A/N: Okay, so I didn't make it another story. I decided not to, but it's
still a part two of the story. Here's another sort of disclaimer. I own
nothing except for the plot that I made up. Yep. I'm watching Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate Factory right now. I love this movie. It's so cute.
Anyway, I've promised somebody that I'll make this chapter extra long, so
we'll see if it works, k?
~THE TIME TURNER~ PART TWO: THE DARK FORTRESS
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: FORGET ABOUT THE PORTAL
"When are we going back?" James said, "And how?"
Harry answered him, "Tonight, because only portals should take people through years, and they need a lot of magic to be made. Hogwarts lessens the amount of magic that a person can use. We have to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight." For a moment he looked surprised that he'd known that, and James smiled with a warmth that he hadn't known he could feel at the moment.
Lily spent the day in boredom, at least for the most part. She hadn't known that the future could be so....similar. Basically everything was the same. She could even see a few kids swimming in the lake, just like Lily and her friends always did. It was the strangest feeling she'd ever had.
She was sitting on a cushiony chair, facing the window. Remus was gone, off to get the older version of Snape, he'd said. Lily wasn't exactly looking forward to that, but that was to be expected. She hadn't really been looking forward to any of this.
It was closer to the afternoon than it was to the early morning that had already passed. Lily knew that Harry was looking at her. She wasn't stupid. He had been looking outside, just like her, but apparently the sight of her was more interesting than anything out there. She could feel his gaze boring into her head. He was okay. Harry. She could tell that he was a good person, and if he acted like either of his parents, it was more like Lily. Right now James was with Sirius, Moony, Wormtail, Ron, and Hermione playing some knock-off of exploding snap. Snape was in the corner, apparently asleep.
Lily turned toward Harry. He didn't blink. Maybe he'd known that she was looking at him. Okay, so maybe he didn't look exactly like James. Green eyes. His nose was different. It took Lily a minute or so to recognize his nose. It looked like her dad's nose. His cheek bones were higher and his cheeks looked less filled out than James's. Lily wasn't sure if she particularly liked Harry.
"Is the future different?" Lily asked.
That was when the door opened.
They all looked up. In the doorway stood Remus and next to him was a man who Lily had no trouble recognizing.
He was tall and thin. His hair was black and looked in need of a cut, because it went past his ears and over his eyes, curling. His nose was crooked and his mouth was thin, looking just as crooked as his nose right now. He was scowling. His black eyes told them all that he didn't want to be here. Lily felt a moment in which she could relate.
Severus Snape looked over them all with his cold black eyes. Lily saw James and Sirius glower in the corner of her eye. The man's eyes suddenly stopped on his image. The two people stared at each other for a moment.
"This is strange." Said the older version of Snape. His voice was low and honeyed. Seeing the man was like looking at mud, but his voice amazed Lily. The younger Snape's voice was nothing like that. Maybe it was something that the man had learned over time. As if on cue, the younger Snape cleared his own voice, saying, "Yes, it is..."
Then the older Snape did something that none of them expected. He smiled.
Lily had never seen Snape smile.
She would have expected this smile to look strange on such a rude face. She would have expected to see his face contort into a smile that might look painful.
She didn't expect his face to ease into a smile, as if it was the easiest thing in the world (it was for everyone but him, Lily would think). His eyes looked alive for a moment....
But then the smile disappeared. He looked warmer, but Lily suspected that that was just the aftermath. The man took a step toward his young self, said, "Come with me." And turned around again. The other followed and they walked out the door.
"Wonder what they're going to talk about." James said with contempt.
"You just have such a problem with him, don't you, Potter?" Lily asked rudely.
"Yes, in fact, I do." He snapped back at her.
"Well, if you hate him so much, why do you always worry about what he's doing in his spare time?" Lily said heatedly.
James opened his mouth to speak, but quickly changed his mind, shook his head, stood up, and walked away to the other side of the room.
Lily saw Harry smile slightly. She didn't see what was so funny.
They spent the rest of the day, lounging around, talking about whatever came up. Harry and Ron had to leave for Quidditch practice around midday, so they all stood around the windows to watch, with a pair of binoculars that James coincidentally found in a cupboard in their room. There was no doubt about it, James was proud of Harry. He kept saying thinks like, "Must've gotten that from me!" and "Wow! I haven't seen anyone do that for a while!" and "Quick catch! Almost as good as me, he is!" Lily was annoyed within minutes.
