Disclaimer: I do not make any money off this. If I did, do you really think I'd be living in this lovely green rubbish can?
This chapter comes to you courtesy of my betas, the Vamp69 and Georgentosser.
OC ALERT! This story will have lots, and lots of OC's.
"This is Lingubestian"
-This is Parceltongue-
/This is Putoratian/
'This is Signing/Tribal'
Belonging to Time
AU Snatched through time at birth, Harry becomes a time traveller. He discovers this at five when he meets his real parents, and goes to Hogwarts prepared... but he didn't realised Voldemort had a spy in Hogwarts and was trying to steal a dangerous artefact.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Timeless Staff
February: 1992
"I don't get it." Marrok muttered. "All this trouble over a staff that's already useless?"
Harry shook his head. "Gills and I are trying to convince King Gareth not to use it. I told Dad last night, and he's going to go speak to him today."
"But why not just let him save his wife?"
Harry sat down in front of the semi-circle, heaving a sigh. "But by saving Aunty Elfeda, Gills will die. And be replaced by some pompous prince."
"How do you know he's pompous?" Lilly asked.
Harry glared at her. "That's not the point. The point is that if the Staff is really the Key of Aeti'Quial, then Gills will not die, and Voldemort is obviously after it, and he obviously wants to stop his downfall."
"But Harry, how would You-Know-Who get into Hogwarts?" Masobelle asked.
Harry shrugged. "That's the only thing I'm not sure of at the moment. He might have an inside agent, one of the teachers, perhaps?"
"Let's take a look, teachers… Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Parry or Professor Lynch. Charms? Professor Flitwick or Professor Hook. Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall or Professor Day. Herbology, Professor Clear; History of Magic, Professor Kantooth; Potions, Professor Snape; Flying, Madam Hooch and Astronomy Professor Mallee. Then we have Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, Madam Pince, Librarian and Hagrid, Groundskeeper. Who out of them sound like they would work for Voldemort?" Hermione asked.
Louise put a finger to her lip, silencing them as she thought. "Professor Clear?"
"Good, anyone else?"
Marrok put up his hand. Susan batted it down and told him to speak. "Well, Professor Mallee? He's a duelling champion and all, You-Know-Who liked powerful people."
Hermione butted in. "Snape. He favours the Slytherins too much."
"Okay, we have Clear, Mallee, and Snape. Is that all?"
"Well, none of us have Professor Lynch, but he's apparently really bad tempered."
"So Clear, Mallee, Snape and Lynch." Everyone nodded their agreement.
"That really narrows it down, guys. Four out of eleven teachers are evil." Harry said sarcastically.
Susan frowned. "I think we can take Snape of the list. After all, you as Coby May knew him when he was in school, and you apparently didn't hate him all too much."
Harry nodded. "Good argument for that, thanks Suzie." He waved a hand and three names appeared in mind air, with flames coming off the letter. "Any other arguments against these?"
"Well, I personally don't think that You-Know-Who would want Clear to do anything, since she's so gloomy and pessimistic about everything." Louise suggested.
The rest of them shook their heads. "That's not grounds enough to take her off the list. We need more evidence." Shane explained.
Greg chewed his bottom lip. "I have an idea."
"Go on," they all urged him.
He looked hesitant, before blurting out his idea. "We could spy on them."
Hermione, Masobelle and Susan looked appalled at the very notion. Harry looked thoughtful. Lilly, Louise, Shane and Marrok looked enthused, and Greg looked apprehensive as to how his idea would be received. Everyone but Harry had made up their minds about it, but it was really his decision, as he was their unofficial leader.
"Good idea, Greggo," Harry nodded. "Who should we spy on first? Cast your votes."
"Clear?" Louise, Masobelle and Marrok raised their hands.
"Mallee?" Hermione and Susan raised their hands.
"Lynch?" Harry, Lilly, Greg and Shane raised their hands. "Lynch it is," Harry affirmed, and started towards the exit.
March: 1012
Helga smiled widely at Harry. "Did everyone present understand that?"
One small Hufflepuff, Mara, shook her head. "Professor Hufflepuff, what was it that Sir Harrison was meaning to imply when he was discussing the merits of having Rapi-radish as a stabiliser?"
