Seamus Finnigan and the Time-Turner Debacle
"You have got to be kidding me!" Growled Mandy Brocklehurst angrily as she put her hands on her hips.
"No Miss Brocklehurst, unfortunately I am not." Seamus Finnigan replied formally making the beautiful woman before him even more cross.
"Seamus don't be ridiculous! This is the Department of Mysteries! You can't just walk in here and carry out an 'inspection'." Mandy said, voice wavering as she clearly struggled to control her temper. The only sign that Seamus was getting immense pleasure from her distress was the slight upturn of the left corner of his mouth. "Just because I broke up with you does not mean that you have the right to storm in here and do an 'inspection'!" Her brown eyes glared at him accusatorily.
"Now who is being ridiculous?" Seamus countered with a fully-fledged grin "I am here on business terms Miss Brocklehurst and I assure you that it has nothing to do with the fact that our relationship met an untimely end." Seamus reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment sealed with wax imprinted by the Ministry of Magic seal. "This is a letter from Anthony Weber, head of the Department of Ministry Health and Safety, showing you that everything is in order and that I will need to carry out this inspection… like I said."
With a loud 'humph' Mandy crossed her arms and gave him a look that used to make Seamus go weak at the knees. He slid his fingers under the wax to break the seal and unfolded the parchment. He cleared his throat loudly before reading;
"Attention: Unspeakable Number One. It has come to our attention that a number of incidents have occurred recently in the Department of Mysteries that have compromised the health and safety of Ministry Workers. As the head of the Department of Ministry Health and Safety I have no other choice but to-"
Many reached out and ripped the parchment from Seamus and continued reading the letter to herself. Seamus grinned as her pale white face slowly went through all possible shades of pink and light red before turning a brilliant shade of scarlet.
While she read Seamus looked around the room. He had never been in the Department of Mysteries before, he was pretty excited that he was getting a chance to see what was here- whatever his reasons for coming. However if he were completely honest with himself he was more excited about getting revenge on her than anything else. Even if he found no breaches of health and safety protocol down here he would have at least had the chance to ruffle her feathers.
The room they were in was circular and he was surrounded by twelve black doors without handles. If he had been slightly less observant he would have forgotten which door he had come into, but thankfully Mandy had stopped him just as he had crossed the threshold. Not that he would back out now though, he was enjoying tormenting her far too much.
"What are these supposed incidents that have compromised health and safety? " Mandy asked, breaking the silence, and gesturing to the parchment she was holding.
"Oh you know… This and that and whatever." Seamus said offhandedly "So, can I take a look around?"
"No, Seamus, I don't know. Please; enlighten me."
"Well, it has come to our attention that Williams stubbed his toe while at work." Seamus begun.
"Stubbed his toe?" Mandy cried in outrage. "Anyone could stub their toe anywhere!"
"Well, be that as it may, Dean distinctly overheard Williams say to McFarlane that he stubbed his toe in the line of duty. And did you happen to see that huge parchment cut that Quentin got the other day? Nasty, nasty… Almost needed stitches!"
"Stubbed toes and paper-cuts?" Mandy hissed "For the love of Merlin Seamus- you are better than that!"
"Apparently not." Seamus fired back, a black anger encroaching sinisterly on his previous sense of enjoyment. A tense silence filled the room as the two assessed each other.
"Fine." Mandy huffed angrily "Let's just get this over and done with. Follow me and for Merlin's sake do not touch anything!"
Mandy turned sharply to her left and walked over to one of the identical black doors, stepped through and let it slam shut behind her, leaving Seamus to rush after her.
Seamus stepped through the door and had to bring his arms up to cover his eyes as the sounds and lights of the room assaulted his senses. There was a loud, constant, sound as though an army of house elves were marching in a cavernous hall. He pulled his arms away and blinked furiously, hoping it would help his eyes adjust. Slowly, he could tell that the brightness was not coming from one particular source as he had originally thought, instead it was coming from a sea of floating lights that sparkled like diamonds. And the marching sound- Seamus gasped as he looked around the room and noticed the clocks that covered every possible surface of the room.
His eyebrows shot into his hair in awe as he noticed a huge bell-jar sitting on a desk at the end of the room which had so many of the diamond lights in it that it made it look like a desert during a sand-storm. And there was something else inside it. Hypnotized by the beauty of the room and the constant drone of the clocks he made his way across the room and reached out for the bell-jar. There was something inside it that was fluttering against the current of the lights.
"What in the name of Merlin did I tell you?" Mandy cried as she jumped in front of him, blocking his view of the bell-jar and the strange creature within it, and effectively snapping him out of his reverie.
