Chapter 22: Yelling at Boxes

"Harry! Claire!"

Hermione was tugging on both their sleeves, staring at her watch. "We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us—before Dumbledore locks the door—"

"Okay," Harry said, wrenching his gaze from the sky, while Claire only nodded, "let's go…."

They slipped through the doorway behind them and down a tightly spiraling stone staircase. As they reached the bottom of it, they heard voices. It sounded like Fudge and Snape. They were walking quickly along the corridor at the foot of the staircase.

"….only hope Dumbledore's not going to make difficulties," Snape was saying. "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…"

Harry clenched his teeth. He caught a glimpse of Snape's smirk as he and Fudge passed Harry, Clare, and Hermione's hiding place. Their footsteps died away. Harry, Claire, and Hermione waited a few moments to make sure they'd really gone, then started to run in the opposite direction. Down one staircase, then another, along another corridor—then they heard a cackling ahead.

"Peeves!" Harry muttered, grabbing Claire's and Hermione's wrists. "In here!"

They tore into a deserted classroom to their left just in time. Peeves seemed to be bouncing along the corridor in boisterous good spirits, laughing his head off.

"Oh, he's horrible," Hermione whispered, her ear to the door. "I bet he's all excited because the dementors are going to finish off Sirius…."She checked her watch. "We have three minutes left!"

They waited until Peeves's gloating voice had faded into the distance, then slid back out of the room and broke into a run again.

"Hermione, Claire—what'll happen—if we don't get back inside—before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry panted.

"I don't want to think about it!" Hermione moaned, checking her watch again. "One minute!"

They had reached the end of the corridor with the hospital wing entrance. "I can hear Dumbledore," Claire said tensely. "Come on!"

They crept along the corridor. The door opened. Dumbledore's back appeared.

"I am going to lock you in," they heard him saying. "It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Smith, three turns should do it. Good luck."

Dumbledore backed out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand to magically lock it. Panicking, Harry, Claire, and Hermione ran forward. Dumbledore looked up, and a wide smile appeared under the long silver mustache. "Well?" he said quietly.

"We did it!" Harry said breathlessly. "Sirius has gone, on Buckbeak…."

Dumbledore beamed at him.

"Well done, I think—" He listened intently for any sound within the hospital wing. "Yes, I think you've gone too—get inside—I'll lock you in—"

Harry, Claire, and Hermione slipped back inside the dormitory. It was empty except for Ron, who was still lying motionless in the end bed. As the lock clicked behind them, Claire, Harry, and Hermione crept back to their beds, Claire tucking the Time-Turner back under her robes. A moment later, Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office.

"Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?"

She was definitely in a bad mood. Harry, Claire, and Hermione decided to accept their chocolate quietly. Madam Pomfrey stood over them, making sure they ate it. But Harry could hardly swallow. He, Claire, and Hermione were waiting, listening, their nerves jangling….And the, as the three of them took a fourth piece of chocolate from Madam Pomfrey, they heard a distant roar of fury echoing from somewhere above them….

"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey said in alarm.

Now they could hear angry voices, growing louder and louder. Madam Pomfrey was staring at the door.

"Really—they'll wake everybody up! What do they think they're doing?"

Harry was trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were drawing nearer—

"He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out—"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared, now very close at hand. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS—HAS—SOMETHING—TO—DO—WITH—POTTER!"

"Severus—be reasonable—Harry has been locked up—"

BAM.

The door of the hospital wing burst open.

Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came striding into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. Indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry. But Snape was beside himself.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Professor Snape!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked. "Control yourself!"

"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 at Harry, Claire, and Hermione, His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.

"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" Snape shrieked. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT—"

"That will do, Severus," Dumbledore said 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 are suggesting that Harry, Claire, and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."

Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, 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."

"Oh, he's not unbalanced," Dumbledore said quietly. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment."

"He's not the only one!" Fudge puffed. "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 laughingstock! Well…I'd better go and notify the Ministry…"

"And the dementors?" Dumbledore said. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"

"Oh yes, they'll have to go," Fudge said, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy…..Completely out of control….no, I'll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight…Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance…."

