Chapter 14
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IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR ADHARA TO FIGURE OUT THAT THE BOY-WITH-THE-SCAR'S LIFE WASN'T AS PERFECT HOW PEOPLE SEEMED TO THINK IT WAS. Adhara grew up around mistreated children, she was one herself. Maybe that was why it was easier for her to notice certain things. Because she knew where to look.

One thing she noticed about Harry was his 'saving people' thing. Initially, she believed it might have had something to do with some unconscious need to live up to his name as the saviour of the wizarding world. But recently, she realized it wasn't. It was more than that. Maybe it had something to do with the fighting spirit that came with the emblem of lion stitched onto his robes. Or perhaps it was a hidden need to prove himself to the world or simply out of guilt.

Whatever the reason was, however, it was beyond Adhara's comprehension. The fact that Harry was so willing to sacrifice himself to help other people without getting anything in return was a concept foreign to her. After all, at Aleyne, things worked differently. It was always the 'every kid for themselves' mentality that went around. Obviously, it was. It was their way of ensuring they would survive.

It was how Adhara lived her entire life, too. In fact, it was the only kind of relationship she thought she had with Yaritza.

She didn't even notice when it all changed.

Adhara didn't know when exactly she started caring for Harry so much. She supposed it was somewhere along the summer after their first year when she put together an entire plan to reach Privet Drive. However, perhaps it was way before that, and she just hadn't realized it yet then. After all, why would she even consider visiting a boy who she knew nothing about, let alone ask Matron for permission to do so. No matter how many times she convinced herself it was because she wanted an escape from Aleyne, she knew it to not be true.

And then Harry had expressed how he wanted to get Adhara out of Aleyne, explaining himself with a reason as simple as 'just because'. And Adhara couldn't help but have the exact same sentiment as him when it came to himself.

'I wish I could get you out of the Dursley's' she replied, then.

And she meant it.

━━━━

Adhara was exhausted. The long night aside, carrying her godbrother all the way to the Hospital Wing had been even more tiring. Harry didn't weigh much, but Adhara herself wasn't very strong either. Yet, she carried him on his back, holding him in place with one hand as the other controlled the unconscious form of her uncle with a wand.

"Oh my!"

She heard Pomfrey but didn't bother searching her out. Adhara knew she was there; Millie must be somewhere near too. She was aware of all the other presences in the room; Hermione and Ron were behind her. But she wasn't paying much attention to them. All Adhara cared about right now was making sure Harry was safe.

She released her hold on her uncle, letting the man drop to the ground. Adhara didn't bother to even through a second glance at him before dragging herself to a cot and dropping Harry on it.

Pomfrey was talking to Mione, who was saying something back, but Adhara couldn't make out the words. She somehow felt far away from them all, at the same time as being too present in her own head.

Too present. Uncomfortably present. Adhara didn't like that.

She gripped the bed frame, raising a wand at the nurse.

"McGonagall. Bring McGonagall here."

The woman turned to her, eyes going wide at the sight of the wand. For a second there, Adhara thought she might retaliate. But the nurse went eerily calm in an instant, talking to Adhara with a soft yet firm voice.

"Perhaps the Headmaster would be a better ch-"

"No. I don't trust the man. Bring McGonagall and no one else. Or I might, might have to do somethi-"

She collapsed onto the floor but lifted her wand back up, still watching Pomprey closely. Adhara's mind hadn't let go yet.

She needed to stay present. Even if all her senses were telling her to let go.

━━━━

When Harry came to, his first instinct was to hold his breath. Fists still clenched into balls, he forced all of his senses to work, but his eyes were locked shut. The last thing he remembered was a warm light overcoming him entirely like a protective blanket as it chased away the creatures of his nightmares. But like all things good, it, unfortunately, didn't last long enough. The light was replaced by intense darkness, his heartbeat quickening in his chest once more as he slipped out of consciousness.

Time was an odd thing. It felt like only seconds ago that Harry was holding into Sirius' cold hand, hoping the man would wake up soon.

Now, he wasn't even sure where he was.

Harry jerked up with a gasp, refusing to be in the dark anymore. Instantly, there was a hand rubbing circles on his back, calming him down.

"There, there, Potter. No need to be so dramatic."

