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

Chapter 32

They ran nonstop until they reached the covered bridge. Devyn's legs felt like they were on fire and her stomach felt ready to split open again. Of course, she knew that her wounds wouldn't open again, not after how Madam Pomfrey had healed them, but they still weren't fully healed. These weren't normal wounds, after all; a fact that she had to keep reminding herself. These weren't like any of the other wounds she sustained her past years at Hogwarts.

But, she sighed internally, they're just more scars to add to the collection.

"Hermione, wait! Hermione," Harry said, sounding extremely frustrated. He slowed down as he reached the exit of the covered bridge, where Hermione and Devyn were standing. "Will you please tell me what it is we're doing?"

"Ah, come to see the show?"

That was Malfoy.

Devyn stared in bewilderment. She knew what had happened – she knew that she was now in the past – but it was still strange to see herself, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Neville facing off with Pike, Crabbe, and Malfoy, especially from this perspective.

It was just weird.

"You!" Past Hermione growled. "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!" Past Hermione pointed her wand at Past Malfoy, who proceeded to whimper like a small child.

"But…that…" Harry said, putting the pieces together. "That's us."

Just then, Past Ron shouted, "Hermione, no! He's not worth it!"

"This is not normal!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione turned and put her hand on Harry's chest, pushing him into the wall. Devyn stepped back into the shadows so that the risk of her being seen was lessened a great deal.

Hermione held up the small golden hourglass around her neck for Harry to see. "This is a Time Turner, Harry. McGonagall gave it to me first term. This is how I've been getting to my lessons all year."

"Oh, that's how you did it," Devyn mused aloud. "I'd been wondering. I can't believe I never guessed it was a Time Turner. Although, I suppose I didn't guess because it seemed so unlikely. Time Turners are extremely dangerous, and usually, nobody gets to use them, except in the most dire circumstances."

Devyn was aware she was rambling but as she wasn't talking to anyone in particular, she didn't really care. She did notice Harry and Hermione staring at her.

"You mean…" Harry said slowly. "We've gone back in time?"

"Yes," Hermione answered, returning her gaze to their past selves. "Dumbledore obviously wanted us to return to this moment. Clearly, something happened here he wants us to change."

At that very moment, Hermione punched Malfoy with all her might and the little insect went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Well, I doubt he wanted us to take that back," Devyn joked, laughing to herself. Hermione, of all people, punching Malfoy; it was brilliant!

"Good punch!" Harry commented. Hermione smiled and said, "Thanks. Malfoy's coming!"

The three of them quickly hopped down through the large opening in the stone wall of the entrance/exit to the covered bridge. They managed to crouch down, out of sight, just as Malfoy and his cronies ran by.

"Not a word of this to anyone, understood?" Malfoy shouted. "I'm gonna get that jumped-up Mudblood, mark my words!"

"That felt good," Past Hermione said.

"Not good, brilliant!" Past Ron exclaimed.

"That was priceless!" Past Devyn agreed. "Did you see his face? Oh my god, that was great!"

Devyn barely had time to register how weird it was to hear herself say those words, especially when she had said them herself only a few hours ago. But then again, that was her and she was herself…they were both the same person, just at different points in time.

She was vaguely aware of her past self and Past Hermione conversing, but she wasn't paying attention. She didn't need to, though – she had been there herself. In fact, she was there right now. But she was thinking and not listening.

It was sad, really, that Past Devyn had no idea what awaited her that night – she had no idea that she would witness her godfather turning into a werewolf, or that she would nearly be killed by said werewolf, or that she would find out that Sirius Black really was innocent the entire time and that Pettigrew was alive and that he was actually Scabbers, or Scabbers was actually Pettigrew…

There was so much that Past Devyn didn't know. Present Devyn wished that she could tell her, but she knew the rules; she mustn't be seen.

"We should be at Hagrid's," she heard Past Harry comment darkly.

Once their past selves were out of the way, Devyn, Hermione and Harry moved down to the stone pillars, where they had just been standing, hours ago.

God, this so bloody confusing. Now I know why time travel isn't allowed most times, Devyn thought.

"Look." Harry said, drawing Devyn out of her thoughts. "Buckbeak's still alive."

"Of course!" Hermione and Devyn exclaimed in unison. Harry looked startled until Devyn said, "Remember what Dumbledore said?"