"Erm- I'm not exactly sure." He said, trying to think back to what she had told him in the previous room. She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "never bloody listens" before she grabbed his hand and dragged him over to a nearby desk which was placed in front of a very tall case with glass doors. The bare shelves behind sparsely decorated with hourglasses of various shapes and sized, but it looked to Seamus as it if were somewhat lacking. The display case had obviously been built for more objects than it currently contained.
"Well," Mandy said gesturing around "As you can see there is nothing out of the ordinary with this room."
Seamus snorted loudly.
"Nothing out of the ordinary? Christ Mandy! This entire room is out of the ordinary… What is that?" Seamus asked, pointing to an hourglass surrounded by an intricately wrought gold frame on a long golden chain.
"Doesn't matter. It's broken." She said dismissively "Look Seamus- this is just ridiculous. We both know that this inspection had nothing to do with paper cuts or stubbed toes and everything to do with what happened between us."
"What happened between us?" Seamus growled "Well, Mandy, apparently nothing happened between us because there is no us!" Mandy rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Seamus, this isn't the time nor place to discuss this." Mandy said.
"Was there someone else?" Seamus asked suddenly more than willing to get to the bottom of the matter at hand.
"No! Seamus how could you think that?" Mandy asked, horrified.
"Well one minute we are going along, happy, and the next it is over. For the life of me I can't figure out why you broke it off." Seamus said angrily.
"Seamus I've explained this to you already! Things were just not working out. Sure we got along and everything but I just wasn't feeling it anymore."
"I just wasn't feeling it anymore." He mimicked childishly "How do you 'just not feel it' anymore after nine months of a good relationship. I don't get it." Mandy pinched the bridge of her nose and took slow deep breaths.
"Seamus. Please- just leave. Your investigation is a sham and you have no business being in the Department of Mysteries." Mandy said in a tone that normally meant the end of any conversation.
"Was it the sex?" Seamus asked, voice breaking the monotonous ticking of thousands of clocks.
"Seamus!"
"Well, if it was that can be improved…"
"SEAMUS!" Mandy completely forgot her attempt at calming herself as her face turned a brilliant shade of red and she pointed to the door. "GET OUT!"
A minute passed with the two of them staring at each other in determined silence. Even the sound of the clocks ticking seems to pale in comparison with the tension between them. After another two minutes Seamus sat on the edge of the desk and picked up the broken hourglass on the table.
"Put it down." Mandy said quickly drawing her wand and pointing it at him.
"What does this thing do anyway?" Seamus asked bringing it up closer to his face to inspect it more thoroughly.
"It is a time-turner, put it down or so help me-"
"How does it work?" Seamus asked as he flicked the hourglass and the world started to change around him. The last thing he remembered was the look of absolute horror on Mandy's face and a similar look of horror on his own face in a distant reflection as the room around him erupted into pandemonium.
Seamus could hear his heart beating louder than a clap of thunder. Boom. Boom. Boom. The splitting pain in his head exasperated by the repetitive tattoo. He groaned as he struggled to open his eyes, only to be met by thousands of familiar diamond lights shining brightly in the distance above him. With another groan he sat up slowly and blinked as his eyes adjusted. He looked around him and a sense of familiarity rushed through him- he was in the Department of Mysteries. In the room with all the clocks.
Only it was different.
The big glass case behind the desk where he was talking to Mandy was now full of hourglasses of all shapes and sizes. The clocks on the walls were different too, not terribly so, but enough to make him wonder how it could have changed so quickly.
And all of the clocks read a quarter to midnight. Had he really been out that long? He cursed angrily as he realized that he must have passed out and Mandy had just let him lie there. This was certainly something he was going to write in his report. An unauthorized person left unconscious in a potentially dangerous room? He would make sure she got into trouble for this one. He looked at the ground around himself and saw the golden hourglass necklace that he was holding lying on the ground, the miniscule sand within it leaking out slowly through a crack in the glass. For good measure he picked the chain up cautiously between the tips of two fingers and pulled the necklace over his head.
Seamus got to his feet just as he heard a female voice cry out in shock.
"MERLIN'S BALLS!" A woman about his age cried as the black door she had just walked through slammed shut behind her. Seamus was just about to laugh but his breath caught in his throat as she whipped her wand out faster than a snitch and pointed it at him from across the room. He could tell from the dangerous glint in her eyes that she meant business. "Don't move or I'll curse you into next century!" The woman yelled, her mane of fiery red hair following the delicious curves of her body all the way down to her waist. Seamus knew that he should have been perplexed by her choice of clothing- a pair of jeans and a shirt that his mother would have worn well before he was born- but after spending so long in the magical world he had become used to the outlandish get-ups that wizards and witches wore to make them look like muggles.
