Hi everybody! This is one of my favorite chapters that I've written so far, so I hope you enjoy. It's very funny, which is probably why it was so hard to write. Enjoy!
(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)
Chapter 19
Proof that Hogwarts is Real
"'Harry, what do you think you'd do if you saw yourself bursting into Hagrid's house?' said Hermione.
'I'd — I'd think I'd gone mad,' said Harry, 'or I'd think there was some Dark Magic going on —'
'Exactly! You wouldn't understand, you might even attack yourself! Don't you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time... Loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!'"
The eight time-travelers were huddled together in the bathroom, looking at the reply that Stella had gotten the year before from Lin.
"I still don't get it," Stella said. "I mean, he says, 'I finally have proof that Hogwarts is real,' which is impossible, which means...either this is him from the future - but that's also impossible, because he doesn't know about what I meant by 'his work' - or it's whoever sent us here, or someone working for them. But that's our only clue...CAN SOMEBODY JUST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?"
"Stella," Jonah said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down before you start cursing and get us into trouble."
She laughed - a nervous laugh, prolonging the situation - and shook her head.
"So, then, what do we do?" she said. "What other clues might we have?"
"Well, I might have something," Molly said. Carefully, she took out a single blonde hair from her pocket.
"I found this on my suitcase when we got into the castle," Molly said. "Our time-traveling culprit has to be blonde."
"So...that isn't any of us - except maybe me, but it looks too light to be my hair," Zoë said. "So...is it Hannah? Lavender?"
"Too dark to be Lavender or Hannah," Ava said. "Maybe...Luna?"
"Not Luna," Mackenzie said. "Neville? He's blonde here -"
"Too long to be Neville," Stella said, almost defensively. "Romilda?"
"Romilda wouldn't have the self-awareness to do something like this," Beatrix said. "Maybe it's not a student?"
"Well, whoever it is, it has to be someone who's alive in the future - so it can't be Lavender, anyway," Mackenzie pointed out.
"Wait...Lavender dies?" Molly asked, her eyes wide.
"Oh, great, here we go," Jonah said. "Thanks for spoiling her - now we'll never hear the end of it."
"Lavender dies?" Molly repeated.
"Only in the movies," Stella said. "She does get hurt in the books, but it isn't clear if she dies -"
"Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!" Molly said. "I'm never going to be able to look at her the same way again - she dies?"
Mackenzie groaned. "Sorry, Molly," she said. "Maybe she won't die."
"Anyway, maybe it's someone else," Madison pointed out. "Maybe it's Draco."
"And he has that Time-Turner from the play-that-must-not-be-named," Stella pointed out. She shivered. "God, I can't believe I actually referenced that."
"Oh, is that the Cursed Child thing that came out?" Molly asked.
"Don't even mention its name," Stella said. "It's the stupidest thing ever."
Molly's eyes widened. "I can't believe it. You actually don't like a Harry Potter book."
"It's the script of a play, it's not written by her, and Cedric Diggory becomes a Death Eater," she said. "There's no way it actually pertains to the series."
Molly raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
She shrugged. "I don't want it to."
"Fair enough," Molly said. "So then who could it be?"
The room was silent. All of the options had been exhausted.
"Are there any other blonde kids in the school?" Madison said. "Even in Cursed Child?"
"Well, there's Delphi," Stella said. "But if we're dealing with her…" She shivered.
"What?" Molly asked. "What's wrong with her?"
"She's the daughter of Voldemort," Stella said. "She uses time travel to save her dad, and she isn't willing to get kids killed along the way - she even uses the Killing Curse on one of them."
"That sounds pretty accurate," Madison said. "I mean, look at me."
Ava snickered.
"Well, I was actually sad after that," Stella pointed out. "That was the most miserable part of my life - everyone hated Jonah, nobody wanted to hang out with Hufflepuffs, and Draco tried to steal Usnavi. And he would have, if it hadn't been for whatever that invisible thing was -"
"Oh, uh…" Madison stammered. "That was Opa."
Stella was shocked. "And you didn't reveal yourself to me?"
