A/N: No useless A/N today. I started school on Thursday (though you all proabably didn't need to know that or anything). And my birthday is coming in FIVE days! Sweet sixteen!
Disclaimer: Well, I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.
During the first two weeks of school, the three Gryffindor Quidditch players had practice every afternoon. Andrew Sanders was very passionate about his Quidditch, and he worked his team hard. James, Sirius, and Nichole came back after dark most nights. Their first game was to be against Slytherin on October 15th. Professor McGonagall said that the first game is always Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. It had something to do with tradition.
James, Sirius, and Peter kept whispering plans to each other as they walked down the corridor to their next class. Lily found in strange that they were not letting Remus in on any of these plans. Every time any of them walked near, the three boys started to talk about the weather.
In Potions, the students brewed a simple concoction known as a Swelling Solution. The class was much calmer and laid-back than usual. Professor Arleigh was apparently having trouble with a Slytherin student and needed to speak to the head of house immediately. They all sat silently brewing their potions while Peter flipped through a textbook. He appeared to have found something interesting as he passed the book excitedly over to James. Snape just made a disgusted grunt at their childish behavior.
"You could do better use putting that research to doing your potion correctly." Snape drawled. "You need a Deflating Draft to shrink your overly large head."
"You need a – um – you need a de-greasing draft Snape." James responded lamely.
"Nice James - real nice." Nichole said sardonically.
"No such thing Potter." Snape chided.
"Hey Sirius!" James grabbed on to his cauldron.
"Yes James." Sirius quickly got the message and deliberately shoved his seat back to face James. His chair bumped the table behind, splashing the solution on Snape's nose. "Oh sorry!" Sirius lied.
Snape's overly greasy nose had begun to swell like a giant balloon. He put his hand up to his face to feel his nose and turned a deep shade of scarlet.
"It isn't that bad really." James said calmly. "I mean, no one will notice. Right Sirius?"
"Right James. In fact, I can hardly tell a difference."
"Shut up Black!" Snape yelled.
Lily was getting a little aggravated with all of the noise. "Come on guys, quiet down already!"
"You know you're right Severus, you must be the best here at brewing potions. Look how well that nose turned out." Remus walked over to examine more closely.
Peter walked eagerly across the room as if to show them something. He grabbed a random book off of the desk and flipped it open in front of Snape. "Well Remus, here is another Potion he should try. In Super Advanced Potions for Superbly Advanced Greasy Person and - aaaaaaaah!" Snape snatched the book out of his hand and shoved Peter to the ground.
Remus helped him back to his feet and dusted off the book. "Severus! Knock it off." Lily scolded.
"No one asked you to step in Mudblood!" Several Gryffindors stared appallingly at Snape. The Slytherins snickered to themselves.
"Leave her alone Snape!" Remus yelled.
"Look here. Lupin has become her protector!" A piercing voice shouted from the back of the room.
"Did anyone ask you Bellatrix?" Sirius said acidly.
"It's a family feud!" Morganna Arrowood shouted from the seat beside Bellatrix Black.
Sirius grabbed the book from Remus' hands and opened it again, placing it conveniently between himself and his cousin. "Ugly Potion, add two gallons grease from Snape's nose, three strands of hair, and an old photograph of the victim-"
Holly was giggling under her breath as she corked a sample of the potion. Lily fumed. "If you don't quit it I will -"
"Tell the teacher? Yep, you're sure a favorite of Dougal's." Will said sarcastically. Lily mumbled under her breath uselessly.
"Wouldn't Evans make an excellent Prefect?" James said mockingly.
"What is going on in here?!" Dougal stormed into the room, Arleigh strolled in silently behind him.
"Professor, it was them!" Snape pointed at the boys crowded around the desk with his left hand, his right was covering his massive nose.
"Stay here after class Mr. Snape. I'll get some Deflating Draft for that." He said somewhat sympathetically. His tone of voice made Lily nauseous. His tone quickly changed as he directed his focus to the boys who had tried to slip back to their tables. "Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, detention for all of you! And fifty points from each of you." He said with a flourish. He smirked at their shocked faces.
