Snape took a step toward Dumbledore as he glared angrily at the young Potter girl. "Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathed. "You haven't forgotten that, Headmaster? You haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"
"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly. Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Fudge was still holding. It closed behind them, and Dumbledore turned to Kirra, Theodore, Harry and Hermione.
All of them except for Theodore burst into speech at the same time. "Professor, Black's telling the truth — we saw Pettigrew — he escaped when Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf —"
"— he's a rat —"
"— Pettigrew's front paw, I mean, finger, he cut it off —"
"— Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius —" But Dumbledore held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word — and the word of three thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody. A street full of eye witnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Yeah well we all know that you're pretty good at making mistakes right Albus?" Kirra suddenly spoke up, causing the three other student to look at the girl in surprise at her rare and off outburst
"Youre going to find a way to make sure that people find out that Sirius is innocent, or I think that it might be time that people start seeing that fact that the person who is actually far from being innocent... is you" Kirra sneered
"what are you talking about?" Harry and Hermione spoke up in confusion
Dumbledore had an unreadable look on his face as he stared down at the messy haired brunette and a small sigh fell from his lips, "I will do all that I can, and for that to happen, we need to make this fast" Dumbledore told her and she hesitated before nodding her head, she didn't trust the man, but she did trust that he may have had a plan that could help Sirius
"Professor Lupin can tell you —" Harry said, unable to stop himself
"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends —"
"But —"
"Listen to me, Harry. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."
"Snivellus hates Sirius, its biased," Kirra said desperately and in annoyance. "All because of some stupid trick Sirius played on him —"
"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady — entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife — without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."
"But you believe us." Harry begged
"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to over rule the Minister of Magic..." Kirra stared up into the grave face and felt as though the ground beneath her were falling sharply away. She couldn't let them take Sirius, not again. He meant the world to her and now her world was getting ripped apart
"we need to do something" the Hufflepuff hissed and Theodore slowly reached over and placed his hand on her own to try and comfort her, knowing that Sirius Black had meant a lot to her, after all after he and Mattheo first met in the room of requirement and were sucked into the past to see Emily Barnes and her friends; to say that, that had been the last time they did it, would be a lie.
The pair had watched multiple of Emily's memories with her friends and even a blind person would have been able to see how much Emily cared for Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. The four of them were best friends... But Sirius, James and Emily were attached at the hip, you never saw one without the other two.
"What we need," said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Kirra to Theodore to Harry to Hermione, "is more time."
"But —" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"
"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, the four of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law — you know what is at stake... You — must — not — be —seen."
Dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door. "I am going to lock you in. It is —" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore.
"Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?" Kirra asked the female Gryffindor in confusion. But Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain, "Is that a time turner?" she asked in amazement
Theodore and Kirra stepped forwards to get a better look at the device, Theodore seemed to be in a trance as he looked at the object, having read so much about it, "I've never actually seen one in real life before" the Slytherin muttered.
"Harry, come here," Hermione said urgently. "All of you. Quick!" Kirra, Theodore and Harry moved toward her, completely bewildered. She was holding the chain out. Kirra saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it. P
"Here —" She had thrown the chain around their necks too. "Ready?" she said breathlessly, the Hufflepuff and the SLytherin nodded their heads towards the girl
"What are we doing?" Harry said, completely lost. Hermione turned the hourglass over three times. The dark ward dissolved. Kirra had the sensation that she was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colors and shapes rushed past her, her ears were pounding, she tried to yell but couldn't hear her own voice — And then she felt solid ground beneath her feet, and everything came into focus again —
They were standing in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.
Harry looked like he was going to be sick, "Hermione, what —?"
"In here!" Hermione seized Kirra and Harry's arms, Kirra quickly grabbed Theodores wrist as Hermione dragged them across the hall to the door of a broom closet; she opened it, pushed them inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind them.
"What — how — Hermione, what happened?"
"We've gone back in time," Kirra whispered, as Hermione grabbed the chain and began lifting the chain off Harry's, Kirra's and Theodore's necks in the darkness.
Hermione nodded her head, "Three hours back..."
