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Chapter Twenty-Three: Race Against Time

The Inferi gave a low growl as Harry looked around. This was not going to be pleasant at all.

"So Harry, any suggestions on how to deal with this?" asked Ginny.

"A few, but the one that seems to be running through my mind the most is destroying them by any means necessary," said Harry as Sirius nodded in agreement. "Dark Arts, Light Arts, Whatever, just make sure there’s nothing left standing or we will be nothing but a bloody mass on the ground in a few moments."

One of the Inferi raised its arm into the air but Harry pulled Peter, who was still shackled to Harry's wrist, in the way to be used as a shield. The Inferi smashed into Peter's back and Harry kicked the Inferi back. Another Inferi grabbed Ginny around the arm and Harry turned around.

"Diffindo!" yelled Harry, pointing the cutting spell right at the Inferius's arm. The spell sliced the arm off right at the shoulder, causing the arm to hang by a sickening strand of rotting flesh.

"Mash them into little pieces my children!" yelled Bellatrix wickedly. "Anything you can use."

The Inferius that was cut by Harry pulled his arm off, throwing it on the ground. Harry was repulsed by the bones sticking out of the shoulder of his living dead opponent, who pulled one of the longer bones out of his arm before charging right at Harry, prepared to smash his head in but Sirius blasted the Inferius out of the way. Hermione, on one leg, was frantically blasting sparks at two Inferi who raised their pale fists ready to smash her in.

"Incendio!" yelled Harry sending a jet of fire at the two Inferi who was threatening his friend. This caused the undead to back off slightly.

"Harry that's it," said Sirius. "I just remembered, Inferi are afraid of fire. Incendio!"

Another group of three Inferi was backed off by the blasts of fire.

"Harry!" screamed Ginny as she was pinned to the ground by three Inferi. Harry leaped up, pulling his double-edged sword out, slicing one of the Inferi in half before causing the other two to back off by a wordless blast of fire.

Peter squirmed as he found the top half of the Inferius Harry sliced in half, grabbing onto his legs for dear life. Harry paid Pettigrew no mind but he looked up at the willow, which was calm for right now, an idea forming in his head.

"Everyone, lure them towards the Willow," said Harry before pointing his wand. "Incendio!"

The jets of fire caused the Inferi to back off towards the Whomping Willow. More jets and the tree branches reared up, before flying down on the Inferi. Bellatrix looked horrified as all of her hard work was being demolished by that tree. She only enchanted them to attack, not to defend themselves against a homicidal tree. The Inferi were being ripped into pieces by the tree and months worth of work were down the train. After a few minutes, all of the Inferi were destroyed thanks to the Whomping Willow.

"That was brilliant Harry," said Hermione in a low weak tone of voice, her leg still killing her.

"Yeah it was," agreed Ginny before ducking down underneath a jet of black light that Bellatrix had blasted towards her. She was not too happy.

"That's it, I’ll kill all of you right now!" shrieked Bellatrix. "Putesco Viscus!"

The flesh-rotting curse hit Peter in the hand. He screamed in pain but unfortunately for Harry, the shackle was fused to his flesh, so as the flesh rotted, Harry's hold on Peter disappeared. Seizing his chance, Pettigrew transformed into the rat, no longer bound by the curse that if he did so, he would be killed.

The rat got away but Harry had bigger problems as in a sadistic servant of the Dark Lord after his head.

"Crucio!" yelled Bellatrix, striking Ginny, causing her to scream out in pain but Harry leaped up, kicking Bellatrix and knocking her backwards. "You dare touch me you half blooded slime!"

"Stupefy!" yelled Sirius but Bellatrix deflected the curse.

"Come on, you can do better than that," yelled Bellatrix.

"Expello!" yelled Harry but Bellatrix levitated a rock in front of her, causing the curse to connect with it instead of her. Harry would not be denied. "Spiculum!"

