(The Potters and the Prisoner of Azkaban, act three, chapter seventeen)

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"I saw my mom." Nora muttered out as she finally opened her eyes again. It was clearly still night, but the full moon allowed the hospital wing to light up. 

A few scars had scarred her face, which Madame Pomfrey clearly stitched up for her again, and her lip was still bleeding. There was also a big bruise on the side of her head, probably from when she had fallen by the Black lake.

Jasmine's hand flew to her mouth as she whispered, "Oh, sweetheart..." Her voice trembled, eyes wide at the sight of her injured daughter.

"What?" Ron asked from the bed besides her, sharing a look with Hermione while Harry's head snapped his sister's way.

"I saw her across the lake. With Uncle James." Nora continued as she sat up, still not being able to believe it.

Finn blinked, stunned. "She saw you?" His voice was thick, caught somewhere between awe and heartbreak for both the parents and Harry and Nora.

"No. They think they did, but they will soon understand what happened." James replied with a proud tone in his voice.

"Listen, you two." Hermione's voice brought both the twins out of their thoughts. "They've captured Sirius. Any minute the dementors are gonna perform the Kiss."

"You mean they're gonna kill him?" Harry grabbed his glaces.

"No, it's worse. Much worse. They're going to suck out his soul." Hermione spoke, alert but also trying to stay calm for her best friends.

"Over my dead body." Nora replied, pushing her own classes back on her nose. And before anyone could stop her, the girl was already marching over to the door, which opened and Dumbledore stormed in.

Sirius, who had tapping his foot on the floor for the last twenty minutes, froze. His eyes narrowed with something between admiration and terror. "That's my girl," he muttered. "But Merlin, please be careful..."

"Headmaster, you've got to stop them!" Hermione spoke from behind the Potter girl as she and Harry ran over to them.

"It's true." Harry added.

"My dad is innocent." Nora spoke.

"It's Scabbers who did it!" Ron added to Sirius' defense from his bed and when the youngest of the four looked back at him, her eyes directly widened at the sight of his leg.

"Oh, Ron, your leg." Nora spoke, tone pityfull.

"Scabbers?" Dumbledore asked confused as to who Scabbers is.

"He's my rat, sir. He's not really a rat. He was my brother Percy's rat. But then they gave him an owl-" Ron's explanation was cut of by Hermione.

"The point is, we know the truth. Please believe us."

"I do, Miss Granger." Dumbledore replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But the word of four little 13-year-old wizards will convince few others." He moved past them, over to Ron's bed.

"A child's voice, however honest and true is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen." He placed his hand down on Ron's foot, making the boy grip on to his leg for dear life while letting out a loud groan.

They heard the clock tick behind them and it was like a waking up sign for Dumbledore. "Mysterious thing, time." He walked away from Ron. "Powerful." He passed the three others. "And when meddled with, dangerous." He looked at the large clock opposite the hospital wing. "Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower." He turned back to the kids with a flick. "You both know the laws, Miss Potter, Miss Granger. You must not be seen. And you would do well, I feel, to return before this last chime. If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss." 

He looked down at Nora on the far left. "If you succeed tonight, more than one innocent life may be spared. Three turns should do it, I think." He winked before making his way out of the room, but just before he closed the door, he turned around. "Oh, and by the way. When in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin. Good luck." And with that he left, the doors falling closed behind them.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked, leaning on his arms.

"Sorry, Ron, but seeing as you can't walk." Hermione turned back to the Weasley boy, before she grabbed a necklace from around her neck and wrapped in around Nora's and Harry's neck. 

To say that the Potter boy was confused by what was going on, his hand reached out to touch the pendant on the end of the necklace, which both girls slapped away at the same time so Hermione could turn it three times just like Dumbledore had said.

The hourglass inside of the pendant started spinning- quickly and fast. The two girls who had been through the motion of the Time-Turner so many times this year didn't look around in surprise, but Harry did.

