History

L. LEAVING HOGWARTS

chapter fifty; the prisoner of azkaban

1994

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When Harry, Ron, Zoe and Hermione 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 Ron, Zoe nor Hermione felt like going, however, so they and Harry wandered onto the grounds, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now. 

Sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water, Zoe looked at Harry and knew what he was thinking about. A shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his table cloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them. 

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

"What?" they said, pretending to look curious.

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

"That's wonderful!" said Hermione, giving Ron a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.

"Yeah, can't've tied him up properly," said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. 

"I told you everything was going to be alright," Zoe said chuckling. 

"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 Zoe 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 Ron, Zoe and Hermione.

"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."

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Nobody at Hogwarts now knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except Harry, Ron, Zoe, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of term approached, Zoe 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. Percy Weasley, meanwhile, 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. 

Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though he knew they had achieved the near impossible in helping Sirius to freedom, Zoe had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits. He certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go.