A.N.: I know, it's really really late. It's almost New Year and I'm afraid I won't finish this story this year. But I'm really going to finish it. Our thesis is taking a lot of my time and I don't want to fail, so forgive me. Just three chapters left in this story, so please please stick with me for the last chapters. Thank you! :D

Chapter 16: The Time Turner

Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter.

Pyxis

I opened my eyes.

I turned my head to the right and there lay Draco on the next bed. He's awake. When he saw me move, he pressed a finger to his lips and pointed to the closed curtain separating us from the rest of the ward. I can hear the voices of Professor Dumbledore, Harry, and Hermione outside.

"Good luck?" I heard the door to the Hospital Wing close. I went up and rushed outside.

"I need to go with you." I asked, startling the two.

"Yes, come here, quick." Hermione removed the chain from her neck.

"Three turns? What's he talking about?" Draco came out making the two jump again.

"Could he come, Isis?" I faced Draco.

"I'm sorry, Draco, but three's already too risky. I'll explain when I get back. I just have to go back and talk to him." I was fully prepared for his protests, because he's always been stubborn. But I was taken back when he pulled me in an embrace.

"Just be careful, Raine." He whispered in my ear. I savoured the hug from my recently reunited best friend before letting go and nodding.

"I will. Besides, Hermione is with us, what could go wrong?"

With that, Hermione threw the chain around our necks.

"Potter." We all turned to Draco.

"Take care of them."

Harry nodded. I threw one last smile at Draco before Hermione turned the hourglass three times and the dark ward dissolved.

The three of us are flying backwards. I caught blurs of colours and shapes passing around me; my ears are pounding. Then I felt solid ground beneath my feet and everything came to focus.

The three of us are standing in the deserted entrance hall. Before Harry can say a word, Hermione dragged the two of us to a broom closet; she opened it and pushed the two of us inside, then slammed the door.

"What just happened?" Harry rubbed his head.

"We've gone back in time." Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off our necks. "Three hours back."

"But-"

"Shh! Listen!" I told them. I pressed my ear against the cupboard door and Hermione did the same.

"I think that's us going to Hagrid's"

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

We both nodded.

"We've gone down the front steps."

"What's that hourglass thing?"

"It's a Time Turner, Harry. I got it from Professor Mcgonagall on our first day. It's how I've been getting to all my lessons all year. But I don't understand why Dumbledore sent us three hours back. How's that going to help Sirius?"

"We're going to save Buckbeak and fly him to Sirius so they can escape together." I said in one breath.

"Did you just-" Hermione gasped.

"Yes, I did. You'll figure it out eventually. I just sped up the process." I opened the door. As quietly and quickly as we could, we darted out the door and down the stone steps.

"Let her go, Pansy."

I blocked Harry and Hermione from going further when I heard Draco's voice.

"Oh, that's how he got there." Hermione mused out loud. I heard the three girls leave.

"Yes, and he apologized to me after. Now come on, we have to hide."

"Best to remain hidden." Hermione nodded. After making sure the coast is clear, we went down the steps. Halfway through, a noise that sounded suspiciously like a slap was heard. I winced when the sound was heard again twice.

"And that would be me slapping Draco." I tugged the two to hide in the forest where we still have clear view of Hagrid's Hut.

"You slapped Malfoy?" Harry asked, laughing a bit.

"Yes, three times." The two gaped at me until I said.

"Well he was a git, right?" They shrugged and we stopped talking when we heard a knock on Hagrid's door.

"That's the three of you." Hagrid let them in.

"This is weird." Harry moved to free Buckbeak but Hermione pulled him back.

"Later, Harry. Or the Committee will think Hagrid set him free." At that moment, there was a crash from inside Hagrid's Hut.

"I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment. Hermione whispered.

"What if we just run in and grab Pettigrew?"

"No!" Hermione and I said in a terrified whisper.

"Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time, Harry. Trust me, you don't want to do that." Hermione explained. Harry turned to me.

"That's what you said earlier, in the tunnel."

"Yes, messed up the order of events a bit." I smiled apologetically.

Hagrid's back door opened and the three came out with Hagrid.

"Go on, quick. Don't listen."

Hermione threw the cloak over the three of them. Once Hagrid went out to answer the front door, we got ready.

"Where's the beast?" came the cold voice of Macnair..

"Out-outside." Hagrid croaked.

We all hid as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Macnair's face vanished from the window.

"Go, Harry." Harry darted out and approached the Hippogriff. He bowed and Buckbeak sank on its knees, before standing up again. He fumbled with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence.

"Come on, Buckbeak."

"Hagrid, you sign here…" We heard from inside.

Harry tugged harder on the rope. Finally, Buckbeak budged and began walking. We went for the forest but halted when we heard Hagrid's door open.

"One moment, please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice. "You need to sign too." They stopped.

We took the chance and ran faster to the forest until we're out of sight. Hagrid's back door opened with a bang and we all froze. Even Buckbeak seemed to be listening.

"Where is it?" said the committee member.

"It was tied here!" the furious executioner yelled.

"How extraordinary." Dumbledore said with a hint of amusement.

