Chapter Ten: The Phantom Hourglass
Title: Harry Potter and the Phantom Hourglass
Chapter: 10
Author: Hikari no Vikki
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Parings: Sorry, only frivolous friendships for now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Zelda. Sorry. :D
Description: Crossover with Legend of Zelda. The Phantom Hourglass has been handed down since its beginning, until finally it makes its way into the hands of a boy named Gabriel. He fights alongside Harry Potter, and soon discovers a darkness that has been waiting to exact a deadly revenge.
Author's Notes:
No one took the bait? Seriously? Come now, this is only going to have fifteen chapters! Oh well. I guess this is going to be exactly like my Time Keeper story… pfft. Well, I enjoy writing it, even if nobody reviews. Tis the point of fanfiction after all. Well, on with it then. :)
Gabriel, as usual, rose before all the other boys. He rubbed his eyes as the dawn's gentle light filtered through the curtains and over his covers. He blinked, sniffed, and waited a moment. Something was different about the morning. His eyes narrowed as a bit of movement caught his eye.
Something in the window…
Gabriel got out of his bed, the cool wooden floor jarring him awake just a little more (he hadn't any socks on), and walked over to the window. He gasped.
It was snowing.
It was such a pretty sight, too, the ground having been covered in a white blanket of the frozen fluff overnight, and still a light drift of falling flakes hovered over the area. And while one would think since he lived in England, a rather wet and cold country, this kind of thing wouldn't surprise him, a first snowfall is something special, especially if you're the one of the first to see its magic and wonder.
Gabriel smiled a little and chuckled to himself. Not only was the first snowfall special, it marked the fact that Christmas was coming: soon. He wondered what Christmas as Hogwarts would feel like. Well, thought Gabriel, it's sure to be something magical!
And so he laughed to himself.
.oOo.
Potions Class was next… Gabriel groaned.
"Something the matter?" asked Professor McGonagall. Gabriel shook his head and rolled his eyes away from her, his fingers tapping on his finished essay. "Nothing fatal, Professor. Just the fact that I have Potions next class. It's so cold down there this time of year…"
He trailed off, remembering the last couple lessons since the snow came – their breath often rose in the air in little white clouds as it would outside, and the only source of heat they could get was their cauldrons.
Professor McGonagall chuckled and leaned down by his ear. "Well, you could always cast a heat charm on your clothing," she whispered, "Chapter Six of your Charms book." She stood back up and smiled ever so slightly. "But you didn't hear it from me, now." Gabriel huffed softly through his nose, slightly amused. Who knew Professor McGonagall had a sense of humor?
He made a mental note to remember that for later.
But he still didn't have time for that heat charm, so his own clothing would have to do.
He sat on the right side of the room, second row, leftmost seat, with Harry by his side, as usual. When class officially began, Draco Malfoy sat on the same row, left side of the room, rightmost seat, with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle on his left.
"You know," he said idly, and rather loudly since the Potions Professor had left for just a moment to get something from the back storage, as he cut up some Mandrake Root, "I do feel sorry for those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home. Gabriel's hand stayed firm as he carefully measure the crushed Bicorn Horn, but if one watched him carefully they might've seen his left eye twitch.
Draco…
Gabriel refrained from sighing as he tapped the powder into his and Harry's cauldron carefully. He wasn't angry, just annoyed. Ever since the Quidditch match the Slytherin had taunted Harry endlessly. Of course, as promised, he'd left Gabriel alone even if he was standing right by Harry… like right now.
But that wasn't enough for Gabriel. He actually sighed this time, lost in his thoughts. Then he realized he needed to stir the potion clockwise after this next turn and began busying himself by doing so.
Later, after Potions class, Gabriel, Harry, and Ron spotted Hagrid bringing in a tree from outside. They chatted with him for a moment when a rather sharp voice called out, "Hey, would you mind moving out of the way?" A quick look told them who it was. "Trying to earn some extra money, Weasley?" Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, I know! You want to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, don't you?" Gabriel's gaze darted over towards Ron, who was seething in anger. He looked back at Draco, then at Ron again. Ron's right fist was curled. Draco continued, unaware of the drama, "Well, I suppose that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your–"
Ron moved forward, punch swooping for the kill…
CRACK.
