REVISED 7/28/2013.
"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 both Blacks, Harry, and the girl—"
"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."
Kirsten's body shifted against the soft and warm material as a low groan escaped her lips. Her head felt significantly heavy as she opened her eyes to see that she was in the hospital wing. She stretched her body against the bed only to find that there was no burning pain. If anything, she felt slightly uncomfortable.
"And what about her, Snape. Do you really think she was confunded? She may have not been at all, you know. Helping her father is enough to ern her a kiss," she could hear Fudge's voice a mile away. She couldn't see the portly man at the moment due to her head being on the pillow, but Kirsten would want nothing to get up and beat the shit out of him.
He really was out to get her.
"I am sure that she was confunded, Minister," Snape said firmly.
Her grey eyes narrowed in confusion. The potions master was the one who brought them here but...
Snape defending her?
Maybe, he wasn't so bad after all.
"Potter, it's okay…They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The dementors will be performing the kiss any moment now—"
Kirsten slowly pushed herself into a sitting position to see Madam Pomfrey trying to console Harry. Or by the look on his face trying to give him a heart attack.
"WHAT?"
It didn't surprise Kirsten to see Snape and Fudge run into the ward.
"Harry, Harry, what's this?" Fudge said, looking agitated. "You should be in bed—has he had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen!" Harry told him. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's—"
However, Kirsten eyed Fudge to see him shaking his head with a knowing small smile on his face. And she so desperately wanted to slap smile off his face.
"Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control…."
Oh, she would show the bastard control all right...
"YOU HAVEN'T!" Harry yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"
"Minister, listen, please," Hermione pleaded, hurrying to Harry's side and gazing imploringly into Fudge's face. "I saw him too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and—"
"You see, Minister?" Snape said. "Confunded, both of them….Black's done a very good job on them…."
"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry roared.
"Minister! Professor!" Madam Pomfrey said angrily. "I must insist that you leave. Potter is my patient, and he should not be distressed!"
"I'm not distressed. I'm trying to tell them what happened!" Harry yelled in response. "If they'd just listen—"
But Madam Pomfrey suddenly stuffed a large chunk of chocolate in Harry's mouth and with him in shock, the witch was able to shove him back on his bed.
"Now, please, Minister, these children need care. Please leave—"
The door to the hospital wing decided to swing open once again revealing Dumbledore.
"Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black—"
"For heaven's sake!" Madam Pomfrey cried out hysterically. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist—"
"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mister Potter, Miss Black, and Miss Granger," Dumbledore said calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black—"
"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's mind?" Snape spat. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive—"
"That, indeed, is Black's story," Dumbledore confirmed. Kirsten noticed that the headmaster was observing Snape closely through his half-moon spectacles.
"And does my evidence count for nothing?" Snape snarled. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."
"That's because your ass was knocked out, Professor," the fourteen year old spoke up. Her voice was light and casual, if not cheery, much like Remus's attitude toward Peter during the first bit of his interrogation. Everyone in the hospital wing looked in her direction and she grinned at them cheekily.
"Do you not have any respect for your—" Fudge started to say.
"Don't lecture me about respect. You're the one assuming I've been helping daddy dearest and don't think I didn't hear about you trying to send me off with a kiss from a dementor," she interrupted, sounding frighteningly cheerful. She could hear the gasps from Hermione and Madam Pomfrey, the two looked at Fudge in shock. His face turned an alarming shade of red at this. "Send the dementors my love, will you?"
Oh, she was feeling extra spiteful so she sent the man a wink.
"How dare you—"
"I would like to speak to Kia, Harry, and Hermione alone," Dumbledore had abruptly cut Fudge off. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy—please, leave us."
"Headmaster! They need treatment, they need rest—"
Kirsten's lips twitched up as Madam Pomfrey, with her lips pursed, strode away into her office. It didn't take long for Fudge to leave, using the excuse that he needs to meet up with the dementors. That only left Snape left as Fudge was holding the door open for him.
The Potions' professor stepped forward to Dumbledore.
"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?"
The fourteen year old's eyebrows shot up at the comment and she glanced at Harry and Hermoine questioningly, only for Hermione to mouth "Later."
"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus."
With the last word said, Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Fudge was still holding for him and it closed behind him. Kirsten moved aside her covers and carefully got off the bed, somewhat happy that Madam Pomfrey hadn't changed her clothes.
"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 if off—"
"—Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius—"
Dumbledore held his hand up to stop the flood of explanations erupting from both Hermione and Harry.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said in a low voice. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word—the word of two thirteen year olds and a fourteen year old will not convince anybody. A street full of eye witnesses 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.
Kirsten inwardly groaned. Dumbledore pretty much had told him and Hermione to shut up.
"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 would 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 were old friends—"
"But—"
"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 desperately. "All because of some stupid trick Sirius played on him—"
Kirsten was curious to hear about this in detail, and decided to ask them about it later.
"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady—entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife—without Pettigrew, dead or alive, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."
"But you believe us."
Of course he did.
"Yes, I do," Dumbledore told them quietly once more. "But I have no power to make other men see truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic…."
