Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the magicverse/Potterverse. There are some dialogues in the first scene that were taken directly from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so Jo owns them as well.
A Glitch in Time
Harry was still registering to the fact that he hadn't really been expelled from Hogwarts. He was feeling almost as happy as the day he first rode his favourite scarlet train. Now all he had to do was try not to burst out laughing at the articles he had just read out of The Quibbler, a magazine he got from this new girl he met today, and control his fuming rage over the fact that Draco Malfoy, his archenemy, had been made a prefect. And speak of the devil, whose smirking face but the same Malfoy's should appear at the doorway, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle, his faithful personal dumbasses.
"What?" barked Harry, before Malfoy had the chance to speak. He really didn't want to give him one more advantage before the school year had even begun.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," Malfoy raised one eyebrow over his pale, bottomless, stormy grey- What?! Harry couldn't fathom when he got so interested in Draco Malfoy's eyes. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments," finished Malfoy with an arrogant huff.
"Yeah," stammered Harry, getting over his momentary lapse soon enough. "But you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." He felt relieved and rather proud at finding such a witty reply so quickly.
Every Gryffindor in the compartment burst out laughing. Malfoy shot a sneer.
"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he spat, hitting the first weak spot of his audience that came to his mind.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione almost raised from her seat. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville roared in her support.
Useless mudblood! Who asked you to butt in? "I seem to have touched a nerve," was what he said instead, holding up his previous smirk. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be lurking around dark corners of the castle waiting to throw you against a cold, stone dungeon wall and ravish you senseless."
Dead silence fell around the compartment. Eight pairs of eyes were now staring straight at Malfoy, who looked like a fish out of water.
"Eh?" Goyle's clueless grunt broke the silence.
"Wh-who did that?" Malfoy suddenly seemed to have gotten back the proper functions of his mouth. "Someone just cast some stupid spell at me! Tell me which one of you did this or you'll all earn yourselves a yearlong detention!" His furious and befuddled eyes automatically turned towards Hermione. Even in this freaky situation he knew that the only person skilled enough to perform such a precise Imperius Curse was Granger.
Hermione made a disgusted face in reply. "Do shut your mouth and use your brain for a change, Malfoy. Then probably you'd stop vocalizing your dirty desires and realize that none of us have mastered wandless nonverbal magic yet."
Malfoy looked around the compartment. Indeed, none of them had their wands out. He stammered his last lame retort, "Well- I'll- be watching you all," all the while backing into the corridor.
A moment later he was gone from the doorway, leaving the occupants of the compartment in another uncomfortable silence.
"What in the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron spoke first.
Harry made a noise that sounded a lot like a strangled Cornish Pixie.
"I mean, I would think he was pulling our legs," Ron continued. "But the way he himself reacted…you know, like he genuinely had no control over-"
"Neville!" Ginny jumped a foot away from him and almost squashed Harry against the window. "What are you- ? Where did you just- ?"
Neville sat there with a horrified look strangely resembling Malfoy's.
"Stay away from my sister, Neville!" Ron pulled out his wand in a knight-like swish.
"Hang on. What exactly is happening here?" Hermione said slowly.
"Something very strange," suggested Harry in a rather scared tone.
"I've got a theory. I think people's innermost desires are coming out in the open …for some reason."
"Hey, I never desired to touch Ginny!" Neville cried.
"Don't you dare speak my sister's name, you filthy, perverted- " Ron couldn't finish his sentence, but didn't stop there. "Acting all innocent and clumsy…almost fooled me into believing all the plant-loving crap! Who could ever guess that behind that gullible round face- "
"Will you shut your sexy lips and let me think for a second? Or do I have to punish you for being so naughty, Mr. Prefect?"
Now it was Hermione's turn to sport a horror-struck scarlet face.
"Maybe we shouldn't speak at all," Ginny said in a small voice.
"Definitely Wrackspurts," commented Luna decisively. The others gladly took Ginny's advice.
By the time they had set foot on the Hogsmeade station, the whole student body looked like a funeral party. No sound of voices were being heard except for a few occasional "excuse me", "sorry" and "thank you"s. From the unusual silence it became very clear that Malfoy, Longbottom and Granger weren't the only victims of whatever the devil had broken out.
Professor Grubbly-Plank had come to receive the first years instead of Hagrid. Harry's heart sank. He was really hoping to see his oldest wizard friend after the awful summer he had had. But he did not even dare open his mouth to discuss his absence with his friends. He waited for Ron and Hermione to come back from helping the newcomers, then silently walked alongside them towards the horseless carriages that always took them to the Hogwarts castle, except – they weren't quite horseless anymore. Of course he couldn't really call them horses, the creatures that were attached to the carriages, what with the leathery wings and fleshless coat of skin over their skeletons, but something was definitely there.
