AN: All recognizable people and places and plot belong to J.K. Rowling
Al sprinted past all the shocked students before they had the time to react. Rose and he had waited in the corner of the room nearest the teacher's table with the side door because it was less likely to be strolled into. He breathed hard as he made his way to the center of the room. Sirius, probably shocking everyone there and confirming his insanity status, ran to meet him away from the doors.
"STUPEFY!"
Al ducked a curse from a well meaning teacher. Hell, if he saw himself, he would have cursed. What did Aunt Hermione always say? Ah yes. "Bad things happen with wizards who meddle with time."
He laughed internally. Lesson learned, Aunt Hermione. I will never doubt you again nor any of that crazy Muggle rubbish that you always sprout. Maybe there is truth to her sayings.
A picture of his aunt and her Muggle mother floated to the top his mind. He never knew why this particular adage remained with him after the rest were store collectively in the deep recesses of his mind. Rosie had been complaining in all seriousness to him about the lack of good people in the world. Her seven year old mouth had only been repeating what she heard Grandma Weasley complain about, but her mother heard. Aunt Hermione had taken Al into her lap, and Grandma Granger had taken Rosie into her lap.
"No, sweetie. Don't complain. Remember that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
He supposed the irony of the situation brought the old memory up. After all, he was searching for the cause of pure and unforgiving darkness. The kind that no spell or mere candle could banish; it was their only hope for survival.
"STUPEFY!"
Rose had answered the spell with one of her own, and he heard a soft plop! of the assailant falling.
Another spell nearly tripped him, as Al sent a harmless yet incapacitating Tickling Charm. The cloak of invisibility, one of his father's most treasured items and a clue about their identity slipped from his pocket and pooled behind him.
Al winced. Rose and he had planned and wished that their presence would go unnoticed by all except for Dumbledore. That fell apart quickly, he thought. Of course, they had planned in case that they were discovered. They agreed that it was better to be thought of as Death Eaters than the children from the future.
With his left hand, Al dug frantically through his pockets praying that the small packet of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder was still there. Merlin, he hoped that the small packet was there, and that it would suffice for the theatric escape that awaited them.
The original fate of the Powder involved James and the loo, but this was a far more noble cause. Al grasped just as he reached a crouching and running Sirius, who hid from the rainstorm of malevolent spells. He suspected one of the many curses came from his teenage and angry father.
"You got a wand?"
Al prayed desperately that Sirius had one. He could not orchestrate their flight from the Minister and the staff of Hogwarts if he had to steal a wand as well. Nor could he let Sirius wander the halls without a wand because of his criminal status.
"Yes. I do-"
"Good, get it ready. Start running out!"
Al threw the black powder on the floor just as Rose reached them. He grabbed her and thrust her in the direction of the doors. The dark dust touched the floor and permeated the air.
Instantly darkness cloaked and embraced them; the spells and the Great Hall quieted for a moment as the totality of the obscurity confused their sense. Al shouted, "Keep going! I'll be right behind you! Just GO!"
Al carefully retraced his steps in a brisk jog. He was torn between outright dashing straight to the cloak and caution. Both had their disadvantages seeing that if he went too slowly he would surely be caught by one of the hundreds in the room. Then he would be gagged and bound to be shipped off to Azkaban after he was interrogated for three hours, naturally. He felt extreme empathy for Sirius and admiration for still pursuing Wormtail with a worse fate imminent. The other option came with its own set of problems. He easily risked running into a bench or missing the cloak which resulted in the same horrible consequences for himself and time.
Al jumped about a foot off the ground as some students screamed in pure panic about the darkness that had settled in the Great Hall. All around him frantic cries of Lumos or Lumos Maxima echoed in the large, long room. He panicked for an entirely different reason. The concealing shroud made from the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder was dissipating allowing some light in. He cursed his luck about the Hall being so extensive that the powder (which innately tried to cover every inch it could in a false night) could only last moments in this environment.
In a matter of seconds clarity would be restored, and Al would be left in the middle of Hall, exposed. If he could make it to the cloak, he would be able to cover up and with any sort of luck (which seem to be absent today) be able to sneak past the guard in the chaos that would follow.
He started half running trying to make the cloak out with the flickering lights. The choices still screamed in his head, as he examined the ground as closely as he could without wasting very valuable time.
Unfortunately the decision was taken out of his hand.
Light now streamed through the fading pockets of shadows. Al could see the nonplussed faces of the students as he raced by. He saw the cloak lying on the ground. Only four meters away. Two meters! One!
He managed to feel the cloak, and he started to wrap it around his body. He was partially invisible on his left side when ropes bound his hands and body together. The ropes were tight, and burned Al's skin as he lost balanced and tipped over.
His head cracked against the hard stone floor, and he tasted blood in his mouth. His head rung like the clock at Hogwarts announcing the hour. Since it was a particularly nasty fall, Al's eyes betrayed him and spun the world, intensifying his looming cruel headache.
