Disclaimer: Keywords here: Me Not Own Harry Potter
Summary: Time traveling- a concept of moving forwards and backwards to different points in time, including traveling sideways as in parallel realities or universes. A TRHG fic. Contains HBP spoilers.
'Contradiction of Terms'
By nilfheim
Chapter 1: Concepts of Time Traveling
The gigantic hourglass gleamed inside the room despite the poor light coming through from the door. It gleamed as if it was something put there in that room to attract attention. It gleamed in a way that suggested that it was perhaps the only thing worth taking note of inside the room. Which was partly true.
Since the time of its creation, the particular hourglass had never enjoyed to be in the limelight for even once—surrounded by flocks of people looking up and down, as if it was some new specimen. It if it could talk, it can only tell of a lifetime of isolation for centuries inside chambers and rooms of secrecy that only a few people know of its existence. It had rarely been mentioned in books, even ones that are ancient and goes back a couple of hundred years to go. It had only been mentioned publicly and generally once, in the gravestone of its maker.
Its maker was equally as enigmatic and mysterious as its creation. He was altogether famous albeit a little withdrawn from fame and publicity. That might be considered altogether a wise move for the rest of the human history for many of his contributions—only a few known to the masses—were not exactly ones that anyone would mention inside a room full of people and not raise a debate. In other words, most of his achievements and successes in life concerned about things that were mainly thought impossible and if there was anyone that thought of it at all, they were most likely labeled as 'dreamers', 'insane' or 'mad' or any other word that fitted in that category.
But the one thing that let a few handful persevering and hard-working scholars in the face of the earth to know of his discoveries and creations was a journal written not in paper but in memories. It was kept locked for so many years that nobody knew the exact years that those memories made their mark in time. It was locked in an amulet—a plain one at that and passed down from a family generation to generation. Nobody even tried scrutinizing or looking for any anomaly at that amulet when the first common folk had seen it, it seemed very well plain enough.
However, scholars and intellectual people who had all the time in the world to do their work don't see things that way. They don't see that pretty and normal enough sunflower you passed down on your way quite the same way you do. And that goes for austere and commonplace amulets passed down from son to son in a prestigious clan of famed wizards and witches. The amulet there remained for a very long time that not a single person belonging from that clan didn't know why and how it had gotten there or what was its purpose for remaining in the archives of their family heirlooms.
One of the more daring and adventurous first cousins—who happened to be engaged in a lifetime of work and research among the concepts of time traveling—happened to have the amulet passed down to him from his uncle who didn't deemed it worthy enough to add as a collection of heirlooms to give to his sons and daughters when the appointed time of his passing in this world took place. The amulet turned out to be not as so ordinary, plain and dull as they thought but brimming with knowledge about the more unexplained mysteries the human race had ever known. Such as time traveling.
And that will lead to a fifteen-minute fame of all the memories the amulet contained but no more. Most of the theories, experiments, solutions, recipes and locations of his work had been written down dutifully and word by word by devoted scribes in thick and heavy books bounded by leather. Books that would eventually be rotting today. And one of the most known legendary things that came from the memories locked in that amulet would be the Hourglass of Time.
An hourglass gigantic and huge. With it, an ability for an inanimate object to grant anyone who wishes to travel in time what point in the spacetime continuum they would like to be. Should they wish to go backwards in time to see one of the most significant and momentous events in history, the Hourglass can exactly do that. Travel a thousand years forwards to have a glimpse of the future are not out of the question for the Hourglass. And most controversial and widely thought impossible for now, traveling sideways in time between parallel realities or universes. All possible with just a single flick of thought for the Hourglass.
While many wizards and witches who debated widely over the whole time traveling stuff including the paradoxes that may happen, nobody knew that what they were discussing, arguing, researching and speculating about had already been laid for them. The way to time—a most mysterious element that existed in space among all others—had been by now, concretely made for them. All that remained now was the Hourglass as proof.
And the most fanatic and devoted of all in time traveling know about the Hourglass, its existence, its creator and the mysteries and theories around it. However, many doubted of its proof, because there were still witnesses to be to credit its existence. And so far, nobody has. Some thought of it as rubbish while others believed in what they didn't see and supported the actuality of the Hourglass. As time went on, it was and still is one of the most controversial things in history.
