Chapter 24
"I saw our dad!" Harry sat up quickly, too quickly. He held the side of his head as his surroundings--the Hospital Wing--spun.
"What?" Hermione asked, wondering if sleeptalking was hereditary.
"The dementors at the lake!" Harry couldn't believe it! Somehow, someway, his father had saved them! "I saw him across the lake!"
"Listen Harry," Hermione was chalking this entire conversation up to hysteria, exhaustion, and a head trauma. "They've captured Sirius. Any minute the dementors are going to preform the kiss."
Harry pushed himself out of bed, stammering. "W-what? He's innocent!"
Hermione looked to the entrance of the Infirmary as the door was opened, finding Dumbledore walking through the doorway. He surveyed the teenagers in front of him slowly, Hermione and Harry hurring to him and Rebecca and Ron in beds across the aisle. Ron was sitting up and listening, but Rebecca hadn't yet moved. "Headmaster!" Hermione started. "You've got to do something!"
"He's innocent, Sirius Black!" Harry added.
"It's Scabbers, sir!" Ron tacked on.
"Scabbers?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"It's my rat, sir, only he's not really rat. Though he was a rat! My brother Percy's rat first then-"
"We know the truth." Hermione interrupted. "Please, believe us."
"I do, Miss Granger. Believe you, that is. But I'm sorry to say that the word of four thirteen year old wizards will not do." Dumbledore walked to Rebecca's bedside, holding a hand to her forehead a moment. "A child's voice, however powerful, is as meaningless as time." Dumbledore leaned over the bed, noting how Rebecca's lips moved occasionally in the shape of one of the dreaded words: Swing, double, rat, dog, dark, friend.
Dumbledore patted Ron's heavily bandaged leg, leaving Rebecca. "Curious thing time," Dumbledore began to leave the Hospital Wing as quickly as he had arrived. "Powerful and when meddled with, dangerous." He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder at them all. "Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. You know the laws Miss Granger, you must not be seen. And I feel you would do well to return before this time. If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss." Giving them a mysterious smile, Dumbledore left them with one last collection of statements. "If you succeed, more than one life may be saved tonight. Three turns should do it, I think."
Harry stared at the shut door, his mind awash with so many questions he wasn't even sure where to start. "What's he talking about, Hermione? Time? Laws? Turns? Wh-" Harry sank into the chair next to Rebecca, finding the most important question was the hardest for him to ask. "How bad?"
"Not good." Hermione answered vaguely. Harry reached forward to comb a loose curl of Rebecca's hair off her cheek, finding her skin to be as cold as the lake that had frozen over in front of their very eyes. "Rebecca tried to use more magic than she had. Madame Pomfrey says she's lucky to be alive."
"I couldn't...hold on." Harry struggled to breathe, to speak. "I couldn't keep the spell going like she did. I lied on the ground and I watched."
"Don't be an idiot." Ron said, his own voice thick with emotion. "What would she say if she heard you right now?"
"For fuck's sake, Harry." Hermione said, a poor imitation of Rebecca. "You talk like that and people will call me the smart twin."
Harry lowered his head, a single laugh escaping his sorrow. "Sounds like something she'd say."
Hermione nodded, feeling as if she had done her job. "Then it's time for us to do what she'd do, too. Come on." She pulled Harry to his feet and led him to the middle of the Hospital Wing. "Sorry, Ron. But since you can't walk."
"Hermion-" Harry wasn't sure why Hermione was undoing the necklace he'd never noticed around her neck.
"Quiet, I'll explain later." Hermione paused for a moment. "Or earlier? I'll explain all the same."
"Hermione, I'm not-"
"Do you trust me, Harry?" Hermione demanded.
Harry nodded. "With my life."
"Then here we go." Hermione made sure the chain to her necklace was around him well and turned the knob on the side of the hourglass three times, a chime sounding out with each revolution. When she was done she pushed the pin back in and the entire necklace spun rapidly.
Harry watched in confusion; Their surroundings began to change. People zipped around them and the sun rose from where it had long since set before things began to slow down again and it was early evening once more.
Hermione lifted the necklace from around his neck and checked the time. "It's 5:30. Where were we at 5:30?"
"Erm, I don't know." Harry looked to the bed Ron had been in seconds before and found it empty. "Where's Ron?"
"Harry! We have to know!" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him behind her as she ran out of the Infirmary.
