Chapter 93: Stag and Doe
"We're out!" Hermione perked up and whispered as the moonlight changed.
The boys looked towards the cave entrance. The group of people were emerging from the hole between the tree roots, some nimbly, some clumsily, and all heading towards the castle.
After a while, Peter Pettigrew's tearful cry for mercy was heard from the grass.
Hermione's breathing quickened.
"Professor Lupin is turning into a werewolf," she said tremblingly.
She's getting scared again, Draco thought.
He suddenly had a strange thought: she might need some comfort, just like after facing a werewolf.
He wanted to reach out and hug her, but her expression was as cold as ice.
His hand hesitated in mid-air, not knowing whether the touch would disgust her - after all, they had just had a conversation that was neither pleasant nor successful.
But her face turned pale.
While he was hesitating, she quickly turned around and glanced at him, with traces of panic visible between her eyelashes.
He clenched his hands, tried to hold back, but still couldn't.
He chose a roundabout strategy and patted her shoulder.
She'd probably dump him, Draco thought with self-loathing.
But she didn't shake him off. She even moved slightly closer to him.
Although her back was still strong, her profile was still stubborn, and her eyes were even unwilling to look him in the eye.
Her eyes were fixed on the grass beyond, not on him anymore, but Draco could sense that she was shaking less violently, her breathing less rapidly.
She was angry with him, but she was willing to accept his comfort. The embers in Draco's heart were no longer so scorching.
He patted her carefully, rhythmically, observing her, trying to figure out more of her thoughts.
Is that door still open to him? He wasn't sure.
What was certain was that his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs had finally stopped twitching and churning. They were alive.
She did not reject him. Therefore, under the ashes in his heart, a little green bud sprouted again.
He stared at her motionless and serious profile, and amid the sound of the buds breaking through the ground in his heart, he suddenly felt that the night wind was not that cold.
Hermione was in a complicated mood.
She felt like a broken magnet, its polarity constantly switching.
She longed for him to be near her, but also resented him being near her.
Never mind. I'll reject him later. For now, I'll just let him comfort me. She thought to herself, letting him pat her gently, indulging in the irreplaceable sense of security he gave her.
After all, he had protected her from the werewolf. That scene was too unforgettable to be immediately erased from her mind.
Hermione Granger, you girl with no bottom line, she despised herself in her heart.
She kind of wanted him to hold her in his arms, hold her tight.
But she couldn't say it directly. She was still angry with him!
Should she push him away now and make her position clear? She wondered confusedly.
Or maybe he should wrap his arms around her, wrap her up tightly and keep her away from the scary werewolf.
More than a pat, she thought disapprovingly.
Hermione was tormented by her own fickle thoughts, and in her anger, she couldn't help but move closer to him.
As for Draco, every step closer she got made it harder and harder for him to control himself.
He wanted to hug her. He wanted to comfort her. Her slender figure trembled in the night wind, making her look fragile and pitiful.
But if he hugged her, would she be angry? He thought indecisively, feeling that she was a difficult chess game to solve.
"He's going to run away." At this moment, Harry's voice suddenly sounded, breaking the atmosphere of gravity between them.
Harry was gritting his teeth, gripping his wand tightly, ready to attack at any moment.
In the moonlight, Draco saw Peter Pettigrew with a cunning look. He took advantage of the chaos to pick up Lupin's wand that had fallen to the ground, grinned and said, "No one can catch me", then turned into a big rat and scurried into the bushes beside him.
The mouse was very proud of himself and ran straight to the hole of the Whomping Willow.
Draco raised his wand, ready to strike once the rat was out of sight; beside him, he knew, Harry and Hermione were doing the same.
With three people, there must be one who can hit it, right? He thought, even from the Muggle probability theory that Hermione always liked to mention, it can be guaranteed to be foolproof.
Closer and closer, the rat ran out of the sight of the people and approached them.
At this moment, under the light of the full moon, a ball of ginger-yellow flame jumped down from the tree, knocked the mouse unconscious with one claw, and bit off half of its head in one bite.
"Crookshanks—" Hermione exclaimed softly.
They stared at Crookshanks in amazement.
It was leisurely holding the remains of the still twitching mouse in its mouth - this was the end of the life of the sinful and pitiful Peter Pettigrew.
It all happened so fast! They didn't even have time to stop it.
There was no way they could get any useful information out of him because the person who held the secret was already dead.
The three people in the bushes stood there frozen like three stunned groundhogs, watching Crookshanks swaggering with the mouse corpse in his mouth, swiftly slipping into a patch of bushes, and suddenly disappearing into the distance.