Kirsten raised an eyebrow at that. She was sure that if he wanted to, Dumbledore could become the most powerful man in the Ministry of Magic. The man was absolutely brilliant.
His light blue eyes met hers.
"What we need," he said slowly, his eyes moving from Kirsten to Hermione, "is more time."
So...it was time travel.
"But—" Hermione began. She didn't miss a second when her eyes became round with realization. "OH!"
"Now, pay attention," Dumbledore said, 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, all of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law—and I assume you do too, Kia—you both know what is at stake…. You—must—not—be—seen."
As Dumbledore reached the door he looks back at the three.
"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 closes behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"
Kirsten was curious to see what device Hermione was going to use and was actually going to ask her what exactly was it called. But she pushed her curiosity aside and pulled Harry closer to her as she saw Hermione pull out the fine, long gold chain. A tiny sparkling hourglass hung from the bushy haired witch's chain.
"Here—"
She threw the chain around their necks as well.
"Ready?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yeah," Kirsten replied.
"What are we doing?" Harry asked, not understanding a single thing that was going on. Hermione ignored him and turned the hourglass over three times. It was the oddest flying sensation that ran through Kirsten at the moment as the dark ward dissolved. It was as if she were being thrown extremely fast in a backwards state. The blurs of colors and shapes rushed past her, her ears pounding —
Solid ground met Kirsten's feet and the motion of being thrown halted to a stop, everything around her was focused once again.
A stream of golden sunlight fell across the paved floor from the open front doors of the deserted hallway. The thin chain cut into her neck as she felt her body being yanked in the direction Hermione was leading them. Kirsten ducked and made sure the chain was nowhere around her neck. However, a hand gripped her arm and dragged her into a cupboard.
"No need to yank, 'Mione," she muttered, rubbing her arm and neck.
"What—how—what happened?"
"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered. "Three hours back…."
"But—"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think—I think it might be us!"
"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," Hermione confirmed, pressing her ear against the door. "I'm sure it's us—well, excluding you, Kia. It doesn't sound like more than three people…and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloak—"
She broke off, listening.
"We've gone down the front steps…."
Hermione sat down on an upturned bucket and from her movements, Kirsten deduced she was anxious.
"Where did you get that hourglass thing?"
"It's called a Time-Turner," Hermione whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies….I've been turning back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But…."
"I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?"
Kirsten knew the answer to that. They were supposed to save two lives. And she already witnessed one saved.
"Dumbledore said that we can save two lives tonight. He gave us the window that belongs to the room Sirius is being held in," Kirsten said slowly. "I'm thinking Buckbeak."
"We rescue Buckbeak first and then fly up to Flitwick's room and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak!" Harry said rather excited. Kirsten looked at Hermione to see her looking quite terrified.
"If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"So plan made," Kirsten said, looking at Hermione before looking at Harry. The bespectacled boy pressed his ear against the door.
"Doesn't sound like anyone's there….Come on, let's go…."
Hermione pushed open the closet door but froze on the spot as she heard a sharp intake of breath. Several seconds passed before Hermione closed the door quietly.
"What is it?" Harry asked. Kirsten couldn't help the grin on her face as she realized what Hermione most likely saw.
"She saw me," she told him quietly.
"She saw you—but I thought we aren't allowed to be seen," Harry said somewhat confused. But Kirsten ignored the two and pushed the door open to find herself gone and continued to walk down the hall. The light footsteps of Harry and Hermione reached her ears and the three reached the front doors.
"If anyone's looking out of the window…" Hermione squeaked quietly
"We'll run to the forest and save Buckbeak from there," she told them, not bothering to keep her voice as low as she should.
"If anyone sees us — Kirsten!"
The fourteen year old didn't wait or falter when she heard her name being called as she sprinted toward the Forbidden Forest. She silently thanked Madam Pomfrey in her mind for healing her so well. She only felt slightly uncomfortable in her body.
She reached the forest and slowed down when she entered the outskirts, the shadows of the trees hiding her figure. It didn't take long for Hermione and Harry to join her in the forest.
"Kia!" Hermione gasped, inhaling as much air as she could. "What if we've been seen or —"
"Nobody really did see us..." Kirsten assured her, but she knew it was a lie. But she knew couldn't convince Hermione at the moment of what was really going on. She would have to do it after they saved Buckbeak, and possibly after she pulled herself into the forest. "Right, we need to sneak over to Hagrid's….Keep out of sight this time…."
The three Gryffindors walked through the trees, making sure to keep to the very edge of the forest. Kirsten moved quickly ahead and hid behind a wide oak trunk when the sound of Ron's voice reached her ears.
"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently.
Kirsten couldn't agree more with him.
"Let's move along a bit," Hermione whispered. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"
They skulked through the trees until they spotted the nervous looking hippogriff tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Now?" Harry whispered.
"No!" Hermione replied, quickly. "If we steal him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set Buckbeak free so we'll have to wait until they've seen him first."
"That's going to give us about sixty seconds," Harry told her.
