A Love So Deep
Chapter Nine: A Changing World
A Tale of Love by In The Shadows I Dwell
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I claim to own any of the characters, places, plots or any other associated parts of the series, these are the property of J.K Rowling. This FanFiction is purely for entertainment and I do not earn any money from it.
"I'm afraid the past has been changed beyond saving…"
"Master of Time?" I muttered glancing down the large page. It was written in an old script and the parchment on which the book was printed was crumbling but I managed to read most of the text.
For many a century man has been meddling with time, muggles are driven to the popular belief of the "time machine" however it is much more simple than this. If given permission or permit from their Ministry of Magic, a wizard or witch may gain access to a Time Turner; a mysterious device which allows the user to travel through time.
The Time Turner has always been a fascination to time meddlers and the general community alike, creating often blurred lines between fantasy and reality; these devices enable the user to enter a time that is either in the past or future.
It is commonly agreed that time travel is dangerous, and for once the muggles actually had something correct; time travel when fooled with can result in unfathomable consequences. A prime example of the consequences of time travel would be those who have mistakenly murdered their past, present or future selves, through mistake, or panic. It is often unclear as to what would occur in a case such as these, but of what has been discovered it is known that the person, their existence, possessions and all other belongings and attachments to the person cease to exist.
Despite the risks and often overlooked dangers of time travel it remains widely used. Many choose to use time travel as a means of them obtaining gold, or riches. Others to simply relive past experiences. For whatever the reason, time travel has become an almost trivial part of everyday life, and for some, a realm in which they can control all that goes on around them.
This select group of people are often referred to as Time Meddlers. Many using time travel to suit their own needs and wants, others such as The Master of Time (Pictured below) use time travel to better situations that would cause grave damage in the world today.
There is much debate as to whether time travel should be outlawed, as it is causing increasing trouble within society today, creating a breeding ground for trickery and thieving. There is also debate as to the ethics of changing what should have been, but it is argued that perhaps those who are against it would not be here today if not for a time meddler.
Whatever the belief, no matter the debate, it is commonly agreed that time travel, despite it's dangers can be both helpful and useful in society today, and that Time Meddlers such as The Master of Time, are creating a more stable environment for all witches and wizards today to live in.
I tore my eyes away from the page, in which I'd become captivated. I'd been drawn to this book for a reason, I knew what it was now, and the Room was trying to tell me something… It was telling me that I had to go back, that we had to go back…
"Draco…" I said swallowing.
"Yeah." He called from the other room, as he changed from his dress robes.
"I need to talk to you…" I sighed.
He walked from the bathroom located down the corridor towards the living room. As he entered he pulled his white school shirt on.
"Draco," I said my voice becoming lodged within my throat. "you were right."
"About what?" he asked taking a seat on one of the large comfortable sofas.
"About Hogwarts not being quite…right." I whispered to him.
I was struggling to force the words from my lips, let alone think about anything I was telling him before I said it.
"Draco, you didn't fall down a flight of stairs." I said pausing. "All I know is your Aunt, Bellatrix is it made it into the castle, bringing a man she called Wormtail to take you to some Master they continuously spoke of. Draco they were going to kill you!" I cried.
"What did you do?" He asked me.
"I…ah…found a time turner in the corner she threw me into… and ah used it to save us both…" I said unable to word it exactly as I wanted.
"So you mean to say we're in the future?" He asked me.
"The past actually, almost fifty years ago this was Hogwarts. Your father I don't think has actually begun attending yet." I whispered figuring out that it was only a few years away. "We have to leave Draco, I was asked by… The Master of Time to leave as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary risks."
"So we're almost fifty years in the past? Why don't we go and stab Tom Riddle through the heart while he sleeps? Then Lord Voldemort cannot rise to power!" He cried standing.
"Draco!" I cried, "We can't do that! Don't you see? We can't do anything here! The world as we know it is already falling to pieces what implications would that action have upon the future? I for one know one. I would not be at Hogwarts with you…" I whispered.
"What?" Draco cried. "Lord Voldemort's death could affect you?" He asked me.
"He is the main reason I'm attending Hogwarts!" I cried, forgetting he did not know about the future.
"Did he or his servants kill your Mother?" He asked me.
"Yeah…" I said staring at the ground.
"We won't do anything then." Draco said standing. "We'll just go home and face our destiny…"
"We could do something." I said to him. "We could stop them?"
"How?" He asked me.
"Well we did vanish right before their eyes why not reappear…"
"Right behind them…" Draco whispered.
There was a long pause, neither dare to speak, the possibilities for plans rolling through our minds.
"Yes we could stop them!" He exclaimed finally. "Ash! We could actually stop them!"
