AN: This has seriously been amazing. I've been pushing myself hard on the updates today. I didn't even know I could do that many updates. Ha it's fun finding out new things about yourself. I'll definitely be onto Goblet of Fire by the weekend. You all should be looking forward to the Order of the Phoenix because that's when things will get really interesting between our two favorite characters. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's anything you don't is mine.

Hermione POV

Harry and I found ourselves in the deserted entrance hall. The necklace pulled sharply against my neck as Harry looked around in shock.

"Hermione, what —?"

"In here!" I seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom closet; I opened it, pushed him inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind them.

"What — how — Hermione, what happened?"

"We've gone back in time," I whispered, lifting the chain off Harry's neck in the darkness. "Three hours back..."

"But —"

"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think — I think it might be us!" I had my ear pressed against the cupboard door. "Footsteps across the hall... yes, I think it's us going down to Hagrid's!"

"Are you telling me," Harry whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"

"Yes," I said absently, my ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than three people... and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloak —" I broke off, still listening intently. "We've gone down the front steps..."

I sat down on an upturned bucket, feeling desperately anxious.

"Where did you get that hourglass thing?"

"It's called a Time-Turner," I whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic 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 over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But...

"Harry, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?"

Harry stared at me frowning.

"There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," he said slowly. "What happened? We were walking down to Hagrid's three hours ago..."

"This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's," I said. "We just heard ourselves leaving..."

Harry frowned. "Dumbledore just said — just said we could save more than one innocent life..." And then he gasped. "Hermione, we're going to save Buckbeak!"

"But — how will that help Sirius?" I asked blankly.

"Dumbledore said — he just told us where the window is — the window of Flitwick's office! Where they've got Sirius locked up! We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak — they can escape together!"

My stomach jumped and I felt as if I would be sick. "If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"

"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. He stood up and pressed his ear against the door. "Doesn't sound like anyone's there... Come on, let's go."

Harry pushed open the closet door. The entrance hall was deserted. As quietly and quickly as we could, we darted out of the closet and down the stone steps. The shadows were already lengthening, the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest gilded once more with gold.

"If anyone's looking out of the window —" I squeaked, looking up at the castle behind us.

"We'll run for it," said Harry determinedly. "Straight into the forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout —"

"Okay, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!" I said breathlessly. "We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!"

A strange look crossed Harry's face and then he darted across the grounds. I followed a moment later. We tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing toward the shelter of the forest...

Harry hid in the shade of the trees and I followed into the trees panting a moment later.

"Right," I gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's... Keep out of sight, Harry..."

We made our way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as we glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, we heard a knock upon his door. We moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk and peered out from either side. Hagrid had appeared in his doorway, shaking and white, looking around to see who had knocked. And then I heard Harry's voice.

"It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered. He stood back, then shut the door quickly.

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently.

"Let's move along a bit," I whispered. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"

We crept through the trees until we saw the nervous hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

"Now?" Harry whispered.

"No!" I said. "If we steal him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set him free! We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied outside!"

"That's going to give us about sixty seconds," said Harry. This was starting to seem impossible.

At that moment, there was a crash of breaking china from inside Hagrid's cabin.

"That's Hagrid breaking the milk jug," I whispered. "I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment —"

Sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard my shriek of surprise.

"Hermione," said Harry suddenly, "what if we — we just run in there and grab Pettigrew —"

"No!" I said in a terrified whisper. "Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen —"

"We'd only be seen by ourselves and Hagrid!"

"Harry, what do you think you'd do if you saw yourself bursting into Hagrid's house?" I asked.

"I'd — I'd think I'd gone mad," said Harry, "or I'd think there was some Dark Magic going on —"

"Exactly! You wouldn't understand, you might even attack yourself! Don't you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time... Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!"

"Okay!" said Harry. "It was just an idea, I just thought —"

But I nudged him and pointed toward the castle. Harry moved his head a few inches to get a clear view of the distant front doors. Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps.

"We're about to come out!" I breathed.

And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and I watched as Harry, Ron, and I walked out of it with Hagrid.

"It's Okay, Beaky, it's okay..." Hagrid said to Buckbeak. Then he turned to Harry, Ron, and and the other me. "Go on. Get goin'."

"Hagrid, we can't —"

"We'll tell them what really happened

"They can't kill him —"

"Go! It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"

I watched as the other me in the pumpkin patch threw the Invisibility Cloak over Harry and Ron.

"Go quick. Don' listen..."

There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned, around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. Harry pointed and we watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. Harry, Ron, and I had gone... but Harry and I, hidden in the trees, could now hear what was happening inside the cabin through the back door.

"Where is the beast?" came the cold voice of Macnair.

"Out — outside," Hagrid croaked.

Harry pulled his head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Then we heard Fudge.

"We — er — have to read you the official notice of execution, Hagrid. I'll make it quick. And then you and Macnair need to sign it. Macnair, You're supposed to listen too, that's procedure —" Macnair's face vanished from the window. It was now or never.

