So, the "one" after the time travel reveal is here.

There were a few people wondering if this was a sudden decision, or if it was something planned from day 1. Yes, this was something I had planned back when I was writing probably Chapter 2 or 3. Most of the story I'm writing was planned back then. It's the small details, he said, she said, he reacted this way, she responded some other way, that I usually worry about while writing these.

There are of course some random inspirations, but which story doesn't have them, eh?

Chapter 45 is here... Enjoy!

"Turn to page 394," said Snape in a deadly calm voice. He glanced around and added, "All of you! Now!"

With all that was going on, this was the last thing Harry needed, Snape, taking over Remus' class.

The students were all bitter with the way the class went, with Snape seemingly behaving even more scathingly than usual.

"I can't believe this git is taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Ron, annoyed.

"He's not taking over... Professor Lupin is just not feeling well," said Hermione. "I hope he comes back soon," she added.

"Nobody asked you," snapped Ron.

Ron, just like Harry was having a difficult time post the Sirius break-in. Amidst all the chaos, Scabbers seemed to have vanished into thin air. And Ron blamed Hermione's cat, Crookshanks for it.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Crookshanks was with me the whole night... She did not eat your rat, Ron," retorted Hermione but Ron was having none of it and he barged out of sight instantly.

Harry and Hermione walked back to the great hall in a sour mood. And it showed in the conversation that followed.

"How are you holding up?" asked Hermione looking at Harry's depressed face.

"I'm fine, why?" asked Harry in return.

"Why? Sirius Black was here only a few days back... Almost certainly to kill you, that's why," replied Hermione.

"Well he didn't, did he?" retorted Harry.

"Harry!"

"What?"

"You have to be careful," whispered Hermione, looking worried.

"There are Dementors all around, aren't they? They'll catch Sirius," retorted Harry disconcertingly.

"Well, he escaped from Azkaban, and now he has broken into Hogwarts, are you sure Dementors are any good?" said Hermione.

"What do you want me to do, Hermione?" snapped Harry, loud enough for everyone around them to hear. "Was I going to be killed? Probably... Dumbledore is here, there are Dementors here and yet Sirius somehow came in... And everybody since has been acting weird around me... Percy, the Students, the Professors, everybody... And there's very little I can do about anything. So, what do you want me to do?" he added angrily, this time a little less loud than before.

But the damage seemed to be done as Hermione gathered her stuff and dashed out of the Great Hall instantly.

While Hermione stocked up on the books and Ron put all his anger into practising Remus' training, Harry found solace with Quidditch. Oliver, the Gryffindor captain was running the training at full intensity and for once, Harry didn't mind the strenuous sessions.

Harry woke up very early on the morning of their quidditch game. Their first of the season and it was against Slytherin. Rumours were heard in the Gryffindor camp that the Slytherin team tried to postpone their game but were unsuccessful. Quidditch was infamous for being relentless and unforgiving even in the harshest of weather. And that morning was going to be a testament to that.

After roaming around the common room for some time, Harry went down for breakfast, even though he didn't have an appetite. He was almost done with his breakfast when the rest of the team showed up. They all looked worried about the weather and their concerns were proven justified when they changed into their scarlet robes and walked into the field.

The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it. Rain was splattering over Harry's glasses. The Slytherin quidditch was approaching from the opposite side of the field. And once they did, the captains shook hands and after a few moments, the whistle blew and they were off.

Harry was drenched and feeling cold in his bones within a couple of minutes into the game. There were the occasional player sightings, but apart from that, Harry felt lonely. What was his team's score? Was the match over already? Had Draco already caught the snitch? Harry simply didn't know. He could barely see anything more than a few feet away. He started flying around trying to make sense of what was going on. He skipped the bludger a couple of times, saw Angelina score past Slytherin's keeper, and saw Oliver make a couple of decent saves but that was that. There was no sign of the snitch.