"More than enough time," Kirsten told him, eyes watching Buckbeak carefully. She already knew what was going to happen. They were going to be successful with him, that was for sure.
"More than enough time?" Harry repeated with disbelief. Before he could add anything to say, a crashing noise resounded from within Hagrid's home.
"That's Hagrid breaking the milk jug," Hermione informed. "I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment…"
After a couple of seconds Hermione's shriek reached their ears.
"Kia, Hermione," Harry said suddenly. "What if we—we just run in there and grab Pettigrew—"
"No!" Hermione said in a terrified whisper. "Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody is supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen—"
"We'd only be seen by ourselves and Hagrid!" Harry said, cutting her off.
Kirsten knew the risk they were taking.
"What the hell would you do if saw yourself bursting into Hagrid's house?" the black haired witch asked him.
"I'd—I'd think I'd gone mad," Harry said slowly, "or I'd think there was some Dark Magic going on—"
"Exactly!" Hermione said, shooting Kirsten a grateful smile. "You wouldn't understand, you might even attack yourself! Don't you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time….Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!"
"Okay!" Harry admitted. "It was just an idea, I just thou—"
Kirsten nudged Harry to hush and her grey eyes flashed over to the four men walking down from the castle.
"I'm taking a wild guess and say you're all about to run for it?" Kirsten muttered jokingly. She could see the small smile on Harry's face while Hermione nodded her head.
It didn't take long for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to slip into the pumpkin patch from Hagrid's back door. Buckbeak started to arise from his laying position as he saw the three of them.
"It's okay, Beaky, it's okay…," Hagrid said to Buckbeak. His large frame turned to the three Gryffindors. "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! Kia's not going to come, is she?" Hagrid asked panicked as the silvery cloak covered the three.
"We'll stop her if we see her," Ron assured him from underneath the cloak.
"Well, go quick. Don't listen…."
A knock pounded on Hagrid's front door and the man retreated back into his cabin, closing the backdoor behind himm.
"Where is the beast?" Kirsten heard an unfamiliar cold voice demand.
She made a guess that that was probably the executioner.
"Out—outside," Hagrid replied in a meekly voice. Shuffling stirred from within the home and Kirsten stepped back further as the executioner's eyes looked out the window. He gave no sign that he noticed her.
"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—" Fudge said. The executioner disappeared from the window.
Kirsten turned to see Harry's eyes on her and they nodded.
"Wait here," he told Hermione. Kirsten crept toward the hippogriff in the pumpkin patch.
With Macnair distracted from looking out the window, Kirsten's focus went straight to the hippogriff that was now in front of her. The creature's eyes stared at her and not a second later did his leg lift up, stepping toward her. Harry didn't hesitate to rush toward the wooden pole and he began to untie the knot.
"Well, let's get this over with," she heard an old man's voice from inside. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stayed inside—"
"No, I—I want ter be with him…I don't wan' him ter be alone—"
Footsteps could be heard throughout the house, possibly getting closer to the backdoor. Kirsten looked over at Harry to see him done untying the rope from the pole.
"Come on, Buckbeak," she whispered, placing her hand on his neck. It didn't take long for his eyes to travel to Harry and he stopped moving all together.
Shit.
"One moment, please, Macnair," Dumbledore's voice stopped the movement. "You need to sign too."
Kirsten watched as Buckbeak bent his neck in a bow and didn't say a word as she got Buckbeak moving again with Harry's help.
"Hurry!" Hermione mouthed, her face terrifyingly white. Kirsten could still hear Dumbledore talking from within the cabin as they reached the trees.
"Quick! Quick!" Hermione moaned, darting from her tree and seizing the rope to help pull Buckbeak.
Looking over her shoulder, Kirsten saw that Hagrid's garden was no longer in her direct line of sight.
"Stop!" Harry whispered, looking at Kirsten and Hermione. "They might hear us—"
Only a couple seconds passed when Hagrid's back door opened with a bang. The chattering ceased as silence followed...then —
"Where is it?" the reedy voice of the Committee member asked. "Where is the beast?"
"It was tied here!" Macnair replied furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"
"How extraordinary," Dumbledore said, a note of amusement was clear as day in his voice.
Kirsten really did admire the man.
"Beaky!" Hagrid exclaimed huskily.
A swish and a thud of an axe resounded from the pumpkin patch. Kirsten had to guess that Macnair was probably angry as hell. And she could only guess that it was Hagrid howling and sobbing with glee.
"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"
Kirsten's arm suddenly jerked forward and she let go of the rope, burning pain shooting across her hands as well as a slight stinging in her arms and chest. Buckbeak was trying to return to Hagrid no doubt.
She grabbed the rope once again, lucky that Harry and Hermione hadn't let go yet and helped them restrain him.
"Someone untied him!" the executioner snarled. "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?" Dumbledore questioned, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will…Hagrid, I can do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."
"O'—o' course, Professor," Hagrid said, his voice weak with happiness. "Come in, come in…."
Kirsten had to listen closely to hear Macnair's soft cursing, footsteps, the snap of the door, and silence once more again.
