"Harry!"
Emily was tugging at his 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."
"Okay," said Harry, wrenching his 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," Snape was saying. "The Kiss will be performed immediately?"
"As soon as Macnair returns with the Dementors. This whole Black and his son 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 Harry's and Emily's back in their right mind, I expect they'll want to tell the Prophet exactly how you saved them..."
Harry clenched his teeth. He caught a glimpse of Snape's smirk as he and Fudge passed Harry and Emily's hiding place.
Their footsteps died away.
Harry and Emily 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!" Harry muttered, grabbing Emily'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 Emily, her ear to the door. "I bet he's all excited because the Dementors are going to finish off my dad and brother..." She checked her watch. "Three minutes, Harry!"
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.
Emily-what'll happen-if we don't get back inside before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry panted.
"I don't want to think about it!" Emily 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 Emily tensely. "Come on, Harry!"
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 Lupin-Black, 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, Harry and Emily 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 and Eric have 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."
Harry and Emily slipped back inside the dormitory. It was empty except for Hermione, Ethan and Ron, who were still lying motionless in the end bed.
As the lock clicked behind them, Harry and Emily crept back to their own beds, Emily tucked the Time-Turner back under Hermione's 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. Harry and Emily thought it best to accept their chocolate quietly.
Madam Pomfrey stood over them, making sure they ate it. But Emily could hardly swallow. She and Emily 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?"
Emily was trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were drawing nearer.
"They must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with them. When this gets out-"
"THEY 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 -BLACK'S- DAUGHTER-AND- POTTER!"
"Severus, be reasonable, Harry and Emily have 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 was beside himself.
"OUT WITH IT, LUPIN AND POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"Professor Snape!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey. "Control yourself!"
"See here, Snape, be reasonable," said Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw-"
"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Emily. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.
"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER AND LUPIN!" shrieked Snape. "THEY DID IT, I KNOW THEY DID IT-"
"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?"
"Of course not!" said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. "I would have heard them!"
"Well, there you have it, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Emily 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, 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."
"Oh, he's not unbalanced," said Dumbledore quietly. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment."
"He's not the only one!" puffed Fudge. "The Daily Prophet's going to have a field day! We had Black and his son cornered and they 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..."
"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 boy and 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..."
"Hagrid would like that," said Dumbledore, smiling at Harry and Emily. 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, Ethan and Hermione 𝐚had woken up. They could see them sitting up, rubbing their head, looking around.
"What-what happened?" Hermione groaned. "Emily? Why are we in here? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?"
Harry and Emily looked at each other.
"You explain," said Harry, helping himself to some more chocolate.
When Ethan, Emily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the hospital wing at noon the next day, it was to find an almost deserted castle.
The sweltering, heat and the end of the exams meant that everyone was taking full advantage of another Hogsmeade visit. Neither Ron nor Hermione felt like going, however, so they and Harry wandered onto the grounds.
Ethan and Emily spent time on their own also wondering about the castle, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where Sirius, Eric and Buckbeak were now.
Sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water, a shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.
"Know I shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," he said. "I mean, Black and Eric escapin' again, an, everythin', but guess what?"
"What?" Ethan said, pretending to look curious.
"Beaky! He escaped! He's free! Bin celebratin' all night!"
"That's wonderful!" said Emily, giving Ethan a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.
"Yeah... can't've tied him up properly," said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. "I was worried this mornin', mind... thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night..."
"What?" said Emily and Ethan quickly.
"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. "Er, Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin'... Thought everyone'd know by now... Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds las' night... He's packin' now, o' course. Thought you two would've known, he is ya' father ay' he?"
"He's packing?" said Emily, alarmed. "Why?"
"Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking surprised that Emily had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin again."
Emily and Ethan scrambled to their feet.
Lupin's office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The Grindylow's empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk and looked up only when Ethan knocked on the door.
"I saw you two coming," said Lupin, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder's Map.
"I just saw Hagrid," said Emily. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is," said Lupin. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.
"Why?" said Emily. "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping dad and Eric do they?"
Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Ethan and Emily.
"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." He sighed. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he-er-accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"You're not leaving just because of that old greasy bat!" said Ethan.
Lupin smiled wryly.
"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents... They will not want a werewolf teaching their children. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you... That must never happen again."
"But dad, it was so fun having you as a teacher! Everyone loved you! And you got me out of detentions! I need that in my life, have you saw the stuff I get up to at school?" Emily moaned.
Lupin shook his head and didn't speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. Then, while Emily was trying to think of a good argument to make him stay, Lupin said, "I want you too both know that it's not going to be smooth sailing. We can't all be one big happy family just yet, one day of course."
