(PoA) CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: The Final Escape
When they neared the others, Ellie's heart just about dropped out of her chest.
Total chaos had erupted.
Not only were Harry, Ron, and Hermione there, but Fred was, too, along with Professor Snape and a very large, very terrifying creature that Ellie could only assume was Professor Lupin's werewolf form.
And it was making a move to bite Fred.
Before she could stop herself, Ellie released a bloodcurdling "No!", leapt from Buckbeak's back, changed into her dog form in midair, and knocked herself so hard into the werewolf, it crashed to the ground.
"Get out of here!" Sirius shouted at her, changing into his own dog form and launching himself at the beast in her stead.
But Ellie wasn't going anywhere.
"Where is he?" she demanded of Harry, Ron, and Hermione after changing back. "Peter Pettigrew—where is he?"
"He got away," said Harry mournfully. "I'm so sorry, Ellie—we had him until Lupin and Snape got here, but then Lupin turned, and in all the madness—"
"Snape," Ellie interrupted, finally addressing the remaining elephant in the room. She was devastated that Peter Pettigrew had escaped, but they still had bigger problems at the moment. She heard a sickening crunch and prayed that it was Sirius' jaws closing around Lupin and not the other way around—though she didn't want Lupin getting seriously hurt, either. She turned her gaze on her uncle and asked, "They told you the truth?"
But Snape's dark eyes were as cold and unyielding as ever. "They told me a truth. I saw no sign of Peter Pettigrew—only three students out after curfew. And now…" He raised his wand toward Sirius' dog as if readying to strike.
Ellie reached instinctively for her own wand, but it was still with Sirius. To her amazement, both Harry and Fred lifted theirs—Fred casting Snape with Expelliarmus, and Harry with Petrificus Totalus.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked. "You just Stunned a teacher!"
"And it was bloody brilliant," added Ron in amazement. "Only… what now?"
"We have to help Dad," Ellie said urgently, watching dog and wolf fight with a feeling of utter panic and helplessness. "Anyone know any spells to chain Lupin up, or turn him back?"
They all glanced at Hermione, who looked surprisingly helpless. Finally, after a few seconds, Fred shouted to Sirius, "Get back! I'm going to try something!"
They watched with breaths held as Sirius' dog form leapt off the great werewolf and bounded back toward their group. As soon as he was clear, Fred pointed his wand at Lupin's werewolf and shouted, "Incarcerous!"
It worked—at least, temporarily. A series of thick cords shot out of his wand at Lupin, wrapping themselves around him tightly.
"It won't last long," Sirius warned them as he changed into his human form. He was heavily scratched, but didn't appear to have been bitten. "We don't have much time. Peter is gone?"
"How long ago did he escape?" Ellie asked them. "Is there a chance of catching up to him?"
"I don't think so," said Harry grimly. "Close to ten minutes. He could be anywhere."
"The map!" Ellie said urgently. "Fred, you have it, right?"
Fred nodded, pulling out the map. The second Sirius laid eyes on it, he gasped. "Is that…?"
"The Marauder's Map," Fred said impatiently. "It'll show us—"
"I know what it'll show you," Sirius interrupted. "I made that map—me, Remus, James, and Peter."
Everyone in the circle stared at him in disbelief as they let his words sink in—particularly Harry, whose green eyes had lit up at the sound of his father's name.
"There's no time," Sirius finally said. "Do you see him, or not?"
Fred and Ellie both scanned the map for any sign of Peter's name. She tried to ignore the wave of emotions she felt at being so close to him again—at wondering what he was even doing there—but it wasn't easy.
"I don't see him anywhere," she finally said. "You?"
He shook his head.
"I've got to get out of here," said Sirius. "And you lot should, as well, before Severus wakes back up."
"He's not likely to forget any of this," said Ron grimly.
"We'll explain it to Dumbledore," said Harry firmly. "He'll understand."
"You should take Buckbeak," Hermione told Sirius. "They'll be looking for him, too—you can take refuge together."
"Hang on." Ellie's heart was racing. She wasn't ready for her father to leave—wasn't ready to accept the reality of Peter Pettigrew having disappeared. "What if there was… another option?"
Everyone turned to look at her in confusion.
She glanced hopefully at Hermione. "You know… some sort of trinket… that could help turn the tables in our favour?"
She was talking about the Time-Turner, of course. She just didn't want to reveal the truth in front of all of them if Hermione wasn't on board.
"Ellie." Hermione looked pained. "We can't."
"Can't what?" demanded Ron. "What trinket are we talking about here?"
"I have a Time-Turner," Hermione admitted. "It's how I've been getting to class on time this year. But it's not meant for situations like this. Messing with time can be dangerous—not to mention, would almost certainly get us all expelled."
"No," said Sirius immediately. "It would get you worse than expelled—it would get you sent to Azkaban."
