Forty chapters in, an I am still being asked when Harry is going to Middle Earth... it makes me wonder if some people actually are reading the story. However, just to clarify, Middle Earth is the history of Britain. That was and remains the entire premise of this fic. But not that that is cleared up, let's move on to the new chapter! enjoy! ~F

Chapter Sixteen

Turning back Time

Severus listened with half an ear as the Minister spoke to him. His first concern was getting his new Athelas potion up to the hospital wing to help heal the victims of the dementor attack.

"Shocking business... shocking... miracle none of them died... never heard the like... by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape..." Fudge was saying as they entered the Hospital wing, Snape levitating a large cauldron between them.

"Thank you Minister." He replied, moving over to where Potter and Undol lay unconscious on beds.

Undol was gasping in pain, thrashing unconsciously just as he had been when he arrived at the beginning of that school year. Hopefully, Severus had perfected this potion to amplify the effects of the herb, and it would sooth the emotional pain, allowing the boy to settle into peaceful sleep.

Despite everything between them, Severus would never wish pain like this on anyone, except maybe Black or Lupin, but certainly not a thirteen-year-old boy. Severus was still surprised to find that the large black fox he had seen all over the castle was Undol, and he finally remembered seeing it since the boy's first year at the school, when he had confronted Quirrell on the third floor at Halloween.

Apparently the boy had been up to his own devises, even back then. Albus was right to be wary of the boy. He was clearly dangerous, to be so powerful at such a young age.

"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say, First Class if I can wangle it!" Fudge continued, oblivious to the cries of pain coming from the bed in front of him, or Severus' deliberate ignoring of his prattle.

"Thank you very much indeed, Minister." Severus said idly, pooling some of the potion into bowls to place at the head of each of the student's beds.

"Nasty cut you've got there... Black's work, I suppose?"

"As a matter of fact, it was Mr. Undol here Minister..." Severus admitted, momentarily glowering at the boy before him.

"No!" Fudge gaped, seeing the struggling boy as if for the first time.

"Black had bewitched him," Severus fabricated, under orders from the Headmaster to shroud the truth. "I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, or the Imperious curse, to judge by his behavior. He was absolutely convinced that Black was innocent. He cannot be held responsible for his actions."

Severus grimaced at the words that Albus had forced him to say to protect the students. He personally knew that all four of them had known exactly what they were doing at the time. "On the other hand, his interference might have permitted Black to escape… Potter and his other friends obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They've got away with a great deal before now... I'm afraid it's given them a rather high opinion of themselves... and of course Potter has always been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster…"

"Ah, well, Snape... Harry Potter, you know... we've all got a bit of a blind spot where he's concerned." The idiotic Minister shrugged. Severus wished he could get back to work, but Albus had set him the task of distracting the Minister until he himself arrived.

"What amazes me most is the behavior of the dementors... you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"

"No, Minister... by the time I had come 'round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances..."

"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Harry, and the boy…"

"All unconscious by the time I reached them. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle."

Severus stopped as Potter opened his eyes wide, glaring up at him.

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Albus strode into the Hospital wing, and right into a storm of shouting. Poppy was shouting at Cornelius, trying to get him to leave, while Harry and Hermione were shouting at both Severus and Cornelius, trying to convince them of the same story that Albus had just heard from the lips of Sirius Black. Personally, he had hoped that Sirius could stay out of Harry's life just a tad longer, but now that he was in it, he needed to stay alive and free for Harry's sake.

"For heaven's sake!" said Madam Pomfrey hysterically as Albus approached. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist!"

"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," Albus said calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black…"

"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in the children's' minds?" spat Severus. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive…"

"That, indeed, is Black's story," said Albus, surveying Severus closely through his spectacles, urging him with his eyes to leave the matter be for now.

"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled Severus. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."

"That was because you were asleep, Professor!" said Hermione earnestly. "You didn't arrive in time to hear…"

"Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!" Severus yelled.

"Now, Snape," said Cornelius, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances…"

"I would like to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Albus said again abruptly. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy… please leave us."

