Disclaimer: I'm too young to be JKR. Besides, I've dark hair!

Harry considered his options. He had just overheard Dumbledore and Snape have an extremely confusing conversation involving Black and how he got into the castle. He turned over and saw that Ron, Hermione and Percy were all gazing at the starry ceiling, not even close to falling asleep. They looked at him and he shrugged. There were too many people searching the castle for Black, so sneaking out of the Great Hall would be out of question. Percy then shrugged back, turned over and closed his eyes. Harry felt, rather than saw his best friends' eyes on him. He sighed and mouthed to them. "What should we do?"

Hermione frowned and then reaching underneath her pyjamas, she took out the time-turner. Harry and Ron hadn't used it yet, and were waiting for the chance. He saw Ron's eyes widen as he saw the golden chain.

Hermione glanced around and then slowly sat up. Reaching behind her pillow she pulled out her robes and pulled them on over her pyjamas gesturing for Ron and Harry to the same. They hurriedly pulled them on. Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and looked at Hermione questioningly. She nodded and beckoned them towards the middle of the Hall. Harry placed the invisibility cloak over all three of them while she threw the long chain over their necks and turned the little hourglass four times. Ron mouthed, "How far back are we going?"

Hermione held up four fingers. "Four hours". They disappeared in a flash of gold.

They reappeared in the Great Hall. But it was still night and there were students already sleeping there. Professor McGonagall was patrolling. Hermione put up a silencing charm around them and looked at her best friends.

"Look, the first rule of time-travel is you can't be seen. The second rule is that we must not change the timeline! Awful things happen to people who meddle with time; that's why these time-turners are so restricted".

"How far back can it go anyway?" asked Ron, curiously. Hermione considered it.

"Every time turner varies, but this one can be used only three times in twenty four hours, and can only go back for a maximum of six hours. We're lucky I only used it once to go back two hours".

Harry quickly intervened before Ron could reply. "If we've gone back four hours, then it must be around eleven o'clock right?"

Hermione nodded and pointed towards their younger selves who were just settling back into their sleeping bags after being told off by McGonagall for whispering.

"Bloody hell," muttered Ron, looking unsettled. Harry silently agreed with him. It was rather unnerving to see themselves. The very notion sounded absurd. Hermione quickly motioned towards the doors, which were opening to let in Professor Flitwick. They moved out quickly and quietly.

Hermione led them straight to a deserted classroom from which Snape was just exiting, and then quickly cast several complicated charms at the door. When she was done, she collapsed onto a chair and said in a satisfied voice, "They aren't going to check the same room again. We're safe here. You could scream and no one would hear you".

"Well done, Hermione," said Ron, admiringly. Hermione blushed and quickly changed the subject.

"Harry, what are we going to do?"

Harry thought about it. What were they going to do? They had four hours to get back to their sleeping bags. He answered carefully, "I've been thinking... we can't fight on our own right? We need allies and grown-ups. We can plan- but we can't carry them out. And then there's the underage magic law and the fact that we can't actually push for the ministry to change. In the ministry's eyes, we're just third-years. We are just third-years actually... third-years who are a bit more mature than the others, but very few know that".

Ron and Hermione took this in, eyes glazed over in thought. Then Ron spoke. "We need someone inside the ministry to help us. Someone who can go around undetected and find out stuff. Someone who knows ya know?" He turned to Hermione. "Hermione, which department in the ministry is most likely to know about this and can do something about it? The DMLE is corrupt and the others are next to useless in this case"

Hermione's brows furrowed in thought. Then she brightened. "The Department of Mysteries!"

"What?" said both Ron and Harry, gobsmacked.

Hermione carried on excitedly. "The Department of Mysteries! It is a part of the ministry no one really knows about. The people who work there are called Unspeakables because they are not allowed to talk about their work, but rumours say they research and create new spells and things. No one even knows their identities because they always go around in black hooded cloaks and concealment charms. The only one who's known is the Head Unspeakable, Croaker. It's where time-turners are kept as well" she added as an afterthought. Ron and Harry were speechless. Ron finally found his tongue.

"But-but we don't even know if they'll listen! They are so secretive! And creepy too"

"Well, we don't know until we try, do we? And if they're secretive; all the better for us," said Harry, determinedly.

Ron shook his head in bewilderment. Then a thought occurred to him. "What about Sirius Black?"

Harry's eyes darkened and the shadows in the room seemed to increase all of a sudden. "What about him?"

His voice was low, cold and deathly calm, quite unlike his usually clear and slightly melodic tones. His unnaturally pale skin whitened even more at his knuckles. Ron gulped and exchanged a nervous look with Hermione but nevertheless carried on bravely like the Gryffindor he was.

