“Hailey?”
“Yes, Sadarina?” Hailey asked, looking down. They were alone, in the classroom the Student Instructor Program Management Team had placed their conference table in, while she reviewed the latest report. Instructor Keen Eye had expressed worry that her co-instructor was drifting, and even said that she often didn’t listen when she asked. According to the report, gathered when Bonbon had sat in on her Astronomy class, it really looked like Instructor Lack Effort was ‘gliding’ through her teaching assignment, despite getting pretty good grades across the board.
She’d been mostly unwilling to allow Sadarina out of her sight for quite a while after the attack on Amelia, whatever had started it; there had been a big hullabaloo all over the Daily Prophet, but none of the Aurors could figure out where she’d come from. They knew where she’d been some minutes before, but they didn’t know if she’d made an interim stop along the way.
Ever since that attack, and her miraculous saving of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement’s life, Sadarina had a tendency to curl up and stare off into space, a worried expression on her face. She’d always brushed it off when asked what was wrong.
“I…” Sadarina began, staring at her knees, which were curled against her chest. “Can you please call me…” She took a deep breath. “Call me a dirtbag.”
Hailey blinked. “Say what?”
She looked up at her. “Can you call me a dirtbag?” she asked.
“Why?”
“Because…” She looked down again. “Because it’s what I am.”
Hailey shook her head, drawing her into a hug. “No. You are so much more than a simple bag of dirt that it’s not even funny.”
“But-!” She looked up at her. “But Amelia… I could have saved her without-!”
Hailey wrapped her in a bear hug until her voice petered out. “There is a saying,” she muttered, loosening up so Sadarina could breathe again. “Hindsight always has twenty-twenty vision.”
“But I didn’t have to turn her.”
“Sadarina,” Hailey told her. “Madam Pomfrey told me that she was likely just a couple seconds from death when you saved her. Because you were able to think of a method, any method, you were able to do what nobody else could have done- and saved her. Even Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t have been able to, had she been there.”
“But I could have-!”
“Sadarina,” she interrupted. “Stop. If she doesn’t like whatever changes you made to be able to save her like that, I’m sure someone can find a way to reverse them.”
She shook her head. “It’s irreversible,” she stated.
“Well then I’m sure she’ll be able to die if she doesn’t like them, right? Because that was really the only other option when you did it.”
She looked up again. “But-!”
“Sadarina.” She held her on her lap, just far enough she could look into her face. “Have you ever wondered how often I regret bringing you back? I could have easily used a less-powerful patronus, and you wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t even be known as the Goddess of Patroni.”
She shuddered.
“Not for one second,” she told her. “Not for one single second did I ever regret bringing you back, even when I thought you were going to die in the middle of the year. And you know what? I was right. I did give you a second chance, didn’t I?”
She smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess… But-!”
“So what did you do for Amelia? No, not to her, for her.”
“I…” She paused. “I don’t know.”
“You gave her a second chance to live, didn’t you?”
“I… I suppose,” she muttered. “But it’s- It’s-!”
“Hey. It doesn’t matter if it’s a different life. What matters is that it’s a life. You hear me? Besides, who knows- she might just enjoy it.”
Sadarina only stared at her, as if she’d said something absolutely ridiculous.
Hermione paused, looking at Hailey. “What is it?” she asked.
They- Hailey, Hermione, Ron, and Sadarina- had walked down to visit Hagrid after their final exams. Silver, Morning, and Diamond all had other stuff to do, and so weren’t present. Then, during their admittedly very long visit, Hermione had found Scabbers inside one of Hagrid’s milk jugs- and now, Ron was struggling to hold onto him without using his immense Etrah strength as they returned to the castle in the gloom of the evening. Hailey had started gazing contemplatively out into the darkness when Ron stopped.
Hailey rubbed her chin. “I’m thinking… Yeah. Ron, hold onto that rat- in your hand if you have to- and c’mon.” She trotted off into the darkness, where Hermione thought she saw something moving.
