Draco and Harry alter a few of Hermione's ideas behind her back…
Alderoy Pince
Draco sat Indian style comfortably upon the top of the table with a book propped on his lap when Harry wandered into the library that night. It was sort of an odd position and area to associate Draco with but Harry thought better to voice it. Just the fact that Draco was there was a fragile arrangement. He didn't want to piss the other boy off and lose his help. Harry would have normally never given the Slytherin a second thought but he very well couldn't tell Hermione his plans and expect her to help. That would never happen. With Draco he could entice him into doing the research and avoid a pesky conscious. Draco simply did not have one. Plus, as much as Harry would NEVER admit it out loud, he was just as smart as Hermione was. He was just generally misplacing that intelligence or was plain ass lazy.
"So, where do you want to start?" Draco asked without looking up from his book. Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to the blond. "What's this?"
"A stasis spell Hermione was working on to envelop one person while another went back in time for two minutes." Harry shrugged as Draco looked it over. "It's meant to keep the controlled person "in the know" about what is changing in present time. It acts as a time bubble that keeps the person in present time while the other goes back."
"Inventive." Draco muttered. "But unfortunately the "controlled person" doesn't get to travel. That isn't very fun."
"What do you mean?" Harry pulled out a chair and sat on the back rest while putting his feet on the seat.
"I mean. Theoretically, couldn't it be possible to go on the trip but maintain the memories of your own time line? Many stories that I've read of the fools who go back say that they eventually started to forget their own past and thought that what they had changed was always there to begin with. It's hard to mould your perfect future when you get confused all the time."
"Likewise, it's hard to fix mistakes when you keep forgetting what was wrong." Harry nodded his head. "So what do you think needs to be changed on her spell?"
"Well, I'm not a wiz at inventing new spells, that usually falls to Sorcerers who've completed Secondary Sorcery School and in case you have forgotten, we're in sixth year in primary school." Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Well, aren't you supposed to be brilliant?!" Harry blurted out but froze when he got a surprised look from Draco's face. The blond boy started to turn a blotchy pink that reached right up to his ears. "Um, I mean…"
"Yes, well, as BRILLIANT as I suppose I am…" Draco looked away uncomfortably. "I think we're going to need a lot more books than what is offered in Hogwarts. Even the restricted section won't help us out much."
"What do you need?" Harry was afraid to ask but he was thankful for a change of subject or that Draco didn't call him on his slip.
"Well, perfecting a stasis spell that will be worn around the traveler is only the start." Draco reached over to pick up a blank piece of parchment and a quill. He dabbed it with ink and started writing a list. "We'll need a lubricant potion to ease the transition between times. No telling what time travel can do to the body outside of the protective circle of a Time Turner. We'll also have that to find out if we're to make said potion…Let's see, Oh! We're going to need some sort of return spell so that we aren't trapped back in time. I'm assuming you want to go far in time?"
"Yes, about twenty three years." Harry said.
"Hmm…odd number." Draco shrugged and wrote that down on the parchment. "We'll also have to develop a new spell that will allow us to call a time and move there. As far as I know, there isn't one. I'll look into it. All of these things have to be able to work in harmony with each other and not interfere with the functions of the other."
"Well, what do you want to do first? I have plenty of time tonight if you do." Harry wasn't the least bit daunted. He knew his plan was going to be difficult but the way Draco spoke made it seem doable. He picked up a random book off of Draco's pile. It was a history book of the many failed time travelers that died horrible deaths. He quickly put it back down again.
"I think we should stick with what we know. Granger has already started a stasis spell. We should just let her continue it and alter it later. We should research with our given resources on what we might come across with the other things. At least until we can test the stasis spell." Draco jumped off the table and headed toward the restricted area of the library.
"Hey, wait!" Harry called after him. "You can't just stroll in there!"
"You're such a Gryffindor." Draco smiled sardonically and rolled his eyes. "I paid off Filch to distract Madam Pince for the rest of the evening. I've never seen the man so happy to do my bidding."
"Oh…" The blond was incorrigible! But Harry had to admit, it was nice to have that sly evil mind working in his favor for once.
::
"Well, that's certainly amazing, Harry." Hermione was skimming through his and Draco's notes from the previous night, edited of course for Hermione's fragile constitution. "You thought about a couple of things that I didn't. I'm impressed. Did you find anything else about my Stasis Spell?"
"No, sorry. I think you should continue to work on it. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist yet but be careful; making new spells is rare for a reason. We really can't test it unless we have the means to travel anyway." Harry said. Hermione was getting more and more impressed. Harry sounded so smart! In reality he was pretty much aping what Draco and he had talked about last night but his friends didn't know that.
"Can you explain that to me again?" Ron spoke up. He was so confused and normally he'd have Harry to be confused with but he actually managed to sound like he understood. Ron's brain hurt.
"I proposed the idea of a spell that basically envelopes you like a bubble." Hermione started and even gave hand gestures. "It acts like one as well. You know how bubbles will enclose the air within its sphere? It is essentially the same air no matter where the bubble goes. Well, with my spell I think I can encase a person in a stasis bubble that will keep the time current for that person while another can travel back and do something to change the timeline. Like, write on the wall or something. To the person in the bubble it would seem like the writing just showed up out of nowhere because they remember the wall being blank. To everyone else they witness the actual writing and it's normal within their time. Does that make sense at all?"
"I guess." Ron thought he was starting to get it. Either that or he is getting it all wrong and doesn't even know it. "I think I'm going to have to try it to fully understand."
"I didn't get it at first either, Ron." Harry smiled. "I knew what I wanted to happen I just didn't think it would get so complicated. When we had the time turner it was as easy as 'spin and wait'."
"Unfortunately mine was confiscated." Hermione muttered irritably. "Now I can't find another one. Believe me, I've tried."
"It would certainly have made things easier." But time turners can't go back in time far enough for me. Harry finished in his head. Ron had started looking at the parchment of notes again until something caught his eye.
"Speaking of Time Turners, what's this mean?" He asked. Harry leaned over and read.
"Oh, we think that traveling in time can be hard on the body which is why a time turner was made. Upon further research we discovered that the reason they worked is because the creator of the time turner developed a sort of potion that eased the slide through planes. He saturated the device in the potion and it protects the users." Harry said smartly.
"We?" Ron started to ask when Hermione interrupted.
"Do you know what the potion was called or how it was made?"
"Sadly no." Harry said. "But I have a feeling that if we look into a few rare books on who made the original time turner we could find it. Do you know the name of the Sorcerer who developed it?"
"Of course. His name was Aderoy Pince, Sorcerer second class. " Hermione said. "But I did my research on the man as well as the device but I didn't read anything about a potion. What book did you get this information out of?"
"The restricted section of the library." Harry answered. It was normal for Harry to traipse around there so she just nodded in reply.
"Wait. Did you say Pince?" Ron asked and both friends turned toward him. He raised both eyebrows and put a smirk on his face. "Any relation to Madam Pince, the Librarian?"
"Ron! You're a genius!" Hermione squealed. "The Pince's are rare in the Wizarding world. Chances are they are connected!"
"She is sure to have her relative's notes in her quarters and not in the library." Harry speculated.
"Well, I suggest an outing." Hermione smiled.
"Ron, you get my invisible cloak and the Marauder's map. I think I have a way to distract Madam Pince." Harry grinned. He wondered where Filch was this time of night…
