"What was all that back there, Harry?" Hermione asked as she Harry and Ron as they climbed into the carriage with a few other Gryffindors, and started back towards Hogwart's.
"Nothing. Why are you talking to us all of a sudden?" Giving Harry a hurt look, Hermione turned to face the window of the carriage and sat silent through the rest of the ride back to school.
When the carriage stopped everyone exited and Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way towards Hagrid's hut. As they neared their friend's home, Harry reached out and took Hermione by the arm.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to be so...well, you know." Harry lowered his eyes and stared at the ground in shame.
Hermioned touched Harry's arm warmly and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll talk about it later. Right now we need to check on Hagrid."
With that they all went on towards Hagrid's. They were crushed when they saw how heartbroken their large friend was. None of them had really had the time to check in on the groundskeeper since they'd found out about the verdict in the hippogriff's hearing. Harry and Ron were even more upset remembering that they hadn't even helped Hagrid with the preparations for the hearing as they'd promised they would.
Buckbeak was set to be executed in four days time and their exams would begin the following morning. Together the three of them sat with Hagrid for an hour or so until the sun had clearly set and Hagrid insited on walking them back to the castle so they could finish studying for their exams. They knew it would be a long four days, and they each hoped that they could find some way to stop Buckbeak's execution before then.
----
For a moment Jack peered through the slightly ajar door as Daniel paced the floor of the small room at the top of the stairs. Slowly he eased his way inside as Daniel took a seat against the wall near the window.
"What do you want, Jack?"
"To apologize." Daniel waved his arm at Jack and the colonel stepped closer and took a seat beside him. "I was wrong, okay?"
"Some apology." Shaking his head Daniel turned to look out the window.
"What do you want, Danny? You were gone for hours, and then we see you talking to the one person none of us should be anywhere near-"
Daniel cut him off as he shook his head. "Why is that? I thought you two were trying to protect that kid."
"We are, but he has no idea who we are. What he probably knows about Sirius is that everyone thinks he's responsible for his parent's deaths. Until we find Peter we have no way of proving that to Harry."
With a sigh Daniel nodded pulled his knees to his chest. "I see your point but that boy is already pretty wary of people. He was suspicious of me as soon as he saw me."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I got the impression that he's angry about something. If he had known I was helping you and Sirius, I have no doubt he would have used that wand on me."
"If he's anything like James he probably would have."Jack paused a moment and then let his head sink down into his hands. "You know he looks just like his father. The eyes are definitely Lily's, but otherwise he's the spitting image of James. I can't help but think that this will end badly."
Daniel could read the hurt in his friend's eyes and he nodded. "It'll work out. I'm sure of it."
Jack stared curiously at Daniel and breathed a heavy sigh. "This all turning out so wrong. We're no closer to finding Peter than we were when I left. I don't even know if I should be here."
"Of course you do. You wouldn't have risked Hammond's wrath and a court-martial if you didn't think it was necessary."
"Are you so sure? I can't be anywhere near those damned dementors without losing it and I have no idea how to find Peter. If anything I'm more of a risk to Sirius that anything else."
"That's not true. Sirius knows that and so do I. What happened yesterday wasn't anyone's fault. So they have a bad effect on you. From what Sirius tells me, you aren't the only one. You'll deal. You always find a way to do just that, no matter what the situation. Whether we're offworld or here, you'll do what you have to do make things work. I trust you to do that, and so does Sirius."
Jack shook his and smiled half-heartedly. "How is it you have so much faith in me?"
"Because you're my friend and you've never given me much reason to doubt you."
Sighing Jack rested his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Well, I guess we should get going then."
"Get going?" Daniel gave Jack a quizzical look.
"Yeah. I wanna head back to the rental car and see if we can salvage anything."
"Do you even know how to get back to it?"
Jack shook his head. "I have a pretty god idea where we were when I went off the road. We've still got several hours of daylight left. I'd like to get some use out of them."
With that the two men stood up and headed for the door. As they reached it the door swung open to reveal a rather smug looking Sirius Black staring back at them.
"Are you two quite done making up yet?" He asked as he leaned against the doorframe withwhat looked like a thin piece of black licorice in his mouth.
Jack smirked. "Actually we are. Now if you'll get out of the way, we can start heading back to the car."
With a few provisions in one backpack the trio headed out of the Shrieking Shack and into the forbidden forest. The sun was still high in the sky as they trudged into the darkness of the trees. Sirius had transformed and was trotting along sniffing at the ground and scouting out the area ahead of them as Jack and Daniel followed.
----
"Do you know the way back to Hogwart's MajorCarter?" Teal'c asked as he watched his teammate furiously fumble with a map as she drove out of London.
"I have a pretty good idea. I was paying attention to the roads when the Colonel was driving us here last time."
"Then may I ask why you are treating that map in such a manner? It has caused you no harm, yet you disfigure it as though it were your enemy?"
Carter grinned sheepishly and handed the map to Teal'c as she maneuvered their vehicle down the road. The jaffa took the map and carefully folded it up placing it in the compartment between the driver and passenger seats.
"I just hope we make it in time. The Colonel seemed pretty certain that something big was about to happen."
"Indeed." Teal'c nodded stoically and Carter turned back to the road and continued driving.
A few hours passed, and it was clear that she had no idea where they were. She had taken the turn she was sure that Colonel O'Neill had taken when he had driven them to the school, but nothing seemed familiar.
"I think we're lost, Teal'c. I thought I knew where we were going, but all these trees look the same. We should have reached the lake by now."
"I believe you are correct." Carter turned to Teal'c as the jaffa warrior cocked his head and nodded in agreement with her, and she sighed in frustration.
She drove on for a few more minutes before something in the distance caught her attention and she pulled over to take a closer look.
----
"How much further, Jack?" Daniel wiped the sweat from his forehead and sipped at the canteen on water he had brought along.
"Just a bit more. The main road is a few more miles ahead."
With a sigh Daniel capped the canteen and let if fall to his side as they moved forward. The sun was starting to wane, and the eerie silence of the forest was beginning to creep the archeologist out just a bit as they continued on.
Sirius was still trotting along ahead of them and Jack quickened his pace. A bird cawed above them and Jack looked around as he kept moving.
"This forest is kinda creepy."
"I don't know, Daniel. I think it's rather nice."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "What about all those spiders we passed earlier? You didn't seem to think those were all that nice."
With a grin Jack shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Several minutes later a patch of sunlight seemed to break through the trees ahead of them. They quickened their pace and soon found themselves staring at a familiar sight. The wreckage of their rental car was still wedged against the tree trunk, and to their surprise Carter and Teal'c were standing beside the vehicle surveying the area as they approached.