.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER TEN !
↳ ❛firebolt❜

THEY HAD HIDDEN in the woods for quite some time now. Their silence only broken when Harry spoke up. "Now what?", the brunette boy questioned the two, while he fed Buckbeak the last ferret.

"Obviously, we save Sirius!", Annabeth told him while she started to make her way further through the woods, Hermione right besides her.

He Reiser his eyebrows, "How?"

"No idea", the brunette shrugged to herself while she gazed back at him over her shoulder.

The three contiued their way through the dark woods. Reaching the edge, the three stopped, watching the whomping willow from afar.

"Look, there's Lupin!", Hermione stated while she pointed at the man, that approached the tree.

He flicked his wand, and the whomping willow immediately froze, "Immobulus!" The man then disappeared into the secret passage.

"And look! Snape's coming", Annabeth informed the other's while she pointed at a dark figure that followed.

The black haired man also disappeared into the hole, making them slowly settle down onto the ground.

Harry seemed deep in his own thoughts. "And now we wait."

"And now we wait", Hermione repeated his words while they made themselves comfortable in the grass.

There was a silence laying over the three Gryffindors', not an awkward one, but a comfortable.

Annabeth had leaned her head onto Hermione's shoulder, her eyes staring up into the, with stars filled night sky.

The brunette released a deep breath, wondering when they would finally exit the passage, when a swarm of bat's flew above their heads.

"At least someone's enjoying himself", Hermione spoke up from besides Annabeth when they watched Buckbeak bitting for the bats.

"Yeah."

When the bat's disappeared behind the trees, Harry turned to the girls, "Um-" He paused for a small moment. "Before, down by the lake, when we were with Sirius, I did see someone. And that someone made the Dementors go away."

"With a Patronus", Hermione stated from besides him. Harry looked at her, before the brunette contiued. "I heard Snape telling Dumbeldor. According to him- only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it."

Harry immediately broke into a large smile, gazing straight ahead. "It was my dad. I'm sure, Anna. Our dad conjured the Patronus."

Hermione frowned deeply before she carefully spoke up, "But Harry- your dad's-"

The boy interrupted her, his head snapping towards the brunette girl, "Dead! I know. I'm just telling you what I saw."

Annabeth remained silent while she watched the two friends, feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing. She knew that she saw someone down by the lake as well, but it had been impossible to see exactly who it had been.

Their dad was dead, and he would never not be. So it was impossible for him to have saved them from the Dementors, as much as she wished that it had been him.

"Look, here we come", Hermione's words suddenly pulled the girl out of her thoughts.

The three started watching themselves again and a small smile formed on Annabeth's lips when she saw Sirius, Harry and her speaking to each other.

"You see Sirius talking to me and Harry over there? He's asking us to live with him", Annabeth told the brunette besides her, hope shimmering in her eyes.

Hermione smiled at her, "That's great."

Harry had a dreamy look on his face while he continued watching himself and the other's. "When we free him, we'll never have to go back to the Dursleys'. It'll just be us and him. We could live in country- someplace you can see the sky. I think he'll like that after all those years in Azkaban."

Annabeth smiled at him, her eyes glossy while she placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "That would be very nice."

When she had just ended her scentece the moon startet rising and Professor Lupin transformed immediately.

They could hear Sirius scream that they should run and in the next second Sirius and Lupin were fighting each other.

"Let's go!" Harry quickly made his way down the wood edge, followed by Hermione and Annabeth.

When they finally stopped, they had a good look at Harry and Annabeth, who stood infront Lupin.

Annabeth flinched in surprise when Hermione suddenly started howling out of nowhere, catching Lupin's attention.

She immediately tried to stop her, her eyes widening in shock. "Are you mad! What are you doing!? Are you trying to kill us?"

"Saving your life!", Hermione quickly answered her, howling once more. This time Lupin not only listened, he also followed the sound of the howling.

Harry nodded at his friend, "Thanks."
Annabeth's eyes widened in fear, when she saw that the werewolf was now approaching them.

Harry stared at the werewolf in shock, "Great. Now he's coming for us."

Hermione slowly seemed to realize that what she had done, had been quite stupid. "Yeah. I didn't think about that. Run!"

The three spun around on their heals and immediately headed for the woods. Dashing past the trees, they could hear Lupin howling behind them.

A cold shower run down Annabeth's spine. He was close.

Tripping over a root, Harry fell onto his knees. Pulling him up Annabeth could hear Lupin approaching quickly. The three then hurried through the trees, realizing that they couldn't run forever.

Hermione pulled them behind a tree and then they were waiting. Hoping that Lupin would find something that was more interesting to hunt down.

Annabeth could hear Lupins low growling right behind them and Hermione tucked on her sleeves, slowly pulling Annabeth with her.

The three Gryffindors' slowly tiptoe aroun the tree, not realizing that Lupin was right behind them.

The Werwolf growled again, standing up onto his legs. Approaching them dangerously he wanted to swing his claws at them, but suddenly Buckbeak kicked him into his face.

Spreading out his wings, he made Lupin turn around, quickly escaping in to the other direction.

