Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Rowling, Scholastic, etc.
Lady Laran: Let's hope the Wizarding system of justice is more accurate than our own, eh? You'll have to wait along with Harry…
Emcee31: As usual you have thought of details that hadn't even crossed my mind! That sounds very plausible for how Crookshanks came to be who he is.
Nightline: I tried to avoid writing a helpful Snape, but since no one was around to see, he kind of fell out of character for a moment! Snape is one of my favorite characters to write. He is so complex.
Harry Potter and the Sword of Gryffindor
Chapter 29
Because Harry had no intention of letting his friends insist on coming with him to look for Sirius, he figured he had to lay low until he could find a time to slip away. He went with them to the Library, then followed them toward the Great Hall at dinner time, all the while his mind spinning with half-formed plans. He'd need his Invisibility Cloak, for one thing.
A nasty voice broke into his thoughts at that moment. "Potter," it said, infused with such loathing that Harry almost cringed.
"Draco Malfoy," he said with a sigh, turning to face him. Draco stood just inside the doorway of the Great Hall, flanked as usual by Crabbe and Goyle, their massive shapes easy for Harry to see. Much as Harry disliked Draco, his interruption of Harry's plans irritated Harry more than whatever idiotic remark Draco had to say.
"Potter," Draco said again. "You'd better watch your back. Just a little friendly warning." His voice crawled with venom.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Glad to see you've finally brushed your teeth, Malfoy," he said and Ron snickered.
As they walked away Hermione nudged Harry. "What do you think he's going to do?" she asked worriedly.
"Nothing," said Harry carelessly. "Malfoy's full of hot air, that's all."
"He really sounded like he meant it this time," said Hermione, unconvinced, but Harry wasn't paying attention.
All through dinner, Harry forced himself to listen to their chatter, to answer their questions, even to discuss in whispers what they had seen in Lupin's office. According to Hermione, Professor Dumbledore still wasn't back in his seat at the Head Table, which must mean he was busy doing duty with the Wizengamot. Harry fidgeted. He was running low on time.
After dinner in the common room, Harry tried to concentrate on reading, but when his fingers traced the same line of Braille three times, he gave up.
"I'm going up to bed," he said at last. "Long day and all that."
Now that he thought about it, it had been a very long day. Only that morning he had played quidditch against Ravenclaw and had lost the game by leaving in the fog.
Alone in his dorm, Harry put on his coat and muffler, then flung the Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders. As stealthily as he could, he descended the stairs, keeping his cane close under his Cloak. Carefully, he made his way through the common room and silently opened the portrait hole.
Once out in the hallway, he let out the breath he was holding and turned toward the staircase. As he did so, he was frozen in his tracks by a voice.
"Harry," came the whisper.
Someone had seen him. Who was it? Harry held perfectly still in case the person was only guessing. Since he'd heard only a single whispered word he had no idea who it was and he waited.
"Harry, it's Hermione. I'm coming."
Harry closed his eyes and a sigh of frustration escaped him. The very thing he wanted to avoid.
"No," he said through gritted teeth, "no, you're not. How did you know I was going anyway?"
"Oh please," said Hermione in disgust. "You've been completely distracted all evening. Anyone with half a brain would know you're going after Sirius. So I'm going to come too."
"No," Harry repeated. "Not this time, Hermione."
"Dumbledore wants me to come," she said.
"How do you know?" he asked, turning toward her and pushing back the hood of the Cloak.
"This was on my bed," she said simply, coming toward him and feeling for his hand under the Cloak. She found it and guided his fingers onto the object that she held in front of her. To his astonishment, Harry found himself grasping the heavy hilt of a long, silver sword.
"The Sword of Gryffindor?" he asked incredulously.
Hermione said nothing.