"But I bumped the cauldron by mistake!" Sirius emphasized.
"No buts Mr. Black!" Dougal snapped. "Take another ten points off Gryffindor!"
"Excuse me Professor," Professor Arleigh cut in daintily. "I believe a sentence like that is not necessary. You let one of your own students off far more easily just a minute ago." She glared icily.
"Do you think I care, Adrian?" She glared again. "Take off the detention. And twenty points each - better?" The last statement was aimed towards the Defense teacher supervising the ordeal with disgust.
"Good, you are making it better for me. This way I don't have to report you for your biases." She muttered barely audibly. Lily could tell Nichole also heard it, but by the looks of it, no one else did.
"Class is dismissed." The students rushed out of the rooms quickly, dropping off samples of completed Potions to Dougal's desk.
"Professor Arleigh just saved your necks!" Lily hissed to the boys.
"At least someone is getting on Dougal's case." Nichole said admiringly.
"It isn't your problem Evans." James shouted back. They walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.
Lily didn't see any of the boys again for most of the night. Dinner time quickly approached and then ended as soon as it had come. Lily, Nichole, and Holly worked together on a Transfiguration project in the common room. Holly was showing them the correct way to transfigure beetles into buttons. They didn't finish the rest of their homework because there would be no classes tomorrow. After a bit of chatting, they fell asleep on the floor in front of the fire.
They slept soundlessly. Lily dreamed she was walking down a long corridor late at night. She heard footsteps behind her and quickly ran up past the dungeons and darted towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She had peered into it once again feeling something was terribly wrong. Then, she slipped down a hall to Dumbledore's office and said goodbye…
She heard footsteps coming from the back of the common room. She quickly opened her eyes and looked around without moving. Dark figures were moving towards them - moving towards the portrait hole. She sat up quickly and whipped out her wand.
"Who's there?" She whispered. A hand clasped over her mouth stifling a scream of terror.
"Shoot. Told you that you were too loud Peter."
"Like you were so quiet James."
"Are we still going?" The voice holding her mouth questioned. Lily tried to wrench the fingers off.
"Evans would tattle to McGonagall. She is in training to be a prefect you know."
"I am taking my hand off Lily, if you scream, consider yourself dead." The voice sounded like Sirius'.
"For Merlin's sake! What are you guys doing?" Lily whispered a little too loudly. The four boys shushed her.
"It isn't any of your business!" James hissed.
"You might as well tell me. I mean – look how close McGonagall's room is." She threatened. Lily had no intention of tattling, but she was curious.
"We aren't going." Sirius said.
"We have to go tonight. I am still yet to know why you need to do this, but if you want to look at the supplies before Dougal unpacks them, this will be your last chance for quite awhile." Remus said matter-of-factly. "He will lock away some of the things after he goes through them."
"What about Lily?" Peter interrogated.
"We'll take her with us." James hissed again.
"You're going to have to take me too, since you morons can't be any quieter." Nichole mumbled sleepily.
"And let's take Holly too while we're at it!" Sirius said sarcastically.
She walked over to them from where she was sitting on the stairs. "The only Potions Dougal locks away are the ones under strict Ministry guidelines. You are doing something illegal and I am going to tell before you get someone hurt!"
"I though you were asleep!" Lily said astonished.
"No, I woke up awhile ago. If you don't march back upstairs, I will tell." She said shakily. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the boys. They all whipped out their wands and pointed them at her. Holly's eyes widened and she quickly shoved her wand away.
"I dare you Holly. I dare you!" James whispered. He glared at her intimidatingly. "Guess we are taking all of you. Anyone else?" He shouted aimlessly to the rest of the room. It was silent. "Let's go."
They quickly brushed the shelves in a mad search for beetle eyes, toad's blood, and wormwood.
