A/N: When I review people's stories, sometimes I write a little snippet or omake in the review. These mini-fics explore aspects of the original story that I thought interesting, or funny. The most recent one I posted was for Luan Mao's story "The Calling". He asked if he could link to it, and I realized I've been writing these things and not posting them. So here goes...
Omake for "The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks", Chp 9 (Story id = 6243892 )
A/N: Paimpont wrote a story involving a timeturner and the Mirror of Erised. I wrote a cautionary tale of the first time traveller.
Harry sat on the floor of the upstairs room at the Hog's Head. A quiet empty room, with no furnishings other than a portrait of a young blonde girl with blue eyes.
"Back again, Harry?"
Harry looked up. He was unsurprised to see his Headmaster standing above him. Deja vu, all over again.
"Yes. You've already seen my fondest wish. And now I've seen yours. She was a beautiful girl. Sweet and way too trusting of her older brother."
"Harry, that was a different time-"
"A Different Time. Yes it was. 1896. Electricity was revolutionizing the muggle world. Radio, the telephone, X-rays. The first cars, zeppelins crossing oceans. There was no end to the ingenuity of Man. And then a muggle science-fiction novel fell into the hands of a wizard. The Time Machine.
"What would a wizard make of Wells' theories of time travel? Most would scoff, but not the great Albus Dumbledore. He dove right into the forbidden intricacies and paradoxes of time travel. You built the first one, didn't you. That time turner you gave Hermione. That was yours. Was it the same one you let Arianna test? An 11 year old girl lost amidst the currents of time. Did you give it to her on Christmas? A pretty Christmas present for a pretty girl. Did she smile adoringly at her clever older brother? Did she say goodbye before you banished her into the wastelands of time?"
"You don't under-"
"Understand? Of course I do. You were a brilliant young wizard, at the dawn of the Electrical Age. A great mind possessed of a great idea. But then the Unspeakables came and took away your little toys. And Arianna had already met herself, hadn't she. The first rule of time travel Hermione told me: We can't be seen. Solid advice for a budding young time traveler like Hermione. But a century too late for sweet Arianna. And whenever she manages to return to this place, this time, the Unspeakables grab her first before you can. They grab her and lock her up in their dungeon of horrors. They are called Unspeakables for a reason. We can only imagine the tortures inflicted on their subjects of study. She's escaped twice that I know of. Perhaps you know of more. But they always catch her and lock her away. "
Dumbledore looked murderous. "You know nothing!" he raged.
"Perhaps. I certainly don't know if you intended Hermione or me to be lost in time when you gave her that time turner. Hermione: a young mudblood too clever by far to be allowed to steal your thunder. Or me, a young Child of Destiny too powerful by far to be allowed to steal your thunder. It doesn't matter, though."
"No, I expect it doesn't," Dumbledore sneered as he raised his wand against Harry. It was a real shame that the great headmaster wasn't looking behind him, as Hermione stepped up beneath Harry's invisibility cloak and injected a small amount of Pestilential Poppy extract into the headmaster's neck, one of the more effective magical narcotic plants found in Greenhouse 6. She then turned the time turner back 1 turn, and draped it over the Professor's head, sending him 20 minutes inti the past. To meet himself. To create a paradox. To be grabbed by the unspeakable Unspeakables in their dungeon of horrors.
Harry pocketed the wand he took from Dumbledore's hand before he went into the past. The Elder wand, legend said. A wand of great power, for a man of great destiny. Son of an unspeakable Unspeakable who policed the currents of time in her dungeons of horrors. Before Albus Dumbledore got his revenge, and set up the young mudblood and all but destroyed the Potter line.
There was a momentary shimmer in the far corner of the room, almost like another invisibilty cloak. Harry bowed towards the shimmer before it disappeared, back to their dungeons of horrors.