"Merlin," Draco whispered.
"Oh my god," Hermione said at the same time.
They stood side by side, amazed.
No one expected that Peter Pettigrew's life, which had been extended by more than ten years by hiding and struggling to survive, would eventually come to an end with a sigh from others.
After a brief moment of daze, Harry suddenly came to his senses. He said hurriedly, "Stop sighing, we have to leave! The werewolves will be here soon!"
"That's right!" Hermione also came back to her senses.
"Where to?" Draco asked.
"Hagrid's hut! There's no one there!" Hermione said as she ran. "He's still in the castle looking for someone!"
The three of them ran as fast as they could until they were inside Hagrid's empty hut.
"How did you know Hagrid wasn't here?" Draco asked her as he closed the door.
"Does someone have no memory at all? He told Harry that when he was in the hospital wing." Hermione said proudly without looking at him.
"How could I possibly remember those things so clearly?" Draco said in a somewhat fussy tone, looking at her with admiration. "How could someone have such a good memory that they could remember everything so clearly?"
Hermione was a little proud. Although she ignored him, she was secretly smiling with the corners of her mouth pursed.
The only sound in the room was the barking of Fang, the hound. Harry tried to stick some fudge from a tin on the mantelpiece to the overexcited hound's teeth, while Draco leaned over the window and caught a glimpse of Professor Snape walking across the fields.
In the moonlight, Professor Snape's face looked a little grim. He hurried towards the place where the wolf howled.
"Professor Snape, he tried to protect us." Hermione was lying on the other side of the window and also noticed the movement outside. Her face was a little complicated. "He is a responsible professor, although I still don't approve of his teaching methods and the way he treats Gryffindor students..."
The corners of Draco's mouth curled up slightly.
Hermione's mood seemed to improve a lot, and before she knew it, she seemed willing to talk to him again.
Moreover, he was pleased that Hermione was willing to trust Professor Snape's character as a Hogwarts teacher.
A moment later, another Draco came running in from the direction of the castle. He seemed to have noticed something in the field, opened his arms, and hugged the ginger cat that jumped into his arms.
——So, the rat corpse that Crookshanks vomited out at that time was Peter Pettigrew?
Draco suddenly discovered a great secret.
Also, he really wanted to remind himself at that time not to touch Crookshanks' mouth.
He watched his alter ego running away after Crookshanks, and once again he felt awe for the order of time.
This completely messed with his head.
"Hermione, have I ever told you that you're amazing?" Draco said convincingly. "This Time-Turner only took a few moments to make me confused, but you've been using it diligently for a whole year."
Hermione finally turned around and looked at him, a faint smile on her face.
She seemed about to say something to Draco, but was interrupted by Harry.
"We have to go now! To the lake!" said Harry gruffly. "My parents will be here in a moment."
"Wait," Draco pointed to the Firebolt leaning against Hagrid's door - it seemed to have been brought by the first Harry a long, long time ago, so long ago that Harry had almost forgotten about it.
"Take your Firebolt. There are too many dangers out there, werewolves, Dementors and so on." Draco finally had some brains and said to Harry.
"What about you guys?" Harry couldn't help asking as he picked up his beloved broom.
Draco smiled at him and waved his wand in the direction of the castle: "Nimbus 2001, come here."
The broom was still on its way, but Draco was sure it was trying to get there.
The three of them hurried out of Hagrid's cabin and looked at the situation on the other side of the lake from a distance - there seemed to be the sound of a werewolf and a black dog fighting. They could vaguely see several figures on the high ground on the opposite bank.
"That's us," Hermione whispered, shuddering. "Harry's godfather is trying to protect us. He's fighting Professor Lupin."
Soon, a black dog's howl was heard from the other side of the river.
"Sirius's tumbling down the hill! The Dementors are coming!" Harry shouted, and he sprinted to the edge of the lake to get a closer look.
"Let's follow them," Draco said to Hermione. She nodded and tugged at his clothes with a familiar touch—she had forgotten she was angry with him again.
They stumbled along the uneven, leaf-strewn forest path, following Harry as he ran, staring at the other side. As the distance closed and the full moon gradually appeared, the figures on the high ground became clearer.
Now, there was only a small figure left there, the other Hermione who was alone.
Then, another figure appeared, another Draco, standing in front of her.
The werewolf was closing in on them.
It was a horrible, nightmarish scene. Draco couldn't help but stop and stare at the other side.
That's a werewolf.
