To level 100! :)
"Going to kill me, Harry?" Black whispered, eyeing the wand pointed at his heart as Harry loomed over him. Harry's eyes were cold with anger as he studied the battered and bloodied coward of a man under his foot. "You killed my parents." Was all Harry could say as he tried to find a spell that would end Black's miserable life once and for all.
Then again, he didn't need a spell, he could simply plunge his wand into Black's chest and get it over with, "I don't deny it." Black started to say, his voice quiet and low, "But if you knew the whole story-..." Before the murderer could finish, there was a loud thud from downstairs, as if someone had crashed into a piece of furniture.
The sudden noise prompted Hermione to scream. "WE'RE UP HERE—WITH SIRIUS BLACK—HURRY!" Summoning three sets of footsteps, as people pounded up the stairs and threw the bedroom door open.
Harry blinked in surprise as Ness, Ginny and Lupin entered the room, wands out and their eyes hastily scanning the room, as if making sure that everyone was alive, "Ness? Ginny? What are you doing here?" Harry questioned, as Ginny rushed to Ron's side.
"We're here to make sure that no on dies!" Ness proclaimed, "And thankfully, no one's dead."
"Yet," Lupin corrected before he yelled, "Expliarmous!" and caught Harry's wand, allowing Black to breath a bit easier.
"There, now we might be able to-," Lupin started to say when Hermione gasped.
"It can't be…" prompting Harry to look at her with confusion.
"Y…you're all working with Black, aren't you?"
"No, we're not-," Ginny started to say when Hermione cut her off, sounding emotional unstable, "Here I was—covering for you only to find out-,"
"Hermione, listen, we have this all backwards." Ness said, holding his hands up in a poor attempt to calm Hermione down.
"No! I have this perfectly straight!" Hermione yelled, "Lupin's working with Black since they were pals in school! And he's taken advantage of your status of being a powerful wizard to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"
Harry looked at Ness in disbelief as he suddenly remembered how strange Ness had acted after Hogsmeade and how he distanced himself from the group, was that real the reason? Was Ness somehow working with Lupin and Black? Which somehow involved Ginny?
He jumped as Ness said, "Wrong." And put his hands behind his head as he calmly said, "I'm not a wizard, but I have been working with Black."
"Then-," Ron started to say when Ness cut him off, "I've been working with Black to ensure that he doesn't go back to jail with a false crime coupled with a real murder."
"False… crime?" Hermione repeated before she stammered, "But Lupin's a werewolf, that's why Black's an Animagus…"
"That part's true." Lupin said, "But unlike Ness, I've barely been in contact with Black, believing that he was the real culprit like everyone else."
"I… don't understand." Harry said as Black slowly sat up.
"Because you don't have the full story." Ness said, "Well, none of us do since I don't really understand how Peter was able to sell Harry's parents out."
"Peter…?" Harry questioned the name sounding vaguely familiar, "As in Peter Petigrew? The man who was killed?"
"Yes, he's the real villain behind this entire mess." Ginny answered before she frowned and looked at Ron, "What on earth did you do to your leg?"
"I didn't do it! He did!" Ron grunted, pointing at Black who growled, "I was only trying to get to him!"
"Who is him!?" Harry demanded, his anger slowly returning, "What is going on!? Why are you and Black Animagus?! How did you even know where to find us?!"
"I figured out that Black was going to attack you guys when we heard that you found Peter." Ness explained earning a hysterical yell of, "There's no one named Peter here!" from Hermione.
"I used the Marauders Map and Ness and Ginny brought me here." Lupin explained, "You know-," Harry started to say when Lupin interrupted him, "I know, because I helped create it, I'm Moony."
"So is Black Padfoot?" Ginny questioned, earning a nod from Black, "We all chose nicknames representing our Animagus forms."
"Oh yea…" Ness murmured as something slowly clicked, Prongs and Wormtail… His dad was best friends with Black and Peter, and now it was clear that Lupin had been pals with the trio but why did they become Animagus?
"James, Sirius and Peter became Animagus because of my condition, something Hermione pieced together during the school year." Lupin started.
"That… you're a werewolf?" Harry questioned, a small lump forming in his stomach.
"Yes, I was bitten as a young child, during the time when being a werewolf was certain death since there was no proper cure. Despite this, Dumbledore still invited me to Hogswarts to study, he even created a safe-house for me to hide in when the full moon rose." Lupin gestured around the room, "The safe house, is of course this very building."
"No it's not." Ron weakly said as Ness slowly healed his leg, "It's haunted."
"By a werewolf." Lupin said, "Dumbledore created the tunnel, placed the Whomping Willow over it and then created rumors about it being haunted so that everyone would stay away."
"So that prank that nearly killed Snape was Sirius and Peter tricking him into getting into the Shrieking Shack when you transformed." Ginny realized, "That's why he was so upset!"
"Yes, it was a very dumb idea for a prank. Since Snape ended up seeing what I really was." Lupin said, glaring at Black who was petting Crookshanks.
"What?" Black said, "Not my fault the git wouldn't stop hounding us every month. I just gave him what he wanted,"
"True, but you didn't need to nearly murder him. It's a miracle James decided to stop him before I killed him." Lupin retorted before he resumed explaining, "James and the other figured out where I was going on and taught themselves to turn into Animagus so they could keep me company without putting themselves in danger. This went against everything Dumbledore had risked in order to allow me to stay but… It was nice having friends around… Despite the guilt it left me over the years."
Lupin briefly paused before he continued, looking a pained. "I never told Dumbledore about Sirius being an Animagus, even now, I've have yet to tell him, cowardly, I know, but the thought of admitting that I broke the school's trust even before Dumbledore offered me my first paying job was something I sadly couldn't bring myself to face."
Lupin said, his face hardening with shame and self-loathing, "So, I convinced myself that Sirius being an Animagus had nothing to do with me, that Voldemort taught him that trick when he first signed up… In a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
"What do you mean, 'Snape's been right all along?'" Black questioned, "That git is probably off making a fool of himself."
"Actually, he's the potion's teacher who hates Harry's guts." Ness pointed out, "I think he hates me as well since I foiled his plot of getting Harry suspended."
"Expelled." Ginny corrected, while Black scowled and grumbled, "Of course he's here, the whole gang's practically here."
"So… Any more questions?" Ness asked once he was sure that Lupin was done speaking, "Besides the glaring obvious question of how Black got out of a Level 10 jail."
"I have a question. How will Dumbledore react to discovering that five of his students including a teacher, have been assisting a known murderer?" Harry felt his stomach turn cold as Snap turned visible, dropping his Father' cloak onto the ground as he pointed his wand at Lupin who took a step back in surprise at Snape's sudden appearance.