"5:30...I was on my way out to meet you, you, Rebecca, and Ron were waiting at the start of the path to Hagrid's."
Hermione nodded, turning down the corridors to the exit of the castle. "Come on then, we can't be seen."
Hermione paused at the doorway of the tunnel over the clearing she figured they had been waiting for Harry in hours earlier. Harry was breathing heavily behind her, his hands to his stomach. "Will you please tell me what we're doing?" Harry begged. He paused, hearing Hermione's voice but not seeing her lips move.
"...foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
Harry poked his head around the corner where Hermione was watching just as her past-self held her wand against Draco's throat.
"That's us." Harry said in a breath of shock. "This is not normal." Hermione, the other Hermione, seemed to be listening to something the Rebecca below was saying quietly.
Hermione pulled Harry back into the tunnel and slammed his back against the wall, fishing the necklace out from her shirt once more. "This is a time-turner, Harry. McGonagall gave it to me first term, it's how I've been attending my lessons all year."
"You're saying we've gone back in time?" Harry clarified.
"Yes." Hermione looked back around the corner. "Clearly there's something in this moment that Dumbledore wants us to change."
Past-Hermione turned away from Rebecca in a flash and left Draco with a bloody nose. "Damn, that hurts." Hermione whispered to Harry above, shaking her hand out.
The two time-travellers watched themselves and their friends continue on their way to Hagrid's hut, already aware of what they were going to learn. Hermione pulled Harry towards the side of the hut, crouching behind the pumpkins near the tree line.
"Here they come." Harry said, watching as the Minister of Magic, Dumbledore, and the executioner made their way up Hagrid's walk. "We'd better hurry and free Buckbeak now."
Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and motioned for him to wait. "We have to wait for Fudge to see that Buckbeak's here. If not..."
"Hagrid will go back to Azkaban." Harry finished, remembering their conversation from earlier.
A clatter rose up from inside Hagrid's hut, Ron had just noticed Scabbers on the floor. Harry jumped to get the rat, hoping it would delay all the horrible events that had happened in their time.
"We can't be seen, Harry!" Hermione gasped, the audacity of this boy sometimes threatened her with a heart attack. "Awful, awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time!"
Harry nodded, putting his back to the pumpkin. This made him so angry, so hateful. The man who was responsible for not only he and Rebecca's parents deaths, but what would become the death of Sirius, was only metres away and in the arms of Harry's best mate.
"We aren't leaving." Hermione said, seeing how close the visitors were to Hagrid's door. "Why haven't we noticed them coming yet?" Hermione didn't wait for an answer, picking up a small stone on top of the pumpkin they were hiding behind and throwing it through the window at the back of Harry's head.
"Ow, that hurt!" Both Harry's said, rubbing the sore spot with a frown.
It was exactly what their past selves needed to notice the approaching adults and to start their clandestine exit. Harry and Hermione jumped back, hiding in the trees as their past selves hurried from pumpkin to pumpkin, including the one they had just been hiding behind.
Harry and Hermione watched from only a few metres away as Rebecca held her hand against the pumpkin lined up with Buckbeak's head, they heard her apology and the sound of her barely holding back tears. Harry took a step forward on instinct, needing to comfort his sister. His foot snapped a branch loudly, causing Rebecca to look into the trees. Hermione held her breath, waiting to see what would happen.
As luck would have it, Ron called for Rebecca to join him at the next and last pile of pumpkins. The time-travellers remained safe for a while longer, at least. Harry and Hermione raced forward to free Buckbeak before the papers were done being signed inside.
Harry bowed to Buckbeak before grabbing the chain he was tied up with while Hermione collected a few of the dead ferrets to entice him with. Heading back for the Forbidden Forest, Buckbeak was free.
The adults left Hagrid's hut where Dumbledore directed Fudge and Macnair--the man with the axe--to pay special attention to the shrubbery around the castle's border due to historical value. This delay provided Harry and Hermione with the few extra seconds they needed to get Buckbeak out of visible forestry.
"Where is it? I saw the beast just now!" Fudge shouted, his voice echoing through the dark branches of the forest.
Harry let out a laugh that faded the second he realised that the others wouldn't know about Buckbeak's freedom. They were up on the ridge between the castle and Hagrid's mourning their failure.
