"thank you, minister."

"order of merlin, second class, i'd say. first class, if i can wangle it!"

"nasty cut you've got there... black's work, i suppose?"

"as a matter of fact, it was potter, weasley, lestrange, and granger, minister..."

"no!"

"black had bewitched them, i saw it immediately. a confundus charm, to judge by their behavior. they seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. they weren't responsible for their actions. on the other hand, their interference might have permitted black to escape... they obviously thought they were going to catch black single-handed. they've got away with a great deal before now... i'm afraid it's given them a rather high opinion of themselves... and of course potter has always been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster —"

"ah, well, snape... harry potter, you know... we've all got a bit of a blind spot where he's concerned."

"and yet — is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? personally, i try and treat him like any other student. and any other student would be suspended — at the very least — for leading his friends into such danger. consider, minister — against all school rules — after all the precautions put in place for his protection — out-of-bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer — and i have reason to believe he has been visiting hogsmeade illegally too —"

"well, well... we shall see, snape, we shall see... the boy has undoubtedly been foolish..."

elara lay listening with her eyes tight shut. she felt very groggy. the words she was hearing seemed to be traveling very slowly from her ears to her brain, so that it was difficult to understand... her limbs felt like lead; her eyelids too heavy to lift... she wanted to lie here, on this comfortable bed, forever...

"what amazes me most is the behavior of the dementors... you've really no idea what made them retreat, snape?"

"no, minister... by the time i had come 'round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances..."

"extraordinary. and yet black, and harry, elara, and the girl —"

"all unconscious by the time i reached them. i bound and gagged black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle."

there was a pause. elara's brain seemed to be moving a little faster, and as it did, a gnawing sensation grew in the pit of her stomach...

she opened her eyes.

she was lying in the dark hospital wing. at the very end of the ward, she could make out madam pomfrey with her back to him, bending over a bed. elara squinted. ron's red hair was visible beneath madam pomfrey's arm.

elara moved her head over on the pillow. in the bed to her right lay harry. he was awake as well and was already looking in her direction. to her left lay hermione. moonlight was falling across her bed. her eyes were open too. she looked petrified, and when she saw that harry and elara were awake, pressed a finger to her lips, then pointed to the hospital wing door. it was ajar,and the voices of cornelius fudge and snape were coming through it from the corridor outside.

madam pomfrey now came walking briskly up the dark ward to elara's bed. she turned to look at her. she was carrying the largest block of chocolate elara had ever seen in her life. it looked like a small boulder.

"ah, you're awake!" she said briskly. she placed the chocolate on elara's bedside table and began breaking it apart with a small hammer.

"how's ron?" said harry, elara and hermione together.

"he'll live," said madam pomfrey grimly. "as for you three, you'll be staying here until i'm satisfied you're — potter, what do you think you're doing?"

harry was sitting up, putting his glasses back on, and picking up his wand.

"i need to see the headmaster," he said.

"potter," said madam pomfrey soothingly, "it's all right. they've got black. he's locked away upstairs. the dementors will be performing the kiss any moment now —"

"WHAT?"

elara jumped up out of bed; hermione and harry had done the same. but her shout had been heard in the corridor outside; next second, cornelius fudge and snape had entered the ward.

"harry, elara, what's this?" said fudge, looking agitated. "you should be in bed — has he had any chocolate?" he asked madam pomfrey anxiously.

"minister, listen!" harry said. "sirius black's innocent!"

elara picked up the explanation. "peter pettigrew faked his own death! wesaw him tonight! you can't let the dementors do that thing to sirius, he's —"

but fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

"harry, elara, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control..."

"YOU HAVEN'T!" harry yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"

"minister, listen, please," hermione said; she had hurried to harry and elara's side and was gazing imploringly into fudge's face. "i saw him too. it was ron's rat, he's an animagus, pettigrew, i mean, and —"

"you see, minister?" said snape. "confunded, the three of them... black's done a very good job on them..."

"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" harry roared.

"minister! professor!" said madam pomfrey angrily. "i must insist that you leave. potter is mypatient, and he should not be distressed!"

