Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Harry Potter etc still belongs to JK Rowling, plot still belongs to me.

Author's Note: I really can't think of something to say every time. So here is the chapter, no comment.

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Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped into Dumbledore's office to find him sitting behind his desk with a pensive expression on his bearded face.

"You-you wanted to see me, Professor?" Harry said tentatively.

Dumbledore sighed slightly. "Yes, Harry. Thank you for being so prompt. Take a seat, all of you."

The three of them sat down.

"I will be blunt," Dumbledore said. "I wished to speak to you about V-" he glanced at Ron and Hermione "-He Who Must Not Be Named."

Harry was beginning to feel very apprehensive by now. "What about him, Professor?"

Dumbledore looked sombre. "It is by no means bad news, Harry. He is afraid. Something has happened which is unsettling him, threatening his power… Do you remember what I said gives you power against him?"

Harry frowned. "You said… you said I have a capacity for love, that he doesn't…"

Dumbledore nodded slightly. His piercing blue eyes looked right into Harry's emerald ones.

"But how can that-" Harry broke off suddenly and clapped his hand over his mouth, blushing furiously.

"Can you think of how this might be stronger than usual, Harry?" Dumbledore asked mildly.

Harry nodded mutely. Christ, had Dumbledore guessed? No, that was ridiculous. In any case, this news did make him feel happier than ever about his relationship with Draco. "But how can it make a difference?"

"Love has a power greater than that of hate." Dumbledore answered simply.

"So, can it… destroy him?" Harry asked carefully.

"Not quite," Dumbledore replied. "Though it is certainly a step in the right direction."

"May we go now, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Not yet. There is one other matter that I wished to discuss with you. It is something I have been considering all through the summer." Dumbledore said. "I speak of the events of a certain day in June…"

Ron and Hermione looked worriedly at Harry, and they saw that his face had clouded over a little.

"I know it may be painful to you to remember that day," Dumbledore continued delicately. "So I do not ask you to. There is a way, perhaps, in which we could repair the ills of that day. In fact, I am speaking of one particular ill. The Order of the Phoenix lost an important member that day, and I am saying to you that, maybe, this could be remedied."

"How?" Harry asked. He refused to get his hopes up about Sirius.

"The clue is in something you saw that day, Harry."

A look of dawning comprehension was beginning to light Hermione's face. "Harry, do you remember that cabinet in the Department of Mysteries?"

"What cabinet?"

"That one where it fell over, and it kept repairing itself and falling over, again and again?"

"Well done, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling as he spoke. "That is indeed what I meant. Using a Time-Turner after this much time has elapsed is risky, but I feel it could do great good for our cause."

"I'll go," Harry offered immediately.

"Your devotion to your godfather is quite impressive, Harry," Dumbledore smiled, "but I am afraid this is rather a complex business. I beg you to leave it to me."

"What'll happen?" Harry asked.

"I will travel back to that day and do my utmost to save Sirius. It may take me a while to return, but I will be able to. You will not, I'm afraid, be able to regain the time you have lost with him. Altering the past over a period of time like this is quite a complicated thing to do, and I do not expect any of you to understand – not even Miss Granger." Dumbledore stood up and took a glittering hourglass from a cupboard by his desk. "I must leave now – we have wasted enough time already. Goodbye." He put the string around his neck, then tapped the hourglass with his wand. The hourglass began to spin wildly. As it did this, Dumbledore disappeared.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at the spot where he had been standing.

"This is weird," Ron said. These were the first words he had spoken since entering the office.

As they sat motionless in their chairs, two pieces of parchment suddenly appeared in the middle of the room with a flash of light. They drifted to the floor. Harry picked them up and read the first one.

'I, Albus Dumbledore, appoint Professor Minerva McGonagall to act as Headteacher of Hogwarts in my absence.'

The second was much more intriguing.

'Harry, you will shortly receive a visitor. Pass on what I have told you. I will hopefully be returning soon.'

"I have," Harry said to the others, "NO idea what s going on."

"That makes two of us." A voice from behind made him spin round. Sirius was standing in the doorway.

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Author's Note: I hope Dumbledore sounds reasonably convincing. He's really hard to write!

A/N 2: The trick, I think, is to use lots of adverbs. Hehe.

Note: I'm now branching out into fanart! It will be appearing on my new LiveJournal soon. The link is in my profile. If anyone wants to see it, review or PM or something so I know whether it's worth putting it on there or not.