Black's Return {Jade Book 3}

Chapter 15

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After a while, Holly and Kaya managed to conjure their Patronuses. Kaya’s turned out to be an eagle and Holly’s was a dolphin.

My owl and Kaya’s eagle were currently engaged in something like a shouting match, while Holly’s dolphin was swimming in midair.

They all flew closer and closer to the passage at the base of the tree.

A noise startled all three of us, and the Patronuses disappeared.

A moment later, a very odd group emerged from the tunnel.

Crookshanks went first.

Ron, Professor Lupin and an unfamiliar man – I guessed that this was Peter Pettigrew – were chained together.

Next came Father – it had been him – unconscious, drifting creepily through the air, held aloft with a spell that Sirius was casting.

Behind Sirius, Harry and Hermione were bringing up the rear.

Kaya, Holly and I retreated back into the bushes, under the shelter of the Invisibility Cloak.

I could have sworn that I heard a noise not far behind me, but when I whipped my head around, there was no-one there.

Strange.

First Hermione’s voice, then that noise.

But I must have been imagining things. It was impossible for Hermione to be in two places at once.

I started.

No. It wasn’t impossible. I had a Time-Turner, and so did Hermione.

She must have come back here…but why?

I frowned.

I glanced up at the sky again and the bottom dropped out of my stomach.

The clouds had moved.

Professor Lupin began to shake.

He was about to transform.

“Run,” Sirius whispered. I knew he wasn’t talking to us, but I nodded and grabbed Kaya and Holly anyway.

“What –” Kaya began, then I pointed back at Lupin and her eyes grew wide.

We ran full out. There was no way we could do that under the Cloak, so I held it in my hand.

I looked back just in time to see Peter Pettigrew turn into a rat and run off across the grounds.

Pettigrew was going to escape, I knew, and there was absolutely nothing I could do.

Unless we went back and tried again…

But before I could come up with any kind of plan, Holly called out to me.

“Jade, run!” she shouted, and so I ran.

We were sheltered behind a ruined wall that looked as if it had once been part of the castle.

“What do we do now?” Holly whispered. “Nothing is going right.”

I agreed with her. “Well, surely we’re here for a reason?” I asked. “I reckon our job is to catch Pettigrew – he escaped, did you see?”

Kaya looked doubtful, but Holly nodded.

“Right, what’s the plan?” Holly enquired confidently.

I showed them my Time-Turner. “He’s probably gone by now, isn’t he? So we have to back in time and just try again!”

Kaya rolled her eyes. “That’s an excellent plan! The only problem is, we can’t go back in time!”

I sighed. “This is not a necklace, it is a Time-Turner. Do you know what that is?”

They both nodded.

Holly stared at it wonderingly. “But those are really, really, really hard to get! How did you get one?”

“I registered for too many classes, so I got this so that I could get to them. So, if we go back…maybe half an hour…we can get to the place where Pettigrew will escape to,” I explained.

I put the chain of my Time-Turner around Kaya’s and Holly’s necks, then turned the hourglass halfway.

Immediately, time began whizzing past us.

When it stopped, Holly and Kaya looked extremely dizzy, but I was used to the time travel.

“Now, we can’t be seen by ourselves, or indeed, anyone,” I warned them.

“Okay.”

We cautiously made our way to where Pettigrew would flee in less than thirty minutes.

Finally, we reached the right place. “This feels so weird,” Holly commented. “Like we don’t belong here.”

Kaya shrugged. “Well, we don’t, do we? Look, there we are…”

She indicated a place in the Forest where a Barn Owl, an eagle and a dolphin were playing.

We sat down, watching the animals.

Waiting…