"I was waiting," Madison said. "Say what you will about me, but I definitely have a flair for the dramatic."
"Well, you still revealed Opa to Draco before you revealed her to me," Stella said. "I'm not sure I can forgive that."
"Please do," Madison said.
Stella rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine," she said, pretending to be annoyed. "I could never stay mad at you."
Madison smiled.
Without any warning, Ava gasped, as though she had an idea. "Guys, I just realized something -"
Suddenly, someone burst into the bathroom - a flash of red hair - a prefect's badge -
"Percy - what are you doing in the girls' bathroom?" Beatrix asked.
"I heard Jonah's voice and I had to investigate," Percy said, his blue eyes glaring at Jonah. "What is he doing in the girls' bathroom?"
"I had to go, and the boys' was full," Jonah said. "Plus, I don't think I want Madison to go into the boys' bathroom, and I wanted to say hi to her."
"Well, we can't be too careful - misbehavior has been on the rise recently, especially in Gryffindor House. I don't think Harry and Ron's behavior has been helping matters," Percy explained.
"Oh, by the way, have you talked to either of them since the first?" Mackenzie asked.
Molly shook her head. "They haven't tried, and I don't want to try. I mean, I kinda feel bad, but at the same time, they flew a flying Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. They probably deserve it."
"They definitely deserve it," Percy agreed. "Did you see the Howler that Mum sent Ron? My reputation hasn't been the same since."
Out of the corner of her eye, Molly could see Stella cringing at Percy.
"Well, we should be heading out anyway," Ava said. "And so should you."
Percy nodded and turned to leave. "See you soon."
He went out the door. As soon as he was a safe distance away, the group turned back to each other.
"You know, if you start agreeing with Percival Ignatius Weasley on things, that's not a good sign," Stella said.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Molly said. "He's nice."
Stella rolled her eyes. Sometimes keeping secrets could be really hard.
"So what was your realization, Ava?" Madison asked, changing the subject.
"The letters," Ava said. "The letters we got from Harry, back when we were first invited to Hogwarts. We need to check them and see if the handwriting is the same as Lin's letter - if it is, then we know for sure that this person is the person who sent us to Hogwarts."
"I have mine on me," Beatrix said, pulling the old, fading parchment out of her pocket. "I pinch myself every day reading it."
She looked at Harry's letter, then Lin's.
"She's right," Beatrix confirmed. "They're the same. This person doesn't have any accomplices that we know of - but they already have a body count of one -"
"Two if it's Delphi," Stella interjected. "God, why do I know that?"
"- and they've nearly been able to change the timeline in some major ways. And if there's anything we don't want, it's a change to the timeline."
"Would that be bad?" Mackenzie asked.
"Have you seen Meet the Robinsons?" Molly asked.
Mackenzie nodded in understanding. "So it would be bad," she concluded.
"Yep," Molly said. "We don't want to change the timeline anymore."
"But wait…" Mackenzie said. "You have the books with you this year."
Molly nodded.
"What if, like, Hermione sees the books - or Lavender, or Katie Bell, or any of them - and they learn about their future? Couldn't they try to prevent it, and wouldn't they end up changing the future?"
Molly's eyes widened. "Oh, God," she said. "They could. What should I do?"
"Just keep them in your room - don't read them in the common room or at lunch or anything," Stella suggested. "Be very prudent."
"Definitely," Molly said. "But what if one of them does read the books?"
"Then make sure they know not to tell anyone else about them," Zoë said. "If this spreads, we could have a real crisis on our hands."
"And we have to be careful where we talk," Beatrix said. "Stay away from beetles."
Stella, Zoë, Ava, and Jonah started to laugh. Molly raised an eyebrow.
"What do beetles have to do with anything?" she asked.
"Don't say anything," Jonah said, looking over at Mackenzie sternly.
Mackenzie shrugged. "I don't know what beetles mean, either."
"Neither do I," Madison interjected.
"You'll understand as soon as you get to book 4," Stella explained.
"That's Goblet of Fire," Ava said.
"Wait…" Madison said. "But I've seen Goblet of Fire."
"For some reason, she's only barely in the movie," Zoë said. "She's even worse in the book."
