After making sure that things have settled down, they took the time to help Dean and Sam on their way. They filled up the Impala's tank of gas, two additional gas caddies, a cooler full of food and some money for emergencies, which Sam took to make sure that Dean wouldn't spend it on alcohol. They found a case in Utah. Not a minute later, the Cullens were on their way to New York to buy some things for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore. Then they took off for Italy to see if they could get anything else. When that was done, they took off to Diagon Alley to buy things for the Hogwarts staff. Dumbledore had pulled the family to a private area the moment the Cullens had arrived to Hogwarts. "I am relieved that things have been resolved in your world, however, Harry is in a middle of a soul searching journey," Dumbledore said as soon as he closed the door.
"What's happening, Professor?" Ella asked.
"It's only a matter of time before he helps Sirius out of his current prison," Dumbledore responded.
"He's in prison, again? How?" Ella inquired.
"That is why I have pulled all of you in here to answer all of your questions as well as inform you as to what had happened," he began. He told them everything that he knew was happening from his side of the story.
When he finished it, Ella asked, "Is it possible to talk to Ron?"
"No, because he's still with Harry and Hermione and it'll confuse him. My advice is better to hear the full story from Harry himself. I do suggest that you wait at the entrance garden. That area has been closed off for Harry, Hermione and Sirius," he said.
"Okay," Ella said and was thinking of the best way to deal with what's been happening. "Here's what I think we should do. I think everyone should go back to our house and just settle in and act like everything's fine. I'll go to the garden area and wait for Harry, Hermione and Sirius and talk to them."
"That sounds like a good plan," Carlisle said. Everyone else agreed.
"Thank you, professor, for everything you've done so far," Ella said.
"Don't thank me. I would still have done everything just the same had you been here," he responded. The Cullens went back to their house as Ella went to the garden area to wait for Harry, Hermione and Sirius. She just hoped that she wasn't too late. Dumbledore went to the hospital wing to talk to his students. It wasn't much longer till Harry and Hermione came back to the hospital wing. She arrived at the garden area and saw no one there. She wondered if she had been too late and missed them. Just then she heard Buckbeak call out in a distance and was ready to land in the garden. She smiled and was relieved to see them. She went up to Buckbeak and bowed before him. He did the same and allowed Ella to come near him. She helped Hermione off before giving Sirius and Harry a chance to get off.
"Miss Cullen," Hermione said as she hugged her immediately. "I'm so glad that you're here."
"As am I," she responded. Sirius led them to a hallway before pulling Ella into a hug. "You've arrived just in time. He'll need you now more than ever. I wish I had time to tell you everything that's happened so far but talk to Harry first," Ella nodded as she heard him whisper it in her ear. Harry saw them embrace and wasn't sure how to make of it. Once they pulled apart, Ella turned to Harry and opened her arms to him. He walked right into them and smiled for the first time in a long time.
"I'll be forever grateful for this to both of you," Sirius motioned for Harry to sit down on one of the benches as Hermione quietly slinked away to give them time alone.
"I want to go with you," Harry told him.
"One day, perhaps. For some time, my life will be too unpredictable. And besides you're meant to be here… especially with Miss Cullen. I expect you're tired of hearing this, but you look so like your father. Except your eyes. You have..." he started off.
"My mother's eyes," Harry finished.
"It's cruel that I got to spend so much time with James and Lily, and you so little. But know this; the ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in here," he said as he put his hand over Harry's heart.
"But you're innocent!" he reasoned.
"And you know it. And for now, that'll do," Sirius said. He turned to Ella, "Promise me that you'll look out for him."
"I promise," she said.
"I'll do what I can to keep in touch. I want to hear everything that's happened with you," Sirius said. Ella nodded. They all walked towards where Buckbeak was standing with Hermione. He managed to get back on him and turned to Hermione and said, "You really are the brightest witch of your age." Hermione smiled and stepped back to give them space to take off. They watched him leave and heard the clock chime. They ran towards the hospital wing and arrived just in time to see Dumbledore close the door.
