Chapter One: The Barlow's Shadow.
Disclaimer: I own none of the material written by J. K. Rowling or her publishing company.
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London, 1924
A young girl stood with rigid posture as the entirety of the British, wizarding aristocracy peered down their noses at her. She was no Greengrass, Malfoy, Fawley, nor the descendant of any other notable, pureblood lines. This fact seemed to fascinate the more skeptical patriarchs and matriarchs who found themselves wondering how the Potters had become so influential in a mere generation. Adelais Fleamont, they swiftly decided, had started it all by wedding Jacinth Potter many years prior. The heiress was well known to be beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, pure of blood, and a cunning Slytherin to the very core. That famous determination of House Potter to steer clear of the spotlight, despite their immense wealth and many innovations, was effectively shattered.
The woman went on to birth two boys. The younger was Charlus Potter who exhibited an aptitude for duelling from his first year at Hogwarts. Her eldest son, Henry, proved to have an intelligence sharp enough for the cutthroat world of wizarding politics. Despite her husband's disapproval Adelais meddled until Charlus was a prestigious, European champion duellist, and Henry a rising power in the Wizengamot. As a result her children were highly desirable bachelors, to such an extent that Dorea Black was permitted to wed Charlus. Henry's widely criticized, pro-muggle stances proved a difficulty, yet he managed to nab Saila Pyrite who hailed from ancient blood.
Even though Adelais never did live long enough to reap the fruits of her efforts she managed to sharply influence the direction of her grandchildren's lives as well. On her deathbed the woman begged her son Henry two things. To name his son Fleamont in honor of her noble, but extinct House, as well as to raise his children as she had him. Some odd months later Henry fulfilled the first part by naming his firstborn Fleamont Potter. Then only a few years later something very strange happened indeed. During the month of August his dear wife blessed him with a girl. The first Potter-witch in nearly three centuries.
"Coquelicot Potter," Smiled Venusia Crickerly, the Minister for Magic, "You look ever so much like your father, my girl."
"Thank you Minister Crickerly, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," The ten year old girl smiled with a graceful curtsey. Her innocent face wrinkled with intelligence far too insightful for one so young. "I must say, Minister, that your service as a public servant is most appreciated by House Potter," Those hazel eyes glimmered, "The Goblin and wizarding relationship has never been better." A hand fell proudly on the young witch's shoulder as her father made his presence known.
"Why don't you go to your mother, Coquelicot?" Henry Potter suggested prompting the girl to bid the Minister farewell before sweeping measuredly towards her mother. Even though she wanted for nothing more than to run from the exhausting task of greeting pretentious guests such a thing was unacceptable. Proper ladies did not race about in front of civilized company, the child could imagine her governess hissing stiffly.
The massive courtyard of Potter Villa swirled with guests, all looking up at the stars while gossiping up a storm. Many of these visitors were famous, talented individuals, so it was quite a surprise to her that they seemed so… Ordinary. It was right after that word rolled across her mind that the Potter girl saw her. Cassandra Trelawney had been a surprise guest to the event, for she rarely ever even left her own home. Coquelicot had been ecstatic upon hearing from her mother that the woman had accepted their invitation to the party. Slowly the child picked her way through the crowd towards Trelawney, determined to pick the woman's brain for knowledge about Divination.
Finally she stopped before her, and ended up quite disappointed. The greatest seer in modern history was a raging drunk who merely snickered gibberish when the girl gave her politest greeting. To make matters worse as she was leaving the older woman dropped her handbag on the floor before falling on her arse trying to pick it up. Wary of the stray eyes which were observing the scene very carefully the ladylike girl bent to offer a hand. What happened after was rather horrifying. When they made contact Trelawney's face grew terror-stricken as though trapped in a dark trance, her wide eyes peering up at Coquelicot as hundreds of distinct, whispery voices poured from her throat.
"The Poppy of House Potter blooms with life…" Blood trickled from her nose, "A dark stranger shall turn her greatest achievement to meddlesome strife…" Two pale hands clenched into the ground tightly, "Time will change all. With a simple tumble the Poppy will reshape the Girl-Who-Lived in mind, body, and soul…" Choking noises strangled Trelawney for a long moment before she came back to. The seer seemed to be stuck in a catatonic trance. Coquelicot's young head swirled wildly at what had transpired only several seconds before.
"Coco," Fleamont, her older brother was pulling at her shoulder gently, "What is wrong?" The world began to swirl as he tried to pull her from Trelawney's side.