"This is...Fleur? Hermione?"
"Rita."
Madison's eyes widened. "How could she get any worse?"
"Beetles," Zoë said, giggling.
After the others left, Madison stayed behind in the bathroom. She sat down - well, as much as she could, being a ghost - on the bathroom floor.
"Opa!" she called.
The owl flew through one of the bathroom stall doors and hovered on Madison's lap. Madison smiled and pretended to pet her friend.
She sighed. Being a ghost could be boring.
Time passed, and eventually the sky outside grew dark. Madison was still pretending to pet Opa when she heard footsteps enter the room.
She straightened herself. "Who's there?" she asked tentatively.
A young girl walked into the room.
"Ginny?" Madison asked. "Are you okay?"
Ginny didn't answer her, instead walking to the center of the room, near a drinking fountain with a carving of a snake on it.
"Oh, God," Madison said, realizing what was happening. She should've known; Ava had told her that Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party was today, and "You know what that means," Ava had said. As quickly as she could, she closed her eyes.
A hissing - Open up - and then an explosion, so loud that Madison was tempted to open her eyes - although she knew better. She didn't move until the sound of footsteps stopped, and even then, she didn't let herself see the rest of the world.
But she could hear an ominous, hissing noise that chilled her.
"Come...come to me...let me rip you...let me tear you...let me kill you…"
The words - they sounded familiar - was that the Basilisk? If so, how could Madison, a Hufflepuff with no Horcruxes in her (at least, any that she knew of), understand Parseltongue?
The sound of slithering recommenced as the Basilisk reentered the bathroom, the sound of Ginny's footsteps next to it. Eventually, the noise faded, and Madison could hear the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Where am I?" a quiet, young voice said. Ginny, Madison thought. Tom Riddle must be gone.
She opened her eyes a crack. The fountain was right where it had always been - as though there had never been an explosion. Ginny was kneeling in front of it, the worn-down, brown-leather-covered diary in her hands.
"Ginny?" Madison asked quietly. "Are you alright?"
Ginny jumped, startled. "Oh," she said. "I didn't realize you were there."
"You're in the girls' bathroom," Madison explained. "You don't have anything to be afraid of."
Ginny looked down at her hands - more specifically, the diary in them. "I was writing in this - and then everything went black - and then I was here. Do you think - do you think that this thing is dangerous?"
"I don't know," Madison lied. "Try it again in a few days - as a test of sorts."
"Okay," Ginny said. "Thanks."
"No problem," Madison said.
"By the way, where's Opa?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, she's -" Madison started. She turned to where she had last seen her owl - but Opa wasn't there.
"Opa?" Madison called. "Opa?"
Suddenly, Madison heard Ginny gasp. She looked to the corner of the bathroom, where she could see what looked like stone - the size of a human head, but with no body attached, with two somethings jutting out of the sides -
"OPA!" Madison cried.
For that was what the stone was. It was Opa.
Petrified.
Thanks for reading the chapter! Here are the behind-the-magic fun facts about this part of the story:
1) Stella's inspiration absolutely loathes Cursed Child, but she knows everything about it so she can hate those parts even more. I thought that would be a funny thing to include in the story.
2) If you haven't seen Meet the Robinsons, it's SUCH a good movie, and you need to watch it. It's another movie that deals with the consequences of time-travel, and it's hilarious along the way.
3) The conversation about someone in Gryffindor House reading a part of the book that spoils their fate...In the words of AVPM Severus Snape, "Can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is?"
4) This chapter is also the start of a pretty important plot involving Madison, Ginny, and the diary...
5) We get a lot more speculation about the mysterious person who is sending the time travelers back and forth. My offer still stands; if you have any guesses, feel free to send me a PM with the subject line "Shine On Rainy Day Prediction."
6) I spoiled myself for a lot of the deaths in the Harry Potter books, but I couldn't have myself be spoiled for all of them in the story. So I decided to keep it at Lavender.
7) Molly's conversation with Percy is one of my favorite things I've written for the story - besides an exchange between Lockhart and Snape in an upcoming chapter. Stay tuned!
Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing. (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!