Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and seeing as I'm not J.K. Rowling, I don't own Harry Potter!

A/N: This chapter title refers to how Colette and Hermione are investigating the past, and how other characters are actually in the past...ah, just read!

Chapter Seventeen-Moving Through Time

Colette sat at her desk in the Ministry of Magic building with her head in her hands. It was after hours, and she found herself fighting the overwhelming urge to just close her eyes, fall asleep, and simply forget about what was happening in her life right now...because what was happening was way too complicated for her to handle.

Cornelius Fudge. She had to find some way--*some way*--to get him out of office. The question was, how? It wasn't easy to find a way to get the Minister of Magic standing on the unemployment line. Sure, Dumbledore was helping her, and the Weasleys and Lupin too, but they all just needed some foolproof way to get Fudge looking guilty in the eye of not only the International Confederation of Wizards-which regulated these things the ministers-but also the entire magical population of the whole country.

And not only was making sure that Fudge was out of office a lot of pressure, but the *reasons* for making sure that Fudge was out of office were enough to make anyone collapse under the weight of it all. Resting upon whether Fudge was fired was saving an innocent man from a condemned life and giving him a right to a trial, a right everyone should have. And not to mention making his close friends extremely happy. And giving a teenage boy a well deserved home. And not only was the whole Sirius Black case one of the issues, but also the fact that the Dark Lord had returned and the Minister of Magic himself failed to recognize his existence...For after spending yet another hour alone with Dumbledore, Colette had come to another conclusion that changed her life-that Voldemort had, indeed, come back to power.

After what had changed her views on just about everything in the past couple of days, she was prepared to believe anything by now.

*How come Fudge doesn't see the signs? It doesn't take a true Seer to see how Voldemort is making an impact on the world,* Colette thought desperately, shaking her head at Fudge's ignorance. *If I had known about what really happened after the third task of the Tournament and in Southampton, I would have believed everything, if someone had told me...* But no one had told her, and that's what bothered her. Why hadn't she been told about what had happened? She was the head of the entire legal department in the Ministry, she, of all people, should have been told.

*And since Fudge kept everything from me, now it's too late to change things!* Colette thought angrily, regretting that she hadn't looked into the situation of the tournament at the time, which was strange, because she didn't like to regret things. She had been brought up being taught that you had to live with the consequences of the world, and you couldn't go change the past.

But now, for the first time that she could remember, she wanted to reject her family's ideals and just let herself mourn about the past, rather than worrying about the future, as her mother had always told her.

"The future..." Colette sighed, staring down at the mass of papers that were spread across her desk, her blond hair slipping out of its ponytail and into her face. She had been going through all the records, looking for anything that she could use against Fudge...but there was nothing. Nothing! At the peak in Voldemort's power, shortly before his downfall, the Ministry had almost stopped keeping records of events altogether, the world was in such a panic. There were attacks happening left and right, and nobody could keep track of what was going on, and the Ministry had left so few good official records from that time...that was the problem...

Letting out a growl of frustration, Colette slammed her fist against her desk, making the papers on top of it shoot into the air and then float back down again. This was all Fudge's fault! Every problem that they were all going through right now, in the end, it all came down to Fudge!

"How could such a complete idiot managed to become minister in the first place!?" Colette muttered furiously, fighting against the urge to drop her head on her desk and wallow in the hopelessness of it all.

What she really did, though, was shake her head and sit up straight, rubbing her blurring eyes and trying to focus. She was strong. She could do this. They wouldn't have given her this job if they didn't think she could handle the pressure, and she knew that she could do it. She just needed to relax, and focus...

In order to relax and focus, Colette needed one thing. This one thing was the flow of humanity; it is how they got things done. Without this one thing, Colette wasn't sure how she could have survived the hard times at the Ministry.

She rose to her feet, stretching her legs and smoothing her hair. She needed a break. Suddenly, she found that she was humming a famous Muggle song that she had once heard, except that she had changed the words a bit to fit her purpose.

