The next time Harry knew anything, he was flanked by two girls on either side of him. It took him several minutes to figure out he was in a hospital wing bed and that both Hermione and Romina were scared out of their minds for him. Ron was on the bed right next to him with his foot bandaged up.
"You shouldn't have run off like that," Romina said with a relieved sigh. They'd been waiting anxiously waiting for him to wake up. "You were lucky the dementors didn't get you! Stupid!" She smacked his arm, ignoring Hermione's reprimand.
Dementors! Harry snapped upright on the bed. Everything was coming back to him now. The lake, the dementor, Sirus... "I saw my Dad!"
Romina, Hermione and Ron exchanged similar puzzled looks. They hadn't really known what happened down at the lake. Professor Snape would not tell them a single word except for the fact they all had detention until they graduated — if they weren't suspended first, of course.
"He sent the Dementors away…" Harry went on, not really noticing the faces of his friends, "I saw him. Across the lake…"
Everybody wanted to tell Harry that he probably just imagined it after everything, but they didn't have the heart. He seemed so animated about the idea that it seemed cruel to take it away from him. Plus, there were more pressing matters at the moment.
"Listen, Harry," Hermione inched closer to his bedside, "They've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss."
"The Kiss...?" Harry said slowly, confused.
Romina felt awful having to explain it, especially now that they knew Sirus was a completely innocent man. "It's the Dementors' biggest ability. Their most terrible act, really. They clamp their jaws over the victim's mouth and...suck out his soul." She wasn't proud of why she knew exact detail either. She'd known it even before Hogwarts explained it to them. She was guilty of asking her aunt and uncle about the place where Elora and Caplan were imprisoned and how they were kept there. She only learned of the Dementors and their abilities after badgering her uncle for answers. In her darkest moments, she was guilty of wondering why the Dementors hadn't applied the Kiss to the imprisoned Oswells already.
Harry had a very small moment to be horrified before Dumbledore entered the wing. Hermione didn't waste a second in telling him they had the wrong man captive.
"It's Scabbers who did it!" Ron's input didn't exactly help them make a strong case in the beginning.
Dumbledore sent the redhead an odd, slightly concerned, look. "Scabbers?"
"My rat, sir. Only he's not really Well, he was a rat. You a rat. See, he used to be my brother Percy's but he got an owl—"
"Ron, stop talking," Romina waved him off before they were all declared insane because of him. "What we're trying to say, sir, is that we know the truth. You need to believe us here. Sirius Black is not the man we thought he was. He's innocent. He's being framed!"
"I do," Dumbledore surprised them all, "But I'm sorry to say the word of four thirteen-year-old wizards will convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen. Mysterious thing, time. Powerful. And, when meddled with… dangerous. Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower." Hermione straightened when Dumbledore's gaze landed on her. "You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen. And you would, I feel, do well to return before this last chime. If not... well, the consequences are really too ghastly to discuss. Three turns should do it, I think. If you succeed, more than one innocent life may be spared tonight. By the way, when in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin…"
Romina, Harry and Ron watched the Headmaster leave with the same dumbfounded faces.
"What the hell?" Romina said in the end. "I rarely understand what that man says but did anyone else get that this time?"
"Nope," Ron said flatly. "What in bloody hell was all that about?"
Harry was getting out of bed when he noticed Hermione was tinkering with a necklace around her neck. "What are you doing?" His question made Romina turn around to see the same thing.
Hermione reached for Romina and Harry, slipping the chain of her necklace over their heads. "Sorry, Ron. But seeing as you can't walk…"
"What?" Ron's one-worded response was the last thing Harry and Romina heard before things got...weird.
Everything around them became blurred. Things spun and Romina felt like she might be losing it the quicker things got. When it finally stopped, it was daytime out.
"What just happened!?" Harry spun around the room that was now completely empty. "And where's Ron!?"
Because Ron was not in his bed either.
"And why is it day time?" Romina whispered, her eyes glued to the shiny windows.
Hermione paid their questions no attention. "Seven-thirty. Where were we at seven-thirty?"
"Huh? Dunno... going to Hagrid's?" Harry glanced at Romina to see what she thought, or remembered. The girl shrugged her shoulders.
Hermione grabbed both their arms and ran out the hospital wing. "We can't be seen!" She warned them.
"Be seen?" Romina said incredulously on their run. "You really think I want people to see me like this!?" She made a gesture to her uneven choppy hair that Hermione left her with.
