap around my shoulder but I don't care. Any adrenaline I had started wearing off and my body started to hurt. I'm such a dumbass. When did someone let me decide to be an animagus? Fighting a werewolf. I don't regret it though. That's going to be quite a story to tell.
"You ok, Hermione?" I ask as I see her pacing by Harry's bed.
"They've captured Sirius. Do you know what they are going to do to him?" She says frantically.
"He'll be alright. I can feel it." Parker chimes in.
"I saw my dad." Harry says as he wakes up. We all walk over to his bedside, Hermione frantic as ever.
"Listen, Harry, they've captured Sirius. Any minute now, they are going to have the dementors perform the kiss." Hermione says frantically.
"You mean they're going to kill him." Harry says as he frantically sits up and grabs his glasses from the table next to him. Hermione explains what they are going to do to Sirius, making Harry even more frantic. Dumbledore walks through the doors in a dramatic way. I swear every teacher at Hogwarts likes to be dramatic with their entrances. Or just being dramatic in general. I should shut my head up. Dumbledore can read my mind. I'm an idiot.
We all walk up to the headmaster, Hermione stating the obvious as we do.
"It's true sir. Sirius is innocent." Harry says, backing up Hermione.
"It was Scabbers who did it." Ron explains. He explains the whole rat situation. Basically rambling about who gave the rat to who.
"The point is we know the truth." Hermione says as she turns back around to face Dumbledore. "Please believe us."
"I do believe you Ms. Granger, but I'm sorry to say that the words of 5 13 year old wizards will convince few others." Excuse me, the majority of us are 14. I'm pretty sure Harry is the only one that's 13.
"A child's voice, no matter how honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen." Dumbledore says as he pushes through us and walks over to Ron, hitting his leg. Ron grimaces with each pat, making it hard for me to contain my laughter. Ron's face looks hilarious. The clock starts ringing, making Dumbledore stare off into space for a second.
"A mysterious thing. Time." He says as he walks towards the sound. "Powerful but when meddled with. Dangerous." We turn around looking at him with confused expressions. Well, except for me. I know exactly what's happening like usual. I've been hanging out with Draco too much. That sounded too mean.
"Sirius Black is in the top most cell of the dark tower." Dumbledore explains. He turns around quickly. Talking directly to Hermione, he says, "You know the laws Ms. Granger. You must not be seen. And you will do well, I feel to return before this last chime. If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss. If you succeed tonight, more than one life shall be spared. Three times should do the trick." He turns around and walks out the door, sending us a little wink before he does and giving us a last piece of advice.
"Sorry Ronald. Seeing as you can't walk. Felicity, do you think you'll be up to it." She asks as she pulls out her necklace. I nod my head. She puts the long chain over our heads, which surprisingly fits us all. She turns the time-turner three times, making everything move fast, including the turner itself, and backwards. When the turner stops spinning, the room is lit up and no one is in here. Hermione takes the chain back and stuffs it in her shirt.
"7:30. Where were we at 7:30?" Hermione asks.
"Heading down to Hagrid's." Harry replies.
"Let's go, we can't be seen." Hermione says before taking Harry's sleeve and running towards Hagrid's. Parker and I are trying to keep up. We ran all the way to the end of the bridge. When we get there, past Hermione has her wand to Draco's throat, getting ready to punch him. A new wave of guilt flows through me. It's not my fault. Hermione pulls Harry back and pulls out the time-turner, explaining what it does.
"You mean you've been going back in time?" Harry questions.
"Yes. Dumbledore obviously wanted us to go back to this moment." She replies as she goes back to watching the scene in front of us. I watch as Draco looks up at me. Wanting me to stop Hermione. I didn't and he deserved what he got.
"Malfoy's coming." Hermione says as she grabs Harry, dragging him to the side of the bridge to hide. Parker and I followed after them. I hear Malfoy mumble something about a mudblood as he passes by. He's dead when I get back to the common room.
We wait for our past selves to start heading down the hill, then we go after them. Once we are down by Hagrid's hut, we hide behind those giant pumpkins that Hagrid grows.
"This is so much scarier now that we are living it." I whisper to Parker, while Hermione talks to Harry.
"Yeah." She replies. "It's weird as well." I nod my head in agreement.
"Draco is going to get murdered when I get back to the common room." She slightly laughs at my comment, trying to keep quiet so no one hears her.
After Hermione pulls Harry back down, we move a little further down the pumpkins, sitting behind them. Hermione continues explaining to Harry about time travel, while me and Parker watch the window.
