263Chapter 17: Harry's Patronus
Chapter 17
Harry's Patronus
"No, they can't be!" Harry cried out. "Draco, please tell me—"
The doors to the Hospital Wing burst open, and Harry heard Dumbledore's voice, yelling, as multiple sets of feet walked into the wing.
"I have told you multiple times Cornelius that Dementors are terrible creatures! Now look what they have done!" Dumbledore roared.
"Yes, yes I see that an unfortunately accident had occurred, but—"
"Accident? You call the Dementors taking two wizards' souls accidents?" Dumbledore demanded.
"Well, Dementors are dark creatures, Headmaster, I'm sure even you could remember that," the voice of Lucius Malfoy drawled. "They were simply acting on instinct, they were hungry from the lack of meals they were being fed. Besides, we should be lucky. The two victims were adults who were trespassing, not students. Not a bit loss at all."
"Really Lucius, now is not the time," the Minister said meekly. "One of them is your co-worker, James Potter."
"We weren't on same terms," Lucius said.
Angry tears threatened to fall from Harry's eyes as he pushed past Draco and away from his bed. "Hey!" He yelled. The three adults turned around to see Harry. Before they could react, Harry had his wand out and aimed at Lucius. "Don't you dare talk about my dad like that!" he yelled. Anger leading his actions, Harry whipped his wand and a golden light jetted out of it. Dumbledore and the Minister watched, shocked, but Lucius just smirked and produced a Shield Charm with his wand.
"Honestly Dumbledore, if this is how his son treats his elders, there must be something troubling about James's parenting method," Lucius said calmly.
Harry glared at him and began to cast another spell at the man who insulted his father.
"Harry," Dumbledore said warningly, giving him stern, yet sympathetic eyes. Draco came out from Harry's bed and stood beside him, holding his hand.
"Ahh umm Mr. Potter…" Cornelius said awkwardly, holding his bowler hat in his hands. "So sorry about what happened. …Terrible accident, really. Horrible. I, I uh don't know what to say about this. Terrible accident…"
"This was your mostly fault Minister," Hermione's voice piped up. "Your proposal for having dementors around as a protection against Dark Wizards was always rocky, and kept avoiding the unpredictability of dementors in an open space, as well as the very nature of Dementors, a creature that sucks all happiness and positivity from any creature it nears."
The Minister of Magic turned his attention to Hermione and angrily said, "I do not need the opinion of a teenage witch, thank you very much!"
"It seems that they have somehow been confounded. It must have been that other male who did it," Lucius said. "He looked a suspicious type to me. Especially considering his… marriage."
"Yes, well… we will naturally look into that, Lucius," the Minister said.
Dumbledore still didn't look happy. "Minister, I believe we should continue this elsewhere. Lucius, if you would bring him to my office."
Lucius looked as if he was about to refuse, but instead he just stopped himself and nodded. The two left, Lucius giving Harry a cold, emotionless stare which turned to anger as he noticed him and Draco still holding hands. As soon as the doors closed, Harry and Hermione started talking at once.
"Sir, it was Peter Pettigrew, he's not dead. Dad and Sirius Black were here to capture him—"
"There was no way this was an accident, please believe us—"
"There has to be a way to save Dad, it's Pettigrew's fault that—"
Dumbledore held up his hand and waited for silence. "I have listened to your woes, and now it is time for me to speak." Harry frowned and looked around the hospital wing. At the end of the room were two curtains drawn closed. Harry didn't need to look and see to know that was where his father and Sirius are. "I have no power to change what had happened to your father and his friend, Harry," Dumbledore said. "What we need," he said slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Harry, to Draco, to Hermione, "is more time."
"But—" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"
"Now, pay attention," Dumbledore said, speaking very low and very clearly. "If a Kiss occurs, you only have seconds to reverse it. You must get the dementors away from the victim in those seconds. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, all of you, you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law—you know what is at stake. …You—must—not—be—seen."
Harry didn't have a clue what was going on. Dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door. "I am going to lock you in. It is—" he consulted his watch," five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"
But Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.
"Harry, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"
Harry moved towards her, completely bewildered. She was holding the chain out. He saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass handing from it.
