CHAPTER SEVEN:
PAY ATTENTION
Professor Percy Weasley stood primly at the front of the History of Magic class. Wesley, his son, walked in and studiously avoided his father's gaze. Abigail knew that he was remembering the argument they had the night before. Wesley obviously hadn't forgiven his father for making him stay in Gryffindor. Abby could only imagine how awkward this class would be. Wesley also had quite a miserable time in Professor Malfoy's class. The teacher didn't seem to like him very much at all. Then again, Abigail doubted that anybody actually liked Wesley Weasley. He was a difficult person to like.
And so it was with that in mind that she continued to sit by him in all of their classes. She hadn't really wanted to, but she stood by what the deputy headmistress had said about looking after him. Although with Wesley's attitude problem, she seriously doubted how much more of him she could take.
It was the third class of the day, and she was already hungry again. Abby had been so excited for classes that she hadn't eaten that much at breakfast that morning.
Professor Percy gave the usual pleasantries about being in a new year in a new class at a new school and then had the students open up their textbooks. Much groaning ensued, as Abigail knew that the students were hoping to get out of doing any homework the first day.
The professor read aloud the book intro to the class. Abby tried to pay attention, but she was hungry and it was difficult to focus properly. Many of the other students doodled on their parchment as the teacher read.
Wesley leaned over and said, "I heard that for years, the teacher for History of Magic was a ghost."
"Really?" Abby whispered back.
"Yeah, his name was Professor Binns."
"Pay attention!" shouted Professor Percy, as he rapped his wand across the front of Wesley's desk. Wesley jumped.
"The origins of magic during recorded history are not well-known," the professor continued, "but the ability as we know it started to appear in the third century B.C." Abigail tried to take notes, but the professor's voice soon blended into the background. Abby found her mind drifting over to thinking about Quidditch tryouts. They wouldn't be happening for awhile yet, but she couldn't wait until they did! She would be one of the best Seekers that Gryffindor had ever seen, maybe even as good as her father...
Abigail imagined herself on the Quidditch pitch, holding the Quidditch cup, after having helped to win all of the games against the other houses. It was a long way off, but she could picture it happening already. The crowd was cheering and she was flying high with her fellow teammates.
"Wooo!" she shouted. The class laughed at her daydream reaction.
"Potter?" the professor repeated. "Would you care to tell us what's so important that you feel like interrupting the class?" With a touch of humiliation, Abby realized it was the third time he had addressed her. Evidently, she had been talking to herself.
"No, sir," said Abby, her cheeks coloring up. "I wouldn't."
"I see," Professor Percy said, "then I suggest you pay attention and do not interrupt the learning process for your fellow students."
"Yes, sir," Abby replied, "sorry, sir."
"This is a very important class," Professor Percy said unctuously, as he addressed the students. "One cannot properly know what one's future is about, until one has learned one's origins. And the only way to learn about one's origins is to study history in a classroom such as this one."
"Or you could have a time turner," Wesley mumbled.
"What was that?" Professor Percy said, sharply turning back toward his son.
Wesley gained a little backbone this time, and replied with bravado, "I said that you could study your origins if you had a time turner." This caused many students to murmur to each other. Abby had heard of time turners before. She knew that one could travel through small increments of time with them. She also knew that her "Aunt" Hermione had used one whilst at Hogwarts, so she could attend all of her classes.
"Will it help you all to pay attention if we spoke about time turners?" questioned Professor Percy. He got an enthusiastic reply from his students. "Very well," he said, "time turners are a magical device that allows one to travel through time, by the hour. They are a device that should have never been invented, as the potential for harm to the time line is so great. People began trying to prevent loved ones from dying, or even messing about with changing pivotal historical events, such as battles."
Abigail thought of her Nana. If she got the chance, Abby certainly would have tried to prevent her from dying. She could understand how tempting such a device could be, and found herself wondering where she could get one...
"The Ministry of Magic attempted to regulate the use of time turners, until such time when all known time turners in existence were eventually destroyed," continued the professor.
