The Boy In My Dreams -HEDRIC (1)

22.(HC) where you can always find me

HARRY

LXIX

This really had to be the last time he was in the hospital wing this year.

When Harry opened his eyes the next morning, he remembered everything that had happened the night before. Lupin asking what time it was, Lupin turning into... A werewolf who tried with every one of his claws and teeth to catch them as if he didn't know them. The canine version of Sirius had been a good distraction for a while, and still Harry wasn't sure how they survived considering that, in their escape, a group of dementors tracked them down.

Dumbledore peeked behind the curtain and greeted him once he was awake, asking how he felt.

"Tired , really tired."

Like he hadn't slept in days.

"That's the effect of being almost kissed by dementors," he commented, sitting at the end of the bed. "It must have been a very powerful patronus to drive away so many of them. I see that you have improved a lot with Professor Lupin's classes."

Harry kept silent.

He didn't remember casting the spell at all.

"How is he doing?" he muttered in a change of subject that if Dumbledore noticed, at least he didn't say anything about it. "And Sirius," he added, not sure he should mention his name.

He was innocent, yes, but had he already been released?

"Mr. Black is in the tower, I'm afraid," he informed with a sorrowful grimace. "He has been sentenced this very afternoon."

"Sentenced?"

It didn't make sense.

"To death, at the hands of the dementors."

Harry scrambled to sit up. "But..."

"He's innocent, I know. Miss Granger has explained it to me. I fear it is the Ministry that refuses to believe it. They won't consent to a trial and they refuse to postpone the sentence. The media have them up against a wall and since the whole situation puts them rather in a bad place, they prefer to deal quickly with the matter for the sake of public opinion."

"I have to do something," Harry said, standing on his feet and looking around the room. "You have to do something. You can't allow that to happen."

Ron was on another bed, his eyes closed, and Hermione was in a chair with her head resting on the mattress. Harry was relieved to notice the cage, where a rat was climbing the bars.

If the proof of Black's innocence was still there...

Far from being annoyed by how Harry had directed towards him, the Headmaster nodded and went over to wake Hermione up. He spoke to her in a low voice and now she was the one who seemed to agree. Then she rushed over to Harry, fully awake, holding a golden necklace that he had never seen her wear before.

LXX

Hermione wrapped the necklace around Harry and took the large pendant that dangled between them in her hands. Two rings encircled what looked like an hourglass, which she was examining with the utmost concentration.

"What are you doing?"

She frowned, not looking at him. "I thought you would have noticed by now."

"Notice what?"

With a half smile, Hermione gave it two laps to one of the rings.

The sun in the window disappeared quickly to return with less force than in the morning. If Harry already felt tired, he was now exhausted, as if he had to make a great effort.