Review pleaseeee! They keep me going! ^^
The old geezer's eyes sparkled as Edward tried to let himself down by grabbing at where the invisible ropes were holding onto his ankle.
"You should not have come back, Edward. You know that the dementors and all the staff here are all looking for you."
"Black's innocent! You have to believe me, old man!" Edward gasped. "Peter Pettigrew's behind this He's alive! We saw him."
"That's enough, Edward," the principal said severely. He looked through his half moon spectacles at Edward, studying him.
"You have to believe me! The dementors are going-"
The old man let Edward down with a flick of his stick. He gave the latter a mysterious half smile. With another flick of his wand, a wing of fire engulfed Edward. Before Edward could clap and turn the moisture in the air to liquid to extinguish the fire, it died down and Edward was encased in darkness.
"You can let yourself out when you're ready," the old geezer said. His voice sounded odd from outside. Edward felt around his tomb of darkness and instantly felt claustrophobic when he realised there was hardly enough space for him to move. He concentrated on his breathing and forced his fleeting fear to die down.
"Now, Snape," Edward could hear Fudge's voice. It sounded weirdly distorted as well, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances-"
"I would like to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," said the old geezer. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy - please leave us."
There was a sound of protest and someone was shuffling around inside the infirmary.
"This cannot wait," said the geezer. "I must insist."
"That's fine. The dementors should have arrived by now," Fudge said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs."
Edward heard footsteps coming out of the room.
"Was this statue always there?" Fudge commented idly. Snape was muttering something in reply. His voice was disgruntled. Edward heard him mention Black and the dementors but his words were mostly lost.
The footsteps disappeared and Edward took off his glove and brushed his fingers against his concealment. The surface was cool and hard. Less malleable than metal, as rough as stone. Granite.
Edward pulled his glove back on and formed a circle in his head. He clapped and pressed his fingers against the stone. The walls around him crumbled and Edward blinked as he could see again. He breathed in a clean mouthful of air and moved towards the infirmary.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," The old geezer was saying quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word- and the word of two thirteen-year-old wizards and a wanted criminal will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"What we need is more time."
Granger made an excited sound. She clapped her hands over her mouth when she saw Edward and stared at him, eyes wide.
"Edward, would be joining you," the old geezer said knowingly in a tone that made Edward want to shout back in defiance.
"Edward isn't one of us," Granger said hoarsely. "He's not a wizard. He just claps his hands and-"
"Edward is right here," Edward interrupted testily, ignoring what the old geezer was about to say when the latter opened his mouth to speak.
The old geezer glanced sternly at Granger. "Edward is a friend. We have not got much time. Now, pay attention. Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, three of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law- you know what is at stake."
Edward started to protest but the old geezer silenced him with a look. The old geezer turned back towards Granger. He nodded towards the closet in the room.
"I am going to lock you in. It is-" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
Granger grabbed Edward and pulled him towards the closet and Harry stumbled behind her, clearly bemused. Granger was fumbling with the neck of her robes. She pulled out a very long gold chain. At the end of the chain, was a small hourglass.
Granger jerked Edward's arm so that he was uncomfortably close to her.
"Um…" Edward began but Granger did not let him finish.
"Harry, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"
Granger threw the chain around Edward's neck, then Harry's.
"What are we doing?" Harry said, looking at Edward for askance. Edward raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
Granger flipped the hourglass over thrice, counting them under her breath.
The closet they were in disappeared into a deep darkness. There was an odd ringing sensation in Edward's ear- the kind you get when you dive too fast into the deep end of the pool.
His feet felt like they were dangling in the air even though Edward was aware of hard, solid ground under him. Edward felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He struggled to place it and realised that it was the same distinct feeling when he saw the Gate. The feeling that something unnatural had happened, that he was doing something forbidden.
The ringing stopped and Edward felt himself fall onto the ground but he was still standing in the exact same position. Harry looked a little ruffled. Granger was hurriedly removing the chain from Edward's and Harry's neck. They were in a different closet. It was much more spacious than the one in the infirmary but the air was incredibly stale.
"What- how- Hermione, what happened?" Harry gasped between breaths.
"We've gone back in time," Granger whispered. "Three hours back..."
"WHAT?" Edward hissed, suddenly dizzy. "What do you mean by going back in time? That's human transmutation! You just did human transmutation!"
Harry was still looking dazed and was pinching his leg. His face screwed up in pain. Granger swirled to glare at Edward. Her eyes were guarded.
"I have no idea what that means from whatever you came from. But Dumbledore trusts you. I'm not sure if I should but I have to trust you as well. I need you to do the same until we go back to our time."
"But-"
"Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think- I think it might be us!" Granger pressed her ear to the door. "I think it's us going down to Hagrid's!"
"Are you telling me," Harry whispered, "that we're here in this cupboard and we're out there too?"
"Yes," said Hermione, her ear still glued to the cupboard door. "I'm sure it's us. It doesn't sound like more than three people... and we're walking slowly because we're under the Cloak- "
"The what?" Edward asked but Granger shushed him again.
"We've gone down the front steps..." Granger sat down on an upturned bucket, looking desperately anxious.
"Where did you get that hourglass thing?" Harry asked, breaking the silence that followed.
"It's called a Time-Turner," Granger whispered, "and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies... I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But Harry, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?"
"This is crazy!" Edward hissed but the Gryffindors ignored him.
"There must be something that happened around now he wants us to change," Harry said slowly. "What happened? We were walking down to Hagrid's three hours ago..."
"This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's," said Granger. "We just heard ourselves leaving."
Edward felt his anger rise. This, all this hocus pocus stuff. It was too weird. Too strange. Too stupid. He wanted to go back home where everything was normal. Where science was normal. Where broomsticks that do not fly, pictures that do not move were normal.
Granger and Harry were conversing in low voices but Edward did not join in. He was irritated at the whole thing. Why was he supposed to help them? It was not part of his job scope and he was already in a grave of his own. Why should he dig an even deeper grave for himself?
Edward found an old chair and sat in it, hoping he would not turn into liquid or get eaten by it. Who knows what chairs are capable of in this place?
"Hermione, we're going to save Buckbeak!" Harry exclaimed, animation dancing in his eyes. "Dumbledore said- he just told us where the window is- the window of Flitwick's office! Where they've got Sirius locked up! We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak- they can escape together!"
Granger looked terrified. "If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"
"Well, we've got to try, haven't we?" said Harry. He stood up and pressed his ear against the door. "Doesn't sound like anyone's there... Come on, let's go."
He turned to look at Edward who had planted himself into the chair with no sign of moving.
"Ed, come on! Aren't you coming?"
Edward frowned heavily. This did not feel right at all. His instincts were telling him to stay in the closet until everything blew over but since when did he ever listen to his instincts?
"Yeah, I'm coming."