[Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews and follows/favorites, so far! This is the first time for me trying out a TimeTravel or Tom Riddle-centric story and the response is encouraging.

A very brief note, before this chapter begins:

I've had several reviews and DMs that are wondering if this will be a HarryHermione fic or a TomHermione fic. The answer? Neither. There will be romance, yes; that's why it is a subgenre of this fic. But, it will never be a HarryHermione ship. You will see why that is not and cannot be the ship for this story. As for TomHermione, I am saying no to that one, as well, because for what I planned for as far as the plot - it'd be a real disservice to their story arcs to go with the True Love Conquers All trope and ship them together.

So, yes, lots of romance and ships, one of which involves Harry, another that involves Sirius. But, for Tom and Hermione? They have other ships to sail on in this story, than the HMS True Love Conquers All.

If that disappoints you all, I do apologize. I have other stories featuring HarryHermione and could possibly write a TomHermione fic, but The Sepulcher of Souls is neither of those stories.

Without further ado, I present the next chapter!


CHAPTER II: On the Other Side of the Fracture

June 1941
Hogsmeade Village, Wizarding Scotland

Grindelwald or Muggles.

Phineas Aurelius shivered in the warmth of the summer night, as he quickly made his way towards Town Hall.

Grindelwald had not yet brought his war to Britain. A slow, creeping assault that had lead to a methodical, behemoth domination and occupation of Wizarding Europe, Grindelwald commanded a magical army that levelled and nation or community he chose to raise his wand against. Grindelwald's movement had seeded and grown in the heart of Eastern Europe where he was native to, before spreading like a slow, creeping rot of Dark Magic and ill intent. Every year, there was a new part of the world that reported an invasion or capture by Grindelwald's forces.

After twenty years, the only place left that hadn't fallen victim to the ruthlessness of Grindelwald was Wizarding Britain.

Grindelwald was unstoppable, unfalliable, and his slow and determined rise to power had yet to be thwarted by any government or nation, so far.

As Constable Spinnet had grimly declared: it was only a matter of time before Britain was touched by the dark movement that had invaded everything else in Magic.

With no little amount of anxiety, Phineas Aurelius turned onto High Street. If it weren't Grindelwald or one of his operatives, then it could very well be that the war amongst Muggles had finally begun to penetrate their world - and, more than a call to the Constable would be needed.

Phineas Aurelius didn't know what would be preferable - Grindelwald or Muggles, although he did know he would prefer it to be neither.

As he walked up the silent and dimly torchlit lane, he was startled to see the glow of the crash site in the distance, a sickly and dull burnt orange on the horizon.

"Uncle Phineas!" A worried, high-strung voice called out from behind him, causing Phineas to glance over his shoulders. Cedrella B. Weasley was hurrying towards him, her Healer's bag clutched in her hands and her copper-red hair flying out behind her like a ribbon of flame as she caught up to him. "Thank Merlin you're alright. Alfred firecalled and said that you were apart of an explosion or an attack - he said you'd called a Code Red!"

Phineas Aurelius put an arm around his niece's slender shoulders, comfortingly. "I wasn't involved, Ella. I merely witnessed it and asked Constable Spinnet to fetch you, in case medical assistance was necessitated by what we found at the crash site."

Cedrella appeared relieved by this, although still confused. "A crash? There was a crash in the pastures? Alfred said - "

"Constable Spinnet is a Gryffindor alum, for all that he has numerous positive attributes to make up for that glaring flaw," Phineas Aurelius interrupted his worrisome niece, continuing: "Let not our valued constable get you wound into a snit, because he doesn't know what is truly going on anymore than I do, myself. That is rather the point of this investigative expedition."

Phineas Aurelius felt the tension drain from his niece's shoulders, as they neared Town Hall and found Constable Spinnet already awaiting them.

Cedrella was still young, only in her thirties years old and with two children still in Hogwarts. By the time she'd left Hogwarts herself, she was already a wife and a mother, a scandal that had earned her the black mark that disinheirited her from the House of Black, as Phineas had been himself. Privately, Phineas Aurelius believed that the upheaval his youngest brother and sister-in-law had put their middle daughther through had left her rather...skittish, easily worried. If his niece hadn't been the only Emergency Response Healer stationed at the Hogsmeade branch of St. Mungo's, Phineas Aurelius would have easily kept her in the dark about whatever unusual and uncertain event they were headed to investigate.

