(TW: homophobic slur)

The morning of the last day of exams, at Muggle Studies, Professor Burbage introduced her students to something very interesting they were meant to study next year, since they had already finished their exams.

It was some sort of awesome engine made by muggles called 'The Internet'. She didn't get into much detail yet, since it was the main subject for fourth year, but she made sure to answer every single question made by her students.

Since it was one of their last sessions of the year, Professor Burbage had brought them some muggle snacks for them to try, as she had promised at the start of the year. Ben was sure it had been by far one of the most fun and entertaining classes he had ever had at Hogwarts.

Right after the lesson was over, he ran to go find Harry and Ron, to tell them what had happened. As usual, Hermione was gone before he could get to her in order for them to go together, and it had been a long time since Ben had found out why. Or at least, he had come up with a theory.

He was met by Ron, who told him that, during their Divination lesson, Professor Trelawney had made Hermione mad, and she had left in the middle of it. And hearing that was the last missing piece in the puzzle.

Without giving Ron any explanation, he ran to find Hermione on their way to their next class. He caught a glimpse of her brunette bushy hair turning around a corner, so he called her name, and rushed after her.

"Hermione!"

The girl stopped, and turned to him. "Yes?"

"I want you to tell me the truth, please," he said, surely but calmly.

"About what?" she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"How did you get a Time-Turner?" asked Ben. "I mean, did you get it yourself, or did someone give it to you?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," she stuttered.

"You don't have to lie to me, I've known for over a month and a half," he announced. "And I've been suspecting it since February. I didn't want to ask you yet, since you were very stressed with exams and everything. But that was just proof that made me even more sure of this. You have always been busy with work, but this year you've had an insane amount of work. None of us had that much to do, and we're supposed to be doing the same amount of subjects, with a similar amount of effort required."

"That's because I've been taking some extra classes, and doing some extra work so I can improve my grades, but that doesn't mean I have a Time-Turner."

"Hermione, I'm sure it's not humanly possible for your grades to get better. And, anyway, how is it possible for you to take two different classes at the same time, if it's not with the help of a Time-Turner? Take today as an example; you were at Muggle Studies with us, but Ron just told me you got mad at Professor Trelawney at Divination, which was happening at the exact same time, on the other side of the castle."

Hermione was silent.

"I've been covering you from Ron and Harry for a while," he continued. "By that I mean that I didn't tell them you were at Muggle Studies. At least not since I found out what you were doing. I assume some teacher's been helping you with this, right? Maybe it was Dumbledore, or McGonagall..."

"It was McGonagall," confirmed Hermione, finally giving in. She had a strange expression on her face, as though she had just been slapped metaphorically. She was clearly surprised at having been discovered by Ben. "She did it because she knew I really wanted to go to more than two classes. Every single one was intriguing to me, and I couldn't resist learning as much as I possibly could."

"But don't you understand you're overloading yourself with work by doing that?" asked Ben. "I bet you've barely slept this year, having to keep up with so many assignments, homework, and studying. I wonder how you've even managed!"

"It was exhausting," she admitted. "But it was worth it. I've already finished every exam, and I can finally relax. Although this afternoon won't be a happy one at all."

"Why not?"

"Today is Buckbeak's execution, remember?" she reminded him. He felt terribly bad, but he had been so concentrated on studying for the finals, that he had honestly completely forgotten about it. "Me and Hagrid tried our best to avoid it happening, but we couldn't. Malfoy is too powerful."

"Well, at least we can make sure Hagrid won't be alone today. We'll go visit him this afternoon, after the execution."

———————————————

Right after their last lesson of the afternoon, when Ben was coming back from changing in the boy's dorms, he came across Thomas, who was on his way to the lake.

"Hey!" greeted the younger boy.

"Hey!"

"I've just finished my last test of the year," Thomas told him exhaustedly.

"What was it?"

"Potions," he breathed out. "It was terrible, but I think I did well."

"That's nice, I'm sure you did."

"What ab-" he began asking, but was soon cut off.

"Well, well, well," they heard a familiar voice behind them. It was Malfoy, of course. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, as usual. "Look who's here."

"What do you want?" snapped Thomas, though his voice sounded slightly shaky.

"Why so rude, Tommy?" snickered Malfoy, his eyes full of disgust as he looked at the younger boy. "Are you mad that I interrupted your flirting?"

Suddenly, all colour drained from Thomas's face, and he looked as though he had just seen a ghost. Ben could see hate burning madly in his dark eyes, and he could tell he wanted to punch him right in the face, yet he didn't utter a word.

"What?" asked Ben, completely confused.