"Hermione, what is going on!?" Harry started demanding again and soon Romina was too.
It was a god-right talent of Hermione's to be able to ignore the repetitive questions about what was going on. She didn't say anything all the way down to the monoliths, right where they had been before Buckbeak's execution. The only reason the questions stopped was because Romina and Harry seen the impossible: themselves.
Well, all Romina saw were them having what she assumed was a spectacular disagreement with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. "What is this?" she whispered to Hermione. "How are we...what?" She was tired. So, so tired.
Hermione finally held up her chain to show them the hourglass pendant at bottom. "This is a Time-Turner. McGonagall gave it to me first term. This is how I've been getting to my lessons all year."
"You mean, we've gone back in time?" Harry's widened. "This whole time!?"
"You pulled a Back to the Future," Romina chuckled. "You know, in reverse!" Her smile soon dropped when she thought about what Hermione had said. "Hey wait a minute, that's not fair!"
"Romina," Harry said wearily. This was really not the time to discuss about what was fair and what wasn't.
Romina didn't agree. "What? It's not! Look, Hermione you are stupid smart but that time-turner thingy gives you an unfair advantage over the rest of us! Your grades will be excellent because you got a chance at all of the class!"
"I didn't get it so easily, Romina," said Hermione defensively. "And I didn't ask for it either. Like I said, I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. She made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies..."
"Seriously unfair," Romina reiterated. "But whatever. So what are we supposed to do now?"
"Well..." Hermione looked around, unsure, "Dumbledore wanted us to return to this moment. Clearly something happened that he wants us to change."
They heard a distinctive smack in the distance. Draco had landed against the monolith with a bloody nose.
"Huh," Romina cocked her head, "So that's what happened."
"Nice punch," Harry said with nothing but admiration for Hermione.
Hermione smiled rather proudly. She still couldn't believe she did that. She stiffened, however, when Draco and his cronies started coming their way. "Oh no! Malfoy's coming! C'mon!" She pulled Harry and Romina with her to hide while they passed.
"Oh wait…" Romina said once something struck her, "We should go the other—"
"Shh!" Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Romina's eyes narrowed on the brunette. She wasn't liking today at all!
"Argh! Watch it—Oswell!"
Romina pushed Hermione's hand off her and then hissed: "That's what I was trying to tell you! Now I'm here too! And we're wasting time!"
"We have to wait it out," Hermione hissed right back. "Nobody can see us."
"Rom, what the hell are you doing?" Harry had been far more preoccupied watching Romina from three hours ago having a small conversation with Draco.
Romina watched the moment in which her past self realigned Draco's nose with a hard push. "Well...I was fixing his damn nose, don't you see?"
"Yes, why?" said Harry irritably. "He deserved it."
"No quarrels there."
Harry threw her a look.
"What?" Romina frowned.
Hermione suddenly wished she wasn't in-between them.
"Wait a minute," Harry paused all of a sudden, "I thought you said you were talking to Diggory and that's why it took you longer to catch up with us."
Romina's eyebrows raised. Yup, that is what she had said. "Um…well, I was...at one point..."
Hermione really wished she wasn't in the middle right now.
Harry was outright horrified to see Romina and Draco impossibly close all of a sudden. Then, Romina was touching Draco's face. "Rom…"
Romina's eyes had widened with both fear and embarrassment. The warmth blossoming over her face didn't help. "So...it's not what it looks like…I was just...you see, his nose and..."
Harry turned his head slightly at her, his eyes blazing with disbelief and anger. "Seriously? Right now it looks like you and Malfoy are staring into each other's eyes!"
"I wasn't…" Romina laughed lightly out of sheer nerves, "His nose—I was trying to fix it! I told you!"
"He deserved it!"
"Again, not arguing that he didn't! But, c'mon, that was all I did!"
"Really? Cos you're still staring at each other!"
"Shhhh!" Hermione had enough and put her hands on either side of her. "They're going to hear us!"
"Oh, well, far be it from me to ruin their moment!" Harry exclaimed.
"I don't think this should be our priority right now!" Romina argued. She snuck a look, however, to her past self and saw that Harry was indeed right. Had she really stared at Draco so much? To be fair, he was staring right back at her. And her hands—they were definitely touching his nose. And he allowed it. He must have not thought bad of it because he never even asked her to stop.
The heat on her cheeks got worse.