"So what exactly are we doing here Sirius?" Lily said impatiently. "Ouch!" when she looked back at her hand, she saw that a glass vial had bitten her. She stared blankly at the dark red blood trickling down her hand. "What is this?"
"Careful Lily." Sirius said. He carefully brushed the dust off of an old bottle, examined it's label, and returned it to the shelf. "Just a little biting hex on the vial. We should clean your hand up." Sirius wiped the dust off on his pants and helped her bandage the wound with a very nearly clean hankie generously donated by James. (More like carefully stolen from his pocket).
"Oh, do we have to get those bat eyes again?" Peter said, holding the vial between two fingers far away from his face.
"You're good at Potions Peter, I didn't think you would have such a problem with this." Remus said calmly taking the bottle away. He glanced quickly glanced its contents causing his face to turn a distinct green tinge. He quickly shoved the bottle into their sack.
"So what is with all the secrecy? I'm sure you could tell Professor Dougal that you would like to do some supervised Potions experiments." Holly said quietly.
"Supervised is the key word." Lily said tilting the contents of an indigo bottle back and forth.
"Perfect!" James exclaimed. "He hasn't locked this up yet!"
"You know most Potions experiments do not involve illegal ingredients." Lily said matter-of-factly. "I bet you do know exactly what you are doing."
"Why do we need the ingredients?" Nichole said plainly.
James' eyes darted quickly around the room. "Like Holly said. We are trying to get ahead-" Sirius started to object but James elbowed him in the ribs. "-in our Potions studies. We could just surprise him. We need the points anyways."
Remus, who still was not informed of the boys' plan, stared incredulously. His eyes quickly scanned the yellowed parchment. "Well anyways, until Dougal restocks his ingredients, we have all we can get from here."
"Wait! There are still more rooms in here." Nichole announced a little too loudly. The other six shushed her. "Where do those doors lead to?" She said this a little more quietly.
"That one is just Dougal's office." James said pointing to the one on the far left. "But we could try door number one, or door number two!" He said in a mock game show host voice.
"How about door number three, the one we exit out through before someone catches us out of bed?" Peter said as his eyes quickly darted to the nearby hall. Distinct, uneven footsteps could be heard reverberating down the hall coming towards them.
"Let's choose door number two!" Sirius exclaimed. He ran towards the door and found that it was locked. He desperately tried the door next to it to find that it was locked as well.
"Move over!" Lily said quickly. The footsteps were much closer now. She whipped her wand out of her robe pocket. "Alohamora" Lily whispered. The farthest door creaked open, and the seven Gryffindor second years bolted inside and latched the door behind them.
The room they had entered was pitch black and full of cobwebs drooping down in their path.
"Nice one Evans." James muttered. "Where are we going now?"
"The passage has got to lead somewhere." Sirius whispered. Holly got caught in a large cobweb and it took the others several minutes to untangle her.
"Lumos!" Remus whispered, unsure of whether the person had left the dungeon yet. The others said the spell as well, but even combined, the emitted amount of light wasn't enough. Along the walls were chains and old bones. "It's a dungeon alright. You don't think they still put people in here do they?"
"Only the Slytherins." Sirius muttered. They huddled close together and continued down a passageway that seemed to keep getting lower and narrower, until they had to crawl on hand and knees in a single file line.
Up ahead of them, Lily could see a patch of little red lights. As they approached, the lights turned out to be the bright red eyes of bats. They fluttered by them causing all of them to scream loudly and duck.
"Argh! They were gross enough pickled in that potions vial." Peter yelled swinging his arms.
Eventually the ceiling height became taller once again, torches flickered to life, and they reached a large wooden door blocking their entrance along the passage. "Alohamora." Lily tried the spell but it didn't work on this door. The door had a large manual lock that could only be lifted using a crank from the inside. Above their heads, a small amount of silvery light danced on the ceiling. Looking up towards the light, she could see what looked like a small window leading into the next room.
