Shards of Time
By Paddy and Fluffy, written out by Paddy (unless Fluffy would like to help…?).
This particular fanfic was thought up one lonely day on our bus ride in early 2005. We just happened to like it, write the plotline down, and write it out as a piece of Fanfiction! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Jo Rowling owns. xD
Sirius had always been right. It would be stupid for him to shut himself up from the world. But the thing was… he didn't like the world at all—and the world gave him no reason to like it. To seclude himself right now would be the perfect thing to possibly do. The only people he would ever talk to would be those who gave him good reason to. And, even to them, he would talk as little as possible. He would only speak when the words couldn't be refined to a scrap of parchment or the palms of hands. He wouldn't see anything but his dormitory and classrooms, getting what he needed from the library through Hermione and food through Ron.
Yes, it did seem like the perfect thing to do—just keep to himself and act as if he never existed. But that was impossible. He couldn't keep himself locked up forever—it would disrespect the memory of Sirius. Sirius had never intended for Harry to die as a person after he was gone forever. To prove himself worthy of ever being his parents' son and Sirius's godson, he would have to hold his head up proudly and fight the way those he loved went down—all for the same cause. Keeping him alive.
But this couldn't have been meant to be the actual way. Of course, it was meant to be that his life would either end or involve murder with the Dark Lord. But it could not have been meant to be for his life to be full of it—could it? Every day he would look at the Daily Prophet, thankful that out of the names in the obituary, he did not know any of the deceased. He only wished that there was a way to prevent the past murders with the things he knew now… like going back in time. Letting his past self know of such dangers before they happen.
And then it clicked. Turn back time. The relief of all of his distress had just fallen asleep beside him, and he didn't even notice.
It was Hermione.
Overtaken by exhaustion, she had fallen asleep right on top of the book she had been reading moments ago. Strung around her neck was a delicate golden chain that held the Time Turner, which was tucked under her shirt. And that was the key. If he could just take the time turner from her and go back in time to tell himself to use the mirror to contact Sirius instead of listening to the lying scumbag, Kreatcher. That would save innocent lives and Ministry damage.
It would indeed be wrong to use Hermione's precious time-turner for such use, as it was one of the few left in the world and to be used for educational purposes only. If the Ministry of Magic knew about what Harry was about to do then Hermione would not only loose her time-turner, but maybe her place at Hogwarts, too.
Then he would do it in secret. Only he would know what he was up to—only he would know that he was the one who had stolen the time turner and made things right again. No one would know. After he had changed the coarse of time then nothing would go wrong. Sirius would be free…
The common room had been empty for hours now, its only inhabitants were him and Hermione—Ron retired to the dormitory along with Dean and Neville only and hour ago. The beautifully crackling fire was reduced to only a few burning streaks, and there was no sound but Harry's footsteps as he stood up to walk behind Hermione.
He had already made up his mind about what he was going to do. He was going to take her time-turner to go back in time. He was going to save Sirius. Everything would be right again.
Holding his breath, Harry reached to the left side of her neck, where the clasp holding the long chain together was located, glimmering gold in the dwindling light from the fire. Fumbling to unlatch the clasp without her noticing, he gasped when the two ends fell apart, hitting her shoulder and chest. She stirred, but still asleep, and the chain still in his grasp.
This was the hard part. He put each end of the chain between two of his fingers on each hand, ready to pull the necklace out from under her many layers of thick brown hair. But what if the chain got caught? What if a piece of the gold was wrapped around a piece of Hermione's hair so tightly that when he pulled the time-turner—it roused her?
It was going to be a risk he was willing to take. An opportunity like this was hard to find. Alone in the common room with Hermione asleep with a life-altering device around her neck—it was just too good to be true.
He started pulling the chain slowly at first, but then quickly whipped the necklace out from under her hair in fear of snagging slowly against a knot. Harry held the chain out in front of him, admiring now how this ingenious magical device could save Sirius's life.
That's when she opened her eyes. Not suddenly, as if someone had slammed their mallet down on a tympani in the middle of a soft and legato piece; but calmly, as if the sun had been creeping through the curtains and was beating at her face for several minutes.
Harry shoved the time-turner into his left fist, praying to any god that existed that she had not registered that he was holding it. She smiled. It wasn't that she was happy to see him, oh no, Harry knew this smile. Hermione knew.
"Harry," she breathed, "Why the hell do you have my time-turner?"
He struggled to come up with an adequate answer to her question, and so instead followed her question with another one, "How long have you been awake?"
Hermione grinned, "I woke up once you started walking over here. But—don't change the subject." Her eyes bored into his as she turned around and sat up, totally facing him.
When Harry didn't reply, Hermione asked again, "What're you doing?"
"What if we could save him?" he answered her question with a rhetorical question. "I mean—go back, and make things right again, you know?" The time-turner was still in his fist.
"That was three months ago, Harry."
"And?"
Hermione sighed. "Even if you do manage to get that far into the past… it's too far back, Harry! Too much as happened! You'll change too much!"
"Yes," he began in a whisper, "but it will be for good. And who said anything about just me? You're coming too."
Harry was acting rashly now. He took the time-turner and threw the chain around himself and Hermione, and closed the clasp. Quickly he began spinning the contraption backwards without paying attention to how many times it went around. Hermione stood up and tried, but failed to get his hands away from the turner, spinning it unconsciously as she did so. She pulled at his hands yelling, "No, Harry… STOP!"
But it was too late.
They were lost in time.
Written under the influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
You read it—you loved it—now review it!