AUTHORS NOTE: Has been rewritten. See Chapter 5 for more information!
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley left their History of Magic class exhausted. Professor Binns had droned on for an eternity as usual, but today was exceedingly exhausting as they tried to stay focused during the lecture. Glad to be out of class, and with lunch on their minds, they turned the corner to find Hermione standing squarely at them, a determined look on her face. Ron scowled and Harry gave a friendly, "Hello Hermione! How are y-" but he was cut off by her as she said,
"There. I've proved it." She turned a corner and was gone, heading towards the library as per her usual.
"Well, that was…" Harry trailed of.
"Odd" replied Ron. Who then continued in his route, dead set on lunch, as if the encounter never occurred. Harry stood for a moment, watching his friend walk away and decided something needed to change. He quickly caught up with Ron and stood in front of him. Blocking his path.
"Look Ron, you've got to go talk with her." Ron stared blankly back at him.
"I don't think so," he turned to walk around Harry but Harry moved in front of him again. "Come off it Harry," he said with a warning tone.
"Seriously Ron?" Harry asked, "When are you going to talk to her again?"
"Never, if I'm lucky," shrugged Ron.
"Ron, are you seriously going to let a stupid cat ruin our friendship?"
"Well that cat,: Ron spat, "Ate Scabbers, Harry. It ate my pet"
"How can you blame Hermione for something her cat did? Did she tell Crookshanks to do it?" Ron opened his mouth to argue but Harry had had enough. He cut Ron off before he even had a chance to respond. "Hermione is our friend Ron. She has saved our lives!" Harry began to raise his voice, "She has only thought of others and she has always tried her best. How can you let this get between us?" The air was still. Ron looked quite stunned at Harry's outburst. Harry himself was surprised, but he stood firm. After an agonizing few moments of tension, Ron relented. "Fine. I'll talk to her."
"Good," said Harry. "We will find her in the library. We are going to see her now"
"Now?" Ron asked. "But what about lun-"
Harry cut him off, "Yes. Before you change your mind."
Harry turned and walked briskly towards the library. Leaving Ron trailing behind.
Upon arriving at the library, it wasn't long before they spotted her. Hermione was at a desk by herself, surrounded by a massive pile of books scrolls and quills. Harry gave Ron a nudge, and they walked towards her. Pausing in front of the pile, Ron spoke,
"Hermione?" Hermione didn't respond. She had her nose deep in an old spellbook. Another elbow from Harry, and Ron tried again. "Hermione, its us!" This time Hermione looked up at them, she gave a half smile and a curt "Hello," before returning to her book. Ron glared at Harry as if to say, "Look she isn't trying, so neither will I,"
Harry glared back, "Try harder" his eyes said. After a few moments of silent eye arguing, Ron spoke,
"Honestly Hermione, what is going on? There is no way you are getting to all of your classes, let alone keep up with all your homework." With this whole situation, Hermione had mostly been avoiding them and often disappeared behind a corner to the amazement and frustration of both of them. Hermione took the book she was reading and added it to the mountain of books that surrounded her.
"Oh, I'll manage, somehow," said Hermione, eyeing "Mount Bookerest" Only, it didn't look like she could. The stress was getting to her. Her hair was even more frazzled than it usually was, and the bags under her eyes were a sure sign she wasn't getting nearly enough sleep.
"Hermione, we are your friends, we are here to help," Harry offered. Hermione, looked like she was on the verge of tears,
"Thank you Harry, and I am sorry Ron, truly I am." Hermione sniffed. Ron, looked like he wanted to lash out at her, but his face relaxed as he decided against it. They were friends after all, and friends forgive each other.
"So what's going on Hermione?" Ron tentatively asked.
"You have to promise not to tell, anyone. Not a soul. This information could get you all of us expelled if it gets out." Ron looked excited. Harry was shocked. He didn't want to be expelled, he couldn't go back to the Dursly's for the rest of his life. He looked at Ron, put on a brave look and said,
"Ok, and we won't tell anyone, will we Ron?"
"Not a soul!" said Ron, crossing his heart. Hermione sighed,
"Ok, here goes." she dropped her voice to barely above a whisper and said, "The way I've been getting to all my classes is with this." She pulled an hourglass necklace on a golden chain from beneath her robes.
"So you're telling me that you are getting to all your classes with some cheap hourglass necklace? Rubbish!" scoffed Ron.
"Ron, listen. It's called a Time Turner. It allows me to go back in time and go to my other classes. Professor McGonagall got it for me from the Ministry of Magic. She had to pull all these strings and had to write a whole bunch of owls saying I am a model student to get one."
