Harry stood in between Peter and Sirius and Professor Lupin, against the wands that were meant for the cowering man on the floor.
"We'll take him up to the castle," Harry said breathlessly. "We'll hand him over to the dementors. He can go to Azkaban." He looked down. "I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his friends to become killers."
Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.
He was on top of Sirius with his wand aimed at his heart just a short while ago.
One would think that he would be exhilarated that the one who made sure that he never knew his parents would perish.
Yet he stood in the way of it.
"Very well," Professor Lupin backed down. "Step aside Harry. I'm going to tie him up."
Harry moved aside and with a quick flick of his wand, Professor Lupin had Peter bound.
I glanced at the watch around Hermione's wrist. "We should go back to the castle."
Everyone nodded. "Right, let's go."
•••
I held Crookshanks and stood in front of the group, the motley crew trailing behind.
Behind me, Peter stood, chained between Professor Lupin and Ron, who had a deep grudge against the man that pretended to be his pet rat and didn't do anything when he let Peter sleep in his bed.
Behind them was Snape, being held up by Sirius using mobilicorpus.
And Hermione and Harry were in the back.
We emerged from beneath the tree and I looked at the sky, realizing the date far too late. "Professor!"
But it was too late.
Professor Lupin stopped in his tracks, gazing up at the full moon.
His limbs began to shake and I ran over, unchaining Peter from his arm and grabbed Ron, pulling him away from the transformation and dragging Peter along with him.
"Run," Sirius warned, yanking me back and transforming into the large black dog.
Peter dived for my wand and I tried to yank it back, then jumped as Professor Lupin swung his claws at me. I lost my balance, fell back, and began tumbling down the hill that the Whomping Willow stood on.
I groaned and sat up, feeling the pain of the fall surge through me, and forced myself to my feet.
When I returned to the top of the hill, Peter, Sirius, and Professor Lupin were gone, and Harry and Hermione sat huddle around something. I went to see and was met with Ron lying on his back, appearing dazed.
"What's he done to him?" Hermione whimpered.
"Stunned, I bet," I said, waving my hand in front of his face. "Where's Sirius?"
"I'm not sure..."
"You and Harry go find him. If he's found by dementors, he's dead for sure."
She and Harry ran off in search of Sirius and I turned back to Ron. I searched the ground for my wand, and when I did, I tried to wake Ron up. "Rennervate." The light returned to his eyes and he sat up. "Where's Pettigrew?"
"Gone. He stunned you and transformed." I clicked my tongue. "Are you alright?"
"I think so."
I combed a hand through my hair with a heavy sigh. "This is great."
"Indeed it is."
Ron and I both turned and saw that Snape had finally awoken, glaring down at the two of us.
"Let us return to the castle, shall we?"
•••
"Professor, you know that he's innocent!"
"You can't let a grudge cloud you from the truth!"
Hermione and I pleaded with Snape while Harry and Ron were resting. Alas, he got to Fudge first and made him convinced that we were under the Confundus Charm.
Does that blithering idiot even know how that charm works?
"He's knocked out, we're all in the right mind!" I insisted as we chased after Fudge across the hospital wing. "Sirius is innocent, it was Peter Pettigrew!"
Madam Pomfrey scolded the two and shooed them out of the hospital wing. I threw my hands in the air in annoyance and plopped down on my bed beside Hermione.
"What do we do?" she questioned hopelessly.
"At this point? Cross our fingers for an intellectual."
As if I had summoned him, Dumbledore opened the doors to the hospital wing. "For heaven's sake!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. "Is this a hospital wing or not?!"
"My apologies, Poppy, but I really must speak to Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Miss Griffin. I have just been talking to Sirius Black-"
"I assume he told the same wild tale as these three?" Snape spat.
"Yes, indeed he did."
"And does my evidence count for nothing?" he snarled. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."
Dumbledore glanced at me. "Perhaps this matter was this year's topic of investigation?"
I nodded slowly.
"Do you happen to have the notebook you normally keep notes in within your bag?"
I groaned and slapped my forehead. "I emptied it earlier."
"Convenient," Snape said.
"And your excuse for not knowing that Peter was there is because you were knocked out? Convenient!"
"Hold your tongue."
"Cornelius, Severus, Poppy," Dumbledore interrupted. "I would like to talk to these three alone. If you may, could you please leave."
Although quite hysterical about it, Madam Pomfrey followed Snape and Fudge out of the hospital wing, leaving the four of us to talk.
Hermione and Harry immediately began spilling out everything that had happen in poor precession. Dumbledore raised his hand and the two went silent.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time. 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 eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
Eye-witness testimony, evidence from one of the greatest wizards to ever exist - only Sherlock himself could overturn that.