"Headmaster!" sputtered Poppy. "They need treatment, they need rest…"

"This cannot wait," Albus persisted. "I must insist."

Poppy pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her. Cornelius consulted the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.

"The dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs."

Cornelius crossed to the door and held it open for Severus, but the Potions Master hadn't moved.

"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Severus whispered, his eyes fixed on Albus' face.

"I wish to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Albus repeated, wishing that Severus wasn't so narrow minded. Severus took a step toward him.

"Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen." he breathed. "You haven't forgotten that, Headmaster? You haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"

"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus." Albus affirmed quietly.

Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Cornelius was still holding. It closed behind them, and Albus turned to Harry and Hermione, after glancing at Undol's unconscious body. Yes, the boy was still out cold, and would not be able to interfere with his plans. Both Harry and Hermione burst into speech at the same time.

"Professor, Black's telling the truth, we saw Pettigrew… he escaped, when Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf…"

"…he's a rat…"

"…Pettigrew's front paw, I mean, finger, he cut it off…"

"…Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius…"

Albus held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations. "It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word, and the word of two thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret Keeper."

"Professor Lupin can tell you…" Harry said, unable to stop himself. Albus shook his head mentally. He liked the boy, but sometimes he could be a little thick.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little, and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends…"

"But…" Albus knew it was about time to set his plan into motion, and Harry's desperation to 'save' Sirius would fuel him on, as it had in the past.

"Listen to me, Harry. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."

"He hates Sirius," Hermione said desperation in her voice. "All because of some stupid trick Sirius played on him…"

"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man," Albus chided softly, "The attack on the Fat Lady, entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife. Without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."

"But you believe us." Harry said, not wondering in the slightest.

"Yes, I do," Albus reassured gently. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic..." a lie, of course, he had all the authority needed to stay Sirius' death while they were on school grounds, but Harry and Hermione didn't need to know that.

Harry stared up into Albus' grave face and Albus knew that he felt hopelessly lost, unable to do anything to help. And now was the time put his little scheme into motion, the scheme that will inevitably lead to Harry's destruction of Voldemort.

"What we need," Albus said slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Harry to Hermione, "is more time."

"But…" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"

"Now, pay attention," Albus instructed, speaking very low, and very clearly, "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor; thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, both of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law; you know what is at stake... You must not be seen…"

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Hermione's mind reeled with the information that Professor Dumbledore was giving her and Harry. He wanted her to use her Time-Turner to save Sirius? The consequences of being caught flashed through her mind, but what else could they do. No one would listen to them; the Minister had already brought the dementors up to kill him. She made up her mind in an instant, they were going to do it, and the Ministry be damned. Dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door.

"I am going to lock you in. It is…" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."

"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"

But Hermione was already fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling out the fine chain on which lay the time turner.

"Harry, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"

Harry moved toward her, completely bewildered. She held the chain out, ready to throw it over both of them. Harry's eyed the time turner suspiciously.

"Here…" she said, throwing the chain around his neck too. "Ready?" she said breathlessly.

"What are we doing?" Harry said, completely lost.

Hermione turned the hourglass over three times.

The dark ward dissolved. They hurtled back in time three hours, one for each turn, and vastness of time and space swirled around them as they fell.

And then Hermione felt solid ground beneath her feet, and everything came into focus again. She was standing next to Harry in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. Harry looked wildly around at Hermione, the chain of the hourglass cutting into his neck.

"Hermione, what…?"

"In here!" Hermione seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom closet; she opened it, pushed him inside among the buckets and mops, and then slammed the door behind them.

"What… how… Hermione, what happened?"

"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off Harry's neck in the darkness. "Three hours back..."

"But…"

"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think, I think it might be us!" Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door. "Footsteps across the hall... yes, I think it's us going down to Hagrid's!"

"Are you telling me," Harry whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"

"Yes," said Hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than four people... and we're walking slowly because we're all under the Invisibility Cloak…"

She broke off, still listening intently.

