"Go!" Sirius barked as Remus tried to leap at Hermione. They all started to scream and took off running. The spell on Snape had worn off, as he had gained consciousness and was rushing them along.

Elizabeth saw Peter Pettigrew running in a different direction from the school. If he escaped, Sirius would never be free and the world would actually have a killer on the loose.

"Pettigrew's getting away!" She yelled to the others. She changed direction and took off after the pudgy man. She heard footsteps behind her, and Snape yelling, "Potter! Granger! Gryffindor! Get back here at once!"

Harry, Elizabeth, and Hermione pursued Pettigrew and were quickly catching up to him, mostly because of his lack of exercise in the last twelve years, and they were students who walked up and down many flights of stairs every day.

They were reaching the part of the Great Lake where it met the forest, and seeing the tree roots, Elizabeth waved her hand, and yelled, "By roots of trees, don't let him flee!" And pointed the burst of glowing magic in her palm shoot towards the part of the path Pettigrew was approaching. The roots came to life and wrapped around his ankles, making him stumble and fall.

"Great job, Elizabeth!" Hermione said when they stopped running, having caught up to the rat-man.

"Thanks. I didn't think I could do hand magic when I'm running, but apparently I can when chasing a criminal." Elizabeth said, running her fingers through her hair. Her braids had come undone while running.

Hermione cast petrificus totalus on Pettigrew, and they also kept the vines tied around him.

"What should we do? If we try taking him back to the castle and come across Remus in his werewolf form, we'd need to run, but we couldn't carry him with us." Harry pointed out.

Before any of them came up with a good solution, a werewolf zipped past them, not even seeing them, and a large black dog followed him. Sirius was chasing Remus into the forest.

When they were pretty far in, Sirius came trotting back towards them. He shifted back into his own human form and walked up close to Pettigrew.

"He's just knocked out." Harry explained to Sirius.

"Good. But how did you get the roots around him?" Sirius asked.

"Elizabeth used hand magic. She's quite good at it." Hermione explained.

"Ah. Good work, all of you. Is anyone hurt?" Sirius asked.

"We're all fine. Pettigrew tried to run away, so we went after him. I'm not sure about the others, I think they made it back to the school." Elizabeth told him.

"We best be getting back up there, as well. Unless curfew changed since when I was here, you all are very tardy for it, and I can't get my name cleared if I don't bring the rat back with me." Sirius said, his voice sounding bitter towards the end when he mentioned Pettigrew.

With Sirius carrying Pettigrew, they all started walking back up to the school.

"Say, Mr. Black, where did you leave Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked.

"I chased him into a large and deep pit in the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs have dug many of those because of their stampedes, and James and I struck a deal with the centaurs when we were about fifteen. They let us secretly use a pit to contain Remus when he got too out of control, and in exchange, we wouldn't mention anything we see them do when we're out in the woods to anyone. It was a deal for life, and centaurs don't forget anything. The deal still stands." Sirius explained to the group.

"Fascinating." Hermione said.

"Sirius, were you certain about me coming to live with you?" Harry asked.

"Of course I was, Harry. I have loved you since the moment Lily handed infant you to me, and I'll make sure my home is better than the Dursleys, I know all about them from your mother, and they sound horrible." Sirius said sincerely.

"They are. It's just, Dumbledore said the Dursley's give me some kind of protection, and what if he doesn't let me go with you because you don't have that kind of protection?" Harry asked.

"We'll sort it out. I'll even stay with you at the Dursley's if need be." Sirius said.

Harry grinned, and it was easy to see this was some of the best news of his life.

They passed by Hagrid's hut again, since they had run past it earlier in pursuit of Pettigrew. But now that Elizabeth was looking at it closely, she saw something strange.

Hagrid sobbing over something. Could the ministry have really left him to dispose of the poor hippogriff's body?

Hermione noticed it as well. "Those fiends! Leaving him alone to bury him!" With that, she stormed off towards Hagrid. Harry moved to follow her, but Elizabeth stopped him.

