So I had a really rough past week, hence the lack of updates. I'm probably only getting this one out tonight as I have a lot of other things to catch up on as well, but I'll update tomorrow as well!

Hope you enjoy!

Someone was screaming. Harry could hear them, but he couldn't see anyone as he ran blindly into the night. Several feet into the pitch black, he realized the screaming was coming from his own mouth. He was the one screaming. He was running into the Forbidden Forest alone and screaming and chasing after a rat he had no hope of finding. He couldn't stop screaming despite realizing all this and he couldn't stop running after Pettigrew.

The chill hit him later and he spun around to see a dementor diving through the trees towards him. He couldn't miss the sight of Hermione and Sirius either, both having given chase after him. The cold increased drastically and his head whipped around violently as he noticed, to his horror, the numerous black cloaks descending upon them. He reached for his wand and started shouting, but he wasn't sure if what he was saying was the correct thing or not. The ice was taking over. He could hear screaming, but this time he knew for sure it wasn't his own.

The ground was coming up to meet him and then he saw the brilliant flash of silver. He looked towards his wand, but it lay dark and dull in his hand. His eyes, blurring and heavy-lidded, slid around to stare at the space somewhere in the trees were someone stood, glittering gold thread floating through the air.

Then he fainted.

"We need to contact his parents."

"Yes..."

"This should never have happened, Dumbledore. I told you to let the dementors into the castle..."

"Oh, you leave him alone!" The sob was strange because Harry had never heard such a sound in McGonagall's voice. "They weren't in the castle, were they? They were out on the grounds and those dementors would have done terrible things to him..."

"If they had been in the castle those children wouldn't have been out of it!"

"Dumbledore has done everything within his power and the power of all the teachers to protect the students here at Hogwarts. What Potter manages to get himself into to is not the headmaster's fault."

"Thank you, Severus, but Fudge is absolutely correct. The children should not have left the castle."

"It is not your fault. It is Potter's. Again! This is the third year in a row he has intentionally endangered himself and his little friends and finally..."

"Severus...please..."

"Headmaster..."

McGonagall gave a horrible lament and then silence fell through the room.

"What happened...exactly?" Severus was nearly whispering.

"From what we can tell, Black, being an Animagus, went after the three and pulled them into the Shrieking Shack. He then left with them after some time and that was when he must have chosen to...well...then Potter and Granger took off into the forest and Black gave chase and then the three were...the dementors arrived, but someone drove them off...someone incredibly powerful...and then Black was gone and that was when you arrived, Snape." Fudge finished with a clearing of his throat.

"And I brought the two to the castle, but I knew that the Weasley boy would be with them, so I went down to find him...and I did."

Harry's eyes flew open and he groped madly for his glasses, finding and securing them onto his face before flying from his bed and out towards the entrance of the infirmary. He was surprised when he collapsed onto the ground, shaking and chilled to the bone.

"Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey gasped in alarm and she rushed forward to grab Harry and try to force him back into the bed, but he would have none of it. The wrong person wasn't going to get the blame! Not after Ron...

"It wasn't Black!" Harry called to the adults standing there, staring at him in surprise. "It wasn't him! It was Pettigrew!"

"Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey was giving him a concerned look as if she expected him to be a little looney after what he'd been through. This enraged him. "You've been through a great..."

"No!" Harry shoved away from her and steadied himself on a curtain, ears drooping because it was too much work to keep them up. "Please! Listen to me! It was Pettigrew! He was...R-R-R...it was the rat! Like Black, he was an unregistered Animagus! He was a rat! He cut off his own finger and he blew everything up! Black...he traded with Pettigrew...for Secret-Keeper! He wasn't chasing down Pettigrew because he was on Voldemort's side (several people jumped)! He was chasing after him to get revenge! And this time too! He was after the rat! He wasn't after me!"

"Potter."

The voice seemed to still everything in the room and Harry turned to see Theodore standing there beside him. Apparently, he had been at Harry's bedside, but Harry's desperation had made him blind to the boy. He wasn't blind now. Of everyone and everything in that room, Theodore seemed to shine the brightest and the clearest. Harry had thrown himself into the Slytherin within moments of realizing the taller boy was there beside him.

"You believe me! You believe me! Please tell me you believe me!"

"Potter, calm down." Theodore said. He was standing there, rather stiff, and he wasn't returning the embrace, but Harry didn't care.

"No!" Harry yelled. "I can't!"

"Potter!" Snape's voice made Harry jump and he hid his face deeper into Theodore's chest.

"He's delirious." Fudge was whispering to the adults at the entrance. "And he's exhausted. He's been through such an ordeal. The trauma of seeing Mr. Weasley..."

"NO!" The scream came out hoarse and frantic and Harry had wrenched away from Theodore to face Fudge with ferocity in his eyes and stance as his ears lay flat on his head and his tail thrashed behind him. "Ronald will not have died without the right man getting caught! It was Pettigrew! I swear it was! Black is innocent!"