All three of them followed. Sadarina didn’t seem particularly curious, like she already knew where they were going- but she was already a very strange girl, so that didn’t really surprise Hermione.
“His name is Scabbers,” Ron intoned.
Hermione was tempted to correct him- now that she was thinking about it, she was fairly sure he was actually Peter Pettigrew- but decided not to.
Finally, she saw what Hailey was following. It looked like a great, black dog of some sort. “Ahh,” she muttered, catching up to Hailey. “Is that…?”
Hailey nodded silently.
Finally, the dog slipped through the swinging branches of the Whomping Willow and vanished into a tunnel at its base.
They stopped. “Uh…” Ron began, holding Scabbers around the middle. “How’re we going to follow it there?”
Right on time, Crookshanks- the ginger cat Hermione had gotten from Diagon Alley the previous summer- darted in out of nowhere, slipped through the branches, and placed his paw against the trunk.
The tree went stone still.
Hailey nodded. “That’s how,” she said, and led the way forwards. Crookshanks slipped down into the tunnel before them, and they followed.
“Be quiet, Scabbers,” Ron grumbled. “That cat’s not going to eat you.”
He was right. Even once they emerged from the tunnel- into what Hermione promptly recognized as the Shrieking Shack- Crookshanks only took one look at Scabbers, before flicking his tail and leading them upstairs.
They followed.
Finally, Crookshanks slipped through a door that had been left ajar.
Hailey pushed it open, stepping fearlessly in with Sadarina by her side.
Hermione followed her in, then stopped with a gasp. Sirius Black was waiting for them on the far side of the room. She let out a squeak, staring at him- then stopped, and looked at Hailey. Ron, meanwhile, had a similar reaction, on Hailey’s other side.
“We meet again,” Sirius Black said, dramatically.
“So we do,” Hailey said, conversationally. “How’s it been?”
Hermione blinked at exactly how unconcerned she seemed. It was like he didn’t pose a threat to any of them, not just herself!
Black looked flustered by her question as well, and evidently chose not to answer it. “Why did you follow me?”
She shrugged. “It looked like you wanted me to. Unless I was wrong, of course?”
He stared at her. “How… Why are you not afraid of me?”
Hermione turned to look at Hailey, eager for the answer herself.
Hailey didn’t answer. Instead, she smiled, and looked down at Sadarina. “Do you want to answer that one?” she asked.
“He’s innocent,” Sadarina said simply.
Hailey looked back up at Black. “See?” She shrugged. “Besides, Prongs told me about Padfoot… and Wormtail.”
Right at that moment, there was a sudden sound from below. Footsteps.
Hermione looked. “Who…?” she muttered. As usual, it was hard to feel fear when standing next to Hailey.
Sirius either didn’t hear it or ignored it. “Who are you?” he asked.
She smiled. “Me?”
Then Professor Lupin arrived, rushing into the room behind them. He took one look at Black and- “Stupefy!”
Hailey’s hand moved like greased lighting, deflecting the spell to hit the ceiling. “Ahh, Professor Lupin,” she began. “You might want to listen a little before continuing your attack.”
“He’s innocent,” Sadarina said simply, looking up at Lupin.
Hailey smiled down at her, then looked back at Lupin. “And not just to her.”
He stared at Hailey for a couple seconds, then sighed, and lowered his wand. “Why?” he asked.
She shrugged. “For starters, Peter is here too.”
“Peter?” Lupin looked surprised, though, not confused like Hermione was.
She nodded. “Yes, Wormtail, the death eater that sold out my parents.”
“But-!”
“They switched,” Hailey told him. “Prongs told me. Peter was Secret Keeper for all of three days before Voldemort arrived.”
“Then-!” Lupin began, cutting himself off as he thought. “So…” He paused again. “Where is he?”
Hailey pointed to Ron.
