Chapter 013

Unable to do anything to interrupt the Potter boy's presentation and what he felt was a very well-executed character assassination, Dumbledore could only give a slight pained expression and close his eyes. He already knew that, if Harry gave away any more secrets - including his role in Sirius's escape from the tower the night he was supposed to be executed by Dementor's Kiss - there would be no chance of the Wizengamot voting to return him to his positions.

'Why the Hell didn't I back the boy and rule his admission to this now clearly be-damned Tournament illegal when I had the chance?' he thought. 'I just had to use his entrance as yet another method to draw out Tom. Foolishness!

'Well, it's clearly coming back to bite me on the bum now.'

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―==(oIo)==―

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Having paused a few moments to take a sip of something from a glass that looked like water, Memory-Harry continued. "Things happened as they happened for most of the rest of the school year.

"And, finally, it's June once more. Sirius Black, apparently, finally makes his move and kidnaps Ron Weasley - not me - by dragging him out of Hogwarts's grounds by way of a secret passage to the Shrieking Shack. Well, he was actually trying to get the rat out Ron Weasley's hands - as that was his real target - but Ron wouldn't release the rat, so Sirius took them both.

"That secret passage, seeing as he was the one who made it, Albus Dumbledore knew full well about. In other words, Albus Dumbledore left in place a secret passage he, himself, made - and also knew Sirius Black was aware of - and did nothing about blocking Black from using it.

"Consider that, too, won't you?

"This is what happened in the Shack when Hermione and I, again not able to find a professor to help and having to go ourselves to rescue our friend, burst into the Shack with wands drawn."

Again Memory-Harry faded away to be replaced with the memory described.

Harry and Hermione entered the secret passage under the Whomping Willow, having to dodge the branches of the tree because they didn't know how to stop the swinging of the branches by whacking the knot on the trunk; down the dark, rough-hewn passage to the basement of the shrieking shack; and quietly making their way up the ladder and gently entering the ground floor cupboard through the trapdoor.

Once inside, they heard voices - one was Ron's, whining. Quietly, they made their way to one of the front rooms from where they they heard the voices originate.

Peeking inside, they saw Ron sprawled on the floor with his back against a wall. He was cradling Scabbers - who appeared to be trying to fight to get away - while one of his legs appeared to be broken. A man was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, appearing to rant at Ron while calling him Wormtail.

He was wearing horridly torn and dirty vertically-striped robes. His hair was long, dirty and unkempt, as was his long untrimmed beard. And he appeared both emaciated and of unsound mind. Worst still, he was waving Ron's near-new wand about. All up, he was clearly a dangerous individual.

Harry and Hermione both glanced at one another before both, together, stepped into the room. Harry immediately cast a disarming hex at the man to get Ron's wand off him. It worked, and Harry immediately caught it in his off-hand as Black dived towards Ron.

What followed was almost a Mexican stand-off. Ron was on the floor cradling the rat. Black, as they now recognised him to be, had immediately moved to use Ron as a shield while arguing with Harry and Hermione how he was innocent.

Black then went into his history and the history of what happened in Godric's Hollow on that fateful night.

Next to enter was Remus Lupin. He also held a wand on Black until Black indicated the rat, still struggling in Ron's arms, and stated the rat was Peter Pettigrew.

Not too long afterwards, Black again had Ron's wand and, together with Lupin, cast the animagus forced-reversion charm on the rat as it tried to escape.

They'd no sooner got Pettigrew untransformed and pleading for his life from Harry that Snape entered and divested almost everyone of their wands.

Eventually, Snape was overpowered and the small group began to make their way back to the castle.

That's where that memory ended and Memory-Harry returned.

"On the way back to the castle, Pettigrew managed to escape. In the kerfuffle Lupin had to flee, possibly chasing after Pettigrew.

"However, we weren't safe yet. On my direction, Hermione levitated Ron and raced with him back to the castle. I went after my godfather, Sirius Black. I finally caught up with him down by the edge of the Black Lake. And, there, we were attacked by dementors. This was third time I'm attacked by them that I alluded to earlier."

Memory-Harry faded away and the next memory was of Harry and Sirius fleeing dementors and being attacked by them down near the Black Lake. Sirius almost got his soul sucked out, with Harry almost unconscious himself, but both were saved by the appearance of what Harry thought was the ghost of his father in his animagus form. It was a massively powerful Patronus; and Harry passes out.

Harry then wakes up in the Infirmary to news Sirius was locked in Professor Flitwick's office, and Fudge was ordering in the dementors to suck out his soul.

Ron is unconscious but both Hermione and Harry try to tell Fudge the truth of what happened. However, Fudge accuses them of being 'confounded' that is, cursed with the Confundus charm - and refuses to listen to either before then storming out.

Dumbledore then gives them the hint about the time turner and how many turns of it should do for what they needed to accomplish, then begins to leave before hesitating just outside the door.

Hermione shows Harry the time turner, loops the chain over both their necks, turns the time turner to go back three hours and they disappear.

The memory fades away before Memory-Harry reappears. "As you can see, 'Fumbling Fudge' accused us of being confounded and refused to hear any more of what happened. By law, he was required to take the matter to the DMLE, specifically to Amelia Bones as Director of the DMLE, and didn't.

"Plus, you also saw Dumbledore send a thirteen and fourteen year old off on yet another adventure, as if we hadn't already had one that night.

"Once back in time the two of us moved to free Buckbeak and hide him away in the Forbidden Forest for later. You'll see why in the next memory. Then we headed for a spot where we could watch the Whomping Willow and wait for our now-younger selves to once more emerge from the underground passageway. We were there to try and catch Peter Pettigrew after he managed to give our younger selves, Sirius Black and company the slip. Because we did not know in the first time through that Pettigrew had managed to escape after all, we figured that if we caught him again the second time through it would not cause a temporal paradox.

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