"That's our way in." Nichole said. "I think there is only one way to get in, if she's up for it of course." Nichole looked over at Holly who was still staring into the darkness around them. "Holly, you're the smallest and the lightest. We could lift you up to the window, and you could go around and get the door open." Nichole was entirely right. Holly was very skinny and though only a few inches shorter than Lily, she was well over a head shorter than Nichole herself.
"Um…er…guys, what if I can't get the door open, how will you get me out?" Holly said quickly, a small quiver in her voice.
"We'll stay here until we think of a way, or we'll get one of the professors and say it was our fault. Please Holly. Please?" James was on his knees, practically begging.
"James, please stand up. You are embarrassing us." Remus said calmly.
Holly was shaking fiercely, partly from the cold dank air, and partly from pure fear. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself. "Um…okay James, but you all had better not leave me here." She said this very slowly and it was obvious that it took every nerve she had. Lily found that she wasn't only relieved that they might now have a way out, but positively in amazed at Holly's courage. Sirius and Peter stood at the base of the stone wall just beneath the window with the shimmering moonlight pouring through. Then James and Remus carefully climbed onto their shoulders. With some difficulty, Lily was helped up to the top next by Nichole who gave her a leg up onto the human tower. Nichole, not having this advantage, caused the boys to yelp as she occasionally stepped on their fingers. She took her place across from Lily and they linked arms for support. Finally, Holly slowly and painstakingly climbed up the human tower. She carefully stepped onto Lily and Nichole's shoulders and carefully steadied herself.
"Don't you dare drop me!" Holly was teetering around as she looked down at the ground below her.
"Oh no! I think my arms may give out." Sirius said in a high pitched damsel-in-distress type voice. "Can you reach Holly?"
"Not quite", she stretched out as far as she could, finding the window to be still a foot higher. She began to lose footing and shaking once again. Lily and Nichole allowed her to step onto their hands and they raised their arms high above their heads. "Almost there, a little higher." She kept whispering. They all kept shouting words of encouragement as they struggled to make themselves a little taller. "Got it! I got it!" she squealed with delight.
Lily and Nichole started to get down, but the tower collapsed before they were able to. From the tangle of arms and legs sprawled out on the floor a voice exclaimed, "Thank you for breaking my fall Potter."
"Geroff my stomach Evans!" James grimaced and pushed Lily off.
"I'm going in, there are stairs leading down to the doorway." Holly called from the window frame. They waved to her and she set off. Shortly after, they heard metal chains clanking as Holly turned the crank to unlock the latch. The door was opened and they rushed inside, thanking her profusely.
But they weren't prepared for what they saw next. The silver light that Lily saw did not come from the moon and stars outside, but from an enchanted ceiling very similar to the one in the Great Hall. Stars danced about upon the dark ceiling but there was no moon. The bright silvery light that Lily swore was moonlight came from an object upon a rosewood table in the center of the room. As they approached, she saw that it was a shallow, stone basin. Its sides were carved with ancient runes and symbols that none of them recognized. Inside the basin was a silvery-white cloudlike substance. She reached her wand out and used it to stir the contents of the basin. They swirled like water leaving a blur of different colors in the basin. Slowly the reflection of her own face disappeared, and she saw that the picture had cleared and now looked something like Dumbledore's office.
"Let me see Evans," James said excitedly. He inched closer until his nose touched. "Wow, it's like a crystal ball or something. Do you think this is the future?" He leaned a little closer and appeared to be sucked into the basin. It happened too quickly for anyone to react, which was why Lily wasn't able to stop herself when she realized that James had grabbed onto her. She was pulled into the basin as well. It was cold and dark as she fell headfirst into the unknown.
She found herself to be sitting in a squashy armchair inside what she would have thought would be the headmaster's office. The room she was in was decorated rather similarly, but was a great deal smaller. All around the room were silver, metal instruments that chimed and whirred about. Next to the desk on a perch was the small flaming phoenix, looking intently around the room. This had to be Dumbledore's office back before he was the headmaster.
Dumbledore looked the same as his present state. He stared intently at the chair that Lily was sitting in herself.