"he's not distressed, he's trying to tell them what happened!" elara said furiously. "if they'd just listen —"

but madam pomfrey suddenly stuffed a large chunk of chocolate into elara's mouth; she choked, and she seized the opportunity to force her back onto the bed.

"now, please, minister, these children need care. please leave."

the door opened again. it was dumbledore. elara swallowed her mouthful of chocolate with great difficulty and got up again.

"professor dumbledore, sirius black —"

"for heaven's sake!" said madam pomfrey hysterically. "is this a hospital wing or not? headmaster, i must insist —"

"my apologies, poppy, but i need a word with mr. potter, miss lestrange and miss granger," said dumbledore calmly. "i have just been talking to sirius black —"

"i suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in potter's mind?" spat snape."something about a rat, and pettigrew being alive —"

"that, indeed, is black's story," said dumbledore, surveying snape closely through his half-moon spectacles.

"and does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled snape. "peter pettigrew was not in the shrieking shack, nor did i see any sign of him on the grounds."

"that was because you were knocked out, professor!" said hermione earnestly. "you didn't arrive in time to hear!"

"miss granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"

"now, snape," said fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances —"

"she isn't disturbed! she's telling the truth!" elara insisted.

"i would like to speak to harry, elara and hermione alone," said dumbledore abruptly. "cornelius, severus, poppy — please leave us."

"headmaster!" sputtered madam pomfrey. "they need treatment, they need rest —"

"this cannot wait," said dumbledore. "i must insist."

madam pomfrey pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her. fudge consulted the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.

"the dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "i'll go and meet them. dumbledore, i'll see you upstairs."

he crossed to the door and held it open for snape, but snape hadn't moved.

"you surely don't believe a word of black's story?" snape whispered, his eyes fixed on dumbledore's face.

"i wish to speak to harry, elara and hermione alone," dumbledore repeated.

snape took a step toward dumbledore.

"sirius black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathed. "you haven't forgotten that, headmaster? you haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"

"my memory is as good as it ever was, severus," said dumbledore quietly.

snape turned on his heel and marched through the door fudge was still holding. it closed behind them, and dumbledore turned to the trio. they both burst into speech all at the sametime.

"professor, black's telling the truth — we saw pettigrew — he escaped when professor lupin turned into a werewolf —"

"— he's a rat —"

"— pettigrew's front paw, I mean, finger, he cut it off —"

"— pettigrew attacked ron, it wasn't sirius —"

but dumbledore held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations.

"it is your turn to listen, and i beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "there is not a shred of proof to support black's story, except your word — and the word of three thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody. a street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw sirius murder pettigrew. i myself gave evidence to the ministry that sirius had been the potters' secret-keeper."

"professor lupin can tell you —" elara said, unable to stop herself.

"professor lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. by the time he is human again, it will be too late, sirius will be worse than dead. i might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little and the fact that he and sirius are old friends —"

"but —"

"listen to me, elara. it is too late, you understand me? you must see that professor snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."

"he hates sirius," hermione said desperately. "all because of some stupid trick sirius played on him —"

"sirius has not acted like an innocent man. the attack on the fat lady — entering gryffindor tower with a knife — without pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning sirius's sentence."

"but you believe us," said harry.

"yes, i do," said dumbledore quietly. "but i have no power to make other men see the truth, orto overrule the minister of magic..."

elara stared up into the grave face and felt as though the ground beneath her were falling sharply away. she always the idea that dumbledore could solve anything. she had expected dumbledore to pull some amazing solution out of the air.

"what we need," said dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved to hermione, "is more time."

"but —" hermione began. and then her eyes became very round. "OH!"

"now, pay attention," said dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. "sirius is locked in professor flitwick's office on the seventh floor. thirteenth window from the right of the west tower. if all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. but remember this, both of you: you must not be seen. miss granger, you know the law — you know what is at stake... you — must — not — be —seen."

elara didn't have a clue what was going on. dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door.

"i am going to lock you in. it is —" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. miss granger, three turns should do it. good luck."

