Almost moments later, dusk began to fall. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Elizabeth Granger/Potter/Evans - no one really knows - ran through the tall trees of the dark forest. The copious amounts of trunks spiked into the sky - no sign of life to be found anywhere. It was so dark you were barely able to see where you were going, occasionally making one of the three students trip and fall. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. The trio didn't know what laid in the dark forest, all they knew was that it wasn't going to be a peaceful journey.

The three children came to a sudden halt, needing to catch their breaths. Buckbeak, however, was happily loping behind, following the smell of dead ferret on Liz and Hermione.

"Now, what?" Harry asked

"I guess we save Sirius?" Elizabeth suggested

"Yeah, but how?"

"I don't know..." Hermione replied

The three students started up again, gliding through a thicket of trees and to the forest's edge where the trees were thinning. Moments later, the thrashing Whomping Willow was in their sight. All three of the children duck down behind a few bushes just as they see a figure approaching, their eyes still able to see over them.

"Look. It's Lupin." Hermione said

As the Whomping Willow began to thrash in his presence, its violence oddly muted at this distance, Lupin took a stick and poked a knot on the trunk, just as Aslan had done for Elizabeth. Instantly, the Willow calmed.

"Is that how you got in?" Hermione asked Liz, earning her a nervous nod

"Wait until Fred and George hear about that one." Harry chuckles "You'll be their new hero."

"Lucky me." Elizabeth smiled, but it faltered quickly "Here comes professor Snape."

As Lupin disappeared into the gap at the base of the tree, Snape made his way down the slope as well. The trio then ducked down into the bushes and sighed. Liz threw her last ferret at Buckbeak.

"And now we wait..."


At the base of the trees that stretched up towards the dark sky, still sat the trio. They had been waiting for at least two hours, and almost no words were spoken. Hermione didn't have much to say, but it was Harry and Elizabeth who were causing the greater part of the silence. Both of them were simply thinking too much, recalling the events of the previous night. A small colony of bats swept trough the forest, an unlucky one got itself snagged by Buckbeak who happily slurped it down.

"At least someone's enjoying himself." Hermione finally said with a small smile

Harry, Liz and Hermione sat together in the lengthening shadows. The Slytherin snapped off a few pieces of chocolate given to her by the Headmaster and hands them to her brother and 'sister'.

"Hermione..." she said in a quiet voice, much unlike herself

"Yes?"

"Before. Down by the lake. When Harry and I were with Sirius... I did see people. Harry did too... I don't know whether it was James Potter or our mother but... they made the Dementors go away..."

"With a Patronus. I heard Snape telling Dumbledore when we were taken to the hospital. According to him, only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it." Hermione replied

"I've made a Patronus before..." Liz admitted quietly

Harry and Elizabeth regarded her in stunned silence.

"I don't know why I didn't tell you... I guess I just was afraid of what it meant..." the girl admitted "But the two people in the forest... They were there, Hermione. I swear!"

"It was my dad and our mum." Harry said confidently "It was them who conjured the Patronus."

"But, Harry, they're..." Hermione cut herself off

"Dead. I know. I'm just telling you what I saw."

Hermione and Elizabeth stayed silent, not wanting to press further. The latter had seen two people in the forest, but she couldn't say for certain who they resembled exactly. All the saw was a ball of light landing near their outstretched hands... nothing more. Ella then glanced beyond the trees, toward the Whomping Willow.

"Here we come."

Shadows emerged under a full moon: Black, Harry, Pettigrew, Lupin, Elizabeth, Hermione, Ron... Sleepwalking Snape. Rose stared at herself talking to her godfather, ignoring whatever Hermione and Harry were talking about beside her. Suddenly, she saw him seize up and herself back away, Sirius' name echoing in the distance. A howl pierced the night, making the two Gryffindors turn toward the Willow.

"No matter what the angle... I don't like watching him transform." Liz said, averting her gaze

"I'm sorry, Lizzie." Hermione said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder

"That means Pettigrew is slipping safely into the night. While we just stand here..." Harry said angrily

Suddenly, fierce growling was heard nearby as twin silhouettes - the dog and the werewolf - bounded into the tall grass. Harry and Liz watched themselves appear from a safe distance. They watched as Harry hurled the stick at the werewolf's head, just as before. The werewolf turned, began to stalk then out of the blue, the same howling was heard. But now they knew it was Hermione who had caused it.

