The Book of Seals to the Magical World
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel.


As soon as Ceridwen and Harry touched the painting in the book, they felt a small whirlwind begin whipping around them. It became stronger and stronger, and they could not see anything, until it calmed down again. Harry just sensed the wind stop when he felt a sharp pain in his head, and the world turned completely black. By the time his mind regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the floor of his own room in Helga's quarters. Ceridwen was leaning over him, staring at him in concern.

"Harry, are you all right? You hit your head against the corner of the wardrobe," she informed him excitedly.

"My head," Harry moaned. "It hurts. Thank Merlin we arrived in my room. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Harry. Be careful. Don't move your head; you probably have a concussion, considering that you lost consciousness." She carefully cast a simple healing spell and sighed. "Yes Harry, you have a concussion. Stay where you are for the time being." She fetched his pillow from the bed and very carefully lifted his head just enough to slide the pillow underneath, before she covered him with the blanket and glanced at the charmed display of time at the ceiling. "1:30 a.m.," she read. "That means that we're either late, or we still have lots of time. Stay here and wait for a moment. Don't fall asleep. Let me see if anyone is around in our quarters, or if I can find any potions that will help you. Otherwise, I'm going to search for someone to help us. Do you think the hospital room will still be at the same place where it was one thousand years ago?"

"I have no idea," Harry mumbled, "but you can ask the castle. Sorry, I'm going to be sick."

Ceridwen hurriedly conjured a bucket and carefully helped Harry lean over as his stomach decided to get rid of its contents. Only when he seemed to feel better and was calmly lying down again, she finally left the room after once more instructing Harry to stay awake. She went into her own room, noticing that it looked a bit different from before; however, she could still recognise that it was her own room, and she loved the slightly modern touch the room had. The other rooms looked slightly different as well; however, no one seemed to be living there at the moment. In the bathroom, she found a few phials with potions; however, there was nothing Harry needed at the moment, and since she did not know how old the potions were anyway, she decided to go and look for the hospital room.

Returning to Harry's room to check on him before she left, she laid her hand on the wall. "Hello Hogwarts. Can you hear me?"

"Ceridwen," the castle replied sleepily, sounding much older than in the past. "I'm glad to have the two of you back. You arrived at a strange time though. What happened?"

"We were supposed to come here on the first of September 1991," Ceridwen replied in surprise. "I know that it's the middle of the night, but we couldn't time it better."

Hogwarts chuckled. "Today is not the first of September, dear. It's the ninth of January, 1991," she informed the young witch in a soft voice.

Ceridwen looked at the book that was still open on the floor next to Harry. "Oh my, Harry wrote the numbers in a wrong sequence, and no one noticed," she realised in exasperation. "Hogwarts, what should we do now?"

"What?" Harry asked, sleepily.

"Ceridwen," Hogwarts spoke up thoughtfully. "You can either go to the hospital wing, which is still at the same place as before. However, the healer would probably call the headmaster, and if you want to keep your presence here a secret for the time being, I wouldn't recommend it. He was the one, who sent Harry to his relatives, at least as far as I know from the conversations which I overheard in his office."

"Ah all right then; what else can I do?" Ceridwen asked impatiently.

"In the living room is a picture of Helga, Salazar, Rowena and Godric. Speak with Salazar. His portrait is guarding the door to the private quarters of the Slytherin head of house, Professor Snape. Ask Salazar to fetch Professor Snape. He is the Potions master and will certainly be able to help Harry. He is also related to Salazar, because he is the many times great grandson of Severus Slytherin."

"Thank you, Hogwarts," Ceridwen shouted and dashed away. She stood in front of the painting that held the four founders. "Salazar, wake up quickly," she shouted and hurriedly told her brother-in-law what had happened.

"Ceridwen, you must keep Harry awake," Helga said sternly, shooing Salazar away. "Go and inform your portrait, Sal."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Severus Snape was sitting at his desk, grading essays, a task, which he absolutely detested. All of a sudden, he heard through the open door to his private quarters that the portrait of Salazar Slytherin seemed to be talking to him. Severus groaned in annoyance. 'What's wrong now?' he thought. 'If it's not Albus or the dunderheads, it's the most annoying portrait on the face of the earth that disturbs me.'

"What happened?" he asked, stepping over into the living room.

"There are two time travellers," Salazar informed him, "in fact it's my sister-in-law and her foster brother. They just arrived from the past, and they need your help. Can you go to my wife's and my quarters, please? It's behind the portrait of the four of us, which you'll find if you walk down the corridor in front of the hospital wing. I'll instruct my sister-in-law to open the door for you."

'What the f...,' Severus thought and grudgingly agreed, shaking his head in annoyance as he strode through the halls that were thankfully as deserted as they were supposed to be at that time of the night. 'Oh well, I'm certainly going to enjoy my birthday right from the beginning,' he thought to himself in sarcasm.

