said hermione, tugging at elara's sleeve. "we've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us — before dumbledore locks the door—"

"okay," said harry, wrenching his gaze from the sky, "let's go..."

they slipped through the doorway behind them and down a tightly spiraling stone staircase. as they reached the bottom of it, they heard voices. they flattened themselves against the wall and listened. it sounded like fudge and snape. they were walking quickly along the corridor at the foot of the staircase.

"... only hope dumbledore's not going to make difficulties," snape was saying. "the kiss will be performed immediately?"

"as soon as macnair returns with the dementors. this whole black affair has been highly embarrassing. i can't tell you how much i'm looking forward to informing the daily prophet that we've got him at last... i daresay they'll want to interview you, snape... and once young harry's back in his right mind, i expect he'll want to tell the prophet exactly how you saved him..."

elara clenched her jaw. she caught a glimpse of snape's smirk as he and fudge passed the trio's hiding place. their footsteps died away. harry and hermione waited a few moments to make sure they'd really gone, then started to run in the opposite direction. down one staircase, then another, along a new corridor — then they heard a cackling ahead.

"peeves!" harry muttered, grabbing elara's wrist. "in here!"

they tore into a deserted classroom to their left just in time. peeves seemed to be bouncing along the corridor in boisterous good spirits, laughing his head off.

"oh, he's horrible," whispered hermione, her ear to the door. "i bet he's all excited because the dementors are going to finish off sirius..." she checked her watch. "three minutes!"

they waited until peeves's gloating voice had faded into the distance, then slid back out of the room and broke into a run again.

"what'll happen — if we don't get back inside before dumbledore locks the door?" harry panted.

"oh, i don't want to think about that," elara murmured and craned her head to look at hermione's watch. "one minute!" they had reached the end of the corridor with the hospital wing entrance. "okay — i can hear dumbledore," said elara tensely. "come on!"

they crept along the corridor. the door opened. dumbledore's back appeared.

"i am going to lock you in," they heard him saying. "it is five minutes to midnight. miss granger, three turns should do it. good luck."

dumbledore backed out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand to magically lock it. panicking, the trio ran forward. dumbledore looked up, and a wide smile appeared under the long silver mustache. "well?" he said quietly.

"we did it!" said harry breathlessly. "sirius has gone, on buckbeak..."

dumbledore beamed at them.

"well done. i think —" he listened intently for any sound within the hospital wing. "yes, i think you've gone too — get inside — i'll lock you in —"

the trio inside the dormitory. it was empty except for ron, who was still lying motionless in the end bed. as the lock clicked behind them, they crept back to their own beds, hermione tucking the time-turner back under her robes. a moment later, madam pomfrey came striding back out of her office.

"did i hear the headmaster leaving? am i allowed to look after my patients now?"

she was in a very bad mood. harry, elara, and hermione thought it best to accept their chocolate quietly. madam pomfrey stood over them, making sure they ate it. but elara could hardly swallow. she, harry, and hermione were waiting, listening, their nerves jangling... and then, as they took a fourth piece of chocolate from madam pomfrey, they heard a distant roar of fury echoing from somewhere above them...

"what was that?" said madam pomfrey in alarm.

now they could hear angry voices, growing louder and louder. madam pomfrey was staring at the door.

"really — they'll wake everybody up! what do they think they're doing?"

elara was trying to hear what the voices were saying. they were drawing nearer —

"he must have disapparated, severus. we should have left somebody in the room with him. when this gets out —"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" snape roared, now very close at hand. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS — HAS — SOMETHING —TO — DO — WITH — POTTER — AND — HIS — NEWEST — SIDEKICK!"

"severus — be reasonable — they have been locked up —"

BAM.

the door of the hospital wing burst open.

fudge, snape, and dumbledore came striding into the ward. dumbledore alone looked calm. indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. fudge appeared angry. but snape was beside himself.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"professor snape!" shrieked madam pomfrey. "control yourself!"

"see here, snape, be reasonable," said fudge. "this door's been locked, we just saw —"

it took all of elara's willpower not to start laughing at snape's reddened face.

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" snape howled, pointing at the trio. his face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.

"calm down, man!" fudge barked. "you're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" shrieked snape. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT —"

"that will do, severus," said dumbledore quietly. "think about what you are saying. this door has been locked since i left the ward ten minutes ago. madam pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"of course not!" said madam pomfrey, bristling. "i would have heard them!"