"What are you doing!?" Harry whispered loudly

"Saving your lives." Hermione replied, howling a second time

"That's great, but we have to move. Now." Liz said, her eyes wide in fear

"Why?"

"Because the werewolf is coming this way."

The three students exchanged a glance then darted, running for their lives. Being chased was nothing like in the movies Elizabeth made Hermione watch at home. The stars looked heroic, sexy and in command of the situation. Reality was far from that cutesy version of running to save your skin. The trio had no time to collect themselves or longingly stare at whatever was coming towards them, oh no. They'd been sitting in the woods, waiting and almost sleeping through it. One thing lead to another and now they had a werewolf running after them. The soles of their shoes crashed into the dirt - which was more like mud - causing it to cover them. Their faces were flushed red and their expressions were just of pure panic, not of heroic determination. Harry and Elizabeth played Quidditch, so it kept them fit and spry, but still, like Hermione, their hearts pounded heavily, their breathing was jagged and uneven, and their wounds were beginning to open up again. Especially, Liz's half-healed leg, which was fractured only hours ago.

Harry and Hermione then suddenly got tugged behind an enormous tree by their Slytherin classmate, shielding them from the werewolf. As it approached the tree, the trio silently sidestepped in the opposite direction, until the werewolf disappeared. However, the students went to far around the tree and revealed themselves to the werewolf waiting fifteen feet away. The three of them froze. The creature poised itself, preparing to pounce when, with a large shriek, the trees shook with the fury of a hurricane. Buckbeak suddenly charged into the clearing, screening the three children. The werewolf snarled angrily and made a move to charge, but, with lightning-fast reflexes, Buckbeak's claws slashed the air only inches from the werewolf's face. The creature stopped, it's yellow eyes glittering with rage, and howled. Turning away, it vanished into the forest, Elizabeth's own eyes glittering sadly in its direction.

"Remus isn't having the best night, is he?" she sighed

Just then, a chill wind rose, cutting into their ripped clothing as before. The leaves of the many trees trembled vigorously. Eerie shadows fluttered over the full moon, greasy as smoke. Dementors...

"Let's go." Harry said simply, prying his sister away from her spot

As the trio ran forward, Liz looked around her. Through the trees, wheeling through the sky, Dementors streaked in and out of view. Shocked and terror stricken, Rose looked on into the clearing near the water where she and her brother had been only hours ago. A cyclone of Dementors whirled madly above Harry, Elizabeth and Sirius Black, diving down to suck the happiness out of them all. The Slytherin couldn't watch herself and Harry vainly attempt to conjure a Patronus; she was too terrified. The cyclone continued to grow...

"This is horrible..." Hermione gasped

"Don't worry. My Dad will come... Our mother will come..." Harry said confidently "Right there... you'll see... he'll come... any minute... he'll conjure the Patronus."

Hermione eyed Harry wearily. He was transfixed, staring hungrily toward the outcrop, and waiting for a miracle. The wind rose even more. The lake began to freeze. One after the other, Dementors dropped from the sky and vanished into the cyclone.

"No one's coming, Harry!" Hermione shouted

"They will!" the boy replied

Hermione looked on... Nothing. Desperately, her eyes flashed to the cyclone, then to the pitiful sight of Harry, Elizabeth and Black at the water's edge... wracked with pain... dying... Rose, until then, still wasn't looking. She couldn't look and see herself dying. She mentally cursed her Slytherin nature at being so cowardly. She heard Hermione scream again that no one was coming. Suddenly, the girl swallowed her monstrous fear and looked into the clearing. She could see herself trying so hard to conjure the Patronus she had befo- wait. Without a second thought, without a sliver of doubt, Ella took out her wand and slashed through the trees, Harry following steadfast. They ran down to the rocky outcrop, to the exact spot where the people they saw had appeared. Poising their wands, they glanced and each other and nodded. Elizabeth looked out over the sea of Dementors on the other side of the lake and somehow managed to clear her mind. She thought about Harry being her brother, about Lupin being her godfather... She had a family.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" the siblings shouted as one

A wisp of silvery-blue light escaped each of their wands, hovering like a mist, then bloomed magnificently into a stag and a doe. Without warning, the trees exploded with light and the lake blazed with reflected fire. Harry and Rose stand utterly still, wands extended to the heavens. Across the Black Lake, the Dementors began to retreat. The two students waited patiently, still as statues, until each and every one is gone. Then they both simply let their arms drop, minds and bodies exhausted. Elizabeth then breathed a laugh and turned to her brother, hugging him tightly out of love, anxiety and relief. She pulled back.

