Then a eucatastrophe bursts out of nowhere in the form of a large, shining animal that comes galloping across the lake. It charges down the Dementors, scattering them in all directions, circling protectively around Harry, Hermione, and Sirius until the last of the soul-sucking fiends flies off into the distance. Harry is so sick and faint that he doesn't even know what his rescuer is. He sees it glide back across the lake toward someone who seems quite familiar. Then he drifts into blackness.
It isn't until Harry and Hermione go back in time that Harry realizes the true nature of the primary eucatastrophe, the sudden, unexpected, spectacular miracle, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. His radiant protector is none other than his own Patronus, cast at just the perfect time, at the moment of realization, to save his own life and the lives of his friends.
But the story contains yet another eucatastrophe before its end, at least from the perspective of one of the characters. Locked high up in Hogwarts, Sirius awaits his second encounter with a Dementor's kiss. He has no hope of escaping this time. Then he hears an unexpected tap on the window. Amazed, he looks up to see not a Dementor but Harry and Hermione hovering on Buckbeak! Hope has arrived in the darkest of moments. Hermione opens the window; Sirius squeezes through; and up they fly to the castle's highest tower. Once again, almost miraculously, Sirius Black has escaped the clutches of the Dementors, and as he soars off on Buckbeak, he must be relishing both his freedom and the eucatastrophe that gave him his happy ending.
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