"We've done it," Hermione said.
"Done what?" Dumbledore asked. "Good night." He walked down the stairs. Ella had to bite her cheek to keep herself from laughing. They opened the door slightly just in time to see their other halves magically leave before walking in.
Ron saw them walk in and was freaking out, "How did you get there? Just now you were there and now you're there."
"Harry, what is he talking about?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. Honestly, Ron, how can anyone be at two places at once?" Hermione and Harry laughed.
"I expect to hear the story soon, Harry," Ella said loud enough for both of them to hear but they couldn't stop laughing. Ella walked towards Ron to see how he was doing. "What happened to you, Ron?"
"I got bit on the leg by a dog," he responded.
"What kind of dog?" she asked.
"Well, it wasn't really a dog, but it was Sirius Black. He's an Animagus. He can turn into a dog," he explained.
"Well, why would Sirius Black bite you?"
"He wanted my rat… well he really wasn't my rat but he was in my family for 12 years and I find out that he really isn't a rat…" Ron rambled.
"Ron, calm down… I'm confused. Sirius Black wanted a rat who really wasn't a rat?" she asked.
"Yes, my rat, Scabbers. He's an Animagus as well," Ron said. He looked confused.
"Either of you want to tell me what's going on? It's obvious that Ron is having difficulty telling the story," Ella said. Harry and Hermione sat on the empty bed next to Ron, but he looked troubled because he didn't know where to start. "Harry, why don't you start by what happened when you went to Hogsmeade."
Harry looked up at her sharply. "How did you know about Hogsmeade?"
"Dumbledore, who else," she answered.
"I'm pretty sure that you are well aware that I couldn't get anyone to sign my slip, so I stayed and talked to Professor Lupin. I've learned how to do the Patronus Charm from him," he started off.
"Magic far beyond a third year. I'm sure that Professor Lupin was impressed," she said.
"I don't know about him but I think it was fair," he said.
"It wasn't. He was amazing. I honestly don't know how he has done it," Hermione added.
"During the winter holiday, I tried to escape but I was caught by Fred and George who gave me the Map," he said.
"The Marauder's Map?" Ella asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"Now how did they get the map?"
"They told me that they had gotten it from Filch's office," he answered. Ella groaned. Harry, Hermione and Ron couldn't help but laugh because of Ella's reaction.
"Go on," she said.
"That's how I managed to get the Hogsmeade Village. I got there and found out that Sirius was my godfather," he said.
"How did you find out?"
"Professor McGonagall and Minister Fudge had met with Rosmerta who owns a bar in Hogsmeade. I used my cloak to go inside their meeting and overheard that Sirius was accused of divulging my parents' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdering someone named Peter Pettigrew. At that time, I hadn't realized that Sirius was truly innocent. I managed to leave unnoticed and ran towards a small private area near the forest. Hermione and Ron managed to find me and I told them that I wanted to kill Sirius based on what I heard. School started and I was feeling a bit more depressed because of what I had found out. I wanted to call you but I wasn't sure if I should have," Harry confessed.
"You should have. On the other hand, you didn't know if the situation in my world was resolved or not. I understand that you were undecided about calling me but you still should have anyway," Ella told him. "Now what actually happened to Ron's leg?"
"At first we went to Hagrid's hut to talk to him about Buckbeak, somehow, I got hit on the head with a rock and that was when we noticed someone from the Ministry coming with Dumbledore and some man who punishes people with an axe of some sort. We managed to escape unnoticed. We were walking back to Hogwarts when a dog started to chase us and we ended up near the base of the Whomping Willow. That's when the dog bit Ron but he just wanted to get the rat who was Peter Pettigrew. Professor Lupin was there too and that was also the night that we found out that Professor Lupin is a werewolf but he isn't an Animagus," Harry said.
"Professor Snape assigned us to write an essay about werewolves. There was one thing that threw me off and I was wondering if you could clear it up," Hermione asked.
"Of course," Ella answered.
