Lils: Thanks to our reviewers, we decided to put up another chapter. But who knows? If you don't review…there may not be another one!
Jaye: So here's our next chapter.
Lils: But first, we have to reply to our wonderful reviewers!
LaBOBuren: Well, the bold/regular switch back is…um…well, Jaye's paragraphs are in bold, and mine are in regular. We decided to make them different so people would know who wrote them I guess…we hope it isn't causing too much confusion – thanks for your review!
Squarecool321: Sorry…but like we said, we can be idiotic most of the time so – we didn't save the first one. SORRY!
Chapter three: Troubling News
So Artemis, Holly, and the rest were enjoying being able to see each other again. Though they were still a little bit disturbed by the sudden reappearance of Bree, they pushed that to the back of their minds.
But…unfortunately…they were not able to abandon the situation for long.
They were walking down to dinner when it happened. There was a black shimmering portal, and Bree stepped out of it. She glared at them icily for a moment, and then spoke.
"You must come to the past to fix the future," she said enigmatically. There was a flash of light, and then...nothing.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Holly demanded. "Think about it…you, a scrawny mud boy, going to an all-magic school?"
"Well if you are going to be pessimistic about it. What could go wrong?"
"A lot of things." She sounded skeptical. Artemis couldn't help but smirk.
"Getting jittery, are we, Captain?"
"No," Holly said defiantly. "I'm not worried about me. What would happen if they found you?"
Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Courtney, and Jaye seemed to be thinking the same things.
"What if they find him?" Lily asked. "What will they do?"
"Kill him," came the blunt reply from Sirius.
"BLACK!" Lily yelled. She smacked him upside the head. "NOT HELPING!"
"SHEESH!" Sirius yelped, rubbing his aching head. "I was KIDDING!"
"What…was that?" Holly glanced around.
"That – was the beginning," Bree replied bitterly. She was standing above her.
"The beginning of what?" For the first time in his life, Artemis was confused. Completely lost in what was happening. He was standing a distance off with no memory of how he had gotten there. His glasses were askew and his hands were trembling.
"I heard your destiny…"
Then Bree gave one final smirk, said, "Find the founders." and then disappeared.
Artemis and Holly stared after her in disbelief.
"Well – I'm out of explanations…" Holly muttered finally. Artemis nodded in agreement at the same moment Jaye, Lily, Sirius, James, and Remus rounded the corner.
"What's up?" James asked breathlessly.
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Who are the founders?"
"Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin," Remus and Lily spouted off in unison.
"Well, Bree just popped in and told us to 'find the founders'."
Jaye frowned. "But…they've been dead for…"
"Thousands of years," Remus muttered.
"Well…" Artemis mused. "We were just a year in the past. Perhaps if we find Johnson she can take us back a bit longer."
"You're using the word 'bit' in a light way, aren't you?" Holly snarled.
Artemis was quiet for a moment. "What could the founders have to do with anything?"
"Maybe..." Lily said quietly. "But no...it couldn't be...she couldn't have known..."
"Known what?" Jaye asked.
"About the founders' prophecy..." Lily whispered.
By now, Holly was openly frustrated. She jumped up from the ground like a recoiled spring and thrust her hands on her hips. "First of all – what do these crack-pot founders have to do with Johnson? Second, what's with all this talk about prophecies?"
Jaye cringed at the Captain's volume. "I think…we should go somewhere quiet for this…" she suggested. The others took the hint.
Soon, they were sitting in the Room of Requirement, and Lily was explaining the legend of the founders' prophecy to Artemis and Holly.
"You see," Lily told them. "The four founders had been friends before they started Hogwarts. Then, Salazar Slytherin broke off from the group. But between these events, a prophecy was made by a Seer."
She took a deep breath. "Just like the secret chamber Slytherin had "supposedly" made – it's never been found, by the way – the prophecy was thought to be crazy. Besides…" Her voice faltered.
"What?" Holly pressed.
Jaye stepped in for Lily. "Only snatches of the prophecy were recorded after it was broken by a mysterious witch…no one has ever found her, either."(A/N: Ahhh…getting the connection between Johnson's time travel yet?)
"But…it's impossible to tell what the entire prophecy depicted…but we do know it has something to do with a muggle and the downfall of Hogwarts," Remus blurted.
Silence.
"A muggle..." Artemis said quietly. "Time travel...Johnson! She came through a portal! She might be traveling through the space-time continuum!"
"Yeah?" Sirius looked vacant.
"Terrible things have happened to wizards who have tampered with time…" Even as Lily said this, the room around them began to spin. Suddenly, they were sitting in the middle of the corridor.
"What happened?" James cried. "Why did the Room of Requirement disappear?"
They all froze. "Artemis…what's this space-time continuum?" Remus whispered. "Can we use it?"
Lils: HA! Cliffhanger! Review!
Jaye: REVIEW! (chases after people who have read without reviewing with sporks)