"Look, Ben, I'm really just trying to warn you."

"Warn me from what? What are you talking about?"

Malfoy's eyes widened. "Oh, wow. I assume little Tommy hasn't told you, has he?"

"Told me what?"

"That's he's a faggot-"

Thomas' fist crashed forcefully into Malfoy's jaw, with such a strength that the blond nearly lost balance. Before he even had time to process what had just done, Crabbe and Goyle pushed him, making him fall to the floor with a thud.

Ben spun around to see if he was okay, to find both bullies starting to kick him. Without hesitation, he lunged into action, determined to pull them apart. But then, Crabbe's punch landed with incredible force on Ben's nose, causing his vision to blur and blood to stream down his face.

"Ben!" he heard Thomas shout.

The curly-haired boy grabbed hold of Crabbe's leg before he could hurt him, and pulled with all his might, sending Crabbe crashing to the ground with a terrible thud. Thomas got up, but Goyle pushed him back to the floor, and kicked him in the gut.

Ben seized Goyle's cloak, pushing as strongly as he could, and making him fall on top of him. The smaller boy let out a moan of pain. The bully began punching Ben over and over. Blood was now completely covering his vision, though he was sure he wouldn't be able to see anything even if it wasn't for the liquid, since he was way too dizzy.

Desperately, Ben pulled Goyle's hair, making him scream out in pain, and causing him to move aside. Ben took advantage of that moment of weakness, and of a sudden adrenaline rush, and got up.

Crabbe and Goyle were approaching him, and he knew he couldn't risk getting into a physical fight against them anymore. So, with a quick movement, he took out his wand and, without a single doubt, he yelled; "Expelliarmus!"

An instant later, Crabbe and Goyle were flying across the corridor, and collided against the stone wall with a thud so loud it seemed like the whole castle was about to collapse.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" shouted an older, severe-sounding voice from behind Ben. He didn't need to look at him to know it was Professor Snape.

———————————————

So, it turned out Ben wouldn't be able to make it to Buckbeak's execution. He and Thomas were sent to the Infirmary, and they had been told to go to the Potions Classroom immediately afterwards, since Snape had decided to make them clean dirty cauldrons as detention.

Madam Pomfrey cleaned their wounds, checked for any broken bones, and gave them a potion to lessen the pain before sending them away.

Thomas didn't dare to even glance at Ben for the whole time they were there, which was confusing him a lot. On their way from the Infirmary to the dungeons, he finally spoke to him about it.

"Ben," called Thomas. "I'm really sorry about what happened to you."

"Why? It wasn't your fault at all."

"It was, though."

"No, it was me who pushed Crabbe and Goyle."

"You only did it to defend me," he retorted. "Because they were about to beat me up. They wouldn't have done it if I hadn't punched Malfoy, so it's my fault."

"You wouldn't have done it if Malfoy hadn't called you such a... terrible and disgusting thing," stated Ben. "So it was Malfoy's fault."

Thomas didn't answer at once. He took a while before responding.

"You know what that word means, right?"

Now it was Ben's turn to not speak instantly. He definitely knew what it meant. He didn't the first time he had heard it, though, but he now did. He had heard it a lot of times since the first occasion. "I do."

Thomas nodded. "Do you... think differently of me?"

"Why would I?" he asked. "Just because he called you that word, it doesn't mean you're actually... You know, that..."

For example, he himself had been called it, yet he wasn't gay.

Thomas took a deep, deep breath. "But I am gay."

Ben stopped talking, and froze on his spot. He suddenly had absolutely no idea of what he was thinking or feeling, but he didn't care. It didn't matter. All that mattered was whatever Thomas was thinking or feeling.

He was looking at him, eyes full of terror, and Ben abruptly noticed that the boy did actually look younger. For some reason, the first clear thought in his mind was that he was a year younger than him. He was looking smaller, and Ben hated how scared he seemed after saying that.

So he took him, and wrapped his arms around him, embracing the boy warmly. Thomas didn't respond to the hug at first, but Ben soon felt his arms on his back.

"I wasn't flirting, by the way," he whispered when they pulled away. "I don't... like you like that."

Ben nodded in understanding, though he hadn't even thought about it for a split second, not even now that he knew about his preference. "So... Do you have a crush or something?"

Thomas went brick red. "No..."

"Are you lying to me?" smirked Ben.

"Who knows?" he replied with a teasing grin.

"You do."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Do you know who Theodore Nott is?"

"Of course," he replied. How could he not, after transforming into him last year? "Is it him?"

"Maybe."

Ben's jaw dropped, and he covered his mouth with both hands. "I should've known! Everytime we were at the library, and he came to ask me about homework, you got all shy and nervous! How didn't I notice?"