"Fudge is coming. We aren't leaving." Hermione says as she turns around. "Why aren't we leaving?" I watch the argument unfold between me, Ron, and Hermione. It's weird to watch. A pot shatters, making me and Parker duck behind the pumpkins.
"Hermione, you just scared the shit out of me." I say. Ignoring our comments, Hermione picks up another rock and throws it, hitting past Harry on the back of his head.
"Ow. That hurt." The Harry, who is with Parker and I right now, says.
"Sorry." Hermione responds. We watch Dumbledore and the minister walk up to the door.
"Come on. We are coming out the back door." Hermione says. We all run into the woods and hide behind the trees. I watch our past selves run behind the pumpkins. Man, I am really slow. If I survive this I need to work on running.
We duck behind the trees as our past selves look at the woods. Hermione had stepped on a branch, causing past Hermione to look back. Talking about her hair I believe. I don't really care, I'm trying to keep my breathing in check. My breaths are very shallow. Making it seem like I have to take a deep breath to just breathe normally.
We wait for our past selves to leave, then quietly run back to the pumpkins. Hermione ushers Harry to go get Buckbeak while we watch him and slowly creep around the pumpkins. I clap my hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh as the crows peck at his feet.
"Fun fact, did you know crows are the symbol of death? Making it very ironic that they are here right now." I say to myself and a little bit to Parker. I'm trying to distract myself a bit. It's not working very well.
"You've told me before." Parker replies quietly. We creep up to Harry, following Hermione. Buckbeak refuses to get up so Hermione grabs a rope of dead ferrets from who-knows-where and coaxes Buckbeak into getting up. She feeds one of the ferrets to Buckbeak then starts leading him into the forest. The door to Hagrid's hut opens for a second, making us pause, watching to make sure no one comes out. Once we are sure the Minister won't notice us, we all quickly run into the woods with Buckbeak following us. We hide behind the trees and watch what the minister is doing.
We run into the woods, leading Buckbeak as far away from Hagrid's hut as we can. Once we are as far away as we can be, we stop and rest for a second. It's practically dark now and it's scary. The last time I was in the woods wasn't a fun time.
Harry puts Buckbeak's chain down and asks, "What now?"
"We save Sirius." Hermione says bluntly as she starts running again. We all follow after her. I can tell her mind is going a million miles per minute. Trying to plan out what we are going to do.
"How?" Harry asks.
"No idea." Hermione replies. We continue running through the forest. My wand stays firmly in my hand. My breathing is heavy from running. My chest feels like it's caving in on itself again, not surprisingly. We stop at the edge of the woods. The whomping willow in sight. I watch it start to still. I believe Professor Lupin had just stopped it from moving. Why didn't we think of using immobulus? I wouldn't have gotten a fractured rib if we had thought of that.
"And Snape's coming." Hermione whispers.
"And now we wait." Harry says. We all agree and sit down, watching the willow. I lay my back against the tree, slightly closing my eyes. My body feels terrible. It feels completely numb.
"Felicity?" Parker whispers to me.
"Hm?" I hum in response.
"We are going to have to leave here soon. We never planned a date to leave." I open my eyes and turn my head to look at her.
"How bout on the train going home or even when we get to the platform, that way we start with the summer?" I suggest.
"The platform works." She says quietly.
"Alright. It's weird that we are here. It barely hit me that we are here. In this world."
"Same." She agrees.
"So would you come again?" I ask.
"As long as you do I will." I smile and look at the castle. I wish I had a camera because the castle looks so beautiful and magical. Everything around us is magical. Except for the bats that started flying in behind us. I had to duck just to avoid them.
"Bloody bats." Parker whispers.
A few minutes later, we all stand up and watch our past selves walk out of the tunnel.
"You see Sirius talking to me there?" Harry says, mainly to Hermione.
"Mhm." Hermione replies.
"He's asking me to come and live with him."
"That's great."
"He'd be better than the Dursley's." I comment.
"Yeah." He agrees. "It'll just be me and him. Once he's free." I put my head down, listening to him talk about his plans and knowing he's never going to get his wish. That's another thing I can't change. Sirius' death. I wish I could change it but I can't change things. Not too much anyway. I'm changing things just being here. It's sad that can't have what he wants.
"And we better go." Parker says as we watch Lupin turn into a werewolf again. We all nod our heads and start running around and to the sides of our past selves.
Still hidden in the woods, we stop and watch past Harry throw rocks at Lupin. We watch as Lupin starts stalking towards Harry. Suddenly, Hermione makes a howling sound trying to get Lupin's attention. She does it again, making Lupin look towards us and start running.
