When Briar awoke in the hospital wing, she was in a state of panic until Hermione managed to get her to drink some water and calm down
"What happened?" She asked
"Something saved you, Harry, and Sirius" Hermione said and Briar looked past her shoulder, spotting Harry sitting awake in one of the other hospital wing beds "A patronus I'm guessing"
"Where's Sirius?" She asked sharply
"They have him," Hermione whispered "Locked away. They're going to perform the dementor's kiss"
"They're going to kill him?" Briar gasped
"No, Briar, it's worse, much worse, they're going to suck out his soul" she closed her eyes
"What?!" Briar leaped out of her hospital bed and Harry was out of his too "We can't let them, he's an innocent man and we can prove it-"
The doors to the hospital wing burst open and Professor Dumbledore entered, looking tired and flustered, but worried about the four teenagers in there nonetheless
"Professor!" Briar exclaimed "Professor you can't let this happen! They've got the wrong man!" she cried
But Dumbledore held his hand up to silence her "It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," hesaid quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word — and theword of three thirteen-year-old wizards and one twelve-year old will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnessesswore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius hadbeen the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"But my dad-" Briar started
"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he ishuman again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves areso mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little and the fact that heand Sirius are old friends —"
"But —"
"Listen to me, Briar. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape'sversion of events is far more convincing than yours." Dumbledore said finally
"But you believe us." Harry said, sounding more like a question
"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, orto overrule the Minister of Magic...What we need," said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved toHermione, "Is more time."
"Oh" She squeaked, her eyes wide and the other three looked at each other in confusion
"Time is a mysterious thing, powerful, and when messed with, dangerous" he walked over towards her "Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. You know the rules Miss Granger, you must make it back here before the last bell chimes 12" he went to leave the room but then said one last thing "Three turns should do it" he winked and closed the doors behind him, leaving the three confused children and Hermione alone
"What the bloody hell was that about?" Ron asked in confusion
"Sorry Ron but seeing as you can't walk" Hermione glanced at his cast wrapped broken leg and pulled out a long gold chain from the neck of her shirt. She pulled Harry and Briar in towards her, throwing the chain around their necks too
"What are we doing?" Harry asked
But her eyes were fixed on the sparkly hourglass hanging from the chain, which she turned over three times
Suddenly the hospital wing around them dissolved, and Briar had a feeling like she was flying. No, falling. There was a blur of colours and images around them, none of them clear.
Then it all stopped and the ground beneath them seemed solid again. Briar looked around, half expecting them to have teleported, but instead finding that they were still in the hospital wing. Except now the light shining in was bright and there was no Ron
"What happened?" Harry gasped
Hermione pulled the chain off of them and tucked it back in her shirt. She hurried to the hospital wing doors, eyes on the clock at the other end of the corridor
"It's 7:30" she breathed "Where were we at 7:30?"
"Going to Hagrid's" Harry answered
"Come on!" She cried and the other two shared a confused look, but ran after her anyway.
They ran down the stony marble steps and through the luckily empty corridors, passing some of the greenhouses until they reached one of the many back entrances of Hogwarts, which lead straight to Hagrid's hut
But just before they were about to walk out into the light, they halted at the sight in front of them. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were there with Draco, Blaise, and Theodore.