"Well, I hope it comes soon, Eric would love the cottage. Imagine how much fun we'd all have, and we have two more people to prank now Em!" Ethan shouted, holding his hand up. The two siblings smiled and high fived each other.
"Here, I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night," he said, handing Emily back the Invisibility Cloak. "And..." He hesitated, then held out the Marauder's Map too. "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Harry, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it. And I'm sure we need some new people to take over the mauraders legacy." He laughed.
"But do you not feel guilty because your my parent?" Emily asked, still not taking the map.
"Oh god no, Imagine all the fun stuff your brother and the Weasley twins would pull."
Emily took the map and grinned.
"You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school... you said they'd have thought it was funny."
"And so we would have," said Lupin, now reaching down to close his case. "I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle, and that is why you need to make sure you and Harty share it. James would've hated Sirius if he never taught his daughter or sons about it."
There was a knock on the door. Emily hastily stuffed the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak into her pocket.
It was Professor Dumbledore. He didn't look surprised to see Emily not Ethan there.
"Your carriage is at the gates, Remus," he said.
"Thank You, Headmaster."
Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank.
"Good bye dears, I shall see you at home. Just don't be annoying to your teachers okay? Ethan not arguing with teachers," Remus lowered his voice "Unless it's Snape. Well! I must go, I'll see you both back at home."
Emily and Ethan had the impression that their father wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
"Good-bye, then, Remus," said Dumbledore soberly. Lupin shifted the Grindylow tank slightly so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands.
Then, with a final nod to Emily and Ethan and a swift smile, Lupin left the office.
Emily sat down in her vacated chair, staring glumly at the floor. She heard the door close and looked up.
Dumbledore was still there.
"Why so miserable, Emily?" he said quietly. "You should be very proud of yourself after last night."
"It didn't make any difference," said Emily bitterly. "Pettigrew got away."
"Didn't make any difference?" said Dumbledore quietly, "it made all the difference in the world, Emily. You helped uncover the truth. You saved two innocent men from a terrible fate who happened to be your father and brother."
Terrible. Something stirred in Emily's memory. Greater and more terrible than ever before... Professor Trelawney's prediction!
"Professor Dumbledore, yesterday, when I was having my Divination exam, Professor Trelawney went very-very strange."
"Indeed?" said Dumbledore. "Er, stranger than usual, you mean?"
"Yes... her voice went all deep and her eyes rolled and she said... she said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight... She said the servant would help him come back to power."Emily stared up at Dumbledore. "And then she sort of became normal again, and she couldn't remember anything she'd said. Was it-was she making a real prediction?"
Dumbledore looked mildly impressed.
"Do you know, Emily, I think she might have been." he said thoughtfully. "Who'd have thought it? That brings her total of real predictions up to two. I should offer her a pay raise..."
"But-" Emily looked at him, aghast. How could Dumbledore take this so calmly?
"But- Harry stopped my dads from killing Pettigrew! That makes it his fault if Voldemort comes back!"Ethan realised.
Emily scrunched up a piece of paper and threw it at his head.
"It does not," said Dumbledore quietly. "Hasn't your experience with the Time-Turner taught you anything, Emily? The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed... Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that... You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew's life."
"But if he helps Voldemort back to power..."
"Pettigrew owes his life to Harry. He has sent Voldemort a deputy who is in his debt... When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them... and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter."
"I don't want Harold to have connection with Pettigrew!" said Emily. "He betrayed his parents!"
"This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Emily. But trust me... the time may come when you will be very glad Harry saved Pettigrew's life."
Neither Emily or Ethan couldn't imagine when that would be.
Dumbledore looked as though he knew what both of them were thinking.
"I knew Harry's father very well, both at Hogwarts and later," he said gently. "He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it."
"Harry's very modest. A very sensible lad, expect for when he kissed Emily." Ethan tilted his head.
Emily slapped her hand from her face and slowly pealed it off to speak "YOU SAW?!"
"Oh yes, Emily's got a boyfriend. How did you pull a boy? I mean Potter? You pulled the boy who live-"
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Emily jumped over the desk and onto Ethan.
Dumbledore left the office, leaving Emily and Ethan rolling round on the floor, fighting.
As the end of term approached, Emily heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth.
Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak.
He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper.
Percy Weasley, meanwhile, had much to say on the subject of Sirius's and Eric's escape.
"If I manage to get into the Ministry, I'll have a lot of proposals to make about Magical Law Enforcement!" he told the only person who would listen, his girlfriend, Penelope.
Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though he knew they had achieved the near impossible in helping Sirius and Eric to freedom, Harry had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits.
He certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.
"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily. "Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.