As the minutes went by, the cold got to Harry more and more. And he was getting frustrated. And there were also his spectacles. All the rain and wind made it virtually impossible to see anything clearly. As the struggles mounted, he saw something that made his heart stop for a moment. There was a flash of lightning that illuminated the stands and amongst the empty row of seats, Harry noticed the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog. But the illumination only lasted a moment, and the next, he couldn't see anything, however hard he squinted his eyes beyond his foggy spectacles.

One jolt of panic followed another as a couple of minutes later, Harry saw Draco flying at full speed, almost like he was after something. It could mean only one thing, he had spotted the snitch. Instantly, Harry sped after him. The chase for the snitch was on and Harry was falling behind comfortably.

"Come on," he growled and zoomed after Draco. Ice cold winds, raindrops sharper than shards of ice splashed his face at top speed from the opposite direction. The rumbles of thunder seemed to roar louder. And then there was silence.

An eerie silence fell across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, seemed to make no noise. It was as if, Harry became deaf suddenly. A moment later, a horrible familiar wave of cold swept over him, inside him, just as he became aware of something moving on the field below. At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were floating beneath him. And then almost immediately, Harry heard it again.

How was it possible? He wasn't dreaming now. He had only dreamt of this before. There was that gut-wrenching scream that made his insides churn. The scream continued longer than usual. Whenever he dreamt this exact thing, there would be a scream followed by a flash of green light.

He heard another voice, much fainter than the screams,

"Leave them alone," it said.

And then there was another a second later, that said, "you are going to pay for this!"

A couple of seconds later, there was a faint cracking sound followed by the loud scream again and this time it was swiftly followed by a flash of green light and Harry woke up screaming, startling Hermione and Ron who were sitting on a chair each, on either side of Harry. In the fright she got, Hermione dropped the book she was reading.

"Oh my God! Harry..." exclaimed Hermione loudly.

It took a few seconds for Harry to come to his senses. He realized pretty much instantly that this was not his bed in Gryffindor's common room, but one in the hospital wing. It didn't make any sense, however, since the last thing he remembered was flying after Draco on his Nimbus.

"Harry... you are awake," exclaimed Ron.

"Ron... Hermione..." said Harry weakly.

"Mate, are you alright?" asked Ron, looking worried, as he quickly pulled his chair closer to the bed.

"What happened? There... were... Dementors..." asked Harry, the words coming out of his mouth were barely audible.

Hermione got up from her chair and dashed out to get Madam Pomfrey.

"You had an accident," replied Ron faintly.

"I fell from my broom?" asked Harry rubbing his head.

"Yeah, you could say that," replied Ron. And just as he did, Madam Pomfrey walked in briskly.

"How are you feeling, boy?" enquired Madam Pomfrey.

"My head hurts a little, otherwise, I feel fine," replied Harry weakly.

"No, you're not... You seem weak, you have trouble speaking..." retorted Pomfrey and proceeded to check Harry. A few seconds later she added, "you are running a fever, your reflexes are slow."

Harry was slightly alarmed by the list and Madam Pomfrey quickly jumped in,

"You need a couple of days of rest and you will be fine," she said.

"Couple more?" exclaimed Harry.

"Yes, Mr Potter... and I'm going to be keeping a special attention..." replied Pomfrey. "The elves will bring your meals, make sure to have them on time," she added with a smile.

"Dementors, evil creatures..." she sighed angrily. "I told them again and again," she muttered under her breath. It was about a couple of minutes later that the trio were alone again.

"Harry..." exclaimed Hermione. "You gave all of us a right fright," she said and hugged Harry lightly.

Harry sat up straight and rubbed his forehead again.

"You remember any of what happened?" asked Ron.

"Well... I was flying behind Malfoy," replied Harry and took a pause trying to remember the sequence of events. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other.

And Harry continued, "he had the snitch on sight. It was cold, really cold, my hands were numb..." he said. "I remember seeing the Dementors and then," he added and got visibly worked up. But within an instant, he calmed down.

Ron glanced at Hermione again and then spoke up, "and then?" he asked.

"And then... nothing, that's the last thing I remember," lied Harry.