"Found this," Snape said stepping on top the invisibility cloak like it was a bud underneath his foot, "At the base of the Whomping Willow, very useful… I thank you for that Potter." Harry suppressed a growl as Snape he slowly surveyed, "I bet you're all wondering how I knew where you traitors were, hmm?"
"No, we're just here wondering on what party game we're going to play next." Ness said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now is not the time." Ginny shakily hissed as Snape glared at him, "It was quite ironic actually, I had just turned around to leave Professor Lupin's office after dropping off his wolf bane potion when Lupin and two Gryffindor students suddenly fell from the sky talking about stopping someone from getting killed in the Shrieking Shack before they disappeared again."
"I thought something was off." Lupin softly mused as Ness and Ginny shared grim looks.
"Yes, but sadly my claims went unheard." Snape said, his face trying—and failing to mask a look of pure triumph, "I've told the headmaster again and again that you were helping your old friend, and here you are, caught in the act with five trouble makers as your partners."
"We are not trouble makers." Ness grumbled as Lupin stepped forward, "Severus, you have this all wrong Black isn't here to-,"
"Two more for Azakaban." Snape interrupted, his eyes coldly lingering on Black and Lupin before it settled on Harry on his friends, "And five students expelled, I can only wonder how Dumbledore shall react to this… Especially since he worked so hard to get a tame werewolf and a supposedly gifted student from America to join Hogwarts"
"Oh, now someone else believes me." Ness grumbled.
"Professor Snape, Black's innocent, it's a misunderstanding please just ..." Ginny started to say when a loud bang cut her off.
Harry stifled a yell of surprise as thin snake like cords shot toward them bounding their wrists and ankles together and connecting with other cords which eventually tied everyone in the room together with a faint snap.
Hermione opened her mouth to plead, perhaps even beg but the ropes quickly gagged them, rendering them mute. "Now then… I can't exactly execute five students, but I'm sure Dumbledore can look over a Dementor's kiss." Or rather, kisses. Snape said, his eyes full of malice. Ginny gave a muffled yell of anger as Black tried to say something through his gag.
Harry could only look ahead, the cold feeling transforming into a wave of mixed emotions, guilt, anger for forgetting the cloak and fear. He had wanted Black, and Black alone to face the Dementors' wrath for killing his parents, in fact, he himself had nearly killed the man!
But now, seeing a severely unstable Snape proclaim Lupin and Black's death was sickening. And it was even worse since everyone was going to be punished for his mistake. For a moment, there was only the sound of Snape moving around, forcing everyone to stand while Scabbers made loud, panicked squeaks then there was a magically ripple.
The ripple was so powerful that it slammed into Snape and sent him tumbling into a wall before he slumped to the ground, clutching his head in pain. For a brief second, the ropes shivered then disappeared, allowing them to quickly separated and rub their wrists, "That was lucky." Ness noted as Lupin grabbed his discarded wand and pointed it at Snape, "Stupify!" stunning him.
"We are going to be in so much trouble…" Hermione whimpered as Black gave his two cents on being tied up and smashed a rotting piece of wood over Snape's head, effectively knocking him out.
"Now then, can we please get this over with it?" Black snarled, "Boy, hand. Over. The. Rat." Ron paled slightly but managed a bold, "And why should I? Even if Peter Petigrew is Scabbers, how did you know where to look?"
"And break out of jail without being a complete nut job." Ginny prompted.
"Yes, how did you know where Peter was?" Lupin questioned,
"Newspaper… I saw him on the front cover." Black said, "I pieced everything together when I saw his missing pinky toe-he cut his own off right before he faked his death-and I escaped by staying a dog, for some reason Dementors can't pick up animal feelings, so they ignored me, even after I had slipped through my jail cell bars and swam toward land."
"So when you were mumbling, 'He's at Hogwarts,' you were talking about Peter?" Ginny questioned. Black nodded and glared at Ron, "Now then, hand. Over. The. Rat. We've wasted too much time standing around jabbering!"
Lupin slowly nodded in agreement and looked at Ron who was looking around at his friends, Harry could only blankly return Ron's look of panic as his mind spun one part was still reeling as some of Ness's story and Black's true motive made a fraction of sense while the other part was running around in frantic circles, trying to find a plausible reason behind… everything, this entire year suddenly just didn't make sense.
He jumped as Lupin said, "Now, now, there is a chance that we may all be wrong, but we don't know for sure until I check."
"And just how will you check?" Hermione asked.
"With a simple spell, if he is a rat then it won't hurt him, but if he is indeed an Animagus well…" Lupin trailed off and sent Scabbers a look, "It will be somewhat painful."
"Not that it will matter." Black growled, hinting toward a much more violent way to prove that he was right, what that way was, Harry had no idea nor did he want to know.
"F…fine." Ron finally said, "But your wrong! Scabbers isn't Peter Petigrew, he's Scabbers!" Ness and Ginny sent him a pained look as he spoke while Lupin carefully accepted the frightened rat and pointed his wand at it, with a flash of blue light, Lupin dropped Scabbers onto the floor and took a step back, watching as Scabbers started to rapidly change.
"Oh geez!" Ness exclaimed as Scabbers transformed into a former shell of a man, with colorless hair, rat like skin and panicked beady eyes that darted around the room, examining his captors with a grim look.
"Hello Peter." Lupin calmly said, "Long time no see."
"R-Remus, Sirius…" the man—Peter to be exact squeaked, "My old… friends… my old, dear friends…"
"Black." Ness warned as Black's wand hand jerked up, his eyes glazed with rage, if Lupin hadn't grabbed his arm and lowered it Harry was sure that Peter would be a pile of ash at their feet.
"Yes, dear friends." Black spat, "Just like our other dear friend, James."
Terrified, Peter scooted over to Lupin who merely gave him a dirty look, "R-remus… he tried to kill me… you… you don't believe him… do you?"
"Depends, after all, we haven't heard your side of the story." Lupin said, his voice still calm, but it had an even edge to it, "Yea, like why was Black after you in the first place?" Ness questioned, startling Harry with how calm—no, curious yet in a positive tone.
Peter flinched and looked at Ness in horror, staring right at Ness's coal black eyes as if hypnotized by them, "I kn-knew because he would come back, wanting revenge for how I-I nearly foiled his master's plan!" Peter shakily said.
"He's a terrible liar…." Ginny muttered while Harry looked at Black for an explanation, "Don't look at me." He said with a small shrug, "The only thing I ruined was giving Peter the role of being a secret keeper after I panicked and deemed myself unworthy to guard James and Lily's new home."
"So Black foils Voldemort-," Ness started to say when Peter violently flinched at the name, "By giving you, a suck up and a coward, a golden ticket to get on Voldemort's side."