"Romina, I cannot believe—"
"Oh my god — shhh!" Hermione cut in again to keep them from arguing out loud and getting them caught. She wouldn't deny that the scene before them was quite troubling but they had more pressing matters right now. She thanked the heavens when the past versions of Romina and Draco started going back and forth again. She wouldn't put it behind Harry to forget about the rules and march over there to tear Romina away from Draco.
"I'm going to get her back," Draco was warning Romina.
"No you're not because then I'll break your nose again," Romina promptly said back. She flashed him a smile and moved around him.
Hermione glanced at Romina with a small smile. "Thanks for that."
"Course," Romina bumped shoulders with her. "If he ever asks for it again, break his nose."
Harry was the only one not remotely amused with the scene and the entire situation for that matter. Romina could still feel his burning look and she did not like it one bit. She coughed awkwardly and happened to look back down to Hagrid's hut. "Oh hey, Buckbeak's still alive." She had it said mostly to get things moving but Hermione clung to it with a gasp.
"Of course! Of course! Remember what Dumbledore said. If we succeed, more than one innocent life could be spared!"
"Buckbeak? But... how will saving Buckbeak help Sirius?"
"We'll see!" Hermione shrugged. As soon as the coast was clear, she led the way down for the hut.
~ 0 ~
Getting Buckbeak to follow them out of the pumpkin patch had been an interesting task but not impossible. From their hiding spot behind the trees, they witnessed their past versions, save for Romina who didn't show up on time, sneak out of Hagrid's hut through the backdoor before they could be spotted by the adults. From there, the trio and Buckbeak were forced to retreat further into the forest.
"Now what?" Harry called once they found a safe spot to rest.
"We save Sirius," Hermione responded like it should've been obvious that it was their next move.
"Great, how do we do that?" Romina promptly asked her.
Hermione bit on her bottom lip. "I have no idea."
That was promising, alright. As night grew closer, they had to move closer to their past selves near the Whomping Willow. It was the only way to hopefully interject and save Sirius. They had already seen Ron get dragged in by Sirius, then themselves getting swung around by the Whomping Willow, and finally Lupin showed up.
They spotted their professor coming up to the tree carefully and as was its nature, the tree began to thrash when Lupin drew too close. However, the professor grabbed a broken branch from the ground and easily froze the tree's movements by poking a knot on its trunk.
Romina's mouth fell open at the sight. "You're telling me I could've avoided this!?" Her hand flapped at her choppy hair.
"Wait until Fred and George hear about this," Harry remarked. For a moment, they shared a light laugh. The twins would surely take advantage of that trick.
A moment later, they witnessed Snape following through the same gap. They then prepared themselves for the wait until the group would come out of the gap.
"You know…" Harry started in the midst of their silence, "Before...down in the lake, when I was with Sirius, I did see someone... that someone made the Dementors go away…"
"With a Patronus," Hermione finished and startled him with her knowledge. "We heard Snape telling Dumbledore when we were taken to the hospital. According to him, only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it."
"It was my Dad," Harry said without the faintest of doubts. "It was my Dad who conjured the Patronus."
"But Harry, how?" Romina softly asked him. "He's…"
"I know," Harry nodded, "But I'm just telling you what I saw."
Eyes can be deceiving, thought Romina. She just didn't want to press Harry about it anymore. She felt like she didn't have much of a right to talk about them considering what Elora and Caplan did.
"Here we come," Hermione nudged Harry who then prompted Romina to look forwards.
They watched what they did which, unfortunately, was a little slow.
"You see Sirius talking to me?" Harry asked the pair. "He's asking me to come live with him."
"Really?" Hermione blinked.
"When we free him, I'll never have to go back to the Dursley's. I'm going to tell him I'd like to live someplace in the country," Harry said, eyes filling with excitement the more thought he put into the idea. "I think he'd like that, after all those years in Azkaban. We don't need a big place and I can help him…"
"I think that'll be wonderful, Harry," Romina smiled softly at him. If anybody deserved that kind of life, it was Harry.
When they heard the howl, they knew that things were about to begin.
"Lupin's transformed," Hermione said.
"Which means Pettigrew is slipping safely into the night. While we just stand here…" Harry muttered. For cautionary reasons, both Hermione and Romina held onto his arms. He just couldn't run towards the scene no matter what.
They witnessed the fight between the wolf and dog and even when Harry from the past interjected. Since the wolf was now gaining on Harry, Hermioen decided to act out a wolf howl.