"Woah- woah!" Seamus said as if trying to calm a rearing stallion "Easy there lass- no need to be making threats or anything. I'm just here, minding my own business." The woman, however, ignored him as she muttered unintelligibly.
"Merlin! Wormtail said that no one would be here tonight." She said, this time he noticed that - although clearly angry- the pitch of her voice was particularly pleasing. Something he could get used to. Unlike Mandy's deep, clear tone, hers was higher and more melodic.
"Wormtail?" Seamus questioned and she shook her head dismissively.
"Never you mind." She said and made her way across the room cautiously. As she got closer Seamus was filled with a strange feeling- as though he knew her from somewhere. Her hair and eyes were so familiar, but it was as though they were somehow mismatched. He frowned as he tried to think of where he had seen here eyes before but every time he concentrated too hard his head was filled a sharp stabbing pain.
"Who are you?" He asked as she walked closer and closer to him "You seem familiar." At this she snorted in a manner that most certainly did not befit the situation.
"Like I haven't heard that one before." She said rolling her eyes "Seeing as how I am the one with the wand, how about you tell me who you are and we will go from there?"
Seamus looked between the woman's piercing green eyes and her willow wand and saw no reason to fault her logic.
"Seamus… Finnigan." He answered, and when she raised a single eyebrow he knew that he would have to do better than that. "Department of Ministry Health and Safety. I was in here conducting a routine inspection when I flicked this thing-" He pointed to the time-turner resting on his chest "and then I woke up a few seconds before you pushed in here swearing and brandishing your wand about."
"You actually expect me to believe that?" She asked skeptically.
"No. I expect you to believe that I was carrying out this inspection to get back at my ex-girlfriend who dumped me for reasons which she doesn't care to share, and I touched this time-turner-thing even though she said she'd curse me if I did… And she did. And then just left me here." Seamus said, wondering why in the name of Merlin this woman was so suspicious. "Why are you here?" He asked raising his eyebrow in an expression of interest.
"Like I said- never you mind." The woman responded. "I am the one with the wand your job is just to do as I say."
"You think you are the only one with a wand-" Seamus said with a laugh as he reached into his own pocket, but before he could raise his wand high enough to aim at any significant part of her body she yelled 'expelliarmus' and his wand flew across into her hand. "Hey!"
"Clearly not a Death Eater." She said with a satisfied smirk as she pocketed his wand.
"I beg your pardon!" Seamus gasped, appalled at her insinuation. She frowned as she looked him over again as though wondering what on Earth she should do with him now.
"Right. Well, there is no other choice than for you to come with me." Two different jets of light shot out of her wand and hit Seamus, he suddenly found that his arms were pinned to his side by invisible bonds and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, making it impossible for him to speak. "Follow me." She said, and he had no choice but to comply.
The hall was cavernous. With rows upon rows of dusty shelves, each holding small glass orbs nestled carefully on satin cushions with decaying yellow labels fixed before them. Seamus followed the red-haired woman through the aisle down the centre of the dimly-lit room his eyes were wide with awe as he saw each shelf disappear into the darkness beyond, making him wonder just how big this room really was.
Compared with the ominous ticking of the multitude of clocks in the previous room this one seemed unnaturally quiet. Their footsteps echoed throughout the room as they walked. On and on they went until they reached a row that was wider than the others, and the woman turned to the right and followed the aisle and into the darkness beyond. Seamus had to rely on his hearing and his inner compass to ensure that he was still walking in the right direction and following the strangely familiar but unplaceable woman. However, a few seconds later a doorway shaped rectangle of light appeared, broken only by her silhouette. If Seamus was not being held hostage by her he would have said that his captor looked like an angel in that moment- red hair glowing, pale skin ethereal, and green eyes sparking with the sudden light.
"Are you coming?" Her sing-song voice broke the sudden silence, he nodded mutely as they entered the room beyond.
As soon as he was over the threshold he had a sudden feeling of vertigo. He tried to reach his arms out to steady himself but, as they were bound to his sides, he started to tip dangerously to the right. However, he was astonished to realize that instead of falling he was just floating. Spinning around in space and the eerie shadow of the room. He felt a jolt and looked around as he came to rest against the wall nearby the door through which they had entered the room. Once the dizziness subsided he looked around and gasped.
The room was a life size model of the solar system. With a blazing sun in the middle surrounded by floating planets that were to scale, complete with various space debris passing by.
And a comet that was hurtling towards the red-head as she swum her way across the galaxy.
He tried to yell to tell her to watch out, but his tongue was still stuck to the roof of his mouth. Seamus set his face in grim determination as he put his feet flat against the wall behind him, pleased that the lack of gravity was now playing to his advantage, and pushed firmly against it. He shot out into the solar system and with a loud cry he collided with the woman, pushing her out of the path of the speeding comet.