"We could! We could do a lot of things Draco, we could change so much about the future from this point… But is it right?" I asked.
"Why would you say that?" He asked me. "Do you not realise how big this is?"
"Draco, I realise but we can't fool around with time! Not absent-mindedly anyway!" I cried.
"Ash I won't risk you! I'd never do that!" He cried.
"You could without realising though!" I cried standing. "You don't understand!" I cried.
I paced around the living room for several minutes in silence. Thinking allowing my thoughts to collect and re-group after this turn of events that I had not predicted.
"Draco there are certain things, changes you could accidentally make that could jeopardise both of our lives… We can't communicate unnecessarily with people in the past or future, we risk discovery. Draco we need to go back and try not to change anything here…" I whispered.
"We'll do that we'll reappear and face them. We'll do what we can to keep the future right." He whispered.
"Thank you." I said taking his hand. "It's time."
We walked in silence carrying the heavy weight of what we were about to do upon our shoulders.
"Ready?" I asked taking his hand.
"As ready as I'll ever be…" He whispered.
Neither of us could deny that our plan could go terribly wrong. I could lose Draco if we made one single mistake, the implications of either of our deaths to great to even think of.
"I love you. Always will." I whispered kissing him.
"I love you too. I'll see you soon." He whispered.
I took the Time Turner and begun spinning the dial, until I was reached the correct time, that brought us back to the exact moment that we'd disappeared. I pulled him into the corner and allowed the Time Turner to pull us forwards, back into our own time…
I opened my eyes just in time to see myself grab Draco and disappear.
"Where are they?" Shrieked Bellatrix.
"How would I know?" Whimpered Wormtail.
My hand clasped my wand.
"Crap!" I hissed quietly.
Draco broke out in a smile, "You're still in the dress!"
"Damn," I muttered, "I'm going to have to wear it."
I glanced down noticing the blood from where I'd lay just moments before gathering on the hem of the dress. It seemed such a waste. I grabbed the hem and tapped it with my wand, instantly it cut to a length centimetres above my knees.
Draco glanced at me, "One." He whispered.
"Two…" I muttered under my breath.
"Three" we both said running from our hiding position.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I screamed aiming my wand at Bellatrix.
"Stupefy!" I heard Draco cry.
"Protego!" Bellatrix hissed turning on the spot.
I ducked to avoid the rebounding spell.
"Stupefy!" I cried pointing my wand at her.
She flicked her wand carelessly causing the spell to shot into a wall.
"Stupid girl, you think you can defeat me?" She cackled.
"Oh I know I can." I said with a burst of confidence.
"Hey Bellatrix! She will, I know she can." Draco called to his aunt.
"Duro!" I screamed pointing my wand at Wormtail.
Too busy watching us he was caught off guard and was turned to stone. I laughed when I saw he froze mid transformation back into a rat.
Bellatrix laughed and moved towards us.
"You seriously think you can defeat me?" She asked.
"Yes I can." I replied.
I turned my wand to the wall behind her preparing myself for what I was about to do.
"Expulso!" I screamed throwing myself to the side, right at Draco.
I watched as the wall behind her exploded into thousands of pieces many of which still hit us and we landed. As the dust settled I noticed the struggling form of Bellatrix on the ground struggling to regain her feet.
"Impedimenta!" Draco hissed, the spell hitting Bellatrix off guard causing her movements to slow entirely.
"Petrificus Totalus." I whispered pointing my wand at her, I watched as her body froze.
I stood and walked over to her "I warned you…" I whispered in her ear.
I laughed and ran back to Draco.
"What was that?" He asked me.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"That spell that caused the wall to explode?" He asked again.
"Duro?" I asked.
"No! That too though. Expulso was it?" He asked me.
"Expulso is a charm you can use that causes solid objects to explode. Duro is a hex which causes the person you use it upon to be turned to stone." I whispered.
"Where did you learn that?" He asked me.
"A book I found." I replied.
"We better get Dumbledore. It's a bloody mess down here." He muttered.
"There is no need." A voice called, "He is on his way."
We both looked upwards to see the figure of Horace Slughorn standing at the top of the stairs.
He surveyed us curiously.
"You both look rather familiar…" He whispered. "Very familiar…"
We both swallowed, knowing he had in fact seen a familiar scene nearly fifty years prior to this event.
I noticed I was bleeding "Episkey…" I whispered healing the small cuts, Draco followed my lead.
"My! What a mess!" Called Albus Dumbledore as he entered the corridor.
"Miss. Paige? Mr. Malfoy? What happened?" He asked.
