A/N: All I can really say is I'm sorry…(breaks down) FORGIVE ME!!
Sirius rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he entered the kitchen. He grabbed the coffee grinds from the pantry and took out his wand. Five minutes later he had a steaming cup of coffee. He took a long sip and sat down at the kitchen table waiting for the other occupants of the house to wake up.
An owl suddenly flew through the window, dropped an envelope in front of Sirius and flew back out. Unfazed Sirius picked up the letter, saw that it was for Remus and threw it back on the table not giving it a second thought until the man in question wandered down the stairs.
"You have mail." Sirius told him while Remus began making his own coffee.
Remus turned to his friend and saw the parchment envelope in front of him. He walked over and picked it up curiously. Inside was another piece of parchment again addressed to him he looked down at the signature and his face cracked into a grin. Sirius noticed his friend's expression and raised an eyebrow.
"Who's it from?" He asked.
Remus looked up at him, "It's from Valerie."
Sirius stared at him incredulously, "Valerie Pruitt? Lily's old friend?"
"Who else?" Remus answered.
"Why would she be writing us? And how does she even know where we live?" Sirius asked, sounding rather annoyed at being contacted by their old friend.
Remus suddenly became nervous, "Well…actually I um, I sent her a letter two days ago."
Sirius's eyes narrowed, "And why didn't you tell me?!"
"Because I knew you'd make a big deal out of it like you are now." Remus answered shortly while getting the coffee grinds to make his own cup.
Sirius stood, "Well of course I am, have you forgotten that she hates me?"
"She doesn't hate you," Remus told him matter-of-factly.
"Then why did she throw pumpkin juice at me during graduation if she doesn't hate me?" Sirius ranted angrily.
Despite his friend's anger, Remus remained calm, "Because you tried to grope her as she walked by."
"I told you that wasn't me!" Sirius cried almost childishly, "It was that Boot guy, he used to hit on every girl at school."
"You know what Padfoot it doesn't matter anyway, that was years ago," Remus said still in his calm voice, "and I contacted her because I thought she would want to see Harry, she is his godmother after all."
Sirius scoffed, but didn't say anything else since at that moment Draco and Harry came bounding down the stairs with Narcissa in their wake. As everyone sat down to have breakfast, Sirius watched Harry as he ate and talked to Draco, who was getting over a cold. For the last few days Sirius had felt like there was something…off about his godson. On the outside he looked like an average five-year-old with not a care in the world, but there was something in his eyes.
During the war, Sirius had seen many people who had lost friends, family members and had to witness it all. They sometimes seemed to move in a daze and their eyes had an almost dead look to them, like they had seen too much too soon. That was how Harry looked at times, and it gave Sirius chills and made him suspicious at the same time.
After they had eaten the two boys ran outside to go play with the two girls from across the street that they'd made friends with several weeks ago. Even though Sirius knew Narcissa didn't like muggles, he could tell she was happy her son was friends with some because it showed that he wasn't becoming like his bastard of a father.
The two girls, Hermione and Kori they were called, had been coming over almost everyday since they first met Harry and Draco. Sirius found it a little odd that two boys at that age would be so eager to play with girls. Harry seemed especially fond of Hermione, though she usually just sat on the porch with her nose in a book (which surprised Sirius since some of the stuff she read seemed far too advanced for such a young girl) while her younger sister was more hyper and easily entertained.
Still, they were obviously happy with their new friends so Sirius didn't think much of it. His thoughts concerning the two boys were almost always on Harry, and just what was going on in that boy's head.
At around 11 pm earth time, Max was in his office and on his eighth cup of coffee. Normally he would have gone home by now but tonight was different, he knew he would be called in if he left and he didn't want to anyway.
He had moved his office chair to rest in front of his window where he could see four small children preparing for bed. Hermione Granger was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, while two doors down, her little sister was safe in bed, being lulled to sleep by the soft sounds of her father's voice as he told her a story.
Draco Malfoy was already asleep, but Harry was another story. The boy was sitting up in his bed clearly still wearing his day clothes. Max figured that Harry'd remembered that the reaper would visit him every month and knew that tonight was the night of their next meeting, which would explain why he was still dressed.
Max sighed and massaged his temples, if he weren't dead he would swear he felt a headache coming on.
"Ellie!" He called out to his secretary, "I need more coffee."
"Be right there." She answered from the other room.
Max slumped in his chair and look at the clock on the left hand side of the screen. It was almost time now.
