Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.
I was dizzy and disoriented when we finally crashed onto the hard floor of the future Hogwarts. As I opened my eyes, splotches of blue and red clouded my vision. I shakily sat up and looked around.
It appeared as if we were in the Entrance Hall. It also seemed that we had arrived in the middle of breakfast.
I could hear the boys making noises of general discomfort and confusion. Potter stood up first, rubbing his eyes. He offered a hand to help me up. I took it.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
As Black and Lupin got acquainted to their surroundings, I turned to Potter.
"How far have we gone, exactly?"
"Around twenty years, give or take a couple months," he shrugged. "Padfoot, you great prat, get up! We-" He stopped in the middle of his sentence, suddenly looking panicked.
"Where is the time turner?"
We all stopped cold.
"What do you mean, where is the time turner?" I demanded, turning to look him straight in the eye and fixing him with my most menacing look.
"I mean, WHERE IS THE TIME TURNER?!" He exclaimed, emptying out his pockets and desperately scrambling around the Main Hall, searching. I was frozen to the spot.
"We're screwed." Announced Sirius, who was now very alert.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Potter snapped.
"Listen," I say evenly, trying to calm my racing heart, "We're at Hogwarts, even if it is twenty years in the future. Hopefully Dumbledore is still Headmaster… and even if he isn't, we can ask the new one."
Silence.
"She's right," Black admitted in defeat, "As usual."
Potter looked up from the awkward hands-and-knees position he was on the floor, and placed his head in his hands.
"How did this happen? I had the stupid thing when we were in our Hogwarts, obviously… and there's no way I could've dropped it on our way over to this Hogwarts, and clearly, it's not here."
"Come on, James, let's just find Dumbledore, he'll know what to do," Remus said reassuringly. I realized it was the first thing he had said all night.
"I suppose so…"
Remus helped Potter to his feet, and as we all stood there, in the Entrance Hall of Future Hogwarts, which didn't seem at all different from the Entrance Hall of Our Hogwarts, I realized how, at this moment, we were all in this together.
"So, are we just going to stroll casually into the Great Hall, hoping no one will notice that we are from the past?" Sirius pointed out.
"Well, do you have any genius ideas, Black? If you do, I'd be delighted to hear them."
More silence.
"Didn't think so. Come on."
We all approached the heavy doors of the Hogwarts Great Hall, and Potter, who was in front, paused before opening. He turned back, and we made eye contact for what was probably no more than a couple seconds, but felt like eternity. What was happening here?
Potter pushed the door open.
I could feel hundreds of eyes on us as we began to walk down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. All chatter ceased immediately. Some let out gasps of shock or disbelief, but most looked very confused. I looked up, towards the professors at the front of the Hall. They all looked familiar: Dumbledore, (thank Merlin,) McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick… and was that Severus Snape?
They all looked at the four of us like we were sixty-foot, purple, spotted trolls brandishing tree trunks, as opposed to four very nervous-looking sixteen-year-olds.
We were about halfway to the table when Dumbledore stood up, still looking at us with that incredulous expression, and motioned with his hand for us to come with him, when I noticed him.
He was a Gryffindor with untidy black hair and emerald eyes staring at me from behind round glasses. The look he gave the four of us, or, more specifically, Potter and me, was not of shock, but horror. He was sitting in between a girl with very bushy brown hair and a redheaded boy with a long nose. They, too, looked horror-stricken, but more concerned for their friend. I almost tripped over my own feet several times, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him, for a reason I couldn't identify.
We finally reached the front of the main table. Sirius nudged me in the side.
"What should we do?" he whispered, "You're the smart one!"
I scowled, but before I could come up with a witty retort, Dumbledore stood up, violet robes swishing as he got to his feet.
"Come with me," he said quietly.
We walked in silence, following Dumbledore through all the familiar passageways and corridors. New Hogwarts looked the exact same as Our Hogwarts.
We approached the stone gargoyle, which jumped to the side as Dumbledore muttered "cockroach cluster." He led us onto the spiral staircase and we slowly ascended to his office. We approached the polished door with the griffin knocker, and Dumbledore pushed the door open.
Dumbledore's office was, as I assumed, the same as in Our Hogwarts. Large, circular and gold, portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses adorning the walls.
Dumbledore sat at his desk and beckoned for Potter, Lupin, Black and me to sit.
"Now," he began, shock still etched into his features, "I'd like you all to tell me how you arrived here."
Remus looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at me. I glared at Potter.
"Well, sir," Potter stuttered, "We-well, we used a time turner, sir."
Dumbledore's expression was quite unreadable. He didn't seem angry, or surprised, either.
"Go on," he beckoned lightly.
"Well, we wanted to see, you know, how we turned out. As adults. If we had kids and stuff. You know."
Something flickered across Dumbledore's face. It seemed he was pained by what James had said, about wanting to see ourselves grow older. He quickly composed his features back into that of curious incredulity.
"I see," he said complacently.
"But then, you see, sir, we arrived here, and the time turner was gone," I finished for him, looking into Dumbledore's light blue eyes. Although it was outrageous, I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that he was keeping something from us.
"Gone?" Dumbledore questioned, looking honestly shocked.
"Gone." I confirmed, lowering my head.
"Well, that is most peculiar… though I'm sure we will find some way to send you all back to your own time, for now, you can stay at this Hogwarts. You may sleep in the Gryffindor dormitories, and attend classes with the other students for the time being."
Dumbledore and I made brief eye contact before he walked us back to the Great Hall. I could still not quell the feeling he was keeping something important from us. As I was contemplating this possibility, for some reason, the familiar boy I had seen as we first walked in came to mind. I frowned.
On the walk back to the Great Hall, I turned to Potter.
"Don't you have a feeling Dumbledore's hiding something?" I asked, looking down at my shoes.
"Yeah, kind of," He admitted, looking straight ahead, "It was strange how oddly everyone reacted… I mean, they didn't just look shocked, some people looked-"
"-Horrified."