Still panting, Harry looked up and was met with jet black hair. Millicent's brown eyes were fixed on him, concern visible in her expression despite the sarcastic tone.

Harry examined her, taking deep breaths with her guidance, as his frazzled mind stuck to the first information it noticed.

"You're not blonde anymore?"

Millie's mouth curved into an amused smirk. "Haven't been for a while, now. Did you just notice?"

Harry didn't know how to respond. Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey approached with her trolley of medicine before he had to. Millicent took that as her signal to leave, smile still evident. She was wearing a cream-coloured apron, one that matched Pomfrey although it lacked all the ruffles, replaced by pink ribbons instead.

She joined Ron, cataloging his injuries. The sight of the redhead's leg brought Harry back to his senses. The events of the previous day hitting him like a ton of bricks. He frantically began to search the other hospital beds.

"Sirius. Where-"

"Oh, hush now, child. Your godfather is well."

Too caught up with his own thoughts, Harry hadn't noticed the nurse holding his wrist, checking his pulse.

"He is in the company Professor McGonagall in the Headmaster's office." She waved her wand towards his chest, something he'd seen her done enough times by now to know she was checking his heartbeat. "I dare say I wished to keep him here instead, with the state that he is currently in. However, I suppose there are more important matters to tend to." She said the last bit with such disdain that Harry couldn't help but scoff. Nothing was more important than one's health for the woman.

Madam Pomfrey looked up, smiling at Harry. "Now, your pulse is faster than it ought to be. No doubt because of all the reckless behaviour you get yourself into. But it's nothing a few drops of calming draught won't help."

"But Sirius-"

"Oh, hush. The adults are all on it. They have all the evidence they could require, so stop worrying so much." She handed him a goblet of water with few drops of the potion. "Drink. And then rest."

She trailed her trolley back into her office, but not without sending him another stern look as she knew exactly what kind of trouble Harry tended to get into.

"Wow. She's never even given me that look before. Not even when I fainted earlier this year."

Harry whirled around. Adhara was in the bed next to him, shoes and socks off as she sat with her legs crossed.

"How long have you been there?"

"The entire time."

"Oh."

"That's 4 to 2." She and Harry have been keeping count of the number of times they both landed themselves at the Hospital Wing ever since the end of their second year when they both realized this just might be a common occurrence. "Seems like I might win this year."

Harry glared. "You're in bed, as well. Shouldn't it be 4 to 3?"

Adhara spread her arms out. "I am uninjured."

He scowled more deeply. "I haven't got any injuries either." It was true, mostly. Only a few scratches but that barely accounted for bed rest.

"You had your soul almost sucked out by a dementor."

"So?"

Adhara rolled her eyes in response to that.

Harry scanned the infirmary. Ron was in the bed opposite of him, with Millie at his side. The rest of the beds were empty, but the one on Harry's other side has clearly been used already.

"Where's Hermione?"

Adhara went to reply but the said girl beat her to it.

"Here. Went to the washroom." She made herself comfortable in Adhara's bed.

Ron spoke up. "They left with Sirius and Pettigrew only a while ago." Despite his injury, he leaned forward in bed, whispering as though someone unwanted would hear what he would say if he didn't. "Snape followed afterwards. I think they may resort to using the veritaserum."

He heard Adhara scoff. "We live in a world with such a thing as a truth serum, and yet people are still getting wrongfully convicted. Great justice system we've got here."

"Veritaserum is quite dangerous." Millie was wrapping new bandages on Ron's leg. "It's understandable that they may want to use it scarcely."

"I rather take the chance than spend twelve years in Azkaban whilst being innocent."

"He will be alright, though, right?" asked Harry hesitantly, addressing to no one in particular.

The other four of the bunch exchanged a look. It was Hermione who answered him.

"The Minister of Magic is here, I saw him," she announced. "He didn't look very happy. Though, with Pettigrew in custody, I imagine he won't be able to prevent Sirius' case from being reopened."

"And even if he did manage to find a way to prevent it," said Ron, "we could always get the press involved."

"The press?"

"Uh-huh. No matter what the Minister decides to do, he won't be able to ignore all the questions from the people if whiff about Pettigrew left the castle."