"well, there you have it, severus," said dumbledore calmly. "unless you are suggesting that harry, elara, and hermione are able to be in two places at once, i'm afraid i don't see any point in troubling them further."

snape stood there, seething, staring from fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior,to dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

"fellow seems quite unbalanced," said fudge, staring after him. "i'd watch out for him if I were you, dumbledore."

"oh, he's not unbalanced," said dumbledore quietly. "he's just suffered a severe disappointment."

"he's not the only one!" puffed fudge. "the daily prophet's going to have a field day! we had black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! all it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff's escape to get out, and i'll be a laughingstock! well... i'd better go and notify the ministry..."

"and the dementors?" said dumbledore. "they'll be removed from the school, i trust?"

"oh yes, they'll have to go," said fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the kiss on two innocent children... completely out of control... no, i'll have them packed off back to azkaban tonight... perhaps we should think about dragonsat the school entrance..."

"hagrid would like that," said dumbledore, smiling at harry and hermione.

"dragons?" elara murmurmed, looking at harry.

"very long story," he whispered back.

as dumbledore and fudgeleft the dormitory, madam pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it again. muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office.

there was a low moan from the other end of the ward. ron had woken up. they could see him sitting up, rubbing his head, looking around.

"what — what happened?" he groaned. "harry? why are we in here? where's sirius? where's lupin? what's going on?"

harry, elara and hermione looked at each other.

"you explain," said elara and harry simultaneously to hermione, helping themselves to some more chocolate.

when harry, ron, elara, and hermione left the hospital wing at noon the next day, it was to find an almost deserted castle. the sweltering, heat and the end of the exams meant that everyone was taking full advantage of another hogsmeade visit. neither ron nor elara nor hermione felt like going,however, so they and harry wandered onto the grounds, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where sirius and buckbeak were now. sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water.

elara felt peaceful, more than she has in a very long time.

a shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.

"know i shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," he said. "i mean, black escapin' again, an, everythin' — but guess what?"

"what?" they said, pretending to look curious.

"beaky! he escaped! he's free! bin celebratin' all night!"

"that's wonderful!" said hermione, giving ron and elara a reproving look because they looked as though they were close to laughing.

"yeah... can't've tied him up properly," said hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. "i was worried this mornin', mind... thought he mighta met professor lupin on the grounds, but lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night..."

"what?" said elara quickly.

"blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said hagrid, his smile fading a little. he lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. "er — snape told all the slytherins this mornin'... thought everyone'd know by now... professor lupin's a werewolf, see. an' he was loose on the grounds las' night... he's packin' now, o' course."

"he's packing?" said harry, alarmed. "why?"

"leavin', isn' he?" said hagrid, looking surprised that harry had to ask. "resigned firs' thing this mornin'. says he can't risk it happenin again."

harry scrambled to his feet.

"i'm going to see him," he said to elara, ron and hermione.

"but if he's resigned —"

" — doesn't sound like there's anything we can do —"

" -- besides, i assume people won't want him to stay -- "

"i don't care. i still want to see him. i'll meet you back here."

harry set off, leaving hagrid, elara, hermione, and ron behind. nobody at hogwarts now knew the truth of what had happened the night that sirius, buckbeak,and pettigrew had vanished except harry, ron, elara, hermione, and professor dumbledore. as the end of term approached, elara heard many different theories about what had really happened,but none of them came close to the truth.

draco was furious about buckbeak. he was convinced that hagrid had found a way of smuggling the hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper. percy weasley, meanwhile, had much to say on the subject of sirius's escape.

"if i manage to get into the ministry, i'll have a lot of proposals to make about magical law enforcement!" he told the only person who would listen — his girlfriend, penelope.

though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though she knew they had achieved the near impossible in helping sirius to freedom, elara had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits.

he certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see professor lupin go. the whole of harry's defense against the dark arts class was miserable about his resignation.

"wonder what they'll give us next year?" said seamus finnigan gloomily.

"maybe a vampire," suggested dean thomas hopefully.