At the same time on earth, Harry was also watching the clock intently. His arms crossed over his chest and his patience wearing thin. Where the hell was he? Tonight was the night right?
Harry sighed angrily while tapping his foot against the blanket. Ten more minutes passed and Max still hadn't arrived. Harry's eyelids began to feel heavy but he struggled to stay awake. Finally though, his patience ran out and he decided that for whatever reason, Max wasn't coming that night.
Silently cursing the Grim Reaper for keeping him up so late, Harry crawled under the covers. Before he could settle down to sleep however, he noticed something through the sliver of window uncovered by his drawn curtains. The streetlights shown as brightly as they would any other night, but in addition to them was some kind of glow. Slowly, Harry got up out of bed and approached the window. He reached up and drew back the curtains, his heart stopping as he took in the scene.
Across the street and several houses down, Harry had a clear view of Hermione's house…and it was on fire. Harry stood completely still for a split second before tearing out of his room screaming for Sirius and Remus.
By the time he got outside several other neighbors were already on the scene and he could hear someone shouting abut calling the fire department. He was about to run towards the house but suddenly a hand reached out to hold him back. Looking up he could see it was Narcissa holding him and Sirius and Remus were running past them.
"Stay back!" Sirius shouted at them over his shoulder.
Harry's mind screamed at him to run after his godfather, but instead stood rigid in Narcissa's grasp.
'This can't be happening.' He repeated to himself over and over again. Hermione could not die tonight, she couldn't die any night. What could have happening to cause this? His mind spinning, Harry began to wonder if maybe this was his fault. What if his coming back and making all these changes had somehow caused this to happen. He remembered Hermione once telling him about this time travel theory that the mere presence of a time traveler could have drastic effects on the time stream.
But if that was true, why hadn't Max warned him about it, it seemed pretty important. Unless he'd figured that Harry already knew that, which didn't make much sense either. Harry could feel a slight headache coming on from the array of thoughts racing through his head but he didn't care, all he could focus on was the incinerating house that was once his very best friend's home. Sirius and Remus were racing toward the door when suddenly it burst open and Mr. and Mrs. Granger ran out. In Mr. Granger's arms Harry spotted a brown bush that he knew to be Hermione, and relief washed over him.
It wasn't until he noticed Mrs. Granger fighting against Sirius, who was attempting to pull her away from the blaze, trying desperately to get back into the house that Harry realized Hermione was the only child her father had brought out. With that thought in mind Harry's legs finally started to obey him and he ripped himself from Narcissa's grasp, ignoring her screams as he ran for the Granger home. Upon approach he could just make out Mrs. Granger's screams over the sounds of the fire.
"I HAVE TO GO BACK!!" She shrieked, becoming hysterical, "MY BABY'S STILL IN THERE! WE COULDN'T GET TO HER!!"
'Kori!' Harry screamed mentally as everything began to make sense, he didn't know about Hermione's sister because she had died in this fire. Hermione had probably been so traumatized by it, it was no wonder she never mentioned Kori. But then Harry thought, maybe it was meant to be. Maybe, like Max had once told him, it was just her time to go. Perhaps this fire was suppose to happen and Kori was meant to die here. Maybe, just maybe, this was fate.
If that was true, then fate could go fuck itself.
Harry raced around the one story house searching for Kori's room. He had only seen it once before when he and Draco were over at the house for dinner and so he was not entirely sure where it was. Eventually, he reached a window low enough for him to look through and past the roaring flames, Harry could make out a small form curled up on a bed.
"KORI!!" He shouted.
The figure on the bed did not move, most likely she was either unconscious from the flames or paralyzed with fear. In the background Harry could hear Mrs. Granger's continuing screams of Kori's name. The fire was growing ever larger and the sounds of sirens were quickly filling the air. Harry knew however that they would arrive too late to save the child. With that thought Harry's adrenaline pumped up and his mind shut off. Harry raised his wand arm and felt his magic growing.
"ACCIO KORI!!" He shouted.
To his shock, the small child lifted into the air and raced toward him narrowly missing the flames. The next thing Harry knew, he was on the ground with the wind knocked out of him and Kori's unmoving body laying on top of him. Within a few seconds she was pulled off of him by what looked like Sirius and Remus was helping him up. Mrs. Granger was sobbing over her youngest daughters body and her, Hermione sat in a fetal position, staring up at her destroyed home until she was once again scooped into her father's arms. Harry was similarly grabbed by Remus (despite his annoyance since he could still walk just fine) and the group fled from the scene.
