Okay guys... last chapter, but there's an epilogue that will explain everything that doesn't get explained. Let me know what you need clarification on and I'll be sure to put it in there.
It's been great guys, I've enjoyed writing for you, but I can't continue this story any longer than the epilogue. Go and read my other stories if you want. People tell me that my writing has improved a ton and I know that Katie:English Bell and Lily's List are better than this story. So, enjoy!
Chapter 17: Lost in Memories
I sat staring at the hourglass that I had recovered from my grandfather's secret place in the basement. I looked at it from all sides, thinking once again about what I should do with it.
"What are you doing?" Lauran asked, looking up from her chess game with Dean, "You've been staring at that thing all day like it would give you answers or something."
"Yeah," Celeste echoed, glancing up from the floor where she sat 'watching' the chess match. She was really trying to help Dean beat her sister, "What is that thing?"
I shrugged, "I'm just thinking."
"You've been 'just thinking' for days," Spencer informed me, walking by on his way out of the Common Room, "Are you ever going to do anything?"
I raised an eyebrow, "Have you been listening to our conversations Mr. Wood?"
"Yes," Spencer replied, sticking his head back through the portrait hole, "And they've been getting progressively less conversation like."
I didn't answer and he went away. Suddenly, I made up my mind, "I'll see you around."
"Where are you going?" Celeste called after me.
I didn't answer. Instead I hightailed it down to the Quidditch Pitch before I could lose my nerve. I was in such a hurry that I didn't see Logan sitting in my office as I jogged through the locker rooms.
"Riley!" Logan called after me, running to catch me as I entered the pitch, "Riley wait! I have to come to!"
"You figured it out then?" I asked, turning to look at him.
I had found the letter from my grandfather before the clue from Professor Longbottom appeared to lead us to it. Then I went to the basement, finally realizing what it was I had been doing the whole time.
Logan and I hadn't been learning how to fight Lily; we'd been learning how to prevent her from ever happening. Well, not exactly. I guess I'd better just finish the story. It's easier for us all that way.
"Well, not exactly," Logan replied in answer to my question, "I figured out the basement part. And then one day you were late coming up after practice and suddenly you were always thinking and that hourglass thing appeared. So, explain. What is that thing?"
I gazed at the hourglass for a second trying to think of how to explain it. "It's the answer to everything, Logan," I announced finally, "It's a modified model of the Time-Turner used by my dad and Hermione. You know the one; you've heard the story as many times as I have."
"I don't understand," Logan looked confused as he tried to puzzle out the final riddle, "What do you mean 'it's a modified model'?"
I sighed, "Logan, this Time-Turner will go back a year with each turn, not just an hour."
Suddenly realization spread across Logan's face, "You're telling me that Professor Longbottom has been feeding us the clues so that we could find this and erase ourselves!"
"No, not erase ourselves," I replied, suddenly realizing that I was losing my nerve to do what needed to be done, "To go back in time seven years and change the future."
"How can we change the future?" Logan asked, frustrated, "We don't know why Lily is the way she is!"
In reply I voiced the very thing I had been thinking about for months, ever since I had met Lily that fateful night in Hogsmeade, "I made her that way."
Logan just stared at me, "Are you insane? You didn't make her anything!"
"Lily was frustrated because I got all my parents' attention. My mother wanted one girl and she got two. They worried that I didn't have magic and she grew ten foot tall flowers. They sent me to Muggle School and she stayed home. I rebelled and stole their attention and she was a perfect angel. I made Dad proud and she always seemed to disappoint. I resented her and she hated me. I got into Gryffindor and she lied about being in Slytherin. I always had what she wanted and she never got what I had. I thought I wanted her life, in fact I would have given anything to be her, but all this time I had everything I wanted and needed. She had only the very essentials of life; food, clothes, and shelter."
Once I had started everything came pouring out. Suddenly it all made sense. I had Lily figured out because she was exactly like me but she had taken a wrong turn seven years back. I could fix that wrong turn if I gave up everything.
"So we can throw our lives out the window for Lily?" Logan asked, "This Time-Turner will just propel us backwards through time, leaving us the way we are?"
"I think the Time-Turner will actually make me travel back in time to be who I was seven years ago. But I can't be sure until I go," I replied.
"You're not going anywhere without me Potter," Logan told me sharply, "I'm not that east to get rid of!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, "Because if you don't come with me, then you won't know that anything is different than it had once been."
"If there's one thing I've learned at Hogwarts," Logan told me, grabbing hold of the Time-Turner's necklace and placing it around his neck, "It's that the House Elves are extremely hospitable and that Professor Longbottom has a reason for everything."
I smiled at him as I took a deep breath and flipped the hourglass over seven times. We watched as time around us traveled back seven years. The pitch held match after match but they were always played backwards. Snow and rain fell into the sky and couples were seen kissing. Finally everything stopped. The blur ended and I was standing on the pitch for the first time on my visit to the school seven years before with my parents. Logan was, presumably, wherever he had been seven years ago.
I quickly hid the hourglass in the front of my zip-up Gryffindor jacket. It was just like it had been seven years ago. It was like I was lost in memories.
My dad came up from behind me and scooped me up just like he used to. Mum was standing there, holding Lily in her arms. Looking and acting exactly like the loving mother she had once been.
"Enjoy it now, while you can Riley," Dad told me softly, sweeping his arm to indicate the pitch, "I don't think you're going to be coming back."
"I don't know Daddy," I replied, smirking at him, "For some reason, I think I will."
"Oh, do you now?" Dad asked, raising an eyebrow, "And why is that?"
"I can feel it," I replied, "And Muggle School is not the place for me, at least not without my sister."
Mum looked curiously at the little girl she was holding, "Why would we send Lily to Muggle School? She's going to be coming to Hogwarts."
"She wants to go, right Lils?" I asked, putting my sister on the spot.
Lily nodded tentatively, "I want to go with Riley."
"Okay, but I don't see why it's necessary," Mum said, "We know you're going to come here."
"I don't think it will hurt her," Dad said, "And if Riley says she knows she's coming back, then I'm sure she's coming back."
Mum looked skeptical but nodded, "Okay, we'll see about enrolling you with your sister Lily."
Lily grinned at me. It was the one thing I missed most about my sister, the grins that were reserved especially for me.
I wasn't sure at the time what would happen, but the important thing was that something had changed in the future. And I had made it happen. I couldn't wait to see Logan. I knew I would probably have to wait six years until I saw him again. Hopefully, those years would fly right by.
Okay guys, I'm going to write the epilogue now. Let me know what you want to be told and suggestions of how you want the story to end would be wonderful.
Love From,
MotherCrumpet