A door slammed shut prompting Coquelicot 'Coco' Potter to jerk awake as fast as a whip. Her midnight black bob snapped around while she tried to calm her racing heart. Nearly seventeen years had passed since that wretched woman had scarred the Potter witch for life. Though not a week passed by where Coco failed to remember the grim, nonsensical prophecy which had been all but forced on her. Patting the sheets for a moment she decided that her handsome guest from the night before had been the cause of that banging door. Half tempted to go back to sleep she fought mightily to resist temptation.
Work was more important the tired woman finally decided, slipping out of bed while stretching her arms overhead. After a quick shower the young woman observed herself in the mirror. Most pureblood witches wore dazzling robes with elaborate, pointy hats worth thousands of galleons. They revelled in their many buttons, as well as their embarrassingly, ill-fitted braziers. However, a very select few decided to dress in the very popular flapper fashion of the muggle world. Coco Potter, despite being a formidable socialite, enjoyed spurning longstanding notions regarding the dress code for women. Her midnight-black hair was cut to a short length, she wore leggy dresses, maintained an affectionate penchant for smoking, drank a bit too much Elvish wine, loved fast brooms, and was quite guilty of many carnal sins.
Henry Potter, her politician, stick-up-the-ass father, disapproved mightily of the lifestyle which his daughter lived. Since she had been a child the clever man hoped that she would take over the Potter seat on the Wizengamot in his stead, for her older brother had neither the stomach or cunning for such a thing. Coco proved much too rebellious though preferring to cavort with dashing men and bury herself deep in work. A situation which Henry had no influence over due to her high-paying job in the Department of Mysteries. It went without saying that the pair did not speak often except for the occasional, holiday Howler.
Making sure that her, scandalous, thigh wand holster actually held her wand Coco marched to the fireplace before slipping inside gracefully. "The Ministry of Magic," She spoke in a husky voice before falling through the fireplace and tumbling onto both feet in the Ministry Atrium. Upon glancing at the clock with her hazel eyes the woman realized just how close she was to arriving late for her shift. Coco began to run as fast as possible for her destination with her heels clicking noisily against the hard floor. Several people tried to draw her attention with a greeting though the woman did not have her usual patience when dismissing them.
With only two minutes to spare she stepped out of the lift while a crisp, female voice said, "Department of Mysteries." Black tiles covered every inch of visible surface as torches that flickered with blue light attempted to make up for the lack of windows. Striding towards the circular entry room of her department she eyed the 'identical' doors carefully for their hidden deformities. After a very short period of seconds passed by Coco recognized an almost invisible chip on the bottom of one door. Pushing her way through it she was transported into a room that sparkled with luminous, diamond-like light. Clocks lined every corner of the room next to various, magical objects wizards had been studying for centuries.
"So glad you decided to join us, Potter," Called out Craig Boot, Head of the Department of Mysteries. Glancing at her snickering, predominantly male, co workers she sneered.
"I am sure you are Craig," She snapped back saccharinely, "These fellows can only accomplish so much. Nepotism does not, after all, make up for a lack of brains." All mirthful expressions faded into mutinous anger. Never before had Coco been more appreciative of the fact that looks could not kill, so long as Basilisks were not thrown into the mix.
"You just earned yourself the late shift," Boot snapped haughtily, "Put those brains of yours to good work." The woman was then forced to begin her difficult task of writing hours beyond hours of runic incantations. In order to actually create a time turner one needed to work their way through a very challenging process which began with research, planning, and highly advanced arithmantic calculations. Upon finishing all three of those phases it was necessary to write the magical formula that was vital to the creation of a time turner. This painstakingly tedious process was further exacerbated by the five month time period that was usually required.
Coco, despite Boot's reluctance to admit such a thing, was one of the most dynamic minds to have been employed in the department since Levina Monstankely. In only six years of working there the twenty-five year old proved herself capable of creating time turners in only half the normal time period. Most of the piggish men she sat with at that very moment held at least ten years of seniority over her, and only eighteen time turners beneath each of their belts. She was credited with a contribution of almost twenty-seven. Despite the rocky start to her morning the Potter witch managed to pull through with her workload by the time late evening rolled around. Craig left with his standard demeaning comment, as his cohorts followed suit closely behind.
Relieved at finally being left alone to herself Coco began her usual, nightly ritual. When the woman was not out dancing, or stuck at a late shift with Boot she worked on a highly… Unorthodox project. Ever since Eloise Mintumble was assigned to go back six-hundred years, and seemingly damaged time in more ways than one, the unauthorized creation of 'centurial time turners' became highly illicit. Coco did not care in the slightest, however, as her desire for knowledge was far greater than a silly rule. For the past three years she had been putting her vast skill in runic Charms to the absolute test.