Now, after five hundred years, perhaps the Hourglass of Time will make its mark in history and change the wizarding world unexpectedly.
Inside the library were a hundred bookshelves and even more than that, were thousands of books to fill the space allotted for them. Books of every size imaginable (some of them the size of no more than a medium-sized button found in the lapel of your jacket) and in every text and language known to man. Others were big and heavy as a pile of bricks would.
The sizes of the books didn't compare when it came to their covers and titles. Many were still in good reading condition (after all, it is a library) while others had missing texts or had their contents fading and vanishing as time passed by. Most notable of all were the antiques and the newer titles. While the antiques had gold embroidered (or silver or bronze) in their covers and were bounded by leather, the newer ones were more bound by paper and had newer designs and catchy front covers.
In a normal day, a library like this would be full of people—some of them on a thesis or a project, others as a meeting place while some on the sole purpose of entertaining oneself for a day by reading. However, it was already dark and nobody would dare to the entrance to steal some valuable book or something.
But Hermione Granger was exempt from being caught by Madam Pince, or Argus Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris. She was still one of the cleverest minds to grace Hogwarts ever since she entered this school and proved her worth to her professors time and again. And she knew a lot more than an average talented and intellectual student in Hogwarts would, for example, one of the know-it-alls in Ravenclaw. So it was no surprise that she already knew how to bypass the three that stood between her and the Hogwarts library and those books that she loved.
Normally, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley didn't give a thought when Hermione went out in one of her night-reading escapades. After all, she also didn't give as much as a warning only for the two boys to take care whenever they went out of the night with only the Marauders Map, Harry's Invisibility Cloak and a new mission to accomplish in a night.
But not these times.
Today was not exactly how it was when they were in their first year at Hogwarts. They were now at the end of their last year but it didn't made things much easier. The fact that the death one of the most influential, wise, powerful and remaining staunch champion of the cause of Muggleborns and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore, was something that kept the wizarding world alarmed and panicked.
Many thought that his death was absolutely on the wrong time ever now with the rise of You-Know-Who and all the distressing news more and more people learn each day, either from the newspapers or the radio or from talk with other wizards. That goes the same for the Order of the Phoenix and its members, even Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Yet one thing didn't change for Harry, Hermione or Ron.
Hope. Hope that there will be a way for a better future—of Voldemort without it. Hoping that they will find a way to defeat him and his followers. As it was in a terrestrial adage, hope will always be there. And how Hermione hoped along with the rest of the others. She remembered what her grandmother said on her deathbed, telling the eight year old Hermione to never cease in hoping for a brighter outcome of the future. And on that time, she remembered she didn't took her grandmother's words seriously for what does an eight year old perceive of things like that then. But now that she was older and wiser, she could see now the sense in her grandmother's words.
She sighed inwardly and closed the book she was reading. It was simply titled Una Y Otra Vez in bold letters and embossed in gold. It meant 'Time and Again' in Spanish and was becoming a favorite of Hermione's lately. Not for the fact that it was an antique or it was given to her by a beloved aunt who passed away this summer but due to its contents that revealed everything known to man about time traveling.
One thing puzzled Hermione though. The book mostly contained magical references and spells that surely, no Muggle would conceive while even on crack. And she was Muggleborn and there were no known witches or wizards before her in the lineage of the Grangers' as Hermione checked last time in their family tree. Her aunt Gracias was definitely a Muggle as her job was a computer engineer before she passed away. Hermione didn't think she was a Squib either because if that was the case, her parents would've told her aunt that she attended Hogwarts instead of another Muggle school.
She pondered some time over this, just like all the other days after she received that book and read its contents. The Grangers were of no doubt, a family composed of Muggles and Hermione was the only witch there. So she was certainly Muggleborn—no qualms about that. She even asked her parents and her grandfather if there were any witches or wizards before her. And the answer was no, confirming the facts inside Hermione's head that she was unquestionably born in a family of Muggles.
There were also unexplored ideas behind all of this that perhaps, Aunt Gracias wandered into an antique shop and bought her one of the books. But it was ruled out mostly by the all-known fact throughout the Grangers (whenever they're having family reunions) that Aunt Gracias was practical, sensible and rational. Every present her niece received from her were functional or convenient or useful. Or perhaps Aunt Gracias went to a bookstore and passed by the antiques section and was in a hurry so she simply grabbed what perhaps seemed the most convenient and feasible book she could see. And after that, the book was left lying in a corner without Aunt Gracias reading its contents for once.