Hermione threw a ferret to Buckbeak as Dumbledore's cavalier voice announced that the services of the executioner were no longer required. Furious at the fact that he would no longer be able to claim that he could add a hippogriff to the list of creatures he'd ended, Macnair raised his axe and sliced one of Hagrid's prize pumpkins clean in half. The thump echoed through the valley.
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Harry and Hermione ran with Buckbeak, struggling to keep him quiet. They had to take a winding, backwards route to get to the Whomping Willow without the chance of being seen in case their estimate of where their past-selves were.
The sun had set and, they thought at least, that they were their way through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack at this point. Hermione left Buckbeak tied up to a tree in a divot surrounded by trees, leaving him the last two ferrets to keep him occupied.
"What do we do now?" Harry asked Hermione as they began to run once more.
"Now, we save Sirius."
"How are we going to do that?" Harry never had any qualms about asking Hermione questions that seemed impossible to answer because she always worked so hard to have the answers or to find out the answers.
"I have no idea." Hermione knew her friends had too much faith in her, but it filled her with such pride to know how highly they held her in their esteems.
They watched from the trees around the Whomping Willow as Snape waved his wand at one of the knots under the entryway to the tunnel, the Whomping Willow slowing to a stop. He disappeared under the tree and Harry couldn't help a snigger.
"If that's Snape, then that must mean that Professor Lupin has already entered." Hermione murmured to herself, trying to piece together the past. "What is so funny?"
"This means Rebecca knocks him out twice." Harry laughed a little harder while Hermione remained entirely unenthused.
"That's what you're thinking about right now?" Hermione clarified her question in horror. "And it makes you laugh?"
Harry sat on the ground so that his back was against one of the trees, nodding. "Yes, yes it does." Hermione sat down next to him, letting out a sigh. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the calm before the storm they knew was coming and listening to the sounds of the Forbidden Forest.
Hermione was the one to break the quiet. "Rebecca's going to be fine. She always is."
"Are you telling me that or yourself?" Harry asked, not unkindly. He simply wanted to know.
"Both of us, I think." Hermione's head jerked up and she smacked her knee as a realisation of monumental size occurred to her. "Her dreams are the future, Harry!"
Harry looked at Hermione like she'd spoken in another language. "Yes...and?"
"Swing, double, rat dog, dark, friend! The words she's been saying for weeks! It all lines up: Swing was the axe. Double, well, that's us. We doubled ourselves. Rat-"
"Rat would be Peter. Dog would be Sirius." Harry followed along immediately.
"Or Professor Lupin, both ended up true in different ways. Dark..." Hermione's voice trailed away.
"That could be that all of this happened at night o-or that she ended up in the dark." Harry's voice grew fragile.
Hermione continued with the puzzle, the last piece the hardest to place. "All that leaves is friend."
"Friend is our dad, I know it is." Harry rolled his eyes as Hermione looked at him carefully. "I know what I saw at the lake. Someone was there and they casted their corporeal patronus: A stag, just like his."
"Harry, your dad is-"
"Dead. I know." Harry lowered his voice. "I'm only telling you what I saw."
They continued to ponder over different theories as to what meaning 'friend' could have had, falling silent once again as their past selves left the passageway.
"Now you and Rebecca are going to talk to Sirius." Hermione pointed out.
"He's asked us to come and live with him." Harry said, a glimmer of excitement entering his mind again.
"Oh?" Hermione's odd tone muted his happiness.
"What's 'oh?' What do you mean by that?"
Hermione shrugged. "I'm just wondering how Rebecca felt about that, that's all."
Harry stared ahead. "She'll come live with us. It'll men we get to live together at last."
Hermione made the decision to say something that could have been crossing a line, for her best friend if anything. "I wouldn't be so sure, Harry. You're her brother, her twin, and you'll always, always mean the world to her-"
"Of course!" Harry said obstinately, not wanting to believe that there was any reason in the world that Rebecca wouldn't jump on the chance to live in a family with him; Live with Harry as they always should have.
"But Rebecca's not in a home like yours." Hermione said gently. "She's in a real home and we only know how she lived before by what she's told us--We have no idea how bad it truly was. She doesn't admit when she's hurting, Harry. Did you know that the Whomping Willow had broken two of her ribs when it caught her? She was carrying Ron, fighting for Sirius, pushing herself too far...broken all the while. We will never know how deeply her before hurt her."