As it was, Cedrella was the only ERH he had.

Whether he or she wanted or not, her Healer Oath's and apprenticeship for St. Mungo's Hospital required her to answer the call of the Mayor in times of emergency. Reluctantly, he'd ordered Alfred to fire-call her and summoned her from her bed - but, the anxiety he'd just witnessed in his niece had him regretting such an order. Perhaps he should have been the one to fire-call instead of Alfred. He might have even had a stern word with her husband, Septimus, to be sure the absent-minded wizard would mind their two sons properly; seventeen-year-old Marcellus and fourteen-year-old Octavius took advantage of their father's easy, doting parenting style and if something was amiss, Phineas Aurelius did not want his grandnephews' mischievous spirit to have them run afoul of danger.

As it was, he'd left the duty to the excitable and dramatic Constable Spinnet -

The constable who appeared prepared for war, as Phineas Aurelius and Cedrella greeted him, briskly but politely. Excitement such as this hadn't come to the village in many years and clearly, he was itching to put his defense drills to practice for the good of their village.

Phineas Aurelius gave Cedrella a look that plainly said his point had been proven, as Constable Spinnet puffed out his chest importantly and shared what he knew, so far.

"Mayor Black, I have the village underneath a Community Protego protocol until either you or myself gives the all clear. All of my deputies are currently out on patrol, throughout the village, and all of our citizens are secure. As far as I can tell with my Omninoculars, we're looking at a crash from a malfunctioned Portkey landing or a broomstick - but, there was no doubt powerful magic involved." Alfred Spinnet looked seriously between the Mayor and his Healer niece, as he added: "A cursory investigation with Omninoculars reports the presence of at least three bodies. Whether they are survivors or decedents remains to be determined - we won't know that until we're out there and see for ourselves."

Phineas Aurelius made a worried noise, as he listened to his constable's report.

A Portkey or broomstick crash. Powerful magic involved to create a crash of that intensity. Three bodies, just as likely to be alive as they were dead.

Muggles appeared unlikely at this point, considering the Constable's confirmation of magic being involved with the crash. If Muggles weren't likely to be culprit or cause, then that left the other option - the option that had both Constable Spinnet and Cedrella looking as apprehensive as he felt.

In leadership and with a determination that would see him through far better than the bravado of the likes of his Gryffindor Constable, Phineas Aurelius drew his wand and turned to begin the short walk out to the far pastures of Hogsmeade Village.

"Very well, then. Wands at the ready, Constable, Healer."

Together, the trio of Hogsmeade officials headed through the balmy night towards the site of the unusual crash that Phineas would have never seen, if he hadn't have been restless enough to be out in his gardens, past midnight.


His entire body hurt, as if he'd been squeezed through an impossible narrow and inflexible crack or fracture in - in the sky? - in the world? - in Time? The narrow slit was filled with both and darkness and light and he had been pushed through, crushed and pressed and squeezed -

Until everything around him exploded in heat and sand and fire and feathers, his whole world illuminated in a light that was so bright, it pulled a scream from his skeletal and wasted body as hurtled through the sky towards an expanse of earth and darkness.

Sirius felt as if every bone in his body shattered into dust as he hit the ground hard enough to make his vision dim and steal what little breath rattled in his chest.

"Ja...mione...Har...mus..."

Sirius knew who he was seeking, who he was trying to lift his broken and managled body to reach out and search for. The names wouldn't come, not with his jaw twisted and aching as it was.

A guttural moan came from him as the sound of two more impacts landed near him and made the ground quake.

There was now nothing but low, patchy light and blistering silence.

Weakly, Sirius reached up, his hand bent an unnatural angle as he tried to grasp for something to help him to his feet. Anything to get him from this painful groove his weightless and starved body had somehow rent into the earth. He had to make sure that Harry was safe and alive, he had to make sure his brown-haired friend wasn't harmed either -

He had to make sure that they could all escape.