He groaned loudly and tried to wiggle his hands to his wand. No use. His hands were bound so tight circulation was lost in his fingertips. He would have to wait and be captured and subjected to their questionings. This is one time I could be patient, Al thought.
Ironically, he did not have time to exercise his patience. Everyone was swarming towards Al.
A loud female's voice— McGonagall's maybe? shouted an order and much of the pounding in his head stopped.
Oh, it was the stomping and moving of many feet clamoring that made the ringing in his head. He was grateful towards the Headmistress, actually the professor of Transfiguration, for this order.
He would have to thank her with roses and chocolate if he lived.
What am I thinking? That fall must have been harder than I thought, a dizzy Al surmised.
His hood slipped off a tiny bit revealing his mouth and nose. From this angle Al watched with a dread deep in the pit of his stomach the robes and boots that rushed toward him. For every swish and bounce of oncoming pairs of boots, there was an angry wizard or witch with a burning vengeance. More disconcerting was the wand that accompanied each witch or wizard.
Run Rose. Run. Don't let them get to you, too, he silently urged his cousin. Make sure they don't catch Sirius.
The leading pair of boots was a foppish couple made from the finest of dragon skin. They were only three feet away.
But if possible come and rescue me.
Now jumbled words spilled from the boots. Al could not make out the words because of his still ringing head.
Please. Please come back.
Leather-gloved hands forced him up in a kneeling position.
Oh, Merlin. Please, Rose or anybody! It could be even James! Just please!
The hands ripped the hood from his face as the whole of the Great Hall gasped.
Now would be a good time.
HPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHP
Al darted towards Sirius quicker than Rose could imagine. She jumped in rapid pursuit of his trailing back. She pulled the hood of her "Goddamned Death Eater's Cloak" as Al dubbed it so eloquently taut across her face. She dearly hoped that Sirius could recognize them beneath the shadows that masked their lucrative identities.
She breathed a pant of happiness at the brief reprieve of bad luck. Sirius knew or at the very least suspected who they were; he now ran towards Al.
"STUPEFY!"
Rose recognized the old Herbology teacher, before her honorary "Uncle" Professor Neville Longbottom came to teach at Hogwarts, as the first to react to the scene in a probably normal day before their spectacular entrance.
She aimed a stunner in reply to the professor's welcome. Rose silently cheered in her head as her spell made contact.
Then there was a volley of spells from the congregated masses of students and teachers. Some were aimed for Al and Sirius. A few were aimed for herself as she had inevitably drawn attention with her well placed spell.
Rose reached Al seconds after that. He grabbed her and pushed her towards to Sirius's slowly retreating back since Sirius's way was blocked by panicked students and one determined fifth year Gryffindor.
"Keep going! I'll be right behind you! Just GO!"
Al pulled something out of his pocket and launched into the air. Rose seized Sirius's hand when complete blackness settled over the Great Hall. It was still shocking to Rose after many years of becoming an accidental victim of the prank war that spanned between two generations and had regularly shifting alliances that betrayed their "partners" according to the mood that week. However, she had forgotten how the dark consumed everything!
Merlin, she had stopped running in the middle of a very hostile and fragile situation. Rose only wished that Al had thought to warn her or mention his powder.
Sirius froze beside her, but Rose urged him forward.
"It's okay, Uncle Padfoot. It's just Al. C'mon we have to move."
They held hands as they sprinted forward, barreling through many of the fearful wizards and witches. Most of them screamed as they came into contact with Sirius and Rose.
Finally, they broke through it all and managed to arrive at the other side of the door into the lucidity and brightness of a hallway lighted by the clear sun beams of the noon sun in a cloudless day in England.
They released hands and clutched their aching sides as the adrenaline surge deserted them.
"What now?' Sirius questioned behind the staircase to where he had pulled Rose.
"We go to Lupin's— err Uncle Remus's office. Dad said that was how he caught you guys that night at the Whomping Willow. Nobody can find out our true names. The timeline is already mucked up enough; it doesn't need more interference from us."
"And Harry's clone? What is Al up to?"
Rose shrugged. "I don't know. But we need to go now."
"What? No! I'm his father's godfather which makes me his grand-godfather! I am not about to leave him with a bloodthirsty crazed Snivellus," Sirius declared.
Rose remembered the stories about her uncle's stubbornness and willingness to do battle.
"I know you don't want to abandon him. Trust me neither do I, but he and I worked out a plan. We have to do our part. Don't worry he'll get out when he is done with whatever he is doing. Then he will meet us in the Room of Requirement."
With one last rueful glance at the Great Hall, Sirius transformed into a giant black dog and ran towards Moony's old office.
AN: So, I have finally updated after my almost year long self-induced exile from writing fanfiction. I can't promise the next date of an update, but I hope it will be soon!
Please tell me what you think. Writing Al's thoughts was very fun and natural to me.
Note the AN in the last chapter for deeper character backgrounds and ages.
Flame on people… Flame on
Please have constructive criticism, with your lovely reviews
Thank you for the long wait,
Random Under the Sun