“Wha-?” Ron began, and checked behind him. “Am I missing something?” he asked.
“Yes,” Hermione answered promptly. “We haven’t told you something. We…” She paused. “We didn’t want to start a panic.”
“A panic,” Ron repeated, nodding slowly. “And you’ll tell me now?”
She nodded. “Yes. Scabbers is Peter.”
Ron looked at Scabbers, in his hand, and back up. “You’re kidding me.”
“He’s an animagus,” Hailey told him.
He sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Of course he is. So let me guess.” He paused. “Peter was an utter coward that became a Death Eater and sold out your parents after becoming Secret Keeper then Sirius hunted him down but Peter got the better of him and framed him while faking his own death before sneaking into my family as a ‘pet’ and started panicking when Sirius got free because he knew he was going to come commit the murder he was imprisoned for?” He spoke very quickly, without stopping or drawing breath, much like Pinkie Pie might.
Everyone stared at him. Except Sadarina.
“Yes,” she said, simply, and smiled.
“How did you…?” Lupin began in wonder.
“They aren’t the only smart students in the school,” Ron shrugged. “I just don’t use it very often.”
Hailey laughed. Even Sadarina giggled, while Sirius, Lupin, and Hermione just stared at him.
Then Hailey turned suddenly to Sirius. “Though that does raise the question, Sirius- how exactly did you ‘get free’?”
Sirius smiled, and launched into his explanation. Essentially, it seemed to boil down to the fact that he was an Animagus. He’d used first his innocence and then his rage and obsession over Peter to keep his sanity, then slipped past the dementors as a dog and swam from the island. Apparently, dementors had trouble sensing animals.
But Hermione kept her eyes open. At several points in his explanation, Sadarina scowled.
Finally, Sirius finished his explanation by barely restraining himself from lunging at Scabbers.
Sadarina was the first to speak.
“No.”
“No?” Sirius asked, looking at her.
“We can’t tell,” she began, “and often never know, what any one person has been convicted of- but it’s trivial to tell if they’re guilty… or innocent. Not that we could ever act upon that knowledge- until you transformed.”
“We?” Sirius asked, looking dumbfounded.
“She used to be a dementor,” Hailey told him.
Sadarina smiled, and continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “We can sense animals just as well as humans- and as a point of fact, your emotions don’t change at all when you’re an animal.” She sighed. “But we can tell when you change… and we are only bound, by the Ministry, to keep human prisoners within our walls.” She sighed. “So when you transformed… we had the choice to let you go.” She paused. “And you were innocent,” she shrugged, “so we used that choice, and… let you out.”
“... Ah,” Sirius muttered, slowly.
Lupin stared at her. “And… Is he right about… how he avoided madness?”
She nodded. “Partly, yes. The Ministry requires we hold our human prisoners within our walls, and drain them at all times. They don’t specify how strongly- I don’t think they know we have that power.
“We normally cycle our drain, on the Island. It’s small enough nobody ever notices it- but their subconscious mind does. Every few minutes, they get a tiny sliver of hope… and we take it away. Then we give them a tiny sliver of hope… and take it away. And a tiny sliver of hope… and we take it away.” She sighed, staring at the floor. “It’s enough to drive anyone to madness.” She looked up. “But we don’t do it to the innocents. We keep the drain on them very, very constant. They can still go mad, in their own, despairing minds- but that only happens if they’ve given up. It takes only very little effort, on their part, to stay sane. And Sirius…” She smiled up at him. “He was very strong. I doubt he would’ve devolved to madness before he died, even if he never got out. Innocents are usually like that. They can take comfort in their innocence.”
“And… when wizards lose their power?” Sirius asked.
“That’s a different… technique.” She sighed. “When someone starts going mad, we take their power. It keeps them from accidentally lashing out and potentially hurting us.”
“Even though…?” Lupin began.
She nodded. “Even though the only way we can die is starvation.”
