Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The End

Nobody at Hogwarts knew the truth of what happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak and Pettigrew had vanished except for the four of us and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of term approached, I had 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 out 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 I know we had achieved the near impossible in helping Sirius to freedom, I had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits. 

I certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of my Defence Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation. 

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" Seamus Finnigan asked, gloomily. 

"Maybe a vampire," Dean Thomas suggested hopefully. 

It wasn't only Professor Lupin's depature that was weighing on my mind. I couldn't help thinking about Trelawney's prediction. I kept wondering where Pettigrew was now, whether he had sought sanctuary with Voldemort yet. But the thing that was lowering my spirits most of all was the prospect of going to the Dursleys with Harry for the first time. It wasn't the fact that I was staying with Harry that dampened my mood...it was the fact I was staying with them. For maybe half an hour, a glorious half hour, I had believed I would be living with both Sirius and Harry from now on...it would have been the next best thing to having my mother back. And while no news of Sirius was definitely good news, because it meant he had successfully gone into hiding, I couldn't help feeling miserable when I thought of the home I might have had, and the fact that it was now impossible. 

The exam results came out on the last day of term. The four of us passed every subject. I was amazed that I had got through Potions. I had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore had stepped in to stop Snape failing me on purpose. Snape's behaviour towards me and Harry the past week had been quite alarming. I wouldn't have thought it was possible that Snape dislikes for us could increase, but it certainly had done. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth every time he looked at me or Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around our throats. 

Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.Ts; Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.Ls each. Gryffindor house, meanwhile, largely thanks to our spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House Championship for the third year running. This meant that the end - of - term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even I managed to forget about the journey to the Dursleys the next day as I ate, drank, talked and laughed with the rest. 

*

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next morning, Hermione gave me, Harry, and Ron some surprising news. 

"I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies"

"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty per cent!" Ron said. 

"I know," Hermione sighed, "but I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal timetable again"