"What the-"
Hermione grabbed them again, hiding them behind the wall so the people down there - them - wouldn't see them
"We've time travelled" Hermione said, pulling out the hourglass on its chain again "It's called a Time-Turner, and I got it from Professor McGonagall onour first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagallmade me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry ofMagic 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 overagain, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see?" Harry and Briar nodded slowly "Dumbledore wanted us to come back to this moment. There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change,"
The trio glanced back outside in time to watch Hermione reel her fist back and plant it straight in Draco Malfoy's face
"Nice punch," Briar grinned
"Thanks" She chuckled "Oh no, Malfoy's coming" she pushed the others through a hole and to the other side of the wall, where they hid as the three Slytherin boys ran past, and as the old Harry, Hermione, and Ron ran down the long staircase and to Hagrid's
Once the coast was clear, Briar, Harry, and Hermione hurried down the same gravel staircase and ducked into Hagrid's garden, hiding behind his large pumpkin patch where Buckbeak lay
"Of course" Briar gasped and the other two turned to her "Dumbledore said more than one life can be spared. He sent us here to get Buckbeak"
"But how do we get him when we're in Hagrid's right now?" Harry asked
"I hadn't thought that far" Briar said
Inside the hut they could hear Ron exclaiming with delight as Hagrid returned Scabbers to him and Harry immediately went rigid
"Hermione," said Harry suddenly, "What if we — we just run in there and grab Pettigrew —"
"No!" Hermione and Briar cried
"If you run in there, you'll think you went mad!" Hermione added "Awful things happen to wizards who mess with time. We can't be seen"
"It just was just an idea-"
But Briar nudged them and pointed toward the castle, where they could see Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge and the executioner making their way down towards Hagrid's. Hermione looked back at Hagrid's, waiting for the old them to leave Hagrid's so they could run and hide, but the conversation seemed to continue, longer than she remembered
"We aren't leaving," she realised and her eyes landed on a small stone resting on the pumpkin next to her. So she picked it up and with all her might, hurled it through Hagrid's open window, before it smashed into his vase
"Hermione!" Briar hissed but she shushed her friend
They then watched as the three inside the hut finally spotted the men coming so began to leave the hut.
"Come on!"
Harry, Hermione, and Briar ducked into the thick shrub of the edge of the forbidden forest, staying out of sight. But Briar suddenly realised her own old self would be emerging from the forest at any moment
"Here!" She gestured for the other two to follow her further to the left, pulling them into a large bush there, well out of sight of them all, and as old Briar passed by them seconds later she was thankful she had realised it
Once Cornelius, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and the executioner were all inside his hut and reading the official notice of execution, Harry, Hermione, and Briar knew this was their chance to get Buckbeak to safety
Harry crept forward into the pumpkin garden and picked up the chain to which Buckbeak was tied, tugging on it firmly, but the hippogriff didn't move
So Hermione being the smart one picked up a belt clip of dead ferrets Hagrid had collected, probably to feed Buckbeak, and it immediately caught his attention. The hippogriff got to his legs and hurried after Hermione, who was running into the forest with Harry and Briar
They ran deep into the woods, far enough until Hogwarts was completely out of sight so there was no chance of Buckbeak being seen.
"Now what?" Harry panted
"We save Sirius" Briar answered and they stopped to catch their breath, and let Buckbeak eat one of the ferrets.
By now it was falling dark, which meant past them would be in the Shrieking Shack soon, so they had to slowly make their way back towards the edge of the forest which was much harder in the dark because of the logs, branches, rocks, and roots littering the forest ground
When they finally reached the edge, they watched Remus make his way down to the Whomping Willow
"Immobulus!" He pointed his wand at the tree and it froze, letting him make his way towards the hole at its base
"And now we wait" Harry sighed
"Now we wait," Briar nodded, so the three kids sat down on the dirty floor, staying hidden from the view of anyone who might walk past
"There's something I don't understand," Hermione said suddenly "Why didn't the Dementors get Sirius? Iremember them coming, and then I think I passed out... there were so many of them..." Harry explained what he had seen. How the dementors had attacked him, Briar, and Sirius, but then something silver had galloped across the lake and stopped them "But what was it?"
"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the Dementors go," said Harry. "A realPatronus. A powerful one."
"But who conjured it?" Hermione asked. Harry looked to Briar, to see if she had any more idea than he did but she just shrugged, and Hermione frowned disappointedly "Didn't you see what they looked like? Was it one of the teachers?"
"No," said Harry. "He wasn't a teacher."
"But it must have been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those Dementors away... If thePatronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light him up? Couldn't you see —?"