Fragments of moments that happened in the Hospital Wing flashed before them. From Dumbledore speaking to them, to the twins getting a potion from Madame Pomfrey because they probably had done something stupid again, to a boy being wrapped in bandage from head to toes until it finally stopped around somewhere this evening.

As everything stood still, Hermione grabbed the chain of the necklace off the Potter's their neck and pulled the Time-Turner under her sweater. 

"What's that?" Rebekah asked curiously.

"A Time-Turner." Lily replied.

"Wait! A real turning back time device!" Kol's eyes went wide at the sight of the necklace. 

Niklaus leaned forward slightly on his chair, eyes narrowed in thought. "And she's used it how many times now without dying? It's not dangerous is it?"

"If they don't get seen by themselves, no." Lily muttered her reply arms crossed tightly over her chest, her tone edged with both pride and exasperation.

Kol's mouth hung open as he pointed at the screen. "That thing actually works? Bloody hell! Do you know how many centuries of mistakes I could've avoided with one of those?"

Niklaus chuckled dryly from the corner, his gaze glued to Nora sprinting across the screen. "You would've made the same mistakes, just faster."

"Oh, shut it," Kol hissed.

Elena blinked in amazement. "But wait—if they mess up just once, couldn't they ruin everything?"

Elijah sat silently, his arms folded as his eyes remained trained on Nora, something unreadable flickering in his expression. "She's risking everything... not just for Sirius Black. For the truth."

Jasmine's voice dropped to a whisper. "She always was stubborn when it came to justice."

"She gets that from you." Klaus muttered to his brother.

Rebekah gave a dry laugh. "Yes and she gets the recklessness from you."

Klaus turned to look at her, affronted. "She's being brave, not reckless."

Kol smirked. "Says the man who daggered half his family and called it strategy."

Elijah's hand clutched Jasmine's tightly. "He's asking her to mess with time..." He whispered. "She's thirteen."

"She's brilliant." James said, but his jaw was clenched. "And so damn much like me and Jas."

"What just happened?" Harry asked, looking around with confusion. "Where's Ron?" He asked, turning to the bed his best friend had been on not even a minute ago.

"7:30." Hermione spoke to Nora as the two looked in the direction of the clock. "Where were we at 7:30?" She asked turning to the twins.

"I don't know. Going to Hagrid's?" Harry replied with hesitation.

"Punching Malfoy?" Nora also replied. "Come on." The girl already started running towards the end of the hallway as Hermione dragged Harry with them. 

"We can't be seen!"

They didn't stop running. Not when they reach the entrance hall, not when they went over the bridge and not even to answer Harry's questions.

"Nory, Hermione, will you please tell me what it is we're doing?" Harry asked when they finally came to a stop but only because Hermione had pulled Nora back just in time before the girl could run any further.

"She's so reckless." Caroline muttered, crossing her arms, unable to hide her anxious pride. "But I have to admit, she's got guts."

Their past selves where standing on the grounds with Malfoys and his two little followers. "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!" The words felt like music to Nora's ears even though she was stressing and worrying about her father's fate if they didn't succeed with this.

"But, that's us!" Harry exclaimed with surprise. "This is not normal."

Hermione pulled him back because he was stepping close to the each. She pulled her necklace back out and showed it to Harry again. "This is a Time-Turner, Harry. McGonagall gave one to both me and Nora first term. This is how we've been getting to my lessons all year."

"You mean we've gone back in time?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione replied. "Dumbledore obviously wanted us to return to this moment."

"Guys, come look, Hermione's gonna punch Malfoy again. Maybe that's why Dumbledore sent us back to 7:30. He just wanted to grant us the joy of seeing Malfoy being punched again." Nora spoke, pulling them back forwards.

"Or, something happened he wants us to change."

"That's also quite possible." Nora replied, a thoughful look on her face which quickly replaced when past Hermione punched Malfoy on his face.

"Good punch." Harry congratulated her.

"Right?!" Nora spoke from the side.

"It really was a great punch." Bonnie spoke.

"Try it out on Damon." Caroline grinned at her best friend but scoffed when Damon threw something at her head. "Rude!"

