Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no copyright infringement intended.
With a whoosh, consciousness returned to Harry. He opened his eyes to see a canopy of trees above him, slivers of moonlight illuminated their shapes, leaving his other surroundings hidden in shadow.
He could feel a light weight on his stomach and knew his invisibility cloak had been brought back in time with him. He also felt something resting against his left leg and lifted his head to look down at what it was. His gaze met the ruby encrusted handle of the Sword of Gryffindor, it hung from a scabbard attached to his belt. He was surprised to see it at first but then remembered it appearing in the void once he had made his decision to go back in time and Dumbledore had handed it to him, saying that sword had known he would need it on his quest.
Looking closer at his clothes he realised he didn't recognise them, for once both the black t-shirt and trousers seemed to fit him perfectly and the black cloak didn't have the Hogwarts crest like the one he owned did. Perhaps the void had given him all he needed for his task.
The Horcruxes. They had to be destroyed; the diadem, the locket, the ring, the cup and the diary.
Despite knowing where he was and what his purpose was he still felt strangely disorientated and numb as though he had not quite processed what had happened to him yet.
As he pondered this he heard a quiet and alarmingly familiar clicking noise. The clicking of pincers. He sat up slowly, scared to make sudden moves, and turned his head to look behind him. He felt his blood turn to ice as he realised that he had been delivered to exactly the same spot as he had died in sixteen years in the future, at the entrance to Aragog's web, and in the past it was far from deserted.
It quickly became apparent that most of Aragog's children were sleeping, though he could see some moving within the cramped spaces, Aragog himself was nowhere to be seen.
Still moving slowly, he stood, and reached inside the cloak to get out his invisibility cloak. While he felt for the cloak his hand brushed against something else nestled in the folds of the cloak, taking out the mystery object he felt relief when he realised it was his wand. What surprised him was that it was whole and unbroken, perhaps because he had gone back in time it had repaired itself; returned to it's past state, or maybe it was simply the magic of the void.
His ears picked up another round of clicking from another direction and felt more urgency than before, he couldn't out run the Acromantula on his own so his only hope was to avoid detection.
Harry quickly wrapped the invisibility cloak around himself and made sure no part of him was showing, then with careful steps turned to retreat from the web. He made it thirty feet away before he heard the clicking of pincers again, closer this time, and another set of clicks answered the first. Apparently not all of the monsters were in the web.
He abruptly stopped walking and pressed his back against the nearest tree. Not a moment too soon since in the same second he heard the sounds of many legs clattering against the forest floor, and the bushes of thistles and foliage rustled in front of him and an Acromantula appeared from the darkness in front of him.
He felt like his heart had stopped beating as the giant spider stopped not five feet from him, he tried to stay as still as he could as the spider seemed to mimic a statue, though Harry could see it's glistening eyes darting from tree to tree.
He prayed to Merlin, or whichever higher power was listening, that the Acromantula wouldn't notice him. The giant spiders where too powerfully magical to be killed by one wizard alone, though he thought the Sword of Gryffindor might help but he was hardly an expert at wielding the weapon.
After what seemed like a lifetime the creature clicked it's pincers in a short burst, as soon as it heard the answering clicks from it's as yet unseen companion it shot off at lightening speed.
Harry took a deep shuddering breath as soon as he could no longer hear the shuffling of it's many legs. His legs felt as though they'd been hit with a jelly legs jinx and wobbled slightly on his first steps. Though he had never shared Ron's paralysing fear of spiders, and had faced the Acromantula more times than he would have liked over his years at Hogwarts, in this time he felt more acutely the consequences if he failed in his mission. Everything now had much higher stakes, whereas before he may have only been gambling his own life, now the whole future rested on his shoulders. Responsibility was not a new feeling for him but his time limit of twenty four hours also weighed on his mind, he wondered how he would know how much time he had left.
