Chapter 38: The Time Turner

It took a few moments to rouse him, but Harry came to, more confused and dazed than any of the rest of us. Ron and I helped him up onto the bench, worried. Once Harry had re-oriented himself, his first question was to ask who had screamed. I thought back and tried to remember hearing a scream, but couldn't.

I suddenly became very worried. Harry was hearing screams that no one else could hear. It was just like last year, when he could hear the voice in the walls but no one else could. I wondered if this was at all a similar thing, or whether he'd just hallucinated it when he'd collapsed.

There was a loud noise from behind me and I jumped, along with everyone else. I panicked momentarily, thinking the thing had returned, but it was just Professor Lupin, breaking a large chunk of chocolate into pieces. He handed them out, insisting that it would help, and we all took them gratefully.

When I bit into mine, I felt some of the hollow emptiness start to disappear. Not that it wasn't still in me somewhere, but I was less aware of it. Instead, I started to remember the happier feelings, and the bad ones became like a distant memory.

Harry asked what the thing had been and Professor Lupin explained that it had been a dementor. I played the word over in my mind, sure that I had read about them somewhere, but I couldn't remember much about them. I made a mental note to research them in the library.

Professor Lupin left then, presumably to find out what was really going on and the rest of us were left alone. Harry remained confused about the entire circumstance and as we explained to him what had happened, I heard a small sob from behind me.

I turned to find Ginny huddled up in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. I moved towards her and put my arm around her, unsure what else I could do. She looked worse than I felt, and still hadn't eaten her bit of chocolate.

"Eat it," I urged her. "You won't feel great, but you'll feel better."

In that moment, I hoped that I never encountered a dementor again. It was the worst thing I'd ever faced, including the basilisk that had petrified me. At least I didn't remember my time being petrified.

Eventually, the train began to move again, much to everyone's collective relief. The remainder of the ride was spent in relative silence. By this point, I mostly just felt numb and sore.

When we arrived at Hogsmeade, we made our way to the carriages and climbed in. As we flew towards the castle, I noticed that there were more dementors standing guard around the castle, and I felt a shiver run through me as we crossed over the gate.

Just before we entered the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall called out to Harry and I that she wanted a word. Surprised, I turned around and tried to figure out what I could have done to make my head of house want to see me so early in the term.

Probably sensing my unease, she assured us both that we weren't in trouble. I felt immediately better. Leaving Ron to head into the Great Hall on his own, we followed Professor McGonagall along the familiar route to her office. When we arrived, she sat us down and got straight to the point, saying that Professor Lupin had informed her that Harry had fainted on the train. Almost immediately, Madam Pomfrey entered and began to fuss over Harry.

I wondered what I was doing here, if it was just to make sure Harry was alright. I got my answer soon enough. When Madam Pomfrey was satisfied that Harry was fine, Professor McGonagall asked Harry to wait outside while she spoke to me.

"As you know, Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall began once Harry had left. "Third year students are permitted to take elective courses." I did know this, of course, and I had signed up for all of them at the end of last year, not wanting to miss out of anything important.

"Normally, students take two or three of the five courses offered," Professor McGonagall continued, and my heart sank. She was going to make me drop some of the classes. I wasn't going to be allowed to take them all.

"However, it seems that you have signed up for all five," Professor McGonagall finished.

"Yes Professor," I said, unsure what else to say.

"Normally, I would ask you to choose the courses you would prefer, as it is almost impossible to take all five," Professor McGonagall said. "However, after reviewing your file, the school has decided that since you are a model student and your grades are above expectations, you should be allowed to take as many courses as you want."

I felt a huge smile spread across my face. "Thank you!" I exclaimed.

"However," Professor McGonagall continued. "There is not enough time in your timetable to do this."

I frowned. How was I supposed to take all five courses if I couldn't fit them all into my timetable?

"I have written many letters to the Ministry and we have spent the summer in negotiations, but the Ministry had finally agreed to let you have a time turner," Professor McGonagall paused and reached into one of the drawers in her desk, pulling out the object in question.

"A time turner would allow you to go back in time and repeat an hour so that you can attend two classes at once," Professor McGonagall explained. I felt my eyes widening as I stared at the time turner. I could spend hours and hours and hours revising and I would never have to stop because I could just keep going back in time to revise more.

"But Ms. Granger, I must warn you, time turners are not toys to be played with. I am sure you, of all students, will understand the seriousness of possessing something like this. You may only use it for your studies. You may not tell anyone that you have it. The entire faculty knows, but none of the students are to find out." I glanced over to the door where Harry was waiting.

"No Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said. "You may not even tell your friends. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley are not to find out you have it. You do have a choice. You may choose not to take it, and then you could reduce your course load and take three electives. But if you take the time turner and keep all five, then it must remain a secret."

I didn't really need any time to think about it. Of course I couldn't reduce my course load! "I'll take the time turner," I said.

Professor McGonagall then handed it over to me and quickly explained how it worked and all the rules that went with it. She also informed me that I would be required to check in with her on a weekly basis, just to ensure that everything was going smoothly.

When everything had been explained, I had to sign a few Ministry papers, promising to use it responsibly and such, and then I hung it around my neck and tucked it out of sight.

We emerged from the office and joined Harry, and together we made our way back to the Great Hall. When we arrived, we looked for a place to slide into at the Gryffindor table, but it was so full with all the first years now sitting there. I was sad that we had missed the sorting, but receiving the time turner was so much better.

Finally, we located Ron and he waved us over, having saved us a couple of seats. Harry squeezed in between Ron and Seamus and I took my seat across from them and next to Neville.

As we settled in, Professor Dumbledore stood to make his annual start-of-term speech. He explained that the dementors were here to protect the school from Sirius Black and warned us to keep away from them. Though it was a relief to know that Harry wouldn't have to worry about the mass murderer finding him here at school, I also wasn't looking forward to the dementors being around all the time. I would definitely be keeping a wide berth.

He also announced that Professor Lupin would be taking the Defence against the Dark Arts job, as I had predicted.

When it was announced that Hagrid would be taking over as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, I clapped as loudly as I could, along with the rest of our table, and I felt very happy that our friend was getting this opportunity.

After the feast, we made our way through the mass of students to congratulate Hagrid. It was quite difficult as everybody was trying to exit the hall, while we attempted to make our way to the teacher's table in the opposite direction. It took a lot of effort not to get trampled and I took a moment to readjust my robe, which was falling off my right shoulder, before shaking Hagrid's hand.

After wishing him good luck and telling him how much we were looking forward to his lessons, we made our way to the Gryffindor common room. I said goodnight to Ron and Harry and ascended to my dormitory.

As usual, my trunk was already there. I got ready for bed and climbed in, keeping the time turner safely tucked away under my pyjamas. Lavender and Parvati were still down in the common room, but Sally-Anne and Lily were sitting on Lily's bed whispering frantically to each other, probably telling each other every detail of their summer apart.

As usual, they ignored my presence completely, and I climbed into bed knowing this was just the start of another lonely year in the girl's dormitory.