The firemen had already begun the task of putting the fire out while paramedics ran towards the Granger family.
"My daughter!" Mr. Granger called to them, "She's not breathing, I think she inhaled too much smoke."
Harry's heart dropped.
"Max!" Ellie called from her small cubicle office.
Max burst out of his office quick as a flash, "What? What is it?"Ellie looked heartbroken, "She's just arrived."
Max paled, a horrible feeling of dread settling in his stomach. 'No not again, this wasn't suppose to happen again.'
Slowly, the reaper nodded his head and with zombie like movements, walked down the hall to meet the young soul.
Max instinctively lifted his hands up to his eyes in order to avoid to blaring light. Looking down he noticed that like most souls, the small girl in front of him was unfazed by it. She looked up at Max with big brown eyes and cocked her head to the side.
"Who're you?" She asked innocently.
Max could've cried, "I- I'm Max."
"Where's my mommy Max?"
'Just like last time.' He though miserably as he regarded the transparent girl. Wait, transparent.
Max stared at her in shock. That was not suppose to happen, deceased souls were always suppose to be solid upon fully leaving their mortal bodies unless…
Happiness and relief flooded through Max and he knelt down to the child's level. Slowly he brought his hand up to touch her shoulder, gently turning her away from the light.
"Do you see that long tunnel right there?" He asked her.
"Uh huh."
"Well," Max explained, "If you follow that tunnel, it'll take you back to your mommy."
Her face lit up, "You promise?"
"I promise." Max answered with a smile.
Kori grinned, "Okay, bye bye Max."
With that, the small brunette took off through the tunnel and in a flash, vanished. Max rigidly stood back up and all but ran back to his office. It was time to visit Potter.
"We've got a pulse!" A medic screamed.
Mrs. Granger gave a sob of relief and tightened her grip on her husband, who looked equally relieved.
"We still need to take her to the hospital and make sure there's no damage to her lungs." Another medic told the Grangers.
They nodded silently and entered the ambulance with Hermione in tow. Originally, they had wanted her to stay behind at Harry's house but the bushy haired girl was determined to remain by her sisters side as long as she was ill.
Sirius tagged along for emotional support and because he had grown rather fond of Kori in the short time he'd known her. Harry watched them load the three year old into the ambulance and wondered just what repercussions his actions would have on the future. Whatever happened, Harry would deal with it. He could not change what had happened now nor did he want to.
He was feeling rather satisfied with himself until he felt a chill go down his spine. He glanced upward to meet with his godfather's hard gaze that clearly said 'I don't trust you.'
'Oh crap, he saw.' Harry thought silently.
The two stared at each other for not a second longer before Sirius was pulled into the ambulance and the door shut.
Harry walked silently back to his room, ignoring Remus and Narcissa's shaken good nights and a now awake Draco's questions of what had happened.
Harry was not surprised when he entered his room to find Max waiting for him and so did not acknowledge him until he was comfortably seated on top of his bed.
"Well Potter, you did a good job back there," Max stated, "Even though you did almost screw up."
Harry ignored the last part, "Why didn't you tell me Hermione's sister was going to die? In fact, why didn't you tell me Hermione had a sister in the first place?"
"It wasn't my place to tell," Max shrugged, "Besides, you were obviously going to find out anyway."
"She almost died tonight," Harry spat out angrily, "Did you know that too?"
Max's eyes narrowed, "Don't talk to me like that, I was fully aware that Kori Granger was in danger tonight. She's one of my other charges after all."
"So if you knew then I ask again," Harry said with a hard voice, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I honestly didn't remember how soon it would happen," Max answered, his shoulders slumped, "Believe me I would have told you if I did."
At that, Harry lost his temper.
"WELL THEN YOU ALMOST GOT HER KILLED TONIGHT!!" Harry screamed.
"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!" Max shouted back, "It tore me up when she came in last time. It always does when they're that young."
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself, "So last time it didn't go like this."
"Obviously not." Max answered before pulled a folded newspaper out of his jacket, "Read this."
Harry took it from the reaper and stared at it, "A newspaper?"
"Read the headline," Max told him, "This paper would have come out about two days from now had you not did what you did."
Harry's eyes scanned the headline and then the rest of the article. With every word he felt the bile rush to his throat faster.
HOUSE FIRE DEVISTATES SUBURBAN FAMILY.
