I unfortunately do not own the world of Harry Potter. That honor belongs to J. K. Rowling.

I would just like to say a quick thanks to Fire-And-Ice-Forever-JB-JH, Allen Pitt, lillyflower's revenge, narniagirl18, Princess-Lazy-Chan, AnonymousMSQ, domenica13, madfinn654321, Loonynamelass, kaikai92, carlyrb6, Witchgirl590, Dolpheen, lovemalfoy9309, Catastrophe Cullen, Twilightluver919-Padme'nAnakin, and CinnamonMintiMoon.

This is my first fan-fic. Hope you like it! (And if you haven't guessed by now, reviews are greatly appreciated!)

I am writing 5 other fan-fics at this time as well. If you could please check out my profile and check them out, I would greatly appreciate that. Thanks! :)

Chapter 31:

Lives Saved and Ruined

"Scabbers, hold still!" Ron said, trying to keep his rat in his pocket. The rat kept moving, however, before leaping out of his hands and running down the hill.

"Scabbers! Scabbers, come back!" Ron yelled, before chasing after his pet.

"Ron!" Harry and Hermione yelled in unison, before starting to race after him. Harry stopped, suddenly, however, and looked back at Ariella, who was still on the ground. She looked up as she felt Harry's gaze on her, his eyes worried and questing.

"Go, Harry. I'll be fine. Hurry, though. He's headed in the direction of the Whomping Willow!" She said urgently. Harry's eyes widened and he raced off after his friends. Though she didn't particularly care for Ron Weasley, she knew that him racing off was a bad idea. She could just see something happening…he didn't often think before he acted.

Ariella then tried to stand again, and found that though extremely painful, she could do it. Off to the side a bit, she saw a long branch, and she grabbed onto it, and used it as a crutch. At a painfully slow rate, she started making her way back up to the castle. She didn't know how much time had passed, but it must have been at least a half an hour.

She was nearing the edge of the Forbidden Forest when she looked down and saw something that made her heart stop. A man was lying, breathing shallowly on the ground. Harry was standing above him, wand out. Dementors were swarming the place, and the usual cold, numb feeling started to fill Ariella. Harry was trying and failing to produce a patronus. Ariella hurried forward as fast as she could (which was very fast at all, considering her injury.) She pulled out her wand, and, trying with all her might to think of something happy, said,

"Expecto Patronum!" This time, for the first time ever for the young witch, a wispy silver shield was emitted from her wand. Some of the dementors backed up a bit, but they kept coming back, trying to break through the barrier. From across the lake, she noticed a figure, and from the tip of the person's wand, a fully formed patronus was emitted, and came across the lake, warding off the dementors. Ariella felt herself falling, her vision was going fuzzy, both from pain and from the effects of the dementors. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry fall to the ground, unable to take the effects of the dementors any longer. Then Ariella's head hit the ground, and her fuzzy vision went black, and she lay still, unconscious, her ankle twisted at an awkward angle, and bleeding.

When Ariella awoke, she found herself extremely sore. She blinked a few times to clear her sight. Everything around her was white…she was in the Hospital Wing…again. She sat up…or, at least, she tried to. Her ankle screamed in pain, and the girl immediately stopped moving, and rested back against the pillows, exhaling slowly, and closing her eyes.

Ariella didn't know how much time had passed, but she suddenly heard voices. She opened her eyes wearily, and was met with a rather strange sight. Harry and Hermione were leaving in front of her, just as they were entering the room from the opposite end. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining things when her eye caught the glint of something gold around Hermione's neck. And suddenly, Ariella deduced what had happened…Hermione had used a Time Turner.

It was Ron who first noticed that she was awake, and in the Hospital Wing at all.

"What are you doing here? Enjoy following us?" he asked. The girl's eyes narrowed.

"No, I – I guess I passed out due to the dementors. And besides, Buckbeak…" Ariella trailed off, gulping, before continuing, rather quickly,

"My ankle's injured, remember?"

"Buckbeak's alive, you know." Harry said quietly, causing Ron and Hermione to stare at him.

"Harry! What are you doing?" Hermione whispered urgently.

"Congratulations, then. And Black…"

"Was innocent." Harry said stiffly, cutting her off.

"So he's safe then?" Ariella asked. Suddenly, they heard a distant roar of fury echoing from somewhere above them…

"I guess that answers that question." Ariella said, answering herself, smiling weakly.

"What was that?" said Madam Pomfrey in alarm, coming out of her office, and handing them all slabs of chocolate.

