Me, Harry and Hermione listened closely. We heard footsteps, thesoft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more."Now what?" whispered Harry, looking around."We'll have to hide in here," said Hermione, who looked veryshaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle.Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window.He won't be there for another couple of hours. . . . Oh, this is going to be difficult. . . ." 

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of theforest. The sun was setting now."We're going to have to move,"I said, thinking hard."We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won'tknow what's going on." 

"Okay," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak'srope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, guys, remember. . . ." 

We moved around the edge of the forest, darkness fallingthickly around us, until we were hidden behind a clump oftrees through which we could make out the Willow. 

"There's Ron!" said Harry suddenly.A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air."Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —" 

And then we saw three more figures materialize out of nowhere. I watched myself, Harry and Hermione chasing after Ron. 

Then I saw Ron dive.

 "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —" 

"There's Sirius!"I said. 

The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. We saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron. . . .

 "Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Harry, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots. "Ouch — look, I just got walloped by the tree — and so did you Emma— this is weird —" 

The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; we could see ourselves darting here and there,trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.

 "That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.

 "And there we go . . . ," I muttered. "We're in." 

The moment we disappeared, the tree began to move again.Seconds later, we heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore,Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. 

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" said Hermione."If only Dumbledore had come with us . . ."

 "Macnair and Fudge would've come too," said Harry bitterly. "I bet you anything Fudge would've told Macnair to murder Sirius onthe spot. . . ."

We watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then —

"Here comes Lupin!" said Harry as we saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring toward the Willow.

I looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely. We watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground andprod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin,too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.

"If he'd only grabbed the cloak," said Harry. "It's just lyingthere. . . ." 

He turned to Hermione and me.

 "If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape'd never be ableto get it and —" 

"Harry, we mustn't be seen!"

 "How can you stand this?" he asked Hermione fiercely. "Juststanding here and watching it happen?" He hesitated. "I'm goingto grab the cloak!"

 "Harry, no!" I seized the back of Harry's robes not a moment toosoon. Just then, we heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, makinghis way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from hishands.

 "See?" Hermione whispered. "See what would have happened?We've got to keep out of sight! No, Buckbeak!"

 The hippogriff was making frantic attempts to get to Hagridagain; Harry and I seized his rope too, straining to hold Buckbeak back.

 We watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He wasgone. Buckbeak stopped fighting to get away. His head droopedsadly.Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again,and Snape came charging out of them, running toward theWillow.Harry's fists clenched as they watched Snape skid to a halt nextto the tree, looking around. He grabbed the cloak and held it up. 

"Get your filthy hands off it," Harry snarled under his breath. 

"Shh!"

 Snape seized the branch Lupin had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he put on the cloak. 

"So that's it," said Hermione quietly. "We're all down there . . .and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again. . . ." 

She took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it securely aroundthe nearest tree, then sat down on the dry ground, arms around herknees. 

"Harry, Emma there's something I don't understand. . . . Why didn'tthe dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then Ithink I passed out . . . there were so many of them. . . ."

 Harry and I sat down too. We explained what we'd seen; how, as thenearest dementor had lowered its mouth to ours, 2 large silversomethings had come galloping across the lake and forced the dementors to retreat.

 Hermione's mouth was slightly open by the time Harry had finished.

 "But what was it?" 

"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the dementors go,"I said. "A real Patronus. A powerful one." 

"But who conjured it?"

 Harry and I didn't say anything. I was thinking back to the people we'd seen on the other bank of the lake. I knew who I thoughtit had been . . . but how could it have been?

 "Didn't you see what they looked like?" said Hermione eagerly."Was it one of the teachers?" 

"No," said Harry. "They weren't teachers." 

"But they must have been a really powerful wizards, to drive all  those dementors away. . . . If the Patronus was shining so brightly,didn't it light them up? Couldn't you see — ?"

