I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

AN: I don't know the exact time that Hermione and Harry went back in time, so I'm taking a few liberties. Just go with it.

Chapter 31

As she floated her way back to consciousness, she became aware of voices speaking from somewhere in the distance. They didn't seem to be talking to her, but they did seem to be snippets of conversation.

"It'll be close…if she got here any later, she might not have made it. Her heart rate is at a deadly pace right now as it is."

"Do you mean it's beating too fast?"

"No, child! No, her heart is beating too slowly. She lost so much blood, it's a wonder she's still breathing. She's a fighter, this one, I'll give her that."

"Ah! Oh, ow…that was a bad idea."

"Mr. Weasley! I told you to stay put!"

"Listen to her, Ronald!"

"I-I'm afraid…there's nothing I can do for her. She's too far gone…"

"No! No, please, there must be something! She can't…she can't die. I can't lose her!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Longbottom…Neville…there's nothing more I can do. She's got maybe a minute left. I would say goodbye if I were you. You may never get another chance."

Devyn was slowly regaining consciousness, and the immense pain of her injuries was coming back to her. She felt as though she had been hit by a truck – multiple times.

"Devyn…please, wake up. I can't do this without you."

That was Neville. He was begging her to wake up. I'm trying, Neville, I'm trying! Don't give up!

"Don't give up, Dev, please. I know you're in there somewhere. Please, come back to us. Come back to me. I love you, Devyn. Please don't leave me."

She heard Neville gasp when her eyes fluttered open. "Devyn! You're alive…I knew it. I knew you wouldn't leave us. You wouldn't leave me."

Devyn smiled weakly and tried to sit up. She winced at the pain that shot through her body, but fought her way through it and eventually, with Neville's gentle assistance, got into an upright position.

"What happened?"

"You…you don't remember?"

"No, I remember what happened to me perfectly well. I mean, what happened after I passed out?"

"Oh…um…well…"

"Neville…what happened?" she asked slowly. She saw Hermione approach her from Ron's bedside. Ron's leg was bandaged up now and most of his color seemed to have returned to his face. But he still looked extremely pale and was looking at her like he'd seen a ghost…or perhaps a better expression would have been that he looked as though he had just seen a Dementor. Devyn looked around the room and noticed that Harry was unconscious and that Sirius wasn't there with them.

"Why does everyone look so scared?" she asked. Neville looked at Hermione and she walked over to Devyn cautiously.

"Well…I mean, Devyn…you…you died. Your heart stopped beating…Madam Pomfrey said there was nothing more she could do. You were dead."

"Yes, and now I'm back. Don't ask me how because I don't know, but I think we have bigger things to worry about then how I'm still kicking, right? All that matters is that I'm still here."

Neville smiled and Hermione laughed nervously. "Yes, um, I suppose you're right."

Devyn nodded and said, "Okay…so…what happened? I mean, after I passed out."

"We don't really know. One minute you were Snow and you were running after Harry, and the next thing we know, you're stumbling back to us, in human form, bleeding from just about everywhere and Harry is nowhere to be seen."

"Yeah, speaking of that…how come I'm not…you know, still bleeding from everywhere? I mean," she lowered her voice, "werewolf-inflicted injuries aren't like normal wounds. They don't heal as well as regular wounds. So why am I not…?"

"Oh, well, that was all Madam Pomfrey. She seemed to know exactly what to do, but she told us that there would some serious scarring. Both on your stomach and your legs. You're all bandaged up now, but Madam Pomfrey made sure to put you back together again."

"What do you mean, put me back together again?" Devyn asked cautiously. "How bad was it?"

"Bad," Ron responded shortly. "I've never seen anything like it. You were a bloody mess, Devyn, no joke. Your stomach was slashed half open…Madam Pomfrey said if his claws went about half an inch deeper, you would have lost your guts."

"Bloody hell…" Devyn muttered.

"It really was. She got me and Neville to leave the room when she fixed up your wounds because it was so gory, but Ron…Ron couldn't be moved, not with his leg, so he saw everything."

"Oh, bollocks…Ron, I'm sorry you had to see that."

Ron just shook his head and said, "I'm trying to just forget it. Let's not mention it, okay?"

Devyn nodded and shifted again, wincing at the pain. "So…does anyone know what happened to Harry?"

