Chapter 32

Sirius swore colorfully. I forgot that the Dementors weren't going to be called off till tomorrow. They must have still been looking for Black and because he wasn't in his animagus form for over three hours, they probably sensed his emotions.

Remus and I took out our wands to cast Patronus charms but before the words could leave my mouth, my wand was knocked out of my fingers. A cold, dead, hand closed around my throat and lifted me off my feet. Remus sent his Patronus at it but the dementor saw it coming and started flying away with me. I heard panicked voices calling my name. I clawed at the hand around my throat but it was no use. I put my hands on his arm and tried to pull up and take the stress off my neck. Once we were so high up that the others were too far away to help me, the dementor pulled down it's hood. It was going to kiss me! What the hell am I going to do? My wand was on the ground!

I concentrated hard on a happy memory. "Expecto Patronum!" I choked out but nothing happened. I didn't really expect it to. It took me hours to master the wandless shield charm. Trying to do a wandless patronus was just me being desperate. I started wiggling and kicking, trying to get the Dementor to let go. Then I saw a bright light around where my friends should be. Harry's patronus. I wasn't sure because I couldn't really see them this high up through the clouds. The light expanded and flashed through the entire area. The Dementor dropped me and began fleeing. Then I was falling. I was going to go splat.

For some reason though, now just felt like the right time to try tuning into an animagus. I don't know how that was going to help as I was pretty sure I was a horse but I decided to go with my instincts. I concentrated and I felt myself shifting. I turned into a white horse and I grew a tail. But it didn't stop there. I felt something coming out of my back. Wings! I was growing wings!

I spread them and righted myself about ten meters before I would have hit the ground. My landing was a little ruff and I think I twisted my ankle. I was on the other side of the tree so I don't think the others had seen me change or land. I got shakily to my feet and limped as quickly as I could round the side of the huge tree. Unfortunately, that wasn't very fast at all. When they finally came into view, I saw Hermione crying into Ron's chest. Fred was sitting down with his head in his hands. Sirius had a comforting arm on Harry and Remus had pulled Neville into a hug.

Why did they all look so sad? They drove the dementors away. Why did they look like someone just- Oooh. "Guys I'm not dead!" I yelled at them. It came out pretty scratchy because my windpipe had been crushed a little. I was sure I had some bruising. They all jerked there heads up to look at me. Ron recovered first.

"Bloody hell Annie!" He exclaimed. "That's the second time you've done that!" I smiled guiltily at them as I limped over, remembering last year when I lost track of time in the library after Hermione was attacked. Fred recovered next. He jumped up and pulled me into a tight hug. "You scared me." He whispered into my hair.

"Sorry." I told him quietly once we separated. Hermione came over and gave me my wand.

"How did you overcome death this time Annie?" She asked me with a relived smile.

"Stop making it sound like I almost die often!" I protested with a pout.

"Come on Annie, you've been in the hospital wing more times that Harry." Neville said with a teasing smile.

"Hey!" Harry yelled. "I resent that." I giggled.

"Well, it pulled down it's hood to give me the dementors kiss." I began. Everyone looked very alarmed so I quickly continued. "Harry's patronus made it drop me. So then I was falling because the Dementor had taken me very high up, and I just felt like it was the right time to try and turn into my animagus so-"

"But your animagus is a horse!" Hermione interrupted.

"That's what I thought but it wasn't. I followed my instincts and I managed to transform all the way." I said.

"So if your not a horse what are you?" Harry asked.

I changed into my form. I spread my wings so they wouldn't miss them. "Your a pegasus." Hermione said, her voice full of wonder. I nodded my head.

"There hasn't been a magical animagus for years." Remus said in awe.

"I think Harry's a phoenix though." Ron said.

"Me too." Agreed Neville. I nodded my head. I turned back into a human.

"Sirius, you should go." Remus informed him. "Until the Dementors are called off, you are not safe and neither are we while we are in your presence." Sirius reluctantly agreed. He hugged Harry and remus. Then to my utter surprise he turned to me. "Thank you." He said, his voice full of gratitude.

