Certain residual power?
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look, not sure what Dumbledore truly meant to convey.
But Dumbledore, who had just seemed quite eager, suddenly appeared cautious. He raised his head and stared at the ceiling. After a while, he murmured to himself,
"According to Miss Granger's account, this MovingPortrait has been in your possession, Harry. How do you think it came into Mr. Malfoy's hands?"
Harry was a bit confused. They were currently discussing how to save little Sirius, yet Dumbledore suddenly became very interested in this map.
"On Christmas day--"
Hermione stared into Dumbledore's azure eyes, searching those bright eyes for something to confirm her suspicion.
"Malfoy had brought Filch into the Gryffindor common room. Ah... we caused some trouble at the time. And if Peter, I mean, Pettigrew had followed Malfoy at that time -- "
Hermione asked in a low voice,
"Harry, have you confirmed since then that the MovingPortrait has been with you?"
"No--" Harry shook his head immediately and defended himself "I haven't used it for a while--"
"It seems we've finally cleared up one issue--"
Dumbledore directed a glance of admiration towards Hermione, nodding his head and saying, "That still leaves one question, though. The combined MovingPortrait in Mr. Lupin's possession and the one in Mr. Malfoy's hands. Since the Weasleys and Sirius did not create a second map, what is the explanation for this?"
This was indeed a baffling problem, and Harry could not grasp any clue.
"Professor Dumbledore--" Hermione's breath became shallow, and she called out to Dumbledore in a soft voice.
Dumbledore glanced outside, and the pace of his speaking picked up again.
"Some questions can only be answered by ourselves, Miss Granger. This is a very dangerous task, but if successful, oh, I believe you will be successful. You may be saving more than just one life tonight."
Harry's mouth was slightly open, glancing from Dumbledore to Hermione now and then, unable to break into their conversation.
"But, Professor--"
Hermione grabbed the collar of her clothing anxiously, her voice trembling, but Dumbledore stood up directly, he took out his wand and waved it. In the room with closed windows and doors, a gentle breeze arose out of thin air, Harry and Hermione both felt that something seemed to have merged into their bodies.
"A little precaution--"
"To avoid your names appearing on this wonderful map, you two little ones--" Dumbledore quickly spoke, facing their confused eyes.
Harry was totally confused and could only cover his mouth, watching Hermione who clenched her lips tightly.
"If you're unsure of what to do, Miss Granger, I suggest retracing your steps. Then, good luck to you."
Dumbledore left the map on Harry's bed as well, leaving quickly and closing the door behind him.
"Good luck?" Harry stared at Hermione with wide eyes, "But we're discussing how to save Sirius, how can luck help us?"
After Dumbledore left, Hermione immediately felt around her neck, and after a moment, she pulled out a thin, long gold chain.
Hermione grabbed the MovingPortrait and put it in her pocket. She took Harry's Invisibility Cloak, which was lying on the bed, draped it over her arm, and said urgently,
"Hurry up, Harry, we don't have much time to waste."
Harry walked over dazedly, looking at the small hourglass hanging from the gold chain, wondering about its purpose in his mind.
"Come--"
Hermione hung the chain around Harry's neck. "Ready?"
"What is it for?" Harry asked in a puzzled way, feeling that they were too silly. Professor Lupin's life was in danger, Sirius was on the brink of death, Ron was still unconscious, and Hagrid was unconscious. However, Dumbledore had left without any explanation, and they were playing with a keepsake.
Hermione turned the hourglass four times.
The bright hospital room vanished suddenly. Harry felt as if he had been thrown onto a rapidly accelerating knight's bus, pulled backward by the strong inertia force. Apart from Hermione, the colors on both sides quickly became blurred, as if many shadows were hiding within the blur. He wanted to see around him, but the dizzy head and swollen eardrums made it impossible for him to see anything.
Hermione seemed to be handling it okay, as if she had become accustomed to such painful feelings, but Harry was screaming in pain due to the swollen eardrums and the dizzy brain. However, oddly enough, he couldn't hear his own screams.
Then, he suddenly felt his feet hit the solid ground again, and everything around him became clear--
They were still in the same hospital room, but it was pitch-black inside, and no one knew when the lights had been turned off. Additionally, the noisy sounds outside had also disappeared.
Harry looked around in confusion, and when his gaze passed over the clock hanging on the wall, his expression suddenly became shocked. For, the hands on the clockface indicated that there were still a few minutes until ten o'clock.
"Nine forty--"
Hermione covered them both with the Invisibility Cloak, murmuring urgently to herself.
"Where are we now?"
"Perhaps we are still in the common room, attending the celebration--"
Harry had a faint grasp of an idea, but he dared not believe his own guess.
"Oh, yes, that's right!"
Hermione whispered and pulled Harry out of the hospital room.
In the meantime, Madam Pomfrey had finished her rounds and was comfortably curled up in her small room, flipping through magazines and listening to music on the radio. She could hardly imagine the trouble she would face a few hours later.
"We--this--what exactly--is this?"
Harry could no longer hold back and asked as they climbed to the third floor.
"We've traveled back in time. Oh, well, using this time converter--"
Harry and Hermione caught up with Percy, who was also climbing the stairs. He looked quite pleased, singing to himself as he went, evidently having completed the patrol of the castle and was returning to the dormitories to rest.
Hermione stopped Percy, and after he was out of sight, she grabbed Harry's hand and ran down the third-floor corridor.
"I got it on the first day back from last semester from Professor McGonagall. I've been using it to attend all my classes this year. Professor McGonagall made me promise not to tell anyone; she wrote a lot of letters to the Ministry of Magic to get it for me in advance. She had to prove to them that I was a model student and that I would never use it for anything other than schoolwork. I turn it over, and then I can relive a period of time, so I can attend several classes at the same time. Got it?"
Harry would definitely be expressing his amazement if it weren't for the numerous unexpected events of tonight.
"Oh--"
At this moment, Hermione suddenly applied the brakes, stopping and looking in surprise at an office door standing open along the corridor.
"He actually forgot to close the door of the office!"
Hermione spoke softly, but soon realized she shouldn't make any noise, so she covered her mouth again.
This is Professor Lupin's office, but he himself is not inside. Harry suddenly remembered that at this time, Professor Lupin should be on his way back from his morning washroom break, and Harry also confirmed this from the map Hermione had opened.
"Speaking of which, how did you discover that Professor Lupin was a werewolf?"
Among the surprising events that Harry experienced tonight, Professor Lupin's identity as a werewolf definitely ranked in the top three. Before in the Forbidden Forest, Harry didn't have a chance to ask Hermione how she discovered this secret, but now, he couldn't help but be curious.
"Do you remember, Harry? On the first class, Professor Lupin taught us how to fight against Boggarts, and the Boggart turned into a moon when faced with Professor Lupin. Later, he would take sick leave for a few days every month, and I was always puzzled about that. Before Christmas, I previewed the textbook for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I saw the introduction to werewolves."
Hermione carefully put her head into Professor Lupin's office, but there was no one here.
On the MovingPortrait, Professor Lupin had already appeared on the stairs of the fourth floor, while the positions of Gryffindor Tower, Ron and Harry's names were converging with Percy's.
"That's strange..."
Hermione hesitated.
"What's wrong? Is something out of place?"
Harry asked quickly, and Hermione pointed towards the Gryffindor common room, her tone filled with confusion.
"See, Harry, we were led out of the common room by Peter Pettigrew. Look, we are descending now, but on the map, you can't see Peter's name."
(Chapter complete)