"I think I've hugged more people today than the entire previous year."


Matte charcoal black uncontrollably covered in thousands and millions of bright specks. That was the only way to describe the Scottish night sky. It was star, after star, after star, a never ending void of light. Below, the blacked out mountains around the lake could only just be seen, their roughness and texture now one clean flat shape, dissolving down into the clouded waters of the Black Lake. Not a sound was heard until - WHOOSH! Harry, Elizabeth and Hermione plunged astride Buckbeak, soaring toward the castle, the boy steering the Hippogriff rather well. Outside the grounds, the Dementors waited restlessly. Elizabeth and Hermione peered down towards the castle. Up ahead, they saw Cornelius Fudge and Severus Snape enter the Dark Tower, torches in hand.

"You were right, Hermione." Harry shouted over the loud rush of wind "It wasn't my dad or our mum I saw earlier. It was... us. I saw us conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time, because... because I'd already done it. Does that make sense?"

"No, it doesn't, Harry. I was just fed up with seeing myself die." Liz interjected "Is that better?" Hermione

"Yes." Hermione said, then looked down in fear "But I still don't like this!"

Elizabeth let out a loud howl of excitement and raised her hands into the air. Quidditch, or simply being up in the air, was something she'd always loved, no matter what her Slytherin fears dictated. A few moments later, Buckbeak landed safely on the top of the Dark Tower. The three children disembarked and ran towards the to Sirius who was pacing in a small cell, a man condemned. Feeling as if someone were watching, the man looked up, stunned to see the trio running dashing towards him. Hermione pushed through Harry and Liz and raised her wand, casting Alohomora on the locked iron door. But it failed. Wand flashing, Hermione tried spell after spell.

"Dunamis! Liberare! Annahilare! Emancipare!" she shouted "No... No, no, no."

"You might want to-"

"Be quiet! I'm trying to think!"

Angered about being interrupted, Elizabeth moved a muttering Hermione out of the way and pointed her wand at the door.

"Stand back!" she yelled at Black, who obeyed "Bombarda!"

With a large booming sound, the iron cell door blasted off the hinges and flew several feet into the air, scattering bits of stone and iron around the tower.

"That'll do." Black chuckled, clapping a hand on Liz's shoulder

The four wizards climb atop Buckbeak, and soar off terrace just as Snape and Fudge reached the top of the tower. Flying through the air, free at last, Sirius laughs happily, hair blowing in the wind. A few minutes later, Harry's landed Buckbeak in the courtyard and disembarked at the same time as Sirius, who aided Liz and Hermione in getting off the Hipoogriff.

"I'll be forever grateful for this. To all three of you." Black said with a huge grin

"I want to go with you." Harry pleaded

"One day perhaps. For some time, life will be too... unpredictable. Besides, you're meant to be here."

Black clapped the boy's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"But promise me something, Harry, and you as well, Elizabeth."

"Anything." the siblings chorused

"Trust yourself." he said simply "No matter the challenges you face - and I fear they will be many - you'll be surprised how many times you can find the answers..." he tapped his heart "...in here."

As Sirius climbed back atop Buckbeak, a shooting star arced through the heavens. Rose recognized it as the shooting star that went past the window in the Hospital Wing. Black then gives Buckbeak a gentle slap and they soared into the glittering sky. Hermione, Elizabeth and Harry stood watching, until - DING! The clock tower began to ring. The three students sprinted again, ignoring their exhaustion and pain, and ran up a multitude of stairs. As the last chime rang, they arrived in the Hospital Wing corridor, just as Dumbledore began backing out of the room.

"By the way, when in doubt, I always find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin... Good luck."

As Dumbledore began to close the door, Harry, Liz and Hermione stumbled frantically forward, the door about to hit the jamb, when suddenly, Dumbledore stopped and looked up.

"Well?" he asked

"He's free - Sirius." Harry panted

"We... we did it." Ella added

"Did what?"

With a twinkle in his eye, Dumbledore swung open the door. As the three students entered, they caught the faintest glimpse of themselves across the room just as they evaporated. Ron, still in bed, blinked and frowned.

"How'd you two get over there? I was just talking to you... over there." he asked, utterly confused

"Ronald, how could we possibly be in two places at once?" Elizabeth replied seriously

Ron stared at them dumbfounded, and slowly, Hermione, Rose and Harry turned towards each other, grinning from ear to ear.