"Is it true that vampires and werewolves are natural enemies?" Hermione asked.
"I'm afraid that's true," Ella answered.
"What?" Ron exclaimed. He looked over at Hermione and Harry who was just looking at him unbelievably, and shrugged.. "I didn't do the essay."
"At first I honestly believed that Sirius wanted to kill me because he waited 12 years in Azkaban. Then that's when Sirius and Professor Lupin started to explain that they had believed that Peter Pettigrew was dead, but he wasn't," Harry said.
"How did they know that he wasn't dead?" Ella asked.
"I was looking at the Marauder's Map one night and saw his name. I tried looking for him but he was nowhere to be found. As I was trying to find Peter Pettigrew, Professor Lupin saved me from Professor Snape who might have done something bad to me. That's when Professor Lupin found out that I had the map. I told him about what I saw. Professor Lupin didn't believe me at first, not until we were trapped in the shack under the Whomping Willow. Professor Lupin tried to protect me and tell me what really happened to my parents. I accused Sirius that he betrayed my parents and that he was the reason that they were dead. He said that someone did betray my parents but it was somebody, who until quite recently, he believed to be dead. I asked him who it was. Sirius said it was Peter Pettigrew and that he was in the same room with all of us. That's when we found out that Peter Pettigrew was Ron's rat, Scabbers," Harry said.
"I honestly thought that he was barking mad, pointing at me and saying that I was Peter Pettigrew. I told him so. I said that he was completely mental. Sirius then said that it was my rat and that I had him in my family for 12 years," Ron said.
"Sirius said that it was uncommonly long for a garden rat, which it is, curiously long. No one noticed that Scabbers should have died a long time ago," Harry said. "But before Sirius could do anything I asked him to tell me what Peter was like. Peter went to school with them. I told them that the map was lying and Sirius said that it never lies. He said that Peter only cut off his finger to make everyone believe that he was dead. He transformed himself into a rat. Sirius and Professor Lupin showed me that Scabbers was truly Peter Pettigrew. We were ready to turn him in to the Dementors but with the full moon, Professor Lupin turning into a wolf, Peter managed to escape."
"Did you find out anything from Peter himself while he was human?" Ella asked.
"Yeah, we did. We found out that he gave into Voldemort's powers because he was weak and a coward. He couldn't handle the weapons that he has," Hermione answered.
"Did Sirius at least apologize for biting you?" Ella asked Ron.
"Yes, but I was a bit mad at him at the time when he apologized," Ron answered.
"I hope that you were able to have some time with Sirius," Ella told Harry.
"Yeah, we had a couple of moments to talk. He wanted me to live with him once he gets things settled. He did want to walk into Hogwarts as a free man again. He thought that it was a noble thing that I did for Peter because he believed that Peter didn't deserve what I suggested," he said.
"How did you respond to that?" Ella asked.
"I told him that I just didn't think my dad would've wanted his two best friends to become killers. Besides, dead the truth dies with him. Alive, you're free," he said. "We tried to convince Dumbledore to talk with the Ministry about letting Sirius Black be free of Azkaban but it didn't work."
"What did he say exactly?" Ella asked.
"He said, 'But the word of three 13-year-old wizards will not convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who've forgotten how to listen,'" Hermione said.
"Sadly, that's true. The Ministry won't believe the word that comes out of three young wizards, let alone vampires. I've tried to set Sirius free but nothing worked," Ella said. At that moment, the doors opened and the rest of the Cullens had come in. "Good. We have some belated Christmas presents for all of you."
"I already received mine from you," Harry said.
"And I'm glad to hear that you have received it but we wanted to give you more," Ella said. Ron immediately opened his presents, despite his casted leg.
"Miss Cullen, could we talk in private?" Harry asked.
"Of course, let's take a walk, shall we?" she suggested. He nodded and put his presents aside and walked towards the doors with Ella. She knew that Hermione and Ron would be safe with her family. "What's the matter, Harry?"