At first her face was contorted with rage as their bodies were slammed together intimately, spinning around and around in the weightlessness, but when she saw the rock that would have struck her her entire face relaxed.
"Erm… Thanks… I suppose." She said as she looked down, her face coloring an endearing shade of scarlet. Seamus grinned back at her and she let out a nervous laugh as she reached down and pushed away from him gently. The cold air of the room creeping between them as they floated apart. She pointed her wand at him and his tongue was released from the roof of his mouth. His hands, however, remained firmly fastened to his sides.
"I quite possibly saved your life and that is the best you can do?" He said giving her a look of disbelief. She grinned at him but said nothing in response. "A name at least? What will I call out next time you throw yourself in front of a comet!" He said. Her face screwed up in consideration and then she let out a loud sigh and her features relaxed again.
"Fine. I'm Li -Petunia." She said stumbling over the name.
"Li-Petunia?" Seamus asked disbelievingly "Never heard a name like that before."
"Petunia." She corrected "And it is the most you are going to get from me." She said, he was about to try and hassle her for more information when the sound of a door creaking open echoed through space and bright green light streamed in. They both looked over to see the outline of a figure in black, billowing robes and skull mask illuminated in the strange light.
"Shit!" She hissed, and the mask turned to face her, black eyes narrowing on the both of them spinning helplessly in the darkness. Seamus's entire body turned to ice at the familiar sight.
Death Eater.
"MOVE!" She cried, voice piercing through the room. She pointed her wand at him and his arms came free.
He didn't need to be told twice.
They struggled to move towards the door. Fighting vigorously against the strange weightlessness of the room. After what seemed an eternity, Petunia flung the door open and gripped onto the door frame, then offered her hand to him. He turned just as their hands touched and he managed to see that the Death Eater was still wading somewhere between Pluto and Uranus before he fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.
"Come on!" Petunia cried as she pulled him up, her hand warm on his own, reassuring against his icy skin. She hauled him up and together turned and ran into the depths of the hall. Their footsteps echoed as they raced down the centre aisle plumes of dust rising in their trail. Seamus could see the widened gap between shelves in the distance that signaled the row that led to the door to the room with the clocks, but they still had a long way to go. There was a loud bang and they both skidded to a halt. Knowing that the Death Eater had entered the hall. Petunia turned to him with a finger on her lips and they tip-toed delicately into row '97'.
As they slowly made their way down the aisle another loud bang made them jump and Seamus stumbled into Petunia. Luckily for him her reflexes were fast and she reached out and braced herself against the shelf behind her. However, for the second time they managed to find themselves in a compromising position. Their faces reddened as the room was silent around them. Seamus looked covertly to the left and the right to make sure they were not being followed and then he let his eyes fall back to hers.
Her gorgeous green orbs sparkled with an inner strength that he hadn't noticed before. As though magnetically drawn he inched closer and closer to her, her cherry red lips enticingly close.
Just then an eerie voice floated through the silence.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…" Seamus looked up and saw that one of the orbs on a shelf high up had come to life, swirling with an inner brightness, a familiar voice coming from within its depths.
"Born to those who have thrice defied him…" He could just make out the scrawling letters on the yellowing label below it but his eyes were drawn to two particular words. Or rather; one particular name.
(?) Harry Potter
He looked down into Petunia's familiar green eyes as she looked behind him at the glowing orb in wonder. Before his brain made the final connection the silence was broken by a deep male voice.
"Lily!" He turned to see a man with messy black hair running towards them. James Potter.
"Holy fu-" before he could finish his sentence Lily pushed him away roughly, her hand catching with the chain of the time-turner around his neck. Time slowed down as Seamus felt the necklace strain and then break, and the hourglass went flying across the room. Just as it hit the ground and smashed he heard Lily crying out James's name in surprise.
Seamus Finnigan crept through the door of the Time Room. He had woken up in the room with the orbs only to find that James and Lily Potter were no longer there. He seriously hoped that he had been returned to his own time. However, with no one around to ask he had decided to make his way back to the Time Room, and then hopefully to the door room and then up into the Ministry building beyond. He opened the door just in time to see the strangest sight.
Himself. Fading away slowly. While Mandy Brocklehurst yelled the foulest curse-words known to Wizard kind.
"Mandy." He said. However, it was not in a tone of shock, rather one of disappointment. For throughout the entire time-turner debacle Lily Potter had made him forget all about his ex-girlfriend.
A/N: This was written as a response for Iowi's "The CrossGen Competition" on the HPFFC Forum. I really wanted to write this chapter in more detail, but there was a word limit of 4000 words so hopefully I managed to squeeze it all in well enough.
Hope you enjoyed it- feel free to review to let me know what you thought about it.