"Here—"
"Don't you dare leave me here," Draco said as he stepped closer to Harry.
"Fine Malfoy, quickly!" Hermione said, not having time to argue. She threw the chain around both their necks too.
"Ready?" she said breathlessly.
"What are we doing?" Harry said, completely lost.
Hermione turned the hourglass over three times.
The dark ward dissolved. Harry had the sensation that he was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colors and shapes rushed past him, his ears were pounding, he tried to yell but couldn't hear his own voice—
And then he felt solid ground beneath his feet, and everything came into focus again—
He was standing between Hermione and Draco in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. He looked wildly around at Hermione, the chain of the hourglass cutting into his neck.
"Hermione, what—?"
"In here!" Hermione seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom closet, Draco running after; she opened it, pushed him inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind Draco.
"What—how—Hermione, what happened?"
"We went back in time," Draco whispered, fighting the chain off of his neck.
"Three hours back," Hermione added.
"But—"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think—I think it might be us!"
Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door as Draco pulled the chain off of Harry. "Footsteps across the hall …yes, I think it's us going down to Hagrid's!"
"Are you telling me," Harry whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"
"Exactly," Draco whispered. "The thing Granger got is a Time Turner, though I have no idea how she got it."
"Professor McGonagall gave it to me on our first day back. It's how I've been getting to all my lessons," Hermione whispered. "…We're out of the doorway. …Harry, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?"
Harry stared at her shadowy face, then turned to Draco.
"I don't know," Draco said. "Don't expect me to answer all your problems, Harry."
"There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," he said slowly. "What happened? We were walking down to Hagrid's three hours ago. …"
Draco hit his forehead. "The execution," he said simply. "Remember? I was waiting for you here so I could… help you after that hippogriff died."
Hermione gave a small gasp. "That must be what Dumbledore wanted! Dumbledore just said we could save more than one innocent life—Harry, we're going to rescue Buckbeak! Though, I still don't understand how that will help…"
"I think I do," Harry said. "He told us it'll take a few seconds if a Kiss was performed. Buckbeak could help us during those seconds!"
From what Harry could see of Hermione's face, she looked terrified.
"If we managed that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" Harry said. He stood up and pressed his ear against the door.
"Doesn't sound like anyone's there. …Come on, let's go. …" Harry pushed open the closet door. The entrance hall was deserted. As quietly and quickly as they could, the three darted out of the closet and down the stone steps. The shadows were already lengthening, the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest gilded once more with gold.
"Wait, what about Malfoy?" Hermione asked, looking back at him. "Where were you during this time?"
"In the Slytherin common room with Zabini," Draco whispered back. "I didn't leave till half an hour after the execution. When I saw Harry, I came running."
"Will you two be quiet?" Harry whispered back, "We're almost at Hagrid's!"
"Go around the greenhouses!" Hermione said breathlessly. "We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us!"
Still working out what Hermione meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him and Draco keeping up. They tore across the pumpkin patch to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing toward the shelter of the forest. …
Safe in the shadows of the trees, Harry turned around; seconds later, Hermione arrived beside him, panting.
"Right," she gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's. …Keep out of sight, guys. …"
They made their way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk and peered out from either side. Hagrid had appeared in his doorway, shaking and white, looking around to see who had knocked. And harry heard his own voice.
"It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."
"You shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered. He stood back, then shut the door quickly.
"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently. "Does my voice actually sound like that?"
"Yes, now let's get the damn hippogriff," Draco whispered back.
The three crept through the trees until they saw the nervous hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Now?" Harry whispered.
"No!" Hermione said. "If we still him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set him free! We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied outside!"
"And how long will that take Granger?" Draco whispered. "I say we just take the hippogriff now and get done with it."
"No, we can't get him yet," Hermione said again. They heard a loud breaking noise, followed by a scream. "There's me finding Scabbers," Hermione whispered.
"Hermione, what I just—"
"No Harry," Draco said. "Remember what Granger said? You can't be seen."
"You don't even know what I was going to say," Harry whispered.
"You were going to suggest that you run in there and grab the rat," Draco said. "Which will get either you or past self killed. Now stay here like a good Gryffindor."