"Hagrid would like that," Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry, Claire, and Hermione. As he and Fudge left the dormitory, Madam Pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it again. Muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office.

There was a low moan from the other end of the ward. Ron had woken up. They could see him sitting up, rubbing his head, looking around.

"What—what happened?" he groaned. "Harry? Why are we in here? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?"

Claire, Harry, and Hermione looked at each other.

"You two explain," Harry said to the girls, helping himself to some more chocolate.

When Harry, Claire, Ron, and Hermione left the hospital wing at noon the next day, it was to find an almost deserted castle. The sweltering heat and the end of the exams meant that everyone was taking full advantage of another Hogsmeade visit. Ron and Hermione didn't feel like going so they decided to stay with Claire and Harry. The four friends roamed the grounds, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now. They were sitting by the Black lake when a shadow fell across them. They looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.

"Know I shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," he said. "I mean, Black escapin' again, an' everythin'—but guess what?"

"What?" they said, pretending to be curious.

"Beaky! He escaped! He's free! Bin celebration' all night!"

"That's wonderful!" Hermione said, giving Ron a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.

"Yeah….can't've tied him up properly," Hagrid said, gazing happily out over the grounds. "I was worried this mornin', mind….thought he might met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night…."

"What?" Harry said quickly.

"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" Hagrid said, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. "Er—Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin'…..Thought everyone'd know by now…Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds las' night…..He's packin' now, o' course."

"He's packing?" Claire said, alarmed. "Why?"

"Leavin', isn' he?" Hagrid said, looking surprised that Claire had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he leavin' tonight after the feast. Says he can't risk it happenin' again."

Harry and Claire scrambled to their feet.

"We're going to see him," they said to Ron and Hermione.

"But if he's resigned—"

"—doesn't sound like there's anything we can do—"

"I don't care." Claire said.

"I still want to see him." Harry said. "We'll meet up with you back here."

Lupin's office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The grindylow's empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk and looked up only when Harry and Claire knocked on the door.

"I saw you two coming," Lupin said, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder's Map.

"We just saw Hagrid," Harry said. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," Lupin said. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out contents.

"Why?" Claire said. "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind them.

"No. Professor Dumbledore convinced Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." He sighed. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he—er—accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."

"Of course he did," Claire muttered angrily.

"You're not leaving just because of that!" Harry said.

Lupin smiled wryly.

"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents…They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you…That must never happen again."

"You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!" Harry said. "Don't go!"

"I agree. You actually taught us things. I think we've learned more about Defense this year than all three years combined." Claire said.

Lupin shook his head and didn't speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. Then, while Claire and Harry were trying to think of a good argument to make him stay, Lupin said, "From what the headmaster told me this morning, you both saved a lot of lives last night, Claire, Harry. And Harry I'm glad to hear you were finally able to produce a Patronus."

"How d' you know about that?" Harry said, distracted.

"What else could've driven away those dementors back?"

Harry told Lupin what had happened. When he'd finished, Lupin was smiling again.

"Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed," he said. "You guessed right….that's why we called him Prongs."

"What about my mother?" Claire asked.

"Your mother was given the name Howl because she turned into wolf." Lupin said, throwing the last few books into his case.

He then closed the desk drawers and turned to look at them.

"Here—I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night," he said, handing Harry back the Invisibility Cloak. "And…" He hesitated, then to Claire and held out the Marauder's Map too. "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you two, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it."

Claire took the map and grinned.

"You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Howl, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school…..you said they'd have thought it was funny." Harry said.

"And so we would have," Lupin said, now reaching down to close his case. "I have no hesitation in saying that James and Carina would have been highly disappointed if their children had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle. Well, I have some things to take care of before I leave after tonight's feast. I will see you two later."

Claire and Harry rejoined Ron and Hermione by the Black Lake. They soon decided to go to the Gryffindor Common room.

"This year has been… interesting," Claire said, as she sat on the couch next to Harry.

