So this chapter is gonna be weird.

For those who know the story, Ron did not go back on time with Harry and Hermione. Therefore you won't see any of that.

Sorry...

However, they will tell him, so you will see bits and pieces of it.

And to my guest reader Hufflepuffer, don't worry. I have soooooooooooooo many amusing plans and thoughts for our Weasley King in the fourth book. He is, after all,14 now. And with that comes a lot of discoveries, as well as hormones. I'm so excited!

Chapter 73: Heading Home

I had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Lupin, Pettigrew, and I went next, Professor Snape, drifting creepily along behind us, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and I had to turn sideways to manage it. Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Crookshanks was still in the lead. I could hear what sounded like a head bumping the low ceiling. I have a feeling that Black was having fun getting back at his old nemesis.

"You know what this means? Turning Pettigrew in?" I overheard Black say to Harry.

"You're free?" said Harry.

"Yes..." said Black. "But I'm also...I don't know if anyone ever told you, I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."

I tried to tune everything out to make sure I was hearing correctly. Did Black mean what I thought he meant?

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared, if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What - live with you?" I heard Harry say in his anxious voice. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd -"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

I cracked a grin. It sounded great to hear that my best mate wouldn't have to go back to that hellhole of a place he had to call home.

No one spoke until we had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first to press the button, followed by Lupin, Pettigrew, and I. Soon, we were all out.

The grounds were very dark now. The only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, we set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering like the bitch he was. It was taking everything in me not to punch him in the face.

"One wrong move, Peter," threatened Lupin. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Silently, we tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest.

Suddenly, a cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. We was bathed in moonlight.

For some reason, Lupin had stopped dead in his tracks, causing Pettigrew and I to do the same, and Snape's head to hit my back.

Lupin stood still as a statue for a few seconds. Then, he started to shake.

"Oh, my..." I heard Hermione gasp. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Black whispered. "Run. Now."

But I couldn't go anywhere. I was still chained to Pettigrew and Lupin. I looked back at the others, desperate for someone to do something, as I had no clue what the bloody hell to do myself.

"Leave it to me - RUN!" yelled Black.

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius transformed. The enormous, bear like dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Pettigrew and I. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Hermione screamed and pointed at Pettigrew, who had dived for Lupin's dropped wand, causing me to fall. There was a bang, a burst of light, and then there was nothing.

I woke up smelling the strong odors of fresh linens and harsh potions. I instantly knew where I was.

The hospital wing.

My head ached. My body felt weak. My arm didn't hurt as much, but it was heavily bandaged, as well as my leg, which was only giving off a dull ache.

"What - what happened?" I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Harry? Why are we in here? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"You explain," said Harry to Hermione, a piece of chocolate in his hand.

I looked at the two of them. They looked happy. Too happy. I felt like I had been left out of something.

Hermione laughed and sat on my bed. "How does your head feel?" she asked.

I didn't want to sound like a bitch and tell her how it really felt. "It's fine, of course." I lied. "How are you? What happened? What did I miss?"

"Well, first, I need to show you something." said Hermione, taking a necklace out of her shirt and showing me the end of it.

I instantly knew what it was."Hermione...is that-"

"Yes, it's a time turner." she said, letting it hang off her neck.

"Is that how...BLOODY HELL, I KNEW IT!" I said, pointing accusingly at her. "I knew you had to be doing some shit to be able to go to all your classes!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ron, but that's not important right now."

"Yes the bloody hell it is! You-"

"Can we talk about that later?" said Harry out of nowhere.

I crossed my arms. I was ready to get into her ass, but I knew I had to hear her out. "Fine. We will discuss this later. Continue." I told her.

So I sat back and listened to the wildest adventure that I am actually glad I didn't participate in. She talked about how at first, they, along with Sirius had gotten caught and that Sirius was to receive the kiss, but Dumbledore told Hermione what to do when it came to the time turner. They had went back in time and managed to save Buckbeak, pretty much seen what all happened to all of us in real time, had battled around with Werewolf Lupin, and how Harry had produced a full patronus, a stag, to fight off the dementors. They had managed to free both Sirius and Buckbeak, who were now soaring to Merlin knew where.

