3rd Person's POV

"Harry, listen," said Hermione, exchanging a look with Ron, "you must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn't go doing anything stupid."

"Like what?" said Harry.

"Like trying to go after Black," said Ron sharply.

Harry could tell they had rehearsed this conversation while he had been asleep. He didn't say anything.

"You won't, will you, Harry?" said Hermione.

"Because Black's not worth dying for," said Ron.

Harry looked at them. They didn't seem to understand at all. He didn't know what he wanted to do. All he knew was that the idea of doing nothing, while Black was at liberty, was almost more than he could stand.

"Malfoy knows," he said abruptly. "Remember what he said to me in Potions? 'If it was me, I'd hunt him down myself... I'd want revenge."

"You're going to take Malfoy's advice instead of ours?" said Ron furiously. "Listen... you know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me -- the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. That was the biggest bit of him they could find. Black's a madman, Harry, and he's dangerous--"

"Malfoy's dad must have told him," said Harry, ignoring Ron. "He was right in Voldemort's inner circle--"

"Say You-Know-Who, will you?" interjected Ron angrily.

"--so obviously, the Malfoys knew Black was working for Voldemort--"

"Look," said Ron, obviously casting around for a change of subject, "it's the holidays! It's nearly Christmas! Let's-- let's go down and see Hagrid. We haven't visited him for ages!"

"No!" said Hermione quickly. "Harry isn't supposed to leave the castle, Ron--"

"Yeah, let's go," said Harry, sitting up, "and I can ask him how come he never mentioned Black when he told me all about my parents!"

Further discussion of Sirius Black plainly wasn't what Ron had had in mind.

"Or we could have a game of chess, he said hastily, "or Gobstones. Percy left a set--"

"No, let's visit Hagrid," said Harry firmly.

So they got their cloaks from their dormitories and set off through the portrait hole ("Stand and fight, you yellow-bellied mongrels!"), down through the empty castle and out through the oak front doors.

They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing. The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid's cabin looked like an iced cake.

Ron knocked, but there was no answer.

"He's not out, is he?" said Hermione, who was shivering under her cloak.

Ron had his ear to the door.

"There's a weird noise," he said. "Listen-- is that Fang?"

Harry and Hermione put their ears to the door too. From inside the cabin came a series of low, throbbing moans.

"Think we'd better go and get someone?" said Ron nervously.

"Hagrid!" called Harry, thumping the door. "Hagrid, are you in there.

There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then the door creaked open. Hagrid stood there with his eyes red and swollen, tears splashing down the front of his leather vest.

"Y've heard?" he bellowed, and he flung himself onto Harry's neck.

Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter. Harry, about to collapse under Hagrid's weight, was rescued by Ron and Hermione, who each seized Hagrid under an arm and heaved him back into the cabin. Hagrid allowed himself to be steered into a chair and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, his face glazed with tears that dripped down into his tangled beard.

"Hagrid, what is it?" said Hermione, aghast.

Harry spotted an official-looking letter lying open on the table.

"What's this, Hagrid?"

Hagrid's sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward Harry, who Picked it up and read aloud:

Dear Mr. Hagrid,

Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.

"Well, that's okay then, Hagrid!" said Ron, clapping Hagrid oil the shoulder. But Hagrid continued to sob, and waved one of his gigantic hands, inviting Harry to read on.

However, we must register our concern about the hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated. Yours in fellowship...

There followed a list of the school governors.

"Oh," said Ron. "But you said Buckbeak isn't a bad hippogriff, Hagrid. I bet he'll get off

"Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!" choked Hagrid, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"

A sudden sound from the corner of Hagrid's cabin made Harry, Ron, and Hermione whip around. Buckbeak the hippogriff was lying in the corner, chomping on something that was oozing blood all over the floor.

"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow!" choked Hagrid. "All on his own! At Christmas."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another. They had never seen eye to eye with Hagrid about what he called "interesting creatures" and other people called "terrifying monsters." Or' the other hand, there didn't seem to be any particular harm in Buckbeak. In fact, by Hagrid's usual standards, he was positively cute.