Ron shook his head, but Neville and Hermione nodded. "Yeah," Neville said. "Snape found him and Sirius on the shore of the Black Lake. There were Dementors swarming all around. It looked like they had tried to attack Sirius, but Harry fought them off."

"Did Snape say how many there were?"

"He said it must have been about a hundred. That's why Harry is passed out. His Patronus wasn't strong enough to fight them off. Luckily, someone else came along and produced a really strong Patronus, and that sent the Dementors away long enough for Snape to get there and save both of them."

Devyn exhaled deeply and looked over at Harry. He was banged up and bleeding a little in some places, but nothing bad. Most of those injuries probably were from the Whomping Willow.

"And what about Sirius? Where is he?"

"Oh, that's the thing…once Snape saved Harry and Sirius, he brought Harry here and handed Sirius over to Dumbledore. He's been caught and well…it's above Dumbledore's influence."

"What is?" Devyn asked. She took one look at Hermione, Ron, and Neville's faces and realized what was going to become of Sirius. "Oh, no. No, no, no. They can't! Sirius is innocent! We were all there, we saw it! We can back Sirius up!"

Hermione and Neville shook their heads. "We tried. Snape's convinced that we've been Confunded and no one is going to actually believe that Sirius is innocent. He's been in Azkaban for over ten years and it's not like he's acted like an innocent man lately…"

"No, this isn't fair!" Devyn protested, struggling to get out of bed. "He's innocent! They can't suck out his soul! They can't! They…they can't…"

Devyn was weak, but her strength was returning to her, much faster than she thought it would have. She wasn't particularly worried about Moony, as awful as that sounded. He was probably running around the forest somewhere. Although, it might be that his transformation was over. Devyn glanced down at her watch and sighed in frustration when she saw that it was almost completely shattered. The hands seemed to be stuck on ten o'clock. That must have been when it was broken.

She unstrapped it from her wrist and put it down on the table next to her bed. "What time is it?"

"It's about two in the morning. Why?"

"Is the moon gone?"

"Not quite yet, no. But it's getting there," Neville replied.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Moony," Devyn muttered. Comprehension flashed over Hermione's face and she nodded.

"Well, we have to do something. They're going to destroy an innocent man. We can't just sit back and do nothing," Devyn said, trying to get out of bed again. This time she succeeded, although her legs were a little shaky. Neville helped support her until she felt like she could stand on her own.

"Thanks, Nev."

"What are you doing, Ms. Murphy?! Get back in bed this instant! You should not be walking around!"

"Oh, but Madam Pomfrey, I'm fine. Look, I'm okay! You've done your job well. Yeah, I'm scarred a bit, that's to be expected, but my blood levels are back to normal, and –"

"I will be the judge of that, I think! Now, you sit down and let me do my job!"

Devyn grumbled but she sank back down onto the hospital bed as Madam Pomfrey bustled around her, taking her diagnostics. "Hmm…well, your blood levels are back to normal…it's incredible, I've never seen someone heal so quickly, especially not with your kind of wounds….well, still, I don't want you overexerting yourself."

"Look, Madam Pomfrey, I appreciate what you've done for me, but I'm fine. I mean, I'm not going to go skipping through fields of daisies and sunflowers anytime soon, but I can walk just fine."

"You, dear, had the worst injuries out of all your friends. Ms. Granger only had a sprained wrist and Mr. Potter is unconscious because of those awful creatures. Mr. Longbottom is barely injured at all. You and Mr. Weasley have the worst injuries of the group."

"Yes, but the difference between me and Ron is that I can walk. No offense, Ron," Devyn said, looking back at him. Ron waved a hand and said, "It's fine. Not like it isn't true."

"Yes, but Ms. Murphy, you had three broken ribs, two more cracked ribs, your stomach was almost completely ripped open, and both of your calves were almost entirely shredded. How on earth you survived is beyond me…!"

"I survived because you're an excellent nurse. And because I'm not finished yet. There are things I have to do, and while I appreciate your concern, Madam Pomfrey, you will not stand the way of what I have to do."

"I don't see what it is you have to do, Ms. Murphy, you're only a child. All of you, you're only children. You shouldn't be getting injured like this. Now, I'll be in my office. I don't want you walking out of here until I say you can, understand? Good. Call me when Potter wakes up."

