Written for QLFC Round 6 - Ravenclaw, Chaser 3 - Genre: Adventure - Prompts: 3. Time was running out, 12. keyhole, 14. topaz
Time was running out, and Hermione only had four minutes until class ended. She frantically stuffed papers and ink into her bag, wincing when she heard the unmistakable sound of a quill snapping. But she had no time to worry about crinkling her Ancient Runes essay or breaking her pot of ink. In three minutes, hallways would fill with students rushing out of classrooms eager for lunch, and Hermione still hadn't attended Charms.
The Time Turner repeatedly banged into her chest under her robes as she stumbled out of the library rubbing sleep from her eyes. She barreled into the corridor across and slipped into a crook between two suits of armor. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and brought out the Time Turner.
"Oh, why aren't you working?" Hermione hissed as the knob refused to budge. She scowled, angry at herself for carelessly falling asleep, and struggled to turn the knob. "Hurry, hurry-"
At last, the knob began to move under her fingers. But something was just slightly different about the way the sand shifted as she turned once, twice, a third time...Hermione looked up in horror as the lighting in the corridor changed and, she realized, day turned to night to day over and over again.
This was not supposed to happen.
When the world around her finally stopped spinning (far later than it should have), the corridor was swamped with darkness. Something was very wrong.
Time was running out, and it was running out a bit too fast for the Marauders' likings. The mischievous fifth years had barely left the Gryffindor Tower, and there was only seven minutes left until the secret passage would become unaccessible.
"Moony, could you be any slower?" Sirius hissed as the four boys crept along the seventh-floor corridor.
James laughed, almost giddy with the exhilaration that came hand-in-hand with midnight escapades. "Padfoot, could you be any lou - Ow! Wormtail, that was my foot-"
"Sorry, Prongs - Can't we have a light?" Peter begged as he stumbled in the dark behind the other boys.
"If you want to get caught by Minnie, sure, Wormtail."
"Shut up, all of you, or we'll really get caught."
"Of course, it's all James's fault for forgetting the Cloak," Sirius whispered as they bounded down the Grand Staircase towards the second floor corridor.
"We were in a hurry!" said James indignantly.
"No, you were just too distracted by Evans to remember it."
But any response James might have shot back was lost with the sight of the tapestry.
Even when cast with warped shadows three minutes before midnight, the rectangle tapestry that hung on the wall directly across from the library doors was magnificent. Threads of gold, bronze, black, and silver entwined to form the Hogwarts insignia without the traditional palette of colors. The emblem shone in the slivers of moonlight coming in from the windows.
"Well," said Sirius after a moment of staring at the dazzling tapestry, "what are we waiting for?"
"Hurry, hurry! We only have half a minute," squeaked Peter, and the boys ran to the tapestry. Each put a finger on a corner, and Remus pulled out a small key.
His finger brushed a tiny keyhole that formed after a finger was placed on each corner in the center of the emblem. The boys collectively held their breaths as he pushed the brass key and turned.
They jumped backwards as a rectangular hole in the wall began to form where Remus had put in the key. The hole grew larger and larger until a doorway leading into a corridor replaced the tapestry and the wall itself.
"Wow," said Sirius, who hadn't been here the time the other three had stumbled across this hidden corridor. "Who knew something so close to the library could be interesting?"
Remus grinned as the boys entered the hallway. The stone behind them sealed up once more, not to open again until noon. "You remembered to bring it, Prongs?"
"Of course. Who do you take me for? Padfoot?" James rifled through his pockets and brandished a folded piece of parchment. He grinned widely as he waved it in the air. "From this night on, the secret passageway across from the library shall forever be recorded on our very own Marauder's Map."
"Where does this corridor lead to?" Peter inquired as Remus set the map on the ground.
James shrugged. "I think the wall connects to the Entrance Hall. Let me check." He jogged down the length of the corridor, his footsteps echoing.