"Now what?" Harry asked.
"We wait and hide in here until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius' window. He won't be up there for a couple of hours….Oh, this is going to be difficult…." Hermione told them, looking pretty shaken and glancing back into the forest.
"But we need to see what's going on," Kirsten spoke up. Her eyes wandering around the forest.
"Okay," Hermione agreed. "But we've got to keep out of sight."
The group of four moved around the edge of the forest and hid behind a clump of trees. They still had a clear view of the Willow and it's surroundings.
There's Ron!" Harry said as a dark figure was suddenly sprinting across the lawn.
"Get away from him—get away—Scabbers, come here—"
Kirsten watched as Harry and Hermione materialized out of nowhere, chasing after Ron who now dived toward the ground.
"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking—"
"There's Sirius!" Harry said. The great dog bound towards Harry and jumped on him, knocking him to the ground and seized Ron….
"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" Harry said as the dog pulled Ron into the roots of the Whomping Willow. It was then that they saw figure emerge, sprinting full speed toward Hermione. The individual pushed the bushy haired witch down to the ground as a large branch barely missed them. Kirsten smiled as she realized that was her. The same branch came back to slam against her, only for her to bend over backwards at a ridiculously fast rate. Her past self got up from the ground and stared at another figure.
"Harry, get down!" a feminine voice rang out. Harry ducked down in time as the branch swayed violently in his direction. And Kirsten winced as she saw herself get hit by the same moving branch, sending her flying close to where she was sitting and watching now. Both Harry and Hermione get up and Kirsten saw the tree freeze.
"Did you hear that voice?" she heard Harry ask.
"I— Something moved me out of the way..." Hermione's voice carried quietly.
She could see them looking around as if looking for someone. Kirsten's eyes landed on the body close to the trees and frowned. Her body was shrouded by darkness that the two possibly couldn't see her.
The two Gryffindors then disappeared into hole at the base and the three's branches began to sway again. It was then, that Kirsten heard the voices. Voices that belonged to Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member.
Her eyes widened as she looked back at her unconscious body.
If they came from that side, they would surely see her body...
Kirsten toward her own body and scooped her up in her arms. She could hear the hushes words of protest coming from Hermione behind her, but she didn't have time to listen. She ignored the slight sting in her arms and chest, trying to breath as quietly as she could while practically running into the forest.
Setting her body down in the outskirts, Kirsten stayed with her body as Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member went inside the castle.
She rolled her eyes as she heard Hermione's frantic whispering, calling her name and walked away from her body and toward Hermione.
Her eyes looked back at Hermione before she settled into a sitting position beside the shocked Harry and Hermione.
"Kirsten, I thought I told—"
"Hermione...I already saw us. I'll explain later," Kirsten told her. The bushy haired witch opened her mouth but decided to keep it shut.
"Kia, where did you learn how to move like that?" Harry asked, eyes looking at her with interest. He was referring to her dodging the branches of the tree.
The better question was how was she not severely injured at the moment?
The tree hurled her so far away...close to the Forbidden Forest.
Of course, she remembered her entire body was in pain and her head was throbbing. But she didn't break anything.
"Here comes Lupin!" Harry stated as another figure sprinted down the stone steps and toward the tree. His form disappeared into the gap of the roots after freezing the tree with a broken branch.
"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," Harry muttered. "It's just lying there…."
Emerald green eyes turned to look at both her and 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!"
His eyes then landed on Kirsten.
"Harry...somebody else might come along. We can't let them see us," she told him.
"How can you stand this?" he asked them fiercely. "Just standing here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm going to grab the cloak!"
"Harry, no!" Hermione warned.
Kirsten heard Hagrid before she saw him. He was singing at the top of his voice and was wondering how Harry hadn't been able to hear it. Before he could dash past her, she grabbed a hold of his hand and yanked him down. His body crashed down onto hers and she put a finger to her lips as Harry's face stood only inches away from her own.
It was then that his green eyes widened in realization.
If he had run out there now, he would have been seen.
"Shit," he muttered so lowly only she could hear.
Her eyebrows shot up at his remark and he only shrugged his shoulders as he pushed himself off of her.
"What can I say...you're a great influence," he whispered sarcastically.
She really was rubbing off on them.
A minute passed when Hagrid finally meandered tipsily into the castle and out of sight with his bottle swinging.
"See?" Hermione whispered. "See what would have happened? We've got to keep out of sight! No, Buckbeak!"
Two minutes passed when the castle doors flew open to reveal Snape charging out. He ran towards the tree and stopped as his eyes landed on something. Bending over to pick it up, Snape had the invisibility cloak in his hands.
"Get your filthy hands off it," Harry snarled under his breath.
"Shh!"
Snape took a hold of the branch Remus used, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put the cloak on.
"When do you get up, Kia?" Harry asked, looking at the area she placed her body.
She shrugged her shoulders in response.
"Ow!"
Kirsten jumped at the sound of her own voice and strained to listen to herself.
"Thanks for biting me."
She saw Hermione's eyes widen as she peered at the area where Kirsten's past self was.