Gabriel stumbled back, wincing, blood dribbling and dripping from his nose. He looked up, seeing Professor Snape coming up the stairs. Gabriel brushed the left side of the throbbing mass and cringed, his hand coming back bloody.
"WEASLEY!" Snape snarled.
Gabriel heard Draco's frightened footsteps run off down the hall, and he sprinted after the boy, not hearing any of the argument behind him. He caught up with Draco around the next corner; thankful no one else was in sight.
Draco turned, eyes wide. He took a step back looking more like a panicked puppy than the sniveling snake he'd been moments before.
"Relax," Gabriel huffed, his voice slightly garbled by blood, "I'm not gonna hurt you… I just got my nose broken for you, in case you didn't notice." At this, Draco straightened and his eyebrows furrowed. He seemed almost… guilty. "I can help you with that." He said quietly. Gabriel raised an eyebrow, but he didn't have to wait long for an answer.
"Careful, this is going to hurt."
Draco's thumb and forefinger pinched the broken bridge of his nose as his middle finger provided the force necessary to snap the bone back into place. Gabriel whimpered, eyes watering and twitching, his nose tingling with pain.
Draco's hand came back just as bloody as Gabriel's had, but Gabriel could feel the flow beginning to ebb away. "Should stop soon," Draco informed him quietly, tilting his head as he studied the other boy. "What?" Gabriel snapped softly, "Do I have something on my face?"
Draco chuckled, not smiling. "Actually, you do. You might want to wipe that blood off before it dries…" He looked at the ground, still frowning. Then his eyes looked back up at Gabriel. "Tell me, why did you do it?"
Gabriel was surprised at first, but he resumed a stoic expression as he wiped the blood from his face with a red handkerchief he happened to have with him. "Certainly not because of your charm," he murmured slyly, still trying to figure out for himself why he'd shielded Malfoy from Ron's punch.
After the blood was wiped away, Gabriel stated what felt obvious to him.
"Guess I was just tired of your stupid comments about Harry… thought it might help or something. But I guess it won't, now that I've mentioned it."
Draco had the nerve to look shocked before he looked up and beyond Gabriel at something behind him.
It was Professor Snape, who looked a little ticked off. Gabriel wisely moved out of the way as he dragged Draco away without a word. Gabriel stood there, stunned, feeling much the same as the times before when he'd left Draco standing flabbergasted. Although he'd left the scene on his own two feet, not begin dragged by the collar. He felt at his own collar absently, feeling rather piteous for the other boy. He wondered what he might have to say the next time they met.
"Hey."
Gabriel spun around, and there stood Harry, a scowling, fuming Ron standing behind him. "Your nose okay?" Harry asked quietly. Gabriel nodded. "Draco put into place for me." "Draco? You're serious?" Gabriel nodded, looking back at the silhouette of the Professor and student. "Yeah. It was kind of… weird. I guess it was his way of saying thanks or something."
"Hmm." It was quiet for a moment before Harry spoke again. "Want to go to the library to keep looking for Flamel?"
Gabriel, now thoroughly distracted, agreed.
Later, much later just before the start of break, the punching episode forgotten to all but Draco and Gabriel himself, Ron asked Hermione if it would be safe to ask her parents about Flamel, since they had agreed not ask Madame Pince, the librarian.
"Oh yes," she giggled, "very safe. They're both dentists."
Gabriel chuckled, shook his head, and face-palmed himself as Ron wondered what was so funny about what he'd said.
.oOo.
The common room was much quieter, Gabriel noted, during Christmas Break. Often Harry and Ron would occupy themselves with something childish like roasting everything from marshmallows to English muffins over the fire, or plotting pranks and expulsions of those they didn't like (mainly Draco, though Gabriel usually didn't participate in those conversations) and Gabriel and Aria would join them.
After all, there wasn't much else to do.
The evening before Christmas Day, a little after dinnertime, Harry, Ron, and Aria were chatting conspiratorially about framing Draco for setting fire to a trash can.
"How American," Gabriel interjected smoothing, chuckling a little, "try something like flooding the girls' lavatory."
"Nah…" Ron replied, not skipping a beat, "we thought of that last week. Would be awesome, though wouldn't it, Aria?" Aria giggled. "Yeah, it would." She met the smiles of Harry and Ron and then glanced back at Gabriel who was again staring at the fire from the loveseat, his right elbow propped on the armrest with his hand curling under his chin.