“Starvation?” someone asked, from the corner. Hermione jumped, and looked- but it was only Rita Skeeter. However she had gotten in, she had no idea. “But Dementors have been disappearing like flies.”
She nodded. “I’ve been killing off the husks,” she told her.
“The… Husks,” Sirius muttered, eying Rita. “Dare I ask what that is?”
She nodded. “A Dementor… that has given up. Its mind, its soul, its life. A Husk is no more a person than the body of someone we have Kissed. It will, however, fight to survive, and obey orders, generally. Husks serve only to dry up an already scanty source of food, and they’re very, very difficult to destroy. Unless you’re strong enough to drain them directly.” She sighed. “I… almost became a Husk. I’m not proud of it. But then…” She looked up at Hailey, and smiled. “Then you came along, and blasted me on the train. Once we figured out what exactly had happened, many that were close to giving up… didn’t. We all gained a new hope.”
“Are you… still connected?” Hailey asked. “To the dementors?”
She looked down. “I still am a dementor. I’m just… well fed. Just like, after that Patronus when we found Amelia, every other dementor.”
“Doesn’t that mean the Husks are that much harder to get rid of?” Ron asked, tilting his head.
She smiled. “It would… but there are none left. I destroyed the last one seconds before she cast that Patronus.”
“Well fed,” Hermione repeated. “What’s that… do? Aside from, well…” She gestured at Sadarina, who smiled.
“We’re extremely powerful magical creatures,” she told her. “My brother made sure of that. Until recently, none of us were strong enough to use our powers.” She sighed. “Now, we are.”
“Your brother?” Hailey asked.
She nodded. “The First Dementor… and the first Husk.”
“If your brother was…?” Ron began.
She nodded again. “I was the second.” Then she looked past Lupin, to the door.
Lupin looked too, and scowled.
Hermone thought she saw… something, moving, somewhere around there- then Lupin drew his wand and, moments later, Professor Snape shimmered into existence, pausing mid-stride and shrouded in the characteristic effect of a collapsing Disillusionment Charm.
“Well hello, Severus,” Lupin greeted calmly, lowering his wand.
Sadarina scowled. “They’re innocent,” she told Professor Snape.
Hailey raised an eyebrow.
Hermione noticed that his wand was pointed straight at Lupin… and he had a fanatic gleam in his eye, which was wholly unlike him.
Snape practically exploded with fury. He started by aggressively explaining the reason he knew they were there- apparently, he’d looked out Lupin’s office window, and seen him running into the Whomping Willow- and waving a smoking goblet around with his wandless hand.
The next minute or so he spent talking about how he had kept telling Dumbledore that Lupin was untrustworthy, and that the scene before him just proved it.
“Severus, you’re making a mistake,” Lupin interrupted urgently.
“He’s innocent,” Sadarina repeated.
Snape ignored them. “Two more for Azkaban tonight!”
Finally, Lupin asked a question- Hermione didn’t catch it, her heart was beating too hard- and Snape hog-tied him with a bang.
“He’s innocent,” Sadarina repeated forcefully, while Lupin fell to the floor.
Sirius started forwards- but Snape pointed his wand square between his eyes. “Give me a reason,” he snarled.
Hermione took a deep breath. “Um- Professor, would-!” She had to remind herself that with Hailey here, hardly six feet away, there wasn’t any real danger, really no matter what he did. “Would it really hurt to hear what they have to say?”
He snapped at her. She didn’t catch the specific words he was using- he was so angry it was coming out distorted- but she got the gist. He was, essentially, promising to see them suspended.
Then something happened, that Hermione could never have seen coming.
Sadarina willingly left Hailey’s side, for the first time all year. She looked angry- not as angry as when the dementors had interrupted that one Quidditch match, but angry. She swept one hand through the air… and the ropes binding Lupin shattered, as if they had been made of glass. The broken pieces of rope disappeared into the air as she marched forwards.