Devyn stretched a bit and grimaced at the stiffness in her stomach area. She lifted up her shirt a little to get a look at her wound and hissed in pain and annoyance when she saw it. It was no longer bloody, but it was obviously a fresh wound; it was a weird pink color – it hadn't quite lost the bloody look to it, but it wasn't completely healed either. It seemed to be caught somewhere in between. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey had sealed it up and it was already scarring over.

Where her skin had once been smooth, it was now mottled and twisted, like any other scar would be. Neville grimaced when he saw it and said, "That's one hell of a scar. There were bandages on them before when Madam Pomfrey's elixirs were sealing them up, but once they were done, the bandages were taken off. I think she was holding out hope that you wouldn't die. We all were."

Devyn nodded and lowered her shirt again. She lifted her legs and pulled up her pant legs to get a look at the scars on her legs. They were smaller and thinner than the one on her stomach was, but it was still a gruesome sight to behold.

"Ah, well," Devyn sighed. "As Sirius said, this flesh is only flesh. I'm sure it'll look better once it's healed a little more. Although, I don't know how much more healing can happen. Werewolf inflicted injuries don't heal like normal wounds, like I said. These scars are permanent."

Neville was looking extremely conflicted as he gazed at the scars on her legs. "Neville," Devyn said. "Are you alright?"

Neville looked up at her and shrugged. "I mean…yes and no. You're alive, and I'm so happy that you are, but those scars…I just wish you didn't have to live with them. It isn't fair. You were only trying to protect us and now you're scarred permanently."

"Neville, it's okay. It could have been so much worse. We're lucky that it isn't much worse. And besides, I would die to protect you. I would die to protect Harry, and Hermione, and Ron. What was I going to do, let my godfather eat you? I don't think so."

Neville smiled and took Devyn's hand in his just as Harry started moving around. It looked like he was waking up.

"Harry?" Hermione said, looking at him concernedly. Neville helped Devyn out of bed and thankfully, she was fairly steady. She walked carefully over to Harry's bed, grumbling her way through the discomfort of her new scars being stretched and whatnot. She wouldn't be running any marathons anytime soon, but she'd be alright.

"I saw my dad."

Those were the first words out Harry's mouth. Devyn stopped short in her movement and blinked in confusion. Had Harry experienced the same thing she had? Had he been that close to death as well?

"What?" Hermione asked. Neville and Ron exchanged confused looks but Devyn's eyes never left Harry.

"He sent the Dementors away…I saw him across the lake."

Harry sat up and Devyn sighed in relief. He hadn't been as close to death as she had been. But there was something a tad more troubling…the fact that Harry had supposedly seen his father when James Potter had been dead for almost thirteen years.

Devyn genuinely wasn't sure what to make of it. Obviously it had to have been a very powerful Patronus to send away a hundred Dementors, but as far as Devyn knew, ghosts couldn't perform magic, much less a Patronus Charm. Besides, if James had become a ghost, why wouldn't he have revealed himself to Harry before now?

Hermione, deciding to just move past what Harry had said, responded with urgency in her voice. "Listen, Harry, they've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss."

"You mean they're going to kill him?!" Harry exclaimed, standing up at once. His panic was entirely warranted; he had just found Sirius, the only family he had aside from the Dursleys (and they barely qualified, in Devyn's opinion), and the prospect of losing him so suddenly and cruelly was a terrifying prospect.

"No, it's worse," Devyn said. "Much worse. They're going to suck out his soul. He won't be Sirius anymore. Memories, emotions, every single thing that makes him Sirius will be gone. Forever."

"Devyn! Thank Merlin you're alright. I didn't know what happened to you. Are you…are you injured?"

"I'm fine, Harry," Devyn responded. Hermione threw an indignant glare her way and Devyn put her hands on her hips. "What, Hermione? I am fine. Yes, it was a close call, but I'm okay, and we have more important things to think about right now than my new injuries and the very permanent effects."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking between Hermione and Devyn.

"Nothing," Devyn said quickly. "Don't worry about it."

Hermione huffed and said, "If you won't tell him, I will."

"Go ahead, it won't make any difference."

"Tell me what?" Harry urged.

"Devyn almost died. When she was Snow, when she teamed up with Sirius against Professor Lupin, she got seriously injured."

"Yeah, I know…I mean, I saw that you were bleeding when I went after Sirius, but I didn't know it was so bad."