A dozen arrows shot at Bellatrix, aimed directly for her stomach. Bellatrix managed to avoid most of them, with the exception of one that pierced into her leg. She looked enraged at the sight of her own blood.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" screamed Bellatrix, pointing at Harry, but Harry reached into his sleeve, throwing a dagger into the light, causing the Killing Curse to make the dagger explode into particles of dust.

"Punctum!" yelled Sirius, sending a half a dozen sharp needles at Bellatrix who had to mutter a shield charm to avoid them.

"Wow, Sirius, a Dark Arts spell, I am surprised at you, but I'm afraid it you'll have to do more than that to defeat me," said Bellatrix in a mocking voice. "Come on, that barely hurt."

"Expello!" yelled Harry, striking Bellatrix in the chest and causing her to fly back, crashing onto the ground. "You're finished Lestrange."

Bellatrix looked up, seeing Hermione a few feet away, a sadistic grin forming on her face.

"Oh so it seems, Potter," said Bellatrix before pointing her wand to Hermione. "Imperio!"

Hermione's eyes went blank as Bellatrix put her underneath the Imperius Curse. Harry recognized the signs well, due to a book in the Slytherin Library on the most dangerous and deadly forms of Dark Magic.

"Now, you are under my control girl," said Bellatrix in a commanding voice. "Attack them."

Hermione raised her wand in the air, attempting to fight the curse but Bellatrix's power was just too great.

"You don't want to do this Hermione, you don't have to listen to her," said Harry.

"Stupefy," said Hermione in an emotionless voice, blasting the red light towards Harry and Ginny, who scattered.

"Put some more feeling into it girl," commanded Bellatrix. "Come on, raise your wand and say the word Crucio. Remember, you want to make them suffer, enjoy causing the pain."

"Cru..." started Hermione in an emotionless tone but Harry silenced her with a wordless silencing charm.

Bellatrix looked at Harry as he raised his wand at Potter. Bellatrix of course stood behind Hermione, using her as a shield. Before Harry could move any further, the air around them got suddenly colder.

"Oh no, not now," said Ginny in an irritated tone of voice.

"The Dementors are coming, the Dementors are coming!" cried Bellatrix in glee. "You're in big trouble now, Sirius."

"You crazed mad bitch," said Sirius. "They are coming to get you too."

"Not if I can get away before they arrive," said Bellatrix before turning to Hermione. "Oh and before I forget, here is a little parting gift."

Bellatrix pointed her wand towards Hermione.

"Sectumsempra!" yelled Bellatrix, causing a series of cuts to form on Hermione, all squirting with blood, flowing down her face and from underneath her robes.

"Hermione!" yelled Harry and Ginny in unison, as their friend fell to the ground, bleeding severely from the vicious curse.

"Got to go," said Bellatrix. "Oh and Sirius, go snog a Dementor for me."

Bellatrix ran off, cackling madly. She managed to get away rather quickly.

"What in the hell did she hit Hermione with?" asked Ginny frantically.

"That curse was invented by Snape," said Sirius turning to Harry. "He used it on James at Hogwarts during our fourth year, nearly killing him as well and he should have gotten expelled for it, but Dumbledore somehow allowed him to stay. I have no idea why, as Snape always had his greasy nose deep into the most vile and evil curses, and made our lives a living..."

Sirius stopped painting Snape as the personification of evil as the Dementors arrived on the scene, sucking all the happiness out of the air around them. Harry looked up, there appeared to be a hundred of them and he could barely shut out of the effects to turn to Ginny.

"Ginny, think of something happy and yell, Expecto Patronum," said Harry weakly. "Expecto Patronum!"

"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Ginny but nothing but a few sparks came out of her wand, as she had been severely weakened by the Dementors coming at her, bringing the shadowed reflections.

Draco slowly pulled himself up, groggy from what Potter did to him but he found himself surrounded by Dementors. He screamed like a little girl, the memories of all the times Potter upstaged him coming back to him before he curled up in a fetal ball, whimpering.

"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Ginny but she slowly sank to her knees before passing out about twenty seconds due to the effects of the Dementors being too much. Sirius went down shortly there after.