"Dumbledore was absolutely furious," said Hermione faintly. "... the Dementors weren't supposed to interfere," she added.

"I just passed out mid-air?" asked Harry, trying to fill in the blanks.

Ron remained silent for a few seconds and after getting a stare from Hermione, he replied.

"We couldn't see you, to be honest mate," said Ron. "It was raining heavily, you know?" he added with a hesitation.

"Ron," whispered Hermione loudly.

"Are you sure you don't remember how you fell?" asked Ron earning him a curious look from Harry and an angry one from Hermione.

"Why? I really don't remember anything else," replied Harry.

"It was Draco, Harry..." said Hermione. Harry looked confused. So, she continued, "he saved you," she added.

"What?" exclaimed Harry, shocked.

"He didn't... for all we know, he was the reason why Harry fell," interjected Ron.

"Shut up, Ron... use your head," snapped Hermione. And it was at that instant, Madam Pomfrey came back accompanied by an elf carrying a tray.

"Leave... both of you... now," she said as she entered. "He needs to rest after having his meal, " she added.

And with that, the conversation ended abruptly leaving Harry filled with questions.

The following morning, Harry got a visit from his quidditch teammates. Each one had a perspective to share. Half of them hadn't realized what had happened till they heard the whistle. The others had a glimpse of what was happening, even though their first reaction was that Harry was flying downwards in an attempt to get the snitch. And those included, Angelina, Fred and George.

"I saw Malfoy after you and that's when I realized your broom was missing," said Angelina.

Harry heard everything they had to say and had very few words to respond with. His heart had sunk when he was told that his broom was shattered. Its broken pieces were taken to the Gryffindor common room. Though there was one consolation. The match was cancelled, or as Oliver put it, "... it is postponed to a later date and the game will resume at 120 to 90."

The rest of the day was uneventful and boring. Hermione had helped Harry out that evening by giving him a couple of massive books to read. Harry had appreciated the thought, though he wasn't sure if he would go ahead and read something.

It was the evening of his last day at the Hospital wing and Harry was sound asleep, purely out of boredom. He was in a deep sleep and hadn't even noticed a student come in, keep something on the table beside him and walk away. A while later, a second someone came in and this time, Harry jolted awake.

Harry turned around and saw Draco Malfoy standing still.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he said, alarmed.

"Malfoy?" exclaimed Harry, surprised.

Draco walked in awkwardly.

"What did Madam Pomfrey say?" asked Draco.

"I'll be out tomorrow and can rejoin classes immediately," replied Harry.

"Oh, wow..." said Draco with a blank expression.

After a few seconds of silence, Harry spoke up.

"Thank you... I guess," he said faintly.

"Mention not," replied Draco. "Anybody in that position would have done the same... probably better," he added.

"You saved my life," said Harry gratefully.

"It was a soft landing, Potter... you wouldn't have died," retorted Draco and chuckled. Harry gave a wry smile in return.

"What actually happened?" asked Harry.

"Funny... I was going to ask you the same thing," replied Draco.

"I don't remember much," replied Harry. "One moment, I was chasing after you, the next I saw hundreds of Dementors and that was that..." he added.

"Oh!"

"Hmm," nodded Harry.

"Why were you chasing me?" asked Draco. Harry looked at him curiously.

"The snitch?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"I don't know where it was... I was just flying around, and then I saw come after me... So, I continued like I knew what I was doing," replied Draco and chuckled.

Harry had his hands on his forehead. He couldn't believe he fell for that.

"And then, I saw you slow down and a second later, you flipped," he continued. "I saw and I sped after you... I barely made it before you hit the ground... I probably did you more harm than good the way we landed," he finished with a laugh.

A few seconds later, Harry replied, "well, thank you anyway..."

"Don't thank me... I was just making sure I could beat you fair and square..." said Draco sarcastically.

"Yeah right... like that's going to happen," retorted Harry.

"You never know... what with all these Dementors going around... You might take a fall again... I'm not going to be catching you every time," remarked Draco.

"Piss off, Malfoy" retorted Harry with a smile.

