Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

59) Hospital Wing

"WHAT?"

I woke up to Harry yelling. He and Hermione were standing beside to of the hospital wing beds. A moment later, Cornelius Fudge and Snape walked into the ward.

"Harry, Harry, what's this?" Fudge looked annoyed. "You should be in bed -- has he had any chocolate?"

"Minister, listen!" Harry yelled. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's --"

Fudge was shaking his head with a slight smile on his face, "Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control...."

"YOU HAVEN'T!" Harry bellowed. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"

"Minister, listen, please," Hermione had moved to Harry's side. "I saw him too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and --"

"You see, Minister?" Snape said. "Confunded, both of them.... Black's done a very good job on them...."

"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry thundered.

"Minister! Professor!" Pomfrey said angrily. "I must insist that you leave. Potter is my patient, and he should not be distressed!"

"I'm not distressed, I'm trying to tell them what happened!" Harry said angrily. "If they'd just listen --"

Madam Pomfrey stuffed a large piece of chocolate into Harry's mouth, and pushed him back onto the bed when he choked.

"Now, please, Minister, these children need care. Please leave --"

The door opened, and Dumbledore walked in. Draco was beside him, and he immediately moved to my side, brushing back my hair from my face. Harry stood, "Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black --"

"For heaven's sake!" Madam Pomfrey cried. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist --"

"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," Dumbledore said calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black --"

"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's mind?" Snape hissed. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive --"

"That, indeed, is Black's story," Dumbledore surveyed Snape closely.

"And does my evidence count for nothing?" Snape spat. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."

"That's cause you were knocked out, dude," I said weakly, raising an eyebrow. "You're also all for revenge and --"

"Mr. Jackson, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"

"Now, Snape," Fudge said, alarmed, "the young man is disturbed in his mind, we must make allowances --"

"I would like to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Dumbledore said suddenly. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy -- please leave us."

"Headmaster!" Madam Pomfrey sputtered. "They need treatment, they need rest --"

"This cannot wait," Dumbledore interrupted. "I must insist."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and walked into her office. Fudge pulled out his pocket watch and stared at it.

"The dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs." He crossed the room and opened the door, waiting for Snape. Snape didn't move.

"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, staring fixedly at Dumbledore.

"I wish to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Dumbledore repeated.

Snape stepped towards Dumbledore, "Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen. 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," Dumbledore said lowly.

Snape turned, marching through the door, clearly angry. Fudge followed him. Dumbledore closed the curtains around them, and their voices were blocked from us.

Draco stared down at me, holding my hand, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Madam Pomfrey's an amazing healer. Just a bit tired, I guess."

Draco nodded, and frowned, "Could you please have just one calm year?"

I smirked, "Sorry, I already booked fire breathing dragons for next year, a pink toad for fifth year, a basin full of poison for sixth year, and to top it all off, a massive war during our seventh year."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "You know all of that stuff is going to happen, right? It's your cursed luck. If there are no dragon's here next year, then I think you might be a changeling."

I laughed, "Changelings change by having sex, you know? That means I would have cheated on you. Maybe this changeling used to be a badger."

Draco snorted. Duumbledore left my other two friends, sending Draco and I a smile before leaving.

"You know, Luke's gonna be annoyed," Draco said. "He said no big adventures."

"OH!" I stared up at my boyfriend. "He knows about our first kiss."

Draco nodded, then tilted his head, "Well, let's hope he never finds out about the second one." I blinked, then he kissed me. This time it was longer and sweeter, and Draco didn't leave straight afterwards. I felt a blush on my face, and the pain in my stomach was covered by the butterflies.

A second later, Harry and Hermione walked through the doors to the hospital wing. Draco and I stared at them with wide eyes. They moved quickly to their beds, ignoring us.

"Time turner," Draco smirked in Greek after a minute. "Cool, Hermione."

Hermione blinked at Draco, and they shared a look.

Then they shared a smile.

***

Draco and I walked hand in hand near the Forbidden Forest. A lot had happened in the past year, and I told him everything. I always did.

"I had this weird dream," I started.

"About camp?" Draco questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"No, about Grover —"

"Hey!"

We looked up, and saw Tyson walking towards us, a great smile on his face. Draco recoiled slightly, but I grinned.

A moment later, three monsters walked out of the forest with flaming, metal balls in their hands.

Damned Canadians.

I was going to have Percy join them with saving Buckbeak and Sirius, but I felt like that moment was really important to Harry and Hermione. I decided to leave him out of it. Also, go check out Iiesuu    They've got a HP story I think you should check out. I mentioned that I'd be doing a collab work with some people the other day (I think I did, I'm honestly so forgetful), and they're one of the people I'll be working on that with. I'm the "sponsor" of The Boy Who Spoke Snake, mind the quotation marks, and am excited to work on a story with them. Again, I'll actually talk more about the story when the first chapter is posted, but I'll share some things. It's an idea I've never seen before, and once I heard it, I was immediately interested. It changes a lot of things. Also, it is a Percy Jackson thingy, so you can rest easy knowing I'm not sending you off to some unknown fandom. It's not a crossover, and I suppose it's a bit of an AU? Technically. It's a major change. I don't want to spoil it. Basically, when the first chapter is actually up, I'll tell you guys more about it. It should hopefully be very soon when it is up.