"Expecto Patronum!" screamed Harry but there only seemed to be a vague mist coming from his wand. He used too much energy up in the fight with Lestrange. "Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum!"

Harry looked around, as he saw Ginny and Sirius down. It was Harry, against all of them. All one hundred of the Dementors closed in on Harry.

One of the Dementors grabbed Harry around the shoulders. This was the chance they had been waiting for all year. Vengeance on the one connected to the wizard that managed to put them in this weak form and trapped their master's essence in that temple many centuries ago. The Dementor lowered its hood, pulling Harry closer, sucking all the air out from around Harry.

Harry looked up at the gaping hole for a mouth, along with the face. The Dementor was pulling him in closer; he heard the screams of a woman, no doubt his mother. The Dementor was going to finish off Harry; this was going to be the end of him for sure this time. The Dementor began to put his mouth to Harry's. The last thing Harry saw was the flicker of a silver light in the distance behind the Dementor that was about to suck his soul out before his mind went blank and he could sense no more.

"Thank Merlin you found them in time, Severus," said the voice of Cornelius Fudge as Harry weakly opened his eyes. "You really don't look good."

"Yes, this blasted flu is really irritable," said Snape in a weak voice. "I was going down to the Greenhouse for some plants to make a potion to relieve my condition slightly. Still, the Dementors managed to be sent off by something, I can't say what."

"Yes, attempting to kiss a thirteen year old boy, inexcusable," said Fudge. "I shudder to think how this may effect the opinion of the general public on me if this leaks to the Daily Prophet."

Snape resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the nerve of this man. A student, one of his Slytherins, nearly got his soul sucked out and all this man could think about was his bloody approval rating.

"Still, where did you say you stashed Black so I can have MacNair get the Dementors?" asked Fudge.

"Flitwick's office," said Snape, remembering Dumbledore's orders about how he should take the fall for Dumbledore's handiwork, who had put Black in that office, putting powerful locking charms from the inside and tying Black up so he could not escape. "Eighth Floor, East Side of the Building."

"Thank you, Professor Snape, you will be rewarded for your bravery," said Fudge.

"Hold it Minister, Sirius Black is innocent, Peter Pettigrew committed those murders, you’ve got the wrong man," said Harry, bolting up out of his bed.

"Potter, you're awake," said Snape. "I must say, Black confunding you was a low move from him, but the spells will wear off in time. As for Miss Granger's condition, I was able to heal her before too much lasting damage from that spell she was hit with. Naturally, due to my research over the years, I have intimate knowledge of the Dark Arts."

Ginny opened her eyes weakly, looking at Snape with an accusing look.

"Of course you would, you bloody Death Eater," said Ginny angrily. "You invented the spell, so you would know how to undo its handiwork."

"It seems to me Black did a good job confunding you as well, Miss Weasley," remarked Snape. "He was always capable of murder, he attempted to murder me when he was at Hogwarts but Dumbledore hushed it up. The details are none of your concern but due to your current mental state, I will not hold you by anything you say as the truth."

"Yes and why should I believe you?" asked Harry in a cold voice that made Snape just a little bit uneasy. "You knew it was Peter Pettigrew who did this the whole time, didn't you? I don't know what happened with you and Sirius during Hogwarts, nor do I care, but all I know is condemning an innocent man to a terrible fate just because some schoolyard grudge is extremely childish Professor. I thought better of you and I am extremely disappointed right now."

"You don't understand Mr. Potter," said Snape with an unreadable expression on his face but Severus was mentally cursing Dumbledore for putting him in this tight position.

"Now, Mr. Potter, many witnesses saw Black kill Pettigrew, Dumbledore himself gave evidence that Black was your parent's secret keeper," said Fudge. "Now I understand your brain has been addled tonight by advanced dark magic..."

Harry reached forward, grabbing Fudge by the robes before pulling The Ministry of Magic forward.