"Take care, Potter..." said Draco and with that, he left.

Harry was back in class the following day. And he wasn't surprised to find the students murmuring behind his back about the quidditch incident. He had received this treatment a few times before, hence it didn't matter much. Though, what did matter was the Dementor situation. And he had decided to ask Remus for help.

"Harry..." called out Hermione for the 3rd time, this time louder than the previous times.

"Uh... what?" asked Harry.

"What's this?" she asked handing him a note. "It was in the book I gave you," she added.

Harry took the note and immediately realized what it was.

"Oh, this? I don't know who sent this... I thought it was you, but the handwriting was different," replied Harry.

Harry was holding a note with the words, "Get well soon, Harry!" and it also had a beautiful flower drawn beside it.

"No, it wasn't me," remarked Hermione suspiciously.

"It's probably someone from our house," sighed Harry and resumed his homework.

"You're back, how are you feeling?" asked John.

"The same as always... At times, even Severus' potion can't help enough," replied Remus.

"No one's happy with him taking over your class," said John with a chuckle.

"I can imagine," replied Remus with a smile.

After a couple of minutes of silence, John spoke up.

"So... Sirius?" remarked John.

"Hmm"

"How do you think he did it?" asked John.

"The same way he escaped Azkaban," replied Remus.

"And how was that?"

"I don't know... He probably has a few tricks up his sleeve," replied Remus.

"Are the Dementors clever enough to spot an Animagus?" asked John.

"It's hard to say..." sighed Remus.

And with that, John left the class and was on his way to Arithmancy when he ran into Professor McGonagall.

"Afternoon," greeted John.

"Good Afternoon, Mr Smith," greeted back Minerva. "I have been meaning to speak with you," she added.

"You have?" asked John curiously.

"The next Hogsmeade visit is at the end of the month," she said.

"I heard... everybody is talking about it," replied John.

"I want you to stay close to Harry," she said, looking worried.

"Minerva..." exclaimed John unhappily.

"No excuses"

"You have nothing to worry about Sirius... you have my word," argued John.

"Your word means something... but I can't risk you being wrong... Time isn't something we understand very well. What if your actions have had unintended consequences?" remarked Professor McGonagall.

"Okay... You will hopefully have proof of his innocence soon... And until then, I'll keep an eye on Harry, fine?" replied John.

"I have already spoken with Harry. He didn't agree to stay in the castle, this is the next best I could think of," said Professor McGonagall.

And with that, John left for his class, which he was already late for.

A few days went by in a flash. And only a week left before their next Hogsmeade visit. Remus had informed Ron and Harry about their next training session. And surprisingly, this time, he had arranged a separate session for each of them. Through their classes, Remus had realized that Ron had a better grasp of magic. He was calm during spell demonstrations. The only negatives were that he lacked confidence and he was lazy. Harry on the other hand was enthusiastic, erratic with his spells, and carried nervous energy around him. Harry also had trouble concentrating.

And to address all of these things, he arranged a separate session for them both. As it turned out, Ron's session went extremely well, while Harry was troubled with the Dementors. Keeping separate sessions was the way forward, Remus understood.

John and Hermione were working on their ancient runes homework in the library. John was working, Hermione however was just pretending. Every few minutes, she would pick up the note Harry had gotten, stare at it for a few seconds and then keep it back in her bag.

"What's that you're staring at?" asked John after noticing the pattern repeat a few times.

"Uh... nothing," replied Hermione and kept the note in her bag.

John kept staring at her curiously.

"It's nothing... it's just a note that Harry got after his quidditch accident," said Hermione.

"He received a note?" asked John, curiously.

Hermione handed him the note. John inspected the note for a few seconds. And with a smile on his face, he replied, "looks like someone has a crush on Harry," he said.

"What?" gasped Hermione. "No... I don't have a crush on Harry," she added quickly.

John burst into laughter. "I didn't mean you, Hermione..." he retorted.