He kept wondering where Pettigrew was now, whether he had sought sanctuary with Voldemort yet. But the thing that was lowering Harry's spirits most of all was the prospect of returning to the Dursleys. For maybe half an hour, a glorious half hour, he had believed he would be living with Sirius from now on... his parents' best friend... It would have been the next best thing to having his own father back.
And while no news of Sirius was definitely good news, because it meant he had successfully gone into hiding, Harry couldn't help feeling miserable when he thought of the home he might have had, and the fact that it was now impossible.
The exam results came out on the last day of term. Emily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had passed every subject.
Harry was amazed that he had got through Potions. He had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore might have stepped in to stop Snape failing him on purpose.
Snape's behavior toward Harry over the past week had been quite alarming.
Harry wouldn't have thought it possible that Snape's dislike for him could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth every time he looked at Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry's throat.
Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; Ethan, Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each.
Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running.
This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even Harry managed to forget about the journey back to the Dursleys the next day as he ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next morning, Hermione gave Emily, Harry and Ron some surprising news.
"I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies."
"But you and Emily passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" said Ron.
"I know," sighed Hermione, "but I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."
"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about it," said Ron grumpily. "We're supposed to be your friends."
"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," said Hermione severely.
"You told Emily." Ron groaned.
"That's-that's different!" She looked around at Harry, who was watching Hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain. Two whole months before he'd see it again...
"Oh, cheer up, Harry!" said Hermione sadly.
"I'm okay," said Harry quickly. "Just thinking about the holidays."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about them too," said Ron. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now."
"A telephone, Ron," said Hermione. "Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year..."
Ron ignored her.
"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work."
This proposal had the effect of cheering Harry up a great deal.
"Yeah... I bet the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come... especially after what I did to Aunt Marge..."
Feeling considerably more cheerful, Harry joined Emily, Ron and Hermione in several games of Exploding Snap, and when the witch with the tea cart arrived, he bought himself a very large lunch, though nothing with chocolate in it.
But it was late in the afternoon before the thing that made him truly happy turned up...
"Harry," said Emily suddenly, peering over his shoulder. "What's that thing outside your window?"
Harry turned to look outside.
Something very small and gray was bobbing in and out of sight beyond the glass.
He stood up for a better look and saw that it was a tiny owl, carrying a letter that was much too big for it.
The owl was so small, in fact, that it kept tumbling over in the air, buffeted this way and that in the train's slipstream.
Harry quickly pulled down the window, stretched out his arm, and caught it.
It felt like a very fluffy Snitch. He brought it carefully inside.
The owl dropped its letter onto Harry's seat and began zooming around their compartment, apparently very pleased with itself for accomplishing its task.
Hedwig clicked her beak with a sort of dignified disapproval.
Crookshanks sat up in his seat, following the owl with his great yellow eyes.
Ron, noticing this, snatched the owl safely out of harm's way.
Harry picked up the letter. It was addressed to him. He ripped open the letter, and shouted, "It's from Sirius and Eric!"
"What?" said Ron and Hermione excitedly. "Read it aloud!"
Dear Harry,
I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post.
Buckbeak, Eric and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job.
I believe the Dementors are still searching for us, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted.
There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you and Emily the firebolt.
"Ha!" said Hermione triumphantly. "See! I told you it was from him!"
"Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?" said Ron. "Ouch!" The tiny owl now hooting happily in his hand, had nibbled one of his fingers in what it seemed to think was an affectionate way.
-Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' worth of presents from your godfather.
I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you.
I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable.
If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me. I'll write again soon.
Please tell Emily and Ethan I love them both very much and can't wait to see them again, Eric says the same thing. And if Emily is wondering why I got her a firebolt, it is because she is a fantastic flyer duh! And Harry, please don't kiss my daughter, it's weird.
Sirius
Harry looked eagerly inside the envelope. There was another piece of parchment in there. He read it through quickly and felt suddenly as warm and contented as though he'd swallowed a bottle of hot butterbeer in one gulp.
I, Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather, hereby give him permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends.
"That'll be good enough for Dumbledore!" said Harry happily. He looked back at Sirius's letter. "Hang on, there's a PS..."
I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat.
Ron's eyes widened. The minute owl was still hooting excitedly. "Keep him?" he said uncertainly. He looked closely at the owl for a moment; then, to Emily's, Harry's and Hermione's great surprise, he held him out for Crookshanks to sniff.
"What do you reckon?" Ron asked the cat. "Definitely an owl?"
Crookshanks purred.
"That's good enough for me," said Ron happily. "He's mine."
Harry read and reread the letter from Sirius all the way back into King's Cross station. It was still clutched tightly in his hand as he, Emily, Ron, and Hermione stepped back through the barrier of platform nine and three-quarters.
Emily didn't spot her father anywhere and knew he was probably waiting outside. She spotted Ethan talking and walked over to him.