Blood Ties
Part 35
Rating, summary and such are same as before.

Note 1: Ahhh... Another year... Deal to me being lazy-ness, I decided to skip several scenes that are the same as the movie/book with only Harry in it. Sorry.
Note 2: Thanks Joahn for beta-reading the story!

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Buffy licked her lips nervously before she finally answered Harry's question. "They're going to suck out his soul."

"No..."

The door to the wing swung open, and Hermione wasted no time and rushed towards the new comer. "Headmaster, they got the wrong man!" She pleaded.

"It's true sir!" Harry, with the help from Buffy, moved down from the bed and joined his housemate. "Sirius is innocent!"

The blonde Gryffindor nodded eagerly. "It's Scabbers who did it!"

Dumbledore's brows wrinkled with confusion. "Scabbers?"

"He's my rat, sir." Ron said from his place. "Only he's not really a rat... except he was a rat... he was my brother Percy's rat... but then they gave him an owl..."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the redhead before turning back towards the headmaster. "The point is, we know the truth. Please, believe us."

The headmaster sighed, and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I do, Miss Granger, but I'm sorry to say the words of couple thirteen years old wizards will convince few others." He slowly made his way towards Ron and Xander, standing in between their beds, one hand patting Xander's head the other patting Ron's. "A child's voice, however honest and true..." He smacked down the two Gryffindors' heads, earning him groans from both children, but he did not seem to have heard them as he continued. "...is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen."

Patting the two heads one last time, the headmaster suddenly looked towards the exit and slowly moved towards it, as if he could hear something that the others could not. "Mysterious thing, time. Powerful... and when meddled with, dangerous. Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen. And you would do well, I feel, to return before this last chime. If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss. But if you succeed tonight... more than one innocent life may be spared." He winked at Buffy as he moved towards the exit. "Three turns should do it."

Professor Dumbledore swung the door open, just in time as Willow appeared and ran straight into the headmaster. Willow jumped back, and looked at the wizard. "S-sorry."

The older man smiled, and petted Willow's shoulder, much to her surprised. "When in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin. Good luck." He said, gently pushing Willow into the room before closing the door, leaving his students inside the wing, totally confused.

After a second of silence, Ron finally voiced what everyone else had been thinking - well, almost everyone. "What the bloody hell was that all about?"

"Sorry Ron, but the thing is, you are injured. You too, Xand." Hermione said as she pulled out a pocket watch from under her shirt, and started pulling at the chain, making the magical chain longer and longer. "C'mon."

A bulb lit up in the redhead's mind and she immediately moved forward, pulling Buffy and Harry with her. Hermione, without further explanation, pulled the chain over her friends so that it held all four of them together.

"Ohhhh, pretty!" Buffy's hand reached for the pocket watch Hermione was turning. The Gryffindor immediately slapped away the curious hand and sent Buffy a glare that almost caused her to take a step back - if they were not stuck together.

After making three turns, Hermione let go of the watch, and to Harry's surprise, things around them started changing - sun gone up again, people walking in and out around them only if they all walked backwards - almost as if they were standing in the middle of a reverse tape.

Once the movement stopped, everything around them went quiet. The sun was shinning warmly outside, but no one except them was in the wing - not even Ron and Xander who were in the beds just moments ago. "What the..." Buffy blinked.

"What is that?" Harry had the same bewilder look on his face as Buffy. "Where... where's Ron? And Xander? What's..."

Hermione ignored him and looked down at her watch. "Seven-thirty. Where were we at seven-thirty?"

"We were heading for Hagrid's!" Willow exclaimed, shrugging her shoulders to stop her back rug from slipping away before taking off with Hermione. Harry and Buffy looked at each other for a second before followed their friends out of the hospital wing.

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"Will! Wait!" Buffy shouted as Harry and she followed Willow and Hermione running along the outside wall of the castle towards Hagird's hut. "Hermione!"

Suddenly, the two stopped, hiding themselves just behind the castle wall. Harry followed them and peeked out from the corner, his eyes widened when he spotted a group of people - more specifically, his friends and himself, standing not far away, arguing with Draco and his friends. "That can't be normal..."

Hermione pulled Harry back before he could be spotted before pulling out her pocket watch again. "This is a Time-Turner Harry. McGonagall gave it to me the first term. This is how we have been getting our classes all year."

Buffy blinked, looking between Willow and Hermione. "You mean going back in time?"

Willow nodded as Hermione continued. "Dumbledore obviously wants us to return to this moment." She peeked out again. "Something happened that he wants us to change."

The gang watched as the 'earlier Hermione' pulled back her arm before greeting Draco's nose with her fist. Buffy let out a whistle while Harry smiled. "Good punch."

"Thanks." Hermione grinned. "I've been practicing with Buffy."

Willow raised an eyebrow at Buffy. "What?" Buffy shrugged when she saw the look of Willow's face. "Girls need to know how to protect themselves. I can teach you if you want." She peeked out again. "Malfoy's coming." She pulled back with the others, waiting for the Slytherin students to go back into the castle before peeking out again. "C'mon."

