Chapter 53:
Skylar, Harry and Hermione were standing in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.
"Wow," Skylar whispered at the sensation. She turned to Hermione. "How do you do that all the time?" Hermione didn't answer as Harry was looking wildly around at Hermione, the chain of the hourglass cutting into his neck.
"Hermione, what — ?"
"In here!" Hermione seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom closet; Skylar hurrying with them as she opened it, pushed him inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind her and Skylar.
"What — how — Hermione, what happened?"
"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off Harry and Skylar's neck in the darkness. "Three hours back…"
"But —"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think — I think it might be us!"
Skylar looked down at her watch. "It's about the right time." She nodded, keeping her voice down.
Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door and Skylar was listening too, it seemed silent outside.
"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," said Hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than four people… and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloak —"
She broke off, still listening intently.
"We've gone down the front steps…"
Hermione sat down on an upturned bucket, looking desperately anxious, but Harry wanted a few questions answered. Skylar took her place leaning on the door, listening.
"Where did you get that hourglass thing?"
"It's called a Time-Turner," Hermione 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 her shadowy face.
"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," said Hermione. "We just heard ourselves leaving…"
Skylar blinked, they went to Hagrid's, because of Buckbeak.
She gapped. "Buckbeak!" She said, turning to the other two. "We were going to Hagrid's because Buckbeak was going to be executed! We've got to save Buckbeak!"
Harry blinked. "Dumbledore said — said we could save more than one innocent life…" He nodded as he understood as well. "Hermione, we're going to save Buckbeak!"
"But — how will that help Sirius?"
"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!"
Hermione's face looked terrified.
"If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"We can do it." Skylar believed.
"We've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. He stood up beside Skylar 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 they could, they 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 —" Hermione squeaked, looking up at the castle behind them.
"We'll run for it," said Harry determinedly.
"Don't worry Hermione, for the moment our first selves are covered in the cloak, even if we are seen, they'll at least only see one of us." Skylar shrugged.
"Skylar! We cannot be seen!" Hermione said seriously.
Skylar chose not to respond. Harry glanced between them before he nudged Skylar and turned to Hermione.
"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!" said Hermione 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!" She shot Skylar a look and the girl held her hands up innocently, not arguing that fact.
Harry went first, setting off at a sprint with the two girls hurrying after him. They 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…
Safe in the shadows of the trees, Harry turned around; Skylar tore up before him, straight at him, looking slightly worried at how she was going to stop. Harry reached out and grabbed her around the waist, bringing her to a stop as she grabbed his shoulders before she could crash into him. She grinned at him as he blushed and released her, before they both turned for, seconds later, Hermione to arrive beside them, panting.
"Right," she gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's… Keep out of sight, Harry…"
They made their way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk and, Harry on one side and the girls on the other, they peered out from either side. Hagrid had appeared in his doorway, shaking and white, looking around to see who had knocked. And Harry's voice sounded.
"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.
"So far." Skylar added.
"Let's move along a bit," Hermione whispered. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"
They crept through the trees until they saw the nervous hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Now?" Harry whispered.
"No!" said Hermione. "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.
"You got a better idea?" Skylar mumbled.
At that moment, there was a crash of breaking china from inside Hagrid's cabin.
"That's Hagrid breaking the milk jug," Hermione whispered. "I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment —"
Sure enough, a few minutes later, they heard Hermione's shriek of surprise.
"Hermione," said Harry suddenly, "what if we — we just run in there and grab Pettigrew —"
"Are you mad?!" Skylar whispered.
"No!" said Hermione 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?" said Hermione.
"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 —"
"Harry, I know what Pettigrew did, and what it means if he gets away, especially as the Minister wont listen to us, but, I don't know if we can save Buckbeak and Sirius, and catch Pettigrew." Skylar said, frowning. "I don't think we can manage all that. Remember, we have to avoid Remus as a werewolf later, and all the dementors…" she frowned. Harry looked at her before dropping his gaze, knowing she was right. Hermione was looking at Skylar with worry, believing more and more that this was a bad idea. She then paused as she looked up, noticing several figures coming from the castle. She nudged Harry and pointed, the movement catching Skylar's attention too.
Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps.
"We're about to come out!" Hermione breathed.
And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and they saw themselves with Ron, walking out of it with Hagrid. Skylar stared at herself mystified, it was such a strange sensation seeing herself like this. She watched herself look up, confusion etched on her face and Skylar remembered. She knew she'd heard something, and she'd been so surprised when she'd thought she'd heard herself. It made sense now. Except that her past self was about to figure out they were there. Skylar pulled Harry and Hermione behind the tree suddenly.
"What?" Harry whispered at her.
"Shh, I'm listening." She said. "Don't look at me, don't let me hear your mind."
"How do we stop that?" Harry looked confused.
"Clear your mind and calm your emotions."
Harry looked confused as Skylar slammed her occlumency into gear, she couldn't have herself hearing her thoughts, if only she could do the same with Harry and Hermione. She just hoped her past-self would be too distracted.
"It's okay, Beaky, it's okay…," Hagrid said to Buckbeak. Then he turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "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!"
The Hermione in the pumpkin patch throw the Invisibility Cloak over the Harry, Skylar and Ron with her.
"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, Skylar and Hermione, very carefully, watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard four pairs of feet retreating. Harry, Skylar, Ron, and Hermione had gone… but the Harry, Skylar and Hermione 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.
All three ducked out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Then they 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 Hermione. "I'll do it."