"Ness does have a point." Lupin said, "After all, Voldemort's plan was to kill Harry before he resumed his rampage on the wizarding world."
"Y-yes! But I discovered that Black was his spy! His trusted alley!" Peter stammered, Black barked a laugh and shook his head, "Oh please! Why would I serve under Voldemort? I'd rather go back to Azakaban then serve him."
"L-liar!" Peter spat, although he looked sick to his stomach and out of words.
"Enough is enough." Black snarled, "Let me just end this weasel's life before something else interrupts us!"
"Kill him and you'll wind up back at square one Black." Ness warned as Peter screamed a little and shrank into a little ball as Lupin frowned at Black, "Sirius, let's think this through, we can clear your name and prove to the world that you were framed."
"But he wasn't framed!" Peter screeched, "He set himself up for his downfall after his master died!"
Black glowered at Peter and opened his mouth to yell something when Ness interrupted them, "While this is a nice little maze of questions, I just have to wonder, if you knew that you were innocent and that Black was going to come after you, then why not go into protective services or something? Why hide out as a rat in the most convenient place in the world to get back on Voldemort's good side if he ever came back?"
"Protective… services?" Ron questioned, "What's that?"
"It's a government service where people who have been known to tangle with dangerous criminals or was a core piece of an investigation was promised protection in case someone came after them." Ness explained, "Surely, Boston has something like that as well."
Harry looked at Peter, although he had a sinking feeling that he knew the answer as Peter squirmed and wildly eyed the door and boarded windows, trying to form an escape plan, "Well, I think we've heard enough." Lupin said, "All in favor of voting Peter Petigrew guilty and not killing him?"
"Aye!" Ginny and Ness chirped as Black grumbled, "I'm still going to kill him." While Hermione and Ron looked at Harry for an answer, after all his revenge was originally aimed at Black, but now… everything was pointing toward Peter who was indeed a suck up and a coward like Ness had pointed out.
And it made a bit more sense why Peter could arrange for his parents to be murdered then Black, his father's best friend.
"A…aye." Harry finally said, feeling utterly exhauseted, "But… we aren't going to kill him." Black growled, paused then spat, "Fine." Ness, Ginny and Lupin sent him proud smiles.
"Y-you aren't going to ki-kill me?" Peter stammered, "T…then what are you going to do with me?"
"Take you up to the castle and clear Black's name I suppose." Lupin said, nodding his head at Black who used Ron's wand to tie Peter up with thin ropes, "Wh-plea- no!" Peter stammered, to terrified to form a cohert sentence as Black attached Peter to Snape who was still knocked out cold and then to himself.
"Ron, can you stand?" Ness asked as Ginny stood up and dusted her robe off, "Sort of." Ron grunted slowly forcing himself to stand up, "I think I'll live." Hermione quickly went to his side to help while Lupin took a step back, watching the progress with a calm expression.
"Professor, aren't you coming along?" Harry questioned as Black magiced Snape onto a stretcher and started for the door, with Ginny Hermione and Ron following him. Lupin shook his head no and merely said, "I think it would benefit everyone if I stayed here."
"If… you say so." Harry said, as Ness chirped, "Come on Harry, we have a Godfather to prove innocent."
"Godfather…?" Harry thought before he realized that Ness meant, how on earth could he had forgotten that small critical bit of information?" His mind started to spin as he pictured himself, possibly living with Black who seemed ten times better than the Dursley's which was saying something since they were innocent civilians while Black was a somewhat delusion man.
"You know, that went better than I thought it would." Ness murmured as they crawled back through the Whomping Willow, where Crookshanks was waiting, where the cat had been in the chaos was beyond Harry. He was just glad that everything was slowing down so he could think properly.
And wonder about the few questions that had been bugging him, like how Ness could teleport from Lupin's office to the Shrieking Shack, or why Snape had suddenly recoiled in pain, allowing Lupin and Black to fight back.
But before he could voice his questions they emerged from the tunnel and into a moonlight courtyard, "So that's why he hung back." Hermione muttered as she spotted the full moon. Harry nodded in agreement and followed Black who slowly lead them back toward the castle.
"You know, after all this craziness, it's nice to see things looking up for us." Ness commented, grinning as he scanned the grounds, "Black's going to be freed, you're going to have a godfather and I can stop having migraines!"
"Yea…" Harry said, glancing behind him to send Ness a smile when a loud voice yelled, "There! Over there!" shattering the quiet night.
"The executors!" Ginny gasped, "Why are they still out?!"
"Move!" Black ordered as a flare flew into the sky, summoning the executor's friends to their location, "Me and my big mouth." Ness groaned as an azure colored spell flew over their heads, forcing them to duck and keep low to the ground as more spells flew overhead.
Harry felt his heart freeze as he heard Black gave a muffled yell of pain followed by a woozy, hate filled voice hissing, "No one, is going anywhere!" Of course, Snape had chosen the perfect moment to wake up and attack. Of course,
"F-freedom!" Peter yelped as the spell burned the thin rope, allowing him to shapeshift back into a rat and sprint for the woods where he would disappear forever.
"Stop that rat!" Harry ordered his mind temporally forgetting about the fact that Snape had woken up and that they were under fire. "Stop them!" someone yelled as more spells flew overhead, some narrowly missing Harry as he bobbed and weaved, trying to mimic Peter's frantic movements.
"Al…most…" Harry said, his lungs burning as they neared the Forbidden Forest, with a burst of energy Harry flew forward and suppressed a yell as Peter shot forward and disappeared into the tangled vines, leaving Harry in a small clearing surrounded by trees.
"No…" Harry groaned.
"Did you…? Someone panted, causing Harry to start and turn around and see Ness and Hermione both thoroughly winded.
"He got away…" Harry said, a rush of guilt weighing him down even further as Hermione suppressed a gasp, "Great, one of the only things that could have freed Black is gone." Ness grumbled.
"One of only?" Harry questioned with a small frown, "Yea, a friend gave me a camera to send pictures from home." Ness explained, pulling out a small yet bulky camera out of his robe pocket, "While Peter was busy having a stutter attack at the Screeching Shack I took a couple pictures."
"Proof that Peter's actually alive." Hermione realized, "Ness! You're a genius!"
"Uh… thanks? I just wanted a backup plan." Ness said, looking a little flustered, "Now come on, we have a punishment to-," he froze and looked around, "Is something wrong?" Hermione asked as Harry felt a clammy cold ensnare his heart.
"Dementors." He gasped, "Th-the commotion and chaos must have attracted them."
"Lucky us." Ness said as at least 20 Dementors glided into the clear, forming a tight circle around them.
"Think of something happy!" Harry ordered as he pulled his wand out and started chanting Expecto Patronum while he racked his brain for happy memories. But the shocking news and abrupt meeting in the Screeching Shack had left his brain a mess of jumbled emotions.
