Unedited
Chapter Thirty Four - "Wow, PMS is a bitch."
"Shocking business ... shocking ... miracle none of them died ... never heard the like ... by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape ..."
"Thank you, Minister."
"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class, if I can wangle it!"
"Thank you very much indeed, Minister."
"Nasty cut you've got there ... Black's work, I suppose?"
"As a matter of fact, it was Potter, Po-Swift, Eaglestone, Weasley and Granger, Minister ..."
"No!"
"Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by their behaviour. They seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. They weren't responsible for their actions. On the other hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape ... they obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They've got away with a great deal before now ... I'm afraid it's given them a rather high opinion of themselves ... and of course Potter has always been allowed an extraordinary amount of licence by the Headmaster -"
"Ah, well, Snape ... Harry Potter, you know ... we've all got a bit of a blind spot where he's concerned."
"And yet - is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? Personally I try to treat him like any other student. And any other student would be suspended - at the very least - for leading his friends into such danger. Consider, Minister: against all school rules - after all the precautions put in place for his protection - out of bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer - and I have reason to believe he has been visiting Hogsmeade illegally, too -"
"Well, well ... we shall see, Snape, we shall see ... the boy had undoubtedly been foolish ..."
I lie listening with my eyes tight shut. I feel very groggy. The words I'm hearing seem to be travelling very slowly from my ears to my brain, so that it's difficult to understand. My limbs feel like lead; my eyelids too heavy to lift ...
"What amazes me most is the behaviour of the Dementors ... you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"
"No, Minister. By the time I had come round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances ..."
"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Harry and Emily, and the girl -"
"All unconscious by the time I reached with. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers and brought them all straight back to the castle."
"I can't believe the Potter's had another child! It's unbelievable, I just suddenly remembered her!"
"Black used a very powerful spell before he got sent away. He wanted to bring back her memories just before he killed her, I expect."
There's a pause. My brain seems to be moving a little faster; and as it does, a gnawing sensation grows in the pit of my stomach ...
I open my eyes.
Everything is slightly blurred. Somebody has removed my glasses. I'm lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, I can make out Madam Pomfrey with her back to me, bending over a bed. I grab my glasses from the bedside table and put them on. Ron's red hair is visible beneath Madam Pomfrey's arm.
I move my head over on the pillow. In the bed to my right lies Hermione. Moonlight is falling across her bed. Her eyes are open, too. She looks petrified, and when she sees that I'm awake, presses a finger to her lips, then points to the hospital-wing door. It's ajar, and the voices of Cornelius Fudge and Snape are coming through it from the corridor outside. Looking left, I see Harry, who's just opened his eyes.
Madam Pomfrey now comes walking briskly up the dark ward to Harry's bed. I turn to look at her. She's carrying the largest block of chocolate I've ever seen in my life. It looks like a small boulder.
"Ah, you're awake!" she says briskly. She placed the chocolate on Harry's bedside table and begins breaking it apart with a small hammer.
"How are they?" I ask, gesturing to my three unconscious friends.
"They'll live," says Madam Pomfrey grimly. "As for you two ... you'll be staying here until I'm satisfied you're - Potter, what do you think you're doing?"
Harry's sitting up, putting his glasses back on and picking up his wand.
"I need to see the Headmaster," he says.
"Potter," says Madam Pomfrey soothingly, "it's all right. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The Dementors will be performing the Kiss any moment now -"
"WHAT?"
Harry jumps out of bed; Hermione and I do the same (I grab my wand as I do so). But Harry's shout has been heard in the corridor outside; next second, Cornelius Fudge and Snape have entered the ward.
"Harry, Harry, what's this?" says Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed - has he had any chocolate?" he asks Madam Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen!" Harry says. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the Dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's -"
But Fudge is shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
"Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control ..."
"YOU HAVEN'T!" Harry yells. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"
"Minister, listen, please," Hermione says; she's hurried to Harry's side, pulling me with her, and is gazing imploringly into Fudge's face. "I saw him, too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and -"
"You see, Minister?" says Snape. "Confunded, both of them ... Black's done a very good job on them ..."