"Mr Gryffindor?" Helga turned to Harry. Harry swivelled around in his chair to face Mara. Casually flicking the book on Quidditch that he and Roswyn had been reading off his lap, he put his hands behind his head and began to explain.
"If you have Rapi-radish, where on the flat earth do they get these names from, Aunt Helga?" he asked, distracted.
"Harrison," she warned. Harry turned back to Mara.
"Right, sorry, as I was saying, having a dash of rapi-radish in a potion will make the potion less volatile, thus when you accidentally put too much of one ingredient or another in, the explosion is not quite as large as it would have been."
Mara nodded happily, and turned back to Helga. "Harrison, stay here after class please. You too, Miss Quidditch."
Once everyone else had packed up, Helga told them off for reading Quidditch books underneath their desks, and turned to Harry. "It would much appreciated if you refrained from making wisecracks in my class, Harrison Deogol."
"Your middle name is Deogol?" Roswyn giggled. Harry glared at her. Helga gave a loud gasp.
"Ouch!"
"Aunt Helga?" Harry asked in a panic.
"Get Sal. My water just broke."
Harry shook his head. "Roswyn, take a message to Professor Slytherin. Tell him it's urgent. Aunt Helga, I'm going to get you to the hospital wing."
"Professor Slytherin?" Roswyn started hesitantly.
"Miss Quidditch," Salazar acknowledged. "If you could wait a moment, I'm in the middle of a class."
"But Professor, Harry said to tell you that it's urgent."
Salazar stopped what he was doing. "Excuse me," he found himself telling the class.
"Harry told me to give you this," she handed him the note.
He read over it quickly. "Class dismissed!" he barked at them, sweeping out of the room.
Six days later, they held the naming ceremony, only deciding on a name for their beautiful baby daughter a few hours before the ceremony was due to start. Alassë Rowena Slytherin, named for her mother's middle name, and her godmother, had thick tufts of brown hair and shining brown eyes like her mother.
Salazar was bouncing his daughter on his knee, singing her a lullaby. "Allie loves her daddy," he cooed. Helga walked in, her eyes thick with tears, her face blotchy and her breath coming in little gasps.
"Helga?" he asked, putting Alassë on his hip, smiling down art his little girl.
"She- she can't see it! She-she" she gulped the air hungrily. "Sal, she's a squib!"
Salazar stopped smiling. "Who's a squib?"
"Alassë!"
Salazar looked angry, and handed his confused daughter to her mother. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, WOMAN!" he stormed out of the room.
March: 1992
Although they had spied on each of their teachers, they had come to no conclusions on who it was that was going to be stealing the staff, and Harry suggested that they prepare for each of them.
After going to breakfast that morning and noticing that Dumbledore wasn't there, and neither were McGonagall and Snape, the group was growing suspicious. Upon further enquiry, they learned that they had been called out to the ministry. They all agreed that now would be the time for whoever it was to get the staff. Seeking out Professor Kantooth, they decided that to warn a trusted teacher would be best. Professor Kantooth looked up from marking tests as the nine of them burst into his classroom. "What can I do for you?" he asked, taking off his glasses and shuffling his papers.
"Professor, it's important. It's about the Timeless Staff."
Kantooth's head snapped up. "How do you know about the staff?"
Hermione huffed. "You don't need to know how we know about it, but someone's going to try and steal it tonight!"
It was obvious he didn't believe them. "Very well, Miss Granger, Mr Potter, Misses Walters, Mr Harwood, Miss Black, Mr Flamel Miss Bones and Mr Lopez. I shall make sure someone tends to this matter." He winked at them, and told them to be off.
"He's not going to help us," Marrok stated in a small voice.
"No." Harry said. "That much was obvious. We need to go after it ourselves."
The others looked stricken. Harry sighed. "Who's coming?"
Shane shrugged. "I'm in."
Louise agreed immediately. 'I've come this far, I'll be damned if I don't get to see the end of it."
Hermione bit her lip, looking sceptical, before saying weakly, "I think I'll come too, then."
"I owe it to you, Harry." Marrok said. "You've tried to help me with my curse; I'll help you with your Dark Lord."
Masobelle frowned. "I'm not sure Dad would like it, but I suppose I have to."