As good as I had felt that not only was Sirius free, but Buckbeak was alive, I couldn't help but feel bad for Harry. As it seemed, life had screwed him over once again, denying him a break from the hell that was the Dursleys. He has to go back there.

For the rest of the night, we talked about everything that had happened. Harry opened up about his feelings, about what Sirius had said because Hermione didn't know. Then, we all ended up sleeping oddly on my bed.

When we 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. Neither Hermione not I felt like going, so all three of us wandered onto the grounds wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now. We ended up sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water, Harry lost in thought as Hermione and I bickered over nothing in particular.

A shadow fell across us. We looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at us.

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

"What?" We said, pretending to be oblivious. Which wasn't hard for Harry to do, as he usually was.

He's my best mate, I swear.

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

"That's wonderful!" said Hermione, giving me a reproving look, as I was trying hard to hold in my laughter.

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

"What?" said Harry quickly.

"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said Hagrid, 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?" said Harry, alarmed. "Why?"

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

Harry scrambled to his feet.

"I'm going to see him," he said to Hermione and I.

"But if he's resigned -"

"Doesn't sound like there's anything we can do -"

"I don't care. I still want to see him. I'll meet you back here." said Harry as he ran off.

Hagrid left shortly after Harry to check on the remaining hippogriffs.

I laid back onto the warm grass, resting my head on Hermione's leg.

"And who told you that I was your personal pillow?" said Hermione in mock annoyance.

"You did just now." I said, lifting my head up and down, lightly slamming it on her thigh. "Too firm." I joked.

"Ron, you're terrible."

"Are you ready for exams?" I asked.

"Am I ever?" said Hermione, a worried look spreading over her face. "Especially with everything that has happened? I'm stressed to the max."

"Why? You'll do brilliant, you insufferable know it all." I said, mimicking Snape's monotone voice.

Hermione laughed. "You're just plain insufferable."

"Thanks." I said as I yawned, the sun and comfort causing me to feel sleepy.

"So, what was it like seeing yourself over again?" I asked.

Hermione looked down at me. "Interesting." she said. "I realized that my hair looked very weird in the back."

"Stop that, no it doesn't." I scoffed looking back up at her.

I suddenly found myself zeroing in on her eyes. I knew they were the color that they had always been, but I never noticed...

"Your eyes are really really brown." I said, absentmindedly.

Hermione grinned as she looked uncertain at me. "I've known you for three years and you just noticed I had brown eyes?"

"I mean, I've noticed...its just..."

"Just what?"

"Nothing." I said quickly. "It's nothing."

She looked at me as if she wanted to say more, but didn't. She then set her gaze back on the squid that was trying to catch passing birds.

I closed my eyes, my thoughts going to the eyes of the kids I saw in the crystal ball, and how they were the same exact color as hers.

I must have drifted off to sleep because next thing I knew, my head connected with the ground as Hermione jumped up to greet Harry. We listened sadly as he told us how Lupin, the best Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher we ever had, was resigning. He said that Lupin felt Snape would out him, and that it would cause an uproar.

Nobody at Hogwarts knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except us and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of term approached, we heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth.

Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper.

Meanwhile, Percy had much to say on the subject of Sirius's escape.

"If I manage to get into the Ministry, I'll have a lot of proposals to make about Magical Law Enforcement!" he told the only person who would listen; his girlfriend, Penelope.

Harry, Hermione, and I certainly wasn't the only ones who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. Our whole Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus, gloomily.

"Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean, hopefully.

The exam results came out on the last day of term. We had passed every subject. Harry was amazed that he had got through Potions. He and I had a suspicion that Dumbledore might have stepped in to stop Snape failing him on purpose. Snape's behavior toward Harry over the past week had been quite alarming. We didn't think it possible that Snape's dislike for him could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth every time he looked at Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry's throat.

Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to winning the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next morning, Hermione gave us some surprising news.

"I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies."