"Prove it" Ron said. He knew of magical devices, but never one to time travel. He needed proof.
"OK fine. I'll give you proof. "Stay here." Hermione stood and walked towards the doors of the library, with determination in her pace. She exited the library, turned the corner and was gone. Then she entered the library from the side door. With a grin of satisfaction on her face she sat down and said, "There. I've proved it." There was a long pause. Then suddenly it dawned on them. Hermione stifled a laugh as the utmost look of bewilderment came over their faces, as they realized what just happened. Harry's mouth hung wide open with amazement.
"There is no. Way. You. Just. Did. That!"
"Oh, there is!" Hermione smiled, as she played with the Time Turner between her finders.
"Do you realize the pranking potential that think has? Not even Fred and George could know where someone would be at a specific time! Listen, can I have a go Hermione?" said Ron eagerly. Hermione's grin turned into a look of stern forbearance.
"Absolutely not! I promised that I would be the only one to ever use it and I would only use it for my classes and nothing else. This little stunt I just did was already across the line" Ron scowled at her. Harry, suddenly had a very sobering idea.
"I could see my parents," Harry mumbled.
"What did you say Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I could go back and see my parents, or, or even SAVE them!" He spoke louder and with more speed as this thought matured in his mind, "Hermione, you have to let me try!" Harry said, an almost desperate look on his face. Hermione looked extremely nervous, and noticing the peculiar glances from others in the library, she hushed him,
"Let's take this conversation outside of the library." They quickly stood up and left. As soon as they were alone, Hermione spoke again, "It only works in reverse Harry, and every turn is one hour into the past. So even if you could, we would never see you again. or, you would be 12 years older. Besides, one of the biggest wizarding laws is that you cannot meddle with time. Imagine what would have happened if you went back to that night and saved your parents, your whole past would change. Time travel can be extremely confusing, even for me. I'm sorry Harry but you simply can't do that." Hermione softly whispered.
Harry gave a silent nod, but remained silent. The prospect of seeing his parents was just shattered by the harsh reality of the limitations of the Time Turner.
"Can I hold it? How does it work?" Ron questioned. Hermione handed it to Ron.
"I'm trusting you Ron, don't use it! Just hold it. Every time you turn it, that's one hour. Then you cant let yourself be seen by other wizards that you have seen before using it." Ron put the chain around his neck and puffed out his chest in a great impersonation of Percy and his "Humongous Bighead" Badge.
"Tell me Harry how do I look?" Harry looked up from the ground and grinned.
"You look like Percy." He said. Hermione burst out laughing. Ron's ears turned almost as red as his hair.
"Come off it Harry, here, you try it on." Harry took the Time Turner and looked at it from all sides. Then he placed it over his head and around his neck.
"Fancy little thing. Incredible the amount of magic in such a small device." He took it off and handed it back to Ron, and Hermione grabbed it as well. All three were holding the chain when Harry's hand brushed the dial and it began turning. Hermione looked horror struck. Ron gasped. Harry's eyes widened to the size of Bludgers.
"Immobulus!" Hermione yelled, pointing her wand at the spinning Time Turner. It began spinning faster and faster. The spell had the reverse effect on the device it seemed. "Finite Incantatum!" Hermione yelled again, attempting to stop the device, but succeeded only in cracking the glass sending grains of sand everywhere. The protective measures of the Time Turner were terminated by her spell. They began disappearing and reappearing all over the place. Harry recognized Hogsmead, Kings Cross Station, The Eiffel Tower, The torch bearing arm of the Statue of Liberty. Space and time seemed to be flying past their eyes in reverse. There was the Muggle World War I, the Salem Witch Trials, the 1768 Quiddich World Cup, and many, many more things flew past them. Finally, after what seemed like hours the Turner stopped turning and dropped them in a heap on the ground. The trio untangled themselves and looked around in fear. They had no idea where or WHEN they were, or how to find someone who could help them. After dusting themselves off, Hermione was the first to speak. "It appears to be midday. We need to find a safe place to rest tonight."
Ron raised a sceptic eyebrow at Hermione, "So you aren't going to yell or scream or be mad at us?"
"I'd like to," Hermione stated, "but it is more important to find a safe place for tonight. Besides, arguing won't help us now." Harry and Ron nodded in agreement. They gathered up the broken bits of Time Turner from the ground and were just about to head out when they heard a loud roar. The three pulled out their wands and looked around for the source of the sound. They stood with their backs together, wands pointing into the forest. They hear another roar. It sounded distressed.