"So will I, then." Susan said. "I could help, by seeing what we have next before we have to do it."
"Greggo, Lilly?" Harry asked. Lilly shook her head with fervour. Greg dithered.
"I'll come," he decided on finally.
Lilly looked like she was about to cry. Harry put a hand on her back. "You don't have to come, Lilly."
She shook her head. "Everyone else is going. I will go. I'll be fine." She squared her shoulders and held her head high.
Harry nodded. "Right, follow me!" Walking through passages and making them all lose track of where they were, he suddenly stopped in front of a wall.
The others looked at each other in confusion, but Harry muttered something at the wall, and it fell open, revealing a slide. Harry tilted his head towards it and motioned to Hermione. Bunching up her robes, Hermione ducked her head and slid down the tunnel. Lilly and then Louise went next, neither being as careful as Hermione and zipping down at full speed, calling out in glee as the wind rushed by them. Greg, then Shane, then Masobelle went sliding down the tunnel. Harry motioned to Susan and Marrok to go on, and they too went flying away. Harry then proceeded to lower himself into the shaft and close the passageway after him. When he came out at the other end, he was dizzy from going around in so many circles, and blinked several times, before taking in that they were in a grey room. Standing up and making sure everyone was there, he made a gesture for them to follow him.
An old door with ancient looking locks confronted them. Lilly licked her dry lips. She recognised it as the door to the room that had taken her hand, even though its looks had changed dramatically.
Harry tugged at the handle. It didn't budge. He rummaged in his pocket for his wand, and upon not finding it, cursed. Summoning it in his head, he stuck his finger in his head and spoke the words to a spell. "Effrego Ostium"
The door snapped open and Harry's wand came zooming into his hands. As soon as they entered the room, he put up a shield so that no-one would be tempted to touch the arch, even though everyone kept sneaking glances at Lilly's hand, convincing themselves that they would never touch it. Harry closed his eyes in preparation for what he was about to do.
"Abeo Pestis Pestis" He intoned clearly, standing near the Cursed gates of Hera the Wrathful. There were a few yelps as those who had been standing too close to him felt their connection to their magic being broken off, something they had never experienced in their lives before.
"Why couldn't we just have Travelled past the gate?" Hermione asked, looking at it in fear.
"Because," Harry began irritably, "My Travelling powers only work if I know where I'm going or to what I'm going and I can't travel straight to the Staff because Uncle Gaz made sure that his Assistant Wizards made sure I couldn't."
They all nodded, and looked at the gate again. "Come on, guys, we need to get through within five minutes if we want to keep all our limbs!" Lilly looked like she was going to be sick. Harry winced at his choice of words. "Just, get going."
Masobelle went first, and they all let out sighs of relief when the gates stayed the pink they were normally. Lilly volunteered to go next, but only if someone would hold her hand. Louise was happy to oblige her sister, and they were gone a few seconds later. Greg poked it, feeling his finger go through it, and then stepped through it.
Shane, Susan, Marrok, Hermione and Harry were left. Shuffling through quickly, they emerged into a room which seemed to contain a lake.
"Under the river asunder
to get across the room
But do be careful
for deadly flowers bloom." Masobelle read out from an engraved stone.
"Asunder? What the hell is asunder?" Greg burst out. Harry, Hermione and Shane seemed to be the only ones who knew.
"Like, in pieces." Harry explained. "So, it must be a riddle."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "All we have to do is swim, apparently."
"No, what about the last part? 'But do be careful, for deadly flowers bloom' what's that supposed to mean?" Marrok said quickly.
"There must be some kind of poisonous plant growing under there," Shane said lightly. "As long as we don't eat anything, I think we should be fine."
"Not a joking matter, Shane." Susan said tersely.
Shane threw up his hands in surrender. "Sheesh, Suzie, relax!"
Harry whipped around to look as Susan. "Suzie, what's behind those big wall things?"
He was referring to the fact that there was a massive wall down what appeared to be the centre of the room, penetrating deep under the surface of the water so that anyone attempting to get past it would have to swim.
Susan shook her head. "More walls. There're three walls in total, and then a door, which appears to be locked without a key. We should look for one while we're down there, in case your fancy unlocking charms don't work. Unless we can Travel?"