"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry roars.
"WE'RE A LITTLE CONFUSED THOUGH!" I yell.
"Minister! Professor!" says Madam Pomfrey angrily. "I must insist that you leave. Potter and Swift are my patients, and they should not be distressed!"
"I'm not distressed, I'm trying to tell them what happened!" Harry says furiously. "If they'd just listen -"
But Madam Pomfrey suddenly stuffs a large chunk of chocolate into Harry's mouth. He chokes, and she seizes the opportunity to force him back onto the bed.
"Now, please, Minister, these children need care. Please leave -"
The door opens again. It's Dumbledore. Harry swallows his mouthful of chocolate with, what looks like, great difficulty, and gets up again.
"Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black -"
"For heaven's sake!" says Madam Pomfrey hysterically. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist -"
"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr Potter, Miss Swift an-"
"Miss Potter," I interject.
Dumbledore smiles at me. "Of course. I need a word with, Mr Potter, Miss Potter and Miss Granger," says Dumbledore calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black -"
"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's mind?" spits Snape. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive -"
"That, indeed, is Black's story," says Dumbledore, surveying Snape closely through his half-moon spectacles.
"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarls Snape. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him in the grounds."
"That was because you were knocked out, Professor!" says Hermione earnestly. "You didn't arrive in time to hear -"
"Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"
"Why would she do that?" I ask. "It would make her look idiotic, like you!"
"Now, Snape," says Fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances -"
"I would like to speak to Harry, Hermione and Emily alone," says Dumbledore abruptly. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy - please leave us."
"Headmaster!" splutters Madam Pomfrey. "They need treatment, they need rest -"
"This cannot wait," says Dumbledore. "I must insist."
Madam Pomfrey purses her lips and strides away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her.
"Wow, PMS is a bitch," I whisper to Hermione, who shushes me.
Fudge consults the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.
"The Dementors should have arrived by now," he says. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs."
He crosses to the door and holds it open for Snape, but Snape hasn't moved.
"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispers, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face.
"I wish to speak to Harry, Hermione and Emily alone," Dumbledore repeats.
Snape takes a step towards Dumbledore.
"Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathes. "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," says Dumbledore quietly.
Snape turns on his heel and marches through the door Fudge is still holding. It closes behind them and Dumbledore turns to us. We 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 -"
"- Elinor is an absolute idiot -"
"- Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius -"
"- wait, serious or Sirius?"
But Dumbledore holds 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 says 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."
"Professor Lupin can tell you -" Harry says, unable to keep his mouth shut.
"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."
"He hates Sirius," says Hermione desperately. "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' sentence."
"But you believe us."
"Yes, I do," says Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister for Magic ..."
I stare up into the grave face and feel as though the ground beneath me is falling sharply away.
"What we need," says Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes move from Harry to Hermione, "is more time."
"But -" Hermione begins. And then her eyes become very round. "OH!"
"Now, pay attention," says 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 once innocent life tonight. But remember this, all of you. You must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law - you know what is at stake ... you - must - not - be - seen."
I don't have a clue what's going on. From Harry's face, he doesn't know either. Dumbledore has turned on his heel and looks back as he reaches the door.
"I am going to lock you in. It is -" he consults his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
"Good luck?" I repeat, as the door closes behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"
But Hermione is fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.
"Emily, Harry, come here," she says urgently. "Quick!"
We both move towards her, completely bewildered. She's holding the chain out. I see a tiny, sparkling hour-glass hanging from it.
"Here -"
She throws the chain around my neck, then Harry's.
"Ready?" she says breathlessly.
"What are we going?" Harry says, completely lost.
Hermione turns the hour-glass over three times.
The dark ward dissolves. I have the sensation that I'm flying, very fast, backwards. A blur of colours and shapes rush past me; my ears are pounding. I try to yell by I can't hear my own voice -
And then I feel solid ground beneath me feet, and everything comes into focus again -