It was nightfall once we were deep in the forest. We ran for what felt like forever. Although, I was used to all the running by now, so I didn't feel like I was gonna puke my guts out. But I was getting hungry and I was tempted to eat one of the dead ferrets in Hermione's hand. But I decided to pass on that. I could survive for a little bit longer.
"Now what?" Harry asked Hermione.
"We save Sirius," she replied.
"How?" I asked.
"No idea," she answered bluntly. She ran somewhere and we followed her, leaving Buckbeak to roam around. We saw the Whomping Willow, acting crazy as usual.
"It's Lupin," Hermione exclaimed.
"There goes Snape, too," I added.
We watched them both go into the tree at different times. Lupin calmed the tree down and went inside, unaware that Snape was following him.
"And now we wait," Harry spoke up.
"And now we wait," Hermione repeated.
We sat down in our spots, looking beyond the trees and the castle. If you just took the time to look at the castle and its surroundings, you could see that it really was breathtaking. It was beautiful to look at. I could just stare at it for hours. Be alone with my own thoughts.
Suddenly, we heard bats coming our way and we ducked down, so they wouldn't get in our hair. Buckbeak was trying to eat them as they went by.
"At least someone's enjoying himself," Hermione said.
Harry chuckled. "Yeah." After a moment went by, Harry spoke up again. "Hermione?"
"Yeah?"
"Before, down by the lake when we were with Sirius, we did see some people. We saw two people down there. And those two people made the Dementors go away. Don't you remember, Max?"
I nodded. "I remember. They made the Dementors go away."
"With a Patronus? I heard Snape telling Dumbledore, according to him, only a really, powerful wizard could have conjured it."
"It was our parents," Harry said. "It was them who conjured the Patronus."
"But, you guys, your parents are--"
"Dead," we both said at the same time.
"We know. We were just telling you what we saw," I told her.
It was quiet for a little bit. Until Hermione said something. "Here we come," she spoke. We stood up and looked at us by the Whomping Willow.
"You see Sirius talking to us there?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yeah," she answered.
"He's asking us to come and live with him," Harry said.
"That's great," Hermione replied.
"It'll just be me, Max, and him," Harry said as he looked at me and smiled.
I smiled back. "Yeah. I'll be happy for once. We'll live anywhere we want."
"We could live in the country."
"Some place where we could see the sky. I think he'll like that after all those years in Azkaban," I added.
Thinking of all those thoughts made me happy. I really wanted to live with him. Just me, Harry, and Sirius. They were the only family that I had left. And I would do anything to be with them. They understood me the most. They loved me no matter what. I knew they would never leave my side.
We finally saw Harry and I run after Sirius and Lupin. We ran to get closer to the scene. By that time, I just threw a rock at Lupin and he was coming after us. But then Hermione decided to let out a big howl.
Harry grabbed her arms so she would stop. "What are you doing?!"
"Saving your lives!" Hermione replied and she let out another big howl.
"Thanks," Harry told her. But like before, the wolf was running into the woods in our direction.
"Great, he's coming for us now," I said.
"Yeah, didn't think about that. Run!"
We started running deeper into the forest with the wolf on our arses. There were so many trees that no matter where we turned there was a tree standing there. I thought I was about to do something stupid and run into one. Hell, I thought I was about to do something stupid in general. But that thought went away when Harry tripped and fell. The next tree that was in front of us was the tree that we hid behind.
We moved around the tree so the wolf wouldn't see us. We kept circling around the tree and backing up slowly. But we heard a growl from behind us. We turned around quickly and Harry grabbed me and Hermione, holding onto us tightly. Buckbeak jumped in front of us and attacked the werewolf, scaring him off into the forest.
Hermione let out a sigh of relief. "That was so scary."
"Professor Lupin's having a really tough night," I commented. I suddenly felt cold everywhere.
We looked up and saw that the sky was swarming with Dementors. They were heading towards the lake where Sirius, Harry, and I were dying.
"Come on!" Harry said and we ran down to the lake.
Once we were there, the Dementors were feeding on us, sucking out our souls. We were dying and all we had to do was wait for our parents to show up. So that they could save us.