Harry just gave Draco a cold, sharp glare but stood his place. Moments later, they saw the distant frond doors of the castle opening, and Dumbledore, Fudge, and Macnair the executioner coming down the steps. Soon enough, the back door to Hagrid's cabin opened, and Harry watched himself, Hermione, and Ron walking out of it with Hagrid. It was, without a doubt, the strangest sensation of his life, standing behind the tree, and watching himself in the pumpkin patch.
Draco pulled Harry and Hermione away from the trees as their counterparts threw the cloak over themselves and left. There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar.
"Where's the beast?" came the could voice of Macnair.
"Out—outside," Hagrid croaked.
Harry pulled his head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Then they heard Fudge.
"We—er—have to read you the official notice of execution, Hagrid. I'll make it quick. And then you and Macnair need to sign it. Macnair, you're supposed to listen too, that's procedure—"
Macnair's face vanished from the window. It was now or never.
"Wait here," Harry said to Hermione and Draco. "I'll do it."
"Feel free," Draco said, looking at the hippogriff with apprehension.
As Fudge's voice started again, Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch, and approached Buckbeak. Careful not to blink, Harry bowed and stared into Buckbeak's orange eyes. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Harry began to fumble with the knotted rope tying Buckbeak to the fence.
"Come on," Harry murmured, "come on, we're going to help you. Quietly …quietly…"
Harry threw all his weight onto the rope, but Buckbeak had dug in his front feet.
"Well, let's get this over with," said the reedy voice of the Committee member from inside Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stay inside—"
"No, I—I wan' ter be with him. …I don' wan' him ter be alone—"
Footsteps echoed from within the cabin.
"Buckbeak, move!" Harry hissed. He tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. Harry heard footsteps behind him and turned quickly to see Draco coming out to help him. The two pulled, and they were about six feet away from the forest, still in plain view of Hagrid's back door.
"One moment please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice. "You need to sign too." The footsteps stopped. Harry and Draco heaved on the rope. Buckbeak snapped his beak and walked a little faster.
Hermione's white face was sticking out from behind a tree.
"Guys, hurry!" she mouthed.
Harry could still hear Dumbledore's voice, talking from within the cabin. He and Draco gave the rope a final wrench, Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees. …
"Quick! Quick!" Hermione said, darting out from behind her tree, seizing the rope too and adding her weight to make Buckbeak move faster.
"Stop!" Harry whispered when they were out of sight from Hagrid's cabin. "They might hear us—"
Hagrid's back door opened with a bang. The three students and Buckbeak stood quite still; even the hippogriff seemed to be listening intently.
"Where is it?" said the voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"
"It was tied here!" The executioner said furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"
"How extraordinary," Dumbledore said. "There was a note of amusement in his voice.
"Beaky!" Hagrid said huskily. There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger.
"We have to search immediately!" Fudge began. "Search the grounds—"
"Search the skies, if you will," Dumbledore said amused. "Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."
"O'—o' course, Professor," Hagrid said, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in. …"
Harry and Hermione listened closely. They heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.
"Now what?" Harry whispered, looking around. He turned to see Buckbeak away from them, but instead staring sharply at Draco, who was returning the glare. "Draco?" he whispered.
Draco's brow was sweating as he and Buckbeak kept staring at each other, angry orange meeting steely silver. Buckbeak's eyes sharpened as he took a step forward.
"Harry! They might hear him," Hermione whispered.
Harry couldn't move, he didn't know what to do as the hippogriff and his boyfriend continued to stare. It looked as if Buckbeak, after his failed attempted of hurting Draco, was about to try again. But then, before anyone could move, Draco opened his mouth and whispered, "Sorry."
Buckbeak continued to glare at Draco, but stayed quiet. The two continued to stare, one too scared to move and the other just staring. Then, finally, after a tense silence Buckbeak looked away, busying himself with something else. Both Draco and Harry breathed a breath they didn't know they were holding and looked at Hermione.
"What now?" Draco asked.
"We'll have to hide here," Hermione said, who looked very shaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we can move."