"If we succeed," Hermione continued, "more than one innocent life may be spared!"

"Let's go!" Devyn said to her friends. She made her way down the hill as fast as she could, without damaging her legs even further. The last thing she would need would be to fall over and break her leg. It would just be the icing on the "worst day ever" cake.

Luckily, she noticed that running was getting easier. She suspected that it had been so hard for her when she first started running because her muscles were still healing a bit. Now, it seemed that Madam Pomfrey's elixirs had finished their work. Her muscles were now healed, but the scars would still remain. But that was okay. Scars were only superficial. They could always be covered up if need be.

The three of them made their way into Hagrid's garden, and took refuge behind the oversized pumpkins, which happened to be the same ones that their past selves would hide behind in a matter of minutes.

Devyn, as she heard Hagrid commenting on how great a man Dumbledore was, noticed the approaching Headmaster, Minister and executioner. She felt her blood start boiling again at the sight of the executioner and his ridiculously oversized axe. They had never planned to give Buckbeak a fair trial; it was always going to come down to his being executed, just because Malfoy couldn't handle a small cut without whining about to his father.

"Here they come," Harry muttered. "I'd better hurry."

He made to stand up, but Hermione and Devyn dragged him back down again. "Fudge has to see Buckbeak before we steal him," Hermione told him. "Otherwise, he'll think Hagrid set him free."

"Scabbers! You're alive!" Past Ron exclaimed happily when he laid eyes on his thought-to-be-dead pet. Unfortunately, now that they knew the truth, sitting by and being happy for Ron was a lot harder.

Devyn growled lowly when Hagrid told Ron to keep a better eye on his pet and was about to turn into Snow and leap through the window and rip Scabbers to shreds right now when she heard Harry mutter. "That's Pettigrew."

"Harry, you can't!" Hermione exclaimed, tugging on his arm. Devyn quickly came to her senses, despite how bitter she was about it. She knew that she couldn't leap through the window and destroy the rat, no matter how much she wanted to. They were there for two reasons only; to rescue Buckbeak and to rescue Sirius.

Unfortunately, they would have to let Pettigrew go.

"Hermione," Harry protested angrily, "that's the man who betrayed my parents! You can't expect me to just sit here -!"

"Yes, and you must!" Hermione pleaded with him. "Harry, you're in Hagrid's hut now. If you just go bursting in there, you'll think you've gone mad. Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time, Harry. We can't be seen."

"Fudge is coming," Devyn commented. She looked to Hagrid's window, where she could see the back of Harry's head. "And we aren't leaving…why aren't we leaving?"

She looked down in thought and remembered. She remembered two small objects, two shells or something, breaking a jar in Hagrid's house, and hitting Harry in the back of his head. They were small little blue snail shells…much like the ones sitting on the pumpkin in front of her right now.

She picked up two of them now and threw one at the window. She ducked down as it made contact with the jar and she heard it shatter.

"Are you mad?!" Harry hissed at her. She smiled and said, "Jury's out, Harry," and popped up again and threw the other shell, this time at Harry's head. It clunked when it made contact with his skull and she heard Harry exclaimed in pain.

"That hurt," Harry muttered, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at Devyn. She shrugged and said, "Sorry. It was the only way to get us out of there."

"Come on, we're coming out the back door. Go!" Hermione ordered. They scurried into the trees and all took refuge behind one of the massive trunks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw their past selves all run down to the pumpkins and hide behind them, looking at the Minister and Dumbledore, waiting for them to go inside so they could make their escape.

Devyn noticed, as she was crouching behind the tree, that Hermione was frowning. Devyn's eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw Hermione creep forward.

"Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?" Hermione whispered. Devyn was about two seconds away from manhandling Hermione and dragging her back behind a tree. She was risking being seen by her past self because she's intrigued that that's what her hair looks like from the back?!

Seriously?!

"Hermione!" Harry hissed just as Hermione stepped on a twig and it snapped beneath her foot, causing Past Hermione to whirl around and nearly see them. Luckily, Hermione ducked back behind a tree only seconds before she would've been seen.

Devyn's heart was pounding against her ribcage quite painfully as she waited for their past selves to stop looking.

"What?" Past Ron asked.

"I thought I just saw…" Past Hermione said. "Never mind."

At long last, their past selves left and they were free to rescue Buckbeak – or rather, Harry was free to rescue Buckbeak.

