Harry peered over, his eyes gleaming intently at the map spread open in Hermione's hands, then he realized that there was more to the strange occurrences than just that one thing.
As the time approached ten, they were chasing Wormtail down the stairs, but only their names were shown on the map; there was no sign of Wormtail in the castle, instead, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry saw Hagrid crouched in his hut, Sirius Black and Crookshanks in a small square on the map.
Behind the house, near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the names of Malfoy and Peter were faintly visible.
"There's no time to think about it, Harry."
Hermione suddenly closed the map, pulling Harry by the hand into Lupin's office, leaving the map behind, then urgently tugging at his sleeve, squeezed through the crack of the door.
"The map in Professor Lupin's hand —" Harry said, looking quite puzzled, "is it the one we left for him?"
"This is obvious, Professor Dumbledore has said it clearly enough."
Hermione said angrily, and Harry wanted to ask something else, but the hurried footsteps from the stairs and Professor Lupin's appearance on the other side silenced him.
Even though they knew that no one could see them, Harry and Hermione were still so tense their hearts were pounding. Especially Hermione, who had memorized hundreds of prohibition clauses related to time magic before getting this hard-to-come-by Time-Turner, and had also seen countless cases of wizards causing serious accidents due to the incorrect use of the Time-Turner throughout history.
From the perspective of the order of events, they appeared here safely, but Hermione still couldn't suppress her nervousness.
The next thing that happened, even Harry who was used to the wonders of magic, could only be described as astonishing.
He saw Ron and himself appearing simultaneously in his line of sight, several feet away. They had been hurrying to chase after a flash of Wormtail that had passed before their eyes, when Hermione grabbed their collars and pulled them behind the tapestry.
Harry subconsciously held his breath, as Lupin was slowly walking over. Harry looked at Lupin with a sad expression, knowing what was to come, but without Hermione's reminder, he also knew that the consequences of actually doing so would be severe.
Click——
Tired-looking, Professor Lupin closed the door of his office, and without wasting a second, Harry and the others behind the tapestry dashed down.
Harry and Hermione under the invisibility cloak remained still, waiting patiently for what would happen next.
Within only half a minute, the door in front of Harry and Hermione was suddenly flung open. Lupin professor appeared with the parchment in his hand, his expression was completely different from when he went in, not a trace of laziness to be seen.
Lupin grabbed the parchment and ran down the stairs, and Harry knew what he was going to do.
Harry wanted to follow Lupin down the stairs, but a hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the far end of the corridor, forcing Harry to press against the window frame and restrain his anxiousness, waiting for the person to pass by.
It was Professor Snape!
Walking at a quicker pace than usual, Snape's robes flapped like a cloak. As he passed by, Harry could even feel the chill emanating from Snape's body.
Even if Harry didn't want to admit it, he had no choice but to acknowledge that without Snape, they wouldn't have been able to escape from the wolves' claws tonight.
"What's the secret behind Snape's discovery?"
As Snape's hurried footsteps grew faint, Harry, who was almost suffocated, gasped for several breaths, then asked eagerly.
"He didn't have the Time-Turner map in his hand, I've been wondering how he managed to notice something was wrong."
"It's obvious, Harry!"
After all these events, Hermione was more restless than usual. She said irritably,
"That's Professor Dumbledore's office over there. Snape discovered it through those enchanted lenses. He must have seen us chasing something and then saw Professor Lupin leaving the office, realized something was wrong, and then followed us. Well, let me think, what should we do now?"
Hermione was frowning in thought, while Harry was thinking about the man who had saved them from the Dementors.
Who was he, really?
Harry was silent, in his heart, he hoped the answer was just what he had guessed, but reason told him it was impossible.
"If you're not sure what to do, just stick to the original route."
Hermione muttered absentmindedly and then, suddenly struck with an idea, she dragged Harry and ran down the stairs at full speed.
Harry and Hermione followed the straight path through the campus without taking any detours or wasting any time, so when they arrived at the pumpkin patch next to Hagrid's house, they had not yet appeared during that time period.
They had just hidden in the tangled pumpkin vines, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Malfoy appeared suddenly without any warning, with Wormtail crouched on his head.
"Wormtail..."
Harry exclaimed in alarm, he wanted to get up and catch this rat, but Hermione pushed him down with all her might, holding him tightly.
"Don't you understand, Harry? We're breaking one of the most important magical rules right now! If someone sees us, we're done for!"
Hermione forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Only Hagrid and Sirius Black——" Harry said, somewhat unwilling.
Hermione didn't speak anymore, because Sirius Black had already spotted Malfoy and Wormtail. As Hagrid had said, Sirius became enraged and his size suddenly increased. With the gaze of Hagrid, who was walking out of the room after hearing the commotion, Sirius charged towards Malfoy without hesitation.
At this sight, Malfoy turned and mounted his broomstick, diving headfirst into the deep and dark Forbidden Forest without looking back.
"Look at——"
Hermione whispered, "Be quiet!"
"We're coming."
Indeed, they were attracted by the barking of Crupi, and they ran towards the path leading to the school gate.
The next thing was something they had all experienced, there was nothing interesting to see now, Harry said with a sense of disappointment.
"Peter got away, and he didn't show up at all tonight. If we can't find him, then what about Sirius—"
"But not necessarily, Harry—"
The damp earth and dew on the vines made Hermione slightly uncomfortable, she adjusted her position of crawling, looking out at them who were tangled with Hagrid to go into the Forbidden Forest together, and said slowly.
"Do you remember that Avada Kedavra curse that suddenly appeared in the Forbidden Forest?"
The name of the spell seemed to have a special power. When it was mentioned in the pumpkin patch, Harry felt an inexplicable chill touch his skin, causing him to shiver without reason.
Before that, he had never heard of this spell, but when Hermione mentioned it, he immediately thought of the green light that made his scar ache terribly at night.
"Do you think it was Peter?"
"Clearly, it was like this——"
Hermione spoke quickly.
"I guess Peter's plan was to lure Sirius into the Forbidden Forest. Think about it, if it was only him, he would definitely die in the hands of the werewolf."
"We never expected you to appear later, Professor Lupin and Professor Snape were attracted to us by accident. In a twist of fate, so many people have learned the truth about that year, which must be surprising to Peter. But as long as Sirius dies there, everything will be dead on paper."
To swear allegiance to Voldemort, to have killed his own parents, to have been hiding in the Weasley family and Ron's side for so long, and now to be plotting to kill Sirius, frankly, Harry hasn't hated anyone as much as this person since Voldemort.
Even the cold night wind whistling through the highlands could not extinguish the fire in Harry's heart at this moment.
After their argument under the pumpkin patch, Hagrid led them into the Forbidden Forest, welcoming them to a war that was heart-stopping.
After they left, under the soothing moonlight, extremely weak Lupin appeared with heavy breathing. He asked Crupi for directions and rushed into the Forbidden Forest.
With the timing right, Hermione prepared to get up and follow, as there was still a long way to go to the place where the battle was taking place.
But at this moment, Harry suddenly wasn't in a hurry. He looked around, as if he was searching for something.
"What are you dazing off, Harry? We need to hurry up and catch up!"
"Wait a bit, Hermione. Maybe someone else will come along."
Harry knew they didn't have any time to waste, but he didn't move, his face showing worry.
"Harry!"
Hermione got up first, revealing the Invisibility Cloak, stamping her foot in frustration.
"It's almost here, we still have to wait a bit –"
Harry got up and looked around,
"Maybe someone else will come."
(Chapter ends)