This level of danger is a risk that no Slytherin is willing to take or wade into.
He still felt scared, but he had no regrets - as long as she was safe and sound.
Besides, they were now standing safely on the other side of the lake, far away from any danger.
A smile played on his lips, and he looked at Hermione who was safe and sound beside him, his heart filled with relief.
But she suddenly frowned, raised her hands to her mouth, and howled like a wolf.
"What are you doing?" he asked in shock.
"Save your life!" Hermione looked intently at the situation on the other side of the river, howled a few more times, and said to him hurriedly, "You said in the library before that wolf howling can attract werewolves, right?"
The sound successfully alarmed the werewolf on the other side and disrupted its rhythm.
The werewolf gave up the attack and ran in another direction.
"Yes. Yes, thank you." Draco couldn't suppress the amazement in his heart, and suddenly understood who was responsible for the sudden wolf howl.
He in the first timeline saved her, and she in the second timeline saved both of them in the first timeline.
What a bizarre paradox, yet it makes perfect sense at this moment.
He sighed for a few seconds.
Then, he narrowed his eyes, stared at the direction the werewolf was attacking for a while, and said with some panic, "But, Hermione, the werewolf is coming towards us now."
Merlin's beard.
The werewolf was moving swiftly through the Forbidden Forest, circling the lake and rushing towards them at great speed—Draco could already hear the violent rustling of leaves not far away, the sound of the werewolf crashing into them.
"Oh, I didn't expect that." Through the moonlight shining through the gaps between the leaves, he saw Hermione's pale face and a look of fear.
They looked at each other, then looked at the shaking trees not far away, and saw the crazy, shining eyes of the werewolf approaching them.
"What should we do?" Hermione asked in a trembling voice.
At this moment, the unique whooshing sound of a broom broke the tense atmosphere. The sound came from the direction of the castle - Nimbus 2001 had finally arrived. Draco felt that this was the most beautiful sound in the world.
"Get on!" Draco grabbed the broom that was parked beside him and let the trembling Hermione get on first. The werewolf was already in front of him, and he quickly got on from behind her.
"Let's go!" He hugged her waist and said loudly.
Just as the werewolf was about to pounce, the flying broom suddenly jumped to the treetop, narrowly avoiding the werewolf's attack, and flew through the heavy branches and leaves, flying low over the Forbidden Forest.
The werewolf was furious. It didn't give up on tracking them. It stood up and ran, following their brooms all the way, ready to try to jump and see if it could reach the edge of their clothes.
"Draco, what should we do?" Hermione trembled in front of him, holding the broom with both hands, shouting in panic.
"We have to lure it away from here. Harry is still by the lake!" Draco's voice was as cold as the night wind. He suppressed his fear and lowered his head to check the werewolf's movements. "And those people! We can't let them encounter the werewolf!"
"Yes!" Hermione cried over the whistling wind, her voice shaking. "But I can't! Draco, I can't fly—"
"You are a wizard, Hermione! You have passed the flying class test! Where is your confidence? You learned from the best teachers!" Draco put one arm around Hermione's waist and waved his wand with the other hand to cast a dozen spells on the werewolf.
Hermione was about to collapse in mid-air.
She was not good at flying to begin with, and now there was another person on the broom. The broom even felt a little shy and began to shake inexplicably, as if looking down on her.
She was really afraid that it would throw them both down.
"Don't be afraid, I'm holding you! Even if I fall, you won't fall!" Draco shouted behind her, creating a wave of heat for her cold neck.
Only then did she realize that he was holding her waist tightly. His body completely covered her back. In fact, he was holding her completely in his arms, tightly and airtight.
The refreshing scent that belonged to him was overwhelming, and this fact made it difficult for her to breathe.
The surging emotions, the uncontrollable love, and the memories that she thought were sealed away, all roared back to life and became an electric current running through her body.
And it was only a short while since she made up her mind to suppress these emotions!
"Draco! It won't listen to me!" She trembled, shrank uncomfortably in his arms, and called his name. His embrace made her feel sad, but also very safe.
She remembered his comfort after she was petrified, his guarding her in the snow outside the Shrieking Shack, his shielding her from the werewolves.
God, she still liked him.
Maybe I like him more, she thought panickedly, feeling like she was going to die.
"Hermione Granger, you have to focus! You have to control it, not be controlled by it!" he shouted at her from behind. "Focus! I believe in you!"
His encouragement gave her a little confidence.
Yes, she wanted to think about flying!
She finally remembered the flying skills he had taught her step by step.