"I didn't want to say this in front of Ron because he wouldn't understand it. I don't exactly know how to say this but I'll do my best," he said, struggling with how to say what he wanted to say. Ella knew that he needed patience to get his thoughts organized. "Hermione and I… we went back in time and I thought that was odd. Hermione told me that she had something called a 'Time-Turner' and Professor McGonagall gave it to her. I don't know much about it but I was hoping you could tell me what it is."
"Harry, I don't know what else I can tell you what you've already experienced. The Time-Turner is just that, it changes time for the person who has it. What I mean is that it's used for short-term time travel. In your case, you went back in time. What did Hermione's Time-Turner look like?" Ella asked.
"It was an hourglass pendant," Harry answered.
"Its purpose is twisted to move through time. Depending on the number of turns on the hourglass, it corresponds to the number of hours someone travels back in time. The travel ends as the traveler arrives to the point in time of which he or she went back in time. Does that make sense?" Ella asked.
"I remembered hearing Dumbledore telling Hermione that three turns would do it," Harry recalled.
"That means that you went back three hours from the moment Hermione put the necklace on both of you. She did do that, correct?"
Harry nodded. "She also explained that we couldn't expose ourselves."
"Yes, you can't for whatever reason expose yourself to others and to yourself. Your past self will become mad and will not understand until he has reached the point of when Hermione first shows it to you. I have a feeling that Hermione told you that you couldn't alter events that have already happened?"
"Yes, she did."
"Then what is it that you don't understand?" Ella asked.
"I don't know… just scared, I guess. I mean, it's something I never knew existed," he admitted.
"That's normal, Harry, to feel frightened by something new and it was forced upon you. But I have a feeling that while you went back in time, something happened."
"For a moment, I thought I saw my father when I was trying to save Sirius' life from the Dementors. I saw someone performing the Patronus Charm and his conjured Patronus was a Stag. I knew that it was my father's Patronus and I thought he was there to save me and Sirius. We were attacked my hundreds of Dementors. I couldn't fight them off, neither could Sirius. When I went back in time, I honestly believed that it was my father who was going to save me but it was really me. Somehow, my conjured Patronus was exactly like my father's. That was what made me believe that my father conjured it," Harry explained.
"Harry, I think you underestimate something," Ella said.
"Misjudge what?" he asked.
"You thought that your father physically appeared to save you, true?" Harry nodded. "Even though he wasn't there physically, he was there in your heart. He's giving you his Patronus. That's why you thought you saw your father. It's his way of telling you that he's watching over you." Harry never thought of it that way and deep down, it made him feel good and safe knowing that his own parents were watching and protecting him. Over the last few weeks, things were somewhat back to normal with school and exams. It was the last day of school and Harry had a break, he decided to go and visit Professor Lupin.
Remus had his back to the door, "Hello, Harry," Harry was quite surprised that he knew that he was coming, "I saw you coming." Remus saw the look on Harry's face as he was studying him, "I've looked worse, believe me."
Harry looked somewhat relieved and looked around and saw that he was packing his things, "You've been sacked."
"No. No. I resigned, actually," he explained.
"Resigned? Why?"
"Well, it seems that somebody let slip the nature of my condition. This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving and parents will not want… well, someone like me teaching their children," he clarified.
"But Dumbledore—" Harry started off.
"He has already risked enough on my behalf," Remus interrupted.. "Besides, people like me are… well, let's just say that I'm used to it by now." He looked at him more carefully and noticed that he looked unhappy, "Why do you look so miserable, Harry?"
"None of it made any difference. Pettigrew escaped," he confessed.
"Didn't make any difference?" he asked. "Harry, it made all the difference in the world! You helped discover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. It made a great deal of difference. If I am proud of anything, it is how much you have learned this year. Now since I am no longer your teacher, I feel no guilt whatsoever about giving this back to you. So now I'll say goodbye, Harry. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime. Until then… mischief managed," he said as he tapped on the map and gave it back to him. He took his coat and a bag and left the room. Harry stood there, watching him leave the classroom.