"We've gone down the front steps..."

Hermione sat down on an upturned bucket, ready to wait several minutes for their past selves to get a head start, but Harry wanted a few questions answered.

"Where did you get that hourglass thing?"

So Hermione explain the time turner to him, how she had gotten it on the first day back, and had been using it the entire school year to get to all her classes. She thankfully skipped over the small bits of painful weariness that she had felt from using it so often, or the paranoia that plagued her at the thoughts of someone finding out, or her fear of accidentally encountering herself. But she had a question of her own for Harry, Dumbledore wanted them to go three hours back, specifically, but how would that help Sirius?

Harry's eye brightened, "Buckbeak." He said, "Dumbledore wants us to save Buckbeak and use him to save Sirius, that's why he told us where he was being held…"

"If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"

"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. He stood up and pressed his ear against the door. "Doesn't sound like anyone's there... Come on, let's go."

Harry pushed open the closet door. The entrance hall was deserted. As quietly and quickly as they could, they darted out of the closet and down the stone steps. The shadows were already lengthening, the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest gilded once more with gold.

"If anyone's looking out of the window…" Hermione squeaked, looking up at the castle behind them.

"We'll run for it," said Harry determinedly. "Straight into the forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout…"

"Okay, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!" said Hermione breathlessly. "We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!"

And with that Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing toward the shelter of the forest...

Safe in the shadows of the trees, Hermione caught up to Harry, panting slightly. "Right, we need to sneak over to Hagrid's… and keep out of sight…"

They made their way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk and peered out from either side. Hagrid had appeared in his doorway, shaking and white, looking around to see who had knocked. Then Harry's voice came out of nowhere. "It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered urgently, but he stood back, and then shut the door quickly.

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently.

"You're telling me!" said a new voice. Hermione whipped around, her eyes wide, and she saw Faykan stumbling out of the woods, looking at them with a shocked expression. Already he was looking distant and rather unhappy, which told Hermione that he had already met with Sirius.

"What the hell happened to you two, and where's Ron?" Faykan asked, confusion crossing his face. He looked into Harry's eyes, back to Hermione, and slowly comprehension dawned, "You didn't!" he gasped, turning to Hermione, "What happened? Why did you use the Time-Turner?"

"Wait!" Harry said, "You knew?"

"Of course I knew. It was painfully obvious what was going on Harry, even Ron was starting to notice. But don't change the subject, what happened?"

"You know we can't tell you Faykan," Hermione said, wringing her hands, "Just the fact that you've seen us is bad, all you need to know is that we're going to rescue Buckbeak and Sirius, you need to proceed just as you normally would have."

"Yes," Harry added, "Go with the plan you made with Sirius."

Faykan nodded, and pulled something crystal and translucent out of his pocket, handing it to Harry, "I thought you or Hagrid might need this, but I didn't expect to have to leave you beforehand. If what I think happens, happens, you'll need this." Without another word, Faykan dodged out of sight, changing back into the black fox.

Harry was looking at the glass phial with a half-grin on his face, but Hermione remembered that they needed to rescue Buckbeak. Dragging Harry by the wrist, they made it to the edge of the Pumpkin patch just as the execution party arrived. Together, Hermione and Harry watched the grass flatten in patches around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. Their past selves, and Ron had gone, but Hermione and Harry hidden in the trees could now hear what was happening inside the cabin through the back door.

"Where is the beast?" came the cold voice of Macnair.

"Out… outside," Hagrid croaked.

Harry pulled his head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Then they heard Fudge.

"We… err, have to read you the official notice of execution, Hagrid. I'll make it quick. And then you and Macnair need to sign it. Macnair, you're supposed to listen too, that's procedure…"

Macnair's face vanished from the window. It was now or never.

"Wait here," Harry whispered to Hermione. "I'll do it."

As Fudge's voice started again, Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch, and approached Buckbeak. "It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall he executed on the sixth of June at sundown…"

Harry approached carefully, bowing while keeping his face turned to the hippogriff. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Harry then began to fumble with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence.