"That's it!" Sirius finally said, while James was laughing at something that Harry had done, "I'm getting out of here! I want a good view of all this stuff, and not a seat next to the guffawing gorilla." He stood up, rubbing his arm (James had just punched him), and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Lily said, and ran after him. "I'm coming, too!" She honestly didn't want to spend any more time in this room, at least while Potter was there.
Sirius and James exchanged looks of amazement, but James didn't get up to go with them, as Lily would have expected. Instead he pulled his invisibility cloak from a pocket in his robes, tossed it to Sirius and said, "Have fun."
It was hard to walk under the cloak, with the two of them so close to each other. Sirius kept "accidentally" rubbing up against Lily's chest, which was getting almost as annoying as anything James had ever done. After Lily was out of the cloak, though, she wouldn't mind much. Maybe the only reason why they really weren't allowed out of the room they were in was because of James. He looked so much like Harry, it would be a wonder if nobody stared. But no one would recognize them. Lily and Sirius were as inconspicuous as any other person around here, or they would be. But for now they were just invisible.
They walked all the way to the Quidditch stadium to watch the Gryffindors practice. Lily had to admit after so long of watching him, he was good at this. Almost as good as James, though she never would have admitted that to James's face. Ron was quite good, too, as keeper, though Lily had seen better.
After so long of watching under the cloak, Lily finally threw it off her shoulders, saying, "It's stuffy in there." Sirius was getting uncomfortably close, but now he forgot about it. He wasn't like James, that was for sure. Get a girl while she's convenient was probably his motto.
A few minutes after Lily had thrown off the cloak, Harry spotted her. She could tell that he was trying to ignore her, but it wasn't working. He missed the Snitch while it was stationed twice, and Ron–who must've been captain–said that his mind was obviously not on Quidditch, and called off the rest of the practice. Harry waited while everyone else went in to change, then drifted lazily down to the stands where Lily and Sirius were sitting. Sirius had finally taken off the cloak and was busy trying to think up some sort of spell to repair the clasp on it.
"Shouldn't you be inside?" Harry asked them, still hovering a few feet above them on a broom that Lily could tell was fast.
"Yes, Harry, my boy. We just got tired of watching you from the castle windows, and decided to come watch you up close. And James was bothering us." Sirius said, leaning back in his seat.
Harry smiled slightly, and said, "Well, I would probably have left, too. But, come on, you two should go back. Professor Lupin will bring up lunch soon..."
"Okay, Uncle Harry." Sirius said with a slight fake whine. Harry turned away, looking confused.
And that was the extent of their time outside of the room.
Severus came back while they were eating lunch.
His older self had decided to wait until around lunch time, when everyone would be in the Great Hall, eating. Then he'd brought the boy back.
Severus really didn't know what to think on this subject. Their conversation had gone on smoothly enough:
Question: So you were a Death Eater?
Answer: I still am.
Question: But you're a spy?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Why did you switch sides?
Answer: Because I finally realized how stupid I was to be following a man like him.
Question: Who?
Answer: You know who I'm talking about. The Dark Lord.
Question: Why does Dumbledore trust you?
Answer: I don't know.
Question: Are you afraid of being found out?
Answer: Yes. But it's best to put on a poker face in front of danger, if you know what I mean
Question: Do you still hate Potter?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Do you hate his son?
Answer: ...Sometimes I don't.
Question: Why not?
Answer: Because he's not like his dad. .................
Severus really didn't know much. He liked his older self. Of course, the man was not any more pleasant to look at than the boy, but he seemed to be respected. He brought authority. He was charming, in a way, even though Severus couldn't place how so. He also had a very persuasive attitude. Severus had felt like a snake in front of a snake charmer the whole time he'd been talking with the man. It was strange.
Professor Snape dropped him off at the room where he'd been before. Everyone was in it, eating. They laughed and talked, which was something that Severus had never really taken part in. He and his counter part exchanged a look, in which each knew exactly what the other was feeling. The Professor left, and Severus closed the door behind him.