"Come on, they won't search." We went deeper in the forest.

"Now what?" Harry asked, looking around.

"We need to wait until they've gone back in the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak to save Sirius. Oh this is going to be difficult…" Hermione looked nervously around the forest. The sun was setting now.

"We've got to go to the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on." said Harry, thinking hard.

"Okay," said Hermione. "But we've got to keep out of sight."

We moved to the edge of the forest as the sky became fully dark. We settled behind a clump of trees where we can see the Willow clearly. We watched how Ron was dragged by dad in his Animagus form and winced when Harry and Hermione were being attacked by the Willow. Lupin went in, after pressing the knot at the trunk and Snape followed shortly, grabbing the invisibility cloak before going in ("Get your filthy hands off it." Harry snarled under his breath.").

"But Pyxis, how did you-"

"Wait, we're coming." I cut Hermione off when I saw myself running towards the Willow, Draco running after me.

"Well, since you're so stubborn, make yourself useful. Find a stick or a branch, at least 2-3 feet long." I poked the knot and we're both inside the tree too.

"So that's it," said Hermione. "We're all down there. We just have to wait until we come back up."

She took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it around a tree, then sat down on the ground and hugged her knees.

"I don't understand what happened at the lake, though. Why didn't the dementors get Sirius?"

Harry explained what he'd seen; how a large silver something came galloping across the lake and forced the dementors to retreat.

"But what was it?"

"There's only one thing it could have been." He turned to me. "A real Patronus. Like yours, Pyxis. A powerful one."

"But who conjured it?" Hermione turned to me too.

"You do know that I'm not omniscient, right?" The two could only sigh at my answer.

"Didn't you see what they look like? Was it one of the teachers?"

"No, he wasn't a teacher."

"Didn't you see-"

"Yeah, I saw him." He said slowly.

"Who do you think it was?"

"I think it was my dad."

The look Hermione gave him was a mix of alarm and pity while I struggled not to give anything away. One word from me and everything could go wrong.

"You think you saw his ghost?" Hermione asked.

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

"But then..." Before Hermione could formulate an answer, Harry dismissed it, saying he's probably just seeing things. He didn't speak again and turned to watch Buckbeak instead. I know he's mind is not really on Buckbbeak, but on his father. After a few minutes, I heard Harry call my name.

"Yes?" He's still watching Buckbeak, who was now looking for worms in the ground.

"What were you and Sirius arguing about earlier?" I huffed.

"There's something he wasn't telling me. About mum and the place I grew up. I could tell something's wrong."

"Do you think it's something dangerous?" I could only give him a half-hearted smile.

"Oh, and Hermione? Sirius is Pyxis' dad." Harry mentioned oh so casually that it didn't sink into Hermione immediately. When it did, Harry and I almost laughed.

"What?" she exclaimed, then covered her mouth, realizing she's too noisy. "What?" she repeated in a much quieter voice.

"It's true, 'Mione. He's my biological dad. I can't believe it at first either. He's the one who brought me here." Hermione hugged me so suddenly I almost fell.

"That's good to here, Isis! Wonderful, really. I'm so happy for you."

Hermione let go of me. Before we could say more, we heard voices.

"I think that's us, finally." Hermione whispered.

We all peeked from our hiding places and saw Lupin, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering up. They are followed by the unconscious Snape drifting weirdly upward. It was a while later before the rest of us went up and we began our walk to the castle.

The three of us are so silent I could hear the two's breathing. Any moment now, Lupin's going to transform.

"Harry," Hermione muttered. I smirked inwardly at her perceptiveness. She knows exactly what Harry's thinking. "we've got to stay put, we must not be seen. There's nothing we could 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 do anything else."

"All right."

The moon was fully out and I saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop.

"He's transforming-"

"We have to move!" Harry said suddenly.

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier?"

"We really have to. Lupin's going to run right at us!" I dashed to untie Buckbeak. Hermione's panicking, muttering where we're going to hide.

"Back to Hagrid's." Harry said.

"Yes, brilliant!"

We ran as fast as we could, Buckbeak cantering behind us. The werewolf's howling behind us. Finally, the cabin was in sight; Harry opened the door and let Hermione, Buckbeak and I enter before throwing himself in and bolting the door. Fang, the boarhound, barked loudly.

"Shh, Fang, it's us. " Hermione scratched his ears to calm him. "That was really close." she said.

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

Hermione's expression was suspicious.

"It's alright, 'Mione. Harry won't let anyone see him, right Harry?" I smiled at him and he nodded quickly.

"Well… okay, then… We'll wait here. But be careful, there's a werewolf out there, and the dementors-" He didn't let Hermione finish and went out.

"Pyxis." I just smiled at her and gestured for her to lean closer. When she's close enough, I whispered what Harry's about to do.

"What? He can't do that!" she said, about to go after him.

"No, Hermione. Can't you see? The one Harry saw at the lake was himself. He's the one who drove away the dementors!" I explained, laughing a bit.

"He look so much like his father, he thought it was him."

"He's the one who'll conjure the patronus?" she clarified.