"What's this got to do with anything?" Harry asked like a child, hating that he could hear it in his voice.
"Don't pressure her to leave what she has grown to know and love. The Weasley's are her family, too." Hermione thought for a moment, finding that there was one addition that had to be made. "Though not Fred, he's not looped in with the rest of them."
"Why?" Harry watched the back of Rebecca, the two of them still standing and looking up to the castle. "Why is he different than the rest, Hermione?"
Hermione stared straight ahead as well, wondering if it was a betrayal towards Rebecca to even be having this conversation. "You know exactly why."
Harry lowered his head, giving in. "Yeah, yeah I do." He was quiet a long time. "They really care about each other, don't they?"
"I don't think they know it yet." Hermione answered vaguely. There was an edge to Harry's voice that required scolding. "That's not fair, Harry."
"I know. I'm sorry." Harry sighed. "I just worry."
"Then you're worrying about nothing." Hermione let out a wry chuckle. "Fred would die before he ever did anything to hurt her, let alone let anything hurt her. You were still out when Fred and George finally found us, found out what had happened...Why we were in hospital. McGonagall had to take both of them to her office so that they could calm down."
"What did they do?" Harry asked, curious.
"I will tell you this:" Hermione shook her head, still plagued by disbelief. "Do not ever tell him to calm down when it comes to her. Still can't believe he flipped that bed..." Hermione's voice trailed away.
Harry smiled, though it faded when he found that he had to tell Hermione what he was really worried about. "It's not that I think he'd hurt her. I know he wouldn't ever. I...It's-I sometimes thin she likes him more than she does me."
Hermione scoffed. "Harry, that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard and I have heard Ron try to come up with his own jokes. She doesn't like Fred more than you, it's just a different kind of like. You don't see me crying that you oogle Cho Chang."
"Who?" Harry's voice cracked as he asked.
Their conversation was cut short as Hermione jumped to her feet. "The moon, it's rising."
Remus' first howl washed over them, sending goosebumps over their flesh. "Let's go." Harry said, taking off to the right towards the lake Sirius ended up at. Hermione stopped in between two bushes, watching as Remus walked closer and closer to past-Harry.
"Get down!" Hermione hissed, crouching down beneath the bushes. Harry, farther to the right, did as she said. Footsteps grew closer and closer as Rebecca--past-Rebecca--paused between them and gasped at the sight of Remus closing in on Harry.
Rebecca grit her teeth and held onto her side with one hand, holding the other to her mouth. "Bloody hell, Harry." She whispered before letting out the best howl she could. "Ahooooo!" Remus was not turned away entirely, only a step or two away from Harry. Rebecca took her other hand away from her smarting ribs and projected her voice as far as she could. "AHOOOOOOO!" Remus took the bait, abandoning Harry.
"Damn!" Rebecca cursed, taking off into the darkness as Remus was now after her.
Hermione held her hand up for Harry to wait, the thumping, shaking steps of Remus sounding out between them as he galloped after Rebecca. When Remus was far enough that he wouldn't hear them, Hermione stood and chased after Harry. They were both running in seconds, going deeper into the forest to circle around where Harry saw the stag that saved them.
They ran until their lungs burned and their sides ached, stopping only when they saw that Remus had somehow gotten ahead of them. Harry ducked behind the tree next to him, pulling Hermione with him. Remus' sniffing could be heard moving closer to the exit of the clearing. Harry went around the opposite side of the tree, keeping Hermione behind him, to try and get them to safety before continuing on their route.
Remus stopped at the sound of pounding heartbeats and turned towards them, letting out a low growl. He took a step closer to them, licking his teeth at the prospect of a snack. Harry kept Hermione behind him, though she pushed against his arms to try and stand next to him.
Just as it seemed Remus was ready to charge, Buckbeak ran in front of Harry and Hermione and unfurled his wings, stomping his hooves into the dirt to scare Remus back a few steps. Buckbeak looked over his shoulder, making sure they were okay. A cold wind blew threw the trees and Harry's stomach dropped. "We've got to go! They're here!"
Hermione and Harry saw the first of the dementors swoop down from the cloud above, attacking Sirius, Rebecca, and Harry in turn.