As though in answer to his unspoken question he suddenly felt a coldness against his chest. In a moment of panic he thought it was Slytherin's locket around his neck but pulling the chain from under his t-shirt he found that it was far finer than the heavy chain of the locket. Hanging from the silver chain he found a small silver hourglass, no more than two inches tall, it reminded him a little of a time turner, the importance of the hourglass became apparent to him as he realised the the golden sand held within the upper chamber was slowly dropping into the lower. This would count down his twenty four hours, and it alarmed him to see that the time was slipping by quickly.
With renewed determination he tucked the hourglass back down his t-shirt and set off at a jog towards the entrance of the forest, after all he had no time to lose. Finally, after endless minutes the trees around him began to thin and more moonlight shone through illuminating the forest floor, until he caught his first glimpse of Hogwarts.
Lights glimmered in many of the windows, seeing the castle whole and untarnished he couldn't help but be reminded of the Hogwarts he had seen not even an hour ago. Giants had torn through many of the outer walls and relentless spell fire had been slowly weakening it's structure. The Hogwarts he knew had been slowly crumbling but this one in the past looked so strong and unbreakable that he could barely imagine it ever falling. He couldn't help but stop for a moment at the edge of the forest to admire the castle which had been his home for so many years, the light which shone from it illuminated the grounds and caused the ripples in the lake to shimmer in the darkness. Despite the night, Hogwarts was a shining beacon, so much more alive than he had ever seen it in his time, as yet untouched by the evil of Voldemort's rein, Dumbledore's protection still strong.
The thought of Dumbledore being alive, shook him slightly as he continued towards the castle, making sure to keep the invisibility cloak tight around him incase the slight breeze blew it up. The cloak would make it easy for him the reach his goal in the Room of Requirement without being seen by anyone but he knew there was still the possibility that he would be detected which would be extremely hard to explain.
He finally reached the great doors and hoped that the shadow of the castle would cloak him enough to get the door open undetected. However when he reached his arm out of the cloak and tried the door it would not move an inch. A stone settled in his stomach, it was long after curfew and the doors had been locked for the night. Of all the nights for Filch to finally remember, it had to be this night, maybe he was more diligent sixteen years in the past.
This was definitely a problem if he couldn't get into the castle then he couldn't reach the diadem. He didn't know of any other way to enter the castle from the grounds, there were only passages from Hogsmeade into the castle. Perhaps he could escape the grounds through the Whomping Willow passage and return using the secret passage in Honeydukes, but this would require him to break into the shop.
As he was struggling to think of another option, he heard a clanking noise on the other side of the door, like it was unlocking. Surprised beyond measure, he hurried to the side of the doorway and waited for it to open. The doors opened only wide enough to allow a single person through, his surprise increased as none other than Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the school accompanied by Professor Snape. Harry managed to hear the last of their hushed conversation.
"-Dark Lord has ordered us to do nothing tonight, though now that you've informed the order of our fake attack we will be preparing the ambush for them, the Dark Lord believes it will be sometime next week," Lucius was saying.
"Very well, has there been any news of any new projects?" Snape answered, his voice a nearly discernible whisper.
"Not as of yet, the Dark Lord seems preoccupied with something. He called me in for today though for a private meeting, just before I came here, and granted me a great honour for my loyalty and success in the Bones raid," a smug, gloating smirk stretched across is mouth.
Snape scowled, "What kind of honour?"
"One of his private possessions, he has charged me with keeping it safe until he requires it again. The object itself seems a little strange," he took something from his pocket, "It seems to be a muggle diary," Harry almost gasped when he recognised the diary illuminated in the light from the entrance hall, "but our Lord assures me it is a powerfully magical object. I didn't want to ask too many questions… Well, I ought to be going, we have no more business to discuss and Bella is staying with us for the time being and you know how she is… I don't like to leave her unsupervised."
Sharing a chuckle, they shook hands and Snape made to return to the castle, but Lucius stopped him, "You're sure no one suspects you?"
"Don't worry, Lucius, I have them completely fooled," Snape smirked.