His heart started to pound as he heard his mother scream, pleading for Voldemort to spare him. "E-expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled stabbing his wand at the monsters as faint wisps of smoke appeared, doing nothing to drown the screams that were slowly drowning out other noise.
"Back off creeps!" Ness seemed to yell but his voice sounded like he was underwater. Harry caught a flash of bright light but didn't dare turn his head to see what it was as his knees started to buckle.
"H…ar…" someone—No, Hermione gasped as she fell, the closing circles of Dementors becoming too much for her. "Hermione think happy!" Harry tried but his voice died when the closest Dementor reached up with slimly grey hands and started to remove its hood.
"A dementor's kiss is fatal." Harry recalled, the thought bouncing around in his scream filled head, "They remove ones soul… A fate worse than death…"
"I'm fine." Harry tried, as the flares of light became much more noticeable followed by a loud thunder of… rock n roll? Where was that coming from? And why was it just as loud as his mother's screaming? Before Harry could find something positive about the distraction he felt his mind scatter into shards of glass and fell to the forest floor.
"N…ness!" Harry yelled his but voice was barely above a whisper as the mental torture finally got to him, the last thing he remembered seeing was a bright light which turned into a stag, that flew from a bush abandoning a tall man with black hair to dance around the fallen trio. "Who… are…?" Harry tried to ask but he fell unconscious, left to the mercy of those soul sucking monsters and the dancing stag…
It's… impressive! But….How did…?...A… charm? That dastardly….!
"Whoever is talking… go away." Ness grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. "Wait… this isn't the woods." For some reason, he was in the hospital ward and was tucked under some boring cream white blankets.
Even in the dim lighting he could make out a thick white curtain to his right and the nurse's office on his left. People were outside the room walking away as they talked about something… But what was it? Ness only grabbed bits in pieces in his sleep daze but what good would a charm be? There weren't only good luck charms on the school grounds.
"Well, whatever their talking about can wait." Ness decided, "I need to figure out what happened." He remembered facing the Dementors and blasting them with fire attacks only to see his flames die out with every blast. He had been too panicky and unable to focus on burning emotions as he recalled the battle between Giygas and Porky, and how hopeless everything felt as he and his friends tried to beat them with force.
Sure, the memory wasn't as severe as Harry's but it had rattled him a bit as the monsters closed in, not slowing down as Hermione fainted. He remembered using Rockin Alpha and hearing Harry give a yell of pain as Ness accidentally included him in the attack.
But after that everything got… fuzzy. He could only remember a flash of ghostly white and for some reason, his baseball cap off in the distance.
"Weird…" he grumbled slowly lying back down and closing his eyes as his migraine returned. He jumped as the curtain was abruptly moved aside. Panicked, he faked sleep which wasn't too hard to do since he felt tired.
When the noise decreased and he was sure that whomever was there had gone he opened his eyes and looked to his right to see Hermione looking up at the ceiling with petrified eyes.
"Herm-," he started to say when Hermione gave a tiny, "Shush." And gestured toward the door, where the people had returned, resuming their conversation.
It was faint, but Ness could get the gust of it, Black had been captured thanks to Snape and the executors who had stayed out to search for Buckbeak-who was probably lone gone by now, and Snape had retrieved him, Hermione and Harry after the Dementors fled.
He jumped as Madam Pomfrey returned and placed a large piece of chocolate onto his bedside table, "Awake, now are we?" Madam Pomfrey said bustling over to give Hermione and Harry a piece of chocolate as well, "Although, I suppose it's no surprise considering the chaos that happened." She grumbled, "Honestly! The minister's men blasting children with jinxes and Dementors trying to murder children. Can't wait for this blasted mess to be over."
"Jinxed? Who got jinxed?" Ness questioned as he sat up, "Ginny and Ron Weasly." Madam Pomfrey briskly answered, "Thankfully it wasn't anything to lethal, just a backwards jinx and a boundary spell."
"So, they'll be alright?" Hermione questioned, "Yes, they'll be just fine with a good night's sleep, which you all need." Madam Pomfrey replied, now sounding soothing.
"And uh, what will happen to Sirius Black?" Ness questioned, although Harry already seemed to know the answer since he was putting his glasses on and getting ready to get out of bed, "He'll be getting the Dementor's kiss any moment now—Potter, what are you doing?." Madam Pomfrey questioned, giving him a stern look.
"I need to see the headmaster." Harry bluntly said, his voice slurring slightly, probably an after-effect from Ness's attack.
"WE, need to see the headmaster." Ness corrected climbing out of bed and reaching for his robe pocket, only to find that he was just wearing his blue and yellow striped sweater (You can't go wrong with blue and yellow after all) and his jeans, "Where's my robe?" Ness questioned.
"In the wash, it was covered with soot stains." Madam Pomfrey said, "Now get back in bed! You need to rest!"
"We need to speak to Dumbledore!" Harry protested, "Black's innocent!"
"Yea! I even took pictures with a camera that shows the real culprit behind this whole mess!" Ness said, "What camera?" Madam Pomfrey said before she grabbed Harry and tried to guide him back to bed, "It was in my robe—the one being washed." Ness explained, a sinking feeling in his gut.
"Your robe pockets were completely empty when they found you—Harry, back into bed!"
"Empty? Oh noooo…" Ness groaned as Harry started to struggle, "Madam Pomfrey please! Dumbledore has to hear the truth!" Hermione pleaded, "And he has my dear, now focus on getting some sleep!" the nurse insisted as she started to forcefully push Harry into bed.
"He's innocent!" Harry argued as the door opened, revealing Snape and the Minister, "Good heavens, what's going on?" the Minister questioned as Snape sent them a cold look, Ness and Hermione quickly tried to explain what had really happen while Harry yelled, "Black's innocent! It was Peter! He faked his death!"
"Yea! He's an Animagus!" Ness prompted, quickly joining Harry's side as Madam Pomfrey gave up and went to get her wand, muttering about how much trouble Dementors could be.
"See? Confounded charm, just like I told you." Snape murmured to the Minster who gravely nodded in agreement, "We are not confused!" Ness snapped, "Especially not me since I spent a good year playing detective trying to figure out what the heck is going on!"
"A very powerful Confounded charm." The Minister noted before he looked at the room Pomfrey had gone into, "Do you have any Restoration Potions Poppy?"
"A couple." She answered, her voice muffled as she opened a cabinet for something, "Now leave! You're distressing my patients!"
"I'm about to distress someone if they don't listen." Ness darkly muttered, his patience for overwhelming events on its last legs as he realized Snape's ruse.