"I'd better go. One of us should stay with Sirius to explain everything, and your reputation is a bit better than mine." She told him.

"There's a dead body there, are you sure you're comfortable with that?" Sirius asked.

"I'll be fine. I've seen worse." Elizabeth said. Not wanting to waste any more time, she went after Hermione, leaving Sirius and Harry bewildered.

"Do you know what she was talking about?" Sirius asked Harry.

"No." Harry replied.

Elizabeth arrived at the scene to see Hermione soothing Hagrid.

"Only a few swings! Left me to watch 'im go!" He blubbered.

"I'm so sorry, Hagrid." Hermione said.

While he was noisily crying, she whispered to Elizabeth, "They were about to swing, but then Dumbledore arrived. He startled the executioner, and he sliced Buckbeak in the shoulder. Dumbledore convinced him Draco instigated the accident, and they called off the execution. They left Hagrid alone with him just a few moments ago, since Dumbledore's convincing took so long."

Elizabeth was appalled. "That's terrible! We need to get him help!" Hermione nodded.

"Hagrid can't carry him, though. It could make the wound worse." she whispered to Elizabeth.

"Do you know anything about stopping the bleeding? At least until one of us gets Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione nodded. "It might be different for Hippogriffs, though." she whispered.

"Hagrid, we need to get Buckbeak help. The wound doesn't look too deep, if we stop the bleeding, he could last until we get Madam Pomfrey." Hermione told the blubbering groundskeeper.

"Really? I didn't want to make anything worse. Macnair, the executioner, told me it wouldn't take 'im too long to go!"

"Really. Hermione knows what she's talking about. Let her help, and I'll get Madam Pomfrey, I promise." Elizabeth said.

"There's a lotta blood, 'ermione, are yeh sure yeh'll be alright?" Hagrid asked.

"Hagrid, I'm a girl. I can handle a bit of blood." Hermione replied.

Elizabeth stayed to see how bad it was, so she could give a good description to Madam Pomfrey. The wound looked awful. There was blood matted in Buckbeak's fur, and a deep looking gash in his shoulder. The poor hippogriff trilled in pain, and Elizabeth rubbed her hand along his head.

"It'll be okay, Buckbeak, I promise. We'll save you." She whispered.

"I'll get Madam Pomfrey. Stay here." she told Hermione and Hagrid.

She ran back up to the school as fast as she could, even though her body was tired from all the running she'd done that night.

"Hey! You! You're out past curfew!" Filch yelled as she ran through a corridor to the Hospital Wing.

"Sorry!" she called, not stopping even when she heard him curse.

"Madam Pomfrey!" She exclaimed when she reached the mediwitch's place of work.

"Yes?" she asked from a bed that occupied Ron. His leg was covered in bandages, and he was asleep.

"Hagrid is having an emergency! His hippogriff, Buckbeak, he's really hurt, and needs help!" She told her.

Madam Pomfrey walked over to her, holding her traveling medicine kit.

"Show me to him."

They arrived on the scene a few moments later. Hermione was holding a cloth over Buckbeak's shoulder, but Elizabeth could see blood soaking through.

Madam Pomfrey took over after that. She thanked Elizabeth for telling her, and Hermione for keeping Buckbeak stable. She immediately went to work on the poor hippogriff and told Hermione and Elizabeth to go back up to the school, since it was nearly midnight.

The two girls followed her orders and walked once more, up to the school. They passed by Dumbledore's office and saw him, Harry, and Sirius exit.

"Ah, Miss Gryffindor, Miss Granger, good to see you. I was just telling Mr. Potter and Mr. Black that I was about to inform Madam Pomfrey of Buckbeak's condition when they stopped me in my path. They told me you two were helping Hagrid. Will he be alright?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir. Madam Pomfrey said we got her just in time. Hermione kept him on ice, and she was able to get to him before the infection set in. She said he'll recover in a few days." Elizabeth told him.

"I see tonight is full of wonderful news. It appears Mr. Black was not the man we were looking for, it was Peter Pettigrew. And now we have Mr. Pettigrew in custody, and Mr. Black is to go free." Dumbledore explained.

