Title: The Traveler – The Marauders
(in which we find out that Riley was not the first Traveler)
Author: Captain Oblivious
Rating: G (may be moved up later, but not by much)
Disclaimer: Feel free to sue me for borrowing Rowling's
Characters… you'll receive a pack of gum, a couple of posters,
and a stuffed dog named Puddles within 6-8 weeks.
A/N: Welcome to the second in a series of stories called The Traveler!
Just so you know before we start, Riley and Casey have no connection
whatsoever unless you count the fact that they both live on Earth. Yeah….
Summary: Casey is a normal Harry Potter fan with a life and plenty of dreams. One of them is to read the sixth Harry Potter book to find out that Sirius didn't really die. But when, through bizarre circumstances, she ends up not only back in time, but on a different continent and in a different world, she has to decide if changing the past is really worth changing the future.
June 22, 2003Tears fell swiftly onto the pages as she read. Pale fingers grasped the book so tightly that they began to turn white, and large eyes set in a child-like face were focused intently on the awful words. Her bottom lip had been pulled into her mouth, where it was being chewed methodically. Her brow was creased with pain, rebellious strands of brown hair escaping from the half-ponytail and drifting down across her face.
She had been reading for hours without moving and without making a sound. Her back was stiff, her neck and shoulders throbbed, her eyes ached, and her butt was beyond numb. But she couldn't stop reading yet; she couldn't. Of all the injustices in the world, her favorite character had just been killed off! She was determined to find some loophole, some way of getting Sirius back out of that veil. However, the closer she got to the end of the book, the less likely it seemed that there would be a way out.
She wished she could join Harry in trashing Dumbledore's office. Her fingers were dancing along the edge of the book as they itched to pick something up and hurl it across the room. That probably would have startled her sister, Jaime, and Jaime's friend, Laurel, not to mention severely alarming her mom, so she refrained from grabbing the candy dish off the coffee table next to her.
Since Laurel was over to visit from Nevada for Jaime's birthday, Jaime had been gracious enough to buy The Order of the Phoenix, but not read it until she went back to visit Nevada with Laurel. Her sister, therefore, had been granted first-reader's rights. This was wonderful, except for the fact that she couldn't tell Jaime about anything that was happening in the book. So, as she sat on the couch, knees curled up to her chest and tears trickling down her cheeks, she chewed her lip to keep from telling Jaime exactly who had died and exactly how and when and where and why and who by.
Finally finishing the book without an inkling of hope in Sirius's favor, she slammed the book shut and glared pathetically at Jaime. It took Jaime a good five minutes to notice, and when she did, her eyes grew wide and she asked, "Who died? Don't tell me! Was it good? Ooh…."
As for Casey, she hugged the offending book tightly and sniffed quietly. Mom glanced at her sympathetically, but didn't hide her amusement very well. And right then, Casey felt as if she were the only one in the world who knew and cared that Sirius Black had died.
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This is just the prologue, but I'd really like to know what you think so far! Review, please!