"Coffee is a girl's best friend..." She sung softly as she walked to the door of her office. Coffee, indeed. Colette loved coffee so much, she thought she would have married it if it were at all possible. Coffee was her *life.*

And coffee was what she needed right about now. She hurried off, thinking that maybe she'll take it black right now, no sugar and cream. She needed it to be strong, because it was going to be a long, long night.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Harry crept down the path behind his godfather, being careful to stay a good fifteen feet or so behind Sirius lest he hear him or see him out of the corner of his eye. It was very hard to keep him in his eyesight because it was so dark outside, and Harry could barely see his dark shape moving ahead of him in the forest. He would have gone off the path and into the trees to move closer to Sirius and stay to the side of him, but he was afraid that he would make too much noise on the leaves and Sirius might hear him, or that he might wander too far off the path in the dark. So Harry stayed far behind Sirius, stumbling on roots and rocks, and chewing on his tongue to avoid exclaiming out in surprise as the wind whipped branches in his face or he slipped on some dry leaves. *I wish I could use my wand,* he thought wistfully, feeling the piece of wood in his pocket. He wanted to give himself some light or just a way to keep himself from falling all over the place, but he didn't want to risk using magic with Sirius right in front of him.

Harry was greatly relieved when he found himself practically falling out of the forest and back onto the sidewalk. Pulling leaves and twigs out of his hair, he quickly looked around for Sirius, and then stopped dead, staring around in every direction.

Where was he?

He looked around wildly for his godfather, but no, he had gone...he was no where to be seen...he must have Apparated...

Harry sank to his knees, cradling his head in his hands and fighting back the urge to scream in frustration. *Great, now what? I don't know where Sirius is, I can't go to my parents, and, and...*

"...and why the hell am I here in the first place?!" Harry finished aloud, standing up quickly and stamping his foot down onto the ground like a little child having a tantrum. He began to mutter furiously to himself, seeing as there was no one else to talk to and nothing else to do.

"Why am I *here*? I must be dreaming. I have to be dreaming! This is just some weird, totally crazy dream..." Harry found that he was pleading with himself. He didn't really believe that this was a dream, but oh, how he *wanted* to think that this was a dream, and that it was only a matter of time before he woke up. "Wake up, Harry! Wake up! You've got to get out of here! There's got to be some way to get out of here.oh, *why* am I here?"

Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted with wry amusement that his conscious self was moving toward the edge of hysteria. *Oh wouldn't that be funny?* The back of his mind thought calmly, as if it were an observer watching his conscious self go crazy. *If Hermione ever lets her free, wouldn't Rita Skeeter just absolutely love this? "Harry Potter Tragically Loses His Mind After Having a Nightmare." Or whatever the heck this is.*

Somewhere deep inside of him, Harry fought to pull himself together. "I. Have to keep. My *wits* about me," He firmly said aloud to himself after he had calmed down and was able to think clearly. "It doesn't matter where or what all of this is, I still can't go around losing my mind."

He brushed off his pants, biting his lip very hard as he looked around him. Clenching and unclenching his hands, grinding his teeth together, Harry suddenly started to tremble uncontrollably. Here he was...stuck in this place...and no visible way to get back...he found himself on the verge of hysteria again; blood pounding in his ears as fear overwhelmed his thoughts. He staggered a little closer toward the forest, his leg skimming the bushes as he reached out and grabbed onto a tree for support.

And then suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his scar.

Gasping more with surprise than pain, Harry dropped to a crouching position, pressing his left hand against his forehead and using his right hand to fumble around in his pocket for his wand. But...wait a second...there were two wands in his pocket...*two wands?*

Then, as quickly as it came, suddenly the pain was gone. Harry fell backwards from where he had been crouching and hit the ground hard. He sat there, stunned, his head swimming. What had just happened?