"This is a warning right now Minister," whispered Harry in a low dangerous voice that only him and the Minister could hear. "Last time we met, you set me to Azkaban for some flimsy excuse. Unless you want word of that to accidentally leak to the Daily Prophet, thus ruining your reputation for good, I suggest you leave right now and don't do anything to get in the way for the rest of this evening."

Fudge backed off, it seemed obvious to him that attempting to reason with the Potter boy was useless due to his current mental state and what Fudge did to Potter recently. The Minister wondered if sending the boy to Azkaban for a short spell had caused Fudge to make an extremely dangerous and powerful enemy. He decided to cut his losses and leave the Hospital Wing.

"Okay, I'll just go and meet MacNair, right now," said Fudge feebly.

Fudge left, with Snape following a moment later. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office carrying a plate of chocolate, looking at Ginny and Harry.

"Ah, good, you two are awake," said Pomfrey, handing chocolate to Harry and Ginny. "Eat all of this, every bit of this. I will be back in a few minutes to make my rounds and I want all of that chocolate eaten.

Harry and Ginny took the chocolate as Pomfrey exited to her office. Harry quickly ate it, looking desperate. This is the one time he felt helpless, with nothing he could do to save his godfather.

"Harry, I wish we could do something to save Sirius," said Ginny, seeing the irritated look on her friend's face. "Unfortunately we don't have enough time to do so."

Ginny talking about time had given Harry an idea.

"Ginny, that's it, time," said Harry, with a triumphant look on his face, looking over to Hermione.

"What?" asked Ginny looking to confused.

"I hope Hermione has it with her, but it should be around Hermione's neck Ginny," said Harry.

Ginny reached over to Hermione, before seeing an hourglass on a chain wrapped around her neck.

"This it, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"Yes," said Harry. "Come, Ginny, we don't have much time."

Ginny handed Harry the hourglass. Harry put it around the necks of both himself and Ginny.

"I hope my thousand year old knowledge from the Slytherin library on how to work these things is accurate," said Harry desperately.

"And if it isn't?" asked Ginny.

"You really don't want to know," replied Harry as he flipped the hourglass over three times.

Harry felt himself being pulled back through a swirling vortex before landing along with Ginny just a little outside the Great Hall. Harry took the time turner off, before placing it underneath his robes.

"What was that thing?" asked Ginny. "And where are we?"

"It's a Time Turner, that's how Hermione has been attending two classes at once," said Harry.

"She actually told you that," said Ginny.

"Not exactly, I pretty much figured it out after a while despite her best efforts to conceal the truth from me," said Harry. "Anyway, we’re three hours in the past, but I had a bit of an ulterior motive from transporting us back this far."

"Buckbeak," said Ginny in understanding.

"Yes, two wrongs will be righted this night," said Harry before tensing up. "We are heading out, so conceal yourself Ginny before we follow ourselves to Hagrid's hut."

Ginny and Harry managed to hide in a corridor, discreetly leaping away from the line of the sight of their past counterparts.

"Okay, now we follow them," said Harry.

Harry and Ginny quietly followed their invisible counterparts, somehow managing to not be seen due to sticking to the shadows as the sun was slowly going down and the darkness was beginning to take hold. They arrived outside Hagrid's hut, seeing Buckbeak tied outside.

"Now we wait and watch," said Harry.

About twenty minutes later, Lucius Malfoy, Fudge, Dumbledore, MacNair, and the unnamed representative began to go up to the Hut. The minute they saw Buckbeak was securely tied up outside, Ginny turned to Harry as they went in.

"Now?" asked Ginny.

"Now," clarified Harry, nodding his head before walking up to Buckbeak, bowing at the hippogriff. The Hippogriff bowed back as Harry pulled out his double-edged sword, before slicing the rope that the Hippogriff was tied to.

"MacNair, Hagrid, sign here," ordered the aged representative of the Department of the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures from inside Hagrid's hut.

"Harry, we don't have much time left," said Ginny anxiously, hearing people beginning to rise to their feet inside Hagrid's Hut.

