Since Privet Drive || Harry Potter

The Rescue Mission

CHAPTER 13 - The Rescue Mission

TAYLOR, RON, HERMIONE, AND HARRY walked down towards Hagrid's hut, but stopped when they saw Malfoy and his goons looking down. They all made their way down to Malfoy, but Hermione got there first, followed immediately by Taylor. Hermione held her wand in Malfoy's face but before she could cast any spell, Taylor kicked him right where the sun doesn't shine. Hermione followed her example with a punch in the face, giving him a bloody nose. Taylor had her wand pointing at Crabbe and Goyle and, scared, they quickly ran away.

Taylor and Hermione smiled at each other as the boys just stared in awe.

"Now, we were going to Hagrid's weren't we?" and with that, they made their way down to comfort their friend. Taylor watched as Hagrid had found Scabbers and a vase broke out of nowhere. Harry was also hit by a rock when they noticed the minister, Dumbledore, and the executioner make their way down to the hut. They went to hide behind the pumpkins when Taylor saw a flash of pink. She went to go look, but was held back by Hermione in order not to make any noise. They escaped and made their way back to the tower. Taylor watched the axe fall down and buried her head in Harry's chest as Hermione did the same with Ron. Her hair turned a deep crimson and she felt a sort of turn in her stomach and blamed it on the now dead hippogriff.

Just as they were about to head back to the tower, Scabbers started acting funny and Crookshanks showed up as well. Ron chased after Scabbers, and, having no real choice, the others chased after Ron. When Ron finally caught Scabbers, Taylor looked up and noticed the Whomping Willow. Backing up, a large black dog that looked like a grim tackled Ron down and pulled him into a hole at the Whomping Willow. After Crookshanks poked the knot on the tree, Taylor, Harry, and Hermione followed Ron down into the tunnel.

As they went out of the tunnel, the room was dark and shredded. It was the shrieking shack. They heard a noise upstairs and quickly went.

"Ron, are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap!"

"What?"

"He's the dog...he's an Animagus."

Ron was pointing to behind them and the three of them quickly turned around to see Sirius Black. Taylor and Hermione both formed a sort of protective position around Harry after Sirius disarmed them. After a few minutes, Professor Lupin came through the door. At first, everyone thought that he was secretly working for the other side and Taylor and Hermione yelled out his secret. However, soon enough, they started to understand. When they saw Scabbers turn into Peter Pettigrew, everything made sense. Snape came in, but after learning what was going on, Hermione, Harry, and Taylor stunned him.

As they were walking out, Hermione turned to tend to Ron's leg and Taylor nudged Harry to go talk to Sirius. Gazing out at Hogwarts in that night sky, Taylor looked up where the moon would be coming out any second now. The moon. Professor Lupin.

She turned around and quickly asked, "Professor Lupin, did you take the wolfsbane potion?"

He looked scared for a moment, and then went rigid. The moon was out. Sirius and Harry turned around and immediately realized what was happening. What happened next was a blur. Sirius turned into a dog. Professor Lupin turned into a wolf. Peter Pettigrew escaped. A wolf howled. Snape woke up. Harry chased after Sirius who was badly injured. Taylor chased Harry. Dementors came from everywhere. Taylor and Harry tried to produce Patronuses. All of the good memories they were trying to think of blended into the bad. Hogsmeade trips... her father dead...pranks with Fred and George...seeing Harry unconscious...talking with Harry in the summer...falling off the broom...

Soon, the bad memories took over. She saw two bright figures moving towards her, and then everything went black.

Taylor woke up in the hospital wing to shouting. Sitting up, she could make out some of what they were saying.

"But he's innocent sir! He's innocent!"

"Confunded, all of them."

"We're not confounded, but he really is innocent!"

"Yes, it was Peter Pettigrew, he's alive and an animagus."

"It was Ron's rat, Scabbers. He's really Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius is innocent. You have to believe us!"

She looked over to see Harry and Hermione arguing with Professor Snape and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Ron was in the hospital bed asleep, and Madam Pomfrey was rushing over with some chocolate. She added to the shouts, making sure that they knew the truth. However, nothing worked and they were left alone with Dumbledore. Whatever he said made sense to Hermione and she ushered Harry and Taylor to the middle of the room. She took out her necklace, wrapped it around them, and then turned the hourglass in the middle 3 times. Taylor and Harry watched as everything blurred around them and the moon went away.

They followed their way back to where they were before, watching the kick and punch again. They watched as their past selves went to Hagrid's Hut. Hermione and Taylor had to throw rocks to get their past selves out of the hut, and when they ran behind the pumpkins, Taylor realized that she had seen some of her hair of her future self. She quickly changed it to a dark brown to blend in more. As their past selves ran up to the castle, Hermione, Harry, and Taylor freed Buckbeak and went off into the forest. They watched as Lupin and Snape went into the passage. While waiting, Harry told them about what happened.

"He asked me if I wanted to live with him."

"So you're just going to ditch me at Privet Drive?" asked Taylor as she faked being hurt. She patted him on the back and said, "I'm happy for you." She leaned her head on his shoulder as they talked about what happened, ignoring her stomach doing a few back flips.

They watched their past selves come out with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Lupin turned rigid at the sight of the moon and Pettigrew transformed and escaped. Taylor let out a wolf howl to get rid of Lupin and they ran off into the forest. Hermione stayed with Buckbeak while Taylor followed Harry towards the lake. They waited for a few moments, watching the dementors get closer and closer. In that moment, Harry grabbed Taylor's hand and ran forwards. She knew what she needed to do. She grabbed her wand and yelled "Expecto Patronum!" in perfect sync with Harry. She thought of every happy moment in her life. Playing with Harry in the yard when she was little...telling Harry she was going to Hogwarts with him...running around in the backyard of the Burrow with her cousins...flying around with Ginny...

When she opened her eyes, she saw two figures flying out of their wands. Taylor watched as Harry's stag pranced around and her lioness roaring to make the dementors leave. She did it. She produced a real corporeal Patronus.

There was no time to waste. They ran back to Hermione and they flew off towards the tower Sirius would be held in. It was like being in a dream. Taylor tried to ignore the constant fluttering in her stomach as she wrapped her hands around Harry's waste, flying off into the night sky. They saved Sirius and quickly ran back to the hospital wing. Making it just as Dumbledore was closing the door, they walked in and went back to their places.

Sirius was free.

He was safe.

He was innocent.

The rescue mission was complete.

They hardly talked about that night. Of course, the whole school was buzzing about how Sirius Black was captured but escaped. Again. Professor Lupin was resigning, but he returned the Mauraders Map to Harry, as he promised Taylor to let her use it sometimes. Gryffindor had won the House Cup and Quidditch Cup. The train rid home was filled with talk about Sirius and the Quidditch World Cup, which would be happening later that summer. Life was good for Taylor.