Fear of a Name

Chapter Seventy-Three: Three Hours Back

Fudge crossed to the door and held it open for Snape, but Snape hadn't moved.
"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face.
"I wish to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Dumbledore repeated.

Snape took a step toward Dumbledore.
"Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathed. "You haven't forgotten that, headmaster? You haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"
"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly.
Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Fudge was still holding. It closed behind them, and Dumbledore turned to Harry and Hermione. They both burst into speech at the same time.

"Professor, Black's telling the truth — we saw Pettigrew — he escaped when Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf—"
"—he's a rat—"
"—Pettigrew's front paw, I mean, finger, he cut it off—"
"—Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius—"
But Dumbledore held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations.

"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word — and the word of two thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I, myself, gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Professor Lupin can tell you—" Harry said, apparently unable to stop himself.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little, and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends—"
"But—"
"Listen to me, Harry. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."

"He hates Sirius," Hermione said desperately. "All because of some stupid trick Sirius played on him—"
"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady — entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife — without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius' sentence."
"But you believe us."
"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic...

"What we need," he said slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Harry to Hermione, "is more time."
"But—" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"
"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law — you know what is at stake... you — must — not — be — seen."

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."
Just before he left, he waved his hand, and the shield that was surrounding me disappeared.

"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore, and I quickly went to join him and Hermione. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"
But Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling the time turner from beneath them.
"Harry, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"
Harry moved toward her.
"Here—"

Hermione had thrown the chain around his neck too, then she did the same for me.
"Ready?" she said breathlessly.
"What are we doing?" Harry said, obviously confused.
Hermione turned the time turner over three times.
The dark ward dissolved. I had the sensation that I was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colours and shapes rushed past me, my ears were pounding, and I had to think of how much worse apparition was to calm myself down.

And then I felt solid ground beneath my feet, and everything came into focus again—
I was standing next to Hermione in the deserted entrance hall, with Harry next to her, and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.
Harry looked wildly around at Hermione.
"Hermione, what—"
"In here!" Hermione seized mine and Harry's arms, and dragged us across the hall to the door of a broom closet; she opened it, pushed us both inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind us.

"What — how — Hermione, what happened?" Harry stuttered.
"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off mine and Harry's necks in the darkness. "Three hours back..."
"But—"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think — I think it might be us!" Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door. "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?"
"Yes," said Hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than three people... and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloak—"
She broke off, still listening intently.
"We've gone down the front steps..."
Hermione sat down on an upturned bucket, looking desperately anxious.

"Where did you get that hourglass thing?" Harry asked.
"It's called a Time-Turner," Hermione whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies... I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But...

"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?"
I stared at her shadowy face.
"There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," Harry said slowly. "What happened? We were walking down to Hagrid's three hours ago..."
"This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's," said Hermione. "We just heard ourselves leaving..."

I frowned; I felt as though I were screwing up my whole brain in concentration.
"Dumbledore just said — just said we could save more than one innocent life... we're going to save Buckbeak!" Harry exclaimed.
"But — how will that help Sirius?"
"Dumbledore said — he just told you where the window is — the window of Flitwick's office! Where they've got Sirius locked up! We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window, and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak — they can escape together!" I said excitedly.

From what I could see of Hermione's face, she looked terrified.
"If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. 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 we could, we 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.

"If anyone's looking out of the window—" Hermione squeaked, looking up at the castle behind us.
"We'll run for it," said Harry determinedly. "Straight into the forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout—"
"Okay, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. "We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!"

Still working out what she meant, I set off at a sprint, Harry and Hermione behind me. We tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as we could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing toward the shelter of the forest.