Disclaimers: I own nothing Harry Potter. It's copyrighted by J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., and whoever else may be involved with that sort of stuff.
Author's Notes:
Alright, this is my first Harry Potter fic, so please be nice. Reviews are greatly appreciated, flames can go back to hell where they belong, and constructive criticism is welcome. I'm not an expert on the Harry Potter series like I am with LotR (Lord of the Rings), but I'm gonna try.
I've been reading around, and most fics with the "time turner scenario" have been with Hermione going back in time to the Maudarer days. It gave me the idea of something totally different, and which I haven't yet seen it done.
Summary: Nicole Richardson is an American exchange student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; back in the "Marauder" days of 1976. After an accident with a time turner, she gets sent twenty years into the future only to find that what happened inbetween wasn't the happy ending her and her friends had hoped for.
Time Can Fix All Things
Chapter 1
October 31, 2004
Lightning cracked outside our bedroom window. I got out of bed and walked over to the windowsill where I could see the now heavily rain flooded street, and then the random bright flashes of light.
There was always a thunder and lightning storm on Halloween now; a constant reminder of what was meant to be but never happened. I sighed as I recalled the old but unforgettable memories.
At first I had thought time had been cruel, but now that I look back on it, was it really? My thoughts trailed to my husband and our five year old little girl. Though it hadn't been generous for me alone. It had given back the lives of three innocent people and gave someone else another opportunity to make the right choices...
September 1, 1976
I stood in the middle of King's Cross Train Station, in between platforms 9 and 10, with my trunk full of things. I looked around the busy train station a bit confused, then pulled out my Hogwarts invitation letter out of one of the many pockets of my cargo pants and reread it for about what seemed like the hundredth time. And of course it said the same as when I read it so many times before; I needed to catch the train at platform 9 ¾ . Alright, but, where was that exactly?
All around me were muggles. Most were running around lugging their luggage behind them, some gave me odd looks, and then others stared at me; the lost sixteen year old American girl. I wanted to ask some one where to go, but who was I gonna ask? A random guard? The ticket inspector? They'd either think I was crazy or just wasting their time.
"Excuse me?" I jumped as I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to face a red-haired girl with sparkling green eyes that seemed to be around my age. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she smiled, "Are you looking for Platform 9 ¾ ?" I was a bit surprised when she asked me that.
"Um, yeah, actually I am," I replied.
"Great!" she said. "I knew you had to be her when I first spotted you."
"You were expecting me?"
"Well, sort of. Professor Dumbledore told the prefects at the end of last year that we were gonna have an American exchange for this year, and to help you out if we found you. I kinda figured that was you since we hardly see any Americans around here," she said.
I chuckled. "Is it that obvious that I'm American?"
"Your style of clothes gives you away easily."
I glanced down at my cargo pants and gap hoodie, then at her zipper up sweater and bell bottoms. I looked like the rebel next to the 'prim and proper' good girl. I grinned at her, revealing my full set of brackets. "I should've known."
"Oh, my name's Lily, Lily Evans, by the way," she said.
"Nicole Richardson," I replied. I looked down at my watch; ten of eleven. "We better get going, doesn't the train leave in ten minutes?"
"Oh my gosh! Yes it does! Quickly! Quickly now!" We grabbed our trunks and she pulled me toward Platform 10, then turned to face back to face what we could see of Platform 9; as it was being blocked by our view by a column. "Okay, now all you have to do is run right into that column right there."
I stared at the column in front of us. It looked pretty solid to me. "Are you crazy?"
"No, surprisingly I'm still sane. Hey, don't look at me like that! Just try it, you're going to go right through it."
I sighed, alright, I'll try. I am going to a famous magical boarding school after all apposed to the special high school I had to go to back home that taught the few witches and wizards in my city. I gulped, closed my eyes, and sprinted head first into it, waiting for the collision that never came. I opened my eyes to find myself on a completely different platform. There were many different wizarding families here, all saying goodbye to their kids who were about to board the huge train labeled, 'The Hogwarts Express.' And just above the train was a large black sign that said 'Platform 9 ¾' in shiny gold lettering.
"Told you that you would be fine," Lily laughed as she materialized next to me. "Now come on, we have to get ourselves a decent compartment."
We made our way toward the train, passing kids who stared and whispered as we passed. "What is their problem?" I questioned, "I understand I must look like some sort of weirdo or something, but seriously."
"Well, it's very rare that we get an exchange. It's kind of awkward to see a new face besides the first years," she explained.
Little did Lily or I know, we were being watched by a group of four troublesome boys as we boarded the train.
"Hey, Sirius, did you see that new girl with Lily?"
"Yeah, quite a looker, ain't she?"
"I wonder why she's here . . ."