"Look!" Harry yelled, pointing to the sky. Ron and Hermione gasped. There was a black shape falling out of the clouds, roaring in fear, wings flapping uselessly as the strange beast fell. They were even more surprised when they spotted what looked like a man was falling next to it. Harry took off his glasses, cleaned them on his robes, and then looked back. The large black shape was floundering in the air, attempting to roll over to give it's wings lift, but succeeded only in spinning hopelessly. The beast's tail spun around and hit the man in their helpless plummet to the earth. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm, eyes glued to the terror unfolding in the sky above them. The man and beast connected in their fall. They spun around, righting themselves, and shot towards the ground. Then they pulled out of their breakneck dive just before certain death, wingtips nearly clipping the tips of trees, and vanished into the fog below.
Harry broke the stunned silence. "Was that a dragon?"
"I don't know, if it is, it isn't one I have read about." Hermione said. Then Ron piped up,
"My brother Charlie works with dragons, but he has never sent a picture of one of those before."
"Did you see a man falling with the dragon?" Hermione asked. Both Ron and Harry nodded. "Well they are gone now, and we need to find a safe place to camp. So I suggest we get a move on. We are losing daylight." And with that Hermione walked off out of their lonesome clearing and into the forest. Harry and Ron looked at each other and then followed quickly after her.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked through the forest. It was getting dark and they hadn't found a suitable place to rest yet. Ron's stomach made a very loud rumbling noise. Ron smiled apologetically. Harry laughed and his too made a very hungry sound. They continued in their efforts and came to a stream. Hermione spoke.
"Water. Now all we need is food. Let's follow it and see if it leads to a lake or something." Harry looked at Ron. He shrugged. Hermione began walking downstream along the banks. Harry and Ron following in the fading light. After a bit Hermione stopped abruptly. Ron, who was only thinking about the fantastic food that Hogwarts had to offer walked right into her. The two nearly fell off a twenty foot cliff into a pond below. They looked into this cove. It was hard to see in the remaining rays of light as the sun set below the horizon, but they could make out a grassy area inside that would make a decent bed for the night. The cove also sported a beautiful waterfall courtesy of the stream they found earlier, and many large boulders. They walked over to a large tree root that was growing on the side of the cliff and began to carefully make their way down into the cove.
"Ron, you get sticks for a fire. Harry, you and I will go find something to eat." Hermione ordered.
"Yes your highness" Ron said sarcastically. "Lumos." He whispered and the tip of his wand lit casting strange shadows on the walls of the cove from the large boulders. He began searching for sticks when Harry exclaimed,
"Look, Hermione in here! I think I saw a fish or something!"
"Excellent Harry! I'm starving!" Ron said, picking up sticks with more enthusiasm than before. The thought of food making his mouth water. Harry and Hermione began looking for fish inside the lake. Harry also lit the tip of his wand and shone it into the pond. Hermione, seeing a fish in Harry's wand light, spoke the incantation, "Wingardium Leviosa" and a fish rose out of water and was placed on the land. It flopped around, attempting to get back into the water until Hermione cast a curse, "Petrificus Totalus" The fish went still. She repeated the process until they had five decently sized cod. "Now how to clean them?" Hermione wondered. Harry, looking in the water, reached his hand in and pulled out a small dagger.
"Will this do?" He asked.
"Perfect Harry!" After recalling how to do so from watching a fishing programme with her dad, Hermione showed Harry how to clean a fish. If wasn't long before they had the fish cooking over a merrily cracking fire that Ron had made. The three ate their fire roasted fish, even having one left over, which Hermione stored in a large basket Ron had discovered. With their hunger abated and the moon shining bright, they slipped into peaceful sleep on the cool grass.
~Above Berk~
"You 're telling me bud. That was almost a disaster with Dad." Hiccup spoke as he and Toothless glided through the night sky. A night flight was simply the best way to clear his head. Now that his Dad was back he had to make tell more lies to get away to visit Toothless. This was getting out of hand. Before his sudden success in Dragon Training, he could easily escape any time he wanted to. But with his Dad home, Astrid being extremely suspicious of him, and the other villagers always crowding him for advice, it was getting risky. He frowned. "They don't care about me," he thought bitterly, "They only care about the dragon training me. They will never accept me for who I am." Toothless looked at his rider with an expression of concern. Hiccup brushed the thoughts aside and grinned at his friend and said, "We should be heading back. I have a big day of lying to the village to get to."