Scrambling to his feet, Harry looked around nervously. The only noise was Harry's heart pumping quickly in his chest from the rush of adrenaline. On impulse, he backed away from the woods, noticing that he appeared to be the only person on that street. *But,* he thought to himself wryly. *I bet I'm not the only person here...*

"Voldemort," Harry muttered aloud. He had lingered around in that area too long. The Voldemort from fourteen years ago had come to murder his parents, and his future self certainly couldn't be murdered along with them.

He turned, planning to make a break for the center of Godric's Hollow so he would be surrounded by people and wouldn't feel so unprotected, when suddenly from behind him an icy cold hand gripped his shoulder with an iron grip and the now familiar pain shot through his forehead. He froze for a second in fear, then opened his mouth to scream but before he knew what was happening, he heard a spell whispered by his attacker and was unable to open his mouth. He tried to kick his attacker, but the spell had seemingly paralyzed his legs and feet as well and he couldn't move them. As if he were in a dream, he heard another whispered spell and his wrists shot towards each other behind his back as if each of them were a powerful magnet. He struggled to move them, but they seemed to be bound together by some invisible force.

Although he was unable to do anything and was completely helpless, he was still stubbornly trying to wriggle himself out of the arms of his attacker. His attacker seemed to be annoyed with his movements and hit Harry-hard-on the head with what appeared to be his elbow. That stilled him for a moment, and in that moment Harry was conscious-through a daze of pain in his scar- of himself being pulled into the darkness of the forest.

The next thing he knew, Harry found himself lying on the forest floor, staring up at a horribly familiar face and listening to a horribly familiar voice.

"*You!*" The voice hissed dangerously, and Harry unwillingly shrank back in fear. His train of thought was only moving down one track of the railway, and he could barely focus on what was going on, he was only thinking one thing.

*That's it...I've totally messed up...The old Voldemort had found me, and he's going to see how I look like my father...and...and...* His head pounded and swam. What was he going to do now?

"Potter! *What are you doing here?* How did you get here? *What?*" In a glimpse of Voldemort's eyes glinting in the dark, Harry didn't see the emotion he had expected to see if Voldemort had thought he had bumped into James Potter while on the way to kill him-Harry supposed he would have seen surprise-but instead saw panic.

Voldemort reached forward and grabbed his shirt in his iron-like grip, yanking a terrified Harry closer to him. Still unable to move or make a sound, Harry's eyes widened and he bit back the fear that was rising steadily inside of him.

"You're supposed to be in 1995! *How did you get here?* Where's Wormtail? What's going on?" Voldemort hissed wildly.

Harry could only stare. How did *he* know that he should be in 1995, rather than 1981? And what's all this about Wormtail? What's going on, indeed...

Voldemort let go of Harry, letting him fall onto the ground where he lay, watching his captor pace near his feet, paralyzed with fear now more than the spell.

"Wormtail was supposed to meet me here, but he didn't-why didn't he?" Voldemort muttered to himself, very softly. Harry held his breath and tried to calm down the loud beating of his heart in order to hear. "He should be here, and now I still have to find me, and go to the Potters...and kill all three of them this time..."

*What is he talking about?* Harry's mind was reeling. He would have looked for a way to make a break for it while Voldemort was having his little soliloquy there, if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't move.

"And now all my plans are going to be ruined-and *what are you doing here?*" Voldemort turned again to Harry, glaring at him with such a fierce gaze that made Harry shrink away. Then he turned away, shaking his head and resuming his pacing.

"We were going to do it, Wormtail and I. And the younger me. We were going to do it, Potter!" He spat at Harry suddenly, his eyes blazing. "We were going to kill all three of you! You and your parents! Change the past for the better! Make it so *I* was the one who reigned over the last fourteen years, not those idiotic ministers!"

Harry tried to tie together all the loose ends that Voldemort was dropping at him. It seemed that this was the Voldemort from Harry's time, not the one from 1981... that he wanted to change the past somehow...so that Harry had never defeated him as a baby...

