Disclaimer: Did Albus Dumbledore give two teenagers only vague instructions before sending them back in time to rescue a dangerous beast and a wanted fugitive? Then I don't own Harry Potter.
I wish to recognize the heroics of my beautiful beta, BlueOrchid. This chapter was a bit of a mess before she stepped in and rescued it.
I am attempting to Brit-pick myself, which is going swimmingly. If anyone notices any errors, I'd appreciate it if they'd let me know.
Trading Places
Albus Dumbledore strode down the Clock Tower corridor, pondering what he had just learned from Sirius Black. The master Legilimens had scoured Black's rather fragmented mind, but had found only truth in his extraordinary tale. Either the fugitive was a better Occlumens than Severus, or an innocent man had been locked in Azkaban for twelve years.
There appeared to be evidence that there were other parties involved in tonight's events, but not all the pieces had fallen into place just yet. The Dementors had been surrounding the group at the lakeside. Harry had been failing to produce a Patronus. All other possible casters were somehow incapacitated or too far away. So how had the Dementors been driven off?
As he approached the hospital wing, Dumbledore heard raised voices. He paused to listen at the door, and heard Severus speaking.
"You see, Minister? Confunded. Black's done a very good job on both of them."
"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry's voice carried easily through the thick oak. "Madam Pomfrey, you tell them!"
"I already checked you three for physical injuries and lingering magical effects," Madam Pomfrey said in clipped tones. "You two have a heavy dose of Dementor's Breath, and all three of you have been subjected to a Confundus Charm, amongst other non-malignant mental spells."
"W-w-what?" Hermione stuttered. "We were Confunded?"
"Yes, of course," Severus stated. "Did you think I would make baseless accusations?" Harry's snort of disbelief was audible even in the hall.
Dumbledore chose this moment to enter the hospital wing, leaving the door open behind him. "Cornelius, I believe the Dementors are arriving at the school gates. Severus, could you provide an escort?"
"Ah, excellent," the Minister said, his demeanour brightening instantly. "Come along, Professor. We'll get the whole matter dealt with shortly." Snape's smile turned feral.
"Poppy," Dumbledore continued when the two men had left, "would you mind giving me a few minutes to speak with Miss Granger and Mr Potter before they turn in for the night?"
Madam Pomfrey looked ready to protest, but stilled at a sharp look from the old wizard. "Very well, Headmaster, but they should not be agitated in any way. I expect them to be sleeping in fifteen minutes." With a final stern look, she walked into her office and closed the door.
"Professor?" Hermione said tentatively. "We saw Pettigrew. I'm sure that wasn't faked. And Professor Lupin was there… I'm pretty sure that Sirius is innocent."
"Yes, Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied tiredly, "Sirius is innocent. But I cannot stop the Dementor's Kiss from being administered. The Minister's office trumps mine, and the Kiss-On-Sight order was approved by the Wizengamot. Without Pettigrew we do not even have sufficient evidence to call for a trial."
Harry looked like someone had killed his Crup. "Isn't there anything you can do sir?"
"No, but there may be something you can do," Dumbledore said, peering over his spectacles at Hermione. The witch's small gasp showed she understood, so Dumbledore continued, "Sirius needs to get away from the Ministry so we can prove his innocence before it is too late. Go back three hours. Move on Buckbeak at the green signal, and get Sirius out by a quarter to midnight. He is on the seventh floor, thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. Arrive back here by…" Dumbledore consulted his watch, interpreting the planets' positions with practised ease, "…five minutes to midnight. Do not be seen. Do not be late."
A single knock on the door attracted their attention. At Dumbledore's whispered "Go!" Hermione grabbed a thoroughly bemused Harry, threw a gold chain around his neck, and spun her precious hourglass. The two of them disappeared and the Headmaster let out a sigh of relief. He strode over to the door and tapped it once with his knuckles, before parting his beard and reaching into the neck of his own robes to pull out another hourglass.
Three short spins later, Dumbledore found himself on the spiral staircase leading up to his office. He paused for a few minutes outside the door until he heard a chair scrape across the ground. Once more, Dumbledore rapped the door, and then turned and descended the stairs towards his meeting with Fudge and Macnair.
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Making small talk with Ministry officials tended to be a tedious prospect at best. Small talk with the buffoon, Fudge, and his butcher was downright unpleasant. Thankfully, Leo Scamander was there to provide intelligent conversation.
"I've often thought that the Ban on Experimental Breeding was far too restrictive," Leo was saying as the party walked towards Hagrid's hut. "Not every breeder is out to produce Basilisks. In a controlled environment with Ministry supervision, there shouldn't be any issues — unlike the current exception application process. Which reminds me, how is the Manticore-Fire crab crossbreeding going? That exception for Hogwarts was approved a month ago."
"I'm afraid we're still collecting breeding stock," Dumbledore replied. "Fertilization should begin this summer, and the Care of Magical Creatures classes will be able to observe their growth next year." Macnair fingered his axe, looking interested.
Dumbledore spoke loudly to cover up the semi-audible voices coming from behind the cabin, "Professor Hagrid will be overseeing the raising of the crossbreeds. I'm certain that he will be able to take care of any difficulties that may arise."
Fudge looked doubtful as he knocked on the aforementioned professor's door. Hagrid opened it and ushered them inside. Dumbledore paused to put a comforting hand on Hagrid's bicep, and then closed the door sharply behind him when he heard footsteps rounding the corner of the cabin.
"Where is the beast?" Macnair asked.