"Yeah, I saw him," said Harry slowly. "But... maybe I imagined it... I wasn't thinking straight...I passed out right afterward-"
"Who did you think it was?" Briar asked
"I think —" Harry swallowed "I think it was mydad."
"Harry..." Hermione sighed "Harry, your dad's — well — dead,"
"I know that," He said
"You think you saw his ghost?" Briar asked
"I don't know... no... he looked solid...Maybe I was seeing things," said Harry. "But... from what I could see... it looked like him...I've got photos of him...I know I sound crazy"
"No" said Briar "You don't. And hopefully later we'll actually get to see who it was" At that Harry nodded
Hermione then turned to the 12 year old "How did you do that thing earlier?" she asked "When you protected Sirius by turning into a fox, how did you do it?"
"Oh," she sighed "When I met Sirius a while ago, he told me about them becoming animagi, and that they had used a book of McGonagall's. So I broke into her office and found it for myself"
"Why?" She asked "It's incredibly dangerous, and not to mention illegal! Plus you're only 12, it could have gone horribly wrong-"
"Because they did it for my dad" Briar said "When they were at school they did it to help him on full moons, and I want to be help him too. He's my dad"
"That's really brave," Harry said
"Thanks" She smiled "You know Sirius told me that he's your godfather too Harry"
"Yeah," Harry grinned "He asked me to come live with him"
"That's great," She said "Thanks to Pettigrew we never got to know him properly"
"I can't believe you two haven't run into the shack and gone after Pettigrew already" Hermione said "I don't mean to be insensitive but I can't imagine how it must feel to meet the man who caused so much loss-"
"If I could I would," Harry admitted "That man is the reason my parents are dead. He's been watching me for 3 years and if I had known I could have killed him ages ago"
Neither Hermione nor Briar knew what to say. Briar hated Pettigrew too, but she couldn't imagine how Harry felt either
The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. The moon drifted in and out of sight behind theshifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned toward the Willow, waiting. And then, at last, after over an hour...
"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.
They got to their feet, watching as them, Ron, Peter, Remus, Snape, Crookshanks, and Sirius emerged from the whomping willow and stood under the moonlight. Smiles fell onto Harry and Briar's faces as they watched themselves with Sirius and Remus
But those smiles quickly faded when a howl tore through the silent night, sending chills down their spines
They watched as Remus, Sirius, and Briar tackled each other, rolling around the corner of the hill. So the three children ran further along the forest where they would continue to be able to watch the events ahead unfold
Briar cringed as she watched Harry throw a rock at Remus to stop him finishing her off. Of course she was grateful to be alive, but she also imagined her dad would have a nasty bruise from it in the morning
The wolf stalked towards past Harry and Hermione suddenly realised what she had to do to protect him. So she cupped her hands around her mouth and let out as best of a wolf-like howl as she could
"What are you doing?" Harry hissed
"Saving your lives" she snapped and did it again. The werewolf looked in their direction, startled but curious. And then it's heavy paws began to thud against the dirt as it ran towards them "Yeah I didn't think about that, run!" She cried
The three children wasted no time in bolting into the forest, which was increasingly difficult as the deeper they got, the darker it became.
When they reached a clearing, they could no longer hear the wolf behind them anymore so they ducked behind a tree, panting to catch their breath. For a moment they thought they were safe. And when they looked around the left side of the tree and saw nothing, they were relieved.
But then there was a low, angry snarl from the other side. And when they whirled around they found themselves face to face with the wolf. Its cold eyes fixed on them, a vicious, hungry look in them
"Dad please-!"