Hermione nodded her head as Rebecca pressed her jumper to Sirius' injuries. "So that's what happened to it." Harry looked to her questioningly. "It's what sparked off Fred's rampage. You're lucky you didn't see how they brought her in, Harry. Her fingertips were blue, her lips blue. She was cold as ice."
Harry shivered just thinking about it, turning his attention back to the scene at hand: The dementors were only growing in number and strength and there was no sign of James. Past-Harry attempted the patronus charm for the first time and failed, another dementor going down at him.
"Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Just watch, he'll be here." Past-Harry and Rebecca joined forces, their successful, dual-patronus charm warding off enough of the dementors for Sirius' soul to reenter his body. Past-Harry fell to his side, lingering in the grey space between conscious and unconscious. The two time-travellers watched in horror as Rebecca shakily raised herself up once more.
Hermione's hand shot to her mouth as they heard her shout the charm again, the shield brighter than it had been when two of them had cast it and lasting longer than before, as well. "Harry!" Hermione cried out. "No one's coming! You have to do it now!"
Harry shoved his devastation to the bottom of his being, focusing on the happiest memory he had: The memory of a green-eyed, dark-haired, bespectacled girl being introduced to him in front of Gringotts over three years earlier. A girl who looked just like him.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry cast the charm the best he ever had, his corporeal patronus forming. A stag bounded out of the end of his wand before warding off the dementors in waves. Hermione watched as the dementors were pushed away for good, the three bodies on the other side of the lake safe for the time being.
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Harry and Hermione stumbled away from the lake in the dark, Harry wiping his cheeks all the while. "I waited too long. I waited too long for someone who is dead and hadn't even been there." Hermione didn't know what to say, what to do to comfort him. "I waited too long and I may have just killed Rebecca."
Buckbeak stomped his foot from where he had been waiting in the cleary, causing Harry to look at the creature who only stomped his foot once more.
Hermione looked at Buckbeak carefully. "He's right. He's going to have to fly us out of here, we still have to get to the Dark Tower to save Sirius before the kiss."
They climbed on carefully, the cool night's air wiping away the rest of Harry's tears as quickly as they fell. Hermione leaned forward, her arms wrapped around Harry's middle tightly. "I can't tell you that you didn't see your father earlier because if we hadn't already gone back in time, how could you have seen yourself save you? Maybe you did see him, maybe you didn't. But we're not done yet."
"I know." Harry nodded, pulling himself together. He needed to have faith in the fact that Rebecca had managed to live through so much already. He needed to have faith that she would fight to live.
Hermione tightened her grip on Buckbeak as he dropped suddenly. "Oh, I hate flying!" Hermione groaned.
Buckbeak turned his head over his shoulder and gave Harry a wink before turning back to the air in front of them and dropping into a dive, unfurling his wings and coming to a stop outside of Sirius' cell.
Hermione hopped off of Buckbeak first, eager to have her feet on solid ground again. Her legs quivered underneath her. She went to Sirius' cell door and warned him to look away. "Bombarda!" The door to the cell, as well as the surrounding bricks, were blown in and a layer of dust rose up into the air at the explosion.
Sirius stumbled onto Buckbeak the best he could, healed only to the point where he would live through execution by the Ministry. Buckbeak took them away from the evidence that he had escaped, opting for an empty courtyard to be the location of their farewells.
"I'll be forever grateful for this." Sirius said, clasping a hand to each of their cheeks.
"What do you mean? I want to go with you!" Harry said.
"Harry, these are going to be strange, uncertain times whereas I'm involved until I'm officially cleared." Sirius looked between Harry and Hermione, giving them a weak smile. "Besides, you both belong here."
Sirius knelt down to one knee in front of Harry, brushing some dirt off his jacket and blinking away his tears. "I suspect you're tired of hearing this, but you look so much like you're father. Rebecca too. Just-"
"Just not the eyes." Harry said sadly.
"No, not the eyes. Your mother's eyes." Sirius pulled Harry into a tight hug. "It's cruel that I got to spend so much time with James and LIly and you two so little. But know this, the ones that love us never really leave us. We can always find them in here." Sirius put Harry at arms-length away and patted his chest where his heart was.
"You really are one of the brightest witches of your age." Sirius said to Hermione, pulling her into a hug as well. "One of which I owe an unpayable debt."
Harry and Hermione ran to the end of the courtyard, watching a Sirius and Buckbeak flew off into distance. The clock above them began to chime and Hermione caught Harry's wrist as she began to sprint through the corridors. "We have to go, Harry!"