"Run!" Parker and I say at the same time, while grabbing Hermione and Harry's sleeve, dragging them with us. We run as fast as we can, branches hitting our faces. I can already feel blood trickling down my face again. We go as fast as we can, nearly tripping. Harry does end up tripping but he quickly recovers and starts running again. We quickly turn and hide behind a large tree, holding our breaths so Lupin doesn't find us.
We move around the tree, hoping to stay clear of Lupin. I get the feeling that someone is behind me as I continue to slowly back up. We all turn around and find Lupin charging toward us. I flinch waiting for him to attack but Buckbeak runs up and blocks him, running him off into the woods.
"Thank you Buckbeak." I say as he turns towards us. The winds start to blow a little harder, towards the direction of the pond. Harry realizes what's about to happen, so we start running towards the direction of the wind.
We run up, careful not to be seen by the dementors that are now surrounding the pond. Harry watches the scene play out, affirming that his dad will come to the rescue. Hoping that he will.
Something clicks in Harry's head that his father isn't going to come so he runs forward and shouts, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" A huge flash of silvery bright light appears from his wand, driving away the dementors. Once the dementors are gone, he puts down his wand, exhausted and walks over to us.
"Alright since we need to bail Sirius out of the tower, you two," I point at Hermione and Harry, "will take Buckbeak and me and Parker will meet you at the Transfiguration courtyard, because Buckbeak won't be able to carry all of us."
"Alright. How are you going to get there?" Hermione asks.
"I'm an animagus, remember. I'm tall enough and fast enough to give Parker a ride." Parker's face drops, looking slightly concerned. Hermione nods her head and turns around.
"Let's go find Buckbeak." Hermione says. We found him quite quickly. He wasn't far behind us. Harry and Hermione get on Buckbeak's back and take off.
"I'm not sure I want to do this." Parker says.
I roll my eyes. "Just imagine you're going to ride off into battle. I'm basically the equivalent to the wolves from twilight, except without the imprinting thing they do." I shrug and turn into my animagus form. I watch her sigh as I sit down to let her on my back. She climbs on hesitantly. I give her a second to figure out how she wants to sit, then I stand up and take off through the woods. It's a lot easier running through the woods as a wolf than as a person. Maybe because I'm very uncoordinated. I don't know. I feel Parker grip onto the fur at the back of my neck.
"Son of a bitch." She whispers. After about a minute, I hear her shout, "Ride my noble steed." I mentally roll my eyes and laugh. I knew she'd say something like that. I ran across the bridge just in time for Buckbeak to land next to me. Parker hops off my back and I transform back into myself.
"I'm never doing that again." Parker says. I laugh and run over to Buckbeak.
"I'll be forever grateful for this." Sirius says as we follow him behind a pillar. "To all of you."
"I want to go with you." Sirius tells Harry his life would be too dangerous at the moment so he must stay here. It would be better for him to stay anyway. Me, Parker and Hermione back away to let Harry and Sirius talk.
"Well done Buckbeak." Hermione says to Buckbeak as she starts petting him.
"Well done." I whisper. I grip onto my shoulder, realizing it's hurting again. Sirius walks over and gets on Buckbeak's back.
"You really are the brightest witch of your age." Sirius says to Hermione. "And you two. Good luck." He says to me and Parker with a wink. He knows.
"Thank you." He smiles, then Buckbeak runs and takes off, soaring into the sky. The clock chimes, making Hermione realize we have to go back so we start running towards the hospital wing.
We get there just as Dumbledore was exiting.
"He's free. We did it." Harry says.
"Did what? Goodnight." Dumbledore says as he walks away. We walk through the door making Ron confused. All of us laugh, making Ron even more confused.
"I'm going to head to the common room. I'll see you all tomorrow." I say as I turn around and walk off to the common room, without hearing anyone.
Once I'm at the painting, I say the password and walk in, finding Draco Malfoy on the couch.
"How's your nose?" I ask. He turns around and gives me a glare but the glare doesn't last long.
"What happened to your shoulder?" He asks as he stands up and walks over to me.
"I dislocated it but it's fine now."
"It's still dislocated. I can pop it back into place." He says.
"And how would you know how to do that?"
"My mum taught me because I used to get hurt quite a lot." He walks behind me and quickly pops it back into place, sending pain throughout my body.
"Shit." I hiss. He walks back in front of me and gives me a quick kiss.
"Asshole." I whisper as he pulls away. He shrugs his shoulders, then walks back to the couch and sits down.
"Blaise was right, you know." He says as I sit down next to him.
"He wasn't. I didn't leave you for them. You deserved that punch on the nose." He rolls his eyes, then lays his head on my lap.
"I love you and you know it." I say before leaning down and kissing his forehead. "By the way, avoid Parker for a bit." I whisper.