Chapter Fifty-Five: Hermione's Secret
"Nice doggy,.. nice doggy." Ron squeaked while Severus put himself in front of Harry and the others and spread his arms out in front of them as Lupin lunged forward to attack them, but Sirius had transformed himself back into a dog and attacked first and then he stood out in front of them growling and snarling at them.
That's when Lupin bit Sirius' paw and threw him across the yard. Harry gasped as he heard Sirius let out a whimper and started running towards him.
"No." Severus whispered with an astonished gasp while Hermione widened her eyes in fright.
"Harry no!" She hollered on the top of her lungs, but it was already too late. Lupin had seen Harry coming towards him and sunk his teeth into Harry's shoulder blade making him scream out in pain.
"Harry!" Severus cried while Harry started to collapse but he quickly hurried over to him and caught him inside his arms. Harry continued to scream but Severus repeatedly hushed him. "Shh,.. it's okay. It's okay. I'm going to take you to the hospital wing." He reassured him while hoisting him up inside his arms to the best of his ability and headed back towards the castle.
…
Draco discovered Hermione out in the hallway outside the hospital wing. She was sitting down on the floor with her back up against the wall with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Are you okay?" He questioned her anxiously while sitting down beside her.
"Yes, but Harry isn't." She replied with a sniff. "He's a werewolf now and there's nothing I can do about it." She told him with another sniff. "I couldn't stop him, and I can't even go back in time to stop him otherwise our other selves will see me." She explained.
"Wait, I didn't even know that was an option." Draco said when suddenly a moment of realization hit her.
"Maybe I can save Buckbeak though and maybe even Sirius since the dementors are supposed to suck out his soul." She told him.
"Hermione, what in the world are you talking about?" Draco wondered before Hermione took a little golden trinket out of the collar of her shirt that had an hourglass on it.
"Hey I know what that is." He began while pointing over at it. "That's a time-turner isn't it?" He questioned her.
"Yes it is and it's how I've been able to attend multiple classes at once. I would take Harry and Ron with me but seeing as neither one of them can walk at the moment." She began before she looped one end of it and put it over Draco's neck and then within a few turns they started going back in time. People popped in and out of the frame before they eventually came to a stop and she took the other end of the time-turner off of Draco's neck.
"Alright now come on whatever we do we can't be seen." Hermione told him before she grabbed his hand and hurried down to Hagrid's hut with him where Buckbeak was still tied up. An overwhelming sense of guilt fell over Draco as he saw him.
"We have to set him free." He told her.
"Not yet." Hermione began. "Fudge and the others have to see Buckbeak first otherwise they'll just think that Hagrid set him free." She told him before they both hid behind an enormous pile of pumpkins and then she started thinking about Harry and the fact that his life would never be the same. However, once everybody else went inside she knew her focus had to return to Buckbeak.
"Alright go Draco!" Hermione cried inside a whisper while waving a hand over at him before he slowly walked over to Buckbeak and Buckbeak constantly looked at him.
"I'm sorry." He told him before slowly lowering his head and bowing towards him. Buckbeak paused for a few moments before he bowed his head back at him. "Alright Buckbeak, come on let's go." He said while grabbing the end of his chain and attempting to pull him towards him but the hippogriff was reluctant to budge before Hermione grabbed a ferret to him and tossed it to him and then he managed to pull him into the woods.
"Now what?" Draco wondered.
"We save Sirius." Hermione replied.
"Just exactly how do we do that?" Draco questioned her.
"No idea." Hermione replied before she ran away, and Draco ran after her.
"Hermione wait up!" He exclaimed and that's when suddenly he stopped and froze. He widened his eyes in fear and his finger shook while he pointed over at the werewolf that was now standing in front of them. That's when he let out a growl and turned around and started chasing after them.
Draco took Hermione's hand, and they hid behind a tree until eventually Lupin gave up and ran away. Hermione had been so scared that she hid her face inside his chest while dementors started flying overhead and all Draco could do was watch anxiously and pray that they didn't go after them.
That's when a really bright light filled the sky. "Is this the rapture or something?" Draco wondered as he didn't know very much about religion, but he had heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione mention it before in the past.
"No." Hermione began. "I think there would be trumpets if that were the case." She told him before the slowly peaked out behind the tree and once they realized that the coast was clear, they decided to go investigate.
They followed the light down to the lake and Draco widened his eyes to see a bright patronus in the form of a doe and with a nod of her head it had sent all of the dementors away. A few moments later he and Hermione were even more shocked to see Harry standing before them.