"And with the power of Hogwart's gossip wheel, it won't take long for the news to reach the Prophet or something," Millie sighed, finishing up the bandages. "Basically, if you can't beat 'em, use 'em to your own benefit."

Adhara actually snorted.

━━━

"There's something else..." started Harry.

"What?"

He looked up at Millie, tentatively "You were at the forest."

Her brown furrowed. "What?"

"At the forest. I saw you when Pettigrew got stunned."

"That's impossible," she declared. "I've been here all day. You can ask Pomfrey."

"But that's-...I know I saw you. It was your hair that I saw, I'm sure of it!"

"I have literally been tending to students all day. How would I be at two places at once?"

From beside Adhara, Hermione yelped, bringing everyone's attention to her. She slowly brought her hand up. "I might know how you could?"

She brought the collar of her shirt down, whipping out a golden chain. Adhara looked stunned in place when she caught sight of it.

"Hermione Jean Granger," she called pointedly as she instantly recognized what the artifact was.

"Sorry?"

━━━

Outside the window, the clock tower chimed eight times.

"Millie! Come here!"

"What? Why?"

Adhara tried not to let the ringing bother her. With the number of times she found herself at the Hospital Wing, she really ought to be more used to the dings.

She watched Hermione forcefully drag Harry towards Millicent. The time traveller threw the chain around her godbrother's neck.

"Hermione?"

"What's going on?" squeaked out Ron.

"Sorry Ron, since you're injured." She pulled Millicent towards her, wrapping her chain around her friend and clasping it shut.

The clock stopped chiming already, yet Adhara's ears still rang.

Hermione turned towards her.

"Adhi-"

Adhara, who seemed to be the only other person who knew what was going on, shook her head. "I'll stay back with Ron. There's already three of you."

Hermione gave her a weak nod before turning the Time Turner three times. In less than a second, the three of them were gone.

Adhara's ears still rang.

━━━━

"I still think you should've brought Adhara with you, instead."

Harry and Hermione had to retrace their steps from earlier that day. Or well. From now. Hermione tried to explain the workings of the Time Turner, though all she managed to do was confuse Harry even further. But as he did with all things magic that went beyond his sense of logic, he simply accepted it for what it was. After all, whether he understood it or not, the necklace would still work, no? All Harry had to focus on was making sure Peter Pettigrew didn't escape.

They were hiding behind Hagrid's one too many gigantic pumpkins, keeping a watch over their past selves. Millie and Hermione stayed crouched on the ground as Harry peered over the large vegetable.

"She didn't want to come. And besides, Harry said he saw you, not her."

Buckbeak was still alive, quietly munching on leftover beaver meat.

"I still find that to be utter bull. Why wouldn't Adhi want to use the Time Turner? She seemed completely mesmerized by it."

"Not everyone's comfortable with the concept of time travelling!"

Harry couldn't get his head around how 'Mione managed to use it all year long without losing her mind over it. It would've taken him a mere day to mess it up. Or maybe even a few hours.

Then again, McGonagall would never even consider him for such a task anyway, so it wasn't his problem.

"Guys look!" Harry whisper-yelled. "We're leaving!"

Hermione and Millicent looked over his shoulder, watching the trio from earlier in the day sneak out of the back door when the Minister and Dumbledore arrived.

The Gryffindors climbed back up the hill to return to the castle.

Looking to make sure both men were securely inside the hut, Harry gestured his friends to follow.

"Come on, we should be on our way to the Willow by now."

"Wait!" Hermione was warily eyeing the hippogriff, lips pulled between her teeth.

As though perfectly reading her thoughts, Millie groaned out loud. "No, Mione. You said it yourselves, we need to be careful!"

"It'll only be a second!"

Catching up their train of thoughts, Harry pointed at the dead beavers, hanging upside down with their legs tied together. "We can use those to lure Buckbeak away."

"Have you two gone mental?"

"We can't just leave it to die!"

Millie closed her eyes, seething in an exasperated breath. "If we end up at St Mungo's for supposedly being insane, I'll have both of your heads!"

━━━

They hid in the Forbidden Forest, only a few feet away from Lupin and Adhara, who were both hiding behind a bush as they watched Sirius approach the trio.

Harry kept his eyes on his godsister instead, since he already knew what went down in front of the Whomping Willow.

Buckbeak stayed further inside the forest, jumping around and catching bats.