Pushing the Cloak back, Harry held it up, glinting in the torchlight, its long blade perfectly balanced. The memory of the Basilisk from last year rose in his mind and for a moment he was there again, in the Chamber of Secrets, talking to Tom Riddle, thrusting the Sword into the giant snake. He blinked and shook his head, letting the brilliantly colored fear settle back again into his memory and looking at the grayed blur that was Hermione.
"Well, come on then," was all he said.
Quietly, they walked along the corridors and down the stairs toward the great double front doors. Harry listened and Hermione watched but they encountered no one, not even Peeves or Filch, the hoary caretaker. Like shadows, they slipped out of the doors into the night.
As they reached the edge of the forest, Hermione whispered, "How are you going to find him?"
"No idea," Harry whispered back.
Together they entered the Forbidden Forest. Fog still clung in places here and there and the last scraps of twilight hardly reached into the tangle of dark foreboding that lay under the thick trees. As they pushed deeper, eerie noises seemed to come out of the dim shadows, calls from who knew what nocturnal animals not wishing to be disturbed.
They had entered walking along a path, one of Hagrid's tracks, probably, and Harry found it fairly easy to follow with his feet. The trouble, he found, were the stiff fingers of overhanging branches that unexpectedly slapped him in the face from time to time. He took off the Invisibility Cloak and wadded it into his pocket lest it get a rip in it from one of the clawing branches.
Hermione walked silently behind him, watching, he was sure, from side to side, peering into the deep mass of trees that surrounded them. To Harry's gratitude, she did not suggest lighting her wand but walked on behind him in the half-light.
Harry heard soft hoofbeats and the crunch of underbrush. A deer was coming. He stopped and held his breath, not wanting to frighten it. Ahead of them, a soft, silver light glowed and Hermione clutched Harry's arm.
"It's a unicorn," she whispered softly in his ear.
They both stood watching the glowing, graceful creature until it moved off deeper into the wood.
Walking on again, they noticed that the sky overhead past the branches of trees grew inky and the gloom within the Forest deepened. Harry still had no idea where he was going or how he planned to set about finding Sirius. He supposed Sirius had just as little idea how to go about finding Scabbers in the thick wood.
All at once Hermione cried out in pain, crumpling to the ground behind Harry. He whirled and knelt beside her.
"Hermione! What happened?" he asked anxiously.
Her voice taut with pain, she answered, "I just steeped wrong on a root. I think I twisted my ankle."
Harry closed his eyes in relief. "Can you keep walking?" he asked.
Hermione tried to stand but fell back with a little cry of pain. "It's pretty bad," she said grimly.
"I'll have to go back. Get Hagrid or someone," Harry said.
"No, keep looking. I'll wait for you here and then we can get help," insisted Hermione with just the slightest tremble in her voice.
Harry glanced around. The trees stood like dark sentinels against the soft sky. No sound could be heard save the faint dripping of condensed fog from their branches.
"Okay," he said finally, standing to his feet again.
He'd hardly gone a dozen paces when he heard Hermione give a startled scream behind him.
"Harry!" she said in a loud whisper. "Harry, something's coming."
Harry whirled, peering into the gloom. Nothing. Then he heard the soft growling, almost a purr.
He held the sword ready in his right hand, dropping his cane on the path to draw his wand with his left. Could it be Sirius? Why then would he growl so menacingly?
"Wh-what is it?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know, what does it look like?" asked Harry, looking as hard as he could into the misty dark.
"A black wolf," said Hermione. "Do you think it could be a grim? Does it mean we're going to die?"
"Sirius is a big, black dog," whispered Harry, "But he would come talk to us. Could it be a werewolf?"
"It's not even close to the full moon," said Hermione slowly.
The growling drew nearer. Harry gripped the handle of the Sword of Gryffindor so tightly his fingers tingled and his knuckles grew white. He still could see nothing but blackness and facing an unknown something which he couldn't see make the hair on the back of his neck prickle.
Harry took a step closer to it. On the path between them, Hermione shifted slightly.