"Excuse me- er- Professor Dumbledore - yoo-hoo!" Lily stood up and waved her hands in his face. Dumbledore stared right through her, still intently looking at the armchair as if something were going to appear if he concentrated hard enough. "I'll just be leaving now!" she yelled and looked up at the now solid ceiling.
"Don't think he can hear you twit." James said, picking himself off of the floor behind the chair. "Otherwise it would bother him if I did this." James walked over to his desk and reached for the long white quill gripped between Dumbledore's fingers. Instead of picking it up, his hand went straight through the quill and through the desk itself. James seemed to be intrigued by this and started sticking parts of his body through objects like Godric Gryffindor's sword and the various textbooks. "Very curious, you didn't fall through that chair Evans."
"The things that you can't touch are those that would directly affect Dumbledore. As in, he would notice if you took the quill out of his fingers."
"Stop pretending to be smart Evans."
"Where are we Potter?" Lily said impatiently.
James walked over to the door and stared out the small window. "I would say McGonagall's office; I've had detention in here enough."
"No I mean this is Dumbledore's office now. Are we in the past?" Just that second, there was a loud crash behind her as Sirius, Remus, Peter, Nichole, and Holly fell onto the stone floor.
"Thank you for keeping a look-"
But James was unable to finish his sentence. Soon there was a loud pop as a wizard's head appeared in the fireplace. The mysterious wizard had grayish blonde hair, with a large bald patch on the top of his head. His head appeared to be floating in midair with the flames lapping at his face. The fire, however, did not appear to burn him in any way. Lily found this image to be rather disturbing.
"Good Evening Albus, why are you still teaching here? I heard they offered you the position of Minister of Magic. I would hope you would have considered such a fine offer made by the Ministry."
"Well Nicholas, I won't be teaching Transfiguration much longer. I have also been offered the position of headmaster of Hogwarts. I think my calling is to stay here and protect the children." He said this with an unfamiliar sternness.
The old man in the fire smiled. "C'mon Albus, you could do much better by protecting the entire wizarding world. You can't let the threat of this silly man keep you from your destiny."
"This 'silly man' as you call him seems to already have far too many followers. You've heard what they have said about them. They are all power hungry and willing to do anything to purge the wizarding world of those they feel unable to or unfit to do magic. He knows the secrets of the school from when he was a student here. He was an absolutely brilliant student as well. None of the other teachers ever expected he would change himself so much for a cause. Very few in fact even recognize that he is the student who graduated back in 1945."
"Well if he some loony is trying to kill everyone, what makes you think that you will be able to protect the children? There has been so much talk of disappearances and mass murders." Seven pairs of eyes all widened. The man called Nicholas looked extremely worried.
"Mass murders?" Lily whispered breathlessly. "What mass murders?"
"I kept a close watch on the boy especially after the accidents back in that day. He always seemed to be up to something. I do not however think that he will try to come back here." Dumbledore continued.
"I guess you were the one to beat Grindewald. As long as you are here, nothing will happen. I will be in my office, let me know if you change your mind. I still think you are missing an opportunity. They are planning on giving the position to that Cornelius Fudge."
"Tell them Nicholas Flamel, that Albus Dumbledore declines. Anyways I can't stand having to work in small offices with people shoving decrees to sign in my face every five minutes." He said, his eyes regaining the familiar twinkle.
"Anything you say. I'll be off. Goodbye." With another pop, the old man's face disappeared into a puff of smoke. Then the room dissolved away and the seven second years were left in darkness.
When the world around them came into focus again, they were in the countryside, miles away from Hogwarts. The sun was just setting in the west leaving a brilliant red and gold sunset.
"What was Dumbledore talking about?" Nichole's eyes were wide enough that they could just as easily fallen out.
"He must have been a Transfiguration teacher before becoming headmaster. And the Ministry offered him the position of Minister." Holly explained.
"My parents said that Dumbledore has always been very popular, especially after he defeated some dark wizard in '45." Sirius said. "Of course they always also said something about him being quite a Muggle lover."
