When Lucy awoke, she was in the hospital wing. She tried to sit up but her head ached and her muscles were sore. She rolled over onto her side and saw Ron lying on a bed beside hers with his leg covered with a cast. His red hair stood out against the white pillow making his face appear even paler. She figured she looked the same. Across the room, Harry lay on his own bed, his hands resting lightly on his chest. His glasses sat on the bedside table along with a mound of chocolate. An identical mound sat on Lucy's table as well. Hermione was beside Harry and she was awake. She was sitting up, staring at her hands.

"Hermione?" Lucy called out, not wishing to wake up the two boys or draw attention from Madame Pomfrey. Hermione looked up, startled.

"Lucy, are you okay?" she asked softly. Lucy shrugged. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there or how long it had been since she saw those Patronuses. But she could remember Sirius and Lupin telling her and Harry the story of their parents. She remembered Peter Pettigrew and how he escaped.

"Sirius… what happened to him?" She asked, fear rising in her chest. It was Hermione's turn to shrug.

"Madame Pomfrey doesn't know anything and I doubt she'd tell us even if we did ask. You should probably eat some of that chocolate. What happened to you anyway?" Hermione asked. Lucy took a bite of the chocolate before answering. She felt better already.

"Harry and I followed Sirius down to the lake. We were surrounded by Dementors and Harry was trying to do that Patronus thing. I was trying too, but he was much better." Lucy paused to recollect her thoughts. "There were about 100 Dementors and I collapsed, so did Harry eventually. But before we went completely out of it, something weird happened…" Lucy took another chunk of chocolate, unsure of how to tell Hermione about the Stag and the Wolfhound.

"Relax, Luce, get some more rest. We've got plenty of time later when both you and Harry are awake and feeling 100%." Hermione stopped her thought process. Lucy complied and snuggled back under the blankets, a warm feeling spreading through her.

When Lucy awoke next, Dumbledore was standing in the room and the other three were awake. Harry and Hermione were standing in front of Dumbledore arguing. Ron lay in bed, listening intently and nodding vigorously when needed.

"Lucy! You're not going to believe this! They're going to give Sirius the Dementor's kiss!" Harry hurried over to Lucy's bedside. She sat up quickly and jumped out of bed.

"Why? He's innocent, we have proof. Or we did, until he escaped." Her face fell. "Sir, you've got to believe whatever Harry and Hermione have told you. He didn't kill our parents." She said, her voice getting louder as she spoke. Dumbledore put a hand up to silence her.

"I am fully aware of what you four have been through tonight but there is nothing I can do. You don't have remaining proof and no one is going to believe four teenagers." He explained. Lucy felt defeated. "There is something you can do to help, though." He added. Harry and Lucy exchanged confused looks. Hermione, however, squeaked nervously.

"You don't mean, Professor…?" her face went paler than Lucy's was. Dumbledore nodded. "But that's extremely risky! You know about the consequences, this isn't just for class anymore." She continued.

"Three turns should do, I'll lock you in here so be back on time. Because I know you know the consequences as well Miss Granger." Dumbledore left the room. Harry strode over to Hermione and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"What is he talking about Hermione? What 'consequences?'" He asked, shaking her slightly with his grip. Hermione shook him off and reached down the front of her robes to grab a necklace that was hanging from her neck. It was a gold chain with a matching gold hourglass instead of a pendant. She held it in front of her.

"It's a…"

"Time-Turner," Lucy finished for her, staring at the necklace in awe. Harry's face twisted into even more confusion and a bit of exclusion. "Bob deals with the distribution of those at the Ministry. You know, my adoptive dad." She explained.

"It's how I've been getting to all my classes. I just turn the time back by turning the hourglass. Professor McGonagall gave it to me at the start of the year. That's why I missed the start of the feast." Hermione gestured for Harry and Lucy to come closer. She wrapped the chain around all of them. It was a tight fight, but Lucy clutched tightly to the others robes.

"Sorry, Ron, but you're going to have to stay here. See you in a second," Hermione turned the hourglass three times around. The walls and people blurred past them as time went backwards. When it stopped, Ron was not in his hospital bed, Madam Pomfrey was in her office, and Dumbledore was nowhere to be found.

"That was weird –" Harry said but was interrupted by Hermione's less-than-careful recollection of the Time-turner. "What time is it now then?" he asked. Hermione glanced down at her watch.

"It's around 7, weren't we at Hagrid's at 7?" she wondered, stowing the hourglass and chain beneath her robes again. Harry nodded. She led the way out of the hospital wing and down towards the Grounds. When they arrived at Hagrid's hut, Hermione motioned for them to join her behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Inside the hut, Ron, Hermione, Lucy, Harry, and Hagrid were having an animated discussion. "You can't talk to any of us or anybody else. It's dangerous and you could end up destroyed. Time is a difficult thing to work with. You can't alter what's already happened." Hermione warned. Lucy felt her face grow paler than it already was.

"I hate seeing Buckbeak there," Lucy noted. "Why can't we let him loose? We should save him as well," Before Hermione could protest, Harry had ducked out from behind his tree and bounded over to where Buckbeak was tethered.

"Harry! What did I just finish explaining! Buckbeak was there when we left! Don't do anything to him!" Hermione tried not to speak too loudly but it was hard to get her point across in quiet whispers. The voices from the house became louder and Harry turned back towards the Forest. His moment of chivalry had passed momentarily. He waited for the other group to head back to the castle and the Minister of Magic, the executioner and Dumbledore to enter the house. Now was his chance. He bowed deeply to Buckbeak who took no time in bowing back. Hermione came to his side and bribed him with food to keep him moving towards the vast expanse of trees.