She walked over to him and sat by him on the loveseat.
"You all right?" She asked him quietly, her blond hair falling over her shoulders. He removed his arm from the armrest and set it on his lap as he sat back. "Yeah, I guess…" He glanced up into nowhere. "I've been having this one dream over and over since before the first Quidditch match and it's kind of been on my mind ever since."
Aria's eyebrow rose a bit. "Really? Tell it to me."
He shook his head. "Well, parts of it are the same. Parts of it aren't. The very first time I had it I wasn't actually in the dream. It was just falling sand, like an hourglass, and clocks ticking. Loudly." He shook his head, looking down at his lap. "That's why I was researching hourglasses before. That and the sorting hat mentioned something about a Phantom Hourglass and I thought they might be related. The dreams, I mean."
Aria blinked, looked away, and then sat back. After some moments she glanced over and shrugged, patting his left shoulder. "Hey, maybe they are. Just don't think about it. It'll answer itself, I think." He met her gaze and smiled. "Yeah. Sure. You're right, Aria."
As he sat back and Aria got up to roast some Pumpkin Pasties over the fire, he decided it was best to put his thoughts on the back burner. After all, tomorrow was Christmas! He shouldn't spend it brooding! He'd turn into his father at the rate he was going. He laughed a little to himself at the thought. Well, if he did, at least becoming his father wasn't the worst thing that could happen.
The following morning he was once again the first to wake, but was quickly followed by an excited Harry.
"Hey! I've got presents!"
Gabriel grinned. "What did you expect? It's Christmas!" Harry smiled sheepishly as a groaning Ron mumbled something about sleeping in a little more.
"Well, my aunt and uncle…" Gabriel stopped him by waving a hand. "Stop. Just wake Ron and pick up your presents. I want to share this Christmas with both my best mates and my sister right and proper, you know?" Harry nodded as Gabriel gathered his bundle of packages and made his way down to the common room.
Among Harry's first presents were as such: a Weasley sweater (Ron had one too – a maroon colored one that he absolutely hated), a wooden flute, a fifty-pence piece ("That was nice of them," Harry muttered, offhand). Gabriel found that he had a sweater too, and Aria.
"Wow," said George, whistling between his teeth, " Mum always makes a better effort for those that aren't family…"
It was true; Gabriel's sweater was almost like a downy duvet, white and fluffy. It had a golden raven emblem stitched in the middle of it – the Silverwing seal. Aria's was a midnight blue in color, and of similar texture, and had a silver Silverwing seal stitched in the middle. Gabriel, who was only wearing a T-shirt, put his on immediately and smiled. It felt rather nice.
Aria excused herself to go change into hers, but it seemed to have the same effect.
Gabriel also discovered something peculiar at the bottom of his stack – a letter. He opened it and read its contents:
Gabriel,
I've been thinking, maybe I should tell you what I know. Your mother won't tell you, but I will. I read the letter you wrote your mother a couple months back; don't worry, it's normal.
For you, anyway.
You're descended from a long line of protectors who have guarded an artifact called the Phantom Hourglass. I don't know what it does or how it was created, I just know that you are the next guardian. The reason I've just now decided to write to you is because the Hourglass is no longer in your mother's possession: I believe it's gone to look for you.
Just don't be surprised if you find it in a place you wouldn't suspect.
Father
Gabriel clutched the letter to his chest, frowning. Well, there was his answer. Aria was right; things did have a way of solving themselves.
"Hey… if that's what I think it is… they're supposed to be really, really rare…" Gabriel's head shot up. No one had noticed he reading… so he carefully folded the letter back up and put it in his pocket, getting up to investigate the Harry's final present.
Fred and George were gone – off to pillage the Great Hall of the morning's breakfast – so it was just the four of them in the common room huddled around a gray, filmy fabric that Harry held in his hands.
"Well, put it on!" Ron urged Harry/
Harry did so, draping the fabric over his shoulders. Ron dropped the box of Berti Bott's he was holding. "Wow! That's…! That's a…"
"Invisibility cloak?" Gabriel asked, bewildered.