Harry tried to pull Buckbeak away but the Hippogriff seemed to not want to go.

"Buckbeak, unless you want your head chopped off, I suggest you move," said Harry in a patient tone, yanking at the rope. The hippogriff followed Harry and Ginny into the Forbidden Forest. Using stealth was hard when they were dragging a Hippogriff around the woods.

"What's this!" thundered MacNair. "The damn beast pulled himself loose."

"Beaky, ya clever boy," said Hagrid, tears flowing down his eyes, looking proud at his pet.

"Someone stole that infernal beast, I want to see its head chopped off for what it did to my son," said Malfoy, as MacNair slammed the axe onto the ground in frustration.

"You can't very well do anything right now, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "Whomever stole the hippogriff was likely to lead them away in the air. If you want to search the skies, then by all means do so. I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"So many people to manipulate, so little time," whispered Harry as he looked at Dumbledore as Ginny tried hard not to giggle at her friend's antics. "Come, we need to keep on the move, as their will be Inferi coming in a little over an hour."

Ginny nodded as she followed Harry through the Forest, with Harry hanging onto Buckbeak. The two looked up, seeing Malfoy go for the tree.

"Can I please knock him out?" asked Ginny, pleading with Harry.

"No, Ginny, we can't do anything that will ruin the flow of time and space," said Harry. "We were able to save Buckbeak without ruining anything but any big changes could cause a paradox that might allow Sirius to escape and thus we have no reason to be sent back in time. However, since we did not go back in time..."

Harry stopped; he had apparently confused himself, attempting to explain the process of time travel to Ginny.

"Let's just say don't do it and time travel makes my head hurt," said Harry as Ginny nodded reluctantly beside him.

After about a half an hour, Harry could see Bellatrix creeping around in the distance.

"Okay this is it, Ginny," said Harry. "We need to get as far as way from here as possible, without incurring Bellatrix's attention."

"Right," said Ginny, assisting Harry in moving Buckbeak towards Hagrid's hut, which appeared to be empty due to Hagrid no doubt leaving the school grounds to get a drink in celebration of his pet's capture.

The two entered the Hut and Buckbeak laid himself down on Hagrid's bed, pleased to be back in familiar territories. Harry looked up at the window, seeing the fight go on outside, marveling at his brilliance of using the Whomping Willow to destroy the Inferi and then the battle with Bellatrix. He cringed when he saw Bellatrix do that sadistic curse to Hermione.

"Here come the Dementors," muttered Harry, before a sudden impulse struck him. "I need to go out there to assist myself."

"Harry, why are you..." began Ginny but Harry raised his hand in the air.

"I'll explain later," said Harry in a calm tone of voice before heading out of the Hut before Ginny could say anything else.

Harry raised his wand; he sensed he did not need to act yet. The Dementor grabbed him and prepared to unleash his kiss. He raised his wand in the air as the Dementor pulled Harry's past self's face towards its gaping mouth.

"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Harry, sending a jet of silver towards the Dementors. Harry watched the progress as his past self fell to the ground. The Dementors glided away, as the glowing silver Patronus went after them. Before Harry could get a good look at what his Patronus was, he heard the sound of footsteps so he had to leave the scene.

"Harry, how did you do that?" asked Ginny. "I thought you said you were having trouble with the Patronus because of the blocks Dumbledore put on your magic."

Harry thought about it for a minute before coming up with what he thought to be a logical explanation.

"The blocks were not powerful enough to handle two of me in the same time stream," suggested Harry. "It has to do with me traveling to a different time stream. Since that Harry was already there, the blocks only applied to him and since I am not native to this time stream, the blocks were not applied to me, so I was able to channel enough raw magical energy to form a Patronus. Does that make any sense, Ginny?"

"No," said Ginny slowly, frowning as she attempted to make sense of what Harry just said. "But I'll just nod my head and pretend it did, so we can stick to what we are doing."