She took a deep breath, made up her mind, gripped the mahogany handle with both hands, gritted her teeth and gripped the broom - she was surprised to find that the broom suddenly became extremely obedient - and flew in the opposite direction of the lake.
He was right, she needed to focus. She pushed the chaotic emotions, thoughts, and memories out of her mind and focused on flying towards the Hippogriff's territory.
He was holding her close, just as she had expected.
She was happy and sad, shy and at a loss.
The werewolf was chasing them. Even though his scent was intoxicating, even though her heart was beating so fast it threatened to burst through her chest, she didn't have time to care.
Concentrate! Flying is the only thing she needs to think about now.
She stared straight ahead, only hearing the calm voice of Draco casting spells behind her and the werewolves roaring violently at their feet.
In the end, it worked, and they led the enraged werewolf away from the lake like a pair of sitting ducks.
Harry and the others are safe.
They were both safe.
Under some deliberate guidance, the werewolves under their feet broke into the territory of the Hippogriffs and fought with those ferocious birds, forgetting the existence of Hermione and Draco above their heads.
Draco looked at the movement below and finally understood what was happening.
Hermione did this on purpose. She had known for a long time that this was Hippogriff territory.
Hippogriffs—one of the few species fierce enough to defend them against the werewolves tonight.
"Hermione, you're a genius!" Draco's clear voice called excitedly behind her. "Now I can appreciate the beauty of a hippogriff!"
Hermione controlled the broomstick steadily in front of him, a smile quietly playing on her lips.
She suddenly felt that she was no longer opposed to flying. Smiling, she wanted to turn around and tell Draco about it, but suddenly she noticed a blazing white light in the distance, covering half of the abnormally dark sky.
"Draco, look!" she exclaimed.
"Someone's casting a Patronus Charm," Draco said, a hint of panic in his tone. "There are Dementors there."
"We have to go check it out! Harry's over there—" Hermione said, her voice trembling. "We have to help him."
"Okay." Draco sighed, hesitant in his heart, not sure if he could resist the invasion of the Dementors - he still couldn't conjure a complete Patronus.
"Draco, don't worry, I can make it." She keenly sensed his hesitation and comforted him, "I will protect you."
"Yeah, what would I do without you?" Draco said in a slightly exaggerated tone. He tried his best to appear calm and composed to hide his inner uneasiness. "Let's go and take a look."
"Yes, to see Harry's parents, although I don't quite believe it!" Hermione clamped her broom and turned nervously, preparing to speed up. "Be careful, don't fall, I'm going to turn!"
When Harry Potter hurried to the lake, he happened to see Dementors flying past in swarms like crows.
He saw Sirius lying on the ground, motionless; he saw his other self raise his wand and release a faint silver light.
It's coming soon! He threw himself into the bushes at the water's edge, trying to get a better look, peering anxiously.
Dad and Mom may be here at any time!
Where on earth had those two deer—the stag and the doe—come from? He had to see!
Come on! Harry thought excitedly.
But no one came.
His other self collapsed completely; a Dementor had crouched, its hood removed, ready to feed on Sirius's soul.
Come on! Harry thought nervously.
Still no one came - Sirius was in imminent danger.
In a flash, he suddenly understood - the person he saw might not be his father, but himself.
He leaped up from the bushes, drew his wand, and roared, "Patronus!"
He would no longer hesitate and feel that he could not change.
He will definitely be able to show it because he has seen it.
He had seen his father and mother's stag and doe appear here and now.
From the end of his staff burst forth a brilliant animal, a stag.
It darted noiselessly past him across the black surface of the lake; and almost at the same moment, on the other side, a dark figure vaguely raised its wand, and a doe, as white as moonlight, appeared.
The other Harry and the other Sirius were safe.
The two deer burst out with great power. They rushed from different directions, scattered the crow-like Dementors and knocked them into the dark sky.
It was the most magnificent sight Harry had witnessed all night.
He tried to open his eyes wide, trying to see who was on the other side; however, the distance was too far, and he could only see the dark figure struggling and falling to the ground, motionless.
He was extremely worried, mounted his Firebolt, and rushed forward with a glimmer of hope - who could it be?
Maybe it's the mother.
He rushed over, bent down, and finally saw the face of the shadow clearly in the moonlight - it was a face he could never imagine, a face with a hooked nose and a pale complexion, it was the unconscious Severus Snape.
How could it be him?
Snape, how could he conjure up his mother's Patronus? Harry was completely shocked by this incredible situation.