"Let's get to work then, while James is playing around." Sirius clapped his hands and dug out a sparkling orange-gold stone from his pocket. He set it in the center of the map and whispered after tapping his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
As Peter, Sirius, and Remus knelt over the spidery ink spreading across the parchment from the topaz stone (they had not quite yet developed a way to activate the map without a guide for the magic), they were suddenly startled at the sound of James cursing.
"Holy Merlin of - Don't scare me like that!"
Remus rose to his feet and peered into the darkness at their friend. He took a tentative step forward. "Is he… talking to that suit of armor?"
Indeed, James was facing a suit of armor and was now asking where it had come from.
"He's gone mad, hasn't he?" Peter whispered.
"He's always been mad," said Sirius, who skipped down the corridor to James. "Oi! Prongs! What are you - Hey! Who's this?"
The remaining two Marauders raised their eyebrows as Sirius appeared to fall under the same spell as James. "Should we be worried?" Peter asked as James and Sirius tugged at something.
Remus shook his head and returned to the map. "They were both insane to begin with."
No sooner than the words left his mouth did a feminine shriek that sounded close to tears came from the suit of armor James and Sirius were talking to.
"I know you and Ron are mad at me, but you don't have to pretend like you don't even know me!"
Remus and Peter glanced at each other in alarm, and barely had time to say, "Oi, is everything okay with your - er - suit of armor?" before James was pulling out a girl with frizzy brown hair from absolutely nowhere. The girl struggled against his grip and broke free.
"I think you have the wrong person, darling," Sirius said as the girl vehemently slapped his and James's hands away.
James gave her a lopsided grin. "We'd walk you back to your common room if we could - you can never know what's out there - but the corridor doesn't open until noon. How did you get in here anyway?"
The girl snapped impatiently, "I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, Harry, but I need to go to class so excuse me-" She pushed James aside and stalked towards the wall closer to the library. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Peter and Remus sitting on the floor.
"Hello," said Remus cautiously as Peter whispered under his breath, "I don't think there are any classes right now…"
The girl's mouth opened before she pursed her lips and turned her face to glare at James. "I would expect this of Fred and George, but I never thought you'd go through the pains of creating a prank like this." But even as she said this, something in her voice had changed. Her brown eyes began to dart about the dark corridor carefully, and she clutched at something at her chest.
Meanwhile, James looked mortally offended at her words. "I assure you that I do go through great pains to create each and every one of my pranks. If you want, I could give a demonstration. It would be more spectacular than something like this. What sort of prank would this be?" he snorted.
"And who're Fred and George?" Sirius piped in, stepping next to the girl. "Pranksters? Can we take them in as our apprentices?"
"Stop it," she said shrilly. Remus winced; Flitwick's office was just two doors down, and the walls in this area of the castle were not particularly thick. "Really. Just stop it, Harry."
She looked so distraught that Remus, who usually did not interfere with James and Sirius's finds, called out gently, "I'm afraid none of us are named Harry. The one you keep referring to as Harry is James. I'm Remus."
"I'm Sirius."
"I'm Peter."
All four of the marauders now had their eyes on the girl, who had frozen on the spot and was staring at Remus with a stricken expression on her face.
"You're, er, Gryffindor, aren't you?" Peter nodded towards her red and gold tie, but she didn't answer him. Instead, her mouth opened and closed like a flobberworm.
Sirius wondered aloud, "How did you get in here? I thought only Remus had the key."
"What key?" the girl asked faintly, but she only appeared to be half-listening as James declared that information confidential.
"Why don't you sit down for a bit?" Remus patted the ground next to him, noting the way she shook and the paleness in her face. She nodded and sank to her knees, her eyes flitting from each marauder to the next as if she couldn't bear to look at them for longer than a few seconds.
After a terse moment, she cleared her throat and asked hoarsely, "What time is it?"
"Midnight," replied James and Sirius.
"Have you been here since noon?" Remus inquired. "This corridor only opens twice a day."
"I…" The girl was at a considerable loss for words compared to when she'd been yelling at James earlier. "What do you mean?"
"It means that you're either a smart, curious, or adventurous girl." Sirius winked, swooping down on her. He didn't notice the flash of fear in her eyes and the way she cringed, but it was evident from where Remus and Peter were sitting. "Remus here only found the way in by luck."
