Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.
Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.
Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.
Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.
Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.
Notes: Harry isn't all that eager to go back in time to help the Aurors.
Chapter 21: Hermione's Secret
Harry woke up in the hospital wing, with Hermione lying in the bed next to him and Ron still asleep in another further away. When he started to talk to Hermione, however, she put her finger to her lips and nodded to the door very slightly.
It wasn't closed properly allowing the children to overhear a conversation between Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and no less a person than the Minister of Magic himself.
At first it was just Professor Snape reporting the familiar tale of Ron's abduction into the Shrieking Shack, but then he added another tale from his own student days to which Harry listened with growing horror. Apparently Professor Lupin really was a werewolf and the shack had been boarded up and blocked by the Whomping Willow to keep him safely contained during the full moon.
"Potter, Black and Pettigrew used to use it as their private clubhouse in which they planned cruel and frequently dangerous pranks on the rest of the student body," the Potions Master explained. "I was almost killed when they lured me into it on a full moon. I would have been if James hadn't gotten cold feet and saved me at the last moment. When you stationed them here, Minister, I assumed that Aurors Potter and Black had outgrown such misconduct, but look at what they have done. Because of their stupid prank little Ronald received a very painful injury which they simply ignored rather than taking him to the hospital wing for immediate treatment This caused the child unnecessary additional suffering. I was attacked without provocation and Lupin was somehow lured outside without having taken the wolfsbane potion I specifically brewed to ensure the protection of the children. And as if the Aurors hadn't already caused enough trouble, your dementors also went out of control and invaded the institute grounds for the third time this year. It is almost a miracle that no innocent child was bitten or kissed and the worst injury we have to deal with is a broken leg. In the interest of the students' safety I demand that you withdraw both Aurors and dementors from the institute. They really should be dismissed entirely, if you ask me. Aurors ..."
"Now Severus, I'm sure the Aurors had very good reasons for their conduct," the headmaster interjected. "It all just went horribly wrong when Ron got hurt and they surely didn't mean to knock you out or set Professor Lupin lose. However, I have to agree with the demand to withdraw the dementors, Cornelius."
"Of course, of course," the Minister agreed. "There can be no question of that. Attacking the children, indeed! As for Black and Potter, well I have to say that Severus has a point there as well. Attacking and hurting a child, even if they never intended to do more than startle him, is irreconcilable with the image the Ministry of Magic and its Aurors ought to present. I will make an example of them. You can be sure of that. Those two will never work for the Ministry again. In fact, I doubt anyone in the wizarding world will want to employ them once I'm through with them."
"Oh, but it wasn't a prank," Hermione exclaimed causing the adults to rush in and Madam Pomfrey to make quite a fuss over their invasion.
Harry was surprised that Ron slept through it all, but even more surprised that Hermione was attempting to get the Aurors out of their punishment. Sure the consequences that the Minister had threatened were almost too horrible to contemplate, and Harry, too, did not want his secret Uncle Sirius to be prevented from being productive and happy for the rest of his life, but on the other hand he had abducted and hurt Ron and Auror Potter surely deserved to be punished for attacking a teacher and tying them up when he could have explained instead.
"It was all Auror Potter, really," he said into the chaos. "Auror Black is nice. He didn't want to hurt anybody. Auror Potter just never listens to him."
But nobody listened to Harry either.
Finally Professor Dumbledore got all the other adults to leave the hospital wing and let Hermione tell her story.
"Ron's pet rat you say?" the headmaster said at the end. "And he never reported finding a tame rat even though we warned you at the arrival feast?"
"He'd already had Furball for a day then," Hermione admitted. "It never occurred to us that Peter Pettigrew might have reached us before the warning."
"Well, I will try to explain it to the Minister," the headmaster promised. "But I fear that without Peter to show him as proof he will insist on dragging poor, innocent James and Sirius before a disciplinary court."
"Maybe they'll recapture him," Hermione suggested hopefully.
But the headmaster shook his head.
"They will be too busy trying to keep poor Professor Lupin under control. Without his potion he has no control over his wolf-self at all, I fear."
Harry wasn't all that worried. Surely the disciplinary court would find that it was all Auror Potter's fault. The law was always fair after all.
Hermione however got very hectic the moment Professor Dumbledore had left them.
"We have to do something!" she told Harry. "Come on!"
And then she showed him a strange hourglass-pendant that she called a time-turner and said she'd been using it to go back in time to attend simultaneous classes all year.
"We'll just go back two hours and catch Peter Pettigrew," she declared.
And they did indeed go back in time and sneak out of the hospital wing and into the grounds They saw themselves throw off the invisibility cloak and run after the escaping rat, but when Harry wanted to run out and join the chase Hermione pulled him back into their hiding place behind a tree.
"We can't. We'd see ourselves and it'd change time, if Ron doesn't have Peter Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack."
So they waited and watched as Auror Black in the shape of a huge black dog grabbed Ron and dragged him under the Whomping Willow, as they themselves ran back to the castle to fetch Professor Snape, as Professor Lupin rushed out of the castle and into the tunnel, as they returned with Professor Snape.
"Now that everybody is inside we just have to wait until they return and Pettigrew transforms and runs right towards us into the forest. Then we'll catch him and give him to the Aurors."
"Can they hold him, if they have to stay animals to guard the werewolf?" Harry asked a little doubtfully.
Neither a dog nor a stag had hands after all and they'd already seen what happened if you left Peter Pettigrew tied up and unguarded.
"Oh no!" Hermione gasped. "I completely forgot about that! Professor Lupin will rush right at us when they chase him away from Ron. We can't stay here."
So they fled to the other side of the lake.
"But how will we catch Peter Pettigrew from here?" Harry asked.
"We can't," Hermione said dejectedly. "It was all for nothing."
So they remained on the other side of the lake and watched as the whole group came back out, Professor Lupin was hit by the moonlight and changed into a horrid monster, the Aurors turned into animals and drove him away into the forest, Peter Pettigrew disappeared, the dementors appeared and drew closer and closer around them ...
Harry hated to watch this part again. He could still remember how terrible the presence of the monsters had felt and how scared he had been and the scene seemed to drag on and on ...
Finally he could take it no longer and raised his wand.
"Expecto patronum!"
His dog patronus burst forth, bounded across the lake and drove off the dementors.
"We should go back inside now while everybody is unconscious," Hermione suggested, but Professor Snape was already stirring.
They watched the Professor vanish the ropes that bound them, conjure two more stretches and levitate them and Ron into the castle.
"Alright now," Hermione said a minute or so later and they started to sneak back into the castle.