"Wait here," Harry whispered to me. "I'll do it."

As Fudge's voice started again, Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch, and approached Buckbeak.

"It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall be executed on the sixth of June at sundown —"

Being careful not to blink, Harry stared up into Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes and bowed. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Harry began to fumble with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence.

"... sentenced to execution by beheading, to be carried out by the Committee's appointed executioner, Walden Macnai..."

"Come on, Buckbeak," Harry murmured, my heart was hammering. What if we were caught?! I felt sick. "come on, we're going to help you. Quietly... quietly..."

"... as witnessed below. Hagrid, you sign here..."

Harry threw all his weight onto the rope, but Buckbeak had dug in his front feet.

"Well, let's get this over with," said the reedy voice of the Committee member from inside Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stay inside —"

"No, I — I wan' ter be with him... I don' wan' him ter be alone —"

Footsteps echoed from within the cabin.

"Buckbeak, move!" Harry hissed.

Harry tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door. "One moment, please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice. "You need to sign too." The footsteps stopped. Harry heaved on the rope. Buckbeak snapped his beak and walked a little faster.

I stuck my head out from behind a tree.

"Harry, hurry!" I mouthed.

I could still hear Dumbledore's voice talking from within the cabin. Harry gave the rope another wrench. Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees...

"Quick! Quick!" I moaned, darting out from behind my tree and seized the rope too pulling as hard as I could. Harry looked over his shoulder.

"Stop!" he whispered to me. "They might hear us Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang. Harry, Hermione, and Buckbeak stood quite still; even the hippogriff seemed to be listening intently. Silence... then —

"Where is it?" said the reedy voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" said the executioner furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary," said Dumbledore. There was a note of amusement in his voice. If it had been a different situation it would have been hilarious.

"Beaky!" said Hagrid huskily.

There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger. And then came the howling, and this time they could hear Hagrid's words through his sobs.

"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

Buckbeak started to strain against the rope, trying to get back to Hagrid. Harry and I tightened our grips and dug in our heels into the forest floor to stop him.

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling. "We should search the grounds, the forest."

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" said Dumbledore, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"O' — o' course, Professor," said Hagrid, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in..."

Harry and I listened closely. We heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.

"Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around.

"We'll have to hide in here," I said, hardly daring to believe we escaped. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for another couple of hours... Oh, this is going to be difficult..."

I looked nervously over my shoulder into the depths of the forest.

The sun was setting now.

"We're going to have to move," said Harry, thinking hard. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on."

"Okay," I said, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry, remember..."

We moved around the edge of the forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until we were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.

"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.

I looked up and watched a dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air.

"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —"

And then we saw two more figures materialize out of nowhere. This was weird. Harry was right.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"

"There's Sirius!" said Harry. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. Then I watched him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron...

"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Harry. I watched the dog pull Ron into the roots. "Ouch — look, I just got walloped by the tree — and so did you — this is weird—"

The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; I could see myself and Harry darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.

"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," I said. Smart Crookie.

"And there we go..." Harry muttered. "We're in."

The moment we disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, I heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle.

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" I said. "If only Dumbledore had come with us..."

"Macnair and Fudge would've come too," said Harry bitterly. "I bet you anything Fudge would've told Macnair to murder Sirius on the spot..."

I watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then —

"Here comes Lupin!" said Harry as I saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and hating toward the Willow. Harry looked up at the sky and I followed his eyes. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely. I watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting. Lupin's head snapped from side to side. Could he smell us here? He shook his head before disappearing into the gap in its roots.

"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry. "It's just lying there..."

He turned to me a strange smile crossing his face.

"If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape'd never be able to get it and —"

"Harry, we mustn't be seen!"

"How can you stand this?" he asked me fiercely. "Just standing here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm going to grab the cloak!"

"Harry, no!"

I seized the back of Harry's robes not a moment too soon. Just then, I heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, making his way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from his hands.

"See?" I whispered frantically. "See what would have happened? We've got to keep out of sight! No, Buckbeak!"

The hippogriff was making frantic attempts to get to Hagrid again; Harry seized the rope too, straining to hold Buckbeak back. I watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He was gone. Buckbeak stopped fighting to get away. His head drooped sadly.

Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running toward the Willow. A flash of anger flared through me at the sight of Snape but I pushed it down. How he could be so vindictive I had no idea. He was willing to suck out two innocent men's souls without hearing their side and to me that was wrong. Very wrong.

Harry's fists clenched and I watched Snape skid to a halt next to the tree, looking around. He grabbed the cloak and held it up.

"Get your filthy hands off it," Harry snarled under his breath. "Shh!"

Snape seized the branch Lupin had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put on the cloak.

"So that's it," I said quietly. "We're all down there... and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again..."

AN: Please Review! Reviews make me happy, when I'm happy I update more, when I update more you're happy. In the end everyone wins.