"Hermione!" Romina hissed after the brunette's second howl. "You can't do that!"
"Why not? I'm saving his life!" Hermione continued to howl like a wolf.
"Yeah, thanks, but now we have to run for it!" Romina flapped a hand forwards. The wolf had caught onto the howl and was coming to the source.
"Yeeeah," Harry said, patting Hermione's arm as gratitude for saving his life despite now facing danger.
"Didn't think about that—go!" Hermione exclaimed.
The trio ran for their lives as the werewolf gained on them. They had to take refuge behind a tree in hopes that it would pass them by instead.
"Where's Buckbeak?" Romina's eyes wandered through the dark forest. They had just run without even remembering the enormous creature they'd saved.
"We've got to find him," Hermione said, deciding to leave their hiding spot.
Big mistake.
Three steps away from the tree and now they had the wolf a couple inches from them. Just as it prepared to launch itself at them, Buckbeak came charging into the clearing. It took the wolf into a fight.
Hermione winced after one particular scratch Buckbeak landed on the wolf. "Poor Professor Lupin is having a really tough night…"
Suddenly, the air gained a chilly tinge to it. The leaves around them rustled with the sudden pick of the wind. When the trio looked up, they saw shadows flying in the sky.
"The dementors!" Harry said, memories of the lake flashing in his head. He led the way to the lake, which turned out to be right across from where his past self and Sirius were.
The past Harry was desperately trying to conjure up a Patronus against the imminent dementors.
The current Harry held onto his faith because he knew what would eventually happen. "Don't worry. My Dad will come... Right there... you'll see... he'll come... any minute... he'll conjure the Patronus…"
But nothing was happening.
"No one's coming, Harry…" Hermione tried to say but Harry was adamant.
"HE WILL! He will come!"
Romina couldn't take the scene ahead of them. Harry's Patronus wasn't showing up no matter how many times he tried. "You're dying over there," she said, "You and Sirius...no one's coming."
Harry's face hardened. It had to be wrong. Someone had come, they did. It was how he survived. Before he knew it, before either girl knew it, he had gotten up from their hiding spot and ran forwards.
"Harry, no!" Hermione cried with horror.
Harry ignored her and ran as fast as he could. He brandished his wan forwards and with the biggest scream of his life, he went: "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Silver emanated from his wand to envelope the entire lake. Dementors were thrown back before they disappeared completely.
~ 0 ~
Harry was filled with exhilaration on their ride back to the castle. Buckbeak had them soaring through the sky at amazing speed. "You guys were right! It wasn't my dad I saw earlier. It was... me. I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time, because...because I'd already done it. Does that make sense?"
"It's a time loop!" Romina laughed. "Wizard's edition! Right, Hermione?"
Hermione wasn't listening to anything right now. Her heart was pounding with the horrific flying and she let out a huge scream when Buckbeak plunged down. They came straight to the cell in which Sirius was being kept in the meantime. Once Hermione was on actual ground, she remembered everything. With confidence, she found a way to release Sirius from the cell.
"Remind me to stay on her good side," Romina whispered to Harry after the cell door went flying with an exploding spell.
From there, they took Sirius away before anyone came. They couldn't risk doing goodbyes there with the impending sentencing. They landed in another part of the castle.
"I'll be forever grateful for this," Sirius said as he helped Hermione get off Buckbeak, "To all three of you," he added, giving Romina a particular look.
She perked up. "Thanks. And...I know it's worth nothing but I'm sorry for, um—" she swallowed hard, "—what my — what Elora and Caplan did to you."
Sirius could see just how much it meant to her to be able to apologize. He acknowledged the apology with a nod first, then smiled. "Thank you, but it wasn't your fault. You don't have to feel guilt about what your family does. Believe me, I know what that's like. You may share the name but that means nothing in comparison to what you do with your life."
Romina softened at his words but after a moment, she wondered what he meant when he said he could understand her. Before she could think of asking, Harry moved up to Sirius.
"I want to go with you," he said.
Sirius expected as much. "One day perhaps. For some time...life will be too... unpredictable. Besides, you're meant to be here." He clapped Harry on the shoulder and bent down enough to be on the same eye-level. "But promise me something, Harry."
"Anything."
"Trust yourself. No matter the challenges you face - and I fear they will be many - you'll be surprised how many times you can find the answers...here." Sirius gave a light tap over Harry's heart, making the boy smile.
The trio watched him make his escape on Buckbeak through the sky. They would've stayed there had they not heard the loud ding of the clock tower.