As of now, they were all in this together. Both of these impossibly brave children were now his responsibility to protect and guard with his life, just as they had risked their own lives to aid and abet him in escaping to freedom. From this moment on, he wouldn't leave either Harry or Hermione alone and vulnerable to capture or punishment from the Ministry - not ever.

If the Ministry got their hands on either child, they'd show no mercy to them as they would to Sirius himself. The disaster they he'd created by escaping from Azkaban had literally exploded into a catastrophe of the highest order once he'd escaped a second time - and Sirius knew that the "kidnapping" of the Boy Who Lived and a Muggle-born Hogwarts student only compounded it all. Every official, possibly right on up to Dumbledore himself, would be merciless and ruthless in their punishment for his crimes and the crimes they believed he'd committed.

No, the Ministry couldn't get their hands on Harry and Hermione, which meant it was his responsibility to keep them hidden and get them away from where they'd just fallen, into safety and anonymity.

His head swam dangerously, as he coughed harshly and felt the wetness of blood fly from his swollen jaw.

If he could survive, then he could make sure that Harry and Hermione were safe, and that was all that was needed.

His survival.

Not for himself or his own good, but for that of his godson and his brown-haired friend, the two selfless children who'd sacrificed so much to see him free - and were paying a deep price for it, it seemed.

Sirius braced himself and with the same unthinkable strength that had kept him swimming through the Dementor-infested waters of the North Sea when he'd escaped last summer...Sirius pulled himself to his feet and searched for his godson and his friend.

Two shallow craters were only a few steps to his right.

He could make it that far, far enough to check and see if Harry was alive, if Hermione had survived the flames that had engulfed her chest and face when she'd absorbed the brunt of the spell-fire. His vision was darkening around the edges as he moved one foot forward, and then another.

Sirius groaned as his third and fourth steps brought a sharp stabbing pain through his chest.

Only a few more steps - then, he would - then, he could - Harry, his godson, his family - Hermione, his godson's best friend and his own rescuer - Harry, Hermione -

Sirius collapsed with a wet, rattling cough that had blood pouring from his mouth and splattering across his coarse Azkaban robes.

Pinpoints of light and constellations and fire came in and out of focus, as pain began gnawing away at every nerve ending he had, making it hard to breath and taking all the strength he had to keep his eyes from fluttering shut. He'd fallen in a crumpled heap and all he could see as he laid brokenly on his back was the stars that sprinkled the midnight-dark sky.

The stars, and -

A man and woman abruptly coming into view, just as he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

The last thing Sirius keenly remembered seeing was the glittering gray of their eyes that complemented the stars, every bit as much as his own ancestors who'd been named for stars and constellations...as much as he was a star himself that had fractured and fallen from the sky, in hellish pain and impossibility...

Sirius allowed his eyes to close against his will, darkness swallowing him again in a haze of pain and glimmers of stardust and light, the sands and flames of the explosion dragging him into a deep, deep unconsciousness.


Phineas Aurelius blinked wildly, as he stared down at the wasted wizard that seemed to be bent and broken in too many places to name.

The wizard was a horror to behold, his dark hair tangled and matted in filthy ropes that reached his elbows, enough dirt and grime on his skin that nothing could be seen except streaks of dirt and blood. A skeleton seemed to be in better health than this fellow did, his skin stretched tight and grotesquely across the bone structure that stood out in stark relief.

It was clear that this had once been a broad and brawny man, who'd been starved and abused down to nothing but a parody of himself.

If it weren't for the rapid, shallow rise of his horrifyingly thin chest, Phineas Aurelius would have thought him to be dead - but, a firm shake of Cedrella's copper-red curls made it clear that he was not a fatality.

"How is he still alive?" Phineas Aurelius wondered, in quiet horror. "If he were skin and bones, he'd been far healthier than he is, now."

Cedrella waved her wand over him with deep concentration. "He's a wizard, Uncle - that's how he's alive. Nothing but his magic has been keeping him alive at this point, although his core is suffering a great deal from whatever crash he just experienced."

Phineas Aurelius shook his head in awe and fear for the mangled but living wizard before him, opening his mouth to ask another question - before a panicked shout several meters away from Constable Spinnet drew both their attentions.