 "Yeah, we saw them," said Harry slowly. "But . . . maybe we imagined it. . . . we weren't thinking straight. . . . we passed out right afterward. . . ." 

I knew my brother had drawn the same conclussions as me

"Who did you think it was?"

 "I think —" I swallowed, knowing how strange this wasgoing to sound. "I think it was our mom and  dad." I glanced up at Hermione and saw that her mouth was fullyopen now. She was gazing at us with a mixture of alarm and pity.

 "Emma, your dad and mom are — well — dead," she said quietly. 

"we know that," said Harry quickly. 

"You think you saw his ghost?" 

"I don't know . . . no . . . they looked solid. . . ."

 "But then —"

 "Maybe we were seeing things," said Harry. "But . . . from what Icould see . . . it looked like them. . . . we've got photos of them. . . ." 

"Me too

Hermione was still looking at us as though worried about our sanity."I know it sounds crazy," I said flatly. I turned to look atBuckbeak, who was digging his beak into the ground, apparentlysearching for worms. But I wasn't really watching Buckbeak. 

I was thinking about his father and about our father's threeoldest friends . . . Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. . . .Had all four of them been out on the grounds tonight? Wormtailhad reappeared this evening when everyone had thought he wasdead. . . . Was it so impossible my father and mother had done the same? Had we been seeing things across the lake? The figures had been too far away to see distinctly . . . yet I had felt sure, for a moment, before we'd lost consciousness. . . . 

The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. 

The moondrifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermionesat with her face turned toward the Willow, waiting.

 And then, at last, after over an hour . . . 

"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.

 She,Harry and I got to our feet. Buckbeak raised his head. We saw Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambering awkwardly out of thehole in the roots . . . followed by the unconscious Snape, driftingweirdly upward. Next came Me,Harry, Hermione, and Black. They allbegan to walk toward the castle. my heart was starting to beat very fast. I glanced up at thesky. 

Any moment now, that cloud was going to move aside andshow the moon. . . . 

"Harry,"Emma Hermione muttered as though she knew exactly what I was thinking, "we've got to stay put. We mustn't be seen. There'snothing we can do. . . ." 

"So we're just going to let Pettigrew escape all over again. . . ."said Harry quietly.

 "How do you expect to find a rat in the dark?" snappedHermione. "There's nothing we can do! We came back to helpSirius; we're not supposed to be doing anything else!"

 "All right!" 

"You should've let him die." I growled. 

Harry shook his head.

The moon slid out from behind its cloud. We saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop. Then they saw movement — 

"There goes Lupin," Hermione whispered. "He's transforming —"

 "Hermione!" said Harry suddenly. "Emma--We've got to move!"

"We mustn't, I keep telling you —" 

"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the forest, right atus!" 

Hermione gasped. 

"Quick!" she moaned, dashing to untie Buckbeak. "Quick!Where are we going to go? Where are we going to hide? The dementors will be coming any moment —" 

"Back to Hagrid's!" I said. "It's empty now — come on!" 

We ran as fast as we could, Buckbeak cantering alongbehind us. We could hear the werewolf howling behindthem. . . .The cabin was in sight; I skidded to the door, wrenched itopen, and Harry, Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past me; I threw myself in after them and bolted the door. Fang the boarhoundbarked loudly. 

"Shh, Fang, it's us!" said Hermione, hurrying over and scratching his ears to quieten him. "That was really close!" she said toHarry and me. 

"Yeah . . ." I was looking out of the window. It was much harder to seewhat was going on from here. Buckbeak seemed very happy to findhimself back inside Hagrid's house. He lay down in front of thefire, folded his wings contentedly, and seemed ready for a goodnap. 

"I think I'd better go outside again, you know," said Harryslowly. "I can't see what's going on — we won't know when it'stime —" 

Hermione looked up. Her expression was suspicious. 

"I'll come too" I added

"I'm not going to try and interfere," said Harry quickly. "But ifwe don't see what's going on, how're we going to know when it'stime to rescue Sirius?"