"Thanks." Hermione smiled, but then they saw Draco running up the hill. "Malfoy's coming!" They quickly moved back, turning in to a small path on their left and used it to jump down on the grass.

They slowly went closer and just in time they saw their past versions running down the hill, making their way over to Hagrid's hut.

"Come on." Nora whispered to her brother and Hermione, quickly moving after the other versions of themselves, but stopping when they reached the large stone where past-Hermione had just punched the bleached blonde, just to make sure they weren't following too fast.

"Look! Buckbeak's still alive!" Harry informed the girls.

"Of course!" Hermione nodded.

"That's why Dumbledore send us back to this moment!" Nora said.

"Remeber what Dumbledore said?" Hermione asked. "If we succeed, more than one innocent life could be spared. Let's go!" They ran down the hills and hid themselves behind the large pumpkins Nora knew Buckbeak liked.

They watched their oldselves talking to Hagrid and turned their heads around when they heard Dumbledore coming down with the Minister of Magic and Buckbeak's executioner.

"We better hurry!" Harry spoke, standing up, planning on going to Buckbeak and getting him out of here before the executioner could reach him and kill the poor creature.

"No, Harry!" Hermione spoke, pulling him back down with his arm. "Fudge has to see Buckbeak before we steal him. Otherwise, he'll think Hagrid set him free."

Harry nodded and looked forwards again to the moment Hagrid gave Ron his rat back. "That's Pettigrew." His tone was full of hatred and anger.

"That stinky rat." This time it was Nora who stood up, completely forgetting about the fact that they can't be seen by anyone and especially not themselves but the girl was so blinded with rage. She honestly just wanted to get in their and twist its neck.

"No, no, baby, don't—" Her aunt, Rebekah, breathed, gripping the armrest tightly. "They're going to get caught—"

"You can't!"

"Hermione, that's the man who betrayed our parents. You can't expect us to just sit here and-" Harry spoke, following Nora's lead.

"Yes, and you both must!" Hermione called out as she dragged them both back down, moving them to the side so they wouldn't be seen. "Nora, Harry, you're in Hagrid's hut now. If you just go bursting in, you'll think you've gone mad. Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time. We can't be seen."

"Remember me to give Crookshanks unlimited treats for the rest of his life. Because he knew that rotten man was hiding like a little cowards in the form of a freaking rat." Nora grinted out.

Her mum whispered shakily, "She holds onto so much. And she still manages to joke. How does she do that?"

"Alright." Harry nodded. He also felt a little bit more grateful for the cat who had been chasing after Pettigrew for the last year for Sirius.

"Fudge is coming." Hermione spoke, turning to Hagrid's hut. "And we aren't leaving." Confusion took over her. "Why aren't we leaving?"

"Harry!" Nora spoke.

"Yes?" Harry replied, his head snapping towards her but she just shook her head.

"No, I mean, you got a stone against the back of your neck! That's how we knew they were coming!" Nora replied, passing a stone to Hermione, who set closer to Hagrid's hut and had a better chance of making the shot.

At first the stone landed against one of Hagrid's crockery. The second one she threw was right on Harry's head. 

Both versions grabbed the spot, letting out a groan.

"Did you feel that?" Nora asked surprised. She hadn't gotten hurt before while using the Time-Turner, but she had no idea it would hurt both versions of you.

"Yes!"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione apologized.

Dumbledore knocked on Hagrid's front door and when Hagrid opened the door for them, the past versions of the kids made their way through the back, waiting to run over to the pumpkins, where the real Harry, Nora and Hermione were sitting, until the three adults were inside.

"We're coming out the back door. Go!" Hermione spoke and they moved over to the forest, all three taking place after a tree that shielded them from being seen but also allowed them to keep up with what was happening.

As the four others replaced them behind the pumpkins, Hermione suddenly moved a branch out of her sight, a look of disgust on her face as she spoke her next words. "Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?"

"I would've expected that from Nora but not from Hermione." Damon spoke.