"Okay, go Harry, go!" Hermione urged. Harry crept forward and stepped carefully into the pumpkin patch, avoiding the numerous crows that were littering the place. He walked up to Buckbeak and bowed. Thankfully, Buckbeak bowed back and Harry stepped forward to the chain that was keeping the Hippogriff tethered to the wooden pole in the middle of the pumpkin patch.

The second that Harry tried to untether Buckbeak, the crow on the pole started pecking at Harry's hands. "Get away," Harry hissed angrily. "Get off!"

Come on, Harry, please hurry… Devyn thought. If they were caught…oh man, Devyn didn't even want to imagine the trouble they'd get into.

Finally Harry got Buckbeak free, but then the bloody creature wouldn't move. He actually squawked at Harry when he tugged on Buckbeak's chain.

"Hurry up now, Buckbeak, okay?" Harry pleaded. Before Devyn couldn't even react, Hermione ran out and grabbed the dead-ferret thing that Hagrid used to feed Buckbeak.

"Come on. Come on, Buckbeak," Hermione said, holding up one of the deceased ferrets and waving it at Buckbeak. "Come and get the nice dead ferret!"

Once Buckbeak spotted the ferret, he perked up and lumbered to his feet. He finally started moving and Hermione encouraged him, almost hysterical with relief. She threw the ferret up in the air and Buckbeak caught it and munched down on it with much happiness. Of course, that relief was very short-lived – the Minister and Dumbledore stepped out of Hagrid's hut.

Harry and Hermione froze where they were standing and Hermione raised her hands in a surrendering gesture. Buckbeak was still devouring the ferret and didn't even notice that his executioner was less than fifty feet away from him.

"Here we are, Minister, follow me," Dumbledore said to Fudge, whose backs were to them. Devyn narrowed her eyes. Somehow, this seemed just too good…too lucky. Did Dumbledore know something they didn't? Or did he just know them too well? Did he know them well enough to know that they would try to rescue Buckbeak?

Yes, Devyn thought, that's probably it. He just knows us well.

Devyn didn't really pay attention to what Dumbledore was saying to Fudge because she was too focused on her friends trying to get Buckbeak into the safety of the woods. She snorted to herself quietly; the irony that she now considered the Forbidden Forest to be safe was not lost on her.

Thankfully, Harry and Hermione managed to get Buckbeak into the cover of the woods and they took off deeper into the trees. Devyn only barely realized that her breathing was back to normal. Devyn took over Buckbeak's lead from Harry and she pulled him along gently.

"Now what?" Harry asked Hermione.

"We save Sirius," she replied.

"How?" Harry countered.

"No idea," Hermione said, sounding far too casual considering she didn't really have a plan. They walked through the woods, but thankfully they weren't too far into the forest. They continued trotting along until they came to the edge of the trees that was just a few hundred yards from the Whomping Willow.

"Look!" Hermione said suddenly, pointing at the Willow. "It's Lupin!"

Devyn smiled to herself when she saw her godfather, even though it was from a distance. She would have given anything to just run out there and tell him that no matter what happened tonight, she would be okay and that she loved him and that wouldn't change.

But she couldn't. She couldn't run out there. She would be messing up the time stream and that was a big no-no.

"Immoblius!" Moony shouted, pointing his wand at the angrily swaying tree. It immediately ceased moving and Devyn looked at Hermione. "How come we didn't just do that?"

Hermione shrugged but Devyn noticed that she was looking at her strangely. Devyn raised her eyebrows and said, "Is there something on your mind, Hermione?"

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Of what?" Devyn blinked in confusion. What on earth was Hermione talking about?

Her brow crinkled as she nodded her head back at Moony, who had just disappeared into the entrance to the passageway. "Aren't you afraid of…well, him? After what happened?"

Devyn stared at Hermione, not out of confusion, but out of frustrated patience more than anything. She felt anger bubbling inside of her, but she tried desperately to ignore it. "No," she told Hermione. "No, I'm not afraid of him. I love my godfather, Hermione, and I trust him and nothing is ever going to change that, especially not a few injuries. The creature that hurt me…that was not my godfather. That was not Moony. That was the animal inside him. That was his curse. He didn't mean to hurt me. I know he didn't. He wouldn't. I know that it's hard for you to understand, Hermione – which in itself is a novel concept to all of us – but the love and trust that have for Moony can't be destroyed by a few injuries. It doesn't damage anything between us. Not for me."