"Circe's skirts - children!" Constable Spinnet waved his arms wildly, nearly shouting: "Weasley, there are children over here - a girl and a boy and the girl is in terribly awful shape! Burns all over!"

Cedrella swore, a terribly unladylike gesture that Phineas Aurelius knew his sister-in-law would have a conniption about, if she and Cedrella were still on speaking terms. Phineas Aurelius kept his eyes on the emaciated wizard whose face he couldn't stop starting at, as Cedrella leapt her feet and went towards Constable Spinnet.

It was assumed that Phineas Aurelius would keep an eye on him, while she attended to the children found in the wreckage with this wizard.

With a glance to be sure that Cedrella and Constable Spinnet were alright, Phineas Aurelius crouched down cautiously beside the man's unconscious form and began checking him for weapons or anything else that could harm them. He had nothing. Phineas Aurelius couldn't help but wrinkle his nose, as he continued to move the ragged robe around on the wizard, and a terribly rancid smell wafted up from the victim's damaged and mangled body.

The wizard had to have been in prison or enslaved, for this type of filth and muck to accumulate -

Phineas Aurelius gasped, his wand making the collar of the wizard's robes disintegrate unintentionally and revealing a harshly inked tattoo across his chest.

A tattoo one could only receive in a Wizarding prison.

Across the thin expanse of a wasted chest that was once broad, a line of harsh runes were carved into his skin, writhing and twisting with magical ink. Phineas Aurelius stared in fascinated horror as the runes shifted and changed shaped, cycling through a sequence of some sort, a pattern that repeated itself every few seconds.

To his knowledge, Azkaban issued inmate tattoos upon the convicts assigned to their prison - but, their tattoos were based upon a number system, not runes. As well, nobody in the history of the prison had ever escaped from Azkaban, as it was an isolated island in the North Sea, surrounded by Dementor breeding territory. If there was one prison that was missing a fugitive, it couldn't be Azkaban.

Phineas Aurelius leaned forward, looking more closely at the tattoo, caution slowing his every move.

These runes appeared to be...Slavic.

It had been years since he'd applied himself to the study of Ancient Runes, but this much, he was clear upon. Runes had adapted to languages over the centuries, each region of the world interpreting runic magic along their own understanding and disciplines and creating a plethora of sub-studies of the magical art. He'd been trained and become fluent in English runes, as was befitting of the second heir of the House of Black - but, it had been his only sister, Belvina, who had chosen to specialize in Slavic runes, for her runic tutoring.

He hadn't spoken to his sister in decades. However, Phineas Aurelius was clear on the memory from their childhood.

The prison markings upon this broken and battered wizard were Slavic. There was only one Slavic prison that he could think of, which would reduce its inmates to the hideous parody of a living wizard that lay crumbled in the ground before him.

The Mayor of Hogsmeade came to his feet, sharply and with a sudden tension coiling his shoulders as the pieces put themselves together, rather alarmingly.

As the wizard was unconscious and barely holding onto life, the Stabilizing Spell that his niece had cast keeping him holding on that shred of life - Phineas certainly couldn't ask him where he had come from or what was responsible for the crash landing that had quaked the whole of Hogsmeade.

However, he didn't need to.

This wizard clearly had escaped from the Slavic prison of Nurmengard Castle, the markings on his chest and the torture of his person as clear as any confession, and he had landed here in on the outskirts of Hogsmeade because of a malfunctioning Portkey, it seemed.

Whether he had escaped as a victim of Grindelwald's reign or as a defected follower remained unclear, as his captivity in Nurmengard could be as much escape from punishment as it could have been from oppression.

"Uncle Phineas, the children have been stabilized and I'm going to transport them to the clinic. Have we had any changes with the adult victim, in the few minutes I've been gone?"

Cedrella appeared ashen and deeply distressed, making Phineas Aurelius wonder just how injured the children were she'd been attending.

Phineas Aurelius shook his head, uneasily. "No, he's still unconscious, but we may have a problem." Crouching down, he motioned for Cedrella to do the same, and shared his suspicions about the writhing ink across the skeletal man's chest. "Until I'm sure what's going on and we're not under attack, I'm ordering this wizard sequestered from the public in the barracks at Town Hall - and, the children, as well."