Last Tuesday night, the home of local dental practitioners Alan and Sandra Granger caught fire due to a faulty outlet. The Drs. Granger, both 34, along with their eldest daughter Hermione, aged 5, escaped the blaze with only minor injuries. However, fireman were unable to rescue the couples youngest daughter 3 year old Kori, and the child perished.
The surviving family were rushed to-
Harry couldn't go further. He threw the newspaper back at Max and stared aimlessly out the window at the charred and smoking remains of the Granger household.
"So, obviously this changes things now." Harry stated more than asked.
Max nodded, "Well so did clearing your godfather and Narcissa divorcing Malfoy. Harry, your mere presence here changes things, ever hear of-"
"The Butterfly Effect." Harry finished, not taking his eyes from the scene outside, "I know, Hermione told me."
Max nodded, "Not surprising."
Harry sighed, "So was it her time or not?"
"Not." Max answered immediately, "But it's like I told you, if they don't have a body to return to, they can't go back."
"…so then what?" Harry suddenly asked.
Max stared, confused, "then what…what?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "What happens if a person dies before their time and can't come back?"
Max clicked his tongue, "Interesting question," He commented, "Well I was going to have to discuss this with you anyway. You see…"
Max trailed off, trying to figure out the best way to explain this to the boy wizard. He knew that Harry would probably not like the answer, no one ever did.
"…Okay Harry, I want you to picture an old lady."
"What?" Harry asked in a 'are-you-kidding-me?' tone.
Max waved his question off, "Just go with me here, imagine an old lady in the hospital okay? She's seventy years old and she's had a family with children and grandchildren. She lived a long, full life and now her only link to this world are the life support machines they have her hooked up to.
Her husband has already gone on and her children have decided to take her off the life support and let her die in peace. You following?"
"Yeah." Harry answered slowly, not sure where this was going.
"Okay good," Max said approvingly, "Now picture for me a young boy of six miles away from this old woman. He's in perfect health and he's outside playing catch with his father. Now Harry what I want you to do is picture that old lady in the hospital and the six year old boy and tell me, who do you think is about to die?"
'Rather morbid.' Harry silently commented, but aloud he said, "The old lady, right?"
Max nodded, "In most cases yes. She's lived her life, she's probably made peace with the fact that she's going to die, it's her time. But, the big man when he created man had the brilliant idea of giving him a little thing called free will, and in most cases yeah, free will's great. However, it is also the cause of many premature deaths and in this case, overdue ones.
What if the old woman's children changed their minds at the last minute and refused to have their mother's life support terminated, she's going to live another day. But she was suppose to die, and now she won't. That's a problem."
Harry listened carefully, but wasn't sure he understood, "But, it's just one person, what damage could one person do?"
"A lot more than you think." Max informed him, "There's such a thing called 'the balance'. It's how the big man maintains order in the universe. But believe it or not, one soul that dies at the wrong time can disrupt that balance, and if the balance deteriorates to far…bad things happen."
"What kind of bad things?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, no one does, be thankful for that." Max answered vaguely, "But my point is this, because the old woman did not die, the balance is disrupted, and like I said that's bad. So obviously something has to happen in order to fix that balance. So that six year old boy I told you about? Well, he's going to throw the ball wrong and it's going to roll off into the street, and he's going to run after it despite his father's warnings. He's going to run into the street to get that ball, and a truck is going to come by. By the time he sees the boy however, it'll be too late and…"
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Max was getting at. Once again he felt sick and now a bit faint.
"Are you serious?" He whispered.
Max sighed, "Look I know how it sounds but it's not so ba-"
"Not so bad?" Harry interrupted, "NOT SO BAD? YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT IF ONE PERSON GETS TO LIVE ANOTHER HAS TO DIE? AND IT COULD BE A CHILD? THAT'S NOT FAIR! THAT'S-"
"Life isn't fair Harry." Max said calmly for once, "We've already had this discussion, and as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, when that happens the souls are given the opportunity to reincarnate and live again. So even if it's a young soul they still get a chance at life if they want one."
Once again, Harry took a deep calming breath and relax against his pillow, "Did Kori go back the first time?"
Max shook his head, "I can't tell you that, but it doesn't really matter anyway. The future you came from is gone."
Harry looked up at this, "Gone?"
"Well yeah," Max answered, "This isn't like going back in time with a time-turner. That's like rewinding a video cassette tape when you do that. What we did was like erasing the video. Basically, we erased your future. We erased the whole universe's future."
Harry was shocked, "You can do that?"