"Even if he is," Theodore's voice seemed the only one to bring any sort of reason into Harry's mind. "You have no proof."

Harry turned to him, bewildered. "But...Hermione and I...we saw!"

The Slytherin motioned and Harry followed the gesture to see Hermione, ghostly white and sickly in appearance. She was out cold.

"But..." Harry faced the adults again and realized finally who all stood there.

Fudge was wearing a look of worry, but it was more as if he suspected Harry of being insane rather than anything else. McGonagall was barely holding herself together. Dumbledore was there, eyes twinkling with tears, and streaks running down his cheeks into his beard. He seemed absolutely beside himself, unable to talk or really think. Harry wondered if he was in shock because not even his ears or tail were moving. With his ears pinned back, Snape was stiff, his features blank, and his eyes fixated on Harry's as if trying to see into the boy's mind. Desperate for anyone to believe him, Harry stared right back, partially curious if the man could read minds, but mostly hoping Snape not only saw, but believed what he saw.

"I need to speak with Mr. Potter and Mr. Nott." Snape suddenly spoke in a strict stern tone. "Alone."

"But...Snape!" Fudge stared at the man, startled.

"I suggest, everyone gather in the headmaster's office." Snape ignored the Minister. "We need to notify Mr. Weasley's mother and someone needs to inform his particep...if she is still alive herself."

McGonagall gave a weak nod and turned to leave, apparently willing to do whatever she was told right now.

"But..." Fudge started.

"I need to speak to Mr. Potter and Mr. Nott." Snape gave the Minister a glare that withered the man's defiance. "Alone."

Crestfallen, Fudge turned and left with Dumbledore, who motioned towards Madam Pomfrey.

"I don't see why I need to go." She crossed her arms. "I must stay here with my patients."

"Sally-Anne may need you." Dumbledore spoke and there was no mistaking the wetness of his voice. "I suggest you help McGonagall with her."

"Oh..." Madam Pomfrey seemed torn and then then she gathered a couple potions from her stores and started for the door, where she paused to glare warningly at Snape. "Mr. Potter is to go straight to his bed. Now."

"Of course." Snape nodded towards her and then waited until Madam Pomfrey had left, closing the doors behind her, before focusing on Harry. "You have very little time and I do not have enough time to explain what is important. You will have to trust each other if you are to be successful."

"Sir?" Harry raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I don't much care for the wrong person getting accused and taking the fall either, Mr. Potter." Snape glared. "Especially when someone...dies from it. Now, Mr. Nott, three turns should do it and you had best help Mr. Potter in all the ways you can. You and I both know what is at stake."

"This isn't my problem." Theodore said coldly, his ears sweeping back.

"If it is your particep's problem then it is yours as well." Snape snarled.

"What do you know?" Theodore snapped back, tail lashing around. "You don't know what it's like at all. You see it all through a clouded glass, never really knowing what it's like to be inside experiencing it for yourself."

Snape paled considerably and Harry watched the Potion Master's eyes seem to darken. "I may not know it firsthand, but I have a strong understanding of the very complex structure of Animusparticeps. If you do not do this, you may both die."

Theodore stiffened, face hardening, and then the fierceness of his features seemed to drop and he grew incredibly laxed. "The dementors..."

"You must hurry." Snape insisted and Harry was rather amazed to hear the desperation in his voice. "I am leaving and locking the door behind me. It is five minutes to midnight. You must return quickly."

"But..." Harry started, but no one was listening as Snape was already almost to the doors and Theodore had yanked something from around his neck and thrown a long gold chain around both of their heads.

"Ready?" Theodore asked as he started turning an hourglass over in his hand.

"What?"

His question wasn't answered until he'd landed in the entrance hall.

"Time-turner." Theodore pulled him into a broom closet. "Reverses time. It's how Granger and I have been getting to classes. We swore we wouldn't use it for anything, except our classes and we weren't supposed to tell anyone that we had them. You know: all the stuff I'm doing right now.

"Time-turner...reverses...time..." Harry gaped at the Slytherin. "We've gone back in time?"

The Slytherin shushed him as he listened at the door, his cat ears twitching. "Someone's going by...sounds like...a small group...maybe three...moving slowly."

Harry tried to shake the feeling that he was in a bizarre dream and he moved forward to listen. "That...sounds like...yeah...we're under the invisibility cloak, so we're moving real slowly."

"Where've you gone?" Theodore asked as he looked at Harry and the Gryffindor thought (or perhaps hoped) he'd seen contentment in those eyes.

"Down to Hagrid's." Harry whispered in response. "We were seeing him to help him get through Buckbeak's execution."

"Snape wants us to free Buckbeak?" Theodore wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Great."

"Can we?"

Theodore rolled his eyes. "Come on...but don't be seen. Understand?"

"R-Right."

Harry had to admit this was the weirdest thing he'd ever done: sneaking after himself and spying on himself. It was bizarre and unnatural. Theodore just sighed at Harry's awe and amazement and complete being-weirded-out-ness. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by the whole ordeal.