Thomas let out a chuckle. "What about you?"

"What about me?" he frowned.

"Do you have a crush?"

Ben stopped to think about it. There were some girls he found to be quite pretty, but he didn't consider that to be a crush. He didn't think he had a crush, or at least not yet.

"No, I don't think so."

"Really?" his eyebrows raised. "Not even that Hufflepuff girl? Marina?"

"Oh, well, she's really really pretty. And she's sweet, and funny. I like being around her at Muggle Studies, though I prefer to sit with Hermione-"

"Maybe you fancy her."

Ben laughed. "No, not at all. Did that sound rude? I didn't mean to. I adore Hermione, but not like that. She's my best friend."

Thomas nodded. "I assume it's similar to Leah and I."

———————————————

When they were done cleaning the cauldrons, Snape finally let both boys go. It was already getting dark outside, and Ben knew the execution had already taken place. He said goodbye to Thomas, and began sprinting out of the castle, on his way to Hagrid's hut. He assumed Harry, Ron and Hermione would be there.

However, as he ran across the Wooden Bridge, he was suddenly pushed through a hole in the wall. He landed properly on the grass, but his heart almost stopped before he noticed it was Harry and Hermione. They had several scratches on their faces.

"What was that about?" he gasped. "Why did you do that?"

"Malfoy was coming," replied Hermione, looking around the corner. "What happened? Why didn't you come to the execution?"

"What happened to your face?" asked Harry before he had time to answer Hermione's questions. "Who did that to you?"

For some minutes, Ben had forgotten about the fight with Malfoy's cronies, and that neither Harry or Hermione knew anything about it. His face was covered in bruises and scratch marks, but thankfully his eye had not been swollen.

"Crabbe and Goyle," he responded. "It's a long story, I'll tell it to you later."

"Fine," said Harry, not looking away from him, a worried expression on his face.

"Why are we hiding here?" asked Ben. "And why isn't Ron with you? Is he alright?"

"He's at the Infirmary," Hermione told him. "Sirius Black attacked him-"

"Sirius Black?" repeated Ben, his voice a strangled gasp. "You've been with Sirius Black? What did he do to Ron?" He turned to Harry. "Are you okay? Did he try to hurt you? Oh, Merlin! I should've been here!"

"Sirius Black didn't hurt me, he's innocent," rushed to say Harry. "And Ron's okay, it was an accident."

"We will explain everything to you, but not now," promised Hermione, turning to him, and going back to looking through the corner.

Ben wondered what she was so observant about. He took a couple of steps forward, to see three people who looked exactly like Harry, Ron and Hermione starting to walk down to Hagrid's hut.

"What?" he exclaimed. "How is that-"

"We used the timeturner," said Hermione. "We can't waste any more time. Come on."

She got up, and ran after them, followed by Harry and a hesitant Ben. They hid behind a large rock, and waited until it was safe for them to continue without being seen.

"Oh, wow, Buckbeak's there!" said Ben, happily.

"He's still alive," added Harry.

"Of course, remember what Dumbledore said? If we succeed, more than one innocent life could be spared.

They ran down the hill that led to Hagrid's hut but, instead of entering, as Harry, Hermione and Ron from the past had done, they crouched down behind some gigantic pumpkins.

Hermione pointed at the path they had just gone through, down which the figures of Dumbledore, Fudge, and someone Ben didn't recognise, were going.

"They're coming," announced Harry, getting up. "We'd better hurry."

Hermione held him down. "No, Fudge has to see Buckbeak before we steal him. Otherwise, he'll think Hagrid set him free."

They continued looking through the window, and Ben saw Hagrid giving Ron something. "Scabbers, you're alive!" cried out the redhead.

"Scabbers is alive?" asked Ben, happily.

"Yes, but he's a murderer," grumbled Harry.

"Excuse me, what?"

"He's Pettigrew," he replied, not looking away from the rat Ron was holding.

Ben didn't even try to ask, since he knew they wouldn't explain much more.

"Harry, you can't!"

"Hermione, that's the man who betrayed my parents! You can't expect me to just sit here."

"Yes, and you must!" she ordered, grabbing Harry, and moving to hide behind another nearby mountain of pumpkins. Ben ran after them. "Harry, you're in Hagrid's hut now. If you just burst in like that, you'll think you've gone mad! Awful things have happened to wizards who meddle with time, Harry, we can't be seen."

"I'm not in there, though," said Ben. "I have absolutely no clue of what's going on, but maybe I can go in there."