Remus Lupin was telling them about something that Severus really didn't care about, so he helped himself to a sandwich from the heaping pile, and moved into the corner. Harry and Ron were in their Quidditch robes. Gryffindor Quidditch robes. For a moment Severus felt anger lapping in the pit of his stomach. He would bet his right arm on the fact that Harry was just as good at Quidditch as James was.
As Severus listened to their conversation, one fact communicated itself to him. He felt worse than he had before.
They were to be sent back, a memory charm was to be set on each of them, and they were to be forgotten in this time. Well, not forgotten. Everyone would just pretend that this little problem hadn't come along. Severus felt like baggage that wasn't worth carrying along. Of course, he usually felt like that, but now the feeling was much more pronounced.
Forget about it, James thought to himself, that's just what I'll do. And I'll just go back to the life that I had. Forget that I'm dead. Forget that Snape is still alive. Forget that I have a sixteen-year-old son who has never met me up until now. Forget it all. That's just what I'll do.
But he couldn't. At least not yet, and for some reason, he didn't want to forget.
But that was what Dumbledore wanted, of course.
That night they followed Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the darkness into the Forbidden Forest. James was used to this place, so he didn't mind it much, but he could tell that Lily was slightly nervous. For a moment he felt like comforting her, but she would probably just slap him or something like that. He'd felt the sting of her slaps more than enough times to remember, so he didn't exactly look forward to another one.
James knew what Harry had meant about how Hogwarts lessened magical power. People didn't want those naughty students to do too much magic. They might hurt someone. As if half of them had the power to do anything that would hurt them or anyone else. In fact, when they'd done to spell to become animagi, they'd had to come here, to the forest. The place practically oozed magic. It was creepy.
They passed the lake–
And James remembered something–
He was running toward the lake. There was something important there–
But that had only been a dream. Something that he'd dreamt up last night. It was nothing, James tried to convince himself. Nothing real.
And yet...
They'd stopped in a clearing. It was passed the lake. James could only see a thick layer of trees all around him. He looked up. All he could see there was a layer of leaves, and a patch of night sky above. He thought he saw Mars glowing orange-red. Small twigs and dead leaves crunched under their feet. Their robes rustled on the ground. There was a chilly breeze whispering from the west. James inhaled the fresh air around him.
Harry had begun to work. Remus was watching him with some interest, but he didn't interrupt.
As James watched Harry his feeling was getting more and more pronounced. He wanted to run toward the lake–something was there.
How come they couldn't stay longer here? Why not? What was the problem. Then maybe James could figure out more about how and why he and Lily had died. Then he might be able to stop it from ever happening. It wasn't like he would get another chance to come here–in this time–Time Turners weren't meant to bring people through years. It had been a mistake–
–or maybe it hadn't been one. Maybe they'd been meant to come here. Maybe they had to stay. Maybe something was going to happen, and they needed to be here to stop–or to help it go on...
Harry was done. James was surprised at how fast he'd been. There was now a large hole in the air. There was a slight white-ish mist around it, so James knew where it ended. The hole was perhaps big enough for him to slouch through. Through it he could still see the forest behind it, but the forest seemed to be behind that same white mist. It blurred every now and then.
"You can go first." Remus said to James, "Everyone can go, Harry and I will follow and as soon as we're there we'll set memory charms on you all."
They all looked expectantly at James. He was always the first.
James took a step backwards, away from the portal. He shook his head.
"No, I'm not going back."
"James--" Remus said, trying to summon something like strictness on his face. But James interrupted.
"Not yet, Remus. Why do you think we're here? We came for a reason. I don't know what, but I'm not going back until I've found out--" And with that he turned around and ran into the trees.
They didn't follow him. Remus muttered something, raised his wand, and when he brought it down the portal disappeared. Then he said, "We have to find him." And went through the trees where James had gone only a moment before.
After a few minutes of walking in James's wake they started getting nervous. Shouldn't they have found him by now? They began walking at a quicker pace.
Another few minutes got them no where. They were still in the same cluster of trees that they'd been in before. Or at least it seemed so. The scenery hadn't changed.
Then, from some place ahead, they heard a yell.
Remus immediately broke into a flat footed sprint. The fear on his face was obvious. Something was going horribly wrong.
With everyone following Remus, they broke into a clearing. They'd reached the lake. The moon was glancing off the slow ripples of the lake. There were sounds of shuffling feet and quick breathing from their right, Remus set off.