 "Well . . . okay, then . . . I'll wait here with Buckbeak . . . butHarry,Emma be careful — there's a werewolf out there — and the dementors —"

 Harry and I stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. Wecould hear yelping in the distance. That meant the dementors wereclosing in on Sirius. . . . We and Hermione would be running tohim any moment. . . .Harry and I stared out toward the lake, my heart doing a kind ofdrumroll in my chest. . . . 

Whoever had sent that Patronuses wouldbe appearing at any moment. . . .For a fraction of a second we stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door.

 You must not be seen. 

But we didn't want to be seen. Wewanted to do the seeing. . . . We had to know. . . .And there were the dementors. They were emerging out ofthe darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of thelake. . . . They were moving away from where Harry and I stood, tothe opposite bank. . . . We wouldn't have to get near them. . . .  Harry and I shared a look.

Then together, Harry and I began to run. We had no thought in his head except our mother and father. . . . If it was them . . . if it really was them . . . we had to know,had to find out. . . .The lake was coming nearer and nearer, but there was no sign ofanybody.

 On the opposite bank, we could see tiny glimmers of silver — our own attempts at a Patronus —There was a bush at the very edge of the water. Harry and I threw ourselves behind it, peering desperately through the leaves. 

On the opposite bank, the glimmers of silver were suddenly extinguished.A terrified excitement shot through him — any moment now —

 "Come on!" harry muttered, staring about. "Where are you? Dad, Mum come on —" 

But no one came. I raised my head to look at the circle ofdementors across the lake. One of them was lowering its hood. Itwas time for the rescuer to appear — but no one was coming tohelp this time —And then it hit me — 

I understood. We hadn't seen our mother father — we had seen ourselves — 

"Harry--"

"I know"

Harry and I flung ourselves out from behind the bush and pulled out our wands. 

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" we yelled.And out of the end of my wand burst, not a shapeless cloud ofmist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. I screwed up my eyes, trying to see what it was. It looked like a dog or hyena...

It was galloping silently away from me across the black surface of the lake.I saw it lower its head and charge at the swarming dementors. . . .Now it was running around and around the black shapes on theground, and the dementors were falling back, scattering, retreatinginto the darkness. . . . 

They were gone. 

The Patronuses turned. They were cantering back toward Harry  and me acrossthe still surface of the water. It wasn't a dog. It wasn't a hyena,either. It was a Wolf. It was shining brightly as the moon above . . .it was coming back to me. . . .It stopped on the bank. Its paws made no mark on the softground as it stared at me with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, itbowed its furried head.

Harry's was a stag...

 And Harry and I seemed to realize . . .

"Prongs," he whispered. 

"Padfoot" I whispered.

But as our trembling fingertips stretched toward the creatures, they vanished.Harry and I stood there, hands still outstretched. Then, with a greatleap of my heart, I heard hooves behind us — we whirledaround and saw Hermione dashing toward us, dragging Buckbeak behind her.

 "What did you do?" she said fiercely. "You said you were only going to keep a lookout!" 

"we just saved all our lives . . . ," said Harry. "Get behind here —behind this bush —we'll explain." 

Hermione listened to what had just happened with her mouthopen yet again."Did anyone see you?"

 "Yes, haven't you been listening?" I asked impatiently " we saw us but we thought we were our mum and  dad! It's okay!"

 "Harry,Emma I can't believe it. . . . You conjured up a Patronuses thatdrove away all those dementors! That's very, very advancedmagic. . . ."

 "we knew we could do it this time," said Harry, "because we'd alreadydone it. . . . Does that make sense?"

 "I don't know — Harry, Emma look at Snape!" 

Together we peered around the bush at the other bank. Snapehad regained consciousness. He was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Me, Harry, Hermione, and Black onto them. Afourth stretcher, no doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at hisside. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved us awaytoward the castle. 