"No, Ben, just stay here, Fudge's coming," demanded Hermione, so Ben listened. "But we aren't leaving... Why aren't we leaving?"

"Should we distract Fudge somehow?"

But Hermione, without any warning, threw a pebble inside Hagrid's hut, breaking a vase. Harry looked at her as though she had gone mad, but the girl threw another pebble inside, this time hitting Hary's neck.

"Ouch, that hurt."

"Sorry..."

Hermione and Harry turned to look at Dumbledore and Fudge, while Ben observed as Harry, Ron and Hermione from the past began walking to the back door.

"You're coming out," he warned them. "Should we hide?"

"Yes, go!"

They rushed inside the forest behind them, and hid behind some nearby trees. Hermione moved a branch out of sight to get a better look, "Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?"

Hermione from the past spun around, and present Hermione barely had time to hide back behind the tree.

"What?" asked Ron from the past.

"I thought I saw..." began Hermione from the past. "Nevermind."

"Let's go!"

Shooting a last glance to the forest, their past selves ran up the hill. Harry, Hermione and Ben went out of their hiding spot.

"Go, Harry," said Hermione.

Harry slowly walked up to the still alive Buckbeak, but a couple of crows decided it would be fun to begin flying around him. He shook his feet in a rather funny way, and got rid of them, sort of.

Once he was close enough to the hippogriff, he bowed to him. Buckbeak returned the gesture almost instantly, yet turned back to sleep after it. Harry untied from a nearby log the chain he was wearing around the creature's neck, earning a peck from a crow.

Harry grabbed hold of the chain, and pushed with all his might to get Buckbeak to move, but it was useless. Hermione and Ben joined him, and attempted to make sounds to attract him. But it was useless, too.

Ben tapped on Hermione's shoulder, and pointed at some dead ferrets lying on the floor. They had seen Hagrid feed them to him the first day they ever met Buckbeak. The girl smiled, and rushed over to get them.

It worked like magic. Buckbeak instantly stood up at the sight of them. "Come here, Buckbeak," called Hermione. "Come, and you'll have this delicious dead ferret!"

Buckbeak started walking in the direction they wanted him to, so Hermione awarded him with a ferret. He devoured it in an instant, and they continued leading him to the forest.

"Let's go, Beaky!"

Slowly, they managed to guide him to the first trees, barely being able to avoid beeing seen by Dumbledore and Fudge, who appeared to be very interested in some strawberries, or the lack of them.

It was getting darker and darker every second while they ran through the forest. Ben didn't know where they were going, or what their plan was, but assumed they wouldn't explain it yet. Hermione left Buckbeak in a clear of the forest, leaving the remaining ferrets for him to eat.

"What do we do now?" asked Harry, as they went back to running.

"Now we save Sirius," said Hermione.

"Would someone mind telling me why we're now trying to save Sirius, if he's a murderer?" wondered Ben as they reached the exit of the forest, and watched Lupin walking around the Whomping Willow. "What's Lupin doing there?"

Neither of them replied. Lupin took out his wand and casted a spell which made the tree's movements slow down, and he then disappeared inside the tree.

"Snape's coming," Hermione told them.

"I'm really confused, why's everyone entering the Whomping Willow, has there been some kind of party there or what?"

Hermione and Harry sighed, and sat down on the floor. Ben did the same, and got ready to ask, again. But Harry was faster. "What happened to you? Where were you this afternoon?"

"I saw Thomas on my way outside," he began. There was a sudden gloomy look on Harry's face. "We were talking, and came across Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy called Thomas something... disgusting."

"What did he call him?" wondered Harry.

"I don't want to say that word," Ben shook his head. "But it was something really hurtful. So Thomas punched him on the jaw. Crabbe and Goyle began kicking him, and I tried to defend him, and we sort of got into a fight."

"Oh no!" cried Hermione.

"But then I threw a spell at them, and they got jeeted to the wall," concluded Ben. "It was kind of cool, I must admit. Snape saw us, and Malfoy said Thomas and I had attacked them out of nowhere, so we got detention."

"Are you hurt now?" asked Harry.

Ben shook his head. "No, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"So it seems like Malfoy got punched twice today," commented Harry, not trying to hold back a grin. Ben frowned in confusion, and Hermione's cheeks went slightly pink. "Hermione did it, too."

"You punched Malfoy?" gasped Ben. "And I wasn't there to see it? I can't believe it!"

"It was awesome!" exclaimed Harry.

"Didn't you get mad at me for punching Malfoy in first year, Hermione?" asked Ben, in a teasing tone.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry finally began explaining everything that had happened while Ben was gone.