"What's wrong with being a Muggle lover?" Lily exclaimed somewhat offended. Holly glared at him uneasily.
"I have no problem with it Lily. Some witches and wizards on the other hand are idiots who think they are so much better than Muggles. It will never be a perfect world." Sirius said quietly. "Dumbledore is very accepting to all kinds of people." Sirius gave a distinct nod to Remus. Remus nodded back. Then he made a blatant attempt to change the subject. "Who would like to guess how we got here."
"I'm fairly sure we're in the past, but now we're in another time." James said looking around anxiously.
"Does anyone know where this is?" Lily looked around the field uneasily.
"I don't know, but there's Dumbledore!" Remus called.
"It's like another memory." Nichole whispered. Just beyond her was a group circled together in the field. They inched themselves over for a closer look. All of the members of the group were dressed entirely in black robes, hoods and masks concealed their faces.
"Dumbledore accepts people like this?" James said skeptically.
Standing upon a stone in front of the group was a tall man, also wearing a black cloak. It was nearly impossible to see his face, but his voice rang out clearly.
"Ah, my true family has come to join me at last. I have been far and wide, mingling with some of the lowest people in the wizarding world and learning everything I now know for this very moment."
Various people in the crowd stared intently through their masks. "I am Lord Voldemort. I assume you who are standing here have decided to join me. It is a wise decision you have made for I shall be able to offer you great power. And an even greater power will be available for you once the world is ridded of those so unfit."
"Who is 'so unfit'?" Peter asked.
"Shhh."
There were several cheers from the group. The cheers weren't happy and joyful but tainted with revenge and hate. "After a great deal of negotiating, I have found several giants willing to ally with us." There were more cheers. "I shall make the name Voldemort a name that all witches and wizards are too afraid to say"-
"That will be enough!" Dumbledore emerged from the group and stood before the man who called himself Voldemort.
"I see the champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles has decided to join us. You mad old fool." The man pulled out his wand and pointed it at Dumbledore, square between the eyes.
"You know you are wrong in what you are doing." Dumbledore persisted. He started to pull out his own wand, but the younger man pressed his wand harder into Dumbledore's head. Dumbledore nodded and held his hands up. "It's not my style to take out my wand and threaten you Mr. Riddle. Despite all of the changes you have made to yourself, I still see you." Voldemort's eyes widened with rage. He spat at Dumbledore.
"You all know that I took revenge on that Muggle fool who only stayed long enough to give me his name. He paid with his life. Those who wish to back out will suffer the same fate." Voldemort or Riddle said this to the crowd surrounded around him.
His lips curled into a horrible sneer. "You were the only teacher who thought of me as something other than just a model student. You've kept close watch on me ever since the incidents back when I was in school." He narrowed his eyes and gave a mirthless laugh causing Lily to jump. "I have been meaning to do this for quite a long time. Crucio."
There was a loud pop and a puff of smoke as light emitted from the tip of Voldemort's wand, heading straight for where Dumbledore was previously standing. He had vanished. The spell struck one of the men wearing a mask, causing to shake and scream with pain. One moment they heard the screams, the next moment, Lily saw the scene being pulled away from her as she plunged back first into darkness, than into blinding silver light. She became very aware of a sharp pain in her right forearm. When everything came back into focus, Lily realized that she was back in the starlit room and that someone's nails were digging into her arm. She needed to get out of here and tell a professor everything she had seen. She tried to run to the exit but the grip on her arm was tightened. She turned and looked right into the sneering face of Argus Filch.
"Stop right there. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore'd be more than willing to deal with students who are out-of-bounds."
A/N: This chapter was rather long I know. Most of this information was made up by me using timeline at Harry Potter Lexicon. Great site - you should check it out sometime. I have the link on my bio.
Thank you to the people who have reviewed this story so far. I commend your patience with me. Thanks so much everyone for letting me know how I can improve. Reviews are welcome and appreciated. Tell me what you think!