All at once they both heard something, underbrush off to their left crunching. For a moment Harry and Hermione both looked toward the noise.
"It's gone!" said Hermione suddenly. "I looked back and the wolf is gone. No, wait, here it comes." Her voice rose with renewed fear.
The crunching grew louder and out onto the path burst a black shadow, right next to Hermione. Harry yelled and leapt toward it, swinging the great silver Sword.
The dark shape rose onto its hind feet and a gentle voice said, "Whoa, Harry, just a minute there."
Harry skidded to a halt, lowering both the sword and his wand with a breath of relief.
"Sirius!" he said quickly. "You scared us!"
"Sorry," he said. "I heard a scream and I thought you were in danger."
"We were," said Hermione. "You chased it off."
"Hello," said Black kindly, "And who might you be?"
"This is my friend, Hermione Granger," said Harry and Black bowed in courtly fashion to shake the still-seated Hermione's hand.
"What was stalking you?" asked Black.
"It looked like a big black wolf," said Hermione and Black chuckled. "No wonder you charged me, Harry. I forgive you now for that."
Harry grinned ruefully. "Sorry about that."
"Think nothing of it," said Black. "What are you two doing wandering in the Forbidden Forest this late at night, anyway?"
"Well, we came looking for you, but Hermione wrenched her ankle," began Harry, but Black interrupted him.
"For me?" he said in a startled voice. "Why?"
"Oh! I almost forgot," said Harry. "We caught Peter Pettigrew."
"You caught…" said Black, startled. "But how? Where?"
Harry and Hermione related the day's events, spilling the story haphazardly in their excitement, interrupting one another as they told of the quidditch game, of the cat that had distracted Harry and of the discovery in the Ravenclaw Team Room.
"But how did you manage to capture him?" asked Black.
"I cast a full body-bind spell," explained Harry, "and then Lupin came in…"
"You cast a full body-bind spell by yourself? Could you see him?" asked Black in confusion.
"No," said Harry. "You see Professor Lupin and I have been practicing…"
"Wow, I'm very impressed that you hit Pettigrew with that spell from across the room without sight," said Sirius and Harry smiled sheepishly.
"I-I-I guess you learn how to do things a little differently when you have to," he said, then proceeded to tell Black about Lupin and meeting Feliss Eliot, punctuated by remarks from Hermione.
"That must have been quite a shock," said Black to Hermione with a smile in his voice.
"Yes, it was," she agreed.
"But they have taken Pettigrew to trial at the Ministry and you're supposed to go there tomorrow too," finished Harry in a rush.
"A trial at the Ministry," said Black thoughtfully.
"Do you think they will clear your name?" asked Hermione, somewhat timidly.
"Well, that all depends," said Black wearily. "There were some who did not mind seeing me go to Azkaban."
"What?" shouted Harry. "But you're innocent. The truth can come out now."
"Harry," said Black quietly, "You'll find that some have written their own truth through the years that facts cannot change. I think I'll just stay here rather than going to the Ministry. But we'll hope for the best, all right?"
Harry shook his head in confusion. He didn't understand what Black meant. Everything would be all right now, wouldn't it? Why wouldn't Sirius come out of hiding?
Black stooped and picked up Hermione, straightening himself with a grunt.
"I'm not the man I was twelve years ago," he said shortly. "But I guess I can get you back to the edge of the Forest."
He set off down the path. Harry retrieved his cane and followed the dark form back along the way they had come, thinking to himself how much safer he felt having Sirius with them. When the trees began to thin and the ground began to rise through the fog, Black stopped.
"You two can get help from here," he said, setting Hermione on her one good foot next to a tree for support.
"Come with us," urged Harry. "Everything will be all right now."
"Not yet," said Black resolutely. "Not until I know for sure."
With that he turned and loped back into the wood. Harry and Hermione stood watching the huge, black dog disappear into the Forbidden Forest and the chill of a foggy February night.
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