Chapter 3
Alternative paths
2007
updated 2013
2 June, just after lunch.
That damnable vision was coming back again, visions of Sirius being captured and tortured, Harry's head hurt from Snapes' "occlumency" lessons, his hand hurt from the scars of the blood quill.
The "boy who lived "was feeling more dead than alive.. and now he had to go to McGonnegals class and take the transfiguration practicals with no sleep. Harry started to gather his stuff to go to class, and Hermione came in to make sure Harry was coming. "Harry.." a flash and a pop and a package appeared in the air over Harry's bed and plopped down. . They stood silently for a moment, wondering whether they were about to be attacked, or what. Hermione slowly drew out her wand and drew a runic shield charm in the air, enclosing the package, in a pinkish glowing haze. Harry leaned over and looked at the package, noting the writing "it has your writing .."he pulled the duvet and rolled the package a bit "and mine on it" "What's it say" her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Yours says.. Anna Clancy, ink" Hermione gasped, "and mine says.." Harry paled "what's it say" he pulled back and covered his eyes "Myrtle : hands,bath" "whats that mean? Harry?...Harry?"
He stood and pulled out his wand and sealed the door to the dorm, silencing charms, colloportus, the works.. "its embarrassing and I really don't want to talk about it, but there is no one who knows about this, not even Snape.. lets just say that if she wants, Myrtle can physically touch someone ...if she wants".. he wouldn't meet her eyes. "I assume that Anna Clancy is something private and embarrassing also?" Hermione blushed and nodded .. "Ok lets figure this out, forget about OWLS for now.." they tested the package and found no charms or traps.. Hermione stood back as Harry opened the package. On top was a letter with glowing letters READ THIS NOW! flashing.
It was written by Hermione , obviously, and it gave a brief synopsis of the events of the next few days, and the first instruction was "Get out the Mirror and call Sirius, and then get immediately to the Room of Requirement, and seal the door against all comers, and then cast a Fidelio charm on the door so that the Inquisitorial squad will not find it, along with instructions on how to do this.
Harry read this as Hermione extracted the other letters to be sent and forwarded to Dobby and Winky, and one to be mailed to Algernon Croaker at the Department of Mysteries, and also to the DMLE to set up a trap to capture the Death eaters infiltrating the Ministry.
Harry quickly gathered up the package and the time turner, and the letters, he shrunk his trunk and stuck it in his pocket, Hermione rushed to the girl's dorm and did the same quickly as Harry called Dobby and gave the elf instruction.. "we have to escape now, go and get Winky and go to the come and go room, we will meet you there" Harry was about to rush out the door, when Dobby grabbed his cloak and stopped him.. "No you must not!, the evil professor toad is coming, I will get you there" He grabbed Harry and Hermione by the hands and popped then through a kind of space like they had never seen before, with either portkeys or apparition or Floo.. just a weird bent kind of space.. they appeared in a great white featureless space,, with indirect light coming from an unknown source.. The Gryffindors looked about and backed up toward each other, as if looking for an attack.. Dobby waved his hand and a table and chairs appeared, as well as a couch and a tea set.. Harry dropped his wand arm in relief "ok we now have time" he said, holding up the time turner, "And we have the help of Hogwarts and Dobby" indicating the room of requirement and the elf.. "lets go back and get ourselves some breathing room.. according to this" he held up the first page of the letter "we can go back 168 hours.. one week to do what we have to do.."
Harry took the chain and strung it around Hermione's neck, and his own, and Dobby held both their arms, and Harry held up the time turner, and Hermione set the thing in motion, as it revolved downwards, rotating down a machined and threaded rod, 168 turns in all, until it hit the bottom stop. The room changed around them, becoming a dueling arena, a classroom, a bedroom, a section of a forest glen, a dungeon.. ghostly shadows of people whizzed around backwards, coming and going, wraiths un-dueling, leaping and flying backwards in the DA setting, a couple doing what looked like unspeakable tortures and bondage in the dungeon.. Harry thought he almost could see who the shadows were, but he could not be sure, but the one he was absolutely sure of was the forest meadow, where he was certain that the shadow seen was Luna dancing around with faeries, and Harry was also certain that the Luna Shadow was aware of his presence
time came to a stop, paused, and restarted in a forward direction.
26 May
The Gryffindor couple flopped wearily down on the couch,exhausted from the trip, and lay back for a moment just looking toward the 'ceiling' of the room, not thinking not anything.. Harry's' eyes wandered about, looking..noticing the light was slightly brighter in one spot than anywhere else.. he concentrated on that spot, and focused his magical senses on it.. "look there" he pointed, "does that look like an owl portal to you? Hermione turned her head and focused on the spot Harry was pointing.. "..yes, I think you might be right" "Hedwig!,, can you hear me?" Harry called his familiar both vocally and mentally.. the bright spot darkened momentarily and Hedwig appeared , she flew out of the almost featureless sky and landed on Harry's knee, as if finding him there was a foregone conclusion. She nipped at his finger and made a barking like sound, since Snowy owls didn't hoot, no matter what anyone says. Harry smiled and pulled out an owl treat from his pocket, "I am surrounded by the smartest females of the age, Hedwig, the best owl ever to fly, and Hermione, the one who is my best friend.."
She slipped her hand over the couch cushion to his and took his hand and squeezed it gently.
Although she said nothing verbally, their eyes said so