"Out – outside," Hagrid responded.
As Macnair headed for the window, Dumbledore prompted Fudge by handing him the execution notice. Once the executioner turned away from the window Dumbledore drew his wand. He subtly cast an old artist's charm at the glass window, which froze the scene in place. The charm was designed to allow artists to sketch a busy scene at their leisure, but had the side effect of making the reverse side of the glass acquire a bright green tint.
A Quietening Charm on the walls muted outside sounds and ensured that the cabin occupants could only hear Fudge's narration of the writ. Dumbledore further stalled by drying up the ink in the bottle before Hagrid could sign, and calling Macnair back to sign as well before he could exit the cabin. He treated them all to a brief lecture on the safe methods of approaching Hippogriffs, but figured he had put off their egress for as long as he could.
Though he hid it well, Dumbledore was greatly amused by the Ministry group's reaction to Buckbeak's disappearance. He became slightly concerned, though, when Macnair started examining the rope.
"The rope was cut by a spell!" the executioner snarled. "We have to search the grounds!"
"Homenum Revelio," Dumbledore incanted, deliberately botching the wand motion. A rush of magic spread out from him, but failed to reveal any targets.
"I believe that it would be far more efficient for the thief to fly Buckbeak away. I do not suppose you have a broom in your possession?" When the party looked to the skies, Dumbledore quickly cast a wide-area Scourgify to clear the rather obvious set of claw and hoof prints leading into the forest. When Macnair looked down again and indicated his lack of flying implement, the Headmaster turned back towards Hagrid's cabin. He had always enjoyed the Half-giant's homemade brandy.
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Two hours later found the old wizard near the Whomping Willow. He had shared a few drinks with Hagrid, before sending him along up to the castle. Dumbledore had dispatched a Patronus back to his younger counterpart, carrying the simple message "Tag," before stopping by the broomshed. Now he was Disillusioned and following the odd procession back towards the castle, waiting for his opportune moment.
As Lupin transformed, the Headmaster sent a Reductor at the manacles that bound him to Pettigrew. Dumbledore immediately started setting up a temporary fear ward that would keep dark creatures away from the area. Upon turning back around, he saw that Pettigrew had stunned Ron and the cat, obviously in preparation for transforming. Dumbledore spun his wand by Harry and Hermione, casting two low-powered Confundus Charms. He then turned his wand on Pettigrew, transfiguring him into a rat-shaped soft toy.
Dumbledore summoned the doll out of the manacles, pocketed it, and then stepped quickly away from the group. After a moment's thought, he cast a third Confundus on Ron, before enlarging and hopping on his broom. Ignoring the echoes of a long-past night-time duel, Dumbledore passed quickly over the hoods of the swarming Dementors and reached the other side of the lake in seconds. A slightly older Harry than the one he had just left was crouched behind a bush on the lake edge. A controlled, but powerful, Cheering Charm left the Headmaster's wand and struck Harry in the back.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Even when expected, Harry's Patronus was rather impressive. Dumbledore hovered nearby, unnoticed, while waiting on the time-traveling duo. They were discussing flight time and checking their watches for almost a half hour before they finally mounted up. The Headmaster flew escort to the castle and listened to their conversation with Sirius. When it became clear that they wouldn't have any issues, he zipped around the corner and unlocked a window.
Alighting on the fourth floor, he shrunk and stowed the broom. Striding up to the hospital wing, he entered through the door that his counterpart had left open. He waited for the potions master and the Minister to leave before knocking once on the inside of the now-closed door. As soon as his younger self was temporarily displaced, he removed his Disillusionment and opened the door to let Harry and Hermione back into the wing. Dumbledore would interrogate Pettigrew once he had a chance to rest, but from the look of the evening, that would be a long time coming.
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While flying south-east astride Buckbeak's, Sirius thought back to the day he was first captured. He had slipped up badly. The Dark Lord had fallen, and he thought that Peter would make the best scapegoat to cover for Sirius' betrayal. He'd managed to corner Peter and kill a bunch of the surrounding Muggles with Peter's wand to provide evidence of his criminality. Sirius had locked the rat in his Animagus form and was throwing some memory charms around when the Aurors showed up. Peter slipped his bindings and disappeared. All Sirius could do at that point was laugh.
Fortunately the plan was still somewhat salvageable. The Aurors had snapped his wand immediately, so they had no evidence of illegal spell-casting. His lack of a trial also threw doubt on his guilt. And tonight, he'd managed to Imperius Peter while Remus was reversing his transformation. This left the rat confessing how he had been the one to betray the Potters. Sirius had not accounted for Peter's early escape before managing to manufacture an excuse to kill the rat. Regrettably, Sirius had had never been able to maintain control of an Imperius while in dog form. His ruse had evidently worked well enough, though, for Harry to risk breaking him out again. The hardest part of the night was keeping his Occlumency together enough to fool Dumbledore, but it had fortunately been up to the task.
His current situation was still grim though. The Ministry wanted to kill him, so no change there. Peter would probably reveal himself somewhere soon, now that he had control of his transformation. Once that happened, there would be no more help from Dumbledore. The only thing to do now was to try to find his master and bring him back to power. He'd heard something intriguing in Knockturn about Albania. Perhaps an Eastern European vacation was in order.
A/N: Trelawney's second prophecy still had to be fulfilled, and Sirius' case always seemed a bit fishy to me. Granted, I took a lot of liberty with canon events, and I left a few changes up to the readers' imaginations, but I think it all works out. Let me know if you spot an inconsistency somewhere.