Suddenly, Voldemort whipped his wand out from somewhere in his robes. For one wild and terrifying moment, Harry thought that Voldemort was going to kill him-with his wand pointed at him and that horrible glint in his eyes. But then, the moment passed as Voldemort waved his wand and suddenly Harry could open his mouth, but his arms and legs still remained immobile.

He seized this opportunity to try and figure out what was going on. "So this is the past, are you saying?" Harry said quickly. "We're in the past?"

"Halloween, 1981!" Voldemort cried, so loudly that the normal sounds of the forest seemed to stop for a moment. "We're before, Potter! Before everything! I came back here to try and change everything, but it has failed. *Why* has if failed? Wormtail and I were going to come back here and find the younger me, and change everything! I had everything planned out...I had Time Turners...it was all going to work!"

Time Turners...For a moment, Harry was suddenly plunged into a memory of an event that he couldn't remember ever occurring...He saw, as if an observer watching himself through his mind's eye, himself walking into a room...with Pettigrew there, and a Time Turner...

"My dream," Harry whispered, glad that his voice had failed him and he was unable to speak louder, because he knew that Voldemort would have questioned what he had said. *That dream I had, but it wasn't really a dream...I took the Time Turner, that's how I got here...but how? What...?* Somehow, it seemed that Harry-through his dreams-had in some way physically penetrated himself into where Pettigrew had been, and he had taken the Time Turner meant for Pettigrew...was that how he had gotten here?

"And somehow...some way...you are here, and Wormtail isn't," Voldemort turned slowly towards Harry, staring at him. "How did you get here?"

"I don't know," Harry said softly, unable to make his voice sound any louder. And in truth, he didn't know. He knew that he was *there* but specifically how? No idea.

"Of course you do, Potter! You are here by none other's doing but yourself!"

"I really don't know," Harry said, more firmly this time. "I fell asleep...and then I woke up in a barn..."

"I don't believe you!" He hissed, the words dripping with mockery.

"Well, whether you believe me or not, I'm telling the truth!" Harry said, his voice rising. "I really don't know how I got here, honestly!"

"Well, however you got here! You're somehow here! And no Wormtail! What has happened!" Harry shrank away again, dreading his rage. Suddenly, Voldemort let out a terrible cry of anger, and Harry shivered violently. It was so eerie and chilling it seemed to echo off the very air itself.

Suddenly, so quickly that Harry was unsure of what happened for a moment, the magical forces that had been paralyzing and binding his arms and legs were released. He could move again...but he didn't dare move. He lay there, frozen, wondering what had just happened, staring up at Voldemort with wide eyes. He didn't seem to have noticed, however, as he continued his pacing and mutterings of anger.

Harry didn't stop to think, but acted instead. As soon as Voldemort was within the right distance, Harry-quick as lightening-stretched out his foot and with all the force he possessed kicked the Dark Lord in the back of the ankles, throwing him roughly to the ground.

Scrambling to his feet, Harry reached into his pocket, but then remembered that, for some reason, he had two wands in his pocket and was consumed in a moment of wild panic before he realized that he didn't need his wand. Voldemort-the all-powerful Dark Lord, the one everyone feared--was out cold.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Colette felt as if she were going to have a heart attack.

She had been digging farther and farther back into the depths of British magical history, trying to find anything--*anything*--that would help her in her search of a way to incriminate Fudge.

All night, she had been going through all the very old records and trying to find ways to come into contact with anyone who had worked in the Ministry long ago, and was still alive. But, despite all her research-and through countless cups and cups of black coffee--she had gotten absolutely, positively no where.

Until...after her eyes had closed on their own accord for the fifth time in the last few minutes, and she had gazed blearily at the paper on her desk, she suddenly sat up straight, staring. The piece of paper in front of her was an old document from 1917, but that wasn't what mattered. She was looking for the words that had caught her tired eyes. *The International Confederation of Wizards meeting of 1450...*

The famous meeting. Probably the most famous meeting that the Confederation had ever had. Every witch or wizard child knew about it in some form or other, for it was then that all of the major, basic principles of the magical world were developed.