"Oh"

"Or, someone is really glad he is doing well. Why are you so upset with it anyway?" he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm not upset," she replied instantly. "I'm just... uh, curious, you know?" she added quickly.

"Uh-huh... right," replied John with a wry smile.

After a few minutes, they left the library as it was getting late. They had just made it to the Great Hall for dinner when an owl dropped an envelope on John's head.

John hastily picked up the envelope from the floor and glanced at it.

"Who's it from?" asked Hermione.

"Jane," whispered John cautiously. Though there was a different expression on his face.

John left the hall immediately and made his way to a dark corner in the first-floor corridor, Hermione followed behind. He ripped open the envelope and took the letter out. A minute later, he closed the letter with a laugh.

"What does it say? Why are you laughing?" asked Hermione, confused.

"Because this is funny," replied John and handed Hermione the letter.

"Kbof ifsf. Nffu nf cfijoe Ipht ifbe evsjoh zpvs Iphtnfbef wjtju. J ibwf tpnfuijoh jnqpsubou up ufmm zpv.

Without Wax
19919"

Hermione read and re-read the gibberish but couldn't understand head or tail of what was written.

"This is... what is this?" asked Hermione, confused.

"Well... It reads, Jane here. Meet me behind Hogs head during your Hogsmeade visit. I have something important to tell you," replied John.

"What? She wants to see you?" asked Hermione.

"No, she doesn't... this is not written by Jane. The handwriting, the words used, the way she signed it and not to forget, I literally wrote to her only a few weeks back telling her not to write to me... This letter has been written by somebody trying to trick me, probably Emily Davies," replied John with a smile.

"Are you sure?" asked Hermione, shocked.

"Absolutely"

Hermione looked unconvinced.

"Look," he said pointing at the end of the note that read, "19919". "Emily has been reading our letters. Obviously, she can't understand a word. All she knows is how we sign our letters. Without Wax, followed by 21815, for me, 19919 for Jane. I can't believe she thought I would fall for this," he said confidently with a chuckle.

"But, what if it is actually Jane?" asked Hermione.

"Jane would never start the note with, Jane here... That's stupid, she is the only one I have. There is nobody else who is going to write to me, especially encrypted. Also, we never use too many words, we always keep sentences crisp, and to the point. This is all over the place... This is not written by Jane, this is a poor imitation," replied John. "And one more thing... the key used here to encrypt the words is wrong... I can go and on... trust me, this is not Jane," he added.

"Wow"

"Let's go get some food... I'm starving," said John and with that, the pair went back to the Great Hall.

Hermione however was still curious. While they were eating, she brought up the topic again.

"Do you think Emily wrote a similar one to Jane?" she asked. John hadn't thought about it.

"Maybe... If I were her, I would probably do the same. She is tricking Jane into coming, and will capture her the moment she does," replied John.

"What are you going to do?" she asked. "Will you write to her?"

"No, that would be stupid... Emily is waiting for us to do the mistake. Jane won't come, she will see through the letter, just like I did. I'm not going to do anything," replied John.

After a few minutes, Hermione spoke up again.

"What do the numbers mean?" she asked.

"Which numbers? You mean 19919 and 21815?" retorted John.

"Yes, what are they?" she asked.

"It's nothing really... something we came up with when we were kids," replied John. "It just means brother and sister," he added.

"Oh, and what about, Without Wax?" she asked.

"An inside joke... People finish their letters with sincerely, we do it with, Without Wax," replied John. And with that, the conversation ended.

The day of their next Hogsmeade visit finally arrived. Ron's anger did not seem to have diminished, which meant that, this time around Harry and Hermione were going to be alone, while Ron was going to be hanging around with Seamus, Neville and Dean Thomas.

Meanwhile, John upon reconsideration had borrowed the invisibility cloak from Harry to investigate the letter he had received. He had no intention of keeping an eye on Harry, he didn't want to, and he was pretty sure neither did Harry or Hermione.