"Yes, well, they were very bad. Her stomach was almost ripped completely open, and the back of her calves were nearly shredded. Both her stomach and her legs are now permanently scarred. Aside from that, three of her ribs were broken, and two more were cracked."

Harry raised his eyebrows and Devyn sighed and said, "Yes, yes, it's horrible, but you know what? I'm healed, okay? I'm not dying anymore. My ribs are healed, and although I feel like I've been hit by an eighteen-wheeler truck, I'm okay. The scars are still new and they hurt and they're stiff, but I'm okay. Now can we please drop the subject and move on?"

"Fine, I suppose we can, but really, you – Headmaster!"

Hermione changed tack at the speed of light as Dumbledore pushed open the door and walked into the Hospital Wing. She rushed up to him and said, "You've got to stop them! They've got the wrong man!"

"It's true, sir, Sirius is innocent," Harry told him.

"It was Scabbers who did it!" Ron piped up. Dumbledore looked slightly confused at that one.

"Scabbers?" he questioned. Ron nodded and said, "He's my rat, sir. He's not really a rat. Well, he was a rat, he was my brother Percy's rat, but then they gave him a owl and I got –"

"The point is, we know the truth. Scabbers is really Peter Pettigrew. He's been alive this whole time, in hiding. Sirius never murdered anyone – it was all Pettigrew," Devyn clarified. "Please believe us."

"I do, Ms. Murphy, but I'm sorry to say that the word of five thirteen year old wizards will convince few others."

Neville sighed in frustration. It sucked being a kid, especially when you knew things others didn't. Most people just didn't pay you any mind because you were only a stupid kid. Dumbledore wandered over to Ron and put a hand on his injured leg, clearly oblivious to Ron's whimpers of pain. "A child's voice," he said, patting Ron's leg. "However, honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen."

Ron looked ready to murder Dumbledore by the time he moved away from Ron's leg. Devyn couldn't blame him. Dumbledore suddenly got this strange expression on his face and said, "Mysterious thing, time. Powerful. And when meddled with, dangerous."

He walked back past Hermione and said, "Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. You know the laws, Ms. 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. If you succeed tonight, more than one innocent life may be spared. Three turns should do it, I think. Oh, by the way, when it doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin. Good luck."

Devyn's jaw was hanging open. What the hell…?

Dumbledore closed the door and Ron immediately exclaimed, "What the bloody hell was that all about?"

"I have no idea…" Neville muttered.

"Sorry, Ron, but seeing as you can't walk…and Neville, the more people that go, the more difficult not being seen is…three is the absolute limit. Devyn, come here. We're going to need you."

"Oh, you'll need me? I am just wallowing in the love right now," Devyn grumbled sarcastically but moved towards Hermione and Harry regardless. Hermione pulled out a chain from under shirt, attached to which was golden spherical thing that looked like a miniscule hourglass.

"Hermione…is that…what I think it is?"

Hermione nodded and put the chain around her and Harry's necks also. She turned the small dial on the edge of it three times and Devyn thought she was passing out again. Everything around her blurred but she was standing still. Ron and Neville disappeared and people came and went.

It was like they were being rewound, which made sense, considering the little hourglass was actually a Time Turner.

And suddenly, the blurring stopped. Hermione removed the chain from around her and Harry's neck and Devyn looked around at the early evening sunlight streaming through the Hospital Wing windows.

"What just happened? Where's Ron? And Neville?" Harry asked, looking stricken with bewilderment.

"It's seven-thirty," Hermione said, looking at the clock above the door. "Where were we at seven-thirty?"

"I dunno…going to Hagrid's?" Harry said. That sounded about right to Devyn but she couldn't be sure. The hours had somewhat blended together for Devyn and she wasn't sure of anything relative to time anymore.

"Come on!" Hermione exclaimed. "And we can't be seen!"

She set off at a run and Harry looked at Devyn in confusion. She shook her head and attempted to start running.

"Hermione!" Harry called. "Devyn!"

Devyn heard Harry start running after them, but she was more focused on her own movement. Running was definitely restricted, but simply because her muscles were screaming in protest. She didn't have much choice otherwise, though, so she dealt with the pain and kept going.

Things were just getting more and more complicated by the minute.

This is getting really old, really fast. I just want five minutes of peace. Is that really so much to ask? Devyn thought as she lightly jogged her way after Hermione. Just five minutes of peace, quiet, and rest. That's all I want.