Submitted for Round 7 of The International Wizarding School Championship.
School: Durmstrang
Year: 5
Theme: First Wizarding War
Main prompt: Time Turner [Object]
Optional prompts: Thunderstorm [Weather].
Word count: 2,127
Author's Note: This starts off in an AU world of the Cursed Child, so there may lurk spoilers if you haven't watched or read the scriptbook yet. Although, I do believe them to me minor if anything.
To Turn Back Time
"I hate thunderstorms. I wish this one would just stop already." Albus bemoaned as he accepted the steaming cup of hot cocoa that Teddy had just brewed for everyone.
It was Albus and Scorpius's first Easter holidays and to celebrate that Ginny had allowed Albus to host a small sleepover. Thus the reason why, Scorpius, Rose (who was only invited after countless hours of begging on Scorpius's part), Teddy, and Delphi were gathered together in the modest kitchen of Grimmauld Place: their hot cocoas in hand.
"Stop complaining. It will clear up by morning. Plenty of time for you to do whatever you have planned." Rose remarked as she dipped a lemon biscuit into her drink.
She missed the startled expressions that crossed everyone's faces. How had she known about tomorrow?
They had purposefully not included Rose in the fear that she would not only disapprove of their idea but also make their plan known to her mother, and they all did not want to be on the wrong side of an angry aunt Hermione. (Well, except maybe Scorpius's dad but he had been acting strangely around the widowed witch for a while now, to everyone's confusion.)
"I take it that everyone here is in on whatever crazy scheme Al has cooked up but me, then?" Rose asked after wiping her cocoa mustache off with her napkin. "Don't send me that look, Al. I'm not going to tell anyone since Teddy is in on it, and I happen to trust his judgment since he was Head Boy and all. But—" she raised her index finger high as she looked at each person around her. "promise me that you will not do anything that will cause us to be expelled. I will hear no end of it, if I allowed you to be expelled, Al."
"Don't be so overdramatic," Albus rebuked his cousin as he took a long sip of his drink. "Me and Scorpius aren't doing anything that dangerous."
Rose hummed and decided not to point out either his grammatical error or his illogical reasoning; anything those two did was usually dangerous or broke the rules. It was late, and she really needed her sleep so she would let it drop, for now.
"See that you don't. Good night." She vanished her empty mug over to the sink and went up to her room.
Silence settled upon the four friends as they quietly contemplated the next day.
"Do we have everything ready?" Teddy finally asked as he finished the last of his cocoa.
"I got the chain," Albus gladly answered holding up a bronze chain.
"I calculated the needed turns," Delphi added before eating one of her floating marshmallows. Thankful she had not jumped when a clap of thunder exploded shortly after her first bite.
"And, I got it," Scorpius whispered as he held a delicate chain necklace aloft.
"Is that really a Time Turner?" Delphi whispered as she saw a golden gyroscopic pendent glitter and dance in the candlelight before a series of three lightning flashes bathed the Time Turner in an otherworldly glow.
"Yes, it's a family heirloom. I'm told that it was specially crafted upon my great-grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy's, behest." Scorpius beamed.
"Hence the bejeweled peacock etched into the crystal," Teddy remarked, pointing to the familiar animal emblem of the House of Malfoy.
"Huh?" Scorpius blinked then sheepishly chuckled. "Oh, yes, I forgot that wasn't on the old Ministry ones."
The others smiled, and soon the four were happily chatting about tomorrow as the storm slowly ebbed into the night.
The next day found Teddy, Delphi, Scorpius, and Albus standing in a circle as they faced one another. Their hands jointly grasped in the middle as spokes in a wheel. The antique gold chain that they had lengthened with another bronze chain was wrapped around their free hands binding them together. The cool breeze drifted around and through their circle.
It was rather a pleasant and bright spring day for the dreary gardens of Grimmauld Place.
"It appears we got our blessing from the fates," Delphi remarked, albeit almost too gayly.
"Yeah, it does." Teddy cocked his head and sent a reassuring hand squeeze to his longtime friend. Smiling as he saw her shoulders relax and her fixed smile morph into a genuine one.
Scorpius nervously glanced around them once more, sure that any minute a swarm of Aurors would descend on them and arrest them. Even if they were using his family's unregistered Time Turner he was almost positive that it was illegal to travel back years, regardless of how many times Albus had assured him differently.
Especially since he was going to be the one to turn the peacock encrusted sand dial and all.
"Come on mate. Time's ticking by while you check your shadow for the third time." Albus nudged his friend, eager to take the spin bank through time. The only thing cooler would be if they had a DeLorean or a TARDIS.
Scorpius sent a glare to his friend, but it had been the push he needed to overcome his misgivings for the moment as he boldly counted down the number of spins required to take them to their desired destination: all the way back to 1996.
"Hold on to your wands," Teddy reminded everyone as he felt the unique sensation of his very core being forcibly pulled while also being pushed through a small tunnel. It was oddly similar to a Portkey in that regards, but thankfully he didn't find himself falling to the ground miles away. No, they were merely there in the back garden of Grimmauld Place.
"Did it work?" Delphi muttered as she slowly let go of Albus's and Teddy's hands. "The garden looks the same: barely anything growing."
Albus looked around too before glancing upward to the sky above. Grinning he pointed up. "Those clouds weren't there a moment ago."
Everyone looked up and saw the multitude of white fluffy clouds slowly drifting across the horizon, sure enough, they had not been there before. It had been clear blue skies when they had left their time.
"Yes! We did it!" Delphi exclaimed, pumping her fist excitedly.
"And, who in Merlin's name are you guys?" Sirius Black boomed as he stood on the back steps with a sandy blond wizard and a purple haired witch behind him. Their eyes were coldly assessing the circle of four who unlike the newly emerged trio did not have their wands drawn.
"We're friends. Well, and family." Teddy began, his eyes on his parents while he held his hands high in a peaceful manner. "We're from the future—"
"On a class assignment." Albus skillfully lied.
Teddy quickly sent him a warning look to be quiet and let him do it. Like they all had agreed the night before. "That's Albus Potter," the four did not miss the shock that crossed Remus's, Tonks's, and Sirius's faces upon hearing Albus's name. Teddy inwardly smirked. If only they knew what his middle name was! "She's Delphi Lestrange, he's Scorpius Malfoy, and I'm Teddy Lupin."
No one expected Sirius's amused laughter nor Tonks's startled squeak followed by Remus collapsing into a faint.
"Come in. Drinks are in order if you are who you say you are." Sirius beamed as he revived his longtime friend. "And you owe me a cigar Moony." Sirius loudly whispered to Remus as he slapped him on the back. "Or should I call you Daddy Moon now?"
"No. Never call me that." Remus warned as he reluctantly admitted that Teddy looked similar to how he looked at that age, minus the cross work of scars, of course.
"We can't stay long. We only have," Delphi paused as she checked her watch, "four and half minutes before we have to go back to our time."
"Time Turners usually don't do that," Remus remarked as he accepted the glass of Firewhisky from Sirius.
"Um, yeah, but this is a special one that was crafted just for this project." Scorpius lied as he accepted his cup of apple juice. "See?" he held up his family's Time Turner.
Sirius stilled, stopping before taking his second sip of his Firewhisky. That was a Time-Turner alright, and it most definitely was not one from the Ministry. The absent poem told him as much.
This was a golden opportunity from the gods if he ever saw one.
All he needed to do was get that Time Turner away from Malfoy.
Sirius smirked as he quietly waited for the platinum blond's attention to be on the conversation between Teddy and his parents, then with barely a flick of his fingers and mutter of a whisper, the chain unhooked itself and discreetly slithered over into his open hand.
Five minutes was not enough time to save James and Lily or to stop himself from being arrested, but it might be just long enough to stop his brother from joining the Death Eaters. From there, maybe he could go further back and warn his younger self about the Rat masquerading as their friend.
Or, maybe he could just kill Peter—Nah, twice that had failed and he had given Harry his word that he wouldn't outright kill the traitorous rat.
It was a simple matter for him to excuse himself out into the hallway and only a few seconds and he had deciphered the runic instructions on the Turner before he spun it back, back to 1979.
Thunder rolled in the distance as Sirius materialized. He didn't bother to look around, he could feel his late mother's presence deep within the house, and he knew he was back in 1979. He quickly ran up the stairs to his brother's room and went in.
"Reg," Sirius breathed as tears threatened to come. It had been too long since he had seen his lost brother.
"Who are—" Regulus starred at the wild-haired intruder, his wand already in his palm if needed when his mouth fell open. "—Sirius? Is that really you?"
"Yes."
"What in sweet Salazar's name happened to you?"
"It is a long story Reg, and I don't have much time, so just hear me out."
Regulus frowned but nodded as he slowly pocketed his wand. "Alright, I'm listening."
"I'm from the future," and so Sirius began as he quickly tried to persuade his brother from joining You-Know-Who.
For the sake of time he didn't pause to ask what his brother meant when he whispered the haunting phrase, "He used multiple ones... it is not just one Horcrux. He isn't human anymore."
"So, for once Reg don't try to please mother and just go abroad and travel for a year or two."
Regulus chuckled and shook his head. "Too late for that, I'm afraid."
Sirius's stomach lurched. "Then go to Dumbledore. He's the only one your master is afraid of, even if he is manipulative as the devil himself."
Regulus frowned. "What you are asking is impossible. No one has—"
"It is possible! If bloody Severus Snape and that Igor Karkaroff can turn to Dumbledore for help and get it, then you sure as hell can too, Reg. It is your only hope."
Regulus was stunned. Snape and Karkaroff had, or should he say will, turn against the Dark Lord and apparently lived despite their betrayal. Another nail into the coffin that held the dogma that You-Know-Who was omnipotent. He clearly was not so.
Sirius looked down to his Time Turner. He was out of time. "I love you runt," was his last words to his brother as he was dragged forward to 1996.
Sirius stopped short as he took in the room before him. The curtains were now drawn allowing sunlight into the room and where the dozens of old newspaper clippings once were now shown clean and untattered wallpaper.
He had changed the past.
He only hoped it was for the best and that he had not unwittingly provided Voldemort with enough information to win the First Wizarding War.
His answer came a moment later when Regulus opened the door and handed him a drink.
"Welcome back brother. We had one once, some years ago, but something tells me you don't remember that." Regulus smirked. "Join me in a victory drink over the vanquishment of You-Know-Who."
Yes! He had done something right for once!
"Gladly." Sirius laughed and clinked his glass against his brother's before both downed the bitter liquid in one gulp.
"Now, what have I missed?" Sirius asked as he summoned a bottle of Ogden's Old and poured himself another round.
Accepting the bottle, Regulus did likewise. "Well, for starters you're married."
Regulus enjoyed the spit take followed by utter shock plastered on his brother's face. He could already tell, that this was going to be fun.
Fini