John decided to roam around Hogsmeade wearing the cloak throughout. The Hogsmeade village was a nice visit that time of the year, with Christmas approaching, the snowflakes falling occasionally, and the cool breeze, all made it an excellent day. And the invisibility cloak made things so much more interesting. He had used it earlier in their 2nd year to roam around the Hogwarts castle, but in all those instances, he had to be careful not to make any sound, he had to always be alert. Today, however, was different. He was walking invisible in the middle of a busy village, with people all around him. Being invisible in a crowd was easier compared to a deserted corridor, even if he had no cloak. Occasionally, he would see Ron walking around, laughing with his friends, enjoying the day, just like he saw Harry and Hermione on multiple occasions, in the many attractions of Hogsmeade.

Soon, it became a boring day for him. His true purpose of the cloak was anonymity from Emily when she arrives at the Hog's Head Inn. He was also slightly worried about the contents of the letter Jane might have received. If Jane were to appear there, on that day, at that moment, he had to be there to help her escape. But as it turned out, the whole day was uneventful. Emily didn't show up, Jane didn't show up, and neither did anyone else.

However, something had happened at the Three Broomsticks with Harry, that he found out soon after he reached the castle.

"Hey... you returned? I thought you guys would have stayed a bit longer," said John and handed Harry the cloak. Harry however looked devastated, and so did Hermione. The moment Harry's eyes laid on John, he got up enraged and dashed towards him.

"Did you know about Sirius betraying my parents? Was he the reason why they were found?" lashed out Harry.

"Harry..." exclaimed John, shocked. "What are you talking about?" he added.

Tears were back in Harry's red eyes and he crashed back on the couch.

"What happened?" asked John looking at Hermione. He looked taken aback and stunned.

"We were at the Three Broomsticks... and we overheard a conversation between the Minister of Magic, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid," replied Hermione, shaking a little.

"Okay? And what did they say?" he asked.

"They talked about Sirius," she replied. And then she slowly added, "how Sirius betrayed..." but didn't finish the sentence.

John resisted a strong urge to argue that Sirius didn't betray anyone and let Harry speak.

"Sirius was best friends with my father and he betrayed him when he needed his best friend the most," lashed out Harry. "He was my Godfather... He was their secret keeper and he betrayed them," he added.

John stood unfazed. He knew Sirius was their best friend, he knew Sirius was Harry's Godfather, he was even James' best man, but however, he had no idea that Sirius was their secret keeper. And this, for the first time brought doubt into John's mind. "Could Sirius have done what he was accused of? Was it at all possible that he didn't know the whole truth?"

"Harry... Yes, I knew," said John after a few seconds. Harry glanced at him, with tears in his eyes.

"They were the best of friends... but you can't beat yourself up about it. What has happened, has happened, there is nothing we can do to change it," he added.

Harry however got up angrily, "I need to talk to Remus," he said and dashed out of the common room.

"You look rattled," remarked Hermione faintly. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," replied John. "I didn't know he was their secret keeper," he added.

"Oh"

"Hmm... I still believe Sirius didn't do those things everybody is accusing him of... I hope Jane comes through," he added.

"Jane? How?" asked Hermione.

"When Sirius broke in, I asked her to find him," replied John.

Jane chuckled while reading the letter. "Like I'm going to fall for that"

And just that instant, she heard a sound in the back of the house. With her wand up, she walked as slowly and faintly as she could to the back of the house.

The moment she walked out, someone jumped on her. And instinctively, she pointed her wand at him and a jet of red light hit the man. The next moment, the intruder fell down stunned.

Jane glanced at the man's face and a smile appeared on her face.

"Welcome home, Uncle Sirius," she whispered.

For the curious ones out there... I reveal how I came up with 19919 and 21815.
Jane is the sister. SIS : S is the 19th alphabet, I is the 9th... SIS = 19919
Similarly, John is the brother. BRO : B is the 2nd, R is the 18th and O is the 15th... BRO = 21815... Quite simple if you think about it...

So, that was it for Chapter 45... Hope you are enjoying this story, and are liking the pace at which it is moving. Leave your comments, it's always fun to read them...

PS - Chapter 46 will be out next week... Ciao!