"We might as well wait by the Whomping Willow," Harry said. "That way we know when we've gone in."
"Good idea," Draco nodded. The three moved quietly through the forest's edge, hiding behind the trees as they slowly made their way to the Whomping Willow. Darkness was falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.
"There's Ron," Harry said suddenly.
They watched as Ron chased after Scabbers, as two other figures materialize out of nowhere. They ran, before a huge black dog jump out of nowhere and latched onto Ron. "There's Sirius!" Harry said.
"This is so weird…" Harry said as he watched himself getting struck by a branch from the Whomping Willow.
"There I am," Draco pointed out as a fourth figure came running towards the Whomping Willow. The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; they could see themselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.
"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," Hermione said.
"And there we go. …" Harry muttered. "We're in."
Seconds later, the tree began to move again. They waited, and after a few moments, they saw the castle door open again and two figures came running out. "Dad…" Harry said. He began to move, but both Hermione and Draco stopped him.
"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered.
"I need to warn him," Harry said urgently. "I need to—I need to tell him about the Dementors!"
"Harry, you can't," Draco said. "We can't be seen! Look, he'll be alright, that's why we're here."
"I need to tell him, Draco let go!" Harry struggled against Draco's hold. "Dad—Mphh" Draco placed his hand on Harry's mouth and used all his strength to pull Harry back.
"It's too late, they're inside," Hermione pointed out, Harry turned to see the fleeing figures of his dad and Professor Lupin-Black entering the tunnel. "We're all in," Hermione sighed.
"Dad!" Harry struggled. With a final struggle, he just collapsed against Draco. "Now what?" he asked Hermione.
"Now, we wait," Hermione said. She tied Buckbeak's rope to a tree and looked at Harry. "Harry, there's something that's been bothering me. Why didn't the dementors get you?"
"I don't know," Harry frowned. "I remember being surrounded by the dementors, trying to cast the Patronus, but I kept failing. The dementors kept coming closer and closer, but I still couldn't do it, then everything went black and I woke up at the hospital bed."
Hermione nodded, and sat down. Harry and Draco sat too, and they've begun to wait. The three were afraid to talk, not that they were in any mood to do so. All of their attention were fixed solely on the Whomping Willow, waiting for it to stop moving again. Hermione looked back at Harry and Draco, and asked "What did he wanted to talk about? Your dad?"
"He wanted to apologize," Harry said. "For the way he treated me during the Easter break. …He told Draco and me why he was like that. It seems my grandparents didn't like guys like me and Draco, and one day they caught dad snogging a boy."
"Oh," Hermione frowned. "Must have been tough."
Harry nodded, and they said no more.
The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned toward the Willow, waiting.
And then, at last, after over an hour …
"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.
The three stood to their feet. Buckbeak raised his head. They saw Lupin-Black, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. Then came Hermione. Last came out Harry, Draco, his dad, and Sirius. They all began to walk toward the castle.
Harry's heart was starting to beat very fast. He glanced up at the sky. Any moment now, that cloud was going ot move aside and show the moon. …
"Harry," Hermione muttered as though she knew exactly what he was thinking, "we've got to stay put. We mustn't be seen. There's nothing we can do. …"
"So we're just going to let that damn rat get away?" Draco asked.
"How do you expect to find a rat in the dark?" Hermione snapped. "There's nothing we can do! We came back to help your dad and Sirius; we're not supposed to be doing anything else!"
"Fine!" Both Harry and Draco said.
The moon slid out from behind its cloud. They saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop. Then they saw movement.
"That's Lupin-Black," Hermione whispered.
"Hermione," Harry said suddenly. "We have to move!"
"We mustn't I keep telling you—"
"There's going to be a werewolf coming straight for us Granger!" Draco said.
Hermione gasped.
"Quick!" She moaned, dashing to untie Buckbeak. "Quick! Where are we going to go? Where are we going to hide? The dementors will be coming any moment—"
"Head for the lake!" Harry said. "We can save dad."