Snape pointed his wand at her. Sirius crouched, as if to charge, but he was too late- a bolt of red light shot from Snape’s wand.
Sadarina slashed her hand again, and the spell bolt shattered like glass as well. A second later, Snape let out a gasp and dropped his wand- which, Hermione noticed, was glowing red hot. He stared down at it as it singed the floor where it landed- then Sadarina reached him, seized his injured hand, and yanked him down to her level. She pulled until his face was just inches from hers, almost casually snatching the goblet of potion out of the air with her other hand.
“They Are Innocent,” she yelled, straight into his face.
Snape seemed to go into shock, doing nothing but staring at her as she released him, bent to pick up his cooled wand, and returned to Hailey’s side with it and the goblet of potion. Finally, she sniffed the potion.
Hailey smiled. “That’s Wolfsbane Potion,” she informed her.
She looked up at Hailey, and back down at the potion, before once again leaving Hailey’s side- this time to offer the goblet to Lupin, who was standing up again with Sirius’ help.
Lupin blinked at her as she approached.
“The full moon will come out in about half an hour,” she warned him, offering the goblet.
“Ahh… Right, yes, thank you.” He accepted the goblet, wrinkled his nose, and downed the potion inside.
Sirius looked at her. “Is it okay if we… ah…” His eyes traveled to Peter.
“Wormtail is guilty,” she said simply, before returning to Hailey’s side, still holding Snape’s wand.
Hailey sighed, and glanced into the corner. “I don’t suppose that means I can avoid any aspersions of godhood this time, does it?”
Hermione looked.
Rita shrugged. “The public views her as your baby angel,” she said. Then she raised her hands. “It wasn’t my doing, I promise! Enough other students must’ve sent letters home or something, because there are more and more rumors about exactly who the Goddess of Reports is every day, and…” She shrugged. “They started out as wild aspersions, but they’re getting fairly close nowadays.”
She sighed. Then she tilted her head, turning suddenly to Sirius and Lupin. “That reminds me. If we don’t kill Peter here, but instead take him back to the Castle, we can clear your name at the same time.” She nodded to Sirius.
“True,” Sirius muttered, rubbing his chin. “But would they believe us?”
“Is this where you tell me how you know Scabbers is Peter?” Ron asked suddenly, using his thumb to pin Scabbers’ head against his finger so he wouldn’t bite.
“The Marauder’s Map,” Hailey promptly answered. “And I talked to Prongs. And I have a friend that’s…” She paused. “I don’t know which one’s more sensitive, between her and Sadarina, but she’s really good at identifying people that don’t want to be identified.”
“She is,” Sadarina said suddenly. “She’s a full telempath- she can read the most minute of your emotions. Dementors… are only empaths. We can’t figure out why you’re mad, only that you are- she, for the most part at least, can.”
“Ahh… I guess she is.” She shrugged. “Makes sense, she hasn’t trusted him ever since she first crossed paths with him on the train to Hogwarts almost three years ago now. She told me that even back then, he stood out to her as a big, fat, cowardly liar of a rat.” She chuckled. “As a matter of fact, you’ve met her. Fifty times.”
“Fifty times?”
She nodded. “She’s… good at deception herself, and a very good actor too.” She shrugged. “Where do you think I found so many girls?”
“But there was-! There was-!” He paused, and tilted his head. “... You know, I can see that.” He looked down at Scabbers. “So how do we get the Ministry to believe us?”
“We-!” Hermione began, the answer coming to her in exactly the same way as they do when someone asks her a question in class. “We force him back into human form,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You can do that?” Ron asked.
“Oh you bet she can,” Rita answered suddenly, smiling from her corner.
“And if you’re wrong?”
“No effect on anything that isn’t an animagus,” Hailey promised.
He nodded. “Alright.” He held Scabbers out at an arm’s length. “Do you need me to let go of him?”
“Only once we’ve cast it,” Hailey told him, drawing her wand. “Homorphus.”