Hermione's arms wrapped around him, Harry guided Buckbeak to save Sirius but his mind was elsewhere. Sirius could escape, yes, but what then? What kind of life would that be, condemned to living on the run, so far away from everything that he had only just gotten back?
His mind was still reeling at everything he'd found out about Pettigrew, that rat bastard had served him and his parents up to Voldemort on a platter. He still didn't understand this Fidelius thing, why have a Secret Keeper at all? Why not just simply go into hiding or leave the country? Why couldn't one of them have been the Secret Keeper? The lesser people knew the better, this he knew from all the secrets he himself had kept from the Dursleys.
A safe secret place...
'Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe-'cept maybe Hogwarts'
A safe secret place in Hogwarts that only Harry himself could get to. He knew of something like that.
"How—?" Black was staring at him eye wide open and Harry knew just what to do.
"Get on!" He yelled and Black hurried but did it all the same and Harry steered Buckbeak away from the window but instead of going to the tower as they'd planned, he flew around the castle to a window on the second floor. "Jump in, no not you Hermione." Black hesitated just a second but followed and Harry threw the invisibility cloak at her. He flicked his wand and Buckbeak's grey plumage turned an inky black. "Go back to the paddock where they keep the other hippogriffs and use the time turner but only if you think you'll be late to the hospital wing."
"But what about you?" Hermione cried out.
"We'll be fine, GO!" He gave her no time to ask again, simply taking off at a run and expecting Sirius to follow and soon they stood in front of a very familiar bathroom.
"Harry what's going on?" Black asked but he didn't listen, simply ran into the bathroom and stood in front of that sink.
"Open." He hissed and ignored Black's stuttering to push the man down the pipe. "I'll be back for you in a few hours, don't worry!"
And then Harry ran. The hospital wing awaited him.
To say it was fun to see Snape lose his shit would be an understatement. It had taken everything he could to keep from laughing in the sallow faced man's face but somehow he managed. Next to him, Hermione burst into tears though, whether due to the stress of the time she'd been treading or the man's ranting Harry didn't know. It did however have the effect of dissuading Fudge and Snape from interrogating them especially when Madame Pomfrey emerged looking every bit an angry dragon as she threw them out for distressing her patients.
The next morning came too late for Harry who had been twitching in the bed that he'd been confined to impatiently. The second Madame Pomfrey gave her okay he all but ran out the door, leaving an exasperated Ron and Hermione behind him. He first went to Lupin's quarters where he found the man packing much to his anger and demanded an explanation.
"—so he-er- accidentally let it slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"That bastard!" Harry exclaimed.
"Language Harry." He chided but Harry ignored it.
"He's upset he didn't get an award for the lies he made up and so he ratted you out. No better than Pettigrew." He spat out and Lupin was surprised at his vehemence.
"Well Snape and Sirius always did bring out the worst in each other."
Which reminded Harry, "About that...if Sirius was here, what would you tell him?"
Lupin looked surprised at the question. "Why-"
"Hermione said that the best way to know people is to ask others what they'd like to tell them." Harry lied.
As Sirius' friend Lupin did deserve to know where he was but a secret was best kept to oneself.
"I'd tell him to turn himself in. He never got a trial you know, but now that the craziness of the war is over—" He went on in this vein and Harry's heart sank. The man was and would probably always remain one of the bets DADA teachers they'd had but he seemed to have forgotten what it was like to be a friend.
It was the Ministry that had failed Sirius twice already, why would he believe them now?
And so, with a heavy heart Harry said goodbye, pocketed the Marauder's map and with the cloak over him he crept to the second floor girls lavatory.
The Chamber was still dark. It hadn't changed much in the last year and Harry took his wand out and followed the Point Me spell to where Sirius was. He found Padfoot instead, the dog uncurling itself when he approached and his tail wagged twice before he turned human again and rushed to take Harry into a hug.
Which was unusual.
He'd been hugged before, Hermione and Mrs Weasley thought it was the best way of saying hello but this he had yet to experience. Sirius, sick as he was had strength enough to lift Harry onto his toes in that crushing hug and even when he let go he clapped his shoulder heartily. There was something so mundane about that act that Harry was left speechless and Sirius took the opportunity to lightly clock his jaw affectionately. "None of that surprise Prongslet, you'll have to get used to this. Now, mind telling me why you know how to get into old Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?"
Harry hesitated remembering how the school had turned on him the last year and Sirius had seen him speak Parseltongue. But the hesitation lasted only as far as it took him to realise that Sirius was concerned about him and then everything came tumbling out.