"We have to go!" Hermione said, jumping into the lead.
It was a whirlwind making it back to where they started: the nightwing. They reached the doors just as Dumbledore was exiting the room.
"Well?" he stared at the trio.
All out of breath, Harry managed to give a response. "He's free—Sirius. We-we did it!"
"Did what?" Dumbledore said innocently as they rushed in so he could lock the doors.
Romina barely held her laughter in when they were finally closed into the room, just barely catching a glimpse of herself, Harry and Hermione disappearing inside. Poor Ron was left wide eyed and terribly confused when the trio walked in.
"How'd you two get over there? I was just talking to you... over there!" He was a stuttering mess which just made them laugh.
"Honestly Ron, how could we be in two places at the same time?" Hermione had the nerve to say, causing a whole new round of laughter amongst them.
Madam Pomfrey strode out of her office demanding what the noise was all about. She was happy that the adults were leaving because, as she said, she was finally allowed to look after her patients.
She sat Romina, Harry and Hermione down and gave them pieces of chocolate to eat. She stood right in front of them making sure they ate all of it. Then, she took Romina to a separate bed and finally got to her hair.
"What in god's name were you doing when this happened?" she gave a light tug at one of the ends of Romina's hair.
Hermione flushed and ate her chocolate with her head down. It didn't help that Ron was also curious because the last time he knew, Romina's hair was still long as ever with brilliant red streaks.
"I, um, accident...in all the mess..." Romina muttered, "But can you fix it?" She looked up hopefully at Madame Pomfrey. "I really don't want people to see me like this. They already talk about me enough. I'll be the laughing stock of everyone."
"Yes, yes, of course I can fix it," Madame Pomfrey patted the girl's shoulder. "But I won't be able to recreate the, uh..." she pointed at one of the strands that still had a bit of shiny red.
"That's okay," Romina said, "I, um, I think I'm done with the ombre style. I just want my old hair back now."
"Well then, that should be no problem at all." Madame Pomfrey headed into her storage cabinets for what she needed.
"I really am sorry," Hermione whispered to Romina.
"You did that to her?" Ron's eyes widened when he heard. "Blimey, what'd she ever do to you?"
"Cut it out, Ron," Romina said promptly. She reached up to the tips of her hair. "I think it's what I needed. Tough love."
"Why did you change it so much anyways?" Ron asked, ignoring the looks from Hermione and Harry.
"Because I was dumb," Romina said with a watery smile. "Because I thought if I changed my hair I would look less like the woman who birthed me."
"Your mum?"
"She's not my mother," Romina retorted with a hard voice. "I do not have parents. I utterly refuse to ever call them my parents ever again."
"That's your choice, Rom, but you're not like them. Not even close," Harry said with a soft smile. "So I think that you should start leaving your hair — and everything else about you — just the way it is. You're Romina. Nothing more, nothing less."
Romina nodded fervently, fully intending on believing it this time. She was more than happy when Madam Pomfrey returned with a potion for her. She did have to confess that she had changed her hair on her own using transfiguration.
"Well, I've never...heard of such a thing," Madam Pomfrey said, "While I'm sure Minerva will be immensely proud to hear this, I don't condone this usage of transfiguration. You are much too young and you could seriously injure yourself if anything goes wrong. You are not to use that again, do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Romina nodded obediently.
"Honestly, you remind me a lot of your uncle," Madame Pomfrey muttered as she got to work.
"Uncle Lyonel?" Romina mused at the idea of his uncle being a troublemaker like her.
"No, no, the other one," Madame Pomfrey said as gave Romina the potion to drink.
"Other one? What other—"
"Drink!"
Romina quickly did as told and drank it all down. It wasn't the most delightful of tastes but if it was what she needed to get her hair back to normal, so be it. In a few minutes, she felt the tips of her hair begin to grow again, to and past her shoulders. After a bit of touch-up from Madame Pomfrey's wand, it was more or less back to the length she had it long ago. Madame Pomfrey offered Romina a mirror so she could see for herself.
"Wow..." Romina gripped the sides of the mirror as she stared at her reflection. "It feels like...like forever since I've been...just me."
"You look wonderful," Hermione said with a wide smile. "And I can help you brush out the knots and we can put this nice tonic that I put on my hair and — we'll just make a whole day out of it!"
Romina suspected it was Hermione's guilt speaking again. She still laughed. "I'd like that."
A/N:
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