Sirius was smiling, and there was a sparkle of joy in his eye, same as Harry.

"Mr. Black, would you please escort these three back to the Gryffindor dorm room? I believe you remember the way." Sirius nodded.

"Thank you, children, for all you've done for me. When I repair my family's home, you are all welcome at any time." Sirius told them as they arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait. He bid them goodnight as they went up to bed.

The next morning Elizabeth woke up to Ginny tapping her shoulder.

"Elizabeth! You slept through breakfast." she whispered when Elizabeth rolled over.

"I did?" Elizabeth asked, yawning.

"Yeah. I nearly did, too. Madam Pomfrey gave us all sleep potions last night since we all were up very late. I made sure to bring you some toast." Ginny told her.

"Thanks, Gin." Elizabeth said, taking the breakfast food. "Why did you wake me up, then? Lots of people miss breakfast." She asked.

Ginny took on a sad expression.

"I just heard the news, and I wanted to tell you as soon as I could." she said.

"Tell me what?" Elizabeth asked.

"Lupin, he's leaving the school. He quit." she said.

"What?"

Elizabeth knocked rapidly on Remus's door. "Remus! Remus!" she said as she knocked. The door opened, and she walked right in.

"You're leaving?" she asked, nary an introduction.

"Elizabeth, I didn't have much of a choice." Remus said.

"Just because you're a werewolf and things got a little out of hand last night, you've been fired? It's ridiculous!" Elizabeth said.

"I was not fired. I resigned." Remus corrected.

"Why? If Dumbledore hired you, then wouldn't he keep you on for another year? He knew you were a werewolf all along!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I resigned because my identity as a werewolf has been exposed to the world, and parents are going to be sending letters by the hundred in a matter of hours. If I resign quietly and calmly, I may have a chance to lead a liveable life." Remus explained.

"But being a werewolf shouldn't change what people think of you. This prejudice against werewolves is wrong and cruel!" Elizabeth said angrily.

"Prejudice is nearly often wrong and cruel." Remus replied.

Elizabeth saw a newspaper on his desk, covered by a book. She picked it up, but before she read anything, Remus said, "You don't want to see that, you won't like what is there."

From the tone of his voice, Elizabeth knew he was trying to hide something from her. She braced herself and looked at the headline.

Severus Snape Speaks Out On Secrets at Hogwarts!

By Rita Skeeter

Severus Snape has just reported several things Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has attempted to cover up this year. Firstly, Remus Lupin, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, has been a werewolf all along. Snape knows this because he came across Lupin in his very dangerous form and nearly lost his life because of it.

In other news from the Potions Master, the fire set in the Gryffindor common room last November was not the fault of Sirius Black, it was the fault of Elizabeth Gryffindor. Her unpredictable magical abilities have proven to be more dangerous than many thought. Many people that gave their opinions on the girl in question have suggested that she be sent away to St. Mungos to protect the rest of our world. Only time will tell of her fate.

Elizabeth dropped the newspaper.

"Elizabeth, I'm so sorry." Remus said, approaching her.

"Elizabeth? Could you say something?" he asked.

Elizabeth nodded.

"I've been here for almost a year, and there is still the threat of locking me up somewhere? I spent all last summer scared that was going to happen to me and pushing myself in all my lessons to make sure it wouldn't. All these people care about are the bad things I've done. They don't care about my reasons for doing them or my perspective in any of this! They look at me and see a freak, and don't care about me at all! They don't care about what I've been through and don't care what happens to me as long as I'm sent away!" She said shakily. Tears started running down her face while she was speaking, and she started to sob towards the end.

Without speaking, Remus wrapped her in a hug, and let her cry.

A little while later, when Elizabeth had dried her tears and bid goodbye to her favorite professor, she went to Minerva's quarters and found her and Malcolm on the couch, the newspaper in front of them.

"I've read it already. And I don't want to take this sitting down. I want to fight back." She told them.