"Crookshanks!" the bushy haired witch breathed in amazement.
The fourteen year old stood up from her spot and began to make her way to her past self, ignoring Hermione's call.
"Kirsten! No!"
It didn't take long to get into a good view of her past self, who was now looking at her in fascination.
"This has to be the oddest thing I've ever witnessed..." she said, trailing off.
Kirsten couldn't help the smirk on her face as she saw the look on Hermione's face. The poor girl wouldn't stop muttering, "Oh my God."
"She used it," Kirsten told her past self. This definitely shut Hermione up, and Past-Kirsten nodded her head in understanding. "Had to bring you in here before anybody actually saw you."
Past-Kirsten's head nodded in the direction of Buckbeak. "I see you saved Buckbeak."
"That's not the only life we're saving," Kirsten told her, her eyes hardening as she stared at herself. She could feel the smirk slip off her mouth as her jaw locked in anger.
"What?" Past-Kirsten asked, but Kirsten shook her head. She didn't have enough time to explain to her.
Her grey eyes caught Past-Kirsten thinking before she saw annoyance flicker in past-self's eyes mixed in with anger.
"Please don't tell me Peter gets away," she asked her.
Kirsten eyed Hermione and Harry to see them looking at her with their mouths dropped open in shock.
"How—how do you know?" the emerald green eyed boy watched the two in curiosity.
"You need to go to the Whomping Willow. Now," Kirsten told her, nodding her head in the direction of the violent tree. She stepped forward to her past-self, brushing her cheek against her own. She made sure her voice was low enough that Harry and Hermione wouldn't hear. "Kill him."
Past-Kirsten still hadn't moved from her spot.
"Go."
Her voice was forceful as she uttered that one word which got her past-self to head out toward the tree.
Kirsten then began to walk toward their earlier hiding spot in order to have a better view and heard Hermione and Harry coming after her with Buckbeak trailing behind. The black haired witch sat down, letting out a breath. She tried to avoid their gazes but decided against it.
"Kirsten...what was that?" Hermione asked. The girl in question took a look at the perplexed looks on their faces before giving them a small smile.
"That's what I saw before I went into the Whomping Willow," she answered, shrugging her shoulders.
"Why didn't you think you were going mad when you saw us?" Harry asked her.
"I can be very trusting when I want to be," she told them lightly. Hermione rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Anyways, I kind of knew you had a way of getting around, Hermione."
"Yes, well you could have warned us," the bushy haired witch said.
Kirsten nodded her head in agreement. "I could have. But would you have really listened to me in so little time? Without a proper explanation?"
The looks on their faces told her their answer.
"But...Kirsten, how did you know about Pettigrew?"
This was a question she knew the two really wanted answered. She could tell by the curious looks on their faces.
"I—Well, I talked to Sirius and —"
"You what?" Harry interrupted, his eyes wide while Hermione gasped.
"Crookshanks led me to the forest and I was curious where your cat was going...so that's where I saw him," Kirsten told them. Their jaws were dropped pretty far down. "And he told me that he wasn't after me or you, Harry."
"Kirsten, you didn't know whether he was dangerous or not," Hermione told her, eyes wide with concern. The fourteen year old shrugged her shoulders and grinned at them.
"A chance I was willing to take. A good one, too, seeing as how I'm still alive and his story about Pettigrew was true," she said.
"But you shouldn't have—"
"Hermione," Kirsten said, leaning close to the witch. "I'm won't go questioning criminals who've escaped Azkaban, all right? Promise."
It didn't take long for the three to become entrenched in silence. And it didn't take long for that silence to be broken.
"Kia, Harry, there's something I don't understand….Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember a dementors on Kirsten, and the rest were coming, and then I passed out…there were so many of them…."
Harry explained to the two witches what he witnessed. How, as the nearest dementor had lowered his mouth onto Harry's, something large and silver galloped across the lake and forced the dementors to retreat.
Kirsten's eyes shot right at Harry curiously as he finished.
"But what was it?" Hermione asked.
The black haired witch had a feeling she knew what it was.
"There's only one thing it could have been, to make dementors go," Harry said, glancing over at Kirsten. "A real Patronus. A powerful one."
"A Patronus?" Hermione asked perplexed.
"Well, yeah," Harry replied. "But I think I saw two people."
"Do you know who conjured it?" Kirsten asked him, intrigued.
Harry stayed silent, most likely pondering on the mystery people.
"Didn't you see what they looked like?" Hermione asked eagerly. "Were they teachers?"
"No," Harry told her. "They weren't teachers."
"But whoever it was must've been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those dementors away…. If the Patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light them up? Couldn't you see—?"
"Yeah, I saw them," Harry interrupted Hermione slowly. "But maybe I imagined it….I wasn't thinking straight….I passed out right afterward…."
"Who did you think they were?"
"I think—" Harry swallowed, looking right at Kirsten. "I think it was your mum and my dad."
Well, that definitely wasn't what Kirsten had thought...
An hour passed when Kirsten heard noise arising from the Whomping Willow.
"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.