"You must be Professor Snape. I am Ceridwen Hufflepuff. I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of the night," Ceridwen greeted him politely.

"That's all right. I hope you'll give me an adequate explanation," Severus sneered, raising an eyebrow at the girl who was dressed in strange clothes.

'Oh well, Salazar said they were time-travellers from his own time,' he recalled.

"Of course. Please come in, Professor." Ceridwen motioned for the professor to take a seat on the sofa in the living room and told him everything about Harry's time travel, their life in the past and that Rowena had instructed them to come to the future because of the visions she had seen.

"Harry Potter?" Severus asked in surprise, trying to keep his feelings of absolute annoyance to himself. "Everyone here assumes that he is living with his relatives."

"He's in his room. He hit his head badly when we arrived here, and he has a concussion. Unfortunately, the potions I could find in my sister's bathroom are all very old, and I'm not as adept as Harry at brewing. Could you give him a potion please?"

"Show me to his room," Severus instructed the girl. He could not help feeling impressed by her thoughtfulness. 'If all our first-year students were as alert, it would be more fun to teach Potions,' he thought as he followed Ceridwen into Harry's room.

"Mr. Potter," he greeted the boy, who to his surprise was quietly talking to an old woman, who seemed to be invisible.

"Hogwarts, Professor Snape is here now. I'll talk to you later. Thank you for keeping me awake," the child said and removed his right hand from the wall, before he greeted the professor.

"Excuse me," Severus asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Both of us helped my sister and her friends to build Hogwarts; therefore, we're able to speak with her by touching her walls. Please keep this a secret just like our presence here at the moment."

"I will," Severus said in confusion and waved his wand over the boy. "Mr. Potter, your friend was right, and you indeed have a concussion. Normally, I would take you to Madam Pomfrey, our healer; however, since no one is supposed to know about your presence here, I suggest that you remain here in your own room for the time being." He carefully levitated Harry onto the bed, before he called Cicero, his personal house-elf.

"Good evening, Master Severus," the elf said, bowing slightly.

"Fetch me a few phials of the potion for concussion," Severus instructed the elf, who popped away and back within seconds. "Since I don't want you to move your head, I will spell the potion straight into your system," he informed the boy, as he once more waved his wand.

"Thank you so much," Harry replied gratefully. "That's much better."

"You still mustn't move your head, Harry," Ceridwen admonished him firmly. "Professor, thank you so much for coming and helping us. When will he need his next dose of the potion, sir? In six hours?"

The Potions Master smirked. "You seem to know a lot about Healing. Do you by chance know any diagnostic spells?"

"Yes sir," Ceridwen replied eagerly. "We attended classes at Hogwarts in the past, from the time when we were eight, and I took Healing classes from the beginning. I know the simple diagnostic spell, I can take a temperature, and I know a few easy Healing spells, but I'm not allowed to use them on other students yet, and I can't spell a potion into someone."

"Very well then. Give him his next dose of the potion in six hours. If he gets a fever or feels worse, tell Salazar to call me," Severus instructed Ceridwen. "I'll come and check on you again in the morning."

"Thank you so much. I will tell my sister and her friends in the painting at the entrance to let you in," Ceridwen said gratefully, causing the Potions master to slightly incline his head.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Professor Snape kept Harry in bed for three days, before he allowed him to get up, provided that he did not use any magic.

"Thank you very much for your help, sir, and for keeping our secret," Harry said gratefully.

"Now, I suggest that the two of you answer a few questions for me," Severus said thoughtfully, motioning for the two children to take seats in the living room. "What exactly is this book which you used to time travel?"

"I'll get it," Harry said, but Ceridwen was faster and fetched the book for him. Harry thanked her and explained to the Potions master how he had found it in a muggle bookshop and had unconsciously used it for the first time. He also showed the teacher the picture he painted. "I don't know how I could write the wrong date on the parchment," he added, blushing slightly.

"You don't have to be ashamed, Harry," Ceridwen spoke up. "You drew that very well. We arrived at the right place, and it could have been much worse if you had sent us to a different year, far into the past or the future."

"Exactly," Severus agreed. "Nevertheless, I suggest that you change the numbers on your parchment and travel another seven months into the future. However, I believe that we have to clarify a few things beforehand." Seeing the children look at him in confusion, he elaborated, "On your eleventh birthday, your Hogwarts letter will be sent out, and you need to reply to it. I can ask Cicero, my house-elf, to divert your letter to me and then send out a reply, which you need to write and give to me before you leave. We also need to buy the school supplies for both of you. Do you have a wand?"

Ceridwen and Harry shook their heads, and Severus continued, "Then we also have to buy wands for you, and we have to somehow deal with the Dursleys in case the headmaster or someone else goes there to give you your Hogwarts letter personally or take you shopping in the summer."

"Oh," Harry said in surprise.