"But —" Harry started, causing Theodore to roll his eyes in annoyance
"Geez Mate, do you ever shut the bloody hell up?" Theodore groaned in annoyance, "You bloody bitch about everyth-"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think — I think it might be us!" Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door. "Footsteps across the hall... yes, I think it's us going down to Hagrid's!"
"Are you telling me," Harry whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"
"Yes," said Hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than four people... and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloaks — " She broke off, still listening intently.
"We've gone down the front steps..." Hermione sat down on an upturned bucket, looking desperately anxious, but Harry wanted a fewquestions answered.
"Where did you get that hourglass thing?" Kirra and Theodore let out a large huff of air, the Potter boy was becoming increasingly annoying as he persisted to ask more and more questions
"It's called a Time-Turner," Hermione whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies... I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But..."
Hermione looked confused, which didn't happen often, "Harry, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?" Harry stared at her shadowy face, not noticing the Slytherin and Hufflepuff in the corner silently trying to think of a plan.
"There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," he said slowly. "What happened? We were walking down to Hagrid's three hours ago..."
"This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's," said Hermione. "We just heard ourselves leaving..."
"Dumbledore just said — just said we could save more than one innocent life..."
Kirra pulled away from her conversation with THeodore and turned to the Gryffindors, "it's obvious isn't it? The other life that we are meant to save is Buckbeak" Kirra told them as if it were the most obvious thing in the world
"But — how will that help Sirius?"
"Dumbledore just told us where Sirius was... the window of Flitwick's office" she waited for them to click onto what she was saying but when they still looked confused she let out an annoyed huff and continued, "Where they've got Sirius locked up! We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak — they can escape together!"
Harry seemed to be in on the idea but Hermione looked terrified. "If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. He stood up and pressed his ear against the door. "Doesn't sound like anyone's there... Come on, let's go." Harry pushed open the closet door. The entrance hall was deserted. And the two Gryffindors walked out
"I know right, it was a great idea, you don't have to thank me or congratulate me or I don't know, at least wait for us" the Hufflepuff hissed sarcastically as Theodore snickered behind her, throwing his arm over her shoulder
"and that my tiny little badger friend, is why you hang out with the snakes instead of the little kitty cats" Theodore chanted with a smirk
"tell me about it" the girl muttered as the two of them went after Harry and Hermione. They almost made it to the two Gryffindors but they were stopped.
"There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere" they heard and turned around to see Mattheo walking down the stairs quickly and making his way over to them. Mattheo stopped as he noticed Theodores arm wrapped around the girls shoulder and his lip twitched as he glared at the Slytherin boy
"Am I interrupting something?" Mattheo sneered as he looked at them both.
Theodore rolled his eyes, "yeah obviously I was about to go and take Kirra out on a great date, maybe in Japan, and then have a steamy night in a hotel" Theodore replied sarcastically, "and then of course go and buy a shit ton of puppies, just for fun"
Mattheo rolled his eyes at his friend, "hands off Nott, before I break them" he snapped and Theodore just smirked as he kept his arm around the Hufflepuff
"alright idiots, that's enough, Theodore and I actually have to do something, but I'll come and find you straight after okay?" She asked Mattheo hopefully, not wanting to drag the boy into their current problem, but also wanting this situation to hurry up and pass so that she could go and help Sirius
"well what are the two of you doing that has got you both in such a rush" mattheo asked, his scarred eyebrow was raised in the air as he looked at them both, his eyes often flicking up to the arm that was still over the Hufflpuffs shoulders
Kirra sighed as she pushed Theodores arm off her and then stepped forwards to Mattheo, "look Theo, Sirius is in (A/N: i really was about to say Sirius is in serious trouble) trouble and we really need to go and help him"
Mattheo looked confused as his eyebrows furrowed, "well why the hell did you invite him to come and help you but not me?" Mattheo asked and stepped closer to her, towering over her as he looked down at her, neither of them breaking eye contact as she felt his breath fanning his face, "you're mine"
Kirra nodded her head at the boy, taking a large gulp as she tried to muster up enough strength to break the eye contact, but she couldn't do it, Luckily enough, he was the one to break the eye contact
"Lets go and help him then" Mattheo muttered out, satisfied with the nodd that the girl had given him, and satisfied with the displeased and upset look that had made its way onto Theodore Notts face