"Annie? Down by the lake, I really did see someone. And that someone sent the dementors away," Harry insisted as they continued to wait for their past selves to come out of the Whomping Willow. 

"I overheard Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore chatting. According to Professor Snape, only a really powerful witch or wizard could be able to perform the Patronus Charm."

"It was our Mum," Harry interrupted proudly. 

The slight smile on Annie's face had faded into a frown. An uncomfortable lurch formed in her stomach. Her mouth felt unusually dry. She swallowed.

"Harry, our mum is —" 

"Dead, I know. I'm just telling you what I saw, Annie." 

Annie nodded, though she wasn't entirely fully convinced that Harry had seen their mother in the first place. But luckily, her thoughts got interrupted when she saw their past selves coming out of the Whomping Willow. She caught her brother's attention, patting him on the shoulder.

"Here we come." 

They got to their feet. Annie watched as her past brother walked over to Sirius. Now that her attention wasn't on an injured Ronald Weasley, she could tell that the duo were in deep conversation. 

"You see me talking to Sirius there?" Harry asked. His sister only hummed in response, letting her brother know that she had heard him. "He's asking the two of us to come live with him." 

Annie's face glowed with pride as she smiled broadly. 

"Oh, Harry! That's great!" 

"We can be real family," Harry continued to gush. "Maybe we'll move to the country, someplace where he can see the sky with the stars. I think that he'd like that after all those years being locked away in Azkaban." 

Annie agreed. They went quiet as they heard Professor Lupin transforming. Her stomach lurched painfully as Professor Lupin had lashed Dante across the cheek, making him go unconscious. Sera shrieked and collapsed next to him. 

"Sirius. Let's go!" Harry breathed breathlessly. 

The two of them ran off. They watched anxiously as Professor Lupin continued throwing the dog-transformed Sirius Black onto the ground. But luckily, Sirius was able to get to his feet. Suddenly, Annie had an idea. She put her hands together around her mouth and mimicked a howl. Her brother immediately pulled her hands away. 

"What are you doing?!" he demanded. 

"I'm saving your life," Sera answered before howling again. 

Professor Lupin looked very intrigued before sprinting in their direction — heading directly towards them. Harry realized this before his sister did. 

"Thanks." 

"No problem."

"Oh, great. Now it's coming after us."

Annie sucked in a breath through her teeth. 

"Yeah, I obviously didn't think about that. Run!" 

They took off, panting heavily. Annie's feet were sore from sprinting throughout the Forbidden Forest. But she continued to run without stopping. She shrieked when her brother had collapsed and she managed to help him to his feet. 

They didn't stop until they managed to hide behind a tree, hoping to avoid being seen. Annie tried hard to not breathe too hard in case the werewolf had sensitive hearing. But unfortunately, they stepped out too quickly. They heard a growling noise behind them. Sera gasped and slowly turned around.

The werewolf was about to advance on the two children. Sera immediately blanked out and forgot about her role of protecting her brother. Harry immediately jumped into action and used his body to shield his sister. 

They were lucky to have Buckbeak come in there to save the day. He scared the werewolf and looked quite proud of himself. Sera shielded her face in her brother's chest. 

"Oh, that was so scary!" she breathed in horror. 

Her brother was gentle with her as he continued protecting her. "Poor Professor Lupin is going to be having a really tough night," he agreed. 

A cold breeze filled the air, sending intense shivers down her spine. Annie looked up to see a swarm of dementors soaring above them. An intense shiver shot through her. 

"Sirius," Harry mumbled to herself. "C'mon!" 

They took off again and came to the other side of the lake where Harry had encountered the possible spirit of his mother guarding him from the dementors. 

"This is awful," Annie muttered, shaking her head. "You're dying. Both of you." 

"Don't worry. Our mum will come. She will come," Harry insisted. 

Annie hated to break the news to her brother. She knew that he was so hopeful to see the resurrected form of his mother. 

"Harry, listen to me," said Annie in a  trembling voice. "No one is coming."

And it suddenly hit her. Her brother tried reaching out to her to pull her back. But she did not answer. She whipped out her wand from her back pocket, aiming it at the dementors above. 

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" she practically bellowed. 

An odd humming noise came from her wand as a light emitted from it. Her eyes went wide when she saw that she had created a doe Patronus. Warmth crept back through her. When the dementors had dissipated, she knew that it was not their mother that her brother had seen, but herself. 