James settled next to her and perched on his knees. "Smart, curious, and adventurous, I'd bet. Oh, hey. Now that you know I'm not that Harry bloke, what's your name?"
Remus and Peter shared a look as the girl shied away from James as well. She pursed her lips uncomfortably and shook her head in response. Her eyes focused on the floor, and she gasped.
"That's the-"
She clapped her hand over her mouth and quieted, but the Marauders knew what she'd seen. Remus quickly cleared the Marauder's Map as Sirius laughed nervously and instinctively snatched the topaz stone from the now blank parchment. James covertly nodded in approval; it was better for her to question the stone than the parchment.
"Pretty stone, isn't it?" Sirius held it up to the light. "Wanna hold it?"
The girl glanced back at the empty map then took the stone and rolled it between her fingers.
"So," said James lazily, "since there's no way to get out of this corridor until noon, we'll take good care of you till then."
The girl gave him a funny look. "Why can't we get out?"
"It's closed off. The passageway only opens twice a day, at midnight and at noon."
She blinked at this new information and stood. The Marauders watched as she approached the wall leading towards the library. She slowly put her hand on the stone, as if she didn't quite believe it was actually there.
The girl stayed like that for a few moments until she spun around and began to walk towards the other end of the corridor. "I can't - I have to go," she said quickly.
The boys half-stood as she barrelled past them, again not meeting their eyes. "What do you mean?" Remus called after her.
"I can't, I'm really sorry Professor. This is too strange, I"m very sorry, I'm not supposed to be here, I don't know why I'm still here, how is this possible?" Her breaths came out very fast and she spoke more to herself than to the Marauders. To the boys, she really appeared to have lost her sanity. They shared a look as her hands rose to her neck and she pulled on something. She then darted into the crook James had found her in.
"Wait!" Sirius said loudly, but the girl didn't answer.
"You can't get out that way," Peter said.
"Come back!"
The girl didn't come back, and she didn't say anything either.
"I don't think hiding's going to help," said James. He straightened and followed the girl's tracks. Sirius, Remus, and Peter trailed behind him.
"You don't have to worry about James's or Sirius's womanizing," Remus chuckled, because he had correctly inferred that the girl was apprehensive of the two (though his reasons were quite off the mark). "They won't-"
They had reached the little crook between the suit of armors, and they now knew why she hadn't answered them. The crook was empty. Nothing stood between the armor.
The girl was gone without a trace of her bushy brown hair or Gryffindor red tie or hefty brown book bag. She was gone, as if she had never been there in the first place.
Hermione gasped as she landed in the bright corridor connecting the library to the Entrance Hall. Her eyes slowly opened and she caught sight of a head of messy black hair.
Harry, she thought with a lurch of her heart, remembering that he and Ron were still angry at her for turning in the Firebolt. Harry. But the way she automatically assumed the boy was her best friend seemed deceiving, almost untrue, and she wondered why…
Something dug into her hand as she squeezed the hand that was not holding the knob on her Time Turner. "Ow!" she murmured, opening her hand up. A sparkling orange stone sat in the center of her palm.
It looked strangely familiar but she could not exactly place her finger on it. She turned the stone this way and that, observing how it glittered in the daylight streaming in from the windows. When had she gotten this stone into her hand?
She frowned and shook her head. There was no time to worry about that now. Everyone had already been released for lunch and she still had to go to Charms. She wondered when class had ended, because she could have sworn that there were still a couple of minutes left when she exited the library.
Hermione quickly slipped the orange-gold stone into her pocket and smoothly turned the knob on her Time Turner. She smiled a little. Travelling backwards in time used to be a great adventure for her but now was only a reminder of her lack of time to sleep.
Yet unbeknownst to her, she had forgotten the greatest adventure of all with her Time Turner. And though she kept the orange stone for its sheer beauty and often wondered where it had come from, Hermione never would remember the night she spent in the secret corridor with the four Marauders themselves.
If she had, would she really have believed it to be true?