Harry shook his head. "Even though it has been more than five minutes, the Pesky Pestis seems to have a greater effect on my Travelling Powers."
Susan nodded. "Well, it looks like we'll have to go under. Can everyone swim?"
There was a general muttering of yes, but Lilly burst out in tears. "I'm useless! Without a hand I can't do anything!" They all turned to look at the stump that had once been an arm. Tears were streaming down Lilly's face and she was crying bitterly. Louise gave her sister a hug.
"We'll wait here," she told Harry quietly.
Harry nodded. "That's fine. Shout out if someone else is coming, maybe Suzie will be able to hear you."
Louise nodded, and turned back to comforting her distraught sister. Harry turned to the rest of the group. "Two down, seven to go," her muttered. "Alright, guys. We're going to do the bubble charm."
"But Harry, the bubble head charm is -,"
"Not the bubble head charm, Hermione. The bubble charm. Orbis." A bubble appeared in his hand, and he jammed it over his head. "Go on, you try."
There were several mutterings of the word Orbis, but only Hermione, Shane and Masobelle were able to get it. They made bubbles for the others, jamming them on their heads and checking carefully for leaks. "I feel like I'm wearing a fish bowl," Shane muttered after Hermione had checked for the fifth time that every gap possible was sealed in his bubble. Once Hermione was satisfied, they all dived into the water.
Hundreds of small silvery fish swarmed around them, and Masobelle tried beating them off with a flapping of her hand. Instead they seemed to swarm around her more. "I swear," she muttered. "If they got any closer, I'd be eating them!"
Susan raised her eyebrows. "I'm surprised you can even see in front of your face, Bellé"
"You wouldn't have any problems with that, would you Suzie?" Masobelle muttered, wiping away some fish and wincing as they left marks like bugs on windscreens. "O-kay" she said, looking faintly disgusted. They continued to swim for a good ten minutes, before they reached the wall. Discussing it quickly, they swam down deeper. Until now they had stuck relatively close to the surface. Using the wall to make sure that they were going the right way, they began their descent. Once they reached the end of the wall, they saw that they were close to the bottom of the 'lake'. It was sandy, with red and purple flowers swaying with the water. Shane reached out to pick one, before Harry slapped his hand away. "Oi! Mate, remember the riddle? Under the river asunder? Remember?"
Shane frowned. Greg butted in. "But do be careful, for deadly flowers bloom?"
"Oh, yeah." Shane said slowly, withdrawing his hand. Marrok started to swim up again, and the others began to follow him. However, when the reached the top, there was a wire mesh, and it lead them back up and down again. Eventually, none of them were sure if they were going up or down.
"Suzie?" they all asked as one.
"I'm really not sure, but I can see more that way, so I guess that's up…" Susan shook her head and gave a little shrug. They all started heading the way that they assumed was up, though they didn't seem to be coming any closer to the surface. When they found that they were at the bottom of the lake, Marrok started panicking.
"We're never going to get out of here," he wailed, looking stricken. "We're all going to drown!" Greg hit him over the head.
"Get over yourself, Rocky." He then turned to the others, and pointed at the ground near Marrok's feet. "Do you reckon that's a key?"
Susan nodded, and Marrok picked it up, shoving it in his pocket. Making their way up, and eventually swimming their way out about half an hour later, Harry took the key from Marrok. "That was way too easy," he muttered, inserting the key into the lock.
Pulling the door open with a rush, he motioned for the others to go in ahead of him. Slamming the door shut behind him, he noted that they were in a room almost completely empty. There was a sword in a sheath hanging on the wall, and nothing else. Pulling the sword from the sheath and weighing it in his hands, he held it in front of him. "Get out your wands, guys." He muttered.
They obliged him, and they set about walking across the room carefully. "Can you even use that thing, Harry?" Marrok asked, eyeing the heavy sword in his hands.
Harry scoffed. "Of course I can! Meet a Gryffindor male who hasn't had lessons in fencing by the time he's ten and I'll eat my hat."
"You don't have a hat," Greg offered unhelpfully.