They reached the Hospital Wing doors just as Dumbledore closed them behind him, his message already having been given to the Harry and Hermione who just went three turns back into the past. "Well?"
"He's free, we did it." Harry told the headmaster.
"Did what?" Dumbledore asked, continuing on his way. "Good night!"
Harry and Hermione opened the doors just in time to see themselves disappear. "How'd you get there? I was just talking to you here and now you're there?!" Ron's voice was layered with growing hysteria.
"What's he talking about, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know." Harry hurried to Rebecca's bedside, the good humour he had had in success fading at the sight of her. "Honestly Ron, how could someone be in two places at once?" Harry blinked his eyes at the pale sight of Rebecca. "Nothing's changed?"
Ron looked over, shaking his head sadly. "Nothing much."
"What does that mean? What has changed?" Harry demanded frantically.
Ron shrugged. "She stopped muttering, that's it." Ron looked to Hermione. "That gets really bloody old, bravo to you and Ginny for sleeping with that every night."
"No, not every night." Hermione refuted.
Hermione had hoped that Harry would laugh at the joke, but all he did was stand up and mutter that he needed another blanket. Hermione took the other side and covered Rebecca gently, each taking a seat on either side of her bed.
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Harry jolted up from where he had fallen asleep with his head resting on the side of Rebecca's bed by the slam of the Hospital Wing doors being thrown open violently. Fred was marching in with intention, George behind him talking loudly.
"Fred! We were expressly forbidden from returning to the Hospital Wing without invitation after yesterday!"
"Oh yeah?" Fred asked dryly. "Watch this: Ron, are you inviting me in?" Fred didn't even give a pause for an answer. "Brilliant!"
Madam Pomfrey heard the voices and hurried away from her office, afraid of what mayhem the Weasley twins would cause in her domain in a new day. "You two, out! I will not be righting tipped beds today!"
"No, no I'll not be-"
"Fred?" Rebecca asked, stirring slightly. "Fred, is that you?"
Fred was at her side before Harry could blink. "I'm here." He said softly, far differently from how he'd spoken so far. "I'm right here, Rebecca." He took her hand gently. He let out a shuddery breath, so overwhelmed with relief to hear her again. "You've really got to stop this...this life-threatening stuff."
"I'll take that into consideration." Rebecca murmured, her eyes still closed and a slight smile toying at the corner of her lips.
Harry leaned over and hugged her, whispering in her ear that Sirius was alright and that he would explain everything later. Harry went to pull back when Rebecca opened her eyes and raised a hand to his cheek, running her thumb across one cheek before pecking the other.
"Ron? Where's Ron?" She asked, pushing herself to an upright position before regretting it entirely.
"I'm right here, don't do anything mental." Ron raised his hand from the bed adjacent to hers. "They didn't have to chop it after all. Something about a belt saving it, I don't know."
Rebecca nodded and sat back slowly.
Madam Pomfrey looked over the lot of them and shook her head. "Miss Potter, once you feel strong enough to stand, we'll do a once-over. Your ribs have been healed but I'm afraid there is no remedy for exhaustion. I must express severe caution in regards to over-casting like this, child. You may have lived this time, you may not the next."
Rebecca nodded once, avoiding looking into the disappointed eyes of the healer. "Yes Madam Pomfrey, thank you."
Fred lowered his head onto her hand as Ron found himself swept into conversation with Hermione and George. "I almost lost it there."
"Almost?" Harry asked, a slight tease entering his tone. "That's not what the tipped bed had to say about it."
"You threw a bed?" Rebecca asked in shock. "Fred, why-"
"You know, I think you're supposed to be resting." Fred interrupted, his face as red as his hair. "Certain of it, actually."
Rebecca sat up more carefully than before, leaning against the headboard. Hermione wandered over when George dragged Harry into he and Ron's argument, finding an at-peace Fred more than comfortable just sitting beside Rebecca.
A noise, a strange noise, caught Hermione's attention. "Was that your stomach?" Hermione asked awash with concern.
"Lunch was a really, really long time ago and I over-cast!" Rebecca said defensively. "That's bound to build an appetite..."
"Yes, yes it is." Fred said with a laugh. He picked up Rebecca's filthy glasses from the bedside table and cleaned them with the bottom of his shirt. "Would you like us to go get breakfast and bring it back here?"