The gangs sneaked through the edge of the Forbidden Forest as they followed their earlier selves towards Hagrid's hut. Quickly, they hid behind the piles of super-size pumpkins just outside the hut. Buffy looked at Buckbeak that was napping on the pumpkin field. "Hey, didn't Dumbledore say more than one innocent life may be spared? Maybe he's talking about Buckbeak too." The blonde stood, but Willow quickly pulled her back down. "Hey!"

"Don't." Willow whispered and pointed. Sure enough, Dumbledore, Fudge and the executioner were marching down the path towards Hagrid's hut. "We need the Minister to see Buckbeak before we take him. Otherwise he'll think Hagrid set him free."

"But..."

"Scabbers! You're alive!"

Harry narrowed his eyes as he spotted Scabbers through the opened window of the hut. "Peter Pettigrew." He tried to move towards the hut but Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, you can't!"

"Hermione," Harry turned towards his friend. "He betrayed my parents. You can't expect me to just sit here-" He was about to stand when Hermione stopped him again.

"Yes you must." Hermione said. "You're in Hagrid's hut right now. If you just go bursting in, you'll think you've gone mad! Awful things happen when wizards meddle with time, Harry. We can't be seen."

The gang watched as the headmaster and the others moved closer and closer. Hermione frowned as she glanced at the hut. "Fudge is coming, and we're not leaving..." She frowned harder. "Why aren't we leaving?" She looked down, and noticed that very familiar smooth round shaped stone. Without a second though, she grabbed it and threw it towards the open window. A loud smashing sound could be heard from the hut.

"Are you mad?!" Willow's eyes widened.

Hermione ignored her, picking up another stone and threw it. This time it hit the back of Harry's head.

Harry shuddered when he saw the impact of the stone hitting his own head. "Ouch. That hurt."

Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

The gang turned back towards the headmaster's party, and found them reaching the hut. Not a second after he had knocked on the wooden door, the back door opened, and Willow immediately pulled Harry onto his feet. "We're coming out from the back door!" The gang immediately dashed into the woods and hid behind the huge trees, watching their earlier selves hiding behind the pumpkins where they were just seconds ago.

Buffy peeked out, her eyes focusing on her own behind. "Omigod! Does my butt really look that big from behind?"

"Are you crazy?!" Willow hissed as she pulled Buffy back before she could be spotted. They waited until their 'earlier' selves started running back towards the castle before slipping out again. "C'mon." She said, moving towards Buckbeak with the others.

Buffy went for the other end of Buckbeak's chain, yielding a bit when a crow pecked her finger. "Stupid bird." She cursed, kicking her leg a bit to scare the crows before started pulling at the chain. Buckbeak woke, looked up at Buffy unimpressively before lying down again. Hermione instantly joined Buffy at the pulling. Harry bowed, waiting for Buckbeak to nod back before moving behind it and started pushing at the giant animal.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Harry urged, but the hippogriff refused to budge.

Willow looked around nervously. Suddenly, her eyes caught something, and immediately she dashed for it. Seconds later, she ran back, and Harry could see four dead ferrets in the redhead's arms. She dangled one in front of Buckbeak. "Hey Buckbeak, want some?"

"Will, I don't think it's time to play catc-wooooooch!" Buffy fell back on the butt with Hermione when Buckbeak suddenly stood and moved towards the redhead.

Harry, suffering the same fate, fell forward and hit the ground, face first. "Ouch." He sat up, smoothing his nose.

Willow baited the huge hippogriff with the dead ferret before throwing it towards the woods, and Buckbeak immediately ran for it. "C'mon you guys!" She frowned at the three students who were still sitting on the ground, and moved towards Harry. "We need to go." She pulled him onto his feet, and started pushing him towards the forest.

As Harry, Buffy and Hermione joined Buckbeak into the woods, Willow halted, and turned towards where she knew her other self was standing.

"Will?"

"Yeah." Willow stared for couple more seconds, before joining her friends and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.

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Just as the gang disappeared into the woods with Buckbeak, the door to Hagrid's hut opened, and the minister stepped out with the executioner. "Let's get this over with, shall-" The Minister halted. "What... where is it? I just saw the beast not moments ago! Hagrid?!"

Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore stepped out the hut, and stared at the empty pumpkin field. "How extraordinary!" The headmaster exclaimed as he looked around, rather amused.

Cornelius Fudge turned towards him. "Come now, Dumbledore, someone obviously released him." He turned his accusing eyes towards Hagrid.

Hagrid immediately took a step back. "Professor, I swear I didn't!"

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm quite sure the Minister isn't suggesting that you had anything to do with it, Hagrid. How could you? You've been with us all along."

Fudge shook his head. "We should search the grounds-"

"Search the sky if you must, Minister." The headmaster said as he moved back into the hut. "In the meantime, I wouldn't say no to a cup of tea... or a large brandy." He halted and turned towards the executioner. "It seems your service will no longer be required." He nodded at the cloaked man with a cheesy grin before disappeared into the hut.

The Executioner narrowed his eyes at the headmaster, before turning toward the field where Buckbeak was, and lifted up his blade. Crows scattered, as the blade swung down, and sliced the huge pumpkin nearby in half.

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