"Another matter we need to think about is how to explain your presence here, Ms. Hufflepuff. Shall we inform the headmaster about your time travel? Or do you want to pretend that you came from the past alone? In any case, we need to make a detailed plan."

"Professor, thank you so much for helping us," Ceridwen said gratefully. "We..."

"Sorry Ceridwen; Professor, do you know how to make a genealogic parchment? I'm sorry; I don't know exactly how it's called. But you look like the spitting image of Severus Slytherin, Salazar's brother, and if you're really a descendant from him, maybe you could just introduce Ceridwen as your relative or such?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"That would be a possibility," Severus said thoughtfully. He conjured a parchment and pointed his wand at it, mumbling an incantation, before he magically extracted one drop of blood from the small finger of his right hand and carefully let it drop onto the parchment.

Small blue lines spread over the parchment, beginning with Severus at the bottom and leading upwards to the origin of the Slytherin line. "Severus Slytherin, indeed," Severus stated, pointing to a name on the parchment. "This means that you're my sister-in-law, Ms. Hufflepuff." He remained pensive for a moment, before he finally said, "I suggest telling people that you were my cousin's child and that your parents made me your guardian when they travelled abroad or died, whatever is more comfortable with you."

"That's a good idea," Ceridwen said warmly. "However, wouldn't it be strange if I showed up exactly on the first of September, sir?"

"If you prepare a reply to your Hogwarts letter as well, it would suffice if I told the Headmaster about you and enrolled you for the next school year. I need your complete name and your date of birth in order to stay as close to the truth as possible."

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

During the next few days, Severus and the two children planned everything in detail. On Saturday morning, while the whole school was attending the Quidditch match Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, Severus took the children to Diagon Alley to buy their wands and robes. They also made a trip to Gringotts, where Ceridwen and Harry gained access to their ancestors' vaults.

"When you arrive at Hogwarts at the beginning of the school year, I will teach you how to place an owl order," Severus promised. "For the time being, I will order your school books and everything else you'll need for the beginning of the school year. The sooner we leave the better, in order not to be seen."

Back at Hogwarts, Ceridwen and Harry prepared themselves to leave for the first of September. With Severus' help, Harry had corrected the date in the book, and the two children just reached out for the picture, when Harry suddenly drew his hand back and asked, "Professor, do you have any idea how we could prevent ourselves from hitting our heads when we arrive next time?"

Severus smirked and cast a cushioning charm at the two children and instructed them to contact him through Salazar when they arrived.

Finally, Ceridwen and Harry took each other's hands and firmly pressed their other hands on the picture in the book. Immediately, they felt a familiar whirlwind begin that became stronger and stronger, until it calmed down again.

"Harry, are you all right?" Ceridwen asked in concern, giving him a sharp look.

"Yes, and you?" Harry replied, smirking as he scrambled up from the floor. "Thank Merlin for the cushioning charm. We need to remember that we always need to cast it on each other, before we travel with the book."

"That's true," Ceridwen agreed, looking at the time display. "4:30 p.m.," she read, "that's not bad. We should have a few hours left, before the Sorting is going to begin, provided that it's still the same in this time."

"Oh well, let's ask Salazar to tell Professor Snape that we're here," Harry suggested, heading out into the living room, where he found all of their school books neatly piled on the table.

"Let me tell you something. Arriving at the wrong time the last time was the best thing that could happen to us," Ceridwen said, chuckling. "Imagine we had arrived here today in the first place. We wouldn't have had any of our school books, nor proper robes or our wands."

"And thank Merlin that we met Professor Snape. He's really nice," Harry replied, absentmindedly skimming his Potions book. He looked up, startled, when the door opened and Professor Snape entered their quarters.

"Congratulations for managing to arrive on the right day," the teacher greeted them, smirking, causing Harry to roll his eyes, while he felt his cheeks turn pink.

"Thank you, Professor, for everything," Ceridwen replied softly.

"You're welcome. Thankfully, the headmaster doesn't suspect anything. Now, I suggest that you accompany me to Hogsmeade, where you can unobtrusively mix in with the other first years and ride the boats back to the castle," Severus told them.

マジック世界の秘密に至る本

Ceridwen and Harry enjoyed the trip with the boats immensely, resolving to tell Helga all about them, as soon as they returned home the next time. They sat together with a muggle born girl with bushy brown hair and a shy boy, who was constantly looking for his toad. Both of them seemed to be very nice, and the four first years talked animatedly when they followed Professor McGonagall and their new classmates into the Great Hall.

'Wow, this doesn't look so much different from how it looked in the past,' Harry mused, sceptically eyeing the Sorting Hat. 'I hope it'll sort me together with Ceridwen, Hermione and Neville.' However, his hopes were destroyed quickly when Ceridwen and their two new friends ended up in three different houses.

tbc...

Thank you so much for your kind reviews! Please continue feeding my muse and tell me what you think.