"You'll have to put up a good strong defense, Hagrid," said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."

"Won't make no diff'rence!" sobbed Hagrid. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! Ad if I lose the case, Buckbeak --"

Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms.

"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?" said Harry.

"He's done more'n enough fer me already," groaned Hagrid. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around--"

Ron and Hermione looked quickly at Harry, as though expecting him to start berating Hagrid for not telling him the truth about Black. But Harry couldn't bring himself to do it, not now that he saw Hagrid so miserable and scared.

"Listen, Hagrid," he said, "you can't give up. Hermione's right, You just need a good defense. You can call us as witnesses--"

"I'm sure I've read about a case of hippogriff-baiting," said Hermione thoughtfully, "where the hippogriff got off I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened."

Hagrid howled loudly.

The trip to Hagrid's, though far from fun, had nevertheless had the effect Ron and Hermione had hoped. Though Harry had by no means forgotten about Black, he couldn't brood constantly on revenge if he wanted to help Hagrid win his case against the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. He, Ron, and Hermione went to the library the next day and returned to the empty common room laden with books that might help prepare a defense for Buckbeak. The three of them sat in front of the roaring fire, slowly turning the pages of dusty volumes about famous cases If marauding beasts, speaking occasionally when they ran across something relevant.

"Here's something... there was a case in 1722... but the hippogriff was convicted -- ugh, look what they did to it, that's disgusting --"

"This might help, look -- a manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the manticore off-- oh-- no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it."

========================================================================

At eight o'clock on Thursday evening, Harry left Gryffindor Tower for the History of Magic classroom. It was dark and empty when he arrived, but he lit the lamps with his wand and had waited only five minutes when Professor Lupin turned up, carrying a large packing case, which he heaved onto Professor Binn's desk.

"What's that?" said Harry.

"Another boggart," said Lupin, stripping off his cloak. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."

"Okay," said Harry, trying to sound as though he wasn't apprehensive at all and merely glad that Lupin had found such a good substitute for a real dementor.

"So..." Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that Harry should do the same. "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Harry -- well beyond ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."

"How does it work?" said Harry nervously.

"Well, when it works correctly, It conjures up a Patronus," said Lupin, "which is a kind of anti- dementor -- a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the dementor."

Harry had a sudden vision of himself crouching behind a Hagridsized figure holding a large club. Professor Lupin continued, "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon-- hope, happiness, the desire to survive-- but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" said Harry curiously.

"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."

"And how do you conjure it?"

"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."

Harry cast his mind about for a happy memory. Certainly, nothing that had happened to him at the Dursleys' was going to do. Finally, he settled on the moment when he had first ridden a broomstick.

"Right," he said, trying to recall as exactly as possible the wonderful, soaring sensation of his stomach.

"The incantation is this--" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto patronum, " Harry repeated under his breath, "expecto patronum."

"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"

"Oh-- yeah--" said Harry, quickly forcing his thoughts back to that first broom ride. "Expecto patrono-- no, patronum-- sorry-- expecto patronum, expecto patronum"

Something whooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas.

"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly. "Something happened!"

"Very good," said Lupin, smiling. "Right, then-- ready to try it on a dementor?"

"Yes," Harry said, gripping his wand very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom. He tried to keep his mind on flying, but something else kept intruding... Any second now, he might hear his mother again... but he shouldn't think that, or he would hear her again, and he didn't want to... or did he?

Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.

A dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward Harry, drawing a deep, rattling breath. A wave of piercing cold broke over him.

"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto--"

But the classroom and the dementor were dissolving.... Harry was failing again through thick white fog, and his mother's voice was louder than ever, echoing inside his head-- "Not Harry! Not Harry! please-- I'll do anything!"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

"Harry!"

Harry jerked back to life. He was lying flat on his back on the floor. The classroom lamps were alight again. He didn't have to ask what had happened.

"Sorry," he muttered, sitting up and feeling cold sweat trickling down behind his glasses.

"Are you all right?" said Lupin.

"Yes..." Harry pulled himself up on one of the desks and leaned against it.