"Wherever did you get that? Ron's right, they're really rare magical garments. Was there a note?" Harry, visible only from the neck up, bent down to search through the carnage to find the package's note. To their utter bewilderment, all it said, in an elegant, loopy scroll was:
Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.
A Very Merry Christmas to you.
.oOo.
Gabriel twitched, then moaned. Sand was choking him as he breathed and sweat covered his skin as he was tossed in the echoic sound…
Gabriel…
It whispered, again and again, louder until something solid grabbed his shoulder and shook him roughly.
"Gabriel!"
He jolted awake sitting up violently and staring off into the dark, panting.
"Gabriel?"
He shook himself, looking over to his right where the sound had come from. He blinked, murmuring a sleepy, "Harry, is that you?" The shape nodded. As his sight adjusted to the light, it was indeed Harry, his Invisibility cloak thrown over his shoulders.
"Yeah, come on, there's something I want to show you! I've seen my parents!" Gabriel rubbed his eyes and then frowned, remembering to put on a pair of slippers before his feet touched the floor.
"Your parents, Harry? But… they're dead."
Harry seemed not to care. "But I've seen them! Come on!" Once Gabriel was steady on his feet, Harry dragged him down the stairs and out the portrait, the cloak thrown over them both. "Where are we going?" Gabriel whispered. "Shh!" Harry shushed, "Just wait until we're there!" Gabriel frowned again but kept walking.
Soon they arrived at the door to an abandoned classroom, and inside it… lay but a single, tall mirror. Harry took off the cloak and closed the door quietly. Then he took Gabriel to the front of the mirror and held him there. Gabriel glanced at Harry, skeptical. "What are we doing...?"
"Look!" Harry pointed at the mirror, "You'll see them!"
Gabriel shook his head and glanced at the mirror. He frowned, seeing only himself and his friend.
"Harry… I only see us."
Harry huffed, obviously frustrated. He stepped outside the mirror's boundaries. "There! Now look!" Gabriel sighed, shaking his head again. Then he glanced up at the mirror once more.
He almost stepped back gasping at the sight.
Gabriel's reflection was standing beside his trunk wearing the exact pajamas and slippers he was now standing in. But there was something strange in his hands… it was sort of green and purple, about arm's length from elbow to wrist, with a circular top and bottom, three small connecting pillars, and a smooth, winding glass container holding a shiny, golden, gritty substance. Sand.
His reflection was holding the Phantom Hourglass.
It nodded to him, holding it up and pointing to it, and then turned to the trunk, placing it inside. His reflection locked the trunk, and then stood up and pointed to the top of the mirror. Gabriel instinctively glanced upwards.
There was text written at the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
He frowned. Read backwards, the sentence read: I show you not your face but you hearts desire.
"Harry," he began, slowly, "this mirror shows you your heart's desire. You desire your parents… right?" Harry's face pinched together. "Yes…?" Gabriel sighed, and looked back at his friend. "That's all it's ever going to show you. Just so you know. It's not going to bring them back."
Harry nodded, suddenly very quiet, and he studied the ground intently before speaking again.
"So… what's your desire?"
He glanced back at his reflection, which was now pointing at the trunk and doing nothing else. He turned back to Harry and forced a smile to his face.
"Me holding a solid gold flute. I've always wanted one."
Harry chuckled quietly. "Seriously?" Gabriel nodded. "Yeah," he lied smoothly, "thought it might be cool, you know?" Harry shook his head. "Well, I thought you'd be a little more humble than that, Gabe." Gabriel waved him away. "Come on, let's get back. And don't let me catch you trying to come back here, all right?"
Harry nodded, draping the cloak over them both. "All right," he replied.
.oOo.
The next morning Gabriel woke feeling rather strange. Something had settled in his chest overnight; an odd incomplete feeling. He sat there as the sun warmed his covers trying to remember exactly what it was when all of a sudden… he remembered.
He slipped his slippers on a whirled round to his trunk.
He flipped the lock quickly and opened it as quietly as he could. There it was. Sitting in his trunk above his clothes, books and other things was the Phantom Hourglass itself.
He reached in slowly, unsure, but once his fingers brushed the wood they grabbed it quickly and brought it to his chest, cradling it.
The incomplete feeling disappeared.
Whoa. Single day. Wow… should do this more often, lol. Now, how to enter Bellum into it all, huh? Hmm…