Colette quickly scanned the document. It had only mentioned the meeting, nothing more, something about some old wizard defying one of the laws of the Confederation. But that was what had sparked her interest.

Maybe...if they were lucky...maybe...Probably one if the worst possible offenses that Fudge could have committed was going against one of the basic principles that the Confederation had come up with. If Colette could find a way that he had illegally gone against one of the Confederation's laws, then he would be out of the Minister of Magic spot, for sure!

But in order to do that, she needed a copy of the laws that the Confederation had come up with for all magical people, a piece of paper stating exactly what those laws were. It shouldn't be too hard to find, though...the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had a room in the building used as a library with various legal documents in it, it would surely be there.

She hurried off to the library.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hermione sank down onto the couch in the Weasley's living room, clutching a cup of tea in her hands and trying desperately to ignore the terrible pounding in her head.

After Hermione had gone into the Weasley's kitchen to tell them that Harry was gone, Mr. Weasley had ordered all of them into the living room while he went upstairs to look around Ron's room. he came back down a few minutes later with a Time Turner, saying that he had found it on the floor next to Harry's bed. It was set for October 31st, 1981.

They had no idea what to make of this. Why would Harry go back to the day of his parent's death and You-Know-Who's downfall, leaving a Time Turner in 1995 with no way to get back to the present? It just didn't make any sense. They all assumed that Harry was in the past because the Time Turner was right near his empty bed, but *why?* And how on Earth did he get a Time Turner in the first place? No one could figure it out, even Fred and George-who normally would have been making some outrageous suggestions to what Harry was doing to lighten the mood-were at a loss for words.

Ten minutes after a bit of the excitement had calmed down, they were all still sitting in the living room, Hermione, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny watching as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley tried in vain to contact Dumbledore.

"I still can't get him!" Mr. Weasley burst out in frustration at one point. "Where is he?"

"Why you are you having so much trouble reaching him?" Ginny asked nervously, swallowing hard. "Could something have happened?"

"No, dear," Mrs. Weasley said gently, looking over sympathetically at the teenagers where they sat. "For all we know, Dumbledore could just be visiting Sirius and that's why we can't get through to him. I don't think there's anything to worry about. If something had happened, they would have contacted us."

"But how could they contact us if Dad has been using the fireplace to try and contact them?" Ginny asked quickly, and Hermione noticed a small tone of panic in her voice. Despite her own insecurity and fear, she reached over and lay a hand on Ginny's trembling arm.

"My goodness, everything is in such chaos, it's just like the days of You-Know-Who," Mrs. Weasley murmured, glancing out the window.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, frowning slightly at her. Hermione sipped at her tea nervously.

"Well, back in those days, everything was in disarray," She said quietly. "Attacks were happening left and right, nobody knew how to protect each other, and everything was so disorganized that, for a short time before You-Know-Who was defeated, the Ministry stopped keeping records altogether."

"No records?" Hermione said curiously, lowering her voice as Mrs. Weasley had done and putting her teacup onto the table beside the couch. "None at all?"

"Damn it!" Mr. Weasley cursed suddenly, making everyone jump. He muttered under his breath, and Mrs. Weasley moved closer to the teenagers. She started to speak again, very softly this time so they had to lean forward slightly to hear her.

"None at all," She whispered. "There are very few records from those days. Everyone was in very real danger. Many people were taking advantage of the chaos and breaking laws as well, but keeping records wasn't a real priority at the time. We could have lost you-Fred, George, Ron. And Hermione, although your parents weren't aware of it, you could have been killed, too. Ginny," She turned to her youngest child. "You are very fortunate to have been born at a time after the Dark Lord was defeated, even though, after he was gone, there was still panic remaining. There were so many Dark wizards, people were finding out their friends had been working for Voldemort..."

"But no records? No records open to the public?" Hermione muttered, staring at her knees. "That means that if someone who was in a position of power at the time were to do something bad or illegal, they could get away with it? No one would know?"