Max rolled his eyes, "No, no we can't. This is God we're talking about Harry, he can do anything. Not that the decision was come to lightly. Took them forever to decide whether or not to make you that offer."
Harry shook his head, "It can't have been that long, I was only dead for a little while when I met you."
Max opened and closed his mouth, "Well actually, you were dead for a lot longer than you think. We had your soul in a sort of…suspended animation while the big man deliberated."
Harry, not for the first time that night, couldn't believe what he was hearing, "How long may I ask?"
A beat. "You may," Max answered, "And about fifty years, earth time."
"FIFTY YEARS?!"
"Hey, this was a big decision." Max bit back, "You think this only concerned you? No. As I said last time you're not the only one with a second chance here, everyone in the world does and that includes any people who died between those 62 years before now. They all had to be informed that they could potentially be returning to earth soon and don't even get me started on the reincarnates. Arranging this was a bigger headache than World War II was. You hear that Potter? We distorted time and space and turned the whole universe upside-down, all for you. So feel special!"
Harry immediately quieted down. He had noticed that Max was rather scary when he got angry and plus, he was getting too tired to argue.
"So what happens now, now that Kori is alive I mean?" Harry asked, getting back on the subject.
Max quickly calmed down, "Well since she wasn't suppose to die, her death originally meant someone else who was suppose to die did not. Now that Kori's alive, someone probably isn't going to see tomorrow."
Harry sighed, "Is it wrong that I feel relieved right now?"
"As long as your relief is strictly related to Kori's survival, then no." Max replied with a rare smile, "And don't be too concerned about that other soul, if I'm right you won't feel too bad about her death."
Harry looked up, "Why, who is it?"
Max smirked, "You'll see."
Harry nodded, then remembered something Max had said earlier, "So how does that whole balance thing relate to me?"
Max blinked, "What?"
"You said that you were going to have to tell me about it anyway, so why is that." Harry elaborated.
Max nodded in understanding, "Oh that, well-"
The Grim Reaper was suddenly interrupted by a loud beeping sound. Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a beeper. He glanced at the screen and again smirked.
"Sorry Harry, duty calls, I'll explain everything next time okay?"
Before Harry could answer, Max stood and in two long strides climbed up on the window sill. He was about to step out when he suddenly turned his head back to Harry.
"Oh and before I forget," He said, "I'd advise you to get that whole wandless magic thing in order."
Harry stared at him, "Wandless magic?"
"Well yeah," Max answered, "How did you think you saved Kori, you didn't use an invisible wand to cast that summoning charm did you?"
"Bu- but-" Harry sputtered.
"Like I said," Max spoke loudly over his young charge, "Next month."
Max turned back around and quickly jumped out the window back to limbo, leaving a very confused and exhausted Harry Potter in his wake.
Since Max left the curtains open, Harry could see that the sun had already risen and he could hear the sounds of talking from outside his door. Harry groggily crawled back under the covers and closed his eyes for a well deserved sleep.
BANG!
Or so he thought.
Harry shot up immediately and came face to face with Sirius Black, whose expression for once went along with his name. Sirius regarded the boy for a moment before closing the door and drawing his wand. Harry flinched, thinking he was going to aim it at him, but instead Sirius pointed it at the door and muttered a spell to make sure no one disturbed them. He then turned his attention back to the Boy-Who-Lived.
"We need to talk." Sirius stated.
'Ah crap.'
Remus gulped down his coffee in one swig, then poured himself another. Last night had been rough. Upon returning home Sirius informed him that Kori was in a stable condition and apart from some minor burns would be okay.
He was happy to hear that but still felt pity for the poor parents. What they must be going through, almost losing their child. Remus didn't know what he would do if anything ever happened to Harry.
A swooshing noise from the window informed the werewolf that the Daily Prophet had arrived. He paid the owl and briefly scanned the front page before throwing it back on the table, he wasn't particularly interested in the wizarding news at the moment. Had he been he might have felt a bit of shock at the main article.
FORMER SENIOR UNDERSECRETARY FOUND DEAD
Early this morning, a ministry official was doing inspections of the Azkaban prison. Upon entering former senior undersecretary to the minister of magic Dolores Jane Umbridges cell, he was shocked to find her dead of an apparent heart attack. The body has been moved to an undisclosed location, but no further information is known at this time.
A/N: That's right folks, Dolores Umbridge has died of a mysterious heart attack. (looks around with shifty eyes and hides Death Note behind back) I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this (long overdue) installment of 'In Time.'
Review please!