"Well, you're not following yourself around." Harry hissed.

"I have."

"That's so weird..." Harry muttered. "You know, it's a good thing we didn't have a conversation and then me asking you about it before you'd even had it...ugh...that's so weird."

"I'm surprised you could even come up with that."

"Did we?" Harry asked after a pause.

"Well, I was never stupid enough to act as if I hadn't had a conversation with you." Theodore told him. "But given that I answer a lot of things with questions, it was never really a concern...besides, we never talked about anything important."

Harry rubbed at his chest where he was sure he'd been stung. "Ouch."

Once Buckbeak was secure (Harry was quite impressed with how Theodore was able to get control over the beast), they slipped into the wood and waited while Harry grumbled about how they should have grabbed the rat while they had the chance.

"Well, you couldn't have done it." Theodore told him. "You'd have thought you'd gone crazy at seeing yourself."

"What about you?" Harry asked, staring at him. "You could have done it."

"I didn't want to."

The needles that swept over Harry's skin nearly caused him to yelp. He grabbed hold of Theodore's robe fronts and shoved him against a tree, causing Buckbeak to squawk in alarm.

"Ronald died!" Harry told him in a rage, ears back and tail swinging. "He died and it's all that rat's fault! And you didn't go running in there and stop him because you didn't want to!"

Theodore kept his composure. "Harry, you can't change the past."

"We're changing it right now!" Harry gasped.

"We can't change the past." Theodore stated again. "You can only complete it."

"What?" Harry was staring at the other boy in bewilderment, releasing him from the death hold he had.

"We coming back..." Theodore shrugged and straightened out his robes. "We had to. We didn't have a choice because we're meant to complete the past, not change it."

"But...how..."

"It's not something a simple-minded person is going to be able to wrap their brain around." Theodore told him strictly. "We're only back in time right now to complete what missing parts couldn't be done unless we'd done it. Trying to 'change' things only leads to complications. We can do nothing, but complete."

"That's..."

"How it has to be." Theodore's tone said the conversation was over. "Come on. We need to see what you're up to or we won't know what to do."

As soon as they were settled, they watched the trio and Black enter the Whomping Willow and silence fell over the night.

"I should go up there." Harry whispered. "I should hide under the invisibility cloak and...push Ronald out of the way."

"Don't be an idiot." Theodore hissed back. "What if you going up there and pushing him out of the way is the exact reason behind him getting killed? Could you live with that?"

Harry stared down at the ground. "I can't do this."

"Don't make me knock you out."

Harry's eyes turned to look at Theodore. "You're about to watch someone die."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Heart leaping up into his throat, Harry struggled over what to say. He knew who Theodore was talking about, but was it all right to admit he'd known?

"W-who?" Harry inquired after a long silence, the tip of his tail twitching nervously.

"My mother." Theodore replied coolly. "When I was very young."

"Oh..." Harry swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"Mmmm..." Was all Theodore answered.

"But..." Harry hesitated, now uncertain. "Is it right to let Ronald die? We could save him!"

"You could get yourself killed or be the reason behind his death." Theodore gave a great sigh. "Harry, once someone dies, no matter what you do, they will still die. They will die at the exact same time they died the last time. It might be in a different way, but it will happen. That is how Fate works. There isn't anything you can do. He has died. Nothing will save him now."

"But we could..."

"You can't."

"But..."

"There is nothing you can do." Theodore was now standing and staring down at Harry in an almost cruel glare, his tri-colored ears pinned back and his tortoiseshell tail flicking from side to side. "He has died. Live with it."

"How do I live with it?" Harry was on his feet now too. "It's my fault! If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened!"

"That could be said about a lot of things." Theodore straightened. "A lot of things wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you, but doesn't that hold true for everyone? We all live in a world where everyone's actions affects the whole, even down to the smallest choices. Who knows what little thing some nobody has done that has ruined life for you and I? Or what some incredible person could have done to save the world, but chose not to and we must now live with the reprecussions of their actions? Sometimes it is the smallest little acts that causes the biggest effects. Who knows. Every person must live out their purpose. Weasley's simply ends here and, who knows, maybe it is for the greater good."

"How is someone dying for the greater good?" Harry growled.

"Didn't your mother die for you?"

Harry looked at the boy, somewhere between surprised and horrified.

"That's what I heard." Theodore shrugged casually. "That she cast herself between you and the Dark Lord. Then when he cast the spell at you, it rebounded."

"And?" Harry mumbled, not wanting to continue this conversation.

"Well..." Theodore looked at him, but there was no animosity or impatience in this look: merely understanding and a tinge of sorrow. "I don't think her sacrifice was wasted, do you? Wasn't it...for the greater good?"

"I..."

"Yes." Theodore interrupted. "The answer is 'yes'."

That's it for this part. Sorry for cutting it short, but my head is spinning. I'll try to get another one out tonight, but I make no garauntees. :) Hope you enjoyed.