"Hermione," his curiosity took over caution. "What are those creatures?"
"What creatures?" Hermione looked around. "Don't tell me the curse is now affecting eyesight, too?"
"Curse?" Ron enquired, momentarily forgetting the last time Hermione spoke to him.
"Well, whatever's happening, I mean," Hermione lowered her voice, turning slightly pink, gesturing around her with her eyes. "What else could have such a powerfully controlling effect over so many people at once?"
None of them replied. They proceeded to occupy the nearest empty carriage, beside which Ginny, Luna and Neville were already waiting, Ginny a safe distance away from Neville. They passed the whole journey in silence – other than Luna's occasional humming – trying to steal uncomfortable glances at one another.
When they had finally reached the warmth of the great hall, they started feeling somewhat safe. The events on the train seemed like a distant memory from a past life. By the time the sorting was done without any hindrance and the Headmaster stood up to give his traditional miniature welcome speech, everyone felt quite sure that whatever happened was a temporary thing that had worn off by now.
"Before the feast starts," Albus Dumbledore began. "I would like to say a few words of welcome. To our old faces and the new, may you find your school a joyful place even in times of darkness, and may I find my rightful place in the loving arms of my darling Poppy Pomfrey!" The usual twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was suddenly replaced by a glint of amused astonishment. "Oh sweet fairy lights, I didn't even know I leant that way!"
Professor Dumbledore sat down awkwardly and the whole Great Hall erupted with murmurs which were not contained within the students' tables only. Professor McGonagall turned to Dumbledore and started saying something in a very fast pace. Snape appeared to be leaning away from Professor Sinistra, who was talking to him with a strange smile on her face. A witch in all-pink sitting on Dumbledore's left caught Harry's eye trying to interrupt his conversation with McGonagall. He couldn't tell from her profile why she seemed familiar somehow. He turned instead to the house tables, from which gasps and shrieks were sounding at a regular interval, following all kinds of remarks.
"What did you just say?" bellowed someone from the Slytherin table.
"Get your hands off of me!" cried a Hufflepuff.
"You will pay for this, Patil!" a Ravenclaw girl jumped at Padma.
"Really? Me too!" Harry had lost track of owners of voices by this time.
Soon enough, small fights had broken over all of the tables with equal participation of girls and boys, many of which involved more tongue than fists. Harry started to feel dizzy, when Hermione poked him hard in the ribs.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry! But look at Snape!" Hermione said loudly over the noise around them. The teachers were taking no attempt to stop anyone.
Harry turned to face the opposite corner of the hall. Severus Snape was staring right back their way with black eyes that looked…kind.
"What the hell-?"
"He has been staring like that for about a minute now. What do you reckon is up with him?"
"At the rate things are going – I'd say he is in love with you," Harry tried to sound sarcastic, but it was hard when he actually believed what he said. To his surprise though, Hermione blushed for the third time that evening.
"Alright, I need some air," Harry got up from his chair. No one seemed to pay him any attention.
A chilly wind was rustling through the leaves of the trees bordering the Forbidden Forest. As he neared the edge of the forest, Harry noticed the same strange creatures from before grazing on the ground near Hagrid's hut. He walked lazily towards them. They would be much better company that the lunatics in school robes.
When he came very close to the winged black horses, or what looked closest to horses than any other animal Harry knew, some of them looked up at him before turning back to minding their own business. Were they really his imagination? How could no one else see them if they were real? But…they looked so…
Harry lifted a hesitant hand to touch the neck of the nearest one.
"Seeing things again, Potter?" someone spat from behind him. Harry jerked his hand back. He'd know this voice anywhere.
"I s'pose," he sighed.
Draco faltered. He did not expect him to bend so easily. Still, he couldn't let him slide. After the embarrassment on the train, he had to assert his superiority to him all over again.
"Not so macho anymore, eh?" he said, searching his mind for something more substantial to throw at him. "You've probably realized no one can save you from the Dark Lord this time now that your mentor is more interested in school nurses than tragic heroes." Perfect! His smirk made a full comeback.
"Uh-huh. And who are you interested in, Malfoy? Still planning to wait for me in dark corners?" Please leave. Harry couldn't deal with this now.