"...sentenced to execution by beheading, to be carried out by the Committee's appointed executioner, Walden Macnai..."

"Come on, Buckbeak," Harry murmured, "come on, we're going to help you. Quietly... quietly..."

"...as witnessed below. Hagrid, you sign here..."

Harry threw all his weight onto the rope, and Buckbeak slowly got to his feet and trotted along with him.

"Quick! Quick!" Hermione moaned, darting out from behind her tree, seizing the rope too and adding her weight to make Buckbeak move faster.

Harry looked over his shoulder back at Hagrid's, making sure they were hidden.

"Stop!" he whispered to Hermione. "They might hear us…"

Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang. Harry, Hermione, and Buckbeak stood quite still; even the hippogriff seemed to be listening intently. Silence... then…

"Where is it?" said the reedy voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" said the executioner furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary," said Professor Dumbledore, with a note of amusement in his voice.

"Beaky!" said Hagrid huskily.

There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger. And then came the howling, and this time they could hear Hagrid's words through his sobs.

"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

Buckbeak started to strain against the rope, trying to get back to Hagrid. Harry and Hermione tightened their grip and dug their heels into the forest floor to stop him.

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling. "We should search the grounds, the forest."

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" said Dumbledore, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"O'… o' course, Professor," said Hagrid, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in... You'll find no small glasses in this house though…"

Harry and Hermione listened closely. They heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.

"Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around.

"We'll have to hide in here," said Hermione, slightly shaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for another couple of hours... Oh, this is going to be difficult..."

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the forest. The sun was setting now.

"We're going to have to move," said Harry, thinking hard. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on."

"Okay," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry, remember..."

They moved around the edge of the forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.

"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.

Sure enough, their forms were materializing form under the cloak, dashing toward the Whomping Willow. Hermione realized that Faykan, Sirius, and Crookshanks had made a spectacular plan, none of them would have suspected the Willow of hiding the secret passage to the Shrieking Shack, or that Faykan could control the actions of the vicious tree. She reminded herself to ask Faykan how he had controlled it at a later time.

They watched as Sirius bounded forward, and dragged Ron into the passage, followed soon by herself, Harry and Crookshanks.

The moment they disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle.

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" Hermione commented. "If only Dumbledore had come with us..."

"Macnair and Fudge would've come too," said Harry bitterly. "I bet you anything Fudge would've told Macnair to murder Sirius on the spot..."

They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then…

"Here comes Lupin!" said Harry as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and high-tailing it toward the Willow. Hermione looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.

They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.

"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry. "It's just lying there..."

He turned to Hermione.

"If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape'd never be able to get it and…"

"Harry, we mustn't be seen!"

"How can you stand this?" he asked Hermione fiercely. "Just standing here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm going to grab the cloak!"

"Harry, no!"

Hermione seized the back of Harry's robes not a moment too soon. Just then, they heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, making his way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from his hands.

"See?" she whispered in Harry's ear. "See what would have happened? We've got to keep out of sight! No, Buckbeak!"

The hippogriff was making frantic attempts to get to Hagrid again; Harry seized his rope too, straining to hold Buckbeak back. They watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He was gone. Buckbeak stopped fighting to get away. His head drooped sadly.

Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running toward the Willow.

Harry's fists clenched as they watched Snape skid to a halt next to the tree, looking around. He grabbed the cloak and held it up.

"Get your filthy hands off it," Harry snarled under his breath. "Shh!"

Snape seized the branch Lupin had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put on the cloak.

"So that's it," said Hermione quietly. "We're all down there... and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again..." she sat down to wait after tying Buckbeak to the nearest tree.

"And now we wait," Harry repeated, sitting next to her. Hermione had the sudden urge to tell Harry about Faykan, her suspicions, his feelings for Harry, what she had seen in the Palantír, but she restrained herself. When Faykan was ready, he would tell Harry, and she needn't worry him about her suspicions about his best friend. So she settled for asking him a question.