"That's just my theory anyway, I could be wrong," said Harry shrugging his shoulders in attempt to grasp for straws at why he was able to form that Patronus. "But the block will probably be in play once I return to my native time in about an hour."

Harry looked outside, seeing Snape helping Ginny, Hermione, and himself on stretchers. Sirius was already gone, no doubt taken up to be stored in Flitwick's office from when the Dementors came to finish him off. Snape did a series of complicated motions, managing to close the wounds on Hermione's face and underneath her robes that Bellatrix caused by that spell and barely leaving any scarring Hermione's face. A moment later, Snape levitated the three stretchers towards the castle and vanished.

"This is it, Ginny," said Harry in a take-charge voice. "We need to fly Buckbeak up to the window to Flitwick's office."

Ginny nodded as Harry pulled the hippogriff by the rope, which reluctantly followed the Boy-Who-Lived outside of the Hut. Harry looked up, climbing on the Hippogriff, hanging onto the Hippogriff's neck as Ginny climbed on behind Harry, wrapping her arms around his waist, hanging on to Harry.

"Hang on Ginny," muttered Harry. "Buckbeak, let's go, we need to get this done."

The Hippogriff rose up into the air, with Harry and Ginny on his back, as Harry directed it towards Professor Flitwick's office. They reached the office window as Harry pulled his wand out.

"Alohomora!" yelled Harry, causing the window to spring open and seeing Sirius tied to a chair in Flitwick's office.

Harry leaped off the Hippogriff, before grabbing Ginny's hand and helping her through the window. Pulling out his double-edged sword, Harry sliced the ropes binding Sirius to the chair.

"Thank you, Harry," said Sirius gratefully.

"There, Sirius, there's your ride," said Harry, pointing to Buckbeak who hovered outside the window. "You need to get out of here right now."

"Harry, thank you, I will be in..." started Sirius.

"Go!" yelled Harry. "The Dementors will be there any minute, you need to get off the grounds right now."

Sirius climbed on the Hippogriff.

"Good bye Harry," said Sirius. "My travel plans to New York are unfortunately delayed due to me being on the run."

Sirius flew off into the distance and not a moment too soon, as the Dementors appeared to be outside the door. Harry did not want to chance another encounter, so he pulled his Portus-Amulet out of his pocket, before grabbing Ginny's hand and tapping his wand to it, pulling them from Flitwick's office, to the corridor outside of the Hospital Wing.

"We made it," said Harry, sighing in relief.

"That was too close," said Ginny. "About how much time do we have left until our past selves leave?"

"Five minutes," said Harry, consulting his watch. "We need to be ready to duck in there immediately at five till eleven."

Ginny nodded, as all they could do is wait. Five minutes later, Harry and Ginny quickly snuck into the Hospital Wing, lying down in their beds, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. It felt like they had never even gone but Harry pulled out the time turner and Hermione slowly woke up, looking rather weak and groggy.

"Harry, Ginny, what happened?" whispered Hermione weakly. "What happened with Sirius? What about Lestrange? What’s going on here?"

Pomfrey's office door opened, carrying a blood red looking potion.

"Miss Granger, glad you are finally away," said Pomfrey. "I must say, whatever Lestrange hit you with caused you to lose a lot of blood. You would have died had it not been for the timely actions of Professor Snape. Here, take this blood replenishing potion, it will help with the healing process."

Hermione took the blood-replenishing potion, swallowing it quickly while making a disgusted face.

"Now rest," said Pomfrey, before turning to Harry and Ginny. "The same goes for you two as well. I may let you out in a few days, if you follow my instructions to the letter by resting."

Pomfrey left to check on her other patients as Harry pulled the hourglass out from underneath the covers.

"Here's your time turner back Hermione," said Harry handing it to his confused friend.

"I don't even want know what you were just doing before I woke up," said Hermione, taking the time turner before putting it back underneath her robes.

"It's best you don't know Hermione," said Ginny with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah, it’s a long story, we simply don’t have enough time right now to tell you everything” said Harry before lying back and drifting off to sleep. It had been a long day.