"At least someone's enjoying themselves," commented Hermione.

They were too far away to hear either of them speak, so he couldn't make out what his professor had said before he hastily ran towards the tree, leaving Adhara behind.

"Why was Adhara with Lupin?" asked Millie.

━━━

A massive tree branch whacked Adhara straight at her stomach, making her collide with the ground violently.

Millicent flew up, completely forgetting that they were meant to stay out of sight. She angrily shouted at Adhara as the girl simply stood back up after the brutal blow.

"That bitch!"

Hermione and Harry had to grab Millie by both arms to pull her back down.

"What?"

"She told me she was fine. That she hadn't been injured! Tell me how she would've landed that without so much as a broken rib, at least!"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look.

"You didn't get Pomfrey to run a scan on her?"

"I didn't think she'd be stupid enough to lie about a fucking injury! Oh, I'm so punching her once we get back!"

"I don't think that'll help with the rest of her bruises."

"Whatever! We'll just heal the rest too!"

━━

"Wait, so she met Sirius and Professor Lupin before you all?"

They were all inside the Shrieking Shack, now. Adhara had just followed Snape into the tunnel, and all Harry, Millicent and Hermione had to do now was wait.

Hermione nodded, answering Millicent's question. "Yeah. She didn't explain why she was at the forest, to begin with, though."

They sat in a circle on the ground, Harry facing the Willow as both girls stayed on his sides. He had his knees brought up to his chin but was having trouble staying still.

"Most probably on one of her walks," he suggested.

"She goes on walks at the Forbidden Forest?"

Harry nodded rapidly.

"What the fuck? Why??"

"How do you know that?"

"She told me?" he answered, head tilting to the side, showing his confusion. "She says she likes how it's quiet."

Millicent scoffed. "Does she like how it's dangerous too?"

"There's a reason it's called the Forbidden Forest, Harry!" added Hermione.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, we're here right now, aren't we?"

The three of them turned around, throwing a hesitant look behind them and into the dark forest. The sun was nearing the end of its path in the sky, slowly taking the light away with it. Outside of the woods, the sky looked pink. But inside the forest, it was a different show. The last rays of the sun did nothing to illuminate the woodland, the shadows of the tall trees enough to allow obscurity to reign over the forest once more.

Hermione shivered at the sight. "It is quiet, alright."

Harry shrugged once more. "She likes it. Why does it matter what we think?"

━━

"I think I saw my dad."

"What?"

"Before. When-...Down by the lake, with Sirius. There was someone there. Someone who pushed the dementors away."

"With the Patronus charm?"

"I think it was my dad."

"Harry, that's......that's impossible."

━━

"You're going to live with Sirius?"

He was standing up, no longer able to stay put. He felt fidgety and had to move around. Millie's question brought Harry back to reality, a smile taking over his face almost instantly as he took in the question.

"Yes. Sirius offered earlier. He is my godfather, after all. I'm sure once everything is settled properly, Adhara and I could go with him."

Hermione and Millicent exchanged a look.

"Adhi too?"

"Of course. Why would she not?"

━━

The sight of the full moon caught Harry's breath even the second time around.

Although he knew perfectly well what was going to happen, how everything would turn out, Harry's heart still sped up when Pettigrew grabbed onto the wand. He watched as time slowed once more, as the wand pointed at the rat's head, his smirk turning mischievous once again, like a Marauder about to throw a prank.

Harry instinctively searched for his wand, the disarming charm at the tip of his tongue, but Millicent beat him to it. She pushed him away, with more force than she meant to, hurdling forward and out in the open.

Whipping her wand out, the raven head wasted no time to screech stunners one after the other.

"Stupify! Stupify! Stupi-"

Hermione had to pull her back behind the tree to stop her.

"Stop it, Millie! You might permanently injure him!"

"Maybe that was the point!"

Pettigrew fell, and Harry felt his heart finally beat again.

━━━━

In less than a second, the three of them were gone. Adhara's ears were still ringing when the doors of the Hospital Wings slammed open against the wall. She turned around, feeling dazed.

Ron looked perplexed, pointing a finger at the trio who just entered the wing. "How come you're there? You were right here? How could you be there?"

Harry stumbled forward, landing on Adhara's bed, right beside her. Face planted onto the mattress, he groaned out loud.