Hermione had no time to argue as Harry started to run off. Draco and Hermione ran after him, Hermione holding onto Buckbeak's rope as the hippogriff trotted after them. Harry kept staring at the figures as he dashed out of the woods and across the grounds, heading towards the part of the forest that hugged the far side of the lake. He heard Hermione's voice as she and Draco kept to the trees, but didn't care. He needed to be at the lake. He needed to save his dad, to stop those dementors. "Harry! What were you thinking?" Hermione gasped when she finally caught up to him. "You could have been seen."
"Look!" Draco said, pointing at the other side of the lake. There, at the top of the incline, a red stag and huge black dog came tumbling down the hill, the animals turning human when they reached the bottom. They watched as Harry's figure came running down the hill, and soon Harry felt a familiar icy coldness seize him as the dementors appeared.
"Harry…" Hermione said warningly. They watched the other side of the lake, where tiny glimmers of silver appeared, his own attempts at a Patronus.
"Harry, they're going to die at this rate," Hermione said again.
The dementors were starting to surround the other side of the lake, and Harry saw that the silver glimmers stopped.
"Potter!" Draco yelled.
Then, Harry moved. Without thought, without reason, Harry moved towards Buckbeak and jumped on his back. Buckbeak made a noise of protest, shaking his head wildly as the rope jerked out of Hermione's hands. Harry took out his wand as Buckbeak began running towards the edge of the lake. Buckbeak's wings expanded, and before he took a step in the water, he took flight, gliding quickly towards the Dementors. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, thinking of his best memory, and ridding off the high that flying on Buckbeak gave him.
And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling silver animal. He screwed up his eyes, trying to see what it was. It looked like a horse. It was galloping alongside him and Buckbeak, before heading off towards the dementors, across the black surface of the lake. He saw it lower its head and charge at the swarming dementors. …Now it was galloping around and around the black shapes on the gorund, and the dementors were falling back, scattering, retreating into the darkness. …They were gone.
The Patronus stopped in front of the three collapsed figures. Harry and Buckbeak made it to the other side of the lake. It wasn't a horse, nor was it a unicorn. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above. … It lowered its head, and Harry ran towards his father's body. "Dad! Dad!" he yelled. His father's body was pale, and bruised badly. It looked as if his soul was already gone. Sirius' body was the same.
He looked around and saw his own body unconscious. It was strange, looking at his own body from the outside, but he didn't think about that now. Now, he had to save his father. "Dad, dad…" Harry cried, fighting the tears in his eyes.
The Patronus stepped towards Harry's father and lowered until it's head touched James. As soon as the Patronus touched James's body, light returned to him. His complexion came back, and for a moment Harry heard groaning. James's brown eyes opened and met Harry's emerald. "Harry…" he groaned his strength low. "Good job. …" he breathed before collapsing again, still breathing.
Harry smiled as he hugged his father's unconscious body. He's back! He's been saved!
Harry was so busy hugging his father's body, he didn't notice his Patronus was doing the same with Sirius's body. Color returned to Sirius, and the Stag stood between both of them before vanishing.
"Harry!" Draco's voice cried out.
Harry got up from his father to see Hermione and Draco running after him. "Harry," Draco panted. "What did you do?"
"It was the Patronus," Harry said. "Even though The Dementors performed the Kiss, the Patronus still somehow saved them! It just touched them, and their souls were back."
"But… there's no cure to a Dementor's Kiss," Draco stated. "How could that have happened…"
"I don't know, but we did it!" Harry smiled. "We did it."
"Harry, we need to move before someone sees us!" Hermione said. Harry nodded, and the three of them raced away from the lake. Harry looked back, and saw Buckbeak was still standing there, at the edge of the lake. "Buckbeak!" Harry yelled.
But he was too late, for as he turned to run back for Buckbeak, a figure appeared. Draco grabbed the neck of Harry's clothes and pulled him back into the trees. There they watched as the figure approached Buckbeak. Terrified, they heard Dumbledore's amused voice saying, "Ahh, and there is the rogue hippogriff. Hagrid will be more than delighted to hear that you are safe, I am sure. Now then…" he took out his wand and three stretchers appeared under the bodies of Harry, Sirius, and James. "I advise you to wait in the forest until our guests are gone," Dumbledore chuckled. Buckbeak bowed and turned from Dumbledore, retreating into the forest. "I wonder how he's gotten here," Dumbledore mused to himself as he turned towards the castle, the three stretchers following him.