Reaching into her very heavily warded purse the flapper pulled out a very expensive pocketwatch. She had nicked it during a trip to the Main Potter Vault with her father during seventh year. It was crafted from Goblin forged gold, embedded with at least seventy-two priceless jewels, and contained a miniature replication of the astronomical clock-face in Prague. If one with a skillful eye were given the opportunity to investigate this pocket watch they would discover something of a somewhat horrifying nature.
Inscribed into the gold on the back of the object in an endlessly whirling pattern were some of the most classified time runes to have been discovered by the Department of Mysteries. The most unstable magics available to humanity had been trapped within a mere vessel. Leaving her treasured object to sit on the table Coco drew a rather large file from her purse soon after. Contained within were all of the arithmantic calculations and runic Charms necessary to her experiment. As she flipped carefully through the many pages the witch recalled all of the spells which were compounded within the fist-sized pocket watch. Hour-Reversal Charms, Day-Reversal Charms, Decade Reversal Charms, along with a Charm that could turn a clock back centuries.
Now she found herself working on something so innovative, daring, and risky that it inspired the faintest flickers of doubt even in her. A runic pattern that allowed one to travel almost a half-hour into the future. If going into the past without permission was illicit, going into the future was unimaginable. The only other time a wizard had ever risked such a thing was during the extraction of Eloise Mintumble from the fourteenth century. Only for her to have aged five-hundred years before dying in Saint Mungo's Hospital. Coco held no intentions of going out in such a manner, however. Her installation of this function was only hypothetical.
When the ticking clock sitting before her proclaimed that it was midnight the young woman decided she could no longer put off her night shift duties. Standing reluctantly Coco put her project back inside of her enchanted purse prior to retrieving her wand from its hiding place. Then she initiated the painstaking process of reinforcing the department's wards while doing her obligatory rounds. The box of time turners was easily spelled to burn the hands of any individual unfortunate enough to try opening or touching it. With the torches to guide her along Coco ambled lazily through her workplace.
There was the top secret Love Chamber, with its twin fountains of Amortentia and Entrancing potions tended to by the greatest potioneers in Britain. She eyed the specimens which lined the walls, all of them from creatures such as Veela which used weak impressions of Love. Then in the very back were the workbenches where her colleagues were attempting to bottle the Patronus Charm. Coco quickly marched through the Hall of Prophecies, Space Chamber, the Chamber of Thoughts, as well as the Death Chamber.
With a more brisk spring in her step upon finishing she decided to simply laze about in the Time Chamber until her unbearably long shift ended. Fate had other plans in store for the woman though. As soon as she reentered the Entry Hall with all of the doors something highly unusual stopped Coco dead in her tracks. The Time Chamber door with its barely visible chip in the bottom sat wide open. None of her buffoonish coworkers would have returned so late in the evening. Apparently she was wrong. Craig stood with her purse in one hand and a very familiar pocket watch in the other. Coco knew in that moment that she was either going to be sent to Azkaban, or would end up silencing the repulsive man permanently with her wand.
"Thought you could hide this?" He demanded furiously, causing her to tilt her head in the slightest bit of confusion. After having worked with the repugnant man for almost seven years Coco liked to believe she knew him better than his own whore of a mother. So when his voice merely sounded like a good imitation of Craig's voice she grew very suspicious. Picking up speed with her observations the young woman noted that Craig was holding himself with an unusual amount of confidence when usually his burly shoulders slumped a bit. Then came the final straw, Craig was right-handed, so why was this imposter holding their wand in the left hand?
Shivering, as fear flooded its way down her spine in a constant trickle, she made eye contact with the person holding a magical object that had the potential to destroy the world. Then with the blink of an eye her adversary had his wand jabbing directly towards her as blinding, violet light erupted from the tip. Coco flew into a duck well before the spell made contact. The witch then sent a Blood-Boiling Curse in 'Craig's' direction. That spell was deflected straight back towards her instantaneously, as he followed it up with a rapid fire 'Incarcerous'.