"What about Veritaserum?" I asked.
"Snape, sadly, seems to be in no mood to allow us into his inventory. Especially not to prove his old enemy wrong. What we do need," he turned to Hermione. "is more time."
Then he turned to me. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh
floor. You know where that is?"
"Yes sir."
"If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. Miss Granger, you know the law: you must not be seen."
He left the hospital wing, adding, "I'm going to lock you up. Three turns should do the trick. Good luck."
Three turns?
When the doors shut, I turned to Hermione. "You have a Time Turner, don't you? That's how you've been going to all your classes!"
"What's a—"
"Yes," Hermione answered quickly before pulling the Time Turner out of her robes; a small gold charm with an hourglass attached to a long chain. "Come here, both of you."
She threw a charm around all of our necks - which was surprisingly not a very tight fit - and began turning the hourglass. Three times.
The world around us began to speed up, but no one was going forward. We were going back in time.
Once everything stopped, Hermione took the Time Turned back and looked at the clock. "7:30."
"Brilliant," I said. "We have three hours."
Harry's eyes darted around the place as if he hadn't been in the hospital wings a million times. "Hermione, what-"
"Hurry!" Hermione took his arm and began running down the hall and I began bounding after.
"Hold on." I ran ahead and placed my arm in front of Hermione. The sound of footsteps came from around the corner and I knew exactly who it was. "That's me."
I pulled out my wand. "Capacius Extremis." The spell hit the door of a nearby closet and we all clamoured inside.
"How did you-"
"My mom used it on my bag." I smiled at Hermione. "I can teach you it if you want. For all your books."
I heard me talking to myself for a moment before my straying steps. "Wait," I whispered with my ear against the door. There were more footsteps, a bit slower this time, and only three or so people.
"That's us," Hermione concluded. "We're under the Invisibility Cloak, that's why we're walking so slowly."
Harry looked between the two of us. "How- Wait, you were out there, and now we're out there, but we're also in here?"
I glanced at Hermione. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, sadly.
"It's called a Time-Turner," Hermione whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. She made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to tell the Ministry that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies."
And now we were proving her wrong.
"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?"
I grabbed a broom and slid it into my bag before I opened the door. "Coast clear."
We continued running through the school, unsure of where we should go.
"So what in Merlin's name are we supposed to do now?" I asked quietly.
"I don't know," Hermione groaned, looking endlessly anxious.
I searched through my mental calendar. "7:30, 7:30... Buckbeak's execution! I'm going to Ravenclaw Tower... You're going to Hagrid's hut now, aren't you?"
"That's right!" Hermione lit up.
"We're going to save Buckbeak!"
"But how is that supposed to help Sirius?"
I snapped. "Professor Flitwick's office is really high up in the castle - miserable to get to when you want to ask him something - so Dumbledore probably wanted us to use Buckbeak to get up to the window!"
The three of us ran down the hall and out of the castle, to Hagrid's hut where the trio was just arriving. We ducked behind the trees and watched everything unfold.
"What if we went in and stole Pettigrew?" Harry wondered.
Hermione went quite near ballistic and began scolding him vigorously. "You might kill yourself! And even if you weren't in there, what would Ron think of you grabbing his rat and killing it?"
"Shush!" I hissed. "The executioner is here."
Fudge, the executioner, and Dumbledore approached the entrance to Hagrid's hut. I watched each of them acknowledge Buckbeak's presence in the yard and the three left the hut.
Hermione - the one in Hagrid's pumpkin patch - threw an Invisibility Cloak over the three of them and they hurried off.
Harry pointed at the window, seeing that the executioner had his back to us. "This is our chance!"
"Go on," Hermione urged me. "You're the animal tamer."
I nodded and warily approached Buckbeak, who was tied up in the pumpkin patch.
When he noticed me, I bowed and he quickly bowed in return. "Thank goodness," Hermione breathed.
I rushed over and fumbled with the ropes tying up Buckbeak. "Merlin, you'd think that he actually wanted Buckbeak executed," I muttered as I pulled out my wand. "Incendio." The rope burned and fell, freeing Buckbeak.
"Let's go," I said quietly, and he giddily obeyed as if I had a dead ferret in my hands.
He joined us in the forest and we ran further in. Perfect timing too, as the executioner left the hut the moment we were out of sight.
"Thank goodness we had you here," Harry panted. "That could've gone so horribly wrong."
"Yes, I'm quite a miracle - Now what?"
"We wait," Hermione answered plainly.