No, no, no, no, absolutely not her mind ruled that one out. Aunt Gracias was a neat and orderly person and every item she owned was categorized and placed where she could see it most. And when it came to books, she made sure that she has read every single book she owned. Hermione was sure that her aunt wouldn't give her a book that seemed foolish and senseless to her.
Then what! Her mind screamed in frustration. She was already getting a headache for thinking of stuff like this for a long period as there nothing seemed logical in every solution she presented at her problem.
Maybe I wasn't really a Muggleborn at all she thought and smiled at her own foolishness. She could already see the headlines of the Daily Prophet if there was something reported like this. Hermione Jane (insert a pureblood family name here)—the missing heiress of the (insert a pureblood family name here). Ha! That'll be the day Malfoy—her sworn archenemy in school—would fall in love with a Muggle.
Shaking her head of her own foolishness, Hermione resolved to stay home for Christmas and solve the mystery there once she got home. She looked at her wristwatch and saw the time, it was already quarter to eleven. She sighed and continued to make analysis of what she had read from another book about time traveling, Time Configuration, although not as good as the one her aunt gave her.
According to Una Y Otra Vez, there was no reason anymore for humanity to make new plans and so on for time travel as it was already mapped out by one sorcerer in the past, about five hundred years ago. One of his creations that dealt with time was the so-called Hourglass of Time. The Hourglass was considered the epitome of perfection in time traveling devices such as the Time Turner. It could make the user travel forwards and backwards at any point in time and also traveling sideways in time between parallel realities or universes. Unfortunately, no one has been credited at seeing the actual Hourglass and bringing back proofs such as photographs, or maps with its current location or predictions that will come true in the future as a result of their time travel there. Many wizards and witches considered the whole story as nonsense.
Hermione would most likely consider to dismiss the book once after reading the story about the Hourglass there—a special chapter was devoted entirely to the Hourglass—but the rest of the book were spells of ancient magic that would allow the user to perhaps create a new Hourglass. Most unfortunately though, all of the ideas and spells presented there were completely theoretical as no witch or wizard had dared to test them. At the time of the publication of the Una Y Otra Vez, the media was clobbering anyone who had publicly declared about their belief at the existence of the Hourglass so the book never had a second printing done by the publisher. It was left decaying in dust and molds at bookshops everywhere who had ordered for copies.
At Time Configuration, there were theories there by Nicolas Flamel and other distinguished wizards about the concepts of time traveling. As disappointing as it is, Hermione found out that there were many paradoxes listed there as of why time traveling is discouraged, even if only three hours back in the past. Included was the grandfather paradox, an example of which you traveled back to the past and accidentally killed your grandparents before you were even born. However, there was also the predestination paradox, in which the time travelers were simply doing actions that were previously seen in the timeline, although the time travelers were not aware of the causes of those actions at that time. Hermione thought that what she and Harry did in their third year in order to save Sirius was an example of this paradox.
Hermione opened the particular chapter she was reading in Time Configuration about the predestination paradox and fictional examples of it. She scanned the pages, remembering each word by heart as she knew it was essential for further studies of time traveling.
"…however, in the predestination paradox, it is arguable though that the mechanics of time travel are actually prevented by any paradoxes such as by preventing them that a priori that time travel was occurring and by allowing them to take the exact action to do at the particular moment of time and keeping the timeline constant and stable."
"…allowing regressive time travel but no paradoxes, the present moment is already the past for a future observer so all the events are already fixed."
She closed the book and thought of the matter at hand. Hermione knew that to win the war, what they needed was time. But it seemed that time was fast and was leaving them quickly behind. And it was vital to their cause. That was why she spent the rest of the summer poring over books that concerned about time. Because she was determined that if perhaps—something was changed in the past—then the outcome of their side in the upcoming war wouldn't be so bleak.
'It's a gallant thought Hermione. But one that could never be. Time traveling is risky, if not, dangerous and it would cause all kinds of paradoxes that we've never even dreamed of in the first place,' Harry's voice echoed inside her head.
