Chapter 1: The New Invention

December 16, 2019; Present

"Mum! Dad! What's that?" James Sirius Potter shouted, entering the kitchen.

"James," his mother winced. "Indoor voice." James regarded the strange object his father held, it was a gold chain with a small hourglass on the end.

Ginny Potter exchanged a look with her husband. "Well," Harry started, "it's a new Time-Turner. It's for official Ministry use only. It goes back up to two and a third minutes now."

"Two and a third?" Lily asked doubtfully. James jumped, not having realised Lily and Albus slipped in the behind him. "That's odd."

"Yes, well, it's just a prototype," Harry hurriedly stuck the Time-Turner in his briefcase before sliding it onto the counter. "I'm going to go grab a file from upstairs." He pushed past his kids and turned towards the stairs.

"What do you want for lunch? Oh, and later you'll be here with Teddy, Vic, Domi, Louis, Lucy, Molly, Roxie, Fred, Rose and Hugo," Ginny said.

"Where are you going? I want eggs by the way," Lily responded.

"Out." Ginny said firmly. James looked at Albus, who shrugged. Mrs. Potter turned around and began to search for a pan, pots clanging loudly. James, struck with a sudden idea, grinned and reached over, towards the other side of the counter. He reaching into his dad's briefcase and quietly pulled out the Time-Turner. Just as his mother stood up with a triumphant look, holding a pan, James stuck it in his pocket.

As the Potter House got more and more crowded, Lily began to get curious. Weasley parents after Weasley parents dropped their kids off all claiming to be doing something important elsewhere. Only problem was, no kid knew what. They didn't know that their parents were all going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to talk the Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, about an upcoming Arithmancy teaching position.

Lily hopped up the stairs to the large play room that Teddy and Victoire had shuffled the kids into. She looked around and saw Rose bent over a book. Dominique, Lucy and Roxanne were discussing a "hot guy" from Nikki's Charms class. Hugo and Molly were both doodling in their textbooks while Vic and Teddy watched them, shooting nervous glances towards the corner. Lily followed their glances and spotted James, Fred, Louis and Albus bent towards each other, talking heatedly. Both James and Fred had mischievous looks in their eyes that always led to something being blown up, someone being grounded or pranked. Bingo, Lily thought, heading towards them.

"Hello, boys," Lily said coyly. "And what would you be up to?"

"Well, hello to you to," Louis grinned. "We are up to nothing. Just another boring, no-nonsense day," he sighed.

"Nice try," Lily said. "Whatever you're planning, keep me out of it. I barely got off my last grounding because of you, Louis Charles Weasley." He saluted her. "Good."

As Lily walked away, Albus pulled out a small object. "It's a Deluminator, the very same one Uncle Ron owns. I nicked it." They had just started their game of Who Nicked It Better.

"Niiiicee," Louis drawled. "But I've got this. He pulled out a lacy red bra from his beat up bag. "I nicked it off of Dominique."

"I've got these… Hmmmm…" After rummaging around in his pockets for a few moments, Fred finally pulled out a vial full of transparent gold liquid. "Phoenix tears. I nicked them from my mum's study."

"Well, I've got this," James slowly pulled out his dad's Time-Turner. "The new and improved Time-Turner. It's from the Ministry but I stole it from Dad.

"Alright, as a new rule no one can vote for themselves, remember?" Fred asked and they all nodded. "All for Louis?" James raised his hand. Fred nodded, "one for Louis. All for me?" No one moved. He harrumphed. "All for Al?" No one. "All for James?" He begrudgingly raised his hand as Al and Louis did the same. "James wins!"

"Better luck next time, mate," James said. Fred stuck his tongue out at him.

"Okay, so we'll just-" Fred was cut off by a loud scream as Albus fell over in the midst of standing up. He slammed into Fred, knocking the Phoenix tears out of his hands. The Phoenix tears smashed into James who dropped the Time-Turner as it started spinning to its full extent. Everyone in the room, roused by Albus' shriek, watched in horror as the Phoenix tears dripped over James and the Turner.

There was a loud crack as everyone was surrounded in the fog that came from the Turner. There were screams as they all felt like they were plummeting through empty air and landed hard on the floor.

"Who are you?" A gruff voice asked.