Cedrella blinked, her pale eyes shocked. "The children, as well? You can't possibly think that they are operatives of Grindelwald. They look as though they're only old enough to attend Hogwarts."

Phineas Aurelius grimaced. "Yes, but they are also in the company of this unidentified wizard, involved in the same crash as he, and aren't sure what is going on, even still. I'd rather be safe than soft, even in the case of children."

Cedrella didn't appear to be pleased by this, but she didn't argue. While she might have soundly disagreed with her uncle, in this moment, she was the Emergency Response Healer and he was the Mayor - and, Phineas Aurelius appreciated her quiet cooperation. Phineas Aurelius assisted Cedrella with conjuring three durable stretchers for transport to Town Hall, allowing her to load the children onto their stretchers first, before focusing on the suspicious, Slavic-runed wizard.

With careful care, despite the suspicion, Cedrella got the mangled wizard on his stretcher, only glaring slightly when Phineas Aurelius immediately secured him to the stretcher with a pair of conjured Custody Cuffs.

"As I said, better to safe than to be lax, until we know more." Phineas Aurelius replied, unapologetic.

With directives to Constable Spinnet to pull a handful of his deputies and secure the scene so that an investigation could be started before the Ministry was called, Phineas Aurelius and Cedrella headed towards Town Hall.

The barracks in the basement would securely hold the stranger and the children who'd accompanied them, while Cedrella worked to heal their damaged bodies, Constable Spinnet investigated what brought them here, and Phineas Aurelius tried to determine what his next move would be -

For, it was not every day that potential operatives of Grindelwald crash-landed in the pastures outside of his quiet and beloved village of Hogsmeade, for unknown purposes and by unknown means.


Moments like these made Cedrella B. Weasley think twice about whether her apprenticeship in Emergency Response Healing was truly the Healing discipline she wanted to pursue.

Instead of being snug in bed with her husband and getting a solid night's sleep, Cedrella was preparing two barracks for the holding of the victims of a Portkey crash - and, everything about what she was being ordered to do was clashing with her Healer's instincts, despite this being a part of her training.

Emergency Response Healers were under the command of not a hospital nor a clinic, but instead, the leadership of whatever government official's post they were assigned to, and she was not allowed to question the commands of her post leader. Not even if the post leader in this instance was the Mayor of Hogsmeade, her favorite uncle.

"I want the group to be settled on the bottom-most floor of the barracks, where staff and citizenry are least likely to encounter them. A thorough examination of all victims involved needs to be worked up immediately, so that if this gets as far as the Ministry, I'll have all the needed paperwork already prepared for the inquiry and investigation." Uncle Phineas was in his element, as they cautiously brought the wizard and the children down to where he wanted them held. "Once they are stabilized and able to be questioned, I want to be called, immediately. I need to gather a comprehensive explanation for what happened tonight and it needs to happen as quickly as possible, Cedrella. Is this something you'll be able to handle?"

Cedrella would have been insulted, if the question came from anyone other than Uncle Phineas. When asked by Uncle Phineas, it wasn't a doubt of her strength or skill in times of crisis but instead an opportunity to remove herself from a situation that was above her capabilities. Uncle Phineas had always been like that, always thoughtful and considerate of how much weight she was able to bear.

He must understand how the treatment of these trauma patients was weighing heavily on her inborn Healing instincts, upsetting her sense of fairness and justice, going against everything she'd been taught as a Healer before specializing in Emergency Response Healing.

"Yes, Uncle Phineas, I can handle this. As long as I have the quiet and focus, I'll be able to handle this just fine."

Uncle Phineas nodded firmly, clearly having confidence in her abilities as a Healer. They brought the stretchers and the victims to the furthest two rooms at the end of the corridor, well away from the entrance and directly across the corridor from one another. While Cedrella settled the children in one room, the one featuring two full-sized beds and plenty of space to work, she listened as Uncle Phineas settled the adult in the opposite room.

She tried not to wince, as the clink of Custody Cuffs against the metal bed frame traveled easily across the corridor.