"Here--" Lupin handed him a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."

"It's getting worse," Harry muttered, biting off the Frog's head. "I could hear her louder that time -- and him-- Voldemort

Lupin looked paler than usual. ,

"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand--"

"I do!" said Harry fiercely, stuffing the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"

"All right then... " said Lupin. "You might want to select 'other memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on... That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..."

Harry thought hard and decided his feelings when Gryffindor had won the House Championship last year had definitely qualified as very happy. He gripped his wand tightly again and took up his position in the middle of the classroom.

"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.

"Ready," said Harry; trying hard to fill his head with happy thoughts about Gryffindor winning, and not dark thoughts about what was going to happen when the box opened.

"Go!" said Lupin, pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward Harry

"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto Pat--"

White fog obscured his senses... big, blurred shapes were moving around him... then came a new voice, a man's voice, shouting, panicking -

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off--"

The sounds of someone stumbling ftom a room-- a door bursting open-- a cackle of high- pitched laughter -

"Harry! Harry... wake up...."

Lupin was tapping Harry hard on the face. This time it was a minute before Harry understood why he was lying on a dusty classroom floor.

"I heard my dad," Harry mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever heard him-- he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it...."

Harry suddenly realized that there were tears on his face mingling with the sweat. He bent his face as low as possible, wiping them off on his robes, pretending to do up his shoelace, so that Lupin wouldn't see.

"You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice.

"Yeah..." Face dry, Harry looked up. "Why-- you didn't know my dad, did you?"

"I-- I did, as a matter of fact," said Lupin. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry-- perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced... I shouln't have suggested putting you through this..."

"No!" said Harry. He got up again. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is... Hang on..."

He racked his brains. A really, really happy memory... one that he could turn into a good, strong Patronus...

The moment when he'd first found out he was a wizard, and would be leaving the Dursleys for Hogwarts! If that wasn't a happy memory, he didn't know what was.... Concentrating very hard on how he had felt when he'd realized he'd be leaving Privet Drive, Harry got to his feet and faced the packing case once more.

"Ready?" said Lupin, who looked as though he were doing this against his better judgment. "Concentrating hard? All right-- go!"

He pulled off the lid of the case for the third time, and the dementor rose out of it; the room fell cold and dark

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM! "

The screaming inside Harry's head had started again-- except this time, it sounded as though it were coming from a badly tuned radio -- softer and louder and softer again-- and he could still see the dementor-- it had halted-- and then a huge, silver shadow came bursting out of the end of Harry's wand, to hover between him and the dementor, and though Harry's legs felt like water, he was still on his feet-- though for how much longer, he wasn't sure.

"Riddikulus!" roared Lupin, springing forward.

There was a loud crack, and Harry's cloudy Patronus vanished along with the dementor; he sank into a chair, feeling as exhausted as if he'd just run a mile, and felt his legs shaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Professor Lupin forcing the boggart back into the packing case with his wand; it had turned into a silvery orb again.

"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where Harry sat. "Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!"

"Can we have another go? Just one more go?"

"Not now," said Lupin firmly. "You've had enough for one night. Here--"

He handed Harry a large bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate.

"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"

"Okay," said Harry. He took a bite of the chocolate and watched Lupin extinguishing the lamps that had rekindled with the disappearance of the dementor. A thought had just occurred to him.

"Professor Lupin?" he said. "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."

Lupin turned very quickly.

"What gives you that idea?" he said sharply.

"Nothing-- I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too...."

Lupin's face relaxed.

"Yes, I knew him," he said shortly. "Or I thought I did-"

Professor Lupin had been interrupted by the door opening to reveal Karina Grey.

"Sorry I'm late."

"That's quite alright Karina. Come on over. Harry has just almost perfectly conquered his boggart with only three tries."

"Wow impressive Harry."

Harry says thanks and stares at Karina who has been looking more sickly than ever. Over the week she has skipped class and rarely been in the Great Hall. Her hair was up in a messy bun and under her eyes were dark circles.

"You been okay Rina?" Harry asks as she passes him.