"Bellatrix and Wormtail entered the castle," I whispered, not mentioning the wardrobe I'd heard about figuring it had something to do with Draco. "and came down here to abduct Draco…"
"Ash turned Wormtail to stone," Draco said indicating at the gargoyle like figure of Peter Pettigrew. "and she froze Bellatrix after she caused the wall to collapse…"
"Draco helped, he distracted them and he came up with the plan to stop them." I said proudly.
"Aw thanks." Draco said to me kissing me on the cheek.
"Well I do believe some points for Slytherin are in order." Dumbledore told us pointing his wand at the wall causing it to repair instantly. "One hundred points apiece for your outstanding bravery and courage."
"You will also receive Special Awards for Services to the School, you are well deserving of them stopping two known criminals within the walls before harm could befall any of your fellow classmates." He said to us.
"Thank you Sir!" I said.
"My pleasure Miss. Paige, do either of you require medical attention?" He asked.
"No we're fine." I replied.
"Well you best be off, I will clear up this mess." He said indicating for us to leave.
As we walked up the stairs I heard Slughorn hissing something at Dumbledore.
"This has happened before!" I heard him hiss.
"What are you talking about?" Dumbledore said absent-mindedly.
"You know full well what I mean, time is not to be meddled with, and you best hope they didn't leave a trace…"
"Horace, I have full faith in them…" Dumbledore whispered as we walked away from the scene we'd created.
I wondered if we'd left a trace, it was more than possible.
"Ash? Draco?" I heard a voice call.
"Oh hey Pansy!" I called to her as she ran towards us.
"Ash why are you in a ball gown? And Draco why are you covered in dust?" She asked us.
"It's a long story." I whispered. "One you don't really want to hear."
"I would but then again… maybe not…" she said cautiously. "But you look magnificent!" She commented. "Like something that walked out of a fairytale!"
"Yeah, that was the idea." I laughed.
Draco laughed along with me.
We followed Pansy up to the Library where we sat down around a table and talked as Pansy begun her homework.
I noticed a large red book upon the table; Hogwarts, a History. I opened it to one of it's many pages, Hogwarts Traditional New Years Eve Ball. It read.
I glanced down and noticed a familiar scene; the photo was of Draco and I dancing.
"Draco!" I hissed.
"Wha…" He begun.
"Oh no!" We both whispered.
"What?" Pansy asked looking up at us.
"Nothing!" We both replied quickly standing from the table.
We walked quickly from the Library, "We left a trace!" I cried.
"What are we to do?" I asked.
"We could go back." He said to me.
"No we will have to solve it without resorting to that." I said.
"We have no other options." He said to me.
"I know…" I replied.
"We have to go back…"
It was then that I realised that we'd begun time meddling. Our actions were shaping the future, but to stop it we would have to change our past. I pulled the time turner from my pocket once more and placed it in my right palm.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No, but I will never be." He replied.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a classroom.
"Three." He said.
"Two." I whispered.
"One." Said a voice from behind me.
We both reeled around faster than ever before.
"Professor Slughorn, Sir!" Draco stuttered.
"I'll be taking that." He said taking the small object from our hands.
"But we need to right our wrongs!" I cried.
"No the past is already complicated enough, it does not your meddling once again." He said sternly to us.
"Please Professor?" I asked.
"Sorry Miss. Paige, and yes I now recognise you from the staircase incident forty-eight years ago, you cannot. I will not allow you to make the same mistake twice." He said.
"Mistake?" I asked.
"Look outside." He responded.
We ran over to the windows facing the grounds. I noticed upon the grounds were hundreds of Dementors.
"Why are they here?" Asked Draco.
"Lord Voldemort met a very interesting person in the past, a person who confirmed his knowledge in time travel. Miss. Paige, I'm afraid the past has been changed beyond saving…" He whispered.
As we stared out of the familiar window I knew that the world I once knew was never to be the same again; slowly events were unfolding that I could not stop, events that would cause an uncertain future for me to return to. I had an increasingly little amount of time left, having used more than half of the time I had been allocated. Even Professor Dumbledore, The Master of Time could not stop the events that were taking place. The pieces that were supposed to fall into place weeks, if not years into the future were beginning to unravel early, and in this changing world I could not be sure of my role in all of this…
Dedicated to those who make a difference in my life, my love and heartfelt gratitude goes to you. Particularly my friends and family, who make everyday seem almost fairytale like, these are the people who support me fully, showing me right from wrong. The people who make every minute of my life totally worth it. Also to those who review, favourite, storymark, anything that shows your support for my story, you brighten my days and make me feel as though writing this is worth it when I'm at a loss to explain something or fill a loose end, your support makes it worth it. Thank you!