There were rustling sounds on the hillside, and the intermittent voices of a boy and a girl - getting closer and closer - they seemed to be coming down.
Harry hurriedly rode his Firebolt back to the other side, as if there was some kind of monster behind him.
He sat behind the bushes in a daze. When he came to his senses again, Draco and Hermione appeared in front of him with their brooms.
The people at the lake were nowhere to be seen. They could vaguely see some dark figures slowly floating towards the castle - that was Hermione from another group using the levitation spell.
"Did you see clearly? Your mom and dad—" Hermione walked to Harry and looked him up and down to see if he was hurt, but she only found a dull look on his face.
"Harry, we saw the light of the Patronus in the distance - a very powerful Patronus light. Who created it?" Draco asked.
Harry said driftingly, "Hermione's right, but not entirely. The stag—I made it myself—not me then, but me now."
"You shouldn't—" Hermione asked nervously. "Did anyone see you?"
"I guess not," said Harry, his face darkening.
"Oh, Harry, you've summoned a Patronus and kept all those Dementors away!" Hermione enthused with relief. "That's quite an achievement! So why are you so down and out?"
"It was all me from beginning to end—that wasn't my dad!" Harry said bitterly, lost, and sadly, lowering his head deeply. "I thought it was my parents who saved me. I thought they had appeared tonight—"
"Oh, Harry..." Hermione's enthusiasm instantly died away.
Her expression grew sad, and she whispered, "Your mom and dad—they—would be so proud of you."
"Proud? How can they be proud!" Harry said bitterly, "They're dead! They'll never appear again! This is all my hallucination, all my wishful thinking! I'm such a fool... the biggest fool in the world... How could they possibly appear?"
He buried his face in his hands and let out a hurt animal whimper.
Hermione stood there hesitantly, her eyes full of pity, not knowing how to comfort the poor boy.
Draco stared at Harry's huddled figure, filled with pain, and sighed softly.
He asked softly, "Harry, you created your Patronus tonight because you were thinking of your parents, right?"
Harry hummed softly, raised his head and looked at him with eyes filled with tears.
"Harry, listen to me, they did appear—in your mind—in your memory—at the moment you cast the spell—otherwise you wouldn't have your Patronus."
Draco whispered, "Of course they were there, they never left. Their talents flow in your blood, their images live in your heart. You are the continuation of their lives. They would be proud of you, proud of your extraordinary talents; they would even thank you, thank you for saving their son."
Harry stared at him blankly, tears wetting his cheeks.
"They've—" he said hoarsely.
"Harry, as long as you are alive, they are still alive, do you understand?" Draco said with a serious look.
His mother, Narcissa, had also said such things to him.
At that time, he was still unable to understand the profound meaning of these words.
At that time, he was too naive, too ignorant, and too rebellious, and he was determined to save his father and die for the dignity and honor of his family.
He remembered vividly how his mother had begged him without caring about her image, saying, "Xiaolong, please, don't die... You are our baby, our life... We don't need you to do anything... As long as you are alive, we only want you to be alive..."
"I won't watch my father die in Azkaban! I want him to live, I want to save his life!" said the young boy stubbornly.
"Your father would rather die in Azkaban than have you die... If you die, what's the difference between us and death?" Narcissa gasped and sobbed, shivering at the torturous sounds of the Death Eaters coming from next door. She shed the noble shell she had maintained in front of outsiders and revealed a rare expression of weakness. "Little Dragon, if one day death comes to me, I don't need you to do anything for me, I don't need you to save me, and I don't need you to avenge me... Promise me, don't die... As long as you are alive, we are still alive..."
"Mom, I can't promise you—" Draco's voice was very small, very trembling, and very persistent. "You will be fine. Dad will be fine too."
The mother shed tears and begged him desperately, begging her beloved son, "Please, don't do anything stupid, Xiaolong, don't--"
"What's going on with that doe?" At this time, Hermione's voice woke Draco up and pulled his thoughts back from his memories.
Harry's voice seemed to be stuck in his throat. "It was Snape... Snape made the doe!"
Draco and Hermione exchanged a quick glance.
They all recalled what Slughorn had said: "Lily...she can be considered Severus's childhood sweetheart."
The patron saint is a symbol of a person's inner self and will change accordingly when the person's mind changes.
If there is no deep and continuous love in the heart, it is impossible to change the guardian angel into the appearance of the other person.
It's all so bizarre and absurd, yet so real and simple.
The doe was released by Professor Snape. It was his patronus, his heart, and the most direct proof that he still deeply loved Lily Evans.