"Ron got Scabbers back, since Hagrid had found him. But, then, when Buckbeak was executed, Ron's rat bit him, and ran away. Ron tried to catch him, but a huge dog that looked like the Grim appeared, and attacked him and dragged him inside the Whomping Willow. We followed him, and found out it's an entrance to the Shrieking Shack."

"The Haunted House?"

Harry nodded. "The black dog transformed into Sirius Black, and then Lupin appeared. And then Snape did, too, but he fainted, due to me using the disarming charm on him. Sirius and Lupin explained the truth to us. And it turned out that Sirius is innocent. He loved my parents, and would've never betrayed them. Instead, it had been Peter Pettigrew who had done it. He was the traitor. And he wasn't killed that night. Instead, he transformed into a rat, Scabbers, and never turned back to his human form, until today."

"Why can he and Sirius transform into animals so easily?" asked Ben. "Are they animagi?"

"Exactly," confirmed Harry. "Remember the Marauder's Map? It was created by my dad and his friends when they were younger. They were the Marauders. My dad, James, was Prongs, and he could transform into a stag. Sirius was Padfoot, and could turn into a black dog; Pettigrew was Wormtail, and his animagi form was a rat; and Professor Lupin was Moony."

"But Lupin wasn't an animagus, was he?" he guessed. Both Harry and Hermione shook their heads. Ben smirked. "He's a werewolf."

They nodded, again.

"I knew it, it was as clear as day."

"It was," agreed Hermione.

"I honestly had no clue," confessed Harry.

Ben snickered, earning a fake glare from Harry. "And what happened after you found out all that?"

"Lupin transformed into a wolf, and Pettigrew escaped. We couldn't catch him, so he's out there, somewhere," said Harry. "As we were trying to escape from the wolf, dementors caught Sirius, and now he's trapped. He's waiting to be executed, and that's why Dumbledore told us to do this, so we can save him."

After that, there was a quite long silence. Ben's mind was working very quickly as he processed everything that had just happened. He was sitting next to Harry, while Hermione was a bit behind them.

"Hermione," called Harry. "Before, down by the lake, when I was with Sirius... I did see someone. That someone made the dementors go away."

"With a patronus," added Hermione. "I heard Snape telling Dumbledore. According to him, only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it."

"It was my dad," said Harry, smiling from ear to ear. "It was my dad who conjured the patronus."

Hermione and Ben exchanged looks for an instant.

"But, Harry," began Hermione. "Y-Your dad's-"

"Dead, I know," he snapped. "I'm just telling you what I saw."

Harry began twinkling a small stick on his hands. His eyes were fixed on it, yet he could tell he was lost in thought.

"We're coming out," announced Hermione. The three stood up, and observed them from a distance.

"Do you see Sirius talking to me there?" asked Harry. They nodded. "He's asking me to go live with him."

"That's great."

"What did you say to him?" wondered Ben.

"That I would, of course. When we free him, I'll never have to go back to the Dursley's. It'll just be me and him. We could live in the country, somewhere you can see the sky! I think he'll like that, after all those years in Azkaban."

A soft but cool breeze tickled Ben's skin, and he watched as Harry's dark strands moved because of it. The boy's lips were drawing a weak, yet true smile, and his sparkling eyes were fixed on Sirius.

It was odd for Ben to see him in real life, even if he was quite far away, and couldn't see him. He had seen him loads of times, but always in pictures. He had heard the most horrible things about him, and about what he had supposedly done, for it all to just be lies. He felt very bad for him. He couldn't imagine what it must've felt to know everybody believes you betrayed the people you cared about the most.

But, all of a sudden, the calmness of the moment disappeared at once when bright moonlight shone all over them from behind a dark cloud. A howl broke the silence. They watched as Sirius transformed into his dog self, and threw himself at the wolf in an attempt to defend the rest.

"Let's go," Harry eventually spoke, and the three of them ascended the forest entrance, occasionally glancing back at the scene to ensure they weren't overlooking anything.

They came to a halt, and observed the wolf getting closer and closer to Harry from the past. Fear gripped Ben intensely. He knew his friend had survived the first time, or else he wouldn't have managed to be there, now, but he couldn't help but be afraid of something going wrong.

All of a sudden, Hermione let out a loud howl. Harry and Ben looked at her, dumpstruck.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Harry, attempting to cover her mouth to stop her.

"Saving your life!" she answered, before letting out another howl, this one louder.

The wolf looked away from Harry, and fixed its eyes on the forest, before beginning to run in their direction. "What do we do now?" asked Ben.

"I haven't thought of that..." confessed Hermione. "Run!"

And so they did.

A/N: this chapter was a bit intense lmao i hope you enjoyed