Chapter Thirty-One
"Time Since Gone"

Page Two

McGonagall stayed pressed against the wall, watching the vision in shock. She felt the prick of the logs against her back, the cold seeping in from outside. She remembered something… a distant memory, a feeling of such freezing temperatures it seeps through the skin, into the lungs and clings, refusing to let go…

"You didn't do this!" she screamed, running over to Voldemort. "These are not my parents!"

"What evidence do you have to the contrary?" Voldemort was as calm as inhumanly possible and his eyes stared straight down at McGonagall, as she stood before him in an enraged posture.

"Dumbledore," she breathed. "He told me the truth, what reason would he have to lie to me?"

"To 'save' you. To keep you from me. The thought that he's succeeded for this long is sickening. It's time you knew the truth."

"Michael," continued Megyn. McGonagall turned around to see that the vision was continuing and the others began pacing the room again. "I've never asked you for anything extraordinary. I've been good to you. But please, Minerva needs this."

Michael stopped and turned to face his wife. He put a hand on his wife's stomach, trying to reach their unborn child. "For you, Megyn, and for Minerva."

A look of great relief washed over Megyn's face as she embraced her husband. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear. "And Minerva will thank you, when she knows what a good father you've been to her."

* * *

"Severus."

His head began to shake as something pelted his cheek repeatedly.

"Severus, wake up."

Something gooey was seeping through his robes and encroaching on his back. He was soaked straight through to the skin and the pain… his ribcage had just woken up. Nerves were shouting, bones were crying out, all sending messages to his brain that something was terribly wrong inside.

"Severus, wake up!"

"Euuuhh."

"Did you get him?"

"I think so. Severus, Sevey, time to wake up now."

"Don't call me 'Sevey', you contemptible murderer."

Severus Snape lifted his back out of the mud, groaning at the pain in his ribs. Thankfully his arm was still asleep and therefore unable to send a telegram via his spinal cord to alert him to the fact that it was broken.

"Glad to know you're still with us," said Sirius with a smile. "And I'll take note of the 'Sevey' issue."

"Glad to see you awake again." Lupin was reclining against the muddy slope of the ravine, staring at Snape and Black. The dense cover of the trees had taken a slow reversal affect on his state, allowing him to maintain transitory stasis for quite a while. Harry was sitting beside him, his face brown with earth and various bits and bobs of nature stuck in his hair.

"Glad to be back," groaned Snape as his arm began to revive.

"We've awakened you to get your consent," stated Black as if they had pulled a general out of bed at four in the morning.

"Consent?"

"Yes, we need a plan," said Harry. "We're stuck here in the middle of the forest, evil forces are encroaching on Hogwarts and all of the student body is inside the Great Hall. It's not like we can lay around and have a picnic."

"Thanks for stating the obvious," quipped Snape, staring blankly at Harry.

"Seriously," said Black sternly, "and beyond those fine points which Harry has brought up, we all need medical assistance before we turn to mush."

"I'm in no shape to get help," said Snape, laying back down with a squelch as the mud made way for his torso. "I volunteer to hold up camp here."

"Did you de-evolve while in that coma of yours, Snape?" asked Lupin incredulously, remarking on the lack of professionalism and vigor coming from Snape.

"This is no time for a row," said Black, stopping the match of wits before it even began. Black cleared his throat then looked at Snape. "There isn't much I can do for your condition Snape, so you'll have to stay here while one of us goes to get Madam Pomfrey."

"I agree," said Snape blandly. "But how do we get the message to her without alerting any Dementors who may still be roaming the wood?"

"I haven't quite decided yet," said Black, contemplating their options. "We can't let Harry out of our sight."

"And if you have another encounter with the Dementors," interjected Snape, "you won't have the strength left to even wave good-bye."

"Hmm."

Harry and Lupin exchanged puzzled glances. They looked back at Black and Snape who were anxiously carrying out a discussion of tactics, deception and recovery. It seemed Churchill and Roosevelt had been reincarnated at last.

"Lupin," said Snape, looking up from his diagram in the dirt of the forbidden forest. "How fast can you run while transforming from the effects of the moon?"

Lupin swallowed hard as the memory of what had happened a few hours prior returned to his mind. The excruciating pain of the slow, manipulated transformation from human to lupine made him quiver. Even his very bones began to ache in anticipation of memory.

"I'm not sure," said Lupin slowly, trying to hide his memories. "But I can run as fast as I possibly can, which is a lot faster than any of you at the moment."

Black looked up at Lupin with an apologetic look in his eye. "Remus," he said slowly, "I'm sorry to ask you this, but will you -"

Lupin nodded before Black could finish his request. "Harry, you said they're all in the Great Hall, correct?"

"Yes," said Harry. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to make a run for it and hope I'm faster than the moon."

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