"good luck?" harry repeated as the door closed behind dumbledore. "three turns? "

"what's he talking about? what are we supposed to do?" asked elara, bewildered at the seemingly cryptic message dumbledore gave them.

but hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain. if elara wasn't so confused, she would have complimented hermione of her necklace.

"harry, elara, come here," hermione said urgently. "quick!"

they moved toward her, completely bewildered. she was holding the chain out. elara saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it.

"here —"

she had thrown the chain around their necks too. harry reached out to touch the hourglass, but elara slapped his hand away, sensing it was important. hermione turned the hourglass over three times.

the dark ward dissolved. elara had the sensation that she was flying very fast, backward. a blur of colors and shapes rushed past her, her ears were pounding, she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping for it to stop.

and then she felt solid ground beneath her feet, and she opened her eyes —

she was standing next to harry and hermione in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. she looked wildly around at hermione, the chain of the hourglass cutting into her neck.

harry seemed to be utterly confused too.

"hermione, what —?"

"in here!" hermione seized harry's and elara's arms and dragged them across the hall to the door of a broom closet; she opened it, pushed them inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind them.

elara was in the unfortunate position of facing harry directly in the dark broom closet.

"what — how — hermione, what happened?"

"we've gone back in time," hermione whispered, lifting the chain off elara's neck in the darkness. "three hours back..."

"but —"

"shh! listen! someone's coming! i think — i think it might be us!" hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door.

"footsteps across the hall... yes, i think it's us going down to hagrid's!"

"are you telling me," elara whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"

"yes," said hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "i'm sure it's us. it doesn't sound like more than four people... and we're walking slowly because we're under the invisibility cloak — "

she broke off, still listening intently.

"we've gone down the front steps..."

hermione sat down on an upturned bucket, looking desperately anxious, but harry and elara wanted a few questions answered.

"where did you get that hourglass thing?"

"time travel is possible?"

"yes, its possible, and it's called a time-turner," hermione whispered, "and i got it from professor mcgonagall on our first day back. i've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. professor mcgonagall made me swear i wouldn't tell anyone. she had to write all sorts of letters to the ministry of magic so i could have one. she had to tell them that i was a model student, and that i'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies... i've been turning it back so i could do hours over again, that's how i've been doing several lessons at once, see? but...

"i don't understand what dumbledore wants us to do. why did he tell us to go back three hours? how's that going to help sirius?"

elara stared at her shadowy face.

"there must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," elara said slowly."what happened? we were walking down to hagrid's three hours ago..."

"this is three hours ago, and we are walking down to hagrid's," said hermione. "we just heard ourselves leaving..."

elara frowned; she felt as though she were screwing up her whole brain in concentration.

"dumbledore just said — just said we could save more than one innocent life..." said harry. "hermoine, elara, we're going to save buckbeak!"

"but — how will that help sirius?"

"dumbledore said — he just told us where the window is — the window of flitwick's office! where they've got sirius locked up! we've got to fly buckbeak up to the window and rescue sirius! sirius can escape on buckbeak — they can escape together!"

from what elara could see of hermione's face, she looked terrified.

"if we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"

"well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said elara. she stood up and pressed her ear against the door. "it doesn't sound like anyone's there... come on, let's go."

elara pushed open the closet door. the entrance hall was deserted. harry slipped his hand into elara's, and elara grabbed hermoine's with her own free hand. as quietly and quickly as they could, they darted out of the closet and down the stone steps. the shadows were already lengthening, the tops of the trees in the forbidden forest gilded once more with gold.

"if anyone's looking out of the window —" hermione squeaked, looking up at the castle behind them.

"we'll run for it," said elara determinedly. "we'll go straight into the forest, all right? we'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout —"

"okay, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said hermione breathlessly. "we need to keep out of sight of hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! we must be nearly at hagrid's by now!"

elara, harry, and hermoine set off at a sprint. they tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the whomping willow, tearing toward the shelter of the forest...

safe in the shadows of the trees, they took a pause. hermoine and elara were panting, but harry seemed fine. elara made a promise to herself to start running over the summer.

"right," hermoine gasped. "we need to sneak over to hagrid's... keep out of sight, you two..."