"Right, it's nearly time," said Hermione tensely, looking at herwatch. "We've got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledorelocks the door to the hospital wing. We've got to rescue Sirius andget back into the ward before anybody realizes we're missing. . . ." 

We waited, watching the moving clouds reflected in the lake,while the bush next to them whispered in the breeze. Buckbeak,bored, was ferreting for worms again.

 "D' you reckon he's up there yet?" said Harry, checking hiswatch.I looked up at the castle and began counting the windowsto the right of the West Tower. 

"Look!" Hermione whispered. "Who's that? Someone's comingback out of the castle!"

 Harry and I stared through the darkness. The man was hurryingacross the grounds, toward one of the entrances. Something shinyglinted in his belt.

 "Macnair!" said Harry. "The executioner! He's gone to get thedementors! This is it, Hermione —" 

Hermione put her hands on Buckbeak's back and Harry gave hera leg up. Then he placed his foot on one of the lower branches ofthe bush and climbed up in front of her. He pulled me up next , put me in front of him and wrapped his arms around my waist. I pulled Buckbeak's ropeback over his neck and tied it to the other side of his collar likereins. 

"Ready?" I whispered to Hermione and Harry. "You'd better hold on tome —" 

I nudged Buckbeak's sides with my heels.Buckbeak soared straight into the dark air. I gripped hisflanks with my knees, feeling the great wings rising powerfully beneath them.

 I urged Buckbeak forward. We were gliding quietlytoward the upper floors of the castle. . . . I pulled hard on theleft-hand side of the rope, and Buckbeak turned. Harry was tryingto count the windows flashing past — 

"Whoa!" he said, pulling backward as hard as he could.Buckbeak slowed down and we found tourselves at a stop, unless you counted the fact that we kept rising up and down severalfeet as the hippogriff beat his wings to remain airborne. 

"He's there!" I said, spotting Sirius as we rose up beside the window. I reached out, and as Buckbeak's wings fell, was able to tap sharply on the glass.Black looked up. I saw his jaw drop. He leapt from his chair, hurried to the window and tried to open it, but it was locked. 

"Stand back!" I called to him, and I took out my wand, still gripping the back of Buckbeak's head with my left hand."Alohomora!" 

The window sprang open. 

"How — how — ?" said Black weakly, staring at the hippogriff."Get on — there's not much time," said Harry, I struggled, gripping Buckbeak firmly on either side of his sleek neck to hold him steady."You've got to get out of here — the dementors are coming —Macnair's gone to get them."

 Black placed a hand on either side of the window frame andheaved his head and shoulders out of it. It was very lucky he was sothin. In seconds, he had managed to fling one leg over Buckbeak'sback and pull himself onto the hippogriff behind Hermione.

"EMMA NOW!" Yelled Harry

Okay, Buckbeak, up!"I said, shaking the rope. "Up to thetower — come on!" 

The hippogriff gave one sweep of its mighty wings and we weresoaring upward again, high as the top of the West Tower. Buckbeaklanded with a clatter on the battlements, and Harry and Hermione and I slid off him at once. 

"Sirius, you'd better go, quick," Harry panted. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment, they'll find out you're gone." 

Buckbeak pawed the ground, tossing his sharp head. 

"What happened to the other boy? Ron?" croaked Sirius. 

"He's going to be okay. He's still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says she'll be able to make him better. Quick — go —" I said, urging him.

But Black was still staring down at Harry and me. 

"How can I ever thank —" 

"GO!" Me, Harry and Hermione shouted together.Black wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky. 

"We'll see each other again," he said. "You are — truly your parents children,Emma, Harry. . . ." 

He squeezed Buckbeak's sides with his heels. Harry and Hermionejumped back as the enormous wings rose once more. . . . The hippogriff took off into the air. . . . He and his rider became smallerand smaller as Harry and I gazed after them . . . then a cloud driftedacross the moon. . . . 

They were gone.