"We were all their Minister." Hermione tried, "Even Ginny and Ron can testify just please put the kiss of until-,"
"Now, now!" the Minister said, giving them all a reassuring smile, "By morning you'll come to your senses about this whole mess."
"But we're already at our senses!" Ness and Harry angrily snapped, sharing brief looks of surprise as Madam Pomfrey returned, "Out!" she ordered pointing Snape and the Minister toward the door, "All your doing is making the mess worse, so leave! And as for you three!"
Ness stifled a groan but huffily got back into the hospital bed and saw that Hermione did the same, maybe they could sneak out later and break Black out, although that would just make more-, "Dumbledore! Sirius Black is-!" Harry started to say as the door opened which had indeed been opened by the headmaster.
"Oh for the love of-," Madam Pomfrey started to grumble as she finally shoved Harry's chocolate into his mouth and pushed him into bed. Sadly, her efforts were in vain as Ness jumped out of bed trying to explain what really happened when Snape cut him off saying, "Shush boy, the headmaster has something to say." Ness shot him an annoyed glare as Dumbledore started to speak, acting as if Ness hadn't been talking at 50 mph.
"My apologies Poppy, but I need to speak to Mr. Potter, Earthbound and Ms. Granger, Sirius Black had some interesting things to-,"
"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted into their minds?" Snape questioned, his voice low and cold.
"That, is indeed what he told me." Dumbledore replied, unfazed by Snape's hostile aura.
"Oh, I see, so the teacher, can interrupt the Headmaster but the lowly student cannot." Ness snarked, "I'm learning more and more about Wizards every day." S
nape sent him an angry glare before he resumed speaking, "Surely, my evidence proves his story false."
"Even though you arrived half way through the discussion and attacked us before asking us questions. And then spent your time knocked out before we got outside" Ness reminded him. Prompting Hermione to earnestly say, "Ness is right sir, you only heard bits and pieces-,"
"Mr. Earthbound, Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE." Snape angrily ordered.
"Now Snape." The Minister started, looking a bit startled by his outburst, "Their minds are disturbed, we must allow some allowances-,"
"Cornelius, Severus, I would like to speak to the children alone." Dumbledore interrupted, "And Poppy—please leave us as well." Madam Pomfrey opened her mouth to argue but she quickly closed it and threw her hands up, returning to the medicine room. The Minister glanced at a gold pocket before he left, saying about how the Dementors should have arrived and that he needed to meet them, leaving them alone with Dumbledore and Snape who looked ready to murder someone.
"You don't believe a word of Black's story." Snape quietly accused, "Do you?"
"I merely wish to hear from the children's side of view." Dumbledore repeated, prompting Snape to take a step forward and hiss, "Sirius Black is quite capable of killing people—and he's proven that in his sixth year, where he so nicely tried to kill me. Or, have you forgotten that?"
"I remember that event quiet well, and if I remember correctly, Black merely meant it as a joke, a harmful one yes, but still a joke which he was properly punished for." Dumbledore said calmly, "Now then…" Snape grit his teeth and left the room, closing the door with a small snap.
The moment Dumbledore turned around, he was bombarded by Harry and Hermione who rapidly started to tell him what really happened. Ness stayed silent, looking the old wizard with curiosity. Sure, he had caught a glimpse of Dumbledore at Hagrid's cabin and at meals.
But he never saw the Headmaster outside of the dining hall. Heck, he forgot Dumbledore was in charge after he realized that Black wasn't after Harry. And now, Ness was sorting wishing that he hadn't as he watched Dumbledore calmly interrupt their stories and said the blunt truth.
Black was doomed to die thanks to lack of proof and by the time Lupin, the only creditable eyewitness turned back to normal he would be dead, yet despite this. He seemed calm and collected, reminding Ness of movie character who was all powerful yet not there for the entire story, allowing the heroes to make dumb decisions that nearly jeopardize the heroes quest.
"Some hero I turned out to be." Ness thought bitterly, silently wishing that he had more time at the beginning of the year to stomach what exactly his job was. "—What we need, is more time." Dumbledore finished bringing Ness back to reality. As the word time causing Hermione to gasp, "Oh!" in understanding.
"More time would be awesome, but it's not like we can summon it from thin air." Ness grumbled, "Or can we?" Dumbledore questioned, a small twinkle in his eyes, "Now pay attention." Dumbledore instructed, dropping his voice to a low whisper, "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the far right of the west wing. If all goes well, you'll be able to save more than one innocent life tonight."
"More than one? But Ginny and I freed Buckbeak, so who's the other innocent?"
"But, remember this, you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law—you know what is at stake… Miss Granger, you know the law—you know what is at stake… You—must—not-be—seen."
Harry gave Dumbledore a baffled look as Ness frowned, slowly getting an idea of what Dumbledore wanted, after all, the only way to gain more time would be to time travel. But why on earth did Hermione have one? And why was Dumbledore leaving?
"I'm going to lock you in now, it is now five minutes to midnight. Three turns should do it Miss Granger." Hermione nodded as Dumbledore said, "Good luck." Left.
"Good luck?" Harry echoed, "How on earth is that supposed to help us?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure we have to do something involving time traveling." Ness offered, "How? I have no idea." He glanced at Hermione who was fumbling with the neck of her robes, trying to free a small object connected with gold chains.
"What's tha-," Ness started to ask as Hermione freed the chain and reveled a small shiny hourglass, "Come here, quick!" Hermione ordered, her eyes warily studying Madam Pomfrey's door as she held the chain open, making the loop big enough for at least three people.
"Okaay then?" Ness said, climbing out of bed and joining Hermione's side, as she threw the chain over Ness and Harry, trapping them in a tight metal circle.
"I hate jewelry." Ness decided as the gold chains dug into his skin, "Ready?" Hermione asked, sounding a little winded, "What are we doing?" Harry questioned as Hermione started to turn the hourglass three times, "Time traveling, duh." Ness answered before he felt something sucker punch him in the gut.
A wave of nausea passed over him as the floor underneath him shifted, the colors started to change and the dark lighting turned into a sunset yellow as the room spun. It reminded Ness of teleporting only much worse.
With a sudden snap the room abruptly stopped and Ness fell forward, feeling too dizzy and queasy to stand.
"Hermion- wha? Where?" Harry questioned as Hermione grabbed Harry and forced Ness to his feet, dragging them out into the hall and into a broom closet. Ness happily slumped against the wall as Harry stammered some more before he formed a cohort question, "What just happened?"
"We've gone back in time. About 3 hours" Hermione whispered, pressing her ear to the door to listen for any intruders, "That's possible?" Harry asked.
"I've done it." Ness mumbled, "A couple of times, actually."
"Shh! Do you hear that?" Hermione questioned, Ness shook his head no since all he could hear was his heart beat, which seemed to get louder and louder with every passing second, "Is… that us?" Harry whispered as a faint pair of footsteps echoed through the hallway.
