CHAPTER 3
"Have you heard about the recent disappearances?" Harry asked, holding a filthy but curiously designed newspaper named the Quibbler.
"Yes," Hermione said. "It was in the Muggle newspaper."
Ron looked around a bit, and something caught his attention.
"What sort of disappearances?" questioned Hershel Layton as he stepped out of the shadows, followed by Luke. Hermione looked shocked.
"You solved those puzzles in… ten minutes?" she spluttered.
"So," the tall archeologist said. "It was you who set the puzzles and the puzzle monitor."
"But… but…" Harry said, confused. "You were supposed to solve four puzzles on your way here!"
"Really?" Layton said amusedly. "I only saw three."
"Didn't you search for another puzzle when the puzzle monitor denied access to the other side?"
"Ah," the professor said. "Thanks to Luke, we had solved another puzzle just this morning… right before we were transported into the future!"
Luke tripped and fell on his back. Ron let out a surprised "bloody hell". Hermione was just as impressed.
"How did you figure it all out, Professor?" Luke said.
"Luke," Layton said. "Did you not notice the drastic changes in our surroundings? This is no longer the London we know.
"Further more, after we solved the last puzzle, there was quite a bit of technology going on to reveal the hidden door. True, scientists ten years before our time invented a somewhat successful time machine, but the technology we saw is astoundingly futuristic."
"But Professor…" Luke started.
"Luke, if it is a question… I think you can ask our three friends here."
Hermione was shockingly calm at this statement.
"I guess," she said slowly. "You've done your job. We knew you could not stay in the dark for long. I guess we will do our part by explaining the situation."
Ron gulped. "We-"
"-Are-" cut in Harry.
"-Wizards and witches." Hermione finished.
Layton chuckled. "There is no such thing as…"
His voice trailed off when Harry took out a smooth wooden rod, his wand, possibly, and levitated a nearby newspaper.
"Impossible." Layton frowned. "You couldn't have used magic to transport us here. Time travel is based on time dilation, when the end of a traversable wormhole is moved about. If there are two people at each end of the wormhole and they each have a clock, one clock would move slower than the other. The theory of relativity states that if traversable wormholes exist, they might allow time travel. One end is accelerated to a high velocity relative to the other. Then, a period of time later, the velocity is brought back.
"Therefore, since you are in the future, you must have used science to transport us to the future." Layton finally finished. Luke fought to hold back a yawn.
"Very impressive," Hermione said. "But apparently, that isn't the case."
"We transported you here by magic," Ron confirmed. "It's the truth!"
"You mean an insane suggestion of how we got here?" Luke said with a funny expression on his face.
"Then how would you explain… this!" Harry shoved the old map forward.
Professor Layton looked it over. In inked letters it said: Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present… THE MARAUDER'S MAP.
"Explain… ANDREW SCHRADER?" Layton exclaimed. A small icon that was labeled "ANDREW SCHRADER" floated around slowly on the map.
"Doctor Schrader?" Luke asked, open- mouthed.
"We don't know who he is…" Hermione admitted.
"But we are sure he came from your time." Harry said.
"Yes… he is my mentor," Layton explained, still quizzical. "What does this mean?"
"It means," Hermione said. "He is here at the moment, too. He was shot many decades into the future, just like you two."
"We did part of the spell wrong…" Ron mumbled. "We could have dislocated an arm… taken an eyebrow or something…"
"Uh…" Luke said smartly.
"So… magic is real?" Layton asked, speaking without his firm voice for the first time since he was with Claire, more than a decade ago.
"Yes!" Harry said. "I mean… yes."
"Prove it!" Luke challenged.
"Okay," Harry said simply. "Tell me to do anything."
"Umm… can you burn a newspaper?"
"Sure."
Harry raised his wand and pointed it to a stray newspaper.
"Incendio," he pronounced softly.
The newspaper burst into flames, which danced around merrily.
"Uh…" Luke repeated.
"How can you prove," Layton said. "That your 'wand' isn't just a flamethrower device?"
"Aguamenti."
Ron used his wand to put the flames out by casting a jet of water into the fire.
"Or a water gun…" Luke added.
Hermione sighed.
"Maybe this will help you believe us."
She waved the wand at her uneaten ice cream cone (which, by the way, had melted quite a lot) and spoke another spell.
"Declinemus tea."
The ice cream cone turned in to cup of warm, fresh tea.
"Would you like some tea?" Hermione offered, though it was obvious that she was still just trying to convince them magic was real, not inviting them to refresh themselves or anything of the sort.
Professor Layton accepted it and took a sip.
"This is fabulous tea," Layton noted. "It almost makes me believe that magic is real."
Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Almost?" he asked.
"Almost," Layton repeated.
"Fine." Harry took the teacup and placed it on a waste bin.
"Geminio."
The teacup was suddenly lit with a flash of white. Layton flinched, and when he opened his eyes, the teacup was multiplied into two.
"Wicked!" Luke shouted.
"So…" the professor swallowed. "I guess… magic is real."
Harry sighed with relief.
"I thought I'd never convince you!" he said.
Somewhere on the Hogwarts grounds, a dark shadow stirred. It loomed past Rubeus Hagrid's hut, past the large pumpkin patch where Firenze the centaur stood.
"Give me the stone."
"No!"
"Give me the stone, and the boy lives."
"Mr. Potter is fine on his own!"
"THE STONE! I DEMAND THE STONE! HAND IT OVER!"
"I don't know where it is, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"
There was a pause.
"So be it."
The three, threatening words were the last that the wise centaur would hear before disaster struck the wizarding world.
"What did you need us for?" Luke asked, taking one of the cups of tea and drinking it.
"You probably overheard us," Harry said. "You heard us talking about the Elder Wand."
"Yes," the professor said. "We heard you mention it."
"Well, the Elder Wand is the most powerful wand in history," Hermione explained. "However, it only works for its owner. In this case, it's Harry."
"I refused to take it," Harry said. "I have my own wand. The Elder Wand was left at Hogwarts, the school where we learned magic, where its old master was taught, raised and became a teacher and the headmaster.
"His name was Dumbledore. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. He was… murdered… a while ago, and the wand was passed down to his killer, Severus Snape. If Dumbledore had not been murdered, but had died one year later by a curse inflicted upon him, the wand would have lost its power for eternity. Severus was later killed by the darkest wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, whom I defeated. So, the wand is in my possession, and it only works for me.
"Recently, the wand was lost. It is very likely someone stole it. They don't seem to know that the Elder Wand works like any ordinary one for him or her. If they do, they will go out of their way to kill me and gain power."
Luke and Layton were stunned. It was enough to drive a man mad.
"Uh… what do we have to do with it?" Luke asked, though he knew the answer immediately after he spoke.
Hermione took a deep breath.
"You're going to have to help us solve this mystery."