"This is horrible," Hermione stated.
"Don't worry, our parents will come," Harry assured her. "They'll conjure the Patronuses."
We waited patiently for them to come, but there was still no sign of them. "Any minute now," I said. "Right there, you'll see them." I pointed.
"You two need to listen to me. No one's coming."
"Don't worry, they will come!" Harry said again.
We still waited, but there was still no one coming.
"All three of you are dying," Hermione said.
And she was right. We were dying. And no one still showed up yet. That was when Harry and I ran out by the lake, across from where we were at, and took our wands out.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" we screamed with all our might at the same time.
We were panting heavily as flashes of blue light were coming out of our wands and the Dementors were going away one by one. This was the biggest Patronus we had ever conjured.
After the Dementors went away, so did the blue light. By that time, we were on the ground, passed out. We stood there, sweating and panting heavily. We looked at each other and started smiling and laughing. Then Harry pulled me into a hug, a tight hug.
"I can't believe we did that!" I laughed.
"You were amazing, Max," Harry replied and smiled at me.
I smiled back at him. "You were amazing, too."
He shook his head and laughed again. "We're nothing but trouble."
"More like double trouble," I replied.
He laughed again. "Yes, we are. But we make a good team."
I smiled again. "Yeah, we do."
We were still smiling and laughing at what just happened, until Hermione intervened. "Um, guys, we still have to go save Sirius!"
"How are we gonna get to the topmost cell of the Dark Tower?" I asked.
The answer to my question came flying towards us. Literally. The answer was Buckbeak. To our surprise, he let us climb on him and ride him. We were up in the air in five seconds and it felt amazing.
"You were right, Hermione!" Harry yelled. "It wasn't our parents, it was us! We saw ourselves conjuring the Patronus before! We knew we could do it this time, because...well, we've already done it! Does that make sense?"
"No!" Hermione replied. I laughed at this. "And I don't like FLYING!" she screamed as we went down.
Harry and I yelled in excitement. I felt free for once and that there was not a single care in the world. It was rare that I felt that way. Because I was always trapped somewhere and I couldn't escape. Harry was the key to my escape. It was like he knew I needed help and he would help me escape somehow. I didn't know how that was possible, but it always seemed to work.
We flew over to the Dark Tower, where Sirius was at. He saw us and Hermione busted the door open. We all got back on Buckbeak and we were finally heading back to the castle. We were all laughing, especially Sirius. We were all happy that he escaped. But now, he was still a fugitive, so he would have to go on the run. That meant Harry would have to go back to the Dursleys and I would have to go back to the Malfoys.
We landed near a fountain, which was close to the Hospital Wing. Sirius helped us off of Buckbeak and started walking with us. "I'll be forever grateful for this. To all three of you."
"We want to go with you," Harry told him.
"One day, perhaps," Sirius said. "For quite some time, my life will be too unpredictable. And besides, you two are meant to be here."
"But you're innocent," I protested.
"And you two know it," he replied. "And that will do for now." He smiled at us. "I expect you two are tired of hearing this, but you two look so much like your father. Except your eyes."
"There our mother's eyes," I laughed and smiled at him.
"It's cruel that I got to spend so much time with James and Lily and you two so little. But know this, the ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in here." He pointed at our chests and we smiled up at him.
I was really sad that he was leaving, but at least he was still alive. He opened his arms for a hug. We hugged him so tight that we didn't wanna let go of him. We were smiling, but I was also in tears as well. Sirius saw the tears and wiped them away with his finger.
"I'll see you two soon, okay?" Sirius smiled.
We both nodded and we went over to him as he climbed up on Buckbeak. He looked down at Hermione. "You really are the brightest witch of your age."
Hermione grinned and backed away from Buckbeak and Sirius.
"By the way, Max, you really are a beautiful girl. Any guy will be lucky to be with you."
I smiled. "I'm still waiting for that day to come, Sirius."
"One day, you'll find the right guy. Harry, you should get yourself a girl. You're a handsome boy."
Harry blushed at his comment and I laughed at this. "See you soon, Sirius."