Dammit! "That was- " he lost the spite in his voice halfway. "I don't know what that was." He looked down, frowning deeply. He couldn't maintain eye contact with Harry. It was as if he wasn't a Malfoy anymore! He felt like he was lost in some sort of alternate reality.
They remained in silence for some five minutes. Draco felt like five hours had passed. For Harry, time stood still.
"So…what do you think you're seeing now?" the Slytherin couldn't take the tension anymore.
"Leave it, Malfoy," Harry said exasperatedly, still looking at the dark creatures. They looked like messengers of death, yet he had rarely scene such solemn beings. "I- don't feel like talking."
"Why? Feeling upset?" Draco asked, with a failed attempt at mockery. But apparently it was enough for Harry.
"YES, MALFOY, I AM FEELING UPSET!" Harry spun around to face Draco, who flinched. A few of the winged creatures gave a shrill shriek and jumped away from him. "TRY SPENDING HALF A SUMMER WITHOUT A SINGLE PIECE OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE WIZARDING WORLD, THEN MEETING YOUR FRIENDS ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THE ONLY PIECE OF GOOD NEWS THEY HAVE IS OF THEM BECOMING PREFECTS. APPARENTLY, SURVIVING THREE- No, FOUR ENCOUNTERS WITH BLOODY VOLDEMORT WASN'T QUALIFICATION ENOUGH."
"P-Potter-" Draco's voice sounded like a croak.
"AND YOU!" Harry spat after pausing for a deep breath. "WHAT HAVE YOU EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS?" He strode over and jabbed his index finger at the green and silver badge that was proudly being sported on Draco's chest. Ow, Draco winced. "OH, BUT OF COURSE! YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH EATER DADDY WITH TIES AT THE MINISTRY! WELL, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU, BUDDY! I'D RATHER BE THE ORPHAN SON OF A HERO THAN HAVE A LIVING SCUM OF A FATHER LIKE YOURS!"
Harry no longer knew what he was shouting about. His eyes were stinging with pent up emotions. Draco could almost see his own face reflected in the pool of tears gathering at the base of the stunning green irises.
"BUT LUCKY ME, RIGHT? I GOT MY WISH. ALL I AM NOW IS AN ORPHAN! AND EVEN WHEN I'M FINALLY BACK TO THE ONLY PLACE I EVER BELONGED TO, NOTHING IS GOING RIGHT! DUMBLEDORE'S GOING CRAZY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, HAGRID ISN'T EVEN-"
It took Harry a few seconds to comprehend exactly what made him stop in the middle of his rant. By the time he realized, his lips were being perfectly molded into Malfoy's thinly curved ones. Harry's weak effort at some sort of resistance was lost in a feeling of calming security, because it wasn't just the Slytherin's lips but also his gentle arms that were guarding him against all that had ever gone wrong. Taking a lungful of wonderfully fresh night air, he gave in, sinking in the embrace, losing himself in the kiss that was just the right blend of passion and compassion – No! No, Harry, get a grip! A long forgotten sense of pride poked him awake from the sweet illusion of perfection in his world of chaos. And it turned out that he wasn't the only one coming to his senses, because the moment he pulled back from Malfoy's mouth he felt a shove in his chest by the same hands that were being the epitome of tenderness just a moment ago.
The two boys stared at each other with popping eyes for several moments before Draco frantically shook his head sideways, stumbled a few steps backwards and broke into a run towards the castle.
"Harry! Where were you? We were worried," Ginny ran to him with a concerned look as soon as Harry entered the Great Hall.
Harry looked around. The hall was nearly empty. Almost untouched dinner hadn't been removed from the tables yet. The only two people at the Gryiffindor table were Ginny and Neville. "Where is everyone?"
"All sent to bed," Neville spoke.
"Yeah, I doubt even one of them will leave the common room," scoffed Ginny.
"What happened? Could they figure out anything yet?" Harry was desperate for some answers.
"Dunno, really. About twenty minutes ago Dumbledore told the students to go to bed and left with a bunch of teachers."
"And Hermione!" said Neville.
"Yeah, and Hermione. We stayed behind to wait for you. Ron wanted to stay, too, but he had to take lead of the first years, cuz he's a-"
"Prefect, yeah, yeah," Harry interjected, annoyed. "But why'd they want Hermione?"
"No clue," Ginny and Neville said in unison.
"Alright, guys. You go ahead. I'll catch up with you later."
"What are you gonna do?" Ginny's narrowed eyes were a perfect image of her mother's.
"I'm going to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry replied honestly.
"Harry, I don't think you should-"
"He owes me some answers," Harry said firmly.