The two of them flew past the Viking Statues that stood guard to the harbor, past the steep cliffs and up over the trees towards their secret cove. They circled once and Hiccup caused the prosthetic to descend, Toothess's fin following suit. Then the dragon growled and leveled off, forcing Hiccup to move the prosthetic back into gliding. "Toothless what's wrong?" The dragon, didn't answer, (he usually didn't) but glared down below. Hiccup soon noticed what was bothering his dragon. It was the smoldering remains of a fire. "Good eye bud. We should land over there," he said pointing to the opposite side of the cove. They landed without a sound where Hiccup had pointed. "Toothless," Hiccup whispered, "You stay here. I'll whistle if I need you. Don't come unless I call. I don't know who these people are, but they probably won't take kindly to dragons."
Hiccup tiptoed his way towards the dying embers of the fire. He reached for his knife, but then silently cursed when he realized he had kicked it in the lake and hadn't bothered to get a replacement. In the moonlight, he could make out three sleeping forms. They appeared to be unarmed, which was unusual for a viking. Vikings usually slept with weapons close in case of a raid, dragon or viking. He also didn't see any horned helmets, but then again neither he nor Astrid wore one. Not knowing if they are friend or foe, Hiccup began walking away from the sleeping vikings. In the darkness Hiccup tripped and fell, making a loud noise as he landed in a heap.
Hermione woke with a start and looked around the cove. She didn't see anybody. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. "Harry, Ron! Wake up! I think someone is watching us!" She pulled her wand from beneath her robes whispering, "Lumos." The end of her wand began to emit a soft glow. "Harry, Ron! Wake up!" She threw a stick at the nearest sleeping figure. Ron rubbed the sleep from his eyes and groggily said, "What is it Hermione? I'm trying to sleep. It's the middle of the night."
"I heard something. Wake up Harry!" Ron turned and shook his friend awake. Harry woke up, yawned and put on his glasses.
"Hermione reckons she heard something." Ron yawned. Also lighting his wand. Harry looked around, stood up, stretched and said,
"Can't hurt to have a quick look." and walked off into the darkness, extinguishing his wand and pulling his invisibility cloak from within his robes. "Had a feeling this would come in use today." Ron turned to look at Hermione.
"There is nothing here!" Ron growled at her. He was not one who liked to be woken.
"No, I know I heard something!" She argued. The two began bickering as Harry snuck away under his cloak.
~Behind a boulder~
"Stupid rock," Hiccup cursed. Glaring at the small boulder he had tripped over. He was now hiding behind it, watching the people argue in a language he couldn't understand. He peaked around from his hiding place. In the dim light he saw what looked to be two young teenagers. One of them, a girl, he guessed by her long, curly hair and high pitched voice, was arguing with a tall, lanky boy with flaming red hair. She pointed over to one side of the cove and shouted at the boy. He glared at her and then pulled something out of his clothes, and then it lit up. Hiccup gasped. The light was no ordinary light. This wasn't an orange flickering fire color, but a soft blue glow. The girl had one in her hand too.
Hiccup felt fear well up in his heart as this thought came into his mind. "Witchcraft," Hiccup continued watching with a sense of fear when his heart froze. "There were three. Where is th-" But his thoughts were cut short as he was attacked by an unseen force. Hiccup was tacked to the ground. He couldn't see his assailant, though he felt somebody on him. He also felt something silky smooth. He grabbed it and pulled. Out of nowhere his assailant appeared. It was a tall skinny boy, with jet, black hair that pointed every which way. The attacker called to his friends and they ran over. Hiccup was surrounded. In the glow of the sticks held by the three mysterious teens he could see some strange circles on the black haired boy's face.
~Standing above the strange boy~
"It's just a boy. Looks like he would be a 4th or 5th year." Hermione said to Harry and Ron. They looked at the person below them. They could tell he couldn't understand them. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a fur vest. He wore a darker green pair of pants and brown boots. He had longish auburn hair and emerald eyes. Not unlike Harry's eyes at all. Hermione saw the boy take a deep breath like he was going to call out.
~Below the three captors~
Hiccup had had enough. He took a deep breath and whistled sharply for Toothless but it was cut short when the girl pointed her stick at him and said, "Langlock". Hiccup felt his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. He couldn't speak. He was genuinely frightened now. Just then the sky erupted in a brilliant purple light. A plasma blast had exploded above their heads, causing the three captors to cover their heads. Using this as a distraction Hiccup smiled and kicked the red head's feet out from under him and ran for his dragon, who was bounding across the cove. Hiccup ran up a boulder and jumped towards his dragon, grabbing Toothless mid air and swung himself into the saddle, now facing his ex-captors. The red head scrambled to his feet and pointed his stick at Toothless along with his two friends. Hiccup patted Toothless and he bared his teeth, a low growl reverberating through the cove. His mouth glowed plasma purple from the fires within. They stood, glaring at each other. Neither one moving in fear of what the other might do.