"He's safe too," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. They waited until Dumbledore was out of sight before thinking of moving again. Hermione checked her watch. "Harry! We have fifteen minutes!" she said, sounding panicked.
The three shared a look before starting to run towards the castle. When they've reached the entrance hall, they heard footsteps. Again, they hid in the closet as the footsteps came closer and closer.
"It seems as if the Dementors have performed their duty," came the voice of Lucius Malfoy.
"Yes, but Lucius, one of those attacked was James Potter!" Fudge said.
"A shame, oh well," Lucius replied. Their footsteps stopped in front of the entrance hall. "I suppose that Potter boy is now an orphan."
"Are you suggesting you'll take care of the boy, Lucius?" Fudge asked. "After all, if what I hear is correct, your son and Harry are very close."
Lucius tsked, "Of course not Minister," he said. Harry could hear the anger in his voice. "The boy has… muggle relatives. I am sure they would be more than happy to take him in."
"Yes… yes, I suppose they'll have to know too," Fudge nodded. "Come Lucius, we have better explain this terrible accident to Dumbledore."
Harry heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and waited until there was silence before he opened the door. He poked his head out, before stepping outside fully, followed by Draco and Hermione. Seething with angry, Harry looked at Draco and said, "No offence, but I hate your father."
"I understand," Draco nodded.
"Guys, we only have seven minutes left," Hermione said in a panicked voice.
The three ran up the staircase, and had to hide again as Peeves came floating down, causing a loud distraction, giggling with glee.
"He's horrible," Hermione said."He's probably happy that the Dementors got to your dad and Sirius."
Harry and Draco agreed, but said nothing as they were forced to wait for Peeves to leave. When he was gone, they started running again. "One minute!" Hermione panicked as they turned a corner. They crept along the corridor. "I can hear Dumbledore's voice!" Hermione said.
The door opened. Dumbledore's back appeared.
"I am going to lock you in," they heard him saying. "It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
Dumbledore backed out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand to magically lock it. Panicking, the three ran forward. Dumbledore looked up, and a wide smile appeared under the long silver mustache. "Well?" he said quietly.
"We did it!" Harry said breathlessly. "The Patronus touched them, and they're saved."
Dumbledore beamed at them.
"Well done. I think—" He listened intently for any sound within the hospital wing. "Yes, I think you've gone too—get inside—I'll lock you in—"
Harry, Draco, and Hermione slipped back inside the dormitory. Ron was still laying motionlessly in the end bed, and Harry immediately ran towards his father's bed to see him. His complexion was normal and even though scratches were covering his body, he looked as if he was just sleeping.
Draco and Hermione crept to their own beds as Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office. "Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?"
She was in a very bad mood, but soften slightly as she pulled Harry from James's bed. The three took their pieces of chocolates quietly, Harry hardly able to swallow them as he kept looking at his father's bed.
And then, around his fourth piece of chocolate, they heard a rustling sound. Harry stared at his father's bed as James sat up, looking around groggily. When Madam Pomfrey saw him, she shrieked as if seeing the dead come back from life. Sirius rose as well, and after she finished her screaming, Madam Pomfrey's mood became more sour as she busied herself inspecting every inch of James and Sirius, forcing them to answer questions to make sure that they were actually back.
"The Headmaster needs to know about this at once!" she said when she finished, scurrying out of the Hospital Wing like a madwoman.
James and Sirius just looked at each other and started to laugh.
A/N: Ahh, Now you see why I love cliffhangers? No sad endings here! But, we're almost done with this year… and maybe this fic idk. And hey! If you like Kingdom Hearts, allow my shameless advertisement and go check out my newest fic!
Sasuhinas fan: Yup
Charlie: Sorry for the cliffhanger love! And of course the time-turner happened! Now we can just sit back, relax, and watch as Harry and Draco do things.
Everyone Else: Yes, OMG, yes.
Nina: Hmm maybe… I was also thinking of James, Sirius and Remus… nope. Not going to say it, but just know in the future, Harry's family is going to get bigger.