"Yes…. We're leaving for Hagrid's." Hermione whispered.
"But-how? How is this possible?"
"I have a time tuner, a very, very powerful artifact that Professor McGonagall had to practically bend over backwards for me to get." Hermione explained, "I've been using it to get to all my classes."
"So that's how you've been attending so many classes at once." Harry exclaimed, sounding a little awestruck. "You've been going back in time!"
"You are one workaholic Hermione." Ness weakly joked, "I can only take one class at a time."
"Thank you…?" Hermione questioned, not getting the joke, "And, are you okay? You look extremely pale."
"I'm fine, just trying to adjust to the floor not moving." Ness said, silently thinking "Although I shouldn't be feeling this sick at all."
"I see…" Hermione said although she still looked worry, Harry however, didn't seem as distraught by Ness's condition, probably because he was still trying to figure out what they were supposed to do.
Ness happily drowned Harry's questions out while the world finally stopped giving him a headache. "Alright… everyone's gone now." Hermione said, opening the door and slipping out into the hall. Ness and Harry followed her and carefully headed for the door leading to Hagrid's house.
The entire way, Hermione fretted about someone seeing them from the window, forcing Harry and Ness to quietly reassure her that they would merely run into the woods and or teleport (Hermione sent him an agitated look and a brief lecture of how you couldn't apperate in the castle grounds for that)
"A-alright, we need to head for the woods now." Hermione said as they cut through the vegetable patch, "Why?" Ness questioned, "We could just hang out here until Black's nabs Ron."
"But we need to save Buckbeak, remember?" Harry said.
"Save—," Ness started to say when Hermione and Harry moved for the woods, "Wait! You guys Ginny and I-," Ness started to say, only to be cut off by a loud panicky "Shush!" from Hermione as they sneaked along the forest's edge.
"Thanks time traveling stomach," Ness bitterly thought, "You made me forget to warn Harry and Hermione about Ginny and me."
"Freaky…" Harry muttered as they heard him knock on Hagrid's door and say, "Hagrid, it's us we're wearing the invisibility cloak." Prompting Hagrid to tearful exclaim, "You shouldn't have come!"
"Guys!" Ness hissed as they slowly approached the giant pumpkin garden and hid behind some trees, "We need to move!"
"Why? This is the safest place to be." Harry murmured, "Yes! Until Ginny and I come here and-,"
"Who's there?!"
"Crud…" Ness groaned, as Buckbeak's head snapped up from pawing the ground and glared right into the woods, "Ness, why do we need to move?" Hermione questioned,
"Because, Ginny and I save Buckbeak." Ness explained as he backed up, "You did what?!" Hermione exclaimed as Buckbeak frowned and strained at the rope, trying to find the source of their conversation, "I'll explain later." Ness whispered, "Right now I have to convince Buckbeak that there's a ghost with mind reading powers."
"A what?" Hermione questioned as Harry paled and whispered, "That's right, you can commutate with animals…"
Ness ignored her and mentally poked Buckbeak who jumped back and looked around in surprise, "Who did that?! I demand that you reveal yourself at once!" Buckbeak ordered.
"But I have." Ness taunted, "After all, you've been watching me through the window."
"Through the-," Buckbeak froze and slowly glared inside, "You dirty little rodent…" Buckbeak snarled, "Mark my words! Before my beheading I shall find you!"
"Suuure, have fun with that." Ness thought before he flashed a thumbs' up to Harry and Hermione before backing up, "He's focusing on Scabbers now." Ness whispered.
"Great." Harry whispered, "Now how did you and Ginny free him? We didn't see anyone else come down from the castle when-," Harry abruptly cut himself off when Hermione muffled a gasp and pointed back at the garden, where Ness and Ginny had just landed.
"Um… Is Buckbeak usually outside?" they heard Ginny questioned as she woozily regained her balance, "Darn, we got here too late." Past Ness muttered before he chipperly turned to Buckbeak who was glaring into the window.
"This is sooo weird." Ness mumbled as Past him asked Buckbeak what was wrong, earning a sour, "That rat is mocking me…" before questioning as to why they were there.
"Wh…why is no one saying anything?" Hermione questioned.
"Telekinesis." Ness explained, "I'm allowing Ginny to hear what Buckbeak's saying so we don't catch your attention, don't worry, we're just talking about ways to free him using my powers."
"And then what happens?" Harry questioned.
"Well, we booked it for the woods when we heard you were leaving and waited for a bit." Ness finished, "Which is why I'm backing up."
"I suppose giving us future warning would have been too much to ask." Hermione grumbled as they joined Ness behind a thick oak wood, Just as Past Ness and Ginny were forcefully thrown toward the bushes to hide as Past Harry, Hermione and Ron left through the backdoor.
"Anything else we should worry about?" Harry questioned as he watched Past Ginny and Ness whisper to each other, "Well, after I free Buckbeak he runs into the woods, then Ginny and I walk back to the castle before realizing that you guys were probably attacked by Black. Turn around only to be stopped by Lupin who reveals to be a werewolf and then we teleport to the classroom and then to the Shrieking Shack." Ness recalled taking a small gulp of air.
"Where, exactly does he run to?" Hermione questioned.
"North, which prompted the Executor hunt." Ness explained, "Which means we should start moving to try and catch him." Harry and Hermione shared a look before they nodded, probably decided that it was best to act and not ask questions until it was safe.
"Alright we should be-," Ness started to say when they heard a loud triumphant caw of victory followed by heavy thumping as Buckbeak charged into the woods, trampling a bush and spreading his wings with glee.
"He's about to take flight!" Hermione realized prompting Ness to sarcastically say, "Nooo. I thought he was about to go for a swim." Before he turned toward Buckbeak, "Yo! Buckbeak!" the Hippogriff screeched to a halt and glanced behind him "Ness? Is something wrong?"
"What's he saying?" Hermione questioned, "He's just confused right now." Ness whispered, "Here, grab my hand, you can hear him as well."
"If you say so." Harry muttered, doing as Ness said and frowning slightly as he heard nothing, "Over here! I'm behind the tree." Ness mentally yelled.
"Of course, you are." Buckbeak grumbled, "Don't you ever get headaches from your PSI powers?"
"Psi doesn't exist." Hermione thought, "It's been proven and debunked."
"Who's that? That doesn't sound like Carrot top." Buckbeak questioned, "It's Hermione Granger, she's a friend of Harry." Ness explained, "Who…?"
"I'm the boy who first bowed to you, and one of Hagrid's friends." Harry explained, looking a little uncomfortable at how they were communicating with Buckbeak.