I nodded and looked out of the window to see what's happening. When I saw the silver light coming from the direction of the lake, I got Buckbeak and went out with Hermione hot on my heels. Harry still stood there with his hand outstretched. He whirled around when he heard us. Hermione rushed to Harry and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, Harry." I said.

"I just saved us all." He said in a daze.

"Yes, thank you. Come on, we have to hide, before anyone could see us." Hermione dragged us behind some trees.

"Isis explained everything to me. What form did your patronus take, Harry?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"It's a stag. It's beautiful. I still can't believe I was the one who did that."

"Congratulations, Harry!" he beamed.

We heard footsteps and saw Snape. He conjured stretchers and lifted out limp forms in them. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved us away towards the castle.

"About forty five minutes." Hermione muttered

We waited, watching our surroundings, not daring to move or do anything else.

"Look!" Hermione whispered. I didn't notice so much time had passed, being submerged so deep in my thoughts. I stood up with the two and saw Macnair walking to the entrance of the castle.

"This is it Hermione, Pyxis."

Harry went up first and I helped Hermione climb up behind him while I took my place behind her.

"You better hold on to me-"He didn't even finish whatever he's saying and he nudged Buckbeak's side, setting us in flight.

Flying on a Hippogriff is very different from flying a broom. I feel much safer in a broom, where I could control it perfectly; but it's fun, nonetheless. But Hermione clearly doesn't enjoy it as she keeps muttering how she doesn't like it.

We flew past all the thirteen windows on the right of the west tower and arrived at the window of Professor Flitwick's office.

Dad's jaw dropped when he saw us. He leapt up from his chair to the window and tried to open it, but it was locked.

"Stand back!" Hermione called to him. She took out her wand, still gripping the back of Harry's robe with her left hand tightly.

"Alohomora!"

The window sprang open.

"How- how-?" he stared weakly at the Hippogriff.

"Get on, there's not much time." said Harry.

He placed a hand on either side of the window frame and heaved his head and shoulders out of it. I held out a hand and he used it as support to pull himself onto the hippogriff behind me.

"Okay, Buckbeak up!" Harry shook the rope and we're soaring upward again, high as the top of the west tower. Buckbeak landed with a clatter on the battlements, and the three of us slid of him, leaving Dad.

"You better go, quick," Harry panted. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment."

"Pyxis, my dear, we'll see each other again." He reached for my hand, and gave it a kiss when I gave it to him. "We'll all see each other again." He turned to Harry and Hermione.

He squeezed Buckbeak's side with his heels. We jumped back as his enormous wings rose once more. Dad and Buckbeak became smaller as they flew further. A cloud drifted across the moon and they were gone.

"Ten minutes, guys!"

Hermione ran, pulling us with her. We slipped through the doorway behind us and down a spiralling staircase. As we reached the bottom, we heard voices. We flattened ourselves on the wall and listened. It's Snape and Fudge talking about Dad's execution. I clenched my teeth when I saw Snape's smirk. We waited a few moments after their footsteps died down, before running to our destination. We ran until our lungs burned, not wanting to think what will happen if we don't make it.

When my entire body felt like giving up, I finally saw Professor Dumbledore's back, only about to lock the Hospital Wing. He already took his wand out to lock the room so we ran faster.

"We did it!" said Harry breathlessly. "Sirius has gone, on Buckbeak."

Dumbledore beamed at us.

"Well done. I think-" He listened intently for any sound within the Hospital Wing. "Yes, I think you've gone too – get inside- I'll lock you in."

We wasted no time and slipped back inside the room. Ron was still unconscious while Draco was still standing, staring at where we just disappeared. As the lock clicked behind us, we climbed back our own beds.

"Hey there." I called the Slytherin softly. He was either too shocked or too deep in thought that he wasn't aware of out entrance.

"That's it? You're already finished?" He sat beside me on my bed.

"Hey, we've been running for three hours, Draco, and it was not easy.' He looked like he doesn't believe me for a second, but then took in our slightly dishevelled state.

"You alright?" He asked me, concern evident in his grey eyes. Before I could answer, Madam Pomfrey came striding back from her office.

"Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now? Mr. Malfoy, back on your own bed." She said in one breath.

The usually calm and kind nurse was in a very bad mood, so we followed her instructions and ate all the chocolate she gave us. As I finished my sixth piece of chocolate, a roar of fury echoed above us. After more shouts from outside and a complain from Madam Pomfrey, the door burst open.

"Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came striding into the ward, the headmaster was calm, the minister was angry, while Snape… Well, he's Snape.

I stayed still, appearing confused as he accused us of freeing Sirius. I almost laughed when he became a bit of a whiny child. The argument ended as it should, Snape storming away and Fudge declaring he'll send the dementors back to Azkaban.

I honestly feel a bit bad about Snape, though. He was my mum's best friend, even though I can't imagine it. I'm still wondering how that happened.

There was a low moan from the other end of the ward. Ron had woken up. He sat up, rubbing his head, looking around.

"What happened?" The four of us looked at each other.

"You explain." Harry, Draco, and I said at the same time, looking at Hermione.