The Eternal

chapter 12

Harry woke up in the hospital wing with Hermione watching right over him. "Harry?" she said worried as she noticed him waking up. "I saw my dad," was the first thing Harry said as he woke up. "What?" Hermione asked confused, pounding her hands into Harry's bed. "He sent the Dementors away. I saw him across the lake," Harry explained, looking excited up at Hermione, but she was not amused. "Listen," she started saying. "They've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss," Hermione said eagerly. Harry's face dropped and he quickly sat upright as he digested the news. "You mean they're going to kill him?" Harry asked hectically. "No, it's worse. Much worse," Hermione exclaimed. "They're going to suck out his soul," she said carefully. "Can't Alice do anything?" Harry asked worried. "We don't know where she is. For all we know, she might have been captured too," Hermione said. 

In that moment, the doors do the hospital wing swung open and Dumbledore came in to check up on the three Gryffindors. "Headmaster, you've got to stop them!" Hermione pleaded whilst walking up towards Dumbledore. "They've got the wrong man!" she added. "It's true, sir. Sirius is innocent!" Harry agreed. "It's Scabbers who did it," Ron said from behind him. He had a cast around his right leg and was bound to his bed. "Scabbers?" Dumbledore repeated flustered. "He's my rat, sir," Ron started to explain. "He's not really a rat. Well, he was a rat. First, he was my brother Percy's rat, but then my parents gave him an owl and," Ron was rambling on, but Hermione interrupted him. 

"The point is, we know the truth," Hermione blabbed, looking back at Dumbledore. "Please, believe us," she pleaded. "I do, Miss Granger, but I'm sorry to say, the words of three thirteen-year-old wizards will convince few others," Dumbledore replied, laying a hand on Hermione's shoulder. He then walked back Harry and Hermione to Ron's bed side and placed himself next to him. "A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen," he said, patting his hand on Ron's cast. Ron squealed in pain and held his leg with a distorted look on his face. The bells started to ring in the background, and everyone looked to the open doors. Dumbledore walked to the doors. 

"Mysterious thing, time," he said after a moment of silence and only the noise of the bells clinging through the castle. "Powerful, and when meddled with, dangerous," he continued talking. Then he turned to Hermione. "Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower," Dumbledore revealed. "You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen," he said, and Hermione knew instantly what he was up to. "And you would do well, I feel, to return before this last chime," he added, walking towards her. Harry looked back and forth between both of them, confused of what they were talking about. "If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss. If you succeed tonight, more than one innocent life may be spared," Dumbledore continued on explaining and wanted to walk back to the door but turned around one more time. "Three times should to it, it think," he said, moving his fingers as if he was turning something in the air. Then he walked across the room and walked through the room closing the door behind him, but turned around one last time, peaking through the slip of the almost closed door. "Oh, and by the way. When in doubt, I find tracing my steps to be a wise place to begin. Good luck," he advised before closing the door on them. 

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron said confused, making Harry and Hermione turn towards him. "Sorry Ron, but seeing as you can't walk, I can't tell you," Hermione said and pulled out a necklace from underneath her sweater. She put it around Harry as well and started turning a little hourglass which was placed between a golden circle. Harry wanted to touch it, but Hermione slapped his hand out of the way. After turning the hourglass three times, everything started to move very fast around them, and thing occurred in the hospital wing that Harry didn't see before. A couple of seconds passed, and now nobody was to be seen in the room they were standing in. Ron was also not laying in his bed where he was a couple of seconds ago. Harry looked around the room.