"Be careful." Skylar warned, looking at the window.
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 —"
Careful not to blink, Harry stared up into Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes once more 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 Macnair…"
"Come on, Buckbeak," Harry murmured, "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. Skylar grit her teeth, while Hermione was staring at the window with fear.
"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. Hermione's white face was sticking out from behind a tree. "Harry, hurry!" she mouthed.
Dumbledore's voice was still talking from within the cabin, Skylar hurried out, grabbing the rope, and helped him heave on it, both giving the rope another wrench. Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees…
"Quick! Quick!" Hermione moaned, darting out from behind her tree, seizing the rope too and adding her weight to make Buckbeak move faster. Harry looked over his shoulder; they were now blocked from sight; they couldn't see Hagrid's garden at all.
"Stop!" he whispered to Hermione and Skylar. "They might hear us —"
Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang. Harry, Skylar, 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, Skylar couldn't help but be amused by his tone of voice, like he knew exactly what had happened.
"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, Skylar and Hermione tightened their grip and dug their 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…"
Skylar, Harry and Hermione listened closely. They heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.
"That was… wow…" Skylar mumbled. That could have been disastrous.
"Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around.
"We'll have to hide in here," said Hermione, who looked very shaken. "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…"
She looked nervously over her 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," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry, remember…"
They moved around the edge of the forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.
"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.
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 they saw two more figures materialise out of nowhere. Harry watched himself and Hermione chasing after Ron. Then he saw Ron dive. Skylar joined them, having been behind them all.
"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, Skylar screaming as she saw him first. They saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron…
"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Harry, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots. "Ouch — look, I just got walloped by the tree — and so did you two — this is weird —"
The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; they could see themselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.
"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.
"And there we go…," Harry muttered. "We're in."
The moment they disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, they 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!" said Hermione. "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…"
"We'd have never found out about Pettigrew either." Skylar added. "And we might have even let Macnair do it."
They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then —
"Here comes Lupin and your dad!" said Harry as they saw another two figures sprinting down the stone steps and heading toward the Willow. Harry looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.
They watched Remus seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Nathaniel hurried for the tree before he and then Remus, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.
"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry. "It's just lying there…"
He turned to Hermione.
"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 Hermione fiercely. "Just standing here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm going to grab the cloak!"
"Harry, no!"
Hermione seized the back of Harry's robes not a moment too soon. Just then, they 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?" Hermione whispered. "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 his rope too, straining to hold Buckbeak back. Skylar turned and the hippogriff stopped struggling. They watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He was gone. The auburn-haired girl then turned to Harry.
"Harry, despite Pettigrew getting away, tonight ended up, alright, as things could have gone. If you go and take the cloak, things could just, end up so much worse. Don't change the future." She warned.
Harry looked at her before he cast his gaze elsewhere.
Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running toward the Willow.
Harry's fists clenched as they 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 Remus had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put on the cloak.
"So that's it," said Hermione quietly. "We're all down there… and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again…" She took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it securely around the nearest tree, then sat down on the dry ground, arms around her knees.
Skylar sank to slide down a tree trunk and sit on the ground.
"Harry, there's something I don't understand… Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then I think I passed out… there were so many of them…"
"I remember the cold beginning to diminish, things began to warm up…" Skylar mumbled thinking. "The dementors were clearly running away or leaving but…"
Harry sat down too. "Something chased them away, I tried to cast the patronus but there were so many dementors… The nearest dementor to me, when the charm failed, it lowered its head and lowered its mouth towards mine, before this large silver something came galloping across the lake and forced the dementors to retreat."
Skylar looked surprised while Hermione's mouth was slightly open.
"But what was it?"
"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the dementors go," said Harry. "A real Patronus. A powerful one."
"But who conjured it?"
"Could have been my dad, but if it was, he'd have taken us all up to the castle, not Snape." Skylar said.
Harry was quiet though. Skylar turned to him and as he thought about the occurrence. He'd seen someone across the lake, through his hazy vision.
"Harry," she prompted. He turned to her but didn't speak as Hermione was still excited at the idea of someone producing such an impressive spell.
"Didn't you see what they looked like?" said Hermione eagerly. "Was it one of the teachers?"
"No," said Harry. "He wasn't a teacher."
"He?" Skylar asked, her eyebrow raised.
"But it must have been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those dementors away…If the Patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light him up? Couldn't you see — ?"
"Yeah, I saw him," said Harry slowly. "But… maybe I imagined it… I wasn't thinking straight… I passed out right afterward…"
Skylar took his hand in hers and smiled at him as he turned to her. He could tell them, no matter what he thought.
"Who did you think it was?" She asked softly, interrupting Hermione.
"I think —" Harry swallowed. "I think it was my dad."
Skylar blinked before she took a deep breath. Hermione however had her mouth fully open now. She was gazing at him with a mixture of alarm and pity.
"Harry, your dad's — well — dead," she said quietly.
"I know that," said Harry quickly.
"You think you saw his ghost?"
"I don't know… no… he looked solid…"
"But then —"
"Maybe I was seeing things," said Harry. "But… from what I could see… it looked like him… I've got photos of him…" Hermione was still looking at him as though worried about his sanity.
He turned to Skylar, she was looking thoughtful.
"I know it sounds crazy," said Harry flatly.
She turned and smiled at him. "It's not crazy." She assured. Hermione gave her a look and she shot one back, telling her to stay quiet as Harry turned to look at Buckbeak, who was digging his beak into the ground, apparently searching for worms.