"I would ask that you not make me shackle the children as you have the adult," Cedrella said quietly, as her uncle came into the room that she was in and summoned a team of house-elves to assist her. "They're children, uncle - gravely harmed children, who may well be traumatized and frightened out of their wits at what occurred tonight."

Uncle Phineas seemed torn, eyeing the boy and the girl warily, as the house-elves appeared and set to work.

One pair of house elves began to sanitize and prepare her work station with all the necessary potions, herbs, and tools she'd need to start a basic stabilizing of her patients. The other pair of elves had each taken a child and began to carefully remove the burned and bloodied clothing from their too-still bodies, so they could be disposed of; they'd begin washing and sanitizing the children for medical care once their destroyed clothing had been taken off, with the precise and more evolved house-elf magic that had always been such a great help to Healing.

Cedrella came to stand beside her uncle, as she kept an eye on the assisting creatures, thankful for the silence and secrecy of Healing-trained house-elves.

"Well?" Cedrella pressed, wanting a clear answer and her request to be honored. "Can we forgo the shackles or not?"

"I'll have a deputy posted outside the doors as you work, so that the shackles won't be immediately necessary," Uncle Phineas conceded. "If one of them so much as appears to be ready to assault or harm you, intentional or not, they'll receive the same treatment as their adult companion."

Cedrella breathed a sigh of relief, as the house-elves made quick and gentle work of cleaning the children and getting the hospital robes on their wounded bodies.

"Thank you, Mayor," Cedrella said, meaningfully, as Uncle Phineas nodded, tightly. "I will start with the girl, then the boy, and I'll be able to let you know when or if they'll be ready to talk. Am I to take it that I'm handle their adult companion, once I've finished in here?"

"Will the Stabilizing Spell keep him from declining in health, before you're done with the children?" Uncle Phineas asked. Uneasily, he looked over his shoulder at the room across the corridor, as if fearing that the wizard would jump up at any moment, despite the traumatic severity of his injuries.

"Yes. He is in stasis until the spell lifts, similar to the stasis that the Draught of Living Death would provide. He won't get any better, but neither will he get worse." Cedrella informed him, quietly.

"Very well, then. Once you've seen to the children and made sure they're no longer in imminent danger, find out if they're able to talk, and then attend to the adult companion." Uncle Phineas began to leave, pausing in the doorway and adding: "A deputy will be done momentarily, but summon me if you need anything. I'll be with Alfred, following the investigation in the pasture."

Cedrella acknowledged her uncle's words, left alone with her thoughts and the three unusual trauma patients as booted footfalls grew softer and further away from them. With a deep breath, the redhead witch strengthened her Occlumency shields, summoned her Dicta-Quill and a house-elf for assistance, beforing turning to the battered and burned young witch that was in worse shape than her broken young wizard counterpart.

Tonight was her first night on duty as a senior Emergency Response Healer and there was nobody here but herself and the three strange trauma patients, who were hovering on the brink of death and needed her to bring them back to health and life.

She had been preparing for seven years for this moment and now that it had arrived, she would put her all into it -

For these young children depended on her without knowing her and she would not disappoint.


[Author's Note: When going back in canon, there is literally no need to create OCs from scratch. Endless OCs come ready made by just picking a character and considering if they would have had a relative back then and what we know of them - and, ta-da! Suddenly, you have a ready-made supporting cast that really gives depth and feel to the story and ties it into canon, with very little effort at all.

So, yes - that's Alicia Spinnet's great-grandfather, Alfred Spinnet, and Ron and Ginny's grandmother, Cedrella Black Weasley, as well as their grandfather, Septimus Weasley, who are said to be Arthur's parents. No, neither Marcellus or Octavius are their father in this universe, it's only that Arthur Weasley is much younger than his brothers, so hasn't yet been born at this point in the timeline. As Harry and Hermione are close to the Weasleys, there will be Weasleys featured in this fic - it will just be a very different experience than they are familiar with.

In the next chapter, Harry, Hermione, and Sirius realize that something has gone terribly wrong - and thus, our adventure begins. Thank you again for all the reviews and interest!]