"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" I said.

"I know," sighed Hermione, "but I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."

"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about it." I grumbled, still upset with her on the subject. "We're supposed to be your friends."

"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," said Hermione severely. She looked around at Harry, who was watching Hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain.

"Oh, cheer up, Harry!" said Hermione sadly.

"I'm okay," said Harry. "Just thinking about the holidays."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about them too." I said. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now."

"A telephone, Ronald," said Hermione. "Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year."

I completely ignored her.

"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work."

Harry started to cheer up.

"Yeah... I bet the Dursleys would be pleased to let me come... especially after what I did to Aunt Marge..." he said, laughing.

We played several games of Exploding Snap, and when the witch with the tea cart arrived, Harry bought himself a very large lunch, though nothing with chocolate in it.

"Harry," said Hermione suddenly, peering over his shoulder. "What's that thing outside your window?"

Harry turned to look outside. Something very small and gray was bobbing in and out of sight beyond the glass. He stood up for a better look and saw that it was a tiny owl, carrying a letter that was much too big for it. The owl was so small, in fact, that it kept tumbling over in the air, buffeted this way and that in the train's slipstream. Harry quickly pulled down the window, stretched out his arm, and caught it. He brought it carefully inside.

The owl dropped its letter onto Harry's seat and began zooming around their compartment, apparently very pleased with itself for accomplishing its task. Hedwig clicked her beak with a sort of dignified disapproval. Crookshanks sat up in his seat, following the owl with his great yellow eyes. Upon seeing that, I snatched the owl safely out of harm's way.

Harry picked up the letter. It was addressed to him. He ripped open the letter, and shouted, "It's from Sirius!"

"What?" said Hermione and I at the same time, excitedly. "Read it aloud!"

Dear Harry,

I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post.

Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job.

I believe the Dementors are still searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted.

There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt -

"Ha!" said Hermione triumphantly. "See! I told you it was from him!"

"Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?" I said. "Ouch!" The tiny owl now hooting happily in my hand, had nibbled one of my fingers in what it seemed to think was an affectionate way.

Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' worth of presents from your godfather.

I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you.

I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable.

If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me.

I'll write again soon.

Sirius

Harry looked eagerly inside the envelope. There was another piece of parchment in there. He read it through quickly and smiled widely as he read it again, out loud.

"That'll be good enough for Dumbledore!" said Harry happily.

He looked back at Sirius's letter. "Hang on, there's a PS..."

I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat.

My eyes widened. The minute owl was still hooting excitedly. "Keep him?" I said looking closely at the owl for a moment. I looked at the tiny thing, then held him out for Crookshanks to sniff

"What do you reckon?" I asked the cat. "Definitely an owl?"

Crookshanks purred.

"That's good enough for me," I said happily. "He's mine."

Although he seemed like he had more energy than a three year old, he was a rather cute owl. I let him perch on my shoulder, which he gently nuzzled against my neck.

When we arrived at the station, Harry pointed out his horrid Uncle Vernon at once. He was standing a good distance from Mum and Dad, eyeing them suspiciously. Mum hugged Harry in greeting before we left.

"I'll call about the World Cup!" I yelled after Harry as Harry bid me and Hermione good-bye.

"There's my Mum and Dad." said Hermione, waving at her parents. Suddenly, for some odd reason, I started feeling nervous.

"That invitation is for your too, you know." I managed to say. "The world cup? And coming to The Burrow anyways."

Hermione looked surprised. "Really? I thought it would be a just Harry and you thing. As I didn't really like Quidditch a whole lot."

"Its a friends thing, of course you can come. That is, if you want. And if your parents will let you."

"I'll ask." she said with a smile. " Maybe since I'm older, they will let me."

"Brilliant. I'll call you in a couple days." I said, holding out my hand...awkwardly.

Hermione looked at my hand and then back at me. She shook my hand just as awkwardly as I had held it out.

"Well, see you sometime." she said, petting my new owl on the head and giving quick goodbyes to my siblings who had just joined Mum and Dad.

And with that, she turned and left.