The last boy, the most sensible one in the group, their voice of reason, and who always seemed to have his nose in a book; rolled his gray eyes at them. "Don't you guys remember me telling you before the summer holiday about the exchange student for this year?" he asked. The other three looked at each other in confusion then answered "No" in union. "You know, I told you after my last prefect meeting of the year." They continued shaking their heads. "Don't you guys ever listen to me? Ever?" They turned to each other again but this time grinned.
"No."
The boy with gray eyes sighed and started to mutter under his breath. "Oh, come on, Moony," said his friend with messy black hair and glasses. "You know we're just playing."
Moony laughed. "Surprisingly, Prongs, I have a funny feeling that you're not."
"Yeah, we know," said the boy with long black hair, "The only one here that pays half attention to ya is Peter," he said pointed to the last boy in the group.
"Sirius!"
"What? It's true."
Peter laughed. "Alright, maybe it is."
I took out my copy of the Boston Globe; the one thing that let me keep in touch to what was going on back at home, and plopped myself back down in my seat. "Watcha reading?" Lily asked as she pulled her gaze away from the window.
I held it up for her to see. "Just a newspaper."
"Just a muggle paper?" she inquired noticing the stationary photographs.
"No, of course not. It's just that since in America we're so close to muggles all the time because there ain't a hell of a lot of us magical folk. We have to be careful all the time," I replied. I pulled my wand (willow, 11 1/4 inches, fearie hair, flexible) out of my hoodie pocket and tapped the paper twice with it. The writing cleared leaving the pages blank, then quickly reappeared with moving pictures and the stories for the day.
Lily grinned. "Now that's cool. I've never seen anyone do that to a paper before. Can I see it?" I handed her the paper and watched her scan through the different articles. "Hey, where'd you go to school?" she asked. "I didn't know that there were any schools in Massachusetts, or at least I haven't heard of any."
"Well, you really wouldn't have. We have a similar school system to our muggle's system," I explained. "They're just like a regular high school, except they teach magic, and you have to be 'invited' of course. I usually go to Clearwater Academy in Revere, Massachusetts and I would be a junior this year." Lily gave me a questioning look. "Sixth year here."
"Oh, great! Same as me!"
With a sudden jolt, the train started moving and there was a knock on our compartment door before it slid open revealing four boys; one was tall and built with long dark hair and really handsome, the friend next to him wasn't as tall as the first but just as built as the first and had messy black hair and glasses. Behind them was another with blonde hair and bags underneath his gray eyes, and the last was short and plump, and for some odd reason, to me he seemed to have the resemblance of a rat.
"Hey Lily," the one with glasses and messy black hair said. "We're gonna sit with you if that's alright."
"Actually, it's not alright," she replied as she peered over the paper and gave the four a dirty look.
"Tsk, tsk, that's not very nice," the same boy said, "And it's kinda too bad that you don't want us sitting with you cuz everywhere else is full." He said while the group filed into the compartment and started to throw their bags up on top of the racks above the seats.
"Oh, cut the act, Potter. That's just an excuse so you can sit with me," Lily said while she gave my paper back to me.
The guy that looked exhausted seemed to study me for a bit before he took the seat beside me and replied, "Surprisingly, Lily, for once he's not lying." He then pulled out a book and started to read.
She rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat. The one that looked like a rat sat on the other side of the guy sitting next to me, while the other two sat themselves on the other side of the compartment next to Lily.
I opened my paper and flipped to the Quiddich section. Damn! New York beat Boston again last night. 230 to 110. Freaking Yankees. I peered over the paper to see the guy with glasses trying to talk to Lily, but was failing horribly because she found something out the window much more interesting. Next to them, the handsome one with long dark hair was eyeing me curiously and didn't seem to care that I knew he was watching me. I dropped my eyes back down to the paper, but couldn't seem to read anything. I could feel his eyes on me and it made me feel really uncomfortable.
"What the hell are you looking at?" I asked starting to get irritated. The one with glasses immediately shut up, the guy next to me stopped reading and started looking back and forth between me and the guy I snapped at; completely unaware of what was going on, and even Lily pulled her face away from the window. Then there was the one that looked like a rat who was grinning, apparently he had been watching us the whole time and had been waiting for the outburst.
"You," he said calmly.
I rolled my eyes. "Nah, really? Cuz I could have sworn that you were staring at the invisible person sitting beside me."
He grinned. "So," he began before I could continue reading, "I don't think that we've been properly introduced."
"Nicole Richardson," I said.
"Sirius Black," he replied while holding out his hand. I grasped it, and when he started to bend down to kiss mine, I quickly retracted it. "The pleasure's all mine."
"I'm sure it is," I muttered under my breath, causing the guy next to me to laugh.
"I'm Remus Lupin," he said with a smile, "I hope you like it here."
"Thanks," I replied as I looked into his tired gray eyes.
"Yeah, and I'm Peter Pettigrew," the rat looking boy piped up, almost squeaking.