"No, no." Rebecca swung her legs off the bed. "Don't be silly. I'm fi-" She tried to put weight on her legs and found that they were still asleep.
Fred's arm shot up, acting as a balance for her as she sat back down on the edge of the bed to wait for her legs to wake up. "What were you saying?" He asked cheekily, handing her her glasses once they were cleaned.
Madam Pomfrey instructed lots of breaks to be taken throughout the day, naps if needed for the next few. No exertion was allowed and, for once in her life, Madam Pomfrey had no doubts that the Weasleys twins would make sure her directions were followed to the letter.
Harry found himself watching Fred's attention to Rebecca as they made their way out of the Hospital Wing. There was one detour they had to make on the way, and Fred seemed to think that Rebecca would vanish into thin air if breakfast was postponed.
But, after hearing what the detour was, Rebecca insisted that they stop.
"Hello, Harry and company." Professor Lupin greeted, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom door opening before they could even knock. "Saw you coming." Lupin raised the map up as explanation to their confused looks.
"I've looked worse, believe me." Remus smiled as he felt the concern come off of them in waves. Ragged, tired, bruised...all words that described Remus the morning after a full moon. "I'm quite happy to hear you're all feeling better. Miss Potter, I believe I heard every bed in the castle shook in fear last night."
Fred lowered his eyes, wondering how far his little 'incident' had been spread.
Ron crutched over to a chair, looking over the trunks being packed. "You've been sacked? That's-"
"I've resigned." Remus interrupted, not wanting to know how descriptive Ron could be at the situation.
"Resigned? Why?" Harry asked. Demanded, really.
"It seems somebody let slip the nature of my condition. This time tomorrow," Remus sighed. "The owls will start arriving and parents will not want a, well...someone like me, teaching their children."
"But Dumbledore-" Hermione tried to speak before Remus raised his voice and spoke over her.
"Dumbledore has already risked enough on my behalf." Remus gave them a shrug and a smile. "Besides, let's just say I'm used to it by now."
Rebecca watched sadly as he waved a wand at another chest filled with books so it closed and levitated to the others. "You shouldn't be used to it, not at all. It shouldn't even happen."
Remus walked to the front of the Potter twins and thanked her before turning to Harry. "Why do you look so miserable?"
"It didn't make any difference, did it? Pettigrew still escaped."
"'Didn't make any difference?'" Remus repeated astonished. "Harry, it made all the difference in the world. You helped uncover the truth, you helped save an innocent man from a terrible fate. You saved a creature from injustice. It made a great deal of difference!"
Rebecca spoke in the silence that formed after Remus' statement. "But we're still losing the best Defence professor we've ever had."
Remus blushed and lowered his head. "I doubt that you will still say that at the end of your schooling, though I appreciate the sentiment. If I am proud of anything this year, it is of how much you have all learned."
Fred smiled, hearing the praise from where he and George were loitering with Ron and Hermione. He hoped Rebecca knew that that was entirely, if not at least mostly, directed at her.
"Now, since I am now longer your teacher." Remus said, plucking the Marauder's Map up off of the desk behind him. "I feel no guilt whatsoever giving this back to you." Remus handed it to the two of them and tried to convey peace in their parting. "I feel certain that we will meet again. Until then, it is safe to say 'mischief managed.' Go on, go get to breakfast before whomever's stomach is making all that racket digests itself!"
Harry folded the map as they walked, holding it out to Fred and George in the hallway. "This really goes back to you two."
George looked to Fred who shook his head. George refused to take it. "We're alright, we know every hidden path now. Besides, it's not like it's going far."
Rebecca walked at the back of the group, making sure Ron wasn't feeling left behind. "I haven't had the chance to thank you for yesterday." Ron said as soon as they had a modicum of privacy. "I already caught Hermione and Ron, but I need to thank you for the belt and helping me back to the castle."
Rebecca shook her head. "I was only doing what you would've done for me, what I would do for any of you." She watched their friends from where they were behind them, they way they were laughing with each other. "No thanking necessary."
Fred realised that Rebecca wasn't at his side and looked over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't too far. He caught her eyes and smiled, a smile that only grew as Rebecca smiled back.
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Author's Note:
Only 1ish more to wrap up Prisoner of Azkaban! :)
<3