"Harry, there's something I don't understand... Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember Snape telling Fudge about what he saw, how they were retreating when he arrived, but what happened?"

Harry sat down too. He explained what he'd seen; how, as the nearest dementor had raised the dagger over Harry, someone had sent a Patronus to stop it, but it hadn't been enough, then finally a large silver something had come galloping across the lake and forced the dementors to retreat.

Hermione's mouth was slightly open by the time Harry had finished. "But who conjured it?"

Harry didn't say anything.

"Didn't you see what they looked like?" said Hermione eagerly. "Was it one of the teachers?"

"No," said Harry. "He wasn't a teacher."

"But it must have been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those dementors away... If the Patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light him up? Couldn't you see…?"

"Yeah, I saw him," said Harry slowly. "But... maybe I imagined it... I wasn't thinking straight... I passed out right afterward..."

"Who did you think it was?"

"I think…" Harry swallowed. "I think it was my dad."

"Harry, your dad's, well… dead," Hermione said quietly.

"I know that," said Harry quickly.

"You think you saw his ghost?"

"I don't know... no... He looked solid..."

Hermione wasn't sure about what Harry thought he had seen, but she was certain that is was not his father. They waiting for almost an hour in awkward silence, and the urge to spill the knowledge she had about Faykan became too much to bear, "Harry…"

"Shh, here we come Hermione." Harry whispered.

Hermione got to here feet right after Harry. Buckbeak raised his head. They saw Lupin, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. Next came Snape, drifting weirdly upward. Next came Harry and Black, and finally Faykan and Hermione. They all began to walk toward the castle.

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Harry's heart was starting to beat very fast. He glanced up at the sky. Any moment now, that cloud was going to move aside and show the moon...

"Harry," Hermione muttered as though she knew exactly what he was thinking, "we've got to stay put. We mustn't be seen. There's nothing we can do..."

"So we're just going to let Pettigrew escape all over again." said Harry quietly.

"How do you expect to find a rat in the dark?" snapped Hermione.

"There's nothing we can do! We came back to help Sirius; we're not supposed to be doing anything else!"

"All right!"

The moon slid out from behind its cloud. They saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop. Then they saw movement…

"There goes Lupin," Hermione whispered. "He's transforming…"

"Hermione!" said Harry suddenly. "We've got to move!"

"We mustn't, I keep telling you…"

"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to chase Faykan and Sirius into the forest, right at us!"

Hermione gasped.

"Quick!" she moaned, dashing to untie Buckbeak. "Quick! Where are we going to go? Where are we going to hide? The dementors wilt be coming any moment…"

"Back to Hagrid's!" Harry said. "It's empty now, come on!"

They ran as fast as they could, Buckbeak cantering along behind them.

They could hear the werewolf howling behind them...

The cabin was in sight; Harry skidded to the door, wrenched it open, and Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past him; Harry threw himself in after them and bolted the door. Fang the boarhound barked loudly.

"Shh, Fang, it's us!" said Hermione, hurrying over and scratching his ears to quiet him.

"That was really close!" she said to Harry.

"Yeah..."

Harry was looking out of the window. It was much harder to see what was going on from here. Buckbeak seemed very happy to find himself back inside Hagrid's house. He lay down in front of the fire, folded his wings contentedly, and seemed ready for a good nap.

"I think I'd better go outside again, you know," said Harry slowly. "I can't see what's going on, we won't know when it's time…"

Hermione looked up. Her expression was suspicious.

"I'm not going to try and interfere," said Harry quickly. "But if we don't see what's going on, how're we going to know when it's time to rescue Sirius?"

"Well... okay, then... I'll wait here with Buckbeak... but Harry, be careful, there's a werewolf out there… and the dementors…"

Harry stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. He could hear yelping in the distance. That meant the dementors were closing in on Sirius... He would be running to him any moment...

Harry stared out toward the lake, his heart doing a kind of drum roll in his chest... Whoever had sent that Patronus would be appearing at any moment...