"What are you talking about? How can someone be at two places at once?" Hermione replied with a smirk.

Harry rolled over, facing the ceiling with his arms spread out. He rested one arm in Adhara's lap, the girl held his hand on instinct. With his other hand, Harry brought a finger to one of his ears, roughly rubbing the inside.

"Always hated that clock."

Adhara hummed along, indicating she agreed. "Me too."

━━━━

Sirius wanted to transform into Padfoot and curl into himself.

One would think people would have the decency to keep their voices down, knowing they were in the presence of a man who just got their soul almost sucked out.

"This is preposterous! Utterly nonsensical! You can't possibly expect me to believe this lunatic is actually innocent!"

Sirius wanted to laugh. Or to scream. He couldn't really tell. All he knew was that if he were in a better condition, in no way would he be able to sit still while they discussed his supposedly imminent death.

Especially not with Peter Pettigrew right in the corner.

Needless to say, McGonagall's hand on his shoulder helped him keep calm.

His ex-professor remained poised throughout the entire debacle, calmly watching the Head of the Ministry lose his head in front of the Headmaster. The man's face had turn purple with all the yelling he was doing.

But if the witch's firm grip on Sirius' shoulder was any indication, McGonagall's thoughts were not as composed as she was showing herself to be.

Sirius sat up more straight in his seat.

"Believe it as much as you would like, Minister. Peter Pettigrew stands in front of you, conscious and alive. You cannot deny the need to re-open Sirius Black's case."

Sirius used to trust Dumbledore with his life. James use to too. But that was a long time ago. It was twelve years ago before the man stood aside as he watched the ministry throw him in Azkaban without so much as a trial.

Minister Fudge sputtered out unintelligible sounds, taking a step back.

Sirius Black was tired. His best friend died; he spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit; he spent a year surviving the dangers of the Forbidden Forest, and then he almost got the Dementor's Kiss.

He was absolutely exhausted.

Yet, it seemed like that still wasn't enough to extinguish the burning fire inside of him.

"Unless, Minister, you don't mind making the mistake of putting an innocent man in jail without a trial for the second time?" His voice was croaky, unfortunately preventing him from delivering the right amount of intimidation. Hopefully, he looked exhausted and crazy enough that his cracking voice didn't matter. "Do you think they'll keep you as a minister if you keep making mistakes, sir?"

McGonagall's grip loosened just a tiny bit.

Fudge's mouth fell open, but no sound came out. The Head of Aurors was there too, along with some officers. No one else said anything.

Sirius leaned back into his chair, his confidence boosting up with every passing minute.

"I'm willing to take the veritaserum if there's need to resort to that." His gaze swiftly passed over all the occupants of the room, acutely aware that the Transfiguration Professor remained at his side, until it landed on Albus Dumbledore.

"In fact, I'm sure your Potion Master will be more than willing to brew it for us. After all, you seem to have so much trust in the man, don't you, Professor?"

Before the Headmaster got the chance to sag anything at all, the minister beat him to it.

"Yes, yes. Veritaserum! That should do it!"

Not for the first time that night, Sirius wondered who exactly voted to put such a stupid man in the Office.

━━━━

"Ok, so. Harry told Millie to stun Pettigrew because he saw Millie do it before?"

Hermione was trying to work through what they just did, making Ron's head hurt as he listened to her confusing rambling.

"But then, how would that Millicent get the idea? Is she still the same Millicent as ours? Because it's not like-"

Ron was rubbing the side of his head. "Honestly 'Ermione, I didn't understand a single word that you've said in the past few minutes.

On the other hand, Millicent seemed preoccupied with something she deemed more important than the reality of her existence.

"Adhara Black, you better get into one of these beds."

"I am in bed," she answered back effortlessly.

"You- ...well, you better remain in bed while I go and fetch Madam Pomfrey!"

"What did I do?"

"It's what you didn't do."

"What?"

"The Whomping Willow whacks you in the stomach, and you don't think that's important to mention?"

"Oh," she gave the trainee a deadpan look. "I'm fine, though."

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

Harry nudged Adhara's side, still lying in her bed, a smug smile playing his lips.

"Guess it's 3 to 4, after all, huh?"

"Shut up."

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