There were six figures ahead of them. One of those figures was on the ground, one seemed to be tying that person's hands together. Remus raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"
One person fell over and the rest turned toward them.
It wasn't much of a contest, the woman thought later.
Carmen was low-ranked. Perhaps this little scene would bring her up higher on the scale. Not that it had been extremely hard to overcome one man and a few kids. It hadn't been a piece of cake, but it hadn't been extremely demanding. As she tied up the red-haired girl's hands, she scowled. Why hadn't the Dark Lord let her into his inner circle. There were only four or five female Death Eaters, and most of them had gotten good places in his favor, so why couldn't she do the same? Bellatrix had said that it was easy. Maybe she had been lying.
They were lucky to have gotten a chance like this. After they'd finished with their little fight, Macnair had looked over all of them. It was the perfect catch. A member of the Order of the Phoenix. The son of another member. And Harry Potter.
They didn't know who the rest of them were. Two of the other boys looked familiar to Carmen. There was a boy who looked a lot like Harry Potter. He must be related. There was another boy who looked like–although it was unbelievable–Severus Snape. Carmen knew that man's face all too well. He'd been accused by the Dark Lord himself of crossing back to Dumbledore, but he'd still found a way to worm himself by into his master's good sights. Carmen honestly didn't know how he'd done it.
Next to her, Harry Potter stirred, and she pulled out her wand in case he woke up. They had taken all of their prisoners' wands, but there was still danger. But the boy didn't wake up. His unconscious self had only been trying to do what he could not. Carmen smirked as she slid her wand into her pocket.
They'd been lucky to be here at this time. It had only been a quick check on Hogwarts and all of the dark animals in the forest. Carmen had been trying to ally with the acromantulas. She was a spider animagus. With a little more luck she might have succeeded, but the king acromantula–called Aragog–realized at the last minute what she was, and threatened to eat her if she didn't leave.
Oh well, it had been worth it. Stupid kid. They'd almost killed him as he came scrambling through the forest. They'd thought he was a spider. After they saw him, they thought he was Harry Potter. But that wasn't right either. Harry Potter wouldn't have been this stupid.
Carmen was lost in fantasies about being in the Dark Lord's inner circle while they got ready to leave.
A/N: I just made up Carmen. I wasn't going to give her a name, but, whatever. Anyway. Sorry for taking so long with this...
~THE TIME TURNER~ PART TWO: THE DARK FORTRESS
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: FORGET ABOUT THE PORTAL
"When are we going back?" James said, "And how?"
Harry answered him, "Tonight, because only portals should take people through years, and they need a lot of magic to be made. Hogwarts lessens the amount of magic that a person can use. We have to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight." For a moment he looked surprised that he'd known that, and James smiled with a warmth that he hadn't known he could feel at the moment.
Lily spent the day in boredom, at least for the most part. She hadn't known that the future could be so....similar. Basically everything was the same. She could even see a few kids swimming in the lake, just like Lily and her friends always did. It was the strangest feeling she'd ever had.
She was sitting on a cushiony chair, facing the window. Remus was gone, off to get the older version of Snape, he'd said. Lily wasn't exactly looking forward to that, but that was to be expected. She hadn't really been looking forward to any of this.
It was closer to the afternoon than it was to the early morning that had already passed. Lily knew that Harry was looking at her. She wasn't stupid. He had been looking outside, just like her, but apparently the sight of her was more interesting than anything out there. She could feel his gaze boring into her head. He was okay. Harry. She could tell that he was a good person, and if he acted like either of his parents, it was more like Lily. Right now James was with Sirius, Moony, Wormtail, Ron, and Hermione playing some knock-off of exploding snap. Snape was in the corner, apparently asleep.
Lily turned toward Harry. He didn't blink. Maybe he'd known that she was looking at him. Okay, so maybe he didn't look exactly like James. Green eyes. His nose was different. It took Lily a minute or so to recognize his nose. It looked like her dad's nose. His cheek bones were higher and his cheeks looked less filled out than James's. Lily wasn't sure if she particularly liked Harry.
"Is the future different?" Lily asked.
That was when the door opened.
They all looked up. In the doorway stood Remus and next to him was a man who Lily had no trouble recognizing.
