Chapter Forty-four

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Hermione and Harry got to their feet. Buckbeak raised his head. They see
Remus, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. Then came Hermione... then the unconscious Snape, drifting weirdly upward. Next came Harry, Primrose, and Sirius. They all began to walk toward the castle.

Harry studies himself, Primrose, and Sirius.

"You see Sirius talking to me? He's asking me and Rosie to come live with him"

"Really?"

Harry nods, his voice wistful. "When we free him, I'll never have to go back to the Dursleys. I'm going to tell him I'd like to live someplace in the country. I think he'd like that, after all those years in Azkaban. We don't need a big place and I can help him..."

Sirius smiles sadly at the screen. He hopes that happens, wanting to give primrose and Harry the family they deserve.

A Howl pierces the night. Hermione glances toward the willow.

"It's happened. Lupin's transformed."

"Which means Pettigrew is slipping safely into the night. While we just stand here."

"Harry," Hermione muttered, "we've got to stay put. We mustn't be seen. There's nothing we can do...."

"Hermione!" said Harry suddenly. "We've got to move!"

"We mustn't, I keep telling you—"

"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the forest, right at us!"

Hermione gasped.

"Quick!" she moaned, dashing to untie Buckbeak. "Quick! Run!"

They continued to run more further away from lupin. Stopping at the black lake.

Both Hermione and harry had a look of Shocked and Terror-stricken on their face. Opposite them, across the lake, a Cyclone of Dementors whirls madly above The twins and Black.

Harry watches himself vainly attempt to conjure a Patronus as the cyclone only continues to grow.

"This is horrible.."

"Don't worry. My Dad will come... Right there you'll see. he'll come... any minute. he'll conjure the Patronus"

"I don't think he gonna come kid," Dorcas said.

Hermione eyes Harry warily. He is transfixed, staring hungrily toward the outcrop. The Wind Rises. The Lake begins to freeze.

One after another, Dementors drop from the sky and vanish in the cyclone.

"No one's coming, Harry," Hermione whispers.

"HE WILL! He will come!"

She looks. Nothing. Desperately, her eyes flash to the cyclone, to the pitiful sight of the twins and Black at the water's edge, wracked with pain, dying...

"No one's coming! You're dying, both of you... and no one's coming!"

Harry's face changes. A riddle unravels.
He draws his wand.

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