e it to me -- RUN!" 

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There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So 
was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on 
his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's 
hair was on end again; he was backing away -


As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from 
Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded 
forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, 
the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron 
and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other. 

Harry stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to 
notice anything else. It was Hermione's scream that alerted him --

Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his 
bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light -- and Ron lay 
motionless on the ground. Another bang -- Crookshanks flew into the air 
and back to the earth in a heap. 

"Expelliarmus." Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; 
Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you 
are!" Harry shouted, running forward. 

Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip 
through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying 
through the grass. 

There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf 
taking flight; it was galloping into the forest -


"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled. 

Black was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at 
Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his 
paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. 

Harry and Hermione dashed over to Ron. 

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only 

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half-closed, his mouth hung open; he was definitely alive, they could 
hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize them. 

"I don't know...." 

Harry looked desperately around. Black and Lupin both gone... they had 
no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair. 

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, 
pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come --" 

But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a 
whining: a dog in pain.... 

"Sirius," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. 

He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for 
Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble -


Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to 
be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward 
it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it 
must mean 


The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw 
why -- Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, 
his hands over his head. 

'Nooo," he moaned. 'Nooo... please...." 

And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding 
in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the 
familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his 
vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were 
encircling them.... 

"Herrnione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, 
blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid 
it of the faint screaming that had started inside it -


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I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys. 

He forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and began to chant: 
"Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!" 

Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, 
pale as death. 

He'll be all right. I'm going to go and live with him. 

"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!" 

"Expecto --" Hermione whispered, "expecto -- expecto --" 

But she couldn't do it. The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet 
from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry and Hermione, and were 
getting closer.... 

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his 
ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" 

A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. 
At the same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse next to him. He was 
alone... completely alone.... 

"Expecto -- expecto patronum --" 

Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding his eyes. With 
a huge effort, he fought to remember -- Sirius was innocent -- innocent 
-- We'll be okay -- I' mgoing to live with him -


"Ex ecto patronum!" he gasped. 

By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, He saw a dementor halt, 
very close to him. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist 
Harry had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It 
made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside. 

"No -- no --" Harry gasped. "He's innocent... expecto expecto patronum 
--" 

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He could feet them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil 
wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering him. Then 
it raised both its rotting hands -- and lowered its hood. 

Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed 
skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a 
gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death 
rattle. 

A paralyzing terror filled Harry so that he couldn't move or speak. His 
Patronus flickered and died. 

White fog was blinding him. He had to fight... expecto patronum ... he 
couldn't see... and in the distance, he heard the familiar screaming... 
expecto patronum... he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his 
arm... they weren't going to take him.... 

But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around 
Harry's neck. They were forcing his face upward.... He could feel its 
breath.... It was going to get rid of him first.... He could feel its 
putrid breath.... His mother was screaming in his ears.... She was going 
to be the last thing he ever heard -


And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a 
silvery light growing brighter and brighter... He felt himself fall 
forward onto the grass.... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, 
Harry opened his eyes. The dementor must have released him. The blinding 
light was illuminating the grass around him.... The screaming had 
stopped, the cold was ebbing away... 

Something was driving the dementors back.... It was circling around him 
and Black and Hermione.... They were leaving.... 

The air was warm again.... 

With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a 
few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the 
lake.... Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it 
was.... It was as bright as a unicorn.... Fighting to stay conscious, 

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Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For 
a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back... 
raising his hand to pat it... someone who looked strangely familiar ... 
but it couldn't be... 

Harry didn't understand. He couldn't think anymore. He felt the last of 
his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted. 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 

HERMIONE'S SECRET 

Shocking business... shocking... miracle none of them died... never 
heard the like... by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape...." 

"Thank you, Minister." 

"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class, if I can wangle 
it!" 

"Thank you very much indeed, Minister." 

"Nasty cut you've got there.... Black's work, I suppose?" 

"As a matter of fact, it was Potter, Weasley, and Granger, Minister...." 

"No!" 

"Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to 
judge by their behavior. They seemed to think there was a possibility he 
was innocent. They weren't responsible for their actions. On the other 
hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape.... They 
obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They've 
got away with a great deal before now... I'm afraid it's given them a 
rather high opinion of themselves... and of course Potter has always 
been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster --" 

"Ah, well, Snape... Harry Potter, you know... we've all got a bit of a 
blind spot where he's concerned." 

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"And yet -- is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? 
Personally, I try and treat him like any other student. And any other 
student would be suspended -- at the very least -- for leading his 
friends into such danger. Consider, Minister -- against all school rules 
-- after all the precautions put in place for his protection -out-
of-bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer -and 
I have reason to believe he has been visiting Hogsmeade illegally 
too --" 

"Well, well... we shall see, Snape, we shall see.... The boy has 
undoubtedly been foolish...." 

Harry lay listening with his eyes tight shut. He felt very groggy. The 
words he was hearing seemed to be traveling very slowly from his ears to 
his brain, so that it was difficult to understand.... His limbs felt 
like lead; his eyelids too heavy to lift.... He wanted to lie here, on 
this comfortable bed, forever.... 

"What amazes me most is the behavior of the dementors... you've really 
no idea what made them retreat, Snape?" 

"No, Minister... by the time I had come 'round they were heading back to 
their positions at the entrances....