"I guess... kind of... not really. My nightmares have been getting worse and worse. But I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. Thank you Harry." She smiles then turns to Professor Lupin who is secretly smiling at the two.

"Well Karina what Harry has just been taught is the incantation Expecto Patronum. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon-- hope, happiness, the desire to survive-- but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn... the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it. Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it. With the incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory. I think once you perfect the incantation with the dementor then we can move on to your boggart. So are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Karina says as she rolls up her sleeves and holds her wand in her right hand.

"Alright go ahead and think of your happiest memory."

Karina closes her eyes and is brought back to the day at the fair she spent with Draco and her friends. She smiles widely as she relives that day then opens her eyes and nods saying ready.

Professor Lupin opens the lid on the case and the black sheet of torn robes bursts up to the ceiling. The room turns ice cold and the dementor looks down at Karina who slightly gulps then quickly closes her eyes thinking of her memory. The dementor takes this time to fly down infront of her; she feels the cold breath of the dementor on her face but yet she is as calm as can be. She opens her eyes to stare the dementor in the face and calmly says, "Expecto Patronum."

The dementor squeals and screams as the bright light from Karina's wand blinds it. Karina's Patronus which is a Black Stallion gallops around the room making the dementor go further and further back into the case. Professor Lupin quickly closes the case and looks actually pretty proud at Karina, who is smiling looking at her Patronus.

"Excellent! That was just mind blowing. Now... I am going to open this one," Lupin walks over to the wardrobe from the class lesson making Karina's smile immediately drop and her Patronus disappear.

"Are you sure I'm ready to do that?" Karina stammers while gripping onto her wand tightly trying not to look at the wardrobe.

"I know you can Karina. Maybe think of another happy memory. A stronger one. Just believe... I know you can do it."

"You got this Rina." Harry says while patting her shoulder quickly then moving away.

She smiles then looks back at Professor Lupin and nods, "Alright I'm ready."

He nods then taps on the door knob with his wand. The door slowly creaks open and one foot takes a step out the wardrobe. Then another then an arm holding a dead body then another.

Karina gasps loudly with wide eyes as she looks at Cedric and Draco who are both slaughtered then she looks up at Lord Voldemort's smiling face and instantly freezes.

"Come on Karina you can do it. Happy memory."

She hears Harry whisper to her making her quickly shut her eyes to not see the tragedy. Her happy memory shows Draco sitting beside her with a black box in his hand.

"This is a promise." Draco smiles making Karina snap out of her daydream.

The dark lord is now one step away from her. She glances up into his dark beady eyes then looks down at the two most important people in her life and gets angry.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" She points her wand directly at where the dark lord's heart would be if he actually had one.

Her Patronus again gallops around the room and around the boggart making the boggart change into many different fears then quickly fly back into the wardrobe. Right as Professor Lupin shuts the door to the wardrobe Karina falls down to the floor with a huge sigh.

"I did it. I just did that."

"You did!" Harry smiles at her while patting her back.

"Amazing Karina... I knew you could do it." Professor Lupin smiles widely.

Karina flies into his arms and wraps him into a big hug. Surprised at first Lupin just stands but then after a second he hugs her back.

"Thank you." Karina sniffles as she lightly cries into his chest.

"You're welcome Karina. Now go get some rest." Professor Lupin rubs her back as she lets go.

She nods then turns to Harry, "Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight." Harry watches as the teary eyed Karina runs out the room. Still unsure as to why Lord Voldemort is her boggart he decides that Professor Lupin must know the answer.

"Professor... Do you know why Karina's boggart is Voldemort?"

"I do."

Harry watches as Professor Lupin pushes the large case into a closet then walks over to the desk and starts to gather papers.

"Well can you tell me?"

"I wish I could but it's not my secret to tell. You'd better be off, Harry, it's getting late."

Harry nods feeling a little upset that he doesn't know why his friend fears Voldemort as much as he does. He leaves the classroom, walking along the corridor and around a corner, then takes a detour behind a suit of armor and sinks down on its plinth to finish his chocolate.