Chapter 9
As they made their way to the owlery Harry began to walk faster and faster until he was at a full jog. He had almost forgotten that someone was waiting for him there. Someone who had given their life, right in front of his eyes, in order to save him. He had missed her terribly ever since that night they had escaped to the Burrow.
He reached the last steps of the owlery as his lips began to quiver. He began to recall that night, "No... NO! Hedwig... Hedwig…". He shook his head in order to remove the memory from his mind and called out to her.
"H-H-Hed-Hedwig?" Harry choked out.
He heard her screech as she flew down to meet him, landing on his arm as she had always done before. She looked at him with what he could only believe was concern and began to nibble on his ears.
"I missed you," Harry whispered.
Harry then began to cry and held her close.
Hermione looked on at the scene and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. She had seen how devastated Harry had been after Hedwig had died, and now to see him with her again made her incredibly happy for him.
Harry released Hedwig once he felt her bite down on his ear.
"Sorry sorry, I'm just so glad to see you again."
Hedwig tilted her head and nudged him.
"I'm fine, sorry about that, I just really missed you" Harry said as he wiped his tears dry.
He smiled at Hedwig and began to whisper to her.
"Hedwig…I know you are a very smart girl and that you understand me…I need you to do me a favor…. I need you to be as discreet as possible and find Sirius for me."
Hedwig hooted.
"I need you to take a letter for me and wait for a response, but please be very careful."
Hedwig again hooted.
Harry nodded then turned to Hermione "Could you lend me some parchment and a quill?"
"Of course," Hermione smiled and reached for her bag and took out the material Harry had requested and handed them over to him. He put Hedwig to stand on the ledge of a basin filled with water and began to write.
Herminone saw as he began to scribble on the parchment. She leaned over to see what he was writing but was only able to make out a few words, "Regulus…help…Kreacher… need to talk… Grimmauld Place…" before he finished writing and neatly folded it up.
Harry attached the letter on Hedwig's leg and leaned closer to her.
"Please be very careful, I can't lose you again." Harry whispered.
With those last words, he backed away and watched her spread her wings and take flight. He saw as she soared through the sky as she settled on her path to find Sirius Black.
"She'll be alright Harry," Hermione said as she hugged his arm.
"I know, it was just a relief to see her again, then having to part with her right after is…difficult."
"I know but don't worry, she'll come back."
Harry nodded and put his hand on the arm that was hugging him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and they both looked out towards the sky where Hedwig had just been.
They leaned on each other for a bit as Harry calmed his worried heart.
"Alright…I think it's time we head down to Professor McGonagall's office," Harry stated.
He felt Hermione nod and sigh.
"Yeah alright let's go"
She straightened herself and disentangled herself from his grasp. Harry immediately regretted the action. He was becoming more and more aware of her and he knew he needed to calm down. Not even a week had passed since the incident with Ron and she had just told him that morning that she was still working through her feelings. He needed to respect her feelings and not be too disappointed every time she let go of him. He knew he would have to tell her his feelings eventually but this was neither the time or the place.
"Let's head down, I'm sure Ronald is looking for us as well," she said tensely.
They made their way down and just as she had predicted Ron was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them.
"I couldn't find you both anywhere! Where were you? I looked in the library 15 minutes after leaving the Great Hall and didn't find you there."
"We've been here. I was writing to Sirius asking him for advice on the transformation and also about maybe seeing him during the summer," Harry whispered.
"Oh, alright, well now that you're done with that. I was looking to find you because I got an owl from my dad! He wrote to me to tell me that he was going to get tickets to the Quidditch World Cup!" Ron yelled excitedly.
Harry beamed even though he knew it was coming, he had always loved quidditch and his experience at the World Cup had been nothing less than exciting. Although he wasn't looking forward to what happened after the match.
"That's very exciting Ron! I'm happy for you!" Harry beamed.
"You'll be happy to! Dad said he had gotten tickets for all three of us." Ron said with a huge grin on his face.
"Tell your father that I really appreciate that he thought of me as well," Hermione said with a smile on her face, though Harry could see tension on her shoulders. If anyone hated that day it was Hermione. Not only was she extremely bored the first time she also remembered the way all the muggles were treated that day, she told Harry that she became extremely worried for her parents after seeing how they were basically tortured.
"I'll tell him. So what do you say Harry? How about you come and stay with us this summer? 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..."
Ron ignored her.
Harry frowned and recalled what Hermione had said about Ron never apologizing for his behavior.
"Yeah Ron, I think taking Muggle Studies would help you become more acquainted with the muggle world should you ever need to be there." Harry said, trying to get Ron to at least acknowledge Hermione's comment.
"Yeah I suppose, I just don't think I'll ever visit the Muggles, I'm just fine here."
Harry couldn't help but snort sarcastically. Had Ron been able to blend into the muggle world when they were on the run, they could have stayed at hotels and such, but since he had such a hard time with seeming muggle they couldn't risk themselves.
Ron looked at him with confusion and a bit of annoyance.
"Sorry, It's just that you never know Ron, it could be useful to have more knowledge about more than of the world."