For a fraction of a second he stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door. You must not be seen. But he didn't want to be seen. He wanted to do the seeing... He had to know... And there were the dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake... They were moving away from where Harry stood, to the opposite bank... He wouldn't have to get near them... Harry began to run. He had no thought in his head except his father... If it was him... if it really was him... he had to know, had to find out...

The lake was coming nearer and nearer, but there was no sign of anybody. On the opposite bank, he could see tiny glimmers of silver, his own attempts at a Patronus.

There was a bush at the very edge of the water. Harry threw himself behind it, peering desperately through the leaves. On the opposite bank, the glimmers of silver were suddenly extinguished. A terrified excitement shot through him, soon now.

He saw the grey dementor swooping down at him, revealing the cruel, greenish dagger.

"Expecto Patronum!" a familiar voice bellowed. A giant silver bird flew directly at the dementor above Harry, pushing it back, swiping it talons and snapping its beak at the cloaked wraith. Harry could make it out this time, a giant eagle. Faykan charged in behind it, directing his Patronus toward the dementors, urging it to protect both Harry and Sirius.

Faykan knelt by the other Harry, checking his pulse. "You cannot have them!" he yelled at the dementors, "Be gone Brenin Llwyd, leave us in peace. Or living or dark undead, I will smite you if you touch them!"

The dementors made new rasping noises, and Harry could heard familiar sounds, reminiscent of Faykan's boggart from so long ago, "Gû kîbum kelkum-ishi, burzum-ishi. Akha gûm-ishi ashi gurum," their darkness grew as they chanted the same words over and over again, and Faykan screamed as his Patronus died, the silvery light leaving them as the dementors drained it away.

"Come on!" Harry muttered, staring about. "Where are you? Dad, come on…"

Something was burning in his pocket. He pulled out the Phial of Galadriel that Faykan had given him earlier. And then it hit him; he understood. He hadn't seen his father, he had seen himself.

Harry flung himself out from behind the bush and pulled out his wand.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he bellowed.

And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. He screwed up his eyes, trying to see what it was. It looked like a horse. It was galloping silently away from him, across the black surface of the lake. He saw it lower its head and charge at the swarming dementors... Now it was galloping around and around the black shapes on the ground, and the dementors were falling back, scattering, retreating into the darkness... They were gone.

The Patronus turned. It was cantering back toward Harry across the still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above ... it was coming back to him...

It stopped on the bank. Its hooves made no mark on the soft ground as it stared at Harry with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, it bowed its antlered head. And Harry realized... "Prongs," he whispered.

But as his trembling fingertips stretched toward the creature, it vanished.

Harry stood there, hand still outstretched. Then, with a great leap of his heart, he heard hooves behind him he whirled around and saw Hermione dashing toward him, dragging Buckbeak behind her.

"What did you do?" she said fiercely. "You said you were only going to keep a lookout!"

"I just saved everyone from the dementors…" Harry said. "Get behind here, behind this bush, I'll explain.

Hermione listened to what had just happened with her mouth open yet again.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Yes, haven't you been listening? I saw me but I thought I was my dad! It's okay!"

"Harry, I can't believe it... You conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those dementors! That's very, very advanced magic."

Harry held up the phial, still glowing in his left hand, the warmth dancing across his skin, "I knew I could do it. All I needed was the happiness and the confidence."

"Harry, look at Snape!"

Together they peered around the bush at the other bank. Snape was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Harry, Faykan, and Black onto them. A fourth stretcher, no doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at his side. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away toward the castle.

"Right, it's nearly time," said Hermione tensely, looking at her watch. "We've got about forty five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing. We've got to rescue Sirius and get back into the ward before anybody realizes we're missing...

They waited, watching the moving clouds reflected in the lake, while the bush next to them whispered in the breeze. Buckbeak, bored, was ferreting for worms again.

"D' you reckon he's up there yet?" said Harry, checking his watch. He looked up at the castle and began counting the windows to the right of the West Tower.

"Look!" Hermione whispered. "Who's that? Someone's coming back out of the castle!"