'Even if you did managed to arrive at your destined point in time, would you be able to change certain actions and events there successfully?' that was the voice of Remus Lupin, telling one of the most brilliant students of Hogwarts of what he thought about her time traveling ideas.
'It's so perilous and chancy that I don't even want to think about it,' Ron's reactions were the same with the rest when she told him all about it.
'But what if you can't get back? Or during the process of changing history—something happens to you. Have you even thought about it?' Ginny was in disbelief when her best friend told her of what she would want to accomplish in time traveling.
Hermione looked at the two books at hand. Constructing another Time Turner was already out of her choices. It would take a long and tedious process that would take ages. She wished they hadn't destroyed the entire stock of Time Turners the Ministry have in their fifth year. At least, all she have to do will modify the Time Turner that will take her back in greater lengths of time then return back to the future.
The only hope Hermione had now was the supposedly Hourglass of Time, if it ever existed at all. No wizard or witch had ever seen it and even time traveling experts such as Nicolas Flamel doubted of its existence at all. Hermione decided to rest her head on her arms, thinking for a minute before she go back to her bed as she was now very sleepy. But that minute turned to thirty minutes, then to one hour and then to two hours. Hermione had thoroughly slept at the library.
At the darkness, one could see the Head Girl sleeping with her head on her arms and two of the most important books in the field of time traveling placed next to her. Moonlight streamed from the window, emphasizing the girl's long brown hair.
That was what Harry saw when he entered the library after hours of searching everywhere once he and Ron discovered Hermione was missing in the common room. Harry stopped for a moment, looking at one of his best friends. He thought of how Hermione was like a butterfly, undergoing metamorphosis for a time until it finally emerged pretty and beautiful and delighting people of its beauty. He remembered her bushy hair and her bossy, know-it-all attitude in their first year. Well, Hermione could still be described as a know-it-all and still had a bossy attitude that reappears whenever Harry and Ron have been neglecting their studies.
But one thing changed though. Hermione looked already the woman she visualized herself since she was a child. Her hair was already long and sleek, tied in a half-ponytail or sometimes in braids. Heads turned up whenever she passed by, unlike in their first year.
Harry smiled and proceeded to her, about to wake her up. He knew that Hermione was involved in research over some time traveling project or something. The others mostly deduced that she was simply challenging herself by daring to create a Time Turner or some time traveling device. But Harry and Ron knew better.
Hermione wished to change time, first by changing Dumbledore's death. Harry still knew how many times he, Ron and Ginny have been discouraging her. But she was undeterred and was determined to do it. She always argued the fact that if there were certain events in the past that have been changed, perhaps the outcome of the war would be favorable to their side. Harry knew she was referring to Dumbledore's death. Dumbledore was like a rock or a pillar to which everyone clung to and had support. His death, however, changed everything and many people in the wizarding world panicked and some of them thoroughly lost hope. Hermione was one of them and she deduced that if something was done, perhaps Dumbledore wouldn't have died at all. To Hermione, Dumbledore was one of the major factors that affected their side at the war.
Harry took a different view. He appreciated of what one of his best friends was doing for their sake and everyone else but it was not exactly an idea he preferred. He knew the risks of what Hermione was proposing. How many times he tried to talk to her out of it, he couldn't remember. And in any case, even if she did manage to get back to the past, how could she try fending off Death Eaters while he and Dumbledore made an escape? Or do something at Severus Snape—a name Harry hated bitterly to death—or to Draco Malfoy so that the two of them were out of the way.
He sighed and approached her, shaking her gently until she woke up. Harry already had too many worries right now. And one of them was Hermione. He only hoped she'd come to her senses soon before she did something that would change history forever. After all, any intelligent fool could make things more bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. Harry knew this enough.
He wondered if Hermione had what it takes to change the past to their favor—if and ever she gets there.
That was the same thought Hermione had before she fell to sleep.
AN: You might find a quote taken here from Albert Einstein. Other than that, reviews and constructed criticism accepted here. And I know, it gets confusing too much so here's a short summary of this chapter—Hermione is simply looking for ways to go back to time and alter events leading to the death of Dumbledore.
The Hourglass would make its appearance soon enough and so is Tom Riddle. And I didn't invented anything here except the Hourglass, search the web and you'll find there really is a grandfather paradox and a predestination paradox. Let me also know if this story is stupid, stereotypical or worth continuing.