"Ah… Now I remember you—wait, you were just in the-," Buckbeak started to say, his eyes widening in realization when Ness abruptly cut him off, "I know, it's weird, but we've traveled back in the past in order to save Harry's godfather and capture a rat faced jerk."
"But-,"
"And, we need your help to do it." Ness finished. Buckbeak huffed, approached their hiding spot and glared down at them, "And why on earth should I help this random stranger?" Buckbeak coolly demanded.
Hermione and Harry exchanged a look as Ness happily replied, "Because! If you don't then Peter Petigrew, a mass murdered and, a proud servant of You know Who will get away without fearing Black."
"His servants are still around?!" Buckbeak exclaimed his eyes widen in horror, then abruptly narrowing in anger and disgust, "Very well, then, I shall lend my wings to this Black person you speak of. As well as maul the little monster."
"P-please wait!" Hermione squeaked, "We need Peter alive to prove Black's innocent!"
"You do?" Buckbeak tilted his head, as in thought then glanced at Harry, deeming him to be the one in charge of the mission. "You don't mind if I bite his hand of…. Right?"
"He may need that later on." Harry said, looking a little bewildered, "Plus, that wouldn't prove your case of being a harmless Hippogriff." Buckbeak gave a low, "Hmph." Of annoyance then folded his wings, "Very well, what do you need me to do?"
"Fly Black out of here once the chaos ends." Ness explained, "Which means we're going to be doing a lot of waiting and sneaking around for a bit."
"Do I have to sneak? Sneaking it repulsive." Buckbeak whined, somehow still sounding like a dignified creature, "Well do you want us to stay still so the Ministry of Magic can find and behead you?" Harry challenged.
"Good God no." Buckbeak retorted with a small shiver, "Just, lead the way."
"To the Whomping Willow!" Ness instructed, dreading the long wait they were going to have to endure. Something Harry and Hermione seemed quiet fine with, then again, for them it would allow them to see everything that happened, for Ness, it was a chance to take another nap. Or try to since the moment they found a good spot, Hermione and Harry began bombarding him with questions.
"So how did you, Ginny and Lupin get to the Whomping Willow without being seen?" Hermione questioned as they watched Snape stop at the tree, grab Harry's cloak and then enter the tunnel.
"Same way we got to the garden," Ness bluntly replied, "I teleported to the Shrieking Shack."
"You couldn't have teleported-," Hermione began to say when Ness cut her off, "I didn't use Magic, I used PSI."
"P..SI?" Harry questioned, "What's that?"
"Psionics, or PK, Psychokinesis, which both stand for psychic powers." Ness explained, "I can't wield magic since I'm already a psychic, that's why you almost never see me with a wand."
Hermione gave him a dumb founded look while Harry frowned and asked, "Is that even possible?"
"Well, that's how I freed Buckbeak without approaching him, how I've been able to share his thoughts with you guys and how I managed to figure out Black's story in the first place, I used my psychic powers." Ness replied, feeling a headache coming on as he saw the gears in Hermione's head turn.
Thankfully, Buckbeak interrupted their discussion by stiffening and getting to his feet, "People are approaching, from the tree and from the west."
"Looks like it's time to move again." Ness said, spotting a silhouette of seven people walking in a straight line toward the castle. "There! Over there!" a voice rang, prompting them to head for the clearing as spells began to fly, "Geez! Those guys are out for blood!" Ness commented as he ducked under a nasty looking green ball of magic, "Lucky us." Harry grumbled as they ducked behind a bush and waited.
A couple minutes later, Past Harry, Hermione and Ness stumble into the clearing chasing after Peter who abruptly disappeared. "I'll get him!" Buckbeak volunteered straining at his rope collar as Ness and Hermione held him back, "If you do that then we'll see you!" Ness hissed, "Now sit! And Harry, don't do anything dumb!"
"I wasn't going to." Harry protested, but he didn't dare argue any further when Hermione and Ness sent him knowing glares. "I hate those things." Hermione muttered as the swarm of Dementors appeared, trapping their past selves in a circle of death. Ness closed his eyes as he sensed himself spamming Fire Alpha while Harry desperately yelled at Hermione to think happy thoughts.
"Where's the white light?" Harry murmured as Past Hermione fainted and Ness's random bursts of fire slowly started to die down in power, "Oh yea… I saw that too, right after I performed Rockin' Alpha." Ness muttered, "Err…Sorry about that."
"Sorry about what?" Harry questioned as Past Harry collapsed, gasping Ness's name as Past Ness struggled to stand.
"Never mind! So uh, where's the magical white light?" Ness questioned looking around in confusion, "I swear it came from here…" Harry frowned then gasped in realization, "Harry what are you-," Hermione started to say when Harry stood up, pointed his wand and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" summoning a brilliant white stag which shot forward, barreling into a couple Dementors before it started to protectively circle their Past Selves.
"Harry!" Hermione hissed, "What are you doing!?"
"Saving our lives." Ness realized, "Man, time traveling is confusing."
"Wh- Harry didn't-," Hermione started to say when Harry recalled the last thing he saw, "I thought I saw my dad saving us Hermione, but it was actually me."
"And that would explain why the last thing I saw was my hat." Ness said, "So, no real harm since we were supposed to do this I guess."
"You two had better be right." Hermione groaned. Buckbeak merely huffed and lied down, "Now what? Are we waiting again?"
"Someone brought us to the castle, which was how we even got into the hospital wing."
"So people DO have wings?"
"Err, no, it's a term for a section of a building that juts out."
"…I see…" Buckbeak said, although he still looked a little confused.
"So Snape was the one who brought us back." Harry practically growled as Snape entered the clearing, took a long look at the three knocked out children and summoned a couple stretchers before disappearing back into the woods.
"And there's my camera!" Ness exclaimed, "Thank god it didn't get broken." Harry silently nodded in agreement while Hermione fretted for a bit before suggesting that they started to head back to the castle, Ness agreed, but managed to grab Selvis's camera before following Harry and Hermione through the forest.
"Black had better be placed back in… Whose office was it again?"
"Professor Flitwick's." Hermione recalled. "Seventh floor, thirteenth window from the far right of the west wing. That's where we need to go next once everything settles down."
"Well, Black was put in the classroom probably around 10 Pm, since Dumbledore said it was five minutes to midnight when we left." Harry said, "So we could probably head there once we get out of the woods."
"Yes! The time traveling madness can come to an end!" Ness cheered, earning a dry comment of, "I don't see what's so bad about time traveling." From Buckbeak. While Harry and Hermione vigorously nodded their heads in agreement, "I don't think I can take much more of this sneaking around." Hermione muttered as they finally left the dark woods and headed toward the west wing.
"It isn't that bad." Harry offered earning a glare from Ness, who didn't say anything and merely focused on the glowing windows.