"Protego," She snapped twice creating invisible shields which repelled both attacks completely. When the spells struck against her barriers they transformed into twin explosions of brilliant, white sparks. After that the young witch was forced to move further into the room when the door grew arms which tried to grab ahold of her. A pattern quickly developed after that with the intruder trying to incapacitate her, and Coco using the biggest, loudest spells possible in hopes of drawing attention to her predicament. "Astilla," She eventually cried several minutes into the battle causing the table which had once held her missing purse to explode down to the last splinter of wood. He simply blasted all of the debris in her direction with a Wind Charm prompting Coco to incinerate it all to ashes.
Several more minutes passed the duelling pair by. In Hogwarts Coquelicot Potter had, among many other achievements, been the European junior duelling champion, yet that title proved to be worth nothing. Whoever was impersonating Craig seemed to have four times her experience in real life battle, and it showed. His only wounds were a bloody gash across the shoulder, torn clothing, and somewhat singed hair. Coco was barely capable of standing with her horribly burnt calves, various cuts from falling on broken tile, as well as a bleeding wound across her abdomen inflicted by Dark Magic. Every piece of furniture in the Time Chamber had been blown to thousands of bits and pieces. Only the box of time turners remained intact due to the powerful charms which protected them.
"Expulso," She bellowed causing the ceiling to rattle as the shiny tile rained down from above on her opponent. Then the flapper wasted no time firing a series of stunners, jinxes, and hexes at him without any pause. Her actions came to an abrupt stop when help finally arrived. Four security wizards stumbled into the room with their wands outstretched, clearly surprised to see a department head blocking such vicious blows from an Unspeakable. Exasperated Coco pointed at 'Craig' whilst shouting, "IMPOSTER," At the top her lungs. In response her loathsome bosses' face melted away into pure blackness as her attacker transformed into a three-dimensional shadow.
The security wizards along with Coco started to throw whatever spell popped into their heads at the foul aberration. With the first flash of light, however, its entire essence of being corkscrewed right down to the floor until only a snake was left in its stead. Her comrades ceased all magic in confusion though Coco recognized precisely what had taken place, and continued her assault. Not only could this stranger shift its shape, but to make matters worse it was a Animagus as well. All of her efforts proved to be for naught when the serpent grew rapidly back into a shadow once again. Without pause it used a Hurling Hex to send her flying backwards into the broken wall. What followed after was almost too horrible to put into words, as she witnessed the darkest display of magic imaginable.
The surprised security wizards barely even managed to lift their wands again when a spell of epic proportions was cast in their direction. Yellow light raced from the shadow's wand to hit the floor beneath their feet. A cloud of purple smoke rose from the hissing spot to just above their terrified faces while screams began to fill the ozone-scented air. An explosion rocked the whole room right before approximately twenty quarts of blood splattered all across the room. In the aftermath of such stupendous brutality Coco was incapable of moving. Her hazel eyes moved around in her skull watching as the shadow disarmed and bound her with a single flick of its wand.
She watched as it levitated her fallen pocket watch into the air. Heat was summoned, so powerful that even being a few feet away left her feeling somewhat like a marshmallow. Coco knew as the shadow moved its wand that it was inscribing additional ruins into the time turner. Then finally all movements stopped. The monster taking a moment to summon her purse and wand prior to stepping through the mounds of silvery tile towards her broken body. Tears rolled down her cheeks when it tied the golden chain of the time turner tightly to her wrist. Coco's wand was stuffed carefully into her purse which was slung across her immobilized torso.
Deliberate fingers started to manipulate the pocket watches' astronomical clock while the shadow began to recite in a raspy, indistinguishable voice. "The Poppy of House Potter blooms with life… A dark stranger shall turn her greatest achievement to meddlesome strife… Time will change all. With a tumble the Poppy will reshape the Girl-Who-Lived in mind, body, and soul…" Nearly half of the prophecy clicked into place as Coquelicot Potter felt a mighty tug on her wrist. The spell disappeared as the most ancient sort of magic swallowed her into a hazy abyss.
She didn't scream, but not for a lack of trying. Whatever force was spinning her like a coin through time itself had sucked all the air from her body. After what felt like hours Coco was slammed to the floor of a very familiar room. The Time Chamber. Though the furniture looked vastly different it seemed as though there had never been a battle. Stumbling to both feet the woman shakily retrieved her wand then set about healing all of her wounds. After that task was completed Coco flicked her wand until every last inch of her outfit down to the heels was repaired. With a sense of dread she glanced at a calendar on the wall whilst untying the pocket watch from her wrist. All movements came to a very sudden halt. Whatever runes the shadow had incorporated into her time turner went well beyond a half-hour.
Coquelicot had been trapped in June of 1987.
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Next Chapter: Far From Gimlet.