"I'll write to you two," Sirius said. With that, he took off with Buckbeak up in the air and into the night sky.
We looked up at him, smiling. Harry put his arm around me and smiled at me. I did the same to him. Then we heard the chime echoing out through the castle.
"We have to go!" Hermione said frantically.
We started running back to the Hospital Wing to meet Dumbledore and Ron once again. Out of all the running we did, this was the fastest we had ran all night. Once we got there, Dumbledore was just closing the doors and we stopped in our tracks. All three of us were panting in front of him.
"Well?" he asked us.
"He's free. We did it," Harry spoke.
"Did what?" he questioned. Then he smiled at us. "Good night." He went down the steps, leaving the three of us confused out of our minds. We opened the doors and saw us disappearing from the middle of the room.
Ron was still in the bed when we saw him. But he was confused at what just happened. "How did you get there? I was just talking to you there! Now you're there!"
"What's he talking about, you guys?" Hermione asked us, acting like we had no idea what he was talking about.
"I don't know. Honestly, Ron, how can somebody be in two places at once?" I asked him.
Hermione, Harry, and I started laughing, confusing Ron even more. Harry and I looked at each other and started laughing even more. He wrapped his arm around me again and I did the same. I shook his head at him and we laughed even harder. Hermione was smiling at us and Ron was still confused.
*******
"Well, tonight was a pretty eventful night," I told Harry.
He laughed. "Yes, it was, indeed."
I laughed at his reply. We were walking back to the Gryffindor Tower after we talked to Ron and Hermione for a little bit. Hermione headed back before we did to give us some alone time together. It was rare that we just talked about whatever we wanted to talk about. It was easy talking to Harry, because with him, I didn't have to hide anything. We told each other everything, no matter how horrible it was. Just knowing that he was never gonna leave my side was all that mattered to me.
"You think we'll ever go live with Sirius?" I asked him.
"Someday. I just hope that day comes soon. I just hate that we have to live with horrible people. People like the Dursleys and the Malfoys. I don't think I can take it anymore."
"I second that," I agreed. "Lucius is the worst. You won't believe the stuff he does to me."
"Look, if things get too rough for you there, just send me an owl and I'll come get you."
"Really?"
"Yes. I'm not gonna let them abuse you like that. You mean a lot to me, Max. You're my sister, my twin for crying out loud! And I don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm already hurt, Harry," I replied. "You and I both know that."
He sighed. "I care about you, Max. I want you to be happy. But seriously, I want you to owl me if anything happens there and you just need me to come and get you. Okay?"
I nodded. "Okay." He nodded back and we started walking again. "Come on, I'm really tired," I told him.
We talked about random stuff on the way there. I felt a lot better as well. We mostly laughed a lot also. We were in the laughing mood tonight. A lot of things happened and most of the time we were just laughing in the end.
We entered through the portal and went to our dorms. Before we parted ways, Harry stopped me.
"Hey, Max?"
"Yeah?"
He paused for a moment, then spoke again. "I love you, you know that?"
I smiled weakly at him. "I love you, too."
He smiled back. "Good night, Max."
"Good night, Harry."
I watched him go up the stairs, then I went up myself. Everyone else, including Hermione, was out like a light. I changed into my pajamas and got into my bed, wrapping myself up in the warmth of the blanket. Soon, I drifted off to sleep in a matter of seconds.
It was the first time in months that I actually slept well without Harry.
A/N: Hola everyone!
Yes, it's another long chapter, but I was really in it today. I've been writing since 12 this afternoon. I haven't been home all day, and I spent most of it writing. I'm trying to get this story to finish by some time this week maybe. I'm just so excited that this story is almost done! It's crazy.
I have to say, I'm happy that I accomplished something for once by finishing this story, but I'm also kind of sad, because it's gonna feel weird not working on it anymore.
And I have already started on the sequel! I have the first chapter done already, but I'm gonna look it over for grammatical errors, and stuff. PLOT TWIST: I'm a Grammar Nazi.
Okay well vote, comment, blah blah blah you know. Keep looking out for the next chapter!
-A