Kirsten got on her feet as she saw Lupin, Ron, and Pettigrew clamber awkwardly out of the hole. Next was the unconscious Snape along with Harry and Sirius. Hermione climbed out and Kirsten saw herself come out last, rushing toward the group.
Grey eyes glanced at Harry to see him clenching his fists before looking back out.
She could feel her anger flaring up at the prospect of what was going to occur next. She tried to focus her anger on Pettigrew but nothing within her changed.
Not a single heartbeat pounded in her head.
She wouldn't be able to chase after Pettigrew.
"Harry," Hermione muttered, "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..." Harry said quietly.
"How do you expect to find a rat in the dark?" Hermione snapped. "There's nothing we can do! We came back to help Sirius; we're not supposed to do anything else!"
"Alright!"
The moon slid out from behind the clouds and the tiny figures across the grounds stopped. Then movement—
"There goes Lupin," Hermione whispered. "He's transforming—"
"Hermione! Kia!" Harry said suddenly. "We've got to move!"
"We mustn't, I keep telling you—"
"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the forest after he attacks Kirsten and he'll come right at us!"
Kirsten's eyes widened while Hermione gasped.
She really wasn't in a rush for a round two.
Especially when she couldn't defend herself at the moment.
"Quick!" Hermione said, dashing to Buckbeak and untying him. "Quick! Where are we going to go? Where are we going to hide? The dementors will be coming any moment—"
"Hagrid's. He's not there right now!" Kirsten said, tucking in her shoestrings. There was no way she wanted to trip and she had no time to tie them.
Kirsten made sure the others were running ahead of her as the howling came closer. She knew it was only because of what she was that she was still alive after facing Remus the way he was now.
There was no way the others would stand a chance.
The cabin was in sight and she saw Harry wrenching the door open, Hermione and Buckbeak both flashed past him. As Kirsten caught up, she grabbed Harry and darted in, bolting the door shut behind them. Loud barking filled her ears and the fourteen year old realized it was Fang.
"Shh, Fang, it's us!" Hermione said, hurrying over and scratching his ears to shut him up.
Her eyes flashed over to Kirsten and Harry. "That was really close!"
"Yeah…."
Kirsten looked out the window but couldn't get clear view.
"I think I'd better go outside again, you know," Harry said slowly. Kirsten watched him, her eyes narrowed in amusement. "I can't see what's going on—we won't know when it's time—"
Hermione looked up and Kirsten wasn't surprised to find suspicion laced in her look.
"I'm not going to try and interfere," he told her quickly. "But if we don't see what's going on, how're we going to know when it's time to rescue Sirius?"
"I'll go with him," I added in and Hermione's expression lightened.
Kirsten had no idea why.
She was the one who practically showed herself to herself.
"Well…okay, then…I'll wait here with Buckbeak…but you two, be careful—there's a werewolf out there—and the dementors—"
The witch and the wizard both stepped outside and edged around the cabin.
"I'm getting tired of this," Kirsten muttered. Grabbing Harry's arm, she raced down to the lake to see a couple of dementors emerging out of the darkness.
Her grey eyes widened as she saw a dementor swoop over her limp body beside the lake. A second passed and Sirius emerged on the scene with Harry and Hermione behind him.
"Kirsten, did the dementor just kiss y—"
"Come on!" she hissed. She had no time to ponder at what just occurred and she saw tiny glimmers of silver produced from Harry's wand.
The glimmers of silver diminished into nothing as more dementors began to emerge and surround them. The fourteen year old instinctively reached for her wand in her sweater to find it wasn't there.
She left it on the bedside at the hospital wing.
"Harry, I don't have my wand," Kirsten told him. Realization sunk into his face and he nodded his head.
The wizard flung himself from his position.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A blinding light burst from his wand and Kirsten watched as a stag emerged from his wand. The silver animal galloped across the lake forcing the dementors to retreat and scatter. However, Kirsten was too focused on the fact that a dementor pretty much gave her a kiss.
Then why the hell was she still the way she was?
Why did she still have her soul?
"— Kia, I thought you were going to watch him."
Hermione's furious voice broke her thoughts and she frowned.
When the hell did Hermione get here?
Harry began to explain what just occurred with the dementors to the bushy haired witch and her mouth dropped.
About ten minutes passed where the three witnessed Snape place them on stretchers and disappeared with them into the castle.
"Right, it's nearly time," Hermione said 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 make it to the Hospital Wing before anybody realizes we're missing…"
"D' you reckon he's up there yet?" Harry asked, checking his watch. I glance over at the thirteenth window from the West Tower on the seventh floor.
"Look!" Hermione whispered. "Who's that? Someone's coming back out of the castle!"
The figure of a familiar looking man hurried across the grounds. Kirsten noticed it was the executioner.
"It's Macnair," Kirsten told them. "I guess it's time to head up."
Kirsten paused as she realized what she said.
Up.
As in the air.
On the back of a hippogriff.
"Oh, shit," she muttered.
Her fear of heights really did need to disappear. She glanced at the hippogriff that Hermione and Harry were now settled on, their eyes on her.
