The Silver Timeturner
Chapter 1; 'Alternation'
For Daphne, for remembering me
(all the hugs to you, dear)
"The path of least resistance and lest trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs."
- John Dewey
The Burrow was silent as Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered silently in the cluttered living room. The other members of the Weasley family were outside, as per requested by the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. The three Gryffindors were crammed and squeezed together on the small, worn couch as the Minister had seen fit to occupy Mr. Weasley's well-used arm chair. The man twined his fingers together before heaving a deep sigh, "Well, children, I suppose you all know why I'm here today, don't you?" he asked, his voice both somber and irritated, as if he wished he could be anywhere else. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine exchanged a confused look with one another.
The Minister sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers and muttering, "For Merlin's sake," with a shake of his head, he continued, "I am here on account of the will written by the late Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." At their mutual blank look he rolled his eyes back, "Goodness sakes, children! Hadn't you any idea that he'd left you anything?" The group simultaneously shook their heads. The Minister sighed heavily and withdrew a small bag which he set upon the table in front of him…
Harry twiddled the small, silver object between his fingers. It was secured around his neck by a long chain, also of silver, 'Why would Dumbledore leave me a Timeturner?' All three off them had received something odd from their old Headmaster; Ron, the Put-Outer, a device which harnessed and redistributed light, Hermione was given a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the cover was somewhat mangled, though the inside seemed to be intact. Harry himself, however, had been left with three objects in particular; a golden snitch, the first he had ever caught, albeit with his mouth, a silver timeturner, much like the one Hermione had been given in Third year, and, most surprising, the sword of Godric Gryffindor.
The sword, according to the Minister was 'Not Dumbledore's to give away', and the group had been outraged until learning that the sword itself had disappeared. After the Minister had left, Harry had begun pacing about the room, still absently running his fingers over the object about his neck. "Harry, please be careful!" Hermione warned suddenly, "Timeturners are very sensitive objects, the slightest touch could set it spinning and sending you hours back!" Harry dropped down roughly onto the couch with a loud sigh, "Yes, I know, Hermione," he said exasperatedly, "It's just… Why would Dumbledore leave us things that we can hardly use? What does he expect up to defeat Voldemort with? Light, a book, a snitch, and a timeturner?"
Ron nodded his ascent, "Bloody mental, that's what it is," he muttered, "I get to blind 'im, Hermione'll knock him out with her book, we jam the snitch into his mouth to suffocate him, then we rewind and do it all over again…? Shite…" Harry couldn't help but snicker at his friend's odd theory to defeat the Dark Lord as he stood up and stretched his arms, "I'm… I'm going to step outside for a minute." As he walked towards the door, Ron shouted, "Want us to go with you, mate?" Harry turned partially and shook his head, "No, I just need a minute by myself… To think, you know?" The two nodded slowly and Harry left the house.
Harry felt guilty of course for lying to his friends, but he knew even if Ron agreed with what he was about to do, Hermione would never allow it. In a way, she was like the easily irritable mother he had never had… He lifted the timeturner up from where it lay on his chest and held it in his palm. With a furtive glance around, he held it the same way Hermione had years ago. 'Just an hour to make sure it works…' "One turn should do it…" He held the sides and spun the device…
Harry opened his eyes, 'Did I fall asleep?', and looked up. He was laying on the ground, his ears ringing lightly as he tried to lift himself up. His body wouldn't move. Something else that he found disturbed him, he could scarcely see through something lightweight covering his face. Two holes, slotted just enough for him to see the bare minimum. As he slowly came more to his senses, he heard loud noises all around him, so loud that he had no idea how he hadn't noticed them before. He groaned as he finally was able to move his body and stood. What he saw shocked him. Death Eaters were everywhere, along with Order members.
Spells littered the air, distorting everything. Harry looked down and saw his wand laying in the dirt. He quickly leaned down and picked it up before taking aim at a random Death Eater, "Reducto!" The Death Eater turned towards the noise but it was too late. His body was sent reeling through the spell-covered air and crashing into the side of the Burrow. Harry grinned in triumph until a Death Eater rushed him from the side. He couldn't move fast enough to get his wand towards the masked figure but abruptly stopped in confusion when the man simply grabbed him by the front of his robes, "What the bloody fuck are you aiming, Potter?" the Death Eater demanded, "Hit them, them, understand?"
The Death Eater ran off in a hurry before engaging Arthur Weasley who Harry noted was doing exceptionally well. The strange Death Eater must have been very new to Voldemort's ranks, Harry assumed as he ducked under spells shot his way, mostly friendly fire, he realized with dread. He quickly ran to the back of the Burrow where the fighting was scarce, hoping to find Ron and Hermione. He did so quickly. The two were standing just outside the back door, dueling with one Death Eater whom they quickly stunned and tossed deep into the fields. Harry could have sighed with relief as he approached, and he most likely would have if Hermione hadn't pointed straight at him and screamed…
Harry very nearly jumped in surprise and turned his head around, expecting to see a Death Eater, or even Voldemort, right behind him. When he saw nothing, he turned back to his friends to ask why Hermione had screamed when he felt the tip of a wand pressing harshly into his chest. Ron was holding him at wand-point. Harry laughed nervously, "Ron?" he asked, "What are you doing?" His reply was to have the wand shoved roughly and painfully into his chest as Ron looked up at him, 'Since when am I taller than Ron?', and spit into his face, or at least what was covering it, "Shut up, Potter!" Ron shouted before turning around to Hermione, "Go get the others, Hermione! Tell them I've got Potter!" She ran around the house at a break-neck pace, never once looking back.