Annie and Harry made their way towards the top floor of the castle. Annie immediately grabbed onto her brother, suddenly afraid of heights. 

Ever since her disastrous Quidditch match that sent her tumbling to the ground, she had a sudden fear of flying. Her face was pale and she looked sickly. 

"You were right, Annie!" said her brother over the loud roaring as Buckbeak soared through the air. "It wasn't our mother that I had seen earlier, it was you! I realized that you could do it this time, well, becuz you've somehow already done it! Does that make sense?" 

"NO!" Annie shrieked, terrified. "And I don't like flying —" 

She screamed as they soared back down. They jumped off of Buckbeak, sprinting to Sirius' jail cell. She aimed her wand at the metal door. 

"BOMBARDA!" she shrieked. 

At once, the jail cell door sprang open. They collected Sirius before getting on top of Buckbeak's back again. They let Annie fly in the front. But unfortunately, that didn't make things feel any better for the darkhaired girl. 

They finally touched down on solid ground, much to Annie's relief. She led Buckbeak away from Harry and Sirius, figuring that the duo needed their time to each other. Despite being Sirius Black's god-daughter as well, she figured that Harry and Sirius needed more time together. 

Sirius finally approached Sirius and got onto Buckbeak with her help. But before he flew away, he took one look at his god-daughter and smiled. 

"You really do look like your mother — a true mother's daughter." 

Annie grinned, her eyes lighting up. She backed away so that Sirius could escape. Buckbeak reared and soared into the air. 

As they stared after Sirius, Annie noticed that the clock began to chime midnight. Her ears pricked up as she realized what was happening. 

"We've got to go — now!" 

They sprinted, not stopping, until they reached the hospital wing. They arrived just as Dumbledore began o give their past selves advice. Once he turned away and caught Annie's and Harry standing there, he stared expectantly at them.

"Well?" he asked urgently. 

"We did it! He's free!" Harry answered breathlessly. 

"Did what? Good night!" 

He walked away, humming nonchalantly to himself. The twins stared at each other, confused, before almost walking in on their past selves. Once their past selves had fully disappeared, they fully came into the room.

Dante had now woken up though he looked a bit woozy. His face looked a little pale. Ron looked even more horrified. He immediately pointed at them, looking shocked. 

"How did you get over there? And just a second ago, I was talking to you over there! And now you're there!" 

"What's he talking about, Harry?" Annie asked casually, shoving her hands deeply into her jeans pockets, while grinning broadly. 

"I dunno," Harry answered in the same tone as his sister. "Honestly, Ron. How can we be in two places at once?" 

Annie laughed, knowing that Harry had finally caught on with the joke. 

Earlier that morning, Harry had gone to see Professor Lupin, who had been rumored to resign. In the meanwhile, in the Great Hall, everyone chatted excitedly about a broomstick. 

"What are you doing?" said Ron casually as he limped into the Great Hall. 

"Ron, this thing needs to be wrapped up," said Fred. 

"Yeah! Why don't you do it?" 

"Me?" said Ron in disbelief. "I just got out of the hospital wing with a cast on my leg. And you want me to fix something that you can fix?" 

"You fix it. We're not good at wrapping things, we've already tried," Fred insisted. 

Ron sighed in frustration before storming over as best as he could, forcibly wrapping the broom back up. But by the time Harry had gotten to the Great Hall, Ron had not wrapped it up properly. 

"Quiet!" Ron burst out angrily. "Settle down! Or I'll take you upstairs if you don't settle!" 

"Harry! Wherever did you get it?" Neville asked Annie's brother. 

"Can I have a go on it, Harry?" Seamus Finnegan asked eagerly. "After you, of course!" 

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. 

"I'm sorry, Harry," said Ron anxiously. "I've tried to get them to shut up about it. It was badly wrapped — they made me do it!"

Ron pointed accusing fingers at his twin brothers, who were still casually sitting there, grinning like idiots. 

"Did not!" the twins echoed before helping Harry unwrap the gift. 

"It's a Firebolt," said Fred.

"Fastest broom in the world!" George added. 

"For me?" Harry breathed. "But who sent it?"

"Well, that's the thing," Ron answered. "No one knows."

"But this came with it," Annie added, holding up a Hippogriff feather.

The twin Potters glanced at each other with broad grins on their faces. They knew exactly who sent it to Harry. 

It was Sirius Black.