"Okay," Ginny said, still a tone of cautiousness in her voice. "Be careful with your words, though. They hired a ministry official to teach DADA this year. She might be there."
Harry nodded. Must be that witch in pink.
"See ya, mate," and with that Neville left with Ginny. He could hear their voices fading outside the hall.
"Neville, don't you dare –"
"I won't! You know it wasn't really me."
"You can never be too sure…"
Harry sighed and looked around. The only other person in the hall was sitting at a shadowed corner of the Slytherin table. With a pang of a feeling he couldn't quite place his finger on, he saw Draco Malfoy sitting with his face buried in the creases of his elbows, pulling strands of silver hair with both his hands.
Swallowing all of the strange feelings, Harry turned to leave.
The Headmaster's room was packed. All four Heads of houses were present, along with Professors Sinistra, Trelawney and Vector, Hermione, and the witch in pink whom Harry recognized with a sudden start as the toadlike woman from his hearing. All of them were having a heated conversation when Harry knocked and entered without waiting for a reply.
"Mr Potter. Clearly we did not have enough people," sneered the Potions master.
"Now, now, Severus. No need to be rude to our guest," Professor Dumbledore said politely. "What is the matter, Harry?"
"I want answers," Harry said coldly. "What is going on here?"
"Don't speak so rudely, Potter!" Professor McGonagall sounded shocked.
"Several sufficiently competent minds are working on the problem, Potter," Snape spoke irritably. "You are being nothing but a distraction."
Hermione gave Harry a helpless look.
"Hem, hem!" Everyone turned to the source of the funny sound that was apparently the throat of the toadlike witch. "I would like to say something." Her voice was as different as it could be from a toad's. It sounded like a caramel fountain.
"Yes, Dolores?" Professor Dumbledore said calmly.
"As I have been saying since we entered this room, that this is matter to be handled strictly by the Ministry, and innocent children like these should not be-"
"Children?" Harry shouted, forgetting Ginny's warning.
"Yes dear, children," the Dolores woman gave a sickeningly sweet smile at Harry, "who should not be involved in it at all."
"If I recall correctly, I have also made it clear, that this incident have been observed among Hogwarts students and officials, and thus is under my jurisdiction," Dumbledore's voice was low, yet firm.
"But as a ministry official-"
"You can certainly contact your office to enquire whether this has been happening anywhere else in the country, and take steps as you feel necessary. But you will NOT interfere in Hogwarts business."
Dumbledore spoke with such finality that the woman could do nothing but gape at him for some time. Then she turned on her heels and marched out of the room. Everyone seemed to heave a sigh of relief.
Now it was Harry's turn again. He looked at Professor Dumbledore with pleading eyes. "Professor?"
"Alright, Harry. I see you will not be at peace until you get an explanation, which I think Miss Granger can give you in simpler words." He nodded at Hermione, who blushed…yet again.
"Well…" she began. "How much idea do you have about the temporal dimension?"
"Wha- ?" started Harry.
"Simpler terms, Miss Granger," Snape's merciless glare was back.
"Uhm…yes…alright," Hermione stammered. "You probably know that the world we live in is not the only reality out there. There are other, numerous alternate realities."
"Uh, no I don't," Harry said dumbly.
"Honestly, didn't you even read muggle books?"
"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall gestured her to get to the point.
"Sorry, Professor. Well, you see, there are other realities, or parallel universes as we may call them. They are separated from our world by the the temporal dimension – now time is another dimension in our world just like length, width and breadth. That is how our past, present and future all can coexist side-by-side, and we can move from one time to another, just like we can move through the spatial dimension."
Harry nodded; his previous experience with a time-turner was helping him understand it a little.
"Okay, so the parallel worlds are separated from one another by the temporal dimension, which borders the worlds, and the astral plane, which is a plane that occupies the space between the worlds, including before- and after-life."
"There's a before-life?" asked Harry incredulously.
"Yes. Now the problem at hand is, when you mess around with time, you can create breaches in the temporal boundary of the universes, and sometime that causes overlapping between two or more worlds, in our case two." Professor Vector, Professor Sinistra and Professor McGonagall were all beaming in pride at their star student by now.
"So someone messed up with time?"
"Yes."
"How?" Harry asked, ignoring Snape's exasperated sigh.
"Well, there are these objects called time-turners –"
"I know what a time-turner is! Don't waste-" at Hermione's warning glare Harry remembered that many people in this room aren't supposed to know of his affiliations with the time-turner. "…time. Remember when Percy bored us with his lectures about time paradoxes the summer before last?"
