CHAPTER 12: Hall of Time

Severus opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of a small room. On either side of him was a door labeled '2005' and then there was a door in front of him and behind him. The one ahead of him was labeled 'Future', the one behind him 'Past.'

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud. It seemed as though he had been shouting and whispering at the same time. His words came back very loud and clear, yet at the same time very quiet so he had to strain to hear them.

"Severus?" He looked over to his right and there stood Hermione, looking just as confused as he felt, wearing a long, golden dress. Severus looked down at himself and saw that he now was clothed in sparkling silver robes.

"I'm dreaming," he murmured, then thinking of his new outfit, he grimaced and corrected himself. "More like having a nightmare."

"I think that you look good," Hermione said, a small smile gracing her lips. Then her eyebrows came together and she put on a look of intense concentration. "You can't be dreaming," she muttered. "I'm the one who's dreaming. Unless…"

"Unless neither of you are dreaming a'tall," said a new voice. The small room seemed to widen and suddenly there was a new presence, leaning in the southeastern corner. Severus and Hermione turned back to look. In the corner was a woman who could be described to feel only as a devious rock, or perhaps someone with no actual feelings, just a desire to cause chaos among others would be more understandable. Her long flowing hair was neither silver, as was Artemis's, nor a pale blond, as was Draco's, but rather pure white. It cascaded down her body, touching the floor. She had no definite eye color for it seemed as if the entire spectrum lay in her gaze. She was tall and model thin with a model figure, which was covered with a glowing shimmer that Severus could only conclude was her clothing. The only distinguishable on her was her high-heeled boots that gave her about another unneeded five inches.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked, a bit apprehensive after all her recent experiences of people answering that question. The woman smiled with no real happiness.

"You would know me best as Athena, but perhaps Venus would work better for you," she laughed at Hermione and Severus's expressions. It was and odd sound, as it was a flat, bleak noise since Athena felt no emotion that would invoke true laughter.

"You can't be serious," Severus said resolutely, recovering quickly. "No such things as the goddess of love exists, such worship died out years ago."

"Correct, Severus," Athena agreed, stepping out of the corner. "I am not a goddess, rather and immortal who is paying ht price for glorifying herself."

"Excuse me," Hermione said politely. "But what is an immortal?"

"Haven't you ever read a story about someone who lived forever?" Athena asked, knowing the answer.

"I have," Hermione admitted. "But that can't really be what an immortal is, no really. It must be sort of like the muggle fairy tales about witches and wizards."

"You're right as well," Athena said. "But we are not here to discuss me. We are here to save your little planet. Now follow me." Athena walked over to the door labeled 'Past' and opened it. An endless corridor of trillions of doors, suspended in a bright, purely white tunnel.

"What is this place?" Severus breathed.

"Part of the Hall of Time," Athena answered him. "This is the Hall of Past, now come on."

"Hall of Time?" Hermione asked quietly as they walked out into the corridor. It was like and extended version of the room they had just left, however the doors labeled started at '2004' on the left and '2003' on the right. As they walked down the numbers became smaller and smaller. Severus thought before answering.

"I've read a little about it," he replied just as quietly. "But no one is very clear on what it is exactly. Stories vary, but there is always one basic center of the tales. Supposedly the Hall of Time is where history is kept, every moment recorded as it happens. But from there on the stories differ."

"Humans have rarely come to this place," Athena said, still a bit ahead. "The Elders have said, and I agree, that humans could not handle all the knowledge that they could gain here. A previous immortal made the mistake of bringing a man here she fancied, but he went mad and killed himself a year after arriving because he wandered into several wrong doors and saw his own death and the end of the world.

"Needless to say he changed around the happenings in a few doors."

"How?" Severus asked. "I thought everything here was what happened in time."

"Happened, happens, will happen, but only what happened twice is set in stone," Athena said mysteriously.

"What?" Hermione asked, wanting clarification. What Athena had said was not enough for her.

"Here," Athena said instead. The door was labeled '1955' and an eerily glowing red color outlined it. Athena opened the door. Inside was a large room with 12 more doors, each labeled for a respective month going from January to December. The one labeled 'April' was outlined in the glowing red. Athena led them through that door only to be faced with a set of thirty more doors. April 22 glowed the now familiar shade of red: it was easy to tell which door to take. Upon entering that door, Hermione and Severus found themselves looking down another endless passageway with billions of door that were labeled with names rather than numbers.

"How are we supposed to find one door in here?" Severus snapped. "It's not like the firs corridor where all the numbers were in order, how are we going to find one name in here?"

"The names are all alphabetized," Athena pointed out patiently. "But never mind that, I've gotten you this far, haven't I? Have a little faith, please."

"Who are you looking for?" Hermione had to ask.

"Everond Snape," Athena said clearly. The walls sped past them, 'til it appeared they were standing in the middle of a big blur. Hermione began to look faintly green. Severus wrapped his arm around her waist. She leaned into him, closing her eyes.

"Not a fan of fast-moving objects," Severus whispered.

"No," she answered bluntly. He chuckled.

"I'm glad you're amused," Hermione said, scowling. Athena looked back at them. Had she real emotion she would have smiled, touched by the scene of the couple thrown together by less than normal circumstances, even for the wizarding community. Instead she eyed them, her heart continuing to beat normally, but her mind freezing, almost knowing that at one point she had had something like that. Then the walls stopped and on the left shone the door labeled 'Everond Snape, a.k.a. Albus Dumbledore.' Athena's mind whirled back into action.

"This is it," the immortal said.

"Before we go in," Severus said. "I have to know, why are we here? What are we supposed to see here that will save our world?"

"Selina never got to finish telling you what happened between your parents, Severus," Athena answered him. "And Salazar barely mentioned Stacy. On both of their parts that was a mistake because Everond and Minerva's story places just as important part in your world's salvation as Tom and Melissa's did. So you are here to hear the entire story, I do hope you are ready."

"I have no doubt that we are," Severus said firmly.

"Minerva McGonagall?" Hermione asked.

"Who else?" Athena said. Then she opened the door.

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I have fifty-one reviews, and I was shocked when I found out I had fifty. Wow. Thank you so much for reviewing! Anyway, yes I said this chapter was going to be Albus's story, but then I realized I needed something to lead up to it and then I got a review that wanted more Hermione/Severus, so I came up with this. Perhaps it isn't as long as I would have liked, but the next chapter will be. Normal comments apply (Harry's girl, questions). Next Chapter: Hermione and Severus, guided by Athena, step into April 22, 1955, right when things start to happen. And so they watch and learn everything. More surprises and explanations await you in the next chapter! PLEASE REVIEW! ~ Remo