"Yes, that girls loves her hair like it's holy." Jeremy added.

"She got that from Sirius." James informed them.

"Yeah." Sirius replied, proudly.

"Hermione!" The Potter twins warned her as their past versions all suddenly look backwards when Nora stepped on a branch.

"Sorry." Nora mouthed to the other two, while hearing the others leave, just like they had done hours ago.

"Let's get Buckbeak and ourselves out of here before the executioner comes for his head." Nora spoke already moving back up and more to the left so that she had Buckbeak in her sight.

They looked up to make sure not one of the four people were looking outside before the twins and Hermione started slowly and quietly making their way over to Buckbeak.

Before they got there, Harry's foot got attacked by the crows, making the boy repeatedly whisper get off, while Nora stepped over a dead crow, probably Buckbeak's last meal, and to the creature.

"Come, Buckbeaky. Come come." She spoke as she bowed in front of the creature, showing him that she respected him. And instead of doing anything to them, the beast laid its head back down so he could continue napping.

Nora frowned as Buckbeak made no move to get up. "He's napping? Now? Of all times?"

"He's probably tired from being chained up all day," Hermione whispered, crouching beside her. "He won't move unless he wants to."

"We don't have time for him to want to," Harry muttered, casting a quick look toward Hagrid's hut. "They'll be out soon."

Nora reached forward and gently brushed her fingers against the creature's feathers. "Come on, Buckbeaky. We need your help. We're trying to save you."

Buckbeak opened one orange eye and blinked lazily at her, then huffed out a breath before closing it again.

"Here!" Hermione spoke, taking a few dead ferrets off a hook.

"Here!" Hermione spoke, taking a few dead ferrets off a hook nearby that Hagrid must've left hanging. She wrinkled her nose but didn't hesitate. "He'll follow food if he won't follow reason."

"Can't blame him," Nora muttered. "Honestly, same. I mean for me regular food, not dead, raw animals."

Hermione tossed the first ferret a few feet away from Buckbeak, letting it land with a soft plop in the grass. Buckbeak's ears twitched. He lifted his head, sniffing the air, then slowly got to his feet, eyes fixed on the ferret.

"That's it, come on," Harry encouraged softly, his hand resting on the hilt of his wand, just in case.

Buckbeak took a slow step, then another, before finally lunging forward and gobbling up the ferret in one swift snap of his beak.

"Good boy," Nora praised, grinning a little despite how tense she felt.

Hermione tossed the next ferret farther away, toward the shadow of the forest. Buckbeak followed, his clawed feet thudding softly against the ground as he trotted after it, his wings ruffling.

"Almost there," Hermione whispered.

Nora carefully walked alongside the creature, motioning for Harry and Hermione to keep low. The last thing they needed was one of the adults looking out a window and spotting them sneaking off with a condemned hippogriff.

"One more," Hermione said, gently tossing the last ferret into the trees.

Buckbeak paused, then charged after it like an overgrown feathered puppy, disappearing just enough into the forest to be completely out of sight from the hut.

"We did it," Harry breathed.

"No, now we did it," Hermione corrected as she watched Buckbeak finish his snack and then stretch out his wings, clearly content. "As long as he stays quiet and out of view, we're in the clear." She took another few dead ferrets so they could keep the creature distracted from coming back to Hagrid.

"We need to stay with him until it's time to rescue Sirius." Nora said. "If he wanders off again, we won't have any way of getting to the tower in time."

"Yes, but we should go deeper in the forest so we can keep track of when Professor Lupin turns into a werewolf and he and Sirius start fighting. That's when we'll have to move."

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Hi guys, be sure to comment and vote if you want. I love reading them and your support keeps me so motivated! Thank you so much for reading and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! A short chapter but I wanted to write a bit for this book and I was just like: this is not the whole chapter but I'm going to upload it anyways! xx

Love Katherine

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WORDS: 3076

POSTED: Sunday June 1,2025

WRITTEN: Saturday May 31, 2025 + Sunday June 1,2025