Hermione and Jade took up the rear of their group on the way back through the tunnel and out of the Weeping Willow. If the space had been cramped before it was damn near suffocating with more people, larger people, taking up space.

"You know what this means?" Black spoke abruptly as they slowly made their way to the end of the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," Harry answered.

"Yes," Black hesitated. "But I'm also, I don't know if anyone ever told you, I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," Harry said quietly after a moment.

"Well… your parents appointed me your guardian," Black went on awkwardly. "If anything happened to them…" They all walked on silently and Jade felt weird for being a part of a clearly private conversation. But Black didn't seem to mind, he was talking a bit strange, but other than that he could always wait till later to talk if he wanted the privacy. "I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," Black continued after a few seconds and Jade not too secretly poked her head over Hermione's shoulder to try and get a better look at Harry's or Black's face. "But… well… think about it. Once my name's cleared, if you wanted a... a different home." It must've felt like a dream come true for Harry, Jade wanted to run up and accept the offer for him. Yes sir, please take Harry out of his abusive muggle home and take him in yourself. Tell him about his father, tell him about your time at school, hell, go on trips around the world, give him a better life... something he could call a family.

"What, live with you?" Harry asked, turning his head to look back at Black but hitting his head on the low ceiling instead. "Leave the Dursleys?" Harry grimaced as he rubbed his forehead.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," Black apologized quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd-"

"Are you insane?" Harry interrupted, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

"You want to?" Black asked, stopping and turning so he could see Harry a bit better, he had been controlling Professor Snape and Snape's head hit across the ceiling as Black's wand casually waved to the side. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" The warm smile that came from the both of them made Jade smile herself and she grabbed onto Hermione's arm and squeezed. Hermione allowed a single moment to smile giddily with Jade before they continued on. No one spoke for the rest of the journey until they were up and out of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first and placed his paw on the knot once more for them. The light that had been fading when they entered the tree was gone now, it was completely dark. Jade looked up at the castle and saw a few windows still had some light going but the rest of the castle was dark. They took a second to catch their breath and then set off once again. Jade didn't know what time it was but she was tired and her legs protested with each step, her calves began to burn as they went up the hill.

"One wrong move, Peter." Lupin threatened a few feet in front of them. His wand was still pointed at Pettigrew. They were almost to the castle now and Jade hoped she'd be able to just walk through the dungeons, through the Common Room, and then whip open her covers and crawl underneath them. But a thought put all that daydreaming to rest, they were going to Dumbledore now, he'd want to know everything that happened and if they sat there and explained everything, it had to be at least another hour before she could get some sleep. A sudden illumination from behind them made it a bit easier to see. Jade could see individual blades of grass again before she stepped through it. She didn't know if someone cut the grass or if it just magically cut itself but it could use a trim- Jade ran into Hermione's back and she groaned.

"Why are we stopping?" She asked and looked up but everyone was looking at Professor Lupin and a cold shiver ran down Jade's spine. Professor Lupin had gone still and the next moment he began to tremble. Jade slowly turned around, hoping that she wouldn't see what she knew she was going to see. The full moon shone brightly back at her.

"Oh, my-" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!" She hissed to Black who had his arm outstretched in front of Harry and Hermione to keep them from getting any closer.

"Run," Black whispered. "Run. Now." But they didn't move, Jade was about to tell them they were wasting precious time to get to safety when she looked to where Hermione was looking and she remembered that Ron had agreed to chain himself to Pettigrew with Professor Lupin. Harry didn't waste another second, he pushed past Black's arm but Black stepped in front of him. "Leave it to me. Run." Harry looked like he was going to argue but then there was a terrible snarling noise. A worse sound than anything the black dog had made. Lupin's head was stretching abnormally and Jade had trouble looking away. His body followed after, his shoulders were hunching, hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.

"Harry, listen, we have to-" Jade whispered at his side quietly but she froze when the werewolf in front of them stood to its full height and let out a bone-chilling howl. Black had disappeared from Harry's other side, but with a slight glance down, Jade could see the large black dog was back. He had transformed. Jade held a hand over her mouth as the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it. The dog, Sirius Black, took off and seized the werewolf around the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. Both of them snarled and yelped at the other as they fought with teeth and claws. It was terrifying and Jade couldn't look away. Jade broke out of her daze by the sound of Hermione's scream. Pettigrew dove to the ground for Professor Lupin's wand. Jade fumbled in her pocket to pull out her own, "Carpe Retractum!" Jade chanted and a rope of light flew out of the tip of her wand but fell a few feet off from Pettigrew as he got back up from the ground. Pettigrew had seized Lupin's wand, turned on Ron, and then there was a bang and a burst of light. It seemed as if a force shoved Ron onto his back.