"Oh, of course," Hermione covered her relived sigh with a nervous little laugh. "Well, there is a universe where muggles know stories about us, and – how can I put it – well, they also make their own fairy tales about us."
"Why would they make fairy tales if they know about magic?"
"Actually, in that world there is no magic. Just like muggles in our world believe, except in their world they're right."
"And yet…they know about us?"
"Yes. Sometimes certain people can see through other planes," at this point Professor Trelawney started nodding vigorously, "even if they don't realize what they perceive. One such person in the non-magic universe started recording our whole story on paper, and their world came to know about it as fiction. Admirers of the magic world started to create their own stories based on what are facts to us, and – well, it is strange, really, how powerful imagination can be in a place where other magic does not exist. They can often alter the shape of reality."
"So what happened now?" Harry was becoming impatient.
"Some of the people who created new imaginary stories about our world, have made some very wrong uses of time-turners. And it has breached through their temporal barrier and also affected ours."
"You mean now their reality and our reality are overlapping?"
"Their imaginary reality."
"So…in their imagination, Snape has a crush on you?" As soon as the words left his mouth he remembered he was surrounded by teachers, including the one he just mentioned. "I mean…" But there was no taking it back.
Hermione turned a hideous shade of maroon. Snape started coughing, making the situation even more embarrassing. The Headmaster felt it the right time to take charge.
"Well, Harry, now that you have understood the whole matter, I hope you can have good night's sleep in your comfortable dormitory bed, which I'm sure you have missed over the summer."
"But how are we supposed to make things right?" Harry felt more worried now that he understood the problem completely.
"We," Dumbledore gestured to everyone but Harry, "will have to do some research, write some complicated spells, and perform them. After which, I am hoping, everything will be just as they were before, or if I put it more correctly, everything will be set the way it is supposed to be." The wise old man winked, making Harry even more confused.
"But I want to help," he cried.
"Oh, honestly, Harry," Hermione had returned to her old colour. "How much do you know of Arithmancy, really?"
"I- But-!"
"In her own bold way, Miss Granger is quite right, you know," Dumbledore spoke again. "There are some very complex calculations involved. It would be best for you, and all of us if I may say so, if you could go and take some rest now. Young Mr Weasley is probably waiting for you." He smiled kindly.
"Yes, sir," said Harry dejectedly. "Good night, Professors. 'Mione."
No one in the Gryffindor house slept that night. Some went to their dormitories to get some quiet; most of them stayed down in the common room; but all were discussing the evening's events in hushed tones.
Harry and Ron sat in the stairway to the boys' dormitories, as the quiet of upstairs was just as unnerving as the chaos downstairs. Harry had explained as much as he could of the science and magic of the situation, and now all they could do was wait for it to end.
Both boys had started to doze off when Harry felt the crowd in the common room stir. He poked Ron awake and ran down the stairs, skipping as many steps as he could.
Hermione had finally returned to the tower, accompanied by Professor McGonagall, both looking more tired than anyone else in the room. As their best friend crossed the room to join Harry and Ron, the Head of Gryffindor house addressed her students.
"I will be pleased to inform you all that the predicament we were facing has been successfully resolved." She smiled at them wearily. "But you are advised to report to a prefect as soon as you feel like anything is out of the ordinary. The Headmaster suspects, some glitches may still be left which will possibly present themselves over the upcoming hours."
At once, the whole house broke into questions.
Harry, Ron and Hermione left her to deal with the curious Gryffindors and sneaked out of the portrait hole to set off for the Great Hall. The windows were already carrying in rays of the rising sun.
Breakfast that morning was a very early and very rich one. No one had managed to eat much at dinner last night, and students from all other houses seemed to have pulled an all-nighter as well. It was quite amusing seeing everyone with dark patches beneath their eyes, but still smiling and chatting excitedly about the previous evening.
Ron was stuffing his mouth with bacon and looking at Hermione with goggling eyes as she explained to them and a bunch of other students from all houses how they had managed to come up with a solution for the problem. Harry's eyes wandered over to the other side of the hall. A pair of pale, bottomless, stormy grey eyes met his greens. His heart stopped. Why isn't he looking away? The odd, unexplainable feelings from last night were creeping back into his chest. This must be what McGonagall was talking about, he thought. Tell Ron and Hermione. You're supposed to report the glitch to a prefect! He raised a hand to touch Hermione's arm, then pulled back to himself.
Maybe it'd be better to inform the Slytherin prefect first. Harry stood up with a smirk; it did not suit him much.