Ron looked at him and scoffed.
"Like I said, I doubt I'll ever venture to those parts of the world. But returning to my question…What do you say to staying with us?
Harry sighed internally, Ron was never going to change.
"Yeah, I suppose the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come... especially after what I did to Aunt Marge this past summer…"
Ron grinned.
"I'll owl Mum and Dad to let them know, wait up for me will ya?"
"Sorry Ron, we were just headed to McGonagall's office, Hermione has to return the time-turner, I promised to go with her…" Harry whispered so no-one nearby could hear.
Ron turned pale, "Oh right…well…good luck with that…"
Ron hadn't really asked what had happened to the time-tuner or how it had broken when they had arrived, both Hermione and Harry were relieved that their friend was so uninterested in the topic. He didn't really question it since he saw they had both been fine when they had appeared. He focused more on wanting to know the details of saving Sirius.
Ron then turned and began to make his way up the stairs, he didn't want to face the wrath of their Transfiguration Professor.
"Coward," muttered Hermione, then began to walk away.
Harry followed her and began to walk beside her.
"It'll be alright… don't worry…"
"I hope you're right…"
They walked through the hallways until they arrived and stood in front of Professor McGonagall's door.
Taking a deep breath Hermione raised her hand and knocked.
"Come in…"
They opened the door and saw her sitting behind her desk, head down looking at what she was writing.
"Good evening Professor…" spoke Hermione.
"Good evening , to what do I owe the pleasure? I was sure that you would be resting after all that happened yesterday."
"Actually Professor…I came to return this…"
Hermione's hands began to shake as she pulled out the time turner from under her blouse. Then they heard a gasp. Professor McGonagall stood abruptly and made her way to them and began to inspect Hermione by placing her hands on Hermione's arms.
"Oh my!..Are you alright ? I can't believe this happened…"
She looked her up and down making sure to see if there was anything wrong with Hermione.
Then Hermione began talking.
"I-I-I'm very sorry P-p-professor… There wasn't anything I could do...," she inhaled, " it happened right after Professor Lupin had transformed into his werewolf state. His claws broke through it after he took a swipe at us and managed to yank it out of my neck. I saw it as it was thrown into the far distance and I decided to go looking for it this morning. I managed to find it… b-b-but there was nothing to be done to fix it."
Hermione was on the verge of tears at this point. She was starting to hyperventilate and clutched her chest.
"I can't be more sorry about this Professor, I know you trusted me with this…"
Professor McGonagall remained quiet as she studied them. Her eyes still scanned them, she seemed to not be aware of what Hermione was saying.
Then before Harry knew it Professor McGonagall had thrown her arms around Hermione and hugged her.
"Oh my dear girl, it's alright… I'm just glad nothing of effect happened to you…if you had been caught in the sands of time there's no telling what could have happened, you could have died…," she sighed, "I'll deal with the Ministry…it's not as if they knew that you would encounter a werewolf… You didn't do anything that would purposely cause it to break so I'm sure there won't be any consequences against you.."
Hermione let out a loud breath and her breathing became easier.
"Thank you Professor…"
Professor McGonagall released her and then slowly removed the time turner from Hermione's neck. She held it in her palm and began to look at the damage. She then turned to face them.
"I'll hold on to this and deliver it to the Ministry myself, don't you worry… I'm sure this goes without saying but you should be made aware of the fact that you will not be able to continue the school schedule that you had been taking this past year…"
"Yes Professor, I understand, I was actually thinking about dropping both Muggle Studies and Divination…"
"I see…yes I think that would be prudent… and seeing as Mr. Potter is here; I imagine that breaking the time turner was not the only rule you broke?" she said with a knowing gleam in her eye.
Hermione blushed.
"I told Harry once I realized that the time-turner was broken…I panicked and didn't have anyone to talk to, that's when I decided to tell Harry. He urged me to come and talk to you as soon as possible. I know that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone…but once I saw it was broken I knew that I wouldn't be able to use it again and decided to tell Harry in my panic."
McGonagall smirked at them, then began speaking, "I do hope you both keep out of trouble during the last few days there are in this school year…"
"Yes Professor," stated Harry.
"Alright…and don't you worry , I know you did everything in your power to keep this safe… continue being the model student you have been until now…" she said with a smile.
"Now off to your rooms, you have the rest of the day off to rest after the events of last night…"
They both nodded and made their way out of the office.
Once they had closed the door they looked at each other and sighed with relief.
"Well… I'm glad that's over and done with…" said Harry.
They began to walk away from the office as they made their way to the common room.
"Didn't really help me out much in there though, did you?" Hermione smiled.
"There really wasn't any room for me to say anything with your nonstop chatter." Harry joked.
Hermione shoved him playfully and they both laughed and continued on their way.
They reached the entrance to the common room, "Password?" asked the Fat Lady.
Harry's eyes widened.
"Do you remember the password?" Hermione turned to look at Harry as she asked.
"No…"
"It's Caput Draconis again…" they heard a voice behind them whisper.
They both turned and saw Ginny Weasley standing behind them with a forced smile on her face.