The Hippogriff then turned to face them, while Hermione and Annabeth were both holding on to Harry's arms. "That was so scary!"

"Poor Professor Lupin's having a really tough night", Harry stated when suddenly a strong wind came up.

Goosebumps errupted over Annabeth's whole body when she suddenly looked up into the night sky, spotting the sea of Demenors making their way over to the lake.

"Sirius!" Harry didn't look at them before he pulled them along. "Come on!"

It was a matter of second to reach the lake and when they stopped Harry and Annabeth had already reached Sirius.

The lake was frozen and Sirius was screaming like a mad man. "This is horrible", Hermione said, her eyes trained on Sirius.

"Don't worry. My dad will come. He'll conjure a Patronus", Harry assured his friend and Annabeth shook her head.

"Harry, he won't."

The boy remained silent while he watched them from afar. "Any minute now!" He pointed over to the edge of the Lake, "Right. Over there. You'll see!"

The Dementors got closer and closer to them. "Harry, listen to me! No one's coming!"

Harry didn't face her, "Don't worry, he will! He will come!"

Hermione squinted her eyes at them from afar, "You're dying- all three of you."

There was a small silence before Harry suddenly jumped forward, grabbing his wand. He stopped by the edge of the lake, pointing his wand at the Dementors. "Expecto Patronum!"

A bright light errupted from his wand. Annabeth squinted her eyes at the bright light stream and realized that it had taken the form of a stag.

As soon as the light had reached the other side of the lake, every Dementor immediately escaped from it.

When the Dementors had all disappeared into the dark sky, the light from Harry's Patronus disappeared as well.

The three teenagers didn't waste time when they made their way back to Buckbeak.

"We won't fit", Hermione stated when she eyed the Hippogriff. "Go! I'm gonna be fine. I'll meet you at the castle", she stated while she already started to make her way through the trees, away from them.

Harry and Annabeth liked at her quiet unsure before they both climbed onto the Hippogriffs back, "Thank you, Hermione. Honestly."

The brunette smiled at them, before her face suddenly dropped. "Listen, to open the door up in the tower use the spell, Bombarda."

The two Potter's nodded at her, before Buckbeak suddenly took off into the dark sky.

They flew through the night sky, towards the dark tower, when Harry suddenly spoke up from infront of her, "You and Hermione were right. It wasn't our dad I saw earlier. It was me! I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time because, well I already done it!"

The brunette boy seemed genuinely happy and Annabeth gave him a small smile when he glanced at her over his shoulder.

"Dad would be proud, Harry."

In this moment Buckbeak flew down towards the tower, making her squeal in surprise, before landing on the stone floor.

They quickly found the door that lead to Sirius cell and Annabeth immediately flicked her wand, "Bombarda!"

The door and the stone wall around it, exploded into pieces and fell to the ground.

Harry immediately helped Sirius out of his chains and the three climbed onto Buckbeak as fast as they could.

Flying towards the inner yard of the castle, they saw Hermione already waiting for them.

She had a small smile on her face when they landed right besides her. "You made it."

Annabeth climbed down form the Hippogriff, hugging her best friend tightly, "All thanks to you, Mione."

The two girls' let go of each other before Annabeth followed after Harry and Sirius.

"I'll be forever greatful for this- to everyone of you", the adult wizard, who was now standing besides the teenagers, told them genuinely.

"I want to go with you", Harry suddenly stated while he looked at the man. Sirius gave him a small, understanding nodd, "One day, perhaps. For sometime, my life will be too unpredictable. And besides-"

He placed both of his hands on Harry while his eyes wandered back and forth between the two Potters'. "You're meant to be here. Both of you."

Harry was presistent while a sad look made it's way onto his face, "But you're innocent!"

The two teenagers sat down onto the bench that stood behind them, while Sirius kneeled down infront of them. "And you know it. And for now, that will do."

There was a small pause while he gazed up at them. His eyes traveling over their features. "I expect you're tired of hearing this- but you both look so like your father. Expect your eyes, Harry. You have-"

"-My mother's eyes", Harry finished his scentence while he nodded his head, smiling.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at them, a sad look on his face, "It's cruel that I got to spent so much time with James and Lily, and you two so little. But know this- The ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them-" He slowly placed his hand on Harry chest, excat there were his heart was, while gazing over at Annabeth "-in here."

Annabeth nodded quietly while she watched him closely. Suddenly Sirius stood up, approaching Buckbeak he spoke, "You really are one of the brightest witches of your age." He smirked before he yanked on Buckbeak's reins and flew into the air on the Hippogriff's back.

The three teenagers had wide smiles plastered on their faces, before the clock suddenly stared chiming.

Hermione quickly grabbed the two by their hands and quickly dragged them through the castle, "We have to go. Come on!"

The three arrived by the Hospital wing when Dumbeldor had just closed the door behind him. The white haired man gave them a questioning look, "And?"

"We did it! We freed him!", Harry stated happily while he nodded at Dumbeldor.

The old Headmaster now looked rather confused, "Did what?" He seemed rather irritated before he waved at them, "Good night."

Hermione exchanged a frown with the other's before they made their way inside the hospital wing, still out of breath.