"He's still after you". The words hung in the air that seemed to be growing colder every minute. Hermione suddenly remembered a line from one of her books at home. The air was heavy with the scent of death. Harry's lips suddenly pulled into a bitter, mirthless smile.

"Yes," he said simply, still unknowingly speaking in the cold voice his mother's enemies and friends alike had known to fear. "He is". This was said so calmly, in such a matter-of-fact manner that Ron and Hermione couldn't help but flinch. 'That voice,' thought Hermione desperately, 'that is not the voice of a thirteen-year-old'. Then, a small part of her interrupted her. 'No,' it said, 'it is the voice of someone who has been hunted for so long it barely makes a difference anymore'.

They sat in silence till it was time to go.

Ginny sat in the library surrounded by piles and piles of books. She was just barely resisting the urge to pull out her hair, roots and all. Here she was, spending her precious free time when she could be pranking with the twins or flipping through a magazine, searching through the leather-bound, parchment- filled, inanimate devils that Hermione called books for ideas on what the damned little black diary was, and all that the 'books' could tell her was that it was dark magic? "Like I didn't know it already," she mumbled, getting a few weird looks. She gave a resigned sigh and dragged another book off the growing pile. Might as well keep looking. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do.

Harry signed the letter with a flourish before reading it through, with Ron and Hermione looking over his shoulder.

Ministry of Magic

Department of Mysteries

Head Unspeakable Croaker

Dear Mr. Croaker,

You may be surprised at receiving a letter like this, but I assure you this is no joke or prank. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Harry James Potter, and I am a third year Gryffindor at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and have recently been emancipated (though no one knows, and I trust you will keep it to yourself). The reason I am contacting you is because my friends and I have found ourselves in a very... unusual situation.

A few months ago, shortly after the incident at the Chamber of Secrets and just before the traditional Leaving Feast, a tome literally appeared next to my friend Hermione Granger, who was in the library at the time. I cannot include much in this letter for security reasons, but the book was covered in very obscure runes and the cover was made of dragon hide, which as you know is a very magical and hard-wearing material, and was bound with strips of a metal we suspect is platinum, a very rare and expensive metal.

My friends Ronald, Frederick, George, Ginevra and Percival Weasley had the book checked by their elder brothers William and Charles (a Gringotts curse-breaker and a dragon-handler respectively) for dark magic when they went to Egypt with their family during the summer and it was confirmed to be clean. However, even they were unable to shed light on the runes engraved on the cover and also on what was written inside.

Our bewilderment further increased when this term started. You have no doubt heard of the fiasco with the Founders' memories. I cannot reveal much but suffice it to say that we knew. I will let you make your assumptions.

We have found ourselves at a standstill in this mystery so far. If you are willing to look further into this matter, please contact me and perhaps we can arrange a meeting of sorts. If not, then with all due respect, I ask you to swear a magical oath to take this to your grave. Please inform me of your decision within the next three days. I once again stress that this is a matter of absolute secrecy which could be disastrous if it lands in the wrong hands, so please make sure to destroy this letter after reading it. I thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Harry James Potter

"So?" asked Harry, triumphantly. "How is it?"

Hermione said excitedly, "It's perfect Harry!"

"Bloody hell, mate, the way you've written it, if he doesn't accept it, Snape's a ballerina!"

"Ron!"

Harry somehow managed to look horrified and disgusted at the same time. "Urgh, Ron, I did not need that image!"

Ron himself looked rather revolted at his own words and even Hermione was looking rather green. They had gone back to one hour before lunch, when they knew they're younger selves were in the Great Hall, to send the letter through Hedwig.

Said owl flew into the Gryffindor common room through the open window just as they were going to go to the owlery. "Hedwig," Harry said in relief. They wouldn't have to risk not getting back to the Great Hall in time. "Here, girl, take this to Head Unspeakable Croaker and come straight back. There's no need to wait for a reply, ok?"

Hedwig nipped his white finger affectionately before taking the letter and flying out. The Trio watched her fly away through the window.

"Do you think he'll help us?" asked Ron, watching the white speck grow smaller and smaller.

Harry sighed as Hermione leaned her head on Ron's shoulder. "I hope so, Ron. I hope so".

There you go then! A nice long chapter packed with information! My next update will most likely be on Thursday, and that's when things start heating up! So thank you for all those who reviewed, I'm glad you took the time to comment and help me improve. To those who want to know, in the book the conversation between Dumbledore and Snape happens at three in the morning. So if they went back in time four hours, it would 11pm. And what do you think about Draco and Regulus? What should be their part to play in this world? I'm open for ideas, after all, it's not just my story, your reviews and PMs have really helped so if you really want something in this story, then tell me. And Dumbledore isn't evil just misguided. Anyway, till next time, and please review!