He was tall and thin. His hair was black and looked in need of a cut, because it went past his ears and over his eyes, curling. His nose was crooked and his mouth was thin, looking just as crooked as his nose right now. He was scowling. His black eyes told them all that he didn't want to be here. Lily felt a moment in which she could relate.
Severus Snape looked over them all with his cold black eyes. Lily saw James and Sirius glower in the corner of her eye. The man's eyes suddenly stopped on his image. The two people stared at each other for a moment.
"This is strange." Said the older version of Snape. His voice was low and honeyed. Seeing the man was like looking at mud, but his voice amazed Lily. The younger Snape's voice was nothing like that. Maybe it was something that the man had learned over time. As if on cue, the younger Snape cleared his own voice, saying, "Yes, it is..."
Then the older Snape did something that none of them expected. He smiled.
Lily had never seen Snape smile.
She would have expected this smile to look strange on such a rude face. She would have expected to see his face contort into a smile that might look painful.
She didn't expect his face to ease into a smile, as if it was the easiest thing in the world (it was for everyone but him, Lily would think). His eyes looked alive for a moment....
But then the smile disappeared. He looked warmer, but Lily suspected that that was just the aftermath. The man took a step toward his young self, said, "Come with me." And turned around again. The other followed and they walked out the door.
"Wonder what they're going to talk about." James said with contempt.
"You just have such a problem with him, don't you, Potter?" Lily asked rudely.
"Yes, in fact, I do." He snapped back at her.
"Well, if you hate him so much, why do you always worry about what he's doing in his spare time?" Lily said heatedly.
James opened his mouth to speak, but quickly changed his mind, shook his head, stood up, and walked away to the other side of the room.
Lily saw Harry smile slightly. She didn't see what was so funny.
They spent the rest of the day, lounging around, talking about whatever came up. Harry and Ron had to leave for Quidditch practice around midday, so they all stood around the windows to watch, with a pair of binoculars that James coincidentally found in a cupboard in their room. There was no doubt about it, James was proud of Harry. He kept saying thinks like, "Must've gotten that from me!" and "Wow! I haven't seen anyone do that for a while!" and "Quick catch! Almost as good as me, he is!" Lily was annoyed within minutes.
"That's it!" Sirius finally said, while James was laughing at something that Harry had done, "I'm getting out of here! I want a good view of all this stuff, and not a seat next to the guffawing gorilla." He stood up, rubbing his arm (James had just punched him), and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Lily said, and ran after him. "I'm coming, too!" She honestly didn't want to spend any more time in this room, at least while Potter was there.
Sirius and James exchanged looks of amazement, but James didn't get up to go with them, as Lily would have expected. Instead he pulled his invisibility cloak from a pocket in his robes, tossed it to Sirius and said, "Have fun."
It was hard to walk under the cloak, with the two of them so close to each other. Sirius kept "accidentally" rubbing up against Lily's chest, which was getting almost as annoying as anything James had ever done. After Lily was out of the cloak, though, she wouldn't mind much. Maybe the only reason why they really weren't allowed out of the room they were in was because of James. He looked so much like Harry, it would be a wonder if nobody stared. But no one would recognize them. Lily and Sirius were as inconspicuous as any other person around here, or they would be. But for now they were just invisible.
They walked all the way to the Quidditch stadium to watch the Gryffindors practice. Lily had to admit after so long of watching him, he was good at this. Almost as good as James, though she never would have admitted that to James's face. Ron was quite good, too, as keeper, though Lily had seen better.
After so long of watching under the cloak, Lily finally threw it off her shoulders, saying, "It's stuffy in there." Sirius was getting uncomfortably close, but now he forgot about it. He wasn't like James, that was for sure. Get a girl while she's convenient was probably his motto.
A few minutes after Lily had thrown off the cloak, Harry spotted her. She could tell that he was trying to ignore her, but it wasn't working. He missed the Snitch while it was stationed twice, and Ron–who must've been captain–said that his mind was obviously not on Quidditch, and called off the rest of the practice. Harry waited while everyone else went in to change, then drifted lazily down to the stands where Lily and Sirius were sitting. Sirius had finally taken off the cloak and was busy trying to think up some sort of spell to repair the clasp on it.
"Shouldn't you be inside?" Harry asked them, still hovering a few feet above them on a broom that Lily could tell was fast.