"We'll go deeper into the forest," Harry suggested, not turning around to see what the executioner would do without a Hippogriff to slay. Lucy held back tree branches and stroked Buckbeak's beak while they marched on. Finally, Harry settled them down close to the Whomping willow. Hermione paced back and forth, pondering how they were going to help Sirius, while Harry sat down beside his younger sister.

"I'm sorry," he said. She looked at him, confusion etched in her face.

"For what?"

"I didn't want to kill Pettigrew when you did and now look where we are; he's still on the loose and Sirius is going to get kissed by Dementors." Harry replied. "I should have listened to you." He added. Lucy shook her head.

"No, you shouldn't have. You were right about mom and dad not wanting any of their friends to become murderers, even though Pettigrew did. You understand them better, Harry, maybe because you've known about them for longer. You've had more people tell you stories about them than I have. Bob and Carole never met mom and dad. Lupin was the first one to tell me how much I looked like mom." She leant her head against his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm still sorry for this year. It's not what you expected, was it? I know you wanted me to be the brother you never had and I know I never really stepped up to the plate." Harry apologized again.

"I didn't know what to expect, and after tonight… or yesterday night… or whatever, you've been the best brother that I've ever had." She smiled at her joke and Harry chuckled. He looked down at her. Her smile gave him somewhat of a renewed hope. It was like the Stag and the Wolfhound; made him feel safe. Suddenly, the three of them heard voices coming from the base of the Whomping Willow. Lucy saw the group appear one-by-one and settle into the positions she remembered.

"See Sirius and me talking?" Harry asked her. She nodded in silence, feeling that speaking would break this strange moment. "He's offering to buy a house and let us live there with him. You can come too if you want. I know I do." He explained as the other Harry and Sirius stood hypnotized by the grand castle and the thought of happiness.

"I will, but let's concentrate on saving Sirius first," she craned her neck to get a better view of Lupin who was going to turn into an angry werewolf any second. And he did, just like before. And like it had before, Lucy's chest clenched up in fear and she felt her heart beating hard against her chest. Harry's fist closed tightly around his wand instinctively and he moved a fraction of an inch closer to the scene.

"We have to do something," Hermione appeared beside Lucy without making a sound on the dry forest floor. "He's killing Sirius and we can't save him if he's already dead." Her voice was barely audible but Lucy could hear the worry and terror in it. "What are we supposed to do?" she muttered, practically shaking. They still had a moment as Snape awoke and began terrorizing the animal. "That's it!" Hermione did a little jump of excitement.

"What? What do we do?" Harry asked impatiently as time was running out.

"AH-OOOOOOOO!" Hermione howled, doing an impressionable imitation of a wolf. "AH-OOOOOO!" She called again. It worked, werewolf Lupin scurried off towards them with a long, loping gait.

"Here he comes," Lucy held her wand tightly, her knuckles turning white, even though she didn't know any spells that could save them. Lupin dodged a few trees and was suddenly mere feet from them. Lucy felt her feet go numb and she couldn't move. Out of nowhere, a flurry of white feathers and hooves came hurtling towards Lupin. Buckbeak reared and came crashing down, catching Lupin's chest as he landed heavily.

Frightened and hurt, the teacher tore off towards the center of the forest. Lucy had barely gotten her legs to stop shaking like jelly, when Harry took off in the opposite direction that Lupin had gone. Hermione and Lucy had no choice but to follow him. When the trees thinned out, Lucy saw that they were on the other side of the lake than they had been earlier. Yes, she could see Sirius, Harry, and herself turning white under the despair of the Dementors.

"Just wait, dad's stag will come, and a dog - a big dog like Sirius. Did you see them before, Luce?" He asked, excitement burning through him like fire. Lucy nodded but she had a bad feeling.

"How could that have been dad?" She asked. Harry didn't turn to face her when he replied.

"Lupin told me his Patronus was a stag. It could have been his ghost," but even as he said it, he knew that it was wrong. His dad wasn't a ghost, and besides, that didn't explain the second Patronus. "Just wait; someone will come to save us. We'll see them," Precious seconds passed and still there was no sign of anyone but the three time-travellers and the three victims.

"No one's coming, Harry," Hermione said, and suddenly, it came to Harry.

"Think of something happy Lucy, think of the happiest thing you can. Like knowing you can do this, because you already have." With no further explanation, he stepped forward, the Dementor's gloom not affecting him as he shouted. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A burst of light like lightning shot out of his wand and an animal cantered forward. It was a Stag; his father's stag. "C'mon Lucy, you can do it." But Lucy was already trying.

"Expecto Patronum!" she cried feebly, still unconfident that this was going to work. She looked at Harry in disbelief and was returned with a face that knew things would turn out okay, that was happy and safe, the face that was her brother's. He was her family and so was Sirius. So she tried again.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Thoughts of her mom and dad, of Harry, of Ron and Hermione, swirled through her head as a second shower of silver erupted into the dark sky. Side by side, the Wolfhound and Stag made their way across the lake. Lucy saw her other self pass out and the Dementor's were driven away in torrents. When it was all over, she felt a wonderful sense of euphoria seeping through her skin and into her heart. "It was us," she muttered, a smile spreading across her face.

"Don't stop smiling, Lucy, because we're about to save Sirius." Harry started hurrying around the lake when Hermione called him back in a whisper.

"Look!" She pointed across the lake to where Snape had found the unconscious victims and was now conjuring stretchers for them all. He was going to take Harry and Lucy up to the Hospital Wing and Sirius was headed straight for the West Tower. Hermione glanced down at her watch.

"We have forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks us out." And with that thought, Lucy's smile vanished.

A/N Note of clarification: I didn't know "Hermione's Secret" was the name of the chapter in the book when I wrote this and thought of a title. Happy coincidence that my mind thought that same as J.K. Rowling's for a split-second! Review please