"Good luck?" Harry was so confused.
Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.
"Harry, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"
Harry moved toward her, completely bewildered. She was holding the chain out. He saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it.
"Here —"
She had thrown the chain around his neck too.
"Ready?" she said breathlessly.
"Where did you get the time turner?" Harry said, completely lost.
Hermione turned the hourglass over three times.
The dark ward dissolved. Harry had the sensation that he was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colors and shapes rushed past him, his ears were pounding, he tried to yell but couldn't hear his own voice —
And then he felt solid ground beneath his feet, and everything came into focus again —
He was standing next to Hermione in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. He 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, then slammed the door behind them.
"How do you know about time turners, Harry?" Hermione asked him. Harry put his head into his hands and groaned. He didn't understand what was going on, and he had the biggest headache.
"Harry, are you okay?"
"No!" he groaned. "I don't understand what is happening."
"What is the last thing you remember before waking up in the hospital wing?" Hermione asked carefully.
"Er, we were at Hogwarts," he began, Hermione nodded encouragingly, "Voldemort was there —."
"No, Harry we were in the Womping Willow with Sirius, remember?"
Harry was sure that had happened years ago, in third year. Then again Dumbledore said they were in their third year. Harry lifted his head to look at Hermione, she looked young her eyes filled with worry but not hardened, not the eyes of a warrior.
"You're fourteen," he stated.
"Yes." She looked even more worried now.
Suddenly it hit him, he had died! No wait, he remembers talking to Dumbledore, about time travel!
"l remember!" He exclaimed.
"You do?" Hermione's eyes lit up.
Harry paused he wasn't sure if he should tell Hermione, but decided against for now. If he remembered correctly, they were on a mission to save Sirius and Buckbeak.
"Er, yeah," said Harry. "Sirius is innocent."
"Yes!" Hermione agreed. "Now we need to see how we can help him, we've gone three hours back into time and I'm pretty sure we just passed by under the cloak."
Harry nodded, he remembered that.
"I'm just not sure what Dumbledore wants as to do." She sighed.
"We need to save Buckbeak," Harry said. "Then we can fly him up to where Sirius is being held"
Hermione stared at him.
"Er, right?" Harry asked realizing he was not acting as his thirteen-year-old self would.
"Yes, I suppose that makes the most sense," Hermione nodded slowly." He did say we may save more than one life tonight."
"Right."
Harry reached toward the door, but Hermione grabbed his arm.
"We must not be seen," she said. Harry nodded.
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!"
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, Harry turned around; seconds later, Hermione arrived beside him, panting.
"Right," she gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's, keep out of sight, Harry. . . ."
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. And Harry heard his own voice.
"It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."
"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered. He stood back, then shut the door quickly.
"Let's move along a bit," Hermione whispered. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"
They crept through the trees until they saw the nervous hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Now?" Harry whispered, knowing Hermione's answer.
"No!" said Hermione. "If we steal him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set him free! We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied outside!"
"That's going to give us about sixty seconds," said Harry.
At that moment, there was a crash of breaking china from inside Hagrid's cabin.
"That's Hagrid breaking the milk jug," Hermione whispered. "I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment —"
Sure enough, a few minutes later, they heard Hermione's shriek of surprise.
Harry growled at the fact Pettigrew was only a couple feet in front of them.
"Harry, no." Hermione said.
"I know."
Hermione nudged him and pointed toward the castle.
Harry moved his head a few inches to get a clear view of the distant front doors. Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner was coming down the steps.
"We're about to come out!" Hermione breathed.
And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and Harry saw himself, Ron, and Hermione walking out of it with Hagrid. He looked at his younger self in wonder, he looked so young and innocent.
"It's okay, Beaky, it's okay," Hagrid said to Buckbeak. Then he turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Go on. Get goin'."
"Hagrid, we can't —"
"We'll tell them what really happened —"
"They can't kill him —"
"Go! It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"
Harry watched the Hermione in the pumpkin patch throw the Invisibility Cloak over him and Ron.
"Go quick. Don' listen."
There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. Harry watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. He, Ron, and Hermione had gone but the Harry and Hermione 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 — er — 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 be executed on the sixth of June at sundown —"
Careful not to blink, Harry stared up into Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes once more and bowed. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Harry 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 Macnair . . ."
"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, but Buckbeak had dug in his front feet. Merlin, his yonger body had no muscles, he decided he'd change that this summer.
"Well, let's get this over with," said the reedy voice of the Committee member from inside Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stay inside —"
"No, I — I wan' ter be with him. . . . I don' wan' him ter be alone —"
Footsteps echoed from within the cabin.
"Buckbeak, move!" Harry hissed.
Harry tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door.
"One moment, please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice.
"You need to sign too." The footsteps stopped. Harry heaved on the rope. Buckbeak snapped his beak and walked a little faster.
Hermione's white face was sticking out from behind a tree.
"Harry, hurry!" she mouthed.
Harry could still hear Dumbledore's voice talking from within the cabin. He gave the rope another wrench. Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees. . . .
"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; they were now blocked from sight; they couldn't see Hagrid's garden at all.
"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 Dumbledore. There was 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 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. . . ."
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, who looked very 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.
A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air.
"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —"
And then they saw two more figures materialize out of nowhere.
Harry watched himself and Hermione chasing after Ron. Then he saw Ron dive.
"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"
"There's Sirius!" said Harry. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. They saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron.
"Ouch!" Harry said looking at his past self.
The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its 1ower branches; they could see themselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.
"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.
"And there we go," Harry muttered. "We're in."
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!" said Hermione. "If only Dumbledore had come with us."
"Macnair and Fudge would've come too," said Harry bitterly. "Fudge would've had Sirius kissed without hesitation."
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 haring toward the Willow. Harry 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.
The castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running toward the Willow. Snape skid to a halt next to the tree, looking around. He grabbed the cloak and held it up. Then 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 took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it securely around the nearest tree, then sat down on the dry ground, arms around her knees.
"Harry, there's something I don't understand. Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then I think I passed out, there were so many of them."
Harry sat down too. He wasn't sure how to explain it to her, last time he had thought it was his father that had come to save him. Easy mistake to make, as he did not know about time travel, and he looked a lot like his dad. Now, though, he knew the truth, it was him who made the dementors go.
"Someone cast a patronus, that drove them all away." he said.
"Who?" Hermione asked him.
"I don't know."
"Didn't you see them?"
"No my eyes were closed."
She nodded understandingly.
"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.
She and Harry got to their feet. Buckbeak raised his head. They saw Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots followed by the unconscious Snape, drifting weirdly upward. Next came Harry, Hermione, and Black. They all began to walk toward the castle.
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."
"You're wrong."
"Harry—"
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 —"
"You need to move." Harry told her.
"No! We can't change anything."
"Lupin's going to come this way!"
Hermione gasped.
"What about you? Come with me."
"No, I need to get Pettigrew, go to Hagrid's cabin, it is empty now"
"No!"
"Hermione! Take Buckbeak and go. Now!" Harry raised his voice slightly. Hermione gaped at him then, quickly started to untie the hippogriff. She had never heard Harry talk like that before, but she knew she should listen. She gave him one last look then started running towards Hagrid's.
Harry took a deep breath. He was not going to let Pettigrew ruin his life anymore.