Harry, unsure of what to do, spoke up, "What the hell are you talking abo-" He stopped talking when the wand dug into his collarbone, "I told you to shut up, so bloody well do so!" Ron's eyes flicked to Harry's hand, still holding his wand, and yelled in a slightly higher pitch, "Drop your wand!" Harry did so reluctantly and lifted his arms slowly up, "There, I dropped it, now what's-"
"Ronald Bilius Weasley!"
It was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with several other Order members, all coming around the house. They gathered cautiously around himself and Ron before Mad-Eye Moody jabbed a wand into his back, "I'll take it from 'ere, boy," he stated gruffly, before poking his wand in deeper, "Move, you!" Harry was led around the Burrow, hands still in the air, to the front lawn where several Death Eaters seemed to be overpowering the Order. Moody yelled, his voice garnering all attention, "ENOUGH!" he pushed Harry forward more, "Now, we've got your leader so surrender or leave! The choice is yours!"
One Death Eater stepped forward, throwing off her hood and peeling off her mask. Bellatrix Lestrange.
She shouted back, "And if we don't leave, what then?" she cackled mockingly in an infantile tone, "Are you and the ickle baby Order gonna hurt our precious leader?" Moody huffed as the group of Death Eaters laughed loudly and the rest of the Order crept back. He drew his wand steadily off of Harry and, just as he was about to feel relieved, he felt pain, nothing but pain. He fell to the ground as red surrounded him, every nerve in his body protested. Every fiber of his being burned, as if he had been set on fire. Harry opened his mouth and a single, thin, almost inaudible scream passed his lips. The Death Eaters and the Order seemed to stare, as if they had never heard anyone scream before.
The curse, the Cruciatis, lasted for what seemed like hours until it finally stopped, leaving Harry sweating and panting on the ground, unwilling to move through the pain. With a shriek of outrage from Bellatrix, the group of Death Eaters apparated away as one, black plumes of smoke trailing faster and farther away by the moment. Harry's eyelids felt heavy, along with his entire body. He scarcely noticed being hauled roughly to his feet and apparated away from the Burrow, and how the Order members had looked at the spot he had been standing in only minutes ago before they began to cheer…
"Ow…" Harry groaned and rubbed the back of his head. Pain surged behind his eyelids as he struggled to open them. Voices mumbled silently from in front of him, and whoever they belonged to sounded worried… He found himself in a small, dark room, sitting on the floor. The paint covering the walls was such a dark shade of red it was almost black. 'Definitely not the Burrow…' He thought back, wondering, almost hoping that he had just had a strange dream and would soon wake up in the field outside the Burrow, the fresh warm sunshine on his face. As he continued to look around, he realized that that possibility was growing dimmer by the minute.
The voices were coming from outside the room, he recognized most of them, though there were a few he couldn't quite pin-point. A crying woman and a very irate sounding man. His gaze moved left when a clanging noise sounded, startling him. Chained to the wall was Barty Crouch Jr. The crazed Death Eater twisted his arms about, it seemed as if he had just woken up as well. With a frustrated huff, the man jolted forward, straining his arms until Harry could hear the joints beginning to pop. Harry would have moved away, only he seemed to be bound in much the same manner. He winced as something snapped and Crouch Jr. howled loudly in pain before he cackled lightly, rolling his head around on his shoulders. Harry decided to ignore the fanatical Death Eater and looked around some more. Inside the room was a solitary table with two uncomfortable looking chairs. On top of the table lay two pairs of folded robes and two Death Eater masks.
One was silver, faint black and gold markings decorated the space near the eyes and mouth, a simple, standard , Death Eater's mask. The second was completely white, the eyes open holes with bars vertically dividing them. The mouth was a thin, black slit the began in the center of where one's mouth should be and traveled up in a wicked smirk, resting just below the eyes on the cheekbones. The eyes seemed familiar and, as Harry noticed that he and Crouch Jr. were the only ones in the room, he began to wonder with an every growing sense of dread if that mask, grinning smugly at him from where it lay propped up on the table, had somehow gotten onto his face… His thoughts were interrupted when, at long last, Crouch Jr. finally noticed him.
The reaction was not at all what he expected, "Oh!" the man proclaimed, licking his lips obnoxiously, "Hey, hey! Where are we? What happened, did we take the Weasel's hovel? Eh, did we?" Harry grimaced at the man's odd behavior, though the man was mad, wasn't he? "Um," he stuttered, unsure of how to reply, "No, you've been captured, I think…" The man's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear, "Er… C- captured?" he muttered, licking his lips again, "How is that? And… eh, aren't you caught as well, sir?" "What?" Harry asked out of pure astonishment, "Why would I be captured?" Crouch Jr. flinched and moved away, as far as his shackles would allow, "S- sorry, sir, I merely assumed that… well…" the man swallowed nervously but the rest of his reply was cut off as a fist slammed harshly on the door far in front of them. The unknown man was yelling loudly, from what Harry could tell, he was in the midst of an argument with Mad-Eye Moody. Harry did not envy that man…
Something glinted in Harry's field of vision then. Looking down he saw the timeturner fastened about his neck. Words flashed on the dials and Harry lifted the object closer to his eyes to read it, although, what he read was completely different than the one from Third year;
I transcend the laws of time and space,
To send you to a different place.
But be forewarned, you can't come back,
Until you find what once you lacked.
Harry frowned and read the inscription again. And again. And again. The timeturner made a steady thunk as it fell out of his fingers and back onto his chest. Something was dreadfully wrong…
A/N: I don't have a steady update schedule yet, I'm thinking Sundays, though...