"Who destroyed them?" asked Abigail. She felt her heart sinking again, hope of rescuing her grandmother fading out of her mind.
Professor Percy gave her a hard look before replying, "There was a battle at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries some years ago, where the time turners were being held. Those involved accidentally destroyed the time turners in the ensuing melee."
"Who was involved?" Wesley asked. He was paying rapt attention, as was the rest of the class.
Again, the professor gave Wesley and Abigail a hard look. He continued, "It was Harry Potter, his friends, Death Eaters, and an organization called the Order of the Phoenix."
Suddenly, everybody stared at Abigail at the mention of her father. She gulped. Her own father had been responsible for destroying the time turners? She could feel herself coloring up again.
Thankfully, Professor Percy continued, "So don't think that you can visit your past using a time turner, because first, they don't go back far enough, and second, even if they did, they no longer exist." Abigail and Wesley looked at each other. She knew he was thinking the same thing he was. If they were made once before, they could be made again...
At lunch time, the big discussion centered around time turners. Abigail simply couldn't help herself. What with her father having helped destroy them, and wanting to use one to prevent her Nana from being killed, it was all she could think about.
"What do time turners look like?" Lionel wondered.
"The are made up of an hour glass and three co-centric rings, that spin around each other, like a gyroscope," said Wesley.
Lionel blinked. "What's a gyroscope?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to explain everything like such a moron?" she asked. "Look, we can go to the library after we eat and go look at pictures of them." And so they did.
The Hogwarts library contained books on the subject of time turners. Dozens of pictures of them existed; there were large ones, small ones, plain ones, ornate ones. No two time turners were exactly alike. And it looked like the furthest back or forward in time they could go was two weeks. It had been nearly a month since Abby's nana was murdered.
Rose suddenly looked directly at Abby, her eyes growing huge. It was then that Abigail knew her best friend had picked up on her line of thinking. "You're thinking about...your Nana..." she leaned over and whispered to Abby. "Aren't you?"
Abby didn't do anything except for stare at Rose. How could she have known? "It could never happen, you know," continued Rose into Abby's ear. "You'd be changing the future."
"For the better!" Abby said vehemently. Lionel and Wesley stopped pouring over the pictures and stared at Abby for her outburst.
"What are you staring at?" Abigail demanded angrily. "None of you have ever lost someone close to you, so you wouldn't know what it's like to want to change the past," she sniffled. "My mum, dad, and grandpapa have all been so sad, that you have no idea." She stared wistfully at the books in front of them. "If I could just find a time turner, and go back to Nana's house, I could stop that person from murdering her."
Wesley's eyes opened wide. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be, Abby? Confronting a murderer?"
"Do you even know who you're looking for?" Lionel asked reasonably.
"No," Abby sniffled some more, and wiped her nose across the back of her robe sleeve. Her friends were right. There was nothing she could do about preventing the death of her nana, but she still couldn't help but hold onto that last hope...
Harry couldn't put a finger on it, but for several days now he had a premonition that something big was going to happen. This must have been what it was, he thought to himself as he examined the murder scene.
Lucius Malfoy had been killed, apparently by the Avada Kedavra curse. It was all over the news; even though the man had been somewhat underground for a number of years, people were coming out of the woodwork, doubtless trying to get their hands on his fortune. They knew that ever since Draco Malfoy had fought for the light in the vampire war, that Lucius Malfoy had disowned his son.
Harry questioned Narcissa Malfoy, but she hadn't been home at the time Lucius had been murdered on Malfoy Manor's grounds. It was identical to Adonna's murder; spouse not at home, no witnesses, and no evidence left behind. He had no doubt the two cases were linked; it was just too much of a coincidence that less than a week after Harry had brought Lucius in for questioning, the man was now dead. Harry was doubtless on the right track, whatever that was. He was simply getting too close to the truth, and he certainly hoped he could figure out the murderer's whereabouts soon. Harry had a feeling that the killer wouldn't stop at Lucius Malfoy.