"Expelliarmus," Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew, unlike Jade, he was successful and Lupin's wand flew high into the air. "Stay where you are!" Harry called after him as they ran. But Pettigrew gave them a final grin before he shrank down and disappeared. Before they could think about how they had just lost the one thing that could clear Sirius' name, there was a howl and then a rumbling growl. Jade turned to see the werewolf take off into the woods and Black was making his way back over to them. "Sirius, he's gone. Pettigrew transformed!" Harry panted. Black didn't look good, he was bleeding from a gash across his muzzle and another on his back but despite this, he turned around and took off in the same direction as the werewolf. Hermione and Harry followed behind Jade as she carefully knelt down next to Ron.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. He didn't look hurt, he just looked like he was in a deep sleep. His eyes were half-closed and his mouth hung open.

"I don't know," Jade mumbled as she brushed a red lock of hair away that was tickling his eyelashes. Harry looked up, they were alone, despite the unconscious Snape who still hung midair.

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone." Harry spoke after a few seconds, "Here, come-" A yelp broke through the silence and then a consistent whine. "Sirius," Harry mumbled, he stared towards the forest but they couldn't make anything out in the darkness. Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him and Jade stumbling to her feet to catch up. Jade thought the crying had come from the forest but as they got closer to it, they veered to the left and came to the edge of the Black Lake. There was a sudden chill in the air, but it wasn't the cold that sent a shiver down Jade's spine, it was what the cold was introducing. She knew they were in trouble by just how quickly the temperature dropped, she'd experienced it once before on the train ride to Hogwarts. The whining had stopped abruptly, they searched the edge for a big black dog but instead found a man kneeling on the ground.

"No." Sirius moaned, he clutched his head in his hands and the three of them approached him slowly. "No, please." Harry was focused on his Godfather but Jade glanced across the lake and saw a cloud of black fabric and decaying hands quickly coming down on them. There were dozens of them and the cold feeling leaked through her clothes and crawled under her skin. She screamed and then Harry saw them. Jade had been scared, yes, she'd been terrified, more so in the past four hours than ever before but at that moment she thought it was the end. The black cloud descending upon them was overwhelming, Jade felt like she couldn't breathe. A fog crept beneath the Dementors that licked across the lake's surface.

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand and casting a quick side glance at the two girls next to him. Hermione raised her wand slowly, but her face was unsure. "Jade!" Harry's voice caught her attention and she pulled her gaze away from the Dementors. He was looking at her, pleading with her to be brave in the face of what seemed like impending death. She hadn't told anyone where she was going to be that night, she could just imagine someone finding them all dead the next day. Her friends and family, all being told that she'd died. Did she want to go out crying and curled up in a ball or did she want to try and fight? Either way, she'd be scared but there was an important choice she had to make. So she raised her wand with a steady hand and took a deep breath as she turned back to the growing cloud. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry called out loudly and a pure white light glowed from the tip of his wand and expanded slightly. "Expecto patronum!" He tried again but Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and laid motionless on his back, pale as snow. The faint color that had returned to him disappeared again. Hermione had moved to check on Black but Harry stopped her, "No, help me! Expecto Patronum!" Hermione squared her shoulders and lifted her wand again,

"Expecto-" Hermione tried loudly but she stopped. "Ex-Expecto…" She died off in a whisper and Jade grabbed her hand reassuringly. Hermione couldn't do it, she was looking around from the Dementors to Black to Harry.

"Expecto Patronum." Jade tried but nothing happened. She had to focus on something happy Harry had said. She thought she had plenty of good memories but at the moment they were escaping her. She was sure that was the Dementors doing. She thought about her friends, every one of them. How good they made her feel, how grateful she was for them. "Expecto Patronum!" A small circle of light illuminated from her wand's tip and she was proud of herself for a split second until she realized it wasn't nearly good enough. She could hold off one maybe. They were almost on them, enough so that Jade could make out the details of their hands.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry roared and now two small projections were coming from their wands. Jade had been holding her focus and she didn't notice Hermione was in danger until she felt a large weight drop next to her and it tugged her arm down before Hermione's hand slipped out of her own. Hermione had fallen unconscious next to Black, with Jade's focus broken she was no longer producing a protective light in front of her and a haze blurred her mind almost instantly. Her eyes were heavy and she struggled to complete her train of thought. Jade fell to her knees and looked over her friend.

"Hermione?" Jade mumbled and gave her friend a light shake. "You… have to… wake… up." Jade slumped down with every word until she almost fell on top of Hermione. Her limbs felt heavy and sluggish and it took a lot of strength just to lift her head to see Harry slouching forward, his wand still trying to keep the Dementors at bay. "Harry." She tried to call out to him but she didn't think he could hear her. "Harry." She tried again, but even though she could feel herself saying it, she couldn't hear it in her own ears. She stopped fighting with herself and let her eyes close. There was a thud somewhere near her but she couldn't be bothered to open her eyes, her brain felt like it was filled with fog. She heard Harry try once more and Jade relaxed, the coldness was beginning to fade and it felt like the chill was gone from the air. She had faith that Harry had done it, he'd protected them. So it wouldn't be a bad thing… if she just… let herself…