"What if we went to Dumbledore?" asked Ellie, still desperate to keep this night from panning out the way it had. "Maybe he'd agree. Maybe he'd say—"
"Ellie," Harry interrupted softly.
She turned to look at him, eyes starting to water.
"Remember what Trelawney said?"
She shook her head, though, of course, she did remember. "No, Harry. She didn't mean him. She didn't mean—"
"It was always going to pan out this way," he interrupted. "But we're all safe, and we'll tell Dumbledore the truth. We'll make him understand. From there, we'll just have to find Peter another way, another time, and then we can tell the rest of the world the truth."
The tears were falling now. How was she supposed to accept this—any of this?
"El." It was a softer voice—a gentler one. Fred's. "It's going to be okay. I promise."
She allowed herself to meet his gaze, and instantly, the calm from his warm, brown eyes washed over her. But when he brushed his fingertips against hers, she jerked away from him.
It wasn't fair. He didn't get to do that to her—try to put her at ease—try to make everything okay for her—after so long of making everything all wrong for her.
They might not be able to use the Time-Turner, but she still had another option.
"I'm coming with you," she told Sirius.
His grey eyes clouded over with a sad sort of hopefulness at that, but again, he shook his head. "You can't, Ellie. I've got to go away—far away—out of the country."
"I don't care how far you're going. I'm coming with you."
"A life on the run is no place for a child. I can't—"
"Just for the summer." Her voice was firm. "Where else am I supposed to go?"
A thick, heavy silence set over them all as the effect of her words sunk in. Her mother didn't want her, and everyone in that circle knew that her going back to the Weasleys' was, at best, a recipe for more heartbreak.
"El," Fred said softly. "Come stay with us. If you don't want me to be there, fine. I'll go someplace else."
But she wasn't looking at him. She couldn't. She kept her eyes peeled to Sirius. "Let me come with you," she pleaded. "Let me help protect you. It's just for the summer, Dad. Please."
And then, to her amazement, he did it.
He nodded.
"No," said Fred, anger rising to his voice. "Sirius, please. Don't be insane. It's way too dangerous—"
"Tell Albus everything," Sirius told the group, ignoring Fred and heading to climb onto Buckbeak's back. "Including the fact that she's come with me. Tell him to make up something the Ministry will believe, and that she'll be back in the fall."
They all stared in disbelief as Ellie, too, climbed onto Buckbeak's back.
"No," said Fred again. She allowed herself another look at him. The pleading in his gaze—the desperation—gave her an undeniable sense of satisfaction.
Let him be the one to be denied for a change.
Seeming to sense that she wouldn't change her mind, he stepped closer to Buckbeak, pulled something out of his pocket, and handed it to her.
It was her locket—the communication device that had once served not only to tell them when they were thinking about each other, but also to find their ways to each other and even have conversations with each other as if face-to-face. The last time she had seen it, she'd given it to George.
"Please," he said in a voice quiet enough that only Ellie and possibly Sirius could hear. "Just take it."
She glanced hesitantly at Sirius, who knew from his previous meetings with them what the locket was capable of. "Would it be safe?"
They were going on the run, after all. Was a location tracking device wise?
"I would never let anyone get their hands on my ring," Fred swore to them. "If anyone comes asking questions, I'll hide it."
"It's fine," Sirius told her. "If it's what you want."
She wasn't entirely sure it was what she wanted. But that look on Fred's face was killing her, and it wasn't such a big ask, was it?
She reached out to accept the locket from him. When she did, his hand caught hers and pulled her closer to him.
"I'm so sorry, El," he said softly. His brown eyes plead with her to believe him. "For everything."
And there it was. After half a year of heartbreak, the apology she'd been desperately awaiting.
It felt every bit as good as she had expected to hear him say those words. But it still didn't change her decision.
"Me, too," she admitted softly. And, clasping her fingertips around the locket, she pulled away from him.
"Stay safe," Harry told them as they gave everyone a final wave. "Be careful."
And with that, they were off.
They seemed to travel straight up toward the light of the moon—higher and higher, further and further—until, finally, Hogwarts was nothing but a speck in the distance.
"Wow," Ellie said quietly to her father. "I can hardly believe you said yes."
He laughed. "I can't, either. And Lord knows I'll probably regret it."
"Why did you, then?"
He turned to look at her, offering her the warmest, kindest smile she'd ever seen on his handsome face. "Because they've kept me from my daughter long enough."
And that's the end of the Prisoner of Azkaban, folks! I know some of you might be disappointed I didn't utilize the Time-Turner like JKR, but frankly, it's always been sort a problematic plot hole anyway, hasn't it? Don't get me wrong - she wrote the concept of time travel very well - but I thought I'd take a different approach here. Hope you enjoyed it, and see you very soon for the Goblet of Fire!