"Yes, Harry, my boy. We just got tired of watching you from the castle windows, and decided to come watch you up close. And James was bothering us." Sirius said, leaning back in his seat.
Harry smiled slightly, and said, "Well, I would probably have left, too. But, come on, you two should go back. Professor Lupin will bring up lunch soon..."
"Okay, Uncle Harry." Sirius said with a slight fake whine. Harry turned away, looking confused.
And that was the extent of their time outside of the room.
Severus came back while they were eating lunch.
His older self had decided to wait until around lunch time, when everyone would be in the Great Hall, eating. Then he'd brought the boy back.
Severus really didn't know what to think on this subject. Their conversation had gone on smoothly enough:
Question: So you were a Death Eater?
Answer: I still am.
Question: But you're a spy?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Why did you switch sides?
Answer: Because I finally realized how stupid I was to be following a man like him.
Question: Who?
Answer: You know who I'm talking about. The Dark Lord.
Question: Why does Dumbledore trust you?
Answer: I don't know.
Question: Are you afraid of being found out?
Answer: Yes. But it's best to put on a poker face in front of danger, if you know what I mean
Question: Do you still hate Potter?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Do you hate his son?
Answer: ...Sometimes I don't.
Question: Why not?
Answer: Because he's not like his dad. .................
Severus really didn't know much. He liked his older self. Of course, the man was not any more pleasant to look at than the boy, but he seemed to be respected. He brought authority. He was charming, in a way, even though Severus couldn't place how so. He also had a very persuasive attitude. Severus had felt like a snake in front of a snake charmer the whole time he'd been talking with the man. It was strange.
Professor Snape dropped him off at the room where he'd been before. Everyone was in it, eating. They laughed and talked, which was something that Severus had never really taken part in. He and his counter part exchanged a look, in which each knew exactly what the other was feeling. The Professor left, and Severus closed the door behind him.
Remus Lupin was telling them about something that Severus really didn't care about, so he helped himself to a sandwich from the heaping pile, and moved into the corner. Harry and Ron were in their Quidditch robes. Gryffindor Quidditch robes. For a moment Severus felt anger lapping in the pit of his stomach. He would bet his right arm on the fact that Harry was just as good at Quidditch as James was.
As Severus listened to their conversation, one fact communicated itself to him. He felt worse than he had before.
They were to be sent back, a memory charm was to be set on each of them, and they were to be forgotten in this time. Well, not forgotten. Everyone would just pretend that this little problem hadn't come along. Severus felt like baggage that wasn't worth carrying along. Of course, he usually felt like that, but now the feeling was much more pronounced.
Forget about it, James thought to himself, that's just what I'll do. And I'll just go back to the life that I had. Forget that I'm dead. Forget that Snape is still alive. Forget that I have a sixteen-year-old son who has never met me up until now. Forget it all. That's just what I'll do.
But he couldn't. At least not yet, and for some reason, he didn't want to forget.
But that was what Dumbledore wanted, of course.
That night they followed Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the darkness into the Forbidden Forest. James was used to this place, so he didn't mind it much, but he could tell that Lily was slightly nervous. For a moment he felt like comforting her, but she would probably just slap him or something like that. He'd felt the sting of her slaps more than enough times to remember, so he didn't exactly look forward to another one.
James knew what Harry had meant about how Hogwarts lessened magical power. People didn't want those naughty students to do too much magic. They might hurt someone. As if half of them had the power to do anything that would hurt them or anyone else. In fact, when they'd done to spell to become animagi, they'd had to come here, to the forest. The place practically oozed magic. It was creepy.
They passed the lake–
And James remembered something–
He was running toward the lake. There was something important there–
But that had only been a dream. Something that he'd dreamt up last night. It was nothing, James tried to convince himself. Nothing real.
And yet...
They'd stopped in a clearing. It was passed the lake. James could only see a thick layer of trees all around him. He looked up. All he could see there was a layer of leaves, and a patch of night sky above. He thought he saw Mars glowing orange-red. Small twigs and dead leaves crunched under their feet. Their robes rustled on the ground. There was a chilly breeze whispering from the west. James inhaled the fresh air around him.
Harry had begun to work. Remus was watching him with some interest, but he didn't interrupt.
As James watched Harry his feeling was getting more and more pronounced. He wanted to run toward the lake–something was there.