"For what?" I asked in confusion. He smiled at me.

"Without you, no one would have known the truth. Without you, I will not soon be a free man." He told me. I smiled warmly back. "Since you are from the future I understand you have no home or family here." He continued. I nodded in confirmation. "You are welcome to come live with Harry and I."

I'm sure he could see the surprise on my face. "That is very kind of you." I said. "But I would not wish to intrude."

"Nonsense!" He argued. I grinned at him. "I better go." he said with a wink before turning into his animagus and running back into the passage under the Willow tree.

...

The next week was pretty normal. Well, normal for Hogwarts. The news that Sirius was innocent came in the paper the morning after Halloween. Some people were shocked. Some were guilty. Some were just angry. Angry that the ministry had imprisoned an innocent man for twelve years without a trial. Wizards and witches everywhere, especially muggle borns, were starting to see how flawed the ministry and the systems of the wizarding world really were.

Fudge was struggling to keep control. Even though there was a different minister in place at the time of Sirius's imprisonment, lots of blame still fell on the current minister for covering up the former's blunder. That and, someone who most definitely wasn't me (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), may have anonymously informed the Daily Profit how Fudge had been excepting bribes to keep former death eaters out of prison. It was revealed that the richer death eaters who claimed to have been under the imperius curse, didn't even get questioned under veritaserum.

Former death eaters were being re-tried and it was found that many of them were supporters of the Dark Lord and still hold tight to his beliefs. Because of this revelation, Amelia Bones started a petition to make Fudge step down. With all the bad publicity, she is not finding it hard to get people to sign. Many people found it very worrying that death eaters had been found to hold high positions in the ministry. Some were also on the Wizengamot and some were on the Hogwarts board of trustees.

I didn't know what the rest of this year would have in store for Harry, Ron, Hermione and I because the plot of the third book had been solved in a little over a month. I didn't expect it to stay normal for the rest of the year. Harry does attract danger after all.

This was the first time where I was at Hogwarts and I had no idea what was in store for us. It was frustrating, not knowing, but in a way it was also a great relief. I felt a heavy weight lift off my shoulders. I didn't feel like I had a huge responsibility. Like it was up to me to take charge because I had the knowledge to do so. I would be nice to just follow Harrys lead. After my story, Harry stopped trusting Dumbledore unconditionally. He started to think more for himself and stop being the pawn or tool that Dumbledore wanted.

I assumed that Dumbledore is going to be fighting to try and regain control of Harry. He is an unpredictable man. Who know what he will try. It was one of the things that was worrying me about the rest of this year. When we are at school we are mostly at his mercy. I say mostly because, as proved when I stole the book, the school itself is on our side because Harry and I are heirs of the founders. I also knew that Remus would be watching Dumbledore and trying to keep Harry safe.

I was currently trying to come up with a way to get the members of staff I trusted, out from under Dumbledores influence. I knew I could come up with a persuasive argument if I claim that Dumbledore had gone senile. After all, no sane person would keep a Dark-Lord-magnet in a school full of children like Dumbledore did in first year. Then there's the fact that he tried to obliviate me for knowing my own story. I was not sure if I was ready to share the information that I was from the future with the staff though.

Now that my friends knew my secrets, we were closer that ever before. I wasn't lying to them anymore and it felt so good. They had been very understanding of the situation I was in and had forgiven me for not telling them. Ron was angry with me at first but he got over it with some prompting from Hermione. Speaking of Hermione, her and I had started to try and come up with a way to break my curse. We have been doing extensive research in the Ravenclaw library but so far, have come up with nothing.

The first quidditch match of the season was tomorrow and because Draco never got 'injured', we were playing Slytherin. We were ready. Wood had been training us hard and he was determined to win the Quidditch cup this year as it was his last chance. The Dementors were gone now so I was pretty confident everything would go smoothly. Well as smoothly as it can go at a Gryffindor verses Slytherin quidditch match.

...