Ron and Ginny, who were sitting on either side of her, were staring at her when she looked up.

"What are you going on about?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow at her after giving a glance towards his father. "What do you mean?"

"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said loudly, ignoring Ron. "So if someone were to do something illegal-something really, really *illegal*--they could have gotten away with it during this time?"

"Why, yes," Mrs. Weasley said, giving her a strange look. "Yes, I suppose so. Hermione, dear, what is it?"

"So if Fudge were to do something illegal then...no one would ever know..." Hermione breathed out, so softly that she was hardly heard, and everyone around her simultaneously said, "Hm?" But Hermione just shook her head slowly, staring at her knees again.

"That's it!" Mr. Weasley burst out. "I'm going to go there myself! Goodbye!" He grabbed his cloak form it's hanger, there was a small *pop*, and before anyone could even say goodbye, he had Apparated.

Hermione hardly noticed, however. For an incredible idea was beginning to form in her head.



A/N: YES! My goodness, this has been long! I shall take PARTIAL blame- hehehe-for why this has taken just about forever to get out: For the first week or two after I got the last chapter out, I'll admit that I was lazy- just relaxing for a little after all the workload from school. But then, the three-day weekend in which I was planning to finish writing this chapter, I got sick. Like, really sick. Sick like I-threw-up-eight-times-in- about-four-hours-and-I-had-to-go-to-the-hospital-and-get-an-IV-in-me- because-I-was-so-dehydreated sick. Yeah, sorry, couldn't help that one! And, then my vacation got really busy and so on and forth.

Oy, I am sooo sorry! I didn't expect to be sick, I didn't expect to be visiting my grandmother, which took up a lot of time...oy...I really hope that this never happens again! Sorry! Ah, you're probably all really pissed.

Do both Harry and Voldemort seem a little...er...weird in this chapter? Like out of character? I dunno, just a little.hum I think I'm getting a bit paranoid.

Ciria: Yep, Hermione and the Weasleys are a bit panicked. But, as another reviewer pointed out, Hermione works well under pressure and sees the things that other people don't.

Yeah, isn't it cool how, when your writing about a magical world, it's just simple humor to talk about someone transporting himself to the moon?

Yuffie-Girl: If Harry fails to change anything at all, then he'll be history, too? Hmmm...you mean, like, he won't be able to go back to his own time? This story has a lot to do with making choices...

Yeah, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all a bit similar, but then there are the distinguishing characteristics of each of them that make them different- like, you said it, Hermione's bookishness. That bookishness is part of what makes her the Hermione we love.

jerseypike: Yay! More people like my story! How did Harry get into the past...hm...well, he got the Time Turner, didn't he? But the question is, how did he get the Time Turner?

celestial princess: Where in the second book does it say that? Cause I was looking, but I don't know where to look...if your right, oh well! Guess we'll just have to go on with the show.

Child-of-the-Dawn: Sigh. I guess being a freshman isn't that bad! "Sirius is so hugable?" What? Lol, looks like someone has a little love interest. (

Sorry, but Harry's not going to be able to see any McGonagall/Dumbledore romance! But are you really for that? That's one of the most unusual pairs...but then again, I've also heard of Dumbledore/Snape, and that just completely freaks me out!

Tinuviel: I think you got the measure of Rowling's Hermione really well. "She's usually the one to look everywhere else while the others freak out..." Hm. That's what she did in the second book, when she figured out about the pipes and the basilisk and stuff. She's sort of doing that in this chapter, but she's not looking for Harry, really. She's one of the few of them who is keeping her head, and she's beginning to get herself involved in another aspect of this story...remember how Sirius said he had the feeling that she would play a big part? She's not physically in the chapters as much as some other characters, but the part she is going to play is extremely important!

mo: Heck, I'm so happy that I got this chapter out, I might be dancing a jig later on tonight...but you didn't need to know that... (