Now they could hear angry voices, growing louder and louder. Madam Pomfrey was staring at the door.

"Really — they'll wake everybody up! What do they think they're doing?"

Harry was trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were drawing nearer —

"He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out —"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared, now very close at hand. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS — HAS — SOMETHING — TO — DO — WITH — POTTER!"

"Severus — be reasonable — Harry has been locked up —"

BAM.

The door of the hospital wing burst open.

Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came striding into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. Indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself.

Fudge appeared angry. But Snape was beside himself.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Professor Snape!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey. "Control yourself!"

"See here, Snape, be reasonable," said Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw —"

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.

"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" shrieked Snape. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT —"

"That will do, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. "I would have heard them!"

"Well, there you have it, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further. And if you won't believe us, then why don't you try an answer from one of your own house? Ms. Lyons is here as well." Everyone turned to look at Ariella, and she could feel Harry and Hermione's pleading eyes on her.

"Well, Lyons?" Snape said menacingly, as if daring her to answer falsely. "What do you know about this?"

"Nothing, sir. I've only just woken up. As far as I'm concerned, Professor, they didn't leave this room. How could they have without going out the doors?" she replied, and she noticed from the corner of her eye the two Gryffindors relax a bit.

Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," said Fudge, staring after him. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore."

"Oh, he's not unbalanced," said Dumbledore quietly. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment."

"He's not the only one!" puffed Fudge. "The Daily Prophet's going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that Hippogriff's escape to get out, and I'll be a laughingstock! Well… I'd better go and notify the Ministry…"

"And the Dementors?" said Dumbledore. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"

"Oh yes, they'll have to go," said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy…

Completely out of control… no, I'll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight… Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance…"

"Hagrid would like that," said Dumbledore, and Ariella had to stile a laugh.

As he and Fudge left the dormitory, Madam Pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it again. Muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office.

The four students were released from the Hospital Wing the next day, and Ariella, though still in some pain, was content. It was a Hogsmeade Weekend, meaning that everyone else was out of the castle, leaving her free to wander around. As she did so, she realized that she still had no idea what exactly had happened the previous night. So she went off in search of "The Golden Trio". She found them by Hagrid's hut, talking to the large man himself. As she approached, she could hear what he was saying, and her heart got caught in her throat.

"Yeah… can't've tied him up properly," said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. "I was worried this mornin', mind… thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night…"

"What?" said Harry quickly.

"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said Hagrid, his smile fading a little.

"Harry, Snape told all the Slytherins before they left for Hogsmeade this morning that Professor Lupin is a werewolf." Ariella said quietly, coming up behind them. Hagrid's eyes narrowed, but he nodded.

"He's packin' now, o' course." He said.

"He's packing?" said Harry, alarmed. "Why?"

"Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking surprised that Harry had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin again."

"Why not? It was an accident. He would never try to hurt anyone purposely." Ariella said, feeling a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Why do you care? Aren't you Slytherins glad he's leaving?" Ron said to her.

"No, Ron, I'm not happy he's leaving. He's a great teacher, and a great person. I've had my suspicions about what he was, but it only made me respect him more. Maybe it's time you stopped judging me for my house." She said, before walking as quickly as she could, leaving behind four dumfounded people. Hagrid thought for a moment, before saying,

"She's right, yeh know, Ron."

Meanwhile, Ariella had gone straight to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, where she found Lupin packing.

"Professor?" she asked quietly. He looked up, and though his expression was calm, the witch could detect a hint of fear in his eyes.

"Yes, Ariella? What can I do for you?" He asked politely.

"Professor, please don't go. None of us want you to leave." She said, surprising her professor.

"I'm sure members of your house would disagree."

"Then they're blind and stupid," Harry said, entering the room. Ariella looked quickly between the two males, and deduced that she 'ought to leave.

"I've learned a lot this year, Professor. Thank you." She said, giving a nod to her classmate, before leaving the room.

Overall, Ariella felt that this year had gone rather well. It had been full of ups and downs. And though she wasn't looking forward to going back to Malfoy Manor for the summer, maybe there was something even more to be learned from her Professor. Because it was his hardship, his "problem" that made him who he was...that made him the strong and kind person he was. Maybe she wasn't so different.

And with these thoughts in mind, Ariella walked, head held up high, ready for whatever challenges she would face in the coming months and years.

Sorry for the long wait!

Thanks to all who are reading, and liking it. If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, please feel free to review/private message me. Also, if you have any ideas at all, or would like to see something happen, let me know, and I'll consider putting them into a chapter. Thanks! ~ Leanora