Harry rolled his eyes. "No, seriously. I started learning when I first met my father. After flying, it was the next thing he taught me to do. And Professor le Rowe-Ellison teaches Weapons three times a week to first years. In second year, we drop flying, and take Weapons five times a week, until we finish Hogwarts. And in fifth, sixth and seventh year, there is an option of taking Specialised Weapons, which make it so that you have 10 Weapons lessons a week. Boys always learn fencing first, and girls always learn the bow and arrow. Then the girls learn fencing and the boys the bow and arrow, before moving on to jousting and daggers, etc. Weaponry was a very serious subject 1000 years ago."
He abruptly shut up as about 50 apparitions appeared, armed with either swords or wands. Slashing out at one, he commanded the others to start shooting spells. Flashed of different coloured lights came flying in both directions, and Greg shouted over the din. "HOW DO YOU GET TIME FOR ALL YOUR SUBJECTS?"
Stabbing another apparition in the chest and cleaning his sword on the grass, Harry shouted back and dodged a stunner. "WE HAVE LESSONS FROM 7.00 TO 5.00."
Greg gaped, and Hermione pushed him out of the way of a fluro blue spell. "Start fighting, Greggo," she hissed angrily. Only three of the apparitions had been defeated.
"OKAY, GUYS! ATTENTION FOR A SECOND," Harry bellowed. "The stunning spell is Stupefy. It should produce a red light like this." he demonstrated the spell and knocked down another two apparitions. "And the best shield spell in this situation is taka. It produces a shield which repels any light."
Marrok stopped and looked at him, confused to the hilt. Harry continued to fight the apparitions with the swords, occasionally defeating one. Switching the sword to his left hand, he shot a handful of stunners from his fingers, and shouted out loudly, "TAKA!" There was a momentary flash and the next spell that hit him bounced off and hit its producer. "Somniculosus!" he shouted, blocking one with his sword and sending another to sleep. The others had been watching his progress for the last few minutes, and quickly shook themselves back to the battle.
Hermione began to shoot spells out of her wand at a rate that made the others think she was trying to create a spell-rainbow.
The others stuck with yelling stupefy, and when that proved unsuccessful, a range of spells, from Wingardium Leviosa, to Aduro.
Marrok's shouts of Wingardium Leviosa sent apparitions into the ceiling, knocking them unconscious and making them disappear. Greg was bellowing 'Aduro' at every apparition that dared to come near him, setting them on fire and occasionally killing one. Masobelle let out a warrior like cry of 'Lux Lucis' temporarily blinding three of the apparitions and finishing them off by drawing her wand across their throats and muttering 'scindo'.
Shane seemed to have managed stupefy, while adding in a few curses that his parents had taught him, but were no longer taught in schools. "Capio! Leto!" One was mauled so badly that Shane had to turn away, and the other had its eyeballs gauged out before it died. "You never told me that would happen!" he said, cringing and talking to his parents as though they would hear him.
Susan managed a few stupefys, and upon finding this ineffective for the simple reason that she wasn't proficient enough in the spell, she turned to the Diversion Charm, using it to distract her attackers before cutting them to pieces and thoroughly beating several apparitions.
About twenty minutes later, every apparition had been defeated. Marrok had been hit by a stray stunner and was now lying unconscious on the ground, while Greg was nursing a rather large cut to his arm. Harry frowned at them, concerned. "Are you okay, Greggo?"
Greg shook his head. "I don't think I can take whatever this crazy thing has in store for us next. Can I just… stay here? With Rocky?"
Harry nodded, sheathing the sword on a belt he had just conjured. "Remember, call if anyone's coming, Suzie might be able to hear you. If Marrok wakes up, he might even be able to hear if Lilly or Louise call out, and we can be warned in extra advance."
Not really understanding, but agreeing anyway, Greg nodded. Harry cast one last worried look at Marrok, before making his way across the rest of the room and walking through the arch.
Authors Notes:
Sorry about the long wait, schools just started up again and I haven't had much spare time. We're nearing the end of this, one more chapter and an epilogue to go. There is a one shot in my profile about Harry going back in time to teach himself, go check it out if you want. It's under 'Belonging to Time: A Glimpse In Time' which is where all my one shots for this series will be located. See if you can guess who Voldies spy is. Constructive criticism appreciated.
Until next time,
Sarah