How come they couldn't stay longer here? Why not? What was the problem. Then maybe James could figure out more about how and why he and Lily had died. Then he might be able to stop it from ever happening. It wasn't like he would get another chance to come here–in this time–Time Turners weren't meant to bring people through years. It had been a mistake–
–or maybe it hadn't been one. Maybe they'd been meant to come here. Maybe they had to stay. Maybe something was going to happen, and they needed to be here to stop–or to help it go on...
Harry was done. James was surprised at how fast he'd been. There was now a large hole in the air. There was a slight white-ish mist around it, so James knew where it ended. The hole was perhaps big enough for him to slouch through. Through it he could still see the forest behind it, but the forest seemed to be behind that same white mist. It blurred every now and then.
"You can go first." Remus said to James, "Everyone can go, Harry and I will follow and as soon as we're there we'll set memory charms on you all."
They all looked expectantly at James. He was always the first.
James took a step backwards, away from the portal. He shook his head.
"No, I'm not going back."
"James--" Remus said, trying to summon something like strictness on his face. But James interrupted.
"Not yet, Remus. Why do you think we're here? We came for a reason. I don't know what, but I'm not going back until I've found out--" And with that he turned around and ran into the trees.
They didn't follow him. Remus muttered something, raised his wand, and when he brought it down the portal disappeared. Then he said, "We have to find him." And went through the trees where James had gone only a moment before.
After a few minutes of walking in James's wake they started getting nervous. Shouldn't they have found him by now? They began walking at a quicker pace.
Another few minutes got them no where. They were still in the same cluster of trees that they'd been in before. Or at least it seemed so. The scenery hadn't changed.
Then, from some place ahead, they heard a yell.
Remus immediately broke into a flat footed sprint. The fear on his face was obvious. Something was going horribly wrong.
With everyone following Remus, they broke into a clearing. They'd reached the lake. The moon was glancing off the slow ripples of the lake. There were sounds of shuffling feet and quick breathing from their right, Remus set off.
There were six figures ahead of them. One of those figures was on the ground, one seemed to be tying that person's hands together. Remus raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"
One person fell over and the rest turned toward them.
It wasn't much of a contest, the woman thought later.
Carmen was low-ranked. Perhaps this little scene would bring her up higher on the scale. Not that it had been extremely hard to overcome one man and a few kids. It hadn't been a piece of cake, but it hadn't been extremely demanding. As she tied up the red-haired girl's hands, she scowled. Why hadn't the Dark Lord let her into his inner circle. There were only four or five female Death Eaters, and most of them had gotten good places in his favor, so why couldn't she do the same? Bellatrix had said that it was easy. Maybe she had been lying.
They were lucky to have gotten a chance like this. After they'd finished with their little fight, Macnair had looked over all of them. It was the perfect catch. A member of the Order of the Phoenix. The son of another member. And Harry Potter.
They didn't know who the rest of them were. Two of the other boys looked familiar to Carmen. There was a boy who looked a lot like Harry Potter. He must be related. There was another boy who looked like–although it was unbelievable–Severus Snape. Carmen knew that man's face all too well. He'd been accused by the Dark Lord himself of crossing back to Dumbledore, but he'd still found a way to worm himself by into his master's good sights. Carmen honestly didn't know how he'd done it.
Next to her, Harry Potter stirred, and she pulled out her wand in case he woke up. They had taken all of their prisoners' wands, but there was still danger. But the boy didn't wake up. His unconscious self had only been trying to do what he could not. Carmen smirked as she slid her wand into her pocket.
They'd been lucky to be here at this time. It had only been a quick check on Hogwarts and all of the dark animals in the forest. Carmen had been trying to ally with the acromantulas. She was a spider animagus. With a little more luck she might have succeeded, but the king acromantula–called Aragog–realized at the last minute what she was, and threatened to eat her if she didn't leave.
Oh well, it had been worth it. Stupid kid. They'd almost killed him as he came scrambling through the forest. They'd thought he was a spider. After they saw him, they thought he was Harry Potter. But that wasn't right either. Harry Potter wouldn't have been this stupid.
Carmen was lost in fantasies about being in the Dark Lord's inner circle while they got ready to leave.
A/N: I just made up Carmen. I wasn't going to give her a name, but, whatever. Anyway. Sorry for taking so long with this...