She couldn't let this stop her.
This was her father.
Taking a deep breath, Kirsten heaved herself onto Buckbeak's back behind Hermione.
"Ready?" Harry whispered. "Hermione, you'd better hold onto me—and, Ki—"
"Yeah, let's just hurry this up," Kirsten told him.
She had a feeling that Harry was laughing at her and he was lucky enough that Hermione was between them.
Buckbeak soared straight into the dark air, leaving the place they once stood and Kirsten didn't dare look down. The hippogriff glided quietly toward the upper floors of castle, turned left —
"He's there!" Harry said. Kirsten's eyes caught sight of her father through the window and a smile tugged at her lips.
She didn't dare look down as she leaned away from Hermione to tap on the glass.
The man's head shot up and his jaw dropped at the sight. He leaped from his chair and hurried toward the window to open it but it wouldn't budge.
"In my pocket, Kirsten," Hermione told her. Kirsten dug into the sweater she was wearing to find Hermione's wand.
"Alohomora!" the fourteen year old muttered, flicking the wand in her hand.
The window sprung open automatically.
"How—how—?" Sirius said weakly, staring at Buckbeak.
"Hurry up before the dementors come up," Kirsten told him hurriedly.
Sirius didn't need to be told twice and moved his thin body through the window. Kirsten grabbed the man's arm and helped him onto Buckbeak behind her. She made sure his arms were wrapped around her firmly before telling Harry to get moving.
"Okay, Buckbeak, up!" Harry ordered. "Up to the tower—come on!"
Buckbeak's mighty wings swept the air and they soared upward again. This time it was to the top of the West Tower. As soon as Buckbeak landed, Kirsten slid off the hippogriff as quickly as she could, Harry and Hermione following her lead.
"Sirius, you'd better go, quick," Harry panted. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment, they'll find out you're gone."
"What happened to the other boy? Ron?" Sirius croaked.
"He's still unconscious but he's fine. Now, go!" Kirsten told him. His grey eyes immediately traveled to hers and he nodded his head slightly, watching her.
"How can I ever thank—"
"GO!" Harry and Hermione shouted together.
Sirius wheeled Buckbeak around facing the open sky, but he turned his head to look at her one last time.
"Bye," she told her father. Her heart felt slightly heavy at that.
They were so close to being able to possibly live together but their one significant piece of evidence ran away.
"We'll see each other again," he told her, squeezing Buckbeak's sides with his heels.
The enormous wings rose once more…the hippogriff takes off into the air…both of them becoming smaller into the distance as Kirsten looked on, finally disappearing into the night.
"We be getting down by now?" Kirsten reminded the other two, tearing her eyes away from the night sky.
"Kia's right! Harry, we've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anyone seeing us—before Dumbledore locks the door—"
"Okay."
Kirsten slipped through the doorway first and down a tightly spiraling stone staircase. She stopped in her tracks as her ears picked up voices. She held her arm out before Hermione and Harry could proceed, pressing a finger to her lips.
"…only hope Dumbledore's not going to make difficulties," she heard Snape say. "The Kiss will be performed immediately?"
"As soon as Macnair returns with the dementors. This whole Black affair has been highly embarrassing. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to informing the Daily Prophet that we've got him at last….I daresay they'll want to interview you, Snape…and once young Harry's back in his right mind, I expect he'll want to tell the Prophet exactly how you saved him…."
From where she stood in the shadows, Kirsten caught a glimpse of Snape's smirk as he, Fudge, and several other officials passed by their hiding spot. Her lips tugged up into a smile.
"Can't wait to see the smirk wiped off his face when he finds out Sirius isn't there," she whispered, garnering an amused look from Hermione and a grin from Harry.
The three ran in the opposite direction, quietly hurrying towards the hospital wing. Down one staircase, then another, along a corridor — then cackling.
"Peeves!" Harry muttered.
"In here!" Kirsten whispered, darting into a deserted classroom. From what she could hear inside the room, Peeves seemed to be in boisterous good spirits, laughing his head off.
"Oh he's horrible," Hermione said, her ear to the door. "I bet he's all excited because the dementors are going to finish off Sirius…."
They waited until Peeves' gloating voice faded into the distance and they slid back out of the room, and ran.
"What'll happen—if we don't get back inside—before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry panted.
"I don't even want to think about it!" Hermione said, checking her watch. "One minute!"
The three Gryffindors reached the end of the corridor and slowed as they reached the Hospital Wing entrance. Kirsten could hear Dumbledore's voice.
"I can hear Dumbledore," she told them. Harry and Hermione crept closer to her and she saw Dumbledore's back.
"I am going to lock you in," she heard him say. "It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
The headmaster backed out of the room and closed the door, magically locking it with his wand. Kirsten looked up at the man as a wide smile appeared under his long silver mustache.
"Well?" he asked quietly.
"We did it!" Harry informed him breathlessly. "Sirius has gone on Buckbeak…."
Dumbledore beamed at the students before him.
Kirsten narrowed her eyes as she stared at the door, she pressed her ear against the door to no longer hear herself, Harry, or Hermione in there.