Hermione nodded but said, "How do you think he's going to react…when he finds out about what happened?"

Devyn shook her head. "I don't know," she said, running her hands through her hair and dropping her head into her hands. "I really don't know. I'm sure that he'll make the same excuse that I've heard him make before – he's too dangerous to be around – and we both know it's a complete cop-out and completely untrue. He'll probably question how I can possibly trust him now and I'll have to explain to him what I just explained to you. It'll probably go something like that."

"And Snape's coming," Harry commented arbitrarily. Devyn recognized it as a subject change and she latched onto it.

"Yeah, there he is," Devyn said.

"And now we wait?" Hermione asked.

"Now we wait," Harry replied. Devyn tied Buckbeak's chain to one of the roots that was jutting out of the forest floor. He didn't really do anything except stare around at his surroundings. Devyn turned from Buckbeak and walked over to her friends. She put her back up against one of the trees and slid down until she hit the ground. She groaned and started rubbing her sore stomach and legs. They were all aching but not too badly; just enough that it was annoying.

About five minutes later, they heard a snapping noise and looked around to see Buckbeak attacking some bats that had the misfortune of coming into his crosshairs.

"Well at least someone's enjoying himself," Hermione commented dryly.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?" Hermione replied.

"Before, down by the lake, when I was with Sirius…I did see someone…someone that made the Dementors go away."

"With a Patronus," Hermione agreed. "I heard Snape telling Dumbledore. According to him, only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it."

"It was my Dad," Harry grinned and Hermione immediately looked concerned. Devyn sighed in sympathy but said nothing. "It was my Dad who conjured the Patronus."

"But, Harry, your Dad's…"

"Dead, I know," Harry said shortly. "I'm just telling you what I saw."

"Harry…" Devyn said softly. He turned his emerald green eyes on her and the look in his eyes broke her heart. He wanted nothing more than for his dad to have been the one that saved him and Sirius from the Dementors. "You know that it couldn't have been your Dad. You know that."

"I know," he sighed heavily. "I just wish…"

"I know, Harry. Believe me, I know."

He nodded and was about to say something else, but Hermione interjected with, "Here we come."

Harry, Hermione, and Devyn watched their past selves re-emerge from the Whomping Willow. By this time, Pettigrew was in his human form and Devyn growled deeply when she saw him. Harry nodded his agreement.

"Merlin, I wish I could just run out and take Pettigrew now. He shouldn't have escaped," Devyn grumbled. She knew there was nothing she could do. It was going to happen exactly the way it had happened the first time.

"You see Sirius talking to me there?" Harry said, looking at his past self standing with Sirius.

"Uh-huh," Hermione said.

"He's asking me to come live with him."

"That's great, Harry!" Devyn exclaimed, but she managed to do it quietly. He nodded and smiled.

"When we free him, I'll never have to go back to the Durseley's. It'll just be me and him. We could live in the country. Someplace you can see the sky. I think he'll like that after all those years in Azkaban."

Devyn beamed at Harry; she was so happy for him. She knew how much he hated living with the Dursley's. Up until very, very recently, he was under the impression that they were the only family he had left.

"Harry!"

All three of them snapped to attention when Past Hermione called out Harry's name. They all knew what was happening. Devyn averted her gaze – she had seen this once…she didn't need to see it again. Although she didn't have to watch it, she couldn't block out the sounds of her godfather's screams of pain or Sirius' commands for them to run. She couldn't ignore the sounds of the bloody battle that was taking place between her and Sirius and Moony.

"Let's go!" Harry urged them. The three of them started running towards where Moony had chased Sirius and when they finally got there, they all saw Harry throw a rock at the werewolf's head and Snow collapse, her white fur scarlet with blood. The werewolf advanced on Harry and raised an enormous, clawed paw to slice him open.

All of a sudden, Hermione howled. Devyn and Harry looked at her in terror and Harry covered up her mouth. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Saving your life!"

She howled again and caught the werewolf's attention. Devyn saw herself transform back into her human form and stand shakily. She watched herself start stumbling back to her friends. She was safe, she knew that.

Besides, she had bigger problems right now. While the Past Harry was now safe, the Harry that was standing next to her was not.

The werewolf was now headed right for them.

Oh, here we go again, Devyn thought bitterly. Wouldn't this night ever end?