Harry stared through the darkness. The man was hurrying across the grounds, toward one of the entrances. Something shiny glinted in his belt.

"Macnair!" said Harry. "The executioner! He's gone to get the dementors! This is it, Hermione…"

Hermione put her hands on Buckbeak's back and Harry gave her a leg up. Then he placed his foot on one of the lower branches of the bush and climbed up in front of her. He pulled Buckbeak's rope back over his neck and tied it to the other side of his collar like reins.

"Ready?" he whispered to Hermione. "You better hold on to me…"

He nudged Buckbeak's sides with his heels.

Buckbeak soared straight into the dark air. Harry gripped his flanks with his knees, feeling the great wings rising powerfully beneath them. Hermione was holding Harry very tight around the waist; he could hear her muttering, "Oh, no… I don't like this oh; I really don't like this…"

Harry urged Buckbeak forward. They were gliding quietly toward the upper floors of the castle... Harry pulled hard on the left hand side of the rope, and Buckbeak turned. Harry was trying to count the windows flashing past…

"Whoa!" he said, pulling backward as hard as he could.

Buckbeak slowed down and they found themselves at a stop, unless you counted the fact that they kept rising up and down several feet as the hippogriff beat his wings to remain airborne.

"He's there!" Harry said, spotting Sirius as they rose up beside the window. He reached out, and as Buckbeak's wings fell, was able to tap sharply on the glass.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Sirius was wondering how painful the dementor's kiss could be when there was a tapping on the window nearest him. He looked up, and his jaw dropped as he saw Harry bobbing up and down outside the seventh floor window.

"Stand back!" the girl behind Harry called to him, and she took out her wand, still gripping the back of Harry's robes with her left hand.

"Alohomora!"

The window sprang open.

"How… how…?" Sirius said weakly, staring at the hippogriff they were riding.

"Get on… there's not much time," said Harry, gripping the hippogriff firmly on either side of his sleek neck to hold him steady. "You've got to get out of here, the dementors are coming, Macnair's gone to get them."

Sirius didn't need telling twice. He placed a hand on either side of the window frame and heaved his head and shoulders out of it. It was very lucky he was so thin. In seconds, he had managed to fling one leg over the creatures back and pull himself onto the hippogriff behind the girl.

"Okay, Buckbeak, up!" said Harry, shaking the rope. "Up to the tower, come on."

The hippogriff gave one sweep of its mighty wings and they were soaring upward again, high as the top of the West Tower. Buckbeak landed with a clatter on the battlements, and Harry and Hermione slid off him at once.

"Sirius, you'd better go, quick," Harry panted. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment, they'll find out you're gone."

Buckbeak pawed the ground, tossing his sharp head.

"What happened to the other boys? Ron and Faykan?" croaked Sirius.

"They're going to be okay. Still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says they'll be fine. Quick… go…"

But Sirius stared down at Harry, "How can I ever thank…"

"GO!" Harry and the girl cried together.

Sirius wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky.

"We'll see each other again," he said. "You are… truly your father's son, Harry..."

He squeezed Buckbeak's sides with his heels. Harry and his friend jumped back as the enormous wings rose once more... The hippogriff took off into the air, soaring up into the clouds and away from Hogwarts...

Gû kîbum kelkum-ishi, burzum-ishi. Akha gûm-ishi ashi gurum. : No life in coldness, in darkness. Here in void, only death.

Potential Spoilers Ahead, You Have Been Warned

Honestly, was it not particularly clear that Middle Earth was earth? In both canon LotR and in this fic? I can't be the only one who finds it odd that I keep getting asked the same inane question. Still, letting that go... Moving on, the chapter was relatively kept as it was originally made, I personally felt a bit of attachment to it just being Harry and Hermione traveling back in time, and for past Faykan finding them. it was amusing I think. Once again the edit for the grey dementor shows up, He'll play an important role later on (Likely Book 6 or 7) when things start coming together with the three canons and their interlaced plots. Until next time everyone!

~F