"Definitely," Harry agreed.

"I wonder what next year has in store?" Claire said.

"Hopefully nothing," Ron said.

"With Harry as our friend? You're expecting a miracle." Claire teased Harry.

"You should be talking," Harry said.

Claire rolled her eyes.

They talked until it was dinner time. They walked down to the Great Hall together. On the way there, Claire spotted Jason and told them she'd meet them at the table. She didn't see the annoyed look on Harry's face as she headed over to Jason.

"Hey, Jason!" Claire greeted him.

"Hi," the tone of his voice seemed cold.

"Everything all right?" Claire asked.

"Sure," Jason said, in an emotionless tone.

"Are you sure? Because right now you seem pissed off," Claire replied.

"I said I was fine!" Jason snapped.

"Geez, ok, what's got your wand in a knot?" Claire said.

"You!" He brushed past her and ignoring her.

Claire was completely lost. What the hell did she do to make him angry? Claire headed to the Great Hall and found her Ron, Hermione, and Harry at the Gryffindor table. Claire sat down next to Harry and began putting food on her plate.

"Are you alright, Claire?" Hermione asked, noticing that Claire seemed off.

"I guess so," Claire said.

"What happened with Jason?" Hermione asked.

Thankfully, Claire didn't have to talk about this because it was at this moment that Dumbledore stood at the podium and the Great Hall fell quiet.

"Good evening!" Dumbledore greeted them. "I have a few announcements before we begin digging in. First off, I'm sure you are all well aware of Professor Lupin has decided to resign from his teaching position—"

Practically the whole hall, except the Slytherins, were gasping and saying that it wasn't possible.

"—yes, I'm afraid he will be leaving but we wish him the best of luck. Secondly, if you haven't noticed the dementors are off the grounds. They will no longer be guarding the castle. Now for my final announcement—"

Dumbledore stopped talking as an odd sound began to echo throughout the Great Hall. The sound sounded oddly familiar to Claire, as though she had heard it once before. The sound sounded like someone taking a metal sheet and scrapping it along concrete.

"What is that noise?" Hermione said.

"Don't know," Claire said absentmindedly.

It seemed to be coming from the entrance of the Great Hall. The students turned their heads toward the front of the Great Hall as something began to appear. The first thing that was clear to see was that it was the shape of a box and it was blue. Claire's heart caught in her throat as the noise stopped and the blue box became solid. It was the Police box from her dreams. The students stared in awe at the box.

"What the bloody hell is that thing?" Ron said.

"It's a Police Box," Claire said.

Suddenly, the door on the blue box opened and Peter Pettigrew literally flew out of the box and landed on the floor. He seemed to have been knocked out. The teachers and students gasped.

"It's Peter Pettigrew!" Hermione said in shock.

"But he's escaped!" Ron said.

Then a man emerged from the box wearing a pinstriped suit, trench coat, and red converse. He pulled on a pair of black glasses.

"Ha! I told you I'd get it right!" The man yelled at the box. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

"That man's bloody looney!" Ron muttered to Claire, Hermione, and Harry. "He's yelling at a box."

Another person came out of the box, this time it was a woman with unruly, curly, black hair and familiar blue eyes.

"Yea, yea," she waved her hand dismissively. "About time you got it right, Doctor."

"Carina?" Claire, along with the other students, looked towards the teachers table to see Professor Lupin standing up and looking at the woman as though he thought it were a dream.

Carina smiled brightly. "Remus, long time no see."

Claire's parents return! You have no idea how long I've been wanting to tell you guys when they'd come back but I just didn't want to spoil the surprise. I bet you didn't see that coming! Also, Claire's parents brought Pettigrew with them which could mean that Sirius will be a free man! What did you all think?

Reply to Reviews:

Rainpelt the Doctor: When I was writing it, I could definitely picture Harry just being confused while Claire and Hermione are going on about the time-turner and he's just like are you going to tell me what's going on or am I just going to be left in the dark?

NicoleR85: Thanks and now here's the update!