"Our Lord is pleased with your work, Severus, but I don't need to tell you what the consequences will be if you fail us," Lucius' tone was menacing but Snape was as unreadable as ever.
"No, I don't need you to tell me, Lucius."
They finally parted and Harry hurried to enter the castle before Snape did and could close the doors again. Aware of the time constraints placed upon him, Harry was in quite a hurry to get to the Diadem and leave Hogwarts as quickly as he could, however he was waylaid by what he saw once entering the Entrance Hall. Professor Dumbledore stood on the staircase, apparently waiting for Snape, his old face wrinkled with worry.
"Is everything well, Severus?" he questioned, his pale eyes devoid of their usual twinkle.
"Yes, they suspect nothing, but there doesn't seem to be much to report at the moment, something must have the Dark Lord distracted." Snape scowled once again as though this displeased him.
"Perhaps. We must stay on guard, Severus, as always," he sighed wearily, turned to climb the stairs and disappeared from sight, presumably returning to his office.
Snape lingered for a moment longer, watching the Headmaster go and sighed as well, murmuring; "I hope we can save her," and with that he left for the dungeons, the billowing of his cloak as bat like as ever, Harry would have laughed at the sight if he hadn't been so shocked.
The shock of seeing his Headmaster once again in the land of the living was surprisingly easy to get over, perhaps he was adjusting to being in the past. What he had heard from Lucius Malfoy was interesting, and the fact that Bellatrix was at Malfoy Manor could complicate his mission when he had to retrieve the Horcrux from there. But perhaps this could work in his favour, after all he had to find a way to get into her Gringotts vault and he had no Polyjuice Potion… Well, he would just have to think on it later, right now he had to focus on the diadem and reaching it undetected.
He walked quickly and purposefully up to the familiar seventh floor corridor, luckily not meeting a single person and turned his attention to the wall facing the ridiculous tapestry of trolls being taught ballet. Harry hoped that no one was using the Room of Requirement at the moment as he took a deep breath and started the routine of walking back and forth three times asking for the room where everything was hidden.
He opened his eyes after his third line of pacing and was enormously relieved to see that the door had appeared, he entered quickly and was again astounded by the sheer size of the room, the amount that it stored and the seemingly limitless nature of magic.
Harry worked his way quickly into the room, navigating the tottering piles of secrets hidden. He tried to remember the route to where the diadem was kept but a few of the landmarks he recalled from the future seemed to be missing, he began to wander a little aimlessly, at a loss as to where he was. He became increasingly worried that he would never find the diadem in the maze like room, when he came across a familiar pair of brooms which they had used to escape when Crabbe had unleashed the Fiendfyre on the room, the diadem must be close.
A few more corners and a jump over an old copper cauldron, and he had found the ugly bust with the tarnished tiara perched on top. With great relief he grabbed the diadem. He had had very intention of destroying it immediately but he couldn't help but take a minute to study it. This tarnished tiara had once belonged to a founder of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw. It had a tragic history, having been stolen from Ravenclaw by her jealous daughter and then lost after she was murder by the hand of a man who loved her, only to be found by one who would use it in his cursed quest for immortality. It was a shame that Riddle's overbearing pride had lead him to twist such precious objects into tools for his own endeavours. The magic of the diadem could not protect his tattered soul.
Knowing what must be done, Harry set the diadem in a clear space of floor. He took out Gryffindor's sword from it's scabbard and swung it down upon the diadem. The sword cut through it like a knife through butter and cleaved it clean in two. Smoke curled from the edges and he heard a faint screech as viscous black liquid escaped from the diadem until it crumbled to a pile of sticky dust on the floor.
The diadem was destroyed, it would be forever lost.
Hi all,
Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed chapter 2 and will be eager for the next chapters! For anyone who wants to know I will be posting a new chapter every week from now on until the story's finished.
Reviews are appreciated!
Thanks again,
TheOracle18
