Harry Potters Twin Book Three

Keeping My Promise ~not edited~

"Right," Hermione gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's… Keep out of sight, you two…"

We made our way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as we glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, we heard a knock upon his door. we 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 I heard my own voice.

"Oh, Hagrid." My past self blubbered. "We're so, so sorry. I'm sorry. I should have tried harder - but I couldn't..." I was disgusted on how my voice sounded - so baby-ish.

"Its alright. Come on, have a cup o' tea..." Hagrid whispered. He stood back, then shut the door quickly.

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently.

"It is a little eccentric, isn't it?" I laughed.

"Let's move along a bit," Hermione whispered to us. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"

We crept through the trees until we saw the nervous Hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

"Now?" Harry whispered.

"No!" said Hermione. "If we steal him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set him free! We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied outside!"

"That's going to give us about sixty seconds," said Harry. This was starting to seem impossible.

At that moment, there was a crash of breaking china from inside Hagrid's cabin.

"That's Hagrid breaking the milk jug," Hermione whispered. "Dani's going to find Scabbers in a moment —"

Sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard Dani's shriek of surprise.

"Hermione," said Harry suddenly, "what if we — we just run in there and grab Pettigrew —"

"No!" said Hermione in a terrified whisper. "Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen —"

"We'd only be seen by ourselves and Hagrid!"

"Harry, what do you think you'd do if you saw yourself bursting into Hagrid's house?" said Hermione.

"I'd — I'd think I'd gone mad," said Harry, "or I'd think there was some Dark Magic going on —"

"Exactly! You wouldn't understand, you might even attack yourself! Don't you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time… Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!"

"Okay!" said Harry. "It was just an idea, I just thought —"

But Hermione nudged him and pointed toward the castle. I moved my head a few inches to get a clear view of the distant front doors. Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps.

"We're about to come out!" Hermione breathed.

And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and I saw myself, Ron, Hermione, Dani and Bonnie walking out of it with Hagrid.

I heard myself promise Hagrid to save Buckbeak and I smiled.

"I'm going to keep my promisse, you two," I said, turning to them with tears in my eyes. "I'm not going to let Hagrid down..."

Hermione smiled back at me, though her eyes were still panicked.

"If everything goes as planned," Harry muttered.