Ron's eyes widened in shock while he pointed at them, "How did you get there? I was talking to you there. And now you're there!"

Hermione began smiling while she looked at her two friends, "What's he talking about, Harry?"

"I don't know", the boy replied to her before he frowned deeply. "Honestly, Ron. How can someone be in two places at once?"

Annabelle suppressed a chuckle,before the three sat around Ron's hospital bed, joking a bit more before they filled their friend in on every little detail.

IT WAS EARLY morning when Annabeth sat in the Great hall, together with Seamus, Harry, Fred, George and Hermione, having breakfast at the Gryffindor table.

She had just took a sip from her pumpkin juice, when Ron came to a stand beside them, seeming rather out of breath while he leaned onto his cane fro support.

His eyes were wide as he looked at them, with a shocked expression plastered on his face. "They sacked him! They sacked Professor Lupin this morning!"

There were a couple of disapproving shouts from Seamus and the twins while Harry and Annabeth immediately exchange a look. Jumping onto their feet the two immediately hurried out of the great hall and up to the Defense against the dark arts classroom.

As soon as they set foot into the office, Lupin addressed the siblings without turning to face them. "Hello, Harry! Morning, Annabeth."

Harry seemed rather confused that the man knew, who they were and Annabeth just remained staring at the professor's back.

Remus now spun around to them, pointing at the Map that laid on his desk, "I saw you two coming."

He flicked his wand and the things around Harry and Annabeth started packing themselves.

"I've looked worse, believe me", the man then stated while he raised both of his eyebrows at them.

"Professor, you've been sacked?", Annabeth questioned him, a disappointed look making it's way onto her face.

The man shook his head at her, "No. I resigned, actually."

"Resigned? Why?", Harry asked while he approached the man. Lupin looked at them and stopped packing for a moment, "Well, it seems that somebody let slip the nature of my condition. This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving and parents will not want a- well, someone like me teaching their children."

"But Dumbeldor-"

Lupin interrupted Harry immediately, "Dumbeldor has already risked enough on by behalf. Besides, people like me are- well let's just say that I'm used to it by now."

He flicked his wand and the rest of his stuff started packing itself. "Why do you two look so miserable?"

Annabeth remained silent, while Harry answered the man, full of anger, "Nothing of it made any difference. Pettigrew escaped."

Lupin leaned forward on his desk, "Didn't make any difference? It made all the difference in the world. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. It made a great deal of difference."

The man grunted loudly when he grabbed his bag. "If I am proud of anything- it is of how much you two learned this year. Now, since I'm no longer your teacher- I feel no guilt whatsoever about giving this back to you."

He pointed over at the map and then he looked back at Harry and Annabeth, "So now I'll say Goodbye. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime. Until then-" His gaze fell back onto the map and he flicked his wand, "Mischief managed."

The Professor gave them a small smile before he grabbed his cane and slowly left the room.

Following after him, the two young wizards' could watch him limp through the Defense against the dark arts classroom, until he disappeared through the door.

Annabeth knew that this wasn't the last time she would've seen the Professor. If only she'd know how soon she would.

The two Potters' exchanged a quiet glance, before they also left the classroom, making their way down to their friends.

Entering the Great Hall a couple of minutes later, the two were immediately surrounded by their friends.

"Harry! Annabeth! Where did you get them?", Neville questioned excited while his eyes were filled with joy.

Seamus joined in, jumping slightly up and down while he looked at Harry, "Can I have a go, Harry? After you, of course."

The two frowned at the Gryffindors' in confusion, approaching the table were everyone stood. "What are you talking about?"

Ron was leaning onto his cane while he exclaimed, "Quiet! Let the man through." Annabeth shot him a small glare and Ron gluped, "And the Lady!"

The redhead then gave them both an apologetic look, "I didn't mean to open it, guys. It was badly wrapped." He then pointed at his two older brothers, Fred and George. "They mad me do it!"

The two frowned and exclaimed in synchrony, "Did not!"

Harry and Annabeth ignored them before they pulled the paper aside, realizing that it were two brooms.

"There are Firebolts'!", Fred stated dreamingly before George continued excited. "It's the fastest broom in the world!"

Everyone gasped loudly and a whisper went through the crowd around them.

Harry leaned forward, eyeing the broom closely, "For us?" Annabeth let out a happy chuckle, before she met Hermione's gaze. "Who sent it?"

"No one knows", Ron told the two from behind them, smiling widely. Hermione suddenly held up a large Hippogriff feather and also smiled widely, "But this came with it."

Annabeth released another chuckle before she immediately grabbed her broom. Harry was shortly after her, followed by the large crowd of students.

When they reached the inner courtyard, Annabeth spotted Malfoy in the corner of her eye. The blond Slytherin boy was standing by the entrance with his folks, when they dashed past him, followed by the karge group of students.

"Go on!"

"Yeah, let's see!"

Annabeth exchanged a small happy look with Harry, before her eyes met Malfoy's for a small second.

The boy had a confused expression plastered on his face while he watched her closely.

Annabeth then climbed onto her broom, same as her brother before the two then quickly flew up into the sky, hearing the cheering from beneath them.