Adventures of Harriet Potter

Owl Post Again

"Harriet!" Hermione was tugging at her sleeve, staring at her watch. "We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us — before Dumbledore locks the door —" she said quickly. "Okay," said Harriet, wrenching her gaze from the sky, "let's go. . . ." They slipped through the doorway behind them and down a tightly spiraling stone staircase. As they reached the bottom of it, they heard voices. They flattened themselves against the wall and listened. It sounded like Fudge and Snape. They were walking quickly along the corridor at the foot of the staircase. ". . . only hope Dumbledore's not going to make difficulties," Fudge was saying. "The Kiss will be performed immediately?" asked Snape with obvious reservations.
"As soon as Macnair returns with the dementors. This whole Black affair has been highly embarrassing. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to informing the Daily Prophet that we've got him at last. . . . I daresay they'll want to interview you, Snape . . . and once young Harriet's back in her right mind, I expect she'll want to tell the Prophet exactly how you saved her. . . ." said Fudge, continuing to ignore the evidence that Sirius was innocent. Harriet clenched her teeth. She caught a glimpse of Snape's reluctant smirk as he and Fudge passed Harriet and Hermione's hiding place. Their footsteps died away. Harriet and Hermione waited a few moments to make sure they'd really gone, then started to run in the opposite direction. Down one staircase, then another, along a new corridor — then they heard a cackling ahead.
"Peeves!" Harriet muttered, grabbing Hermione's wrist. "In here!" They tore into a deserted classroom to their left just in time. Peeves seemed to be bouncing along the corridor in boisterous good spirits, laughing his head off. "Oh, he's horrible," whispered Hermione, her ear to the door. "I bet he's all excited because the dementors are going to finish off Sirius. . . ." She checked her watch. "Three minutes, Harriet!" They waited until Peeves's gloating voice had faded into the distance, then slid back out of the room and broke into a run again.
"Hermione — what'll happen — if we don't get back inside — before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harriet panted. "I don't want to think about it!" Hermione moaned, checking her watch again. "One minute!" They had reached the end of the corridor with the hospital wing entrance. "Okay — I can hear Dumbledore," said Hermione tensely. "Come on, Harriet!" They crept along the corridor. The door opened. Dumbledore's back appeared. "I am going to lock you in," they heard him saying. "It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
Dumbledore backed out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand to magically lock it. Panicking, Harriet and Hermione ran forward. Dumbledore looked up, and a wide smile appeared under the long silver mustache. "Well?" he said quietly. "We did it!" said Harry breathlessly. "Sirius has gone, on Buckbeak. . . ." Dumbledore beamed at them. "Well done. I think —" He listened intently for any sound within the hospital wing. "Yes, I think you've gone too — get inside — I'll lock you in —"
Harriet and Hermione slipped back inside the dormitory. It was empty except for Ron, who was still lying motionless in the end bed. As the lock clicked behind them, Harriet and Hermione crept back to their own beds, Hermione tucking the Time-Turner back under her robes. A moment later, Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office.
"Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?" She was in a very bad mood. Harriet and Hermione thought it best to accept their chocolate quietly. Madam Pomfrey stood over them, making sure they ate it. But Harriet could hardly swallow. She and Hermione were waiting, listening, their nerves jangling. . . . And then, as they both took a fourth piece of chocolate from Madam Pomfrey, they heard a distant roar of fury echoing from somewhere above them. . . . "What was that?" said Madam Pomfrey in alarm. Now they could hear angry voices, growing louder and louder. Madam Pomfrey was staring at the door. "Really — they'll wake everybody up! What do they think they're doing?" Harriet was trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were drawing nearer — "He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out —" Fudge was saying, a hint of panic in his voice. "HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared, now very close at hand. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS — HAS — SOMETHING — TO — DO — WITH — POTTER!" Though Harriet caught an undercurrent of relief in his voice, and assumed his rage was all for the sake of maintaining an appearance.
"Severus — be reasonable — Harriet has been locked up —" BAM. The door of the hospital wing burst open. Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came striding into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. Indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry. But Snape appeared to be beside himself. "OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" His back was to Fudge so she caught the "play along" wink he gave her. "Professor Snape!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey. "Control yourself!"
"See here, Snape, be reasonable," said Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw —" his expression said it all, he was trying to find a way to turn the situation to benefit himself politically. "THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled, pointing at Harriet and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth. "Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!" Seeming to find an angle from which he could further discredit Snape's account of Sirius being innocent. "YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" shrieked Snape. "SHE DID IT, I KNOW SHE DID IT —" Harriet concentrated hard on controlling her temper, reminding herself to play along. Which currently meant trusting adults she only knew from school to protect her from the legal ramifications of helping a known convicted criminal — innocent as he was — escape justice.
"That will do, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?" Sounding perfectly reasonable. "Of course not!" said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. "I would have heard them!" Harriet barely held back a snort, since technically Madam Pomfrey didn't hear them or they would be in trouble. Hermione especially since she was only supposed to use her Time-Turner for getting to her lessons. "Well, there you have it, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Unless you are suggesting that Harriet and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."
Snape stood there, seemingly seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward. "Fellow seems quite unbalanced," said Fudge, staring after him. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore." Shaking his head slowly, as if thinking it would be only too easy to discredit Snape if he tried presenting evidence that Black was innocent. "Oh, he's not unbalanced," said Dumbledore quietly. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment." His eyes flashed to Harriet for a moment, letting her know it was part of Snape's show.
"He's not the only one!" puffed Fudge. "The Daily Prophet's going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff's escape to get out, and I'll be a laughingstock! Well . . . I'd better go and notify the Ministry. . . ." Harriet barely held back a grin, it would be too easy to anonymously tip the Prophet off to Buckbeak's escape. "And the dementors?" said Dumbledore. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"
"Oh yes, they'll have to go," said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent girl. . . . Completely out of control . . . no, I'll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight. . . . Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance. . . ." Harriet shivered at the reminder of close she'd come to losing her soul. "Hagrid would like that," said Dumbledore with a swift smile at Harriet and Hermione. As he and Fudge left the dormitory, Madam Pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it again. Muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office. There was a low moan from the other end of the ward. Ron had woken up. They could see him sitting up, rubbing his head, looking around. "What — what happened?" he groaned. "Harriet? Why are we in here? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?" Harriet and Hermione looked at each other. "You explain," said Harriet, helping herself to some more chocolate.