"There! That has to be Flitwick's office." Hermione said, pointing at a window that was dimmed slightly, "Great, now what?" Ness questioned, he had never been in Flitwick's office, so he couldn't teleport them up there, so how would they—"Buckbeak can fly us up." Harry said looking at Buckbeak who briefly stretched his wings before kneeling, "Finally, I get to do something other than walk." Buckbeak said.
"Lovely." Ness said completely forgetting about Buckbeak's power of flight. He carefully followed Harry and Hermione's lead as they climbed onto Buckbeak's back, positioning himself on Buckbeak's hindquarters, "Hold on." Buckbeak advised. Prompting Ness to bitterly muttered, "To what?" before he bit his tongue to suppress a terrified scream as Buckbeak kicked off and shot forward, doing a couple practice circles in the air before he headed toward Black's window.
"Black!" Harry yelled, "Over here!" Black, who had just finished a long list of regrets wearily looked up and jumped, "What the- Harry? How did you?" then he stopped and grinned, "If James could see you now, he would swear that it was your mother's fault that your flying on a Hippogriff."
"Can we land now?" Ness questioned, "I reeeaaally don't like knowing the fact that I can turn into a pancake at any moment."
"I'm not going to drop you!" Buckbeak protested as Harry switched places with Black, allowing him to get on the Hippogriff, how Harry managed to climb off the creature without falling was beyond Ness, but Harry's action convinced him to do the same, which was how he and Harry became stranded at Flitwick's office after Ness promised that they would meet her back at broom closet.
"I. Hate. Flying." Ness declared once he was safely on the ground, "Never again am I trying any wizard version of flying."
"Good luck with that." Harry said, examining the door, "I'm pretty sure Ginny still wants you to ride my Firebolt."
"She better not." Ness grumbled before he glanced at Flitwick's desk, which was full of tiny nick-knacks and objects, "Well, let's get going before the Minister-," Ness started to say when they heard footsteps, "That must be them." Harry realized, glancing at a charmed clock which read 11:30, "They must be coming to check on Black!"
"Well, looks like we better leave then." Ness said. He grabbed Harry's hand ran forward and pictured himself and Harry entering the Broom closet. With a blur of motion, Flitwick's office disappeared, and the brooms appeared.
"Victory—Ow!" Ness yelped as he and Harry collided with the cleaning tools, "Once again, my grand escape was foiled by brooms." Ness groaned as Harry placed a broken broom on the ground.
"Oh? So what was the first time brooms foiled your escape plan?" Harry questioned.
"When Ginny tried to get me to fly on one."
"Brooms aren't that bad."
"Says the boy whose Father was a mega prankster." Ness retorted, "While you have fun flying in the sky, I'll happily stay on the ground and not lose my life because my flying stick broke during a game."
"What are you two arguing about?" a voice hissed, causing them to jump as the door abruptly opened then closed, "I knew brooms had souls!" Ness hissed, "And—Oh wait, never mind."
"I thought so." Hermione huffed, removing the Invisibility cloak, "Honestly can't believe we forgot about this."
"Well, to be fair when we were running we-," Ness started to say when they heard someone loudly say, "I'm going to lock you in know, It is five minutes to midnight, three turns should do it Miss Granger… Good luck."
"Come on." Harry said, opening the door and heading toward the hospital wing where Dumbledore was just closing the door, "Ah, the mission was successful then?" Dumbledore questioned, although he had a knowing twinkle in his eye. They nodded then glanced at the door, "Just a moment we need to—ah, it appears that you've already left."
"Time traveling, a lovely way to get headaches." Harry grumbled as Dumbledore opened the door and allowed them inside. Ness was about to get back in bed when he remembered something, "Err, Headmaster, why did you tell us that we had two innocent lives to save?" Ness questioned, "You, yourself saw Buckbeak disappear at the cabin so why-," Ness stopped when Dumbledore held his hand up, "As much as I would like to answer that question Earthbound, it is late, and we have a very busy day tomorrow. So, I bid you all, good night." And with that, the headmaster left the room.
"…He knows what I mean." Ness grumbled as Madam Pomfrey returned, "Oh, so now I'm allowed to take care of my patients." She grumbled handing them each a chunk of chocolate which they wisely accepted and ate.
"Good, now as I said before you'll be-," she started to say when they heard yelling, thumping and a torrent of footsteps heading for the infirmary.
"Now what?!" Madam Pomfrey demanded as Snape threw the door open and pointed at Harry who jumped in legit surprise, "You! Potter!" Snape snarled, "You did this!"
"Did what?! They've been here the entire time!" Madam Pomfrey snapped, "Now-,"
"Then how do you explain Black magically escaping from the 13th floor!" Snape snapped, rounding on her with a vicious glare.
"N….now…. now." The Minster panted, appearing in the door way with a frazzled expression, "Just because Black somehow slipped underneath our noses isn't why we should blame the-,"
"Minster, this is Potter we're talking about! He and his friends have always been behind mysterious disappearances!" Snape argued.
"Hey! The only thing I've made disappear and reappear is this!" Ness protested, holding up Selvis's batter camera, "Ah, so you've found it." Madam Pomfrey grumbled, "Yea, and I managed to take some pretty cool pictures with it!" Ness explained, pulling free a clear photo of Peter Petigrew from the jammed camera slot. Peter was trembling as Lupin calmly confronted him and blocked any means of escaping from the photo frame.
"See? Cool right?" Ness asked, happily handing his photo to the Minster who half-heatedly accepted saying, "Yes, yes, this is a very lovely photo but now I have to tell the Daily Prophet that-," he stopped, looked at the photo then at Ness, his eyes widening in shock "Mr. Earthbound, who is the man cowering in the photo?"
"That's Peter Petigrew." Hermione supplied, "He faked his death to escape You-Know-Who's followers."
"He… faked his death?" The Minister repeated, looking bewildered.
"Yes, and he's the reason why Black went peacefully to Azkaban then broke out, he was hunting him down to exact revenge on Peter for killing my parents." Harry explained.
"Good gravy…" the Minster whispered, "If this is true then… then we've been chasing the wrong man!" Snape shot the Minister a look of disbelief then glowered at them.
"Lovely, now GET OUT!" Madam Pomfrey ordered, "These children need rest! You can question them in the morning!"
"Oh! Yes of course! Come on Severus." The Minister mumbled looking like he had just been sucker punched as he and Snape shuffled out of the room. Ness grinned and happily burrowed under the blankets. He, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and everyone else, had just proven a guilty man innocent.
That, made the entire year of asking questions worth it.
YES! Nearly finished with Year Three! Which means, I won't have to glance back and forth between the book and my laptop in order to get a chain of events/dialogue, I can now paraphrase what happens freely! :D