"Well done. I think—" he said and he made to listen through the door.
"We've gone," Kirsten told him. The elderly man smiled down at her.
"Well then, get inside—I'll lock you in," he said.
Kirsten slipped back inside the ward with Hermione and Harry behind her. It was empty besides Ron, who was lying motionless in the bed at the end. As the lock clicked behind them, Kirsten crept back into her bed. She placed her pillow against the headboard so she would be able to see anybody in the wing. Not a moment later passed when Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office.
"Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?"
"He left just now," Kirsten said. The woman nodded her head and strode over to her, a large block of chocolate in one hand and a hammer in the other.
"I forgot to give this to you," Pomfrey informed the young witch. She slammed the chocolate with her hammer, breaking it to pieces. "Now eat this."
"You don't have to tell me," the fourteen year old said, a smile on her face as she grabbed a piece of the chocolate. Kirsten could see Madam Pomfrey's lips twitch up into a small smile before giving several pieces to Harry and Hermione.
Kirsten happily divulged herself in the excess of chocolate.
And adding the fact that Snape and Fudge would soon find out that Sirius was no longer held prisoner. This was just too good.
It wasn't until she took her third bite when she heard a distant roar of fury echoing from somewhere above...
"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey asked alarmed.
"This night just gets even better," Kirsten said, and couldn't help the laughter that erupted from her lips. Madam Pomfrey, Harry, and Hermione all looked at her with their mouths slightly open.
The voices were drawing near, causing Madam Pomfrey to look from Kirsten to the door and back again.
"Really—they'll wake everybody up! What do they think they're doing?"
She stopped laughing when she heard how close the voices were to the door.
"He must've Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out—"
"HE DID'NT DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS—HAS—SOMETHING—TO—DO—WITH—POTTER!"
Kirsten pulled her face back in a "yikes" at Harry, who couldn't stop the smile on his face.
"Severus—be reasonable—Harry has been locked up—"
BAM.
The door of the Hospital Wing burst open.
Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore strode into the ward. The only one who seemed somewhat sane was Dumbledore, who looked as if he was enjoying himself.
"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" Snape bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"Didn't know eating chocolate was a crime now," Kirsten told him, a grin on her face.
"Hold your tongue, Black!" Snape shouted at her, completely furious.
"I'll try. But it's kind of hard to grip my tongue with my hand especially when—" Kirsten opened her mouth and saw the look of disgust on Fudge and Snape's faces. "Looks an awful lot like a feces, doesn't it? So I'd say that I should disregard that action."
Harry and Hermione were struggling not to laugh.
"See here, Snape, be reasonable," Fudge said. "This door's been locked. We just saw—"
"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled, pointing his finger at Harry, to Hermione, and landing on me.
"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"
Kirsten watched on entertained at what was occurring.
"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" Snape shrieked. "HE DID IT, AND I KNOW BLACK HELPED, I KNOW THEY DID IT—"
"That will do, Severus," Dumbledore told him quietly. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"
"Of course not!" Madam Pomfrey said, bristling. "I would have heard them!"
"Well there you have it, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly. "Unless you suggesting that Harry, Hermione, and Kia are able to be in two places at once. I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."
Snape whirled around and stormed out of the ward.
"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," Fudge said staring after him. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore."
Kirsten narrowed her eyes at Fudge.
Between Snape and Fudge, she would choose Snape any day.
At least he somewhat tolerated her snarky attitude and odd sense of humor. Even if he did give her detention and docked off a billion points every other week.
"I think he's an excellent Professor," Kirsten told the minister. Every pair of eyes in the room stared at her incredulously. Well, everyone beside Dumbledore.
"I will tell him that, Kirsten. He will pleased," Dumbledore said, looking at the girl with a smile. His blue eyes then landed on Fudge."He's no unbalanced. He's just suffered a severe disappointment."
"He's not the only one!" Fudge said. "The Daily Prophet's going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff's escape to get out, and I'll be a laughing stock! Well…I'd better go notify the Ministry…."
"And the dementors?" Dumbledore asked. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"
"Oh yes, they'll have to go," Fudge agreed, running his fingers through his hair through distractedly. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy and girl—"
Kirsten coughed loudly. The man glanced in her direction as she raised an eyebrow.
"And you too, Black," he said. "Completely out of control…no, I'll have them pack off back to Azkaban tonight…Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance…."
"Hagrid would like that," Dumbledore told him. The wizard smiled at Kirsten before leaving the ward with Fudge by his side.
Madam Pomfrey didn't take any chances and hurried to door, locking it in the process and muttering angrily before proceeding to her office.
A low moan caught Kirsten's attention and she glanced in Ron's direction to see him rubbing his head and looking around.
"What—what happened?" he groaned. "Harry? Why are we in here? Where's Lupin and Sirius? What's going on?"
Kirsten glanced at Hermione and Harry and smiled at them.
"Oh no, I'm eating," the fourteen year old said, holding up a rather large chunk of chocolate.
"You explain," Harry told Hermione as he grabbed a piece of chocolate for himself.