"or a centaur," said aspen lovelace.

it wasn't only professor lupin's departure that was weighing on elara's mind. she couldn't help thinking a lot about what she saw in the crystal ball. she kept wondering where pettigrew wasnow, whether he had sought sanctuary with voldemort yet.

the exam results came out on the last day of term. harry, ron, elara, and hermione had passed every subject. snape's behavior toward harry over the past week had been quite alarming. elara wouldn't have thought it possible that snape's dislike for harry could increase, but it certainly had. a muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of snape's thin mouth every time he looked at harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around harry's throat.

percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; fred and george had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each. gryffindor house, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the quidditch cup, had won the house championship for the third year running. this meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. elara, for the first time, was able to eat, drink, talk, and laugh with the rest.

as the hogwarts express pulled out of the station the next morning, hermione gave harry, elara and ron some surprising news.

"i went to see professor mcgonagall this morning, just before breakfast. i've decided to drop muggle studies."

"but you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" said elara.

"i know," sighed hermione, "but i can't stand another year like this one. that time-turner, it was driving me mad. i've handed it in. without muggle studies and divination, i'll be able to have a normal schedule again."

"i still can't believe you didn't tell us about it," said ron grumpily. "we're supposed to be your friends."

"i promised i wouldn't tell anyone," said hermione severely.

elara looked around at harry, who was watching hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain. she'd been filled in of the horrors of the dursley household and felt badly for him.

"oh, cheer up, harry!" said elara.

"i'm okay," said harry quickly. "just thinking about the holidays."

"yeah, i've been thinking about them too," said ron. "harry, you've got to come and stay with us. i'll fix it up with mum and dad, then i'll call you. i know how to use a fellytone now —"

"a telephone, ron," said hermione. "honestly, you should take muggle studies next year..."

ron ignored her.

"it's the quidditch world cup this summer! how about it, harry? come and stay, and we'll go and see it! dad can usually get tickets from work."

this proposal had the effect of cheering harry up a great deal.

"yeah... i bet the dursleys'd be pleased to let me come... especially after what i did to aunt marge..."

feeling considerably more cheerful, harry joined ron, elara, and hermione in several games of exploding snap, and when the witch with the tea cart arrived, elara bought herself loads of chocolate.

it was late in the afternoon when a small speck appeared in the sky...

"harry," said elara suddenly, peering over his shoulder. "what's that thing outside the window?"

something very small and gray was bobbing in and out of sight beyond the glass. she stood up for a better look and saw that it was a tiny owl, carrying a letter that was much too big for it. the owl was so small, in fact, that it kept tumbling over in the air,buffeted this way and that in the train's slipstream. harry quickly pulled down the window,stretched out his arm, and caught it. he brought it carefully inside.

the owl dropped its letter onto harry's seat and began zooming around their compartment,apparently very pleased with itself for accomplishing its task. hedwig clicked her beak with asort of dignified disapproval. crookshanks sat up in his seat, following the owl with his great yellow eyes. elara, noticing this, snatched the owl safely out of harm's way.

harry picked up the letter. he ripped open the letter, and shouted, "it's from sirius!"

"what?" said the trio excitedly. "read it aloud!"

harry read the letter while elara played with the tiny owl sitting in her hands. turns out sirius did send harry the firebolt. he gave harry a signed permission slip to hogsmeade, and sirius gifted ron the tiny owl that was hooting from elara's shoulder.

ron's eyes widened. the miniature owl was still hooting excitedly. "keep him?" he said uncertainly. he looked closely at the owl for a moment; then, to harry's, elara's, and hermione's great surprise, he held him out for crookshanks to sniff.

"what do you reckon?" ron asked the cat. "definitely an owl?"

crookshanks purred.

"that's good enough for me," said ron happily. "he's mine."

the rest of the train ride went uneventfully as the four talked about the school year and what was to come in the future. they stepped back through the barrier of platform nine and three-quarters. elara spotted her aunt and uncle at once, and ran up to greet them.

"you won't believe it! i casted a corporeal patronus!" elara said excitedly as she pulled away from uncle ted.

uncle ted looked mightily confused while aunt meda's mouth dropped open.

"but -- but that's advanced magic! how on earth -- "

mr. weasley had come up just then and began grilling uncle ted about muggles and their habits, slipping in questions about rubber ducks. elara spotted harry with who he assumed to be his aunt, uncle, and cousin.

with a mischievous smile on her face, elara skipped over to harry. his family looked absolutely terrified of her. harry just looked confused.