Harry pulled Briar back as the wolf swiped at her, but just too late so its sharp claws pierced the skin of her arm. Briar wanted to scream but she was already too afraid. So she hid in Harry's side as the wolf braced its hind legs to pounce at them. But then Buckbeak appeared, reared on his hind legs, hooves baring at the wolf
It was enough to frighten the wolf into retreating further into the forest, and none of the three kids could believe they were still alive
Buckbeak turned to them, rubbing his face against Harry's head "Thank you" Harry whispered
Above them there was a loud rumble and the three of them looked into the gap in the tree leaves, which was nearly completely covered by black cloaks floating past to head for the Black Lake
"Let's go" Briar urged them and pulled them towards the lake where past Harry, Sirius, and Briar were
From across the bank they watched the dementors swoop lowly above them, sucking their souls out and pulling agonising screams from their mouths
"You're dying" Hermione covered her mouth in horror
"He will come, my dad will come"
"Harry your dad's-" Briar tried
"Dead, but he will come" He said firmly, but after a few moments it only got worse as Sirius let out a particularly painful scream
"Harry no one's coming" Hermione said sadly
It was like all the cogs in Harry's brain suddenly clicked and he sprinted out to the edge of the lake, his wand clutched firmly in his hand
"HARRY!" Hermione cried
Harry raised his wand high, his chest puffing with both fear and determination "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" His bellow echoed along the lake surface, and a bright light shot from the tip of his wand. Through it they could see not only mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. A stag. James. The stag galloped across the lake surface, heading straight for the others and forcing the Dementors to retreat
When past Harry, Briar, and Sirius collapsed onto the gravel beach opposite them, the three teenagers ducked back into the forest, watching as Professor Snape, who must have regained consciousness found the three of them and floated them back to the castle
So they slowly began to walk through the thick forest, staying close to the edge and creeping back towards the castle
"I have an idea" Harry sighed and placed his hands on Buckbeak's back. The hippogriff bent down, as if understanding his idea, and Harry jumped onto its back, holding out his hand for the girls, who got on but Hermione was reluctant
They soared high into the air, spotting the North Tower and landing Buckbeak on its highest terrace
They ran to the cell, and Hermione whipped out her wand, pointing it at the door and shouting "Bombarda!" the cell door burst open and Briar pulled out her own, aiming it at her godfather, who was chained up in the furthest corner, barely visible in the dark
"Relashio!" His shackles broke off and he stumbled to his feet, letting the three kids pull him onto Buckbeak, before they flew down to the courtyard by the hospital wing, knowing only they would be inside by now
Sirius immediately pulled Harry aside to speak to him privately so Hermione and Briar let Buckbeak drink some water from the fountain
When Harry walked away, he nodded at Briar, gesturing towards Sirius so his other godchild made her way to him
"Thank you," He smiled "For everything"
"You're my godfather," Briar shrugged "And I should thank you. Without you, I would never have learned to become an animagus"
"An incredibly difficult skill at your age" He said "It took us three years"
"I'm special" She grinned and Sirius laughed
"The next generation of the Marauders," He smiled to himself, a wistful look in his eyes "You need a nickname then,"
"What about Paws?" She asked and he smiled
"Take care of Remus," He said "He deserves to be happy"
"I will," She nodded "But this isn't goodbye right?"
"Don't worry" he said "I'll see you soon, I promise" He pressed a kiss to her forehead before heading towards Buckbeak and mounting him
And then the three children watched sadly as the pair flew away into the dark sky, both of them now free
The quiet night was then disturbed by a loud clanging sound coming from the clock above. So the three children hurried from the courtyard, sprinting up the marble steps and along the corridor to the hospital wing, where they found Dumbledore leaving as they arrived
"Well?" He asked them
"He's free. We did it," said Harry
"Did what?" Dumbledore asked "Goodnight" And with a small wave he was gone, leaving them thoroughly confused
But they didn't have time to be, so they pushed open the large hospital wing doors and as they opened they watched the three of them in there already, disappear
"How did you get there?" Ron exclaimed, pointing to where they now stood "You were just over there! And now you're there!"
"What's he talking about, Harry?" Hermione grinned
"Honestly Ron, how can someone be in two places at once" Harry joked and Hermione and Briar laughed, soon joined by Harry, and leaving poor Ron utterly befuddled