"And I'm James Potter," said the guy with messy black hair and glasses.
"A.k.a. a complete thick-headed troublesome idiot," Lily added, "Who can never seem to take a hint that he's not wanted."
James ruffled his messy hair, making it even messier if that was possible, and grinned. "Actually, the nickname's Prongs, but you were real close though."
Lily and James then started fighting about whether or he was a real idiot or not, then Sirius jumped in for James' defense, and soon after Lily ended up smacking them both up-side the head calling them arrogant jerks. I couldn't help but laugh at the scene.
"I have a feeling that is gonna be one hell of a year," I said.
Remus nodded. "Always has been, but I think it will be very interesting, this year even more so than usual."
"Why do you think that?" I asked.
"I don't know," he replied truthfully, "Perhaps it's because you're here. Exchanges are really rare, you know. In fact, I think that you're the first American exchange to go to Hogwarts."
Now that's odd, I thought, hasn't Hogwarts been around for like a thousand years? Certainly there must have been at least one before me. I felt kind of weird at the thought of it. If they never had one before, why would they start to now?
A couple of hours later, after getting my ass kicked by Sirius and James at least three times each at Wizarding Chess, telling Remus and Lily about American high school (wizarding of course), and changing into our school robes, the train finally slowed to a stop.
As we got off of the train, I noticed that it had gotten dark, and the castle looked gorgeous all lit up.
"Firs' years over here!" I heard a gruff voice shout.
"Should I go over there with them?" I asked Lily.
"No, I don't think so. Even though you're new and you still have to be sorted and everything, but you're not a first year. Come with me," she said, "I know for a fact the Marauders are gonna get into our carriage with us. You seem to like them well enough though."
"Yeah, but, why wouldn't I like them?" I asked. "And why did you call them 'The Marauders?'"
"That's what they call themselves," she explained, "The four of 'em are troublemakers. They cause a lot of problems. Hex people for no reason. The only one that isn't a complete scoundrel is Remus. Then there's Peter, he isn't half bad, but he does copy and follow James around like a dog to look cool."
"I dunno, they seem pretty harmless to me," I said as we made our way along trying to find a carriage that wasn't already full.
"Nicole!" I heard from up ahead. I jumped so I could see above people's heads (damn I hate being short!) to see Sirius hanging out of a carriage up ahead, motioning us to come over.
"Come on, Lily! I found a carriage!"
"No, I'm not sitting with them." She opened a carriage with a boy who had long greasy black hair and a huge nose.
"What do you want, Mudblood?" he asked he rudely.
"I was just about to ask if we could sit with you, Severus," she said.
I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe she would rather sit with this obnoxious weasel than with the Marauders. I grabbed her shoulder a gently pushed her aside.
"What did you just call her?" I asked coolly.
"Ah, so you're the new exchange I've been hearing so much about. American, no? Great, another mudblood, just what this school needs," he said with a smirk.
It took all of my self control not to pound the ever-loving shit out of him. That would be all I needed; to get into trouble before classes even started.
"Nicole!" I looked up ahead to see Sirius and now James hanging out of their carriage, and upon seeing the confrontation, I could see their worried faces all the way over here.
The guy named Severus smirked. "But even though you're both mudbloods, you're still welcome to sit with me." I glanced back over at Marauder's carriage. "No, I wouldn't want you to start hanging out with the wrong sorts, now would I?"
My anger rose even higher. "I think I can decide who the 'wrong sorts' are for myself, thank you very much," I said rashly before slamming the door in his face, causing the carriage to shake violently. I turned to Lily and shook my head. "You know, I don't know you, or anyone else here that well, but I do know a complete asshole when I see one."
I turned away from her and started to make my way toward the Marauders. "You don't know them! They're trouble!" she said to my back. I turned back around to face her but continued walking backwards.
"You're right, I don't know them. But I'd rather spend my time with pranksters than with that mother," I said gesturing to Severus, "And as I said before, I don't know you that well either. So if you wanna sit with him, go on ahead, that's completely your choice. And if you do, I guess I'll see you later then."
Sirius and James witnessed the whole thing and were grinned from ear to ear.
"I'm beginning to like this chick already," said Sirius as he watched Nicole make her way to their carriage. James nodded in reply, then even more enthusiastically when Lily started running after her.
"Bloody hell," mused James, "If she has this much influence over Lily already, I'm afraid of what she's gonna be like in a few more weeks." The pair went back inside to find Peter and Remus laughing.
"Yeah, and maybe she'll actually go out with ya, Prongs," Remus laughed.
"Moony does have a point there, Prongs. No denying that," Sirius said to a very sour looking James. "There's a better chance of Snevillus becoming ungreasy than that happening, no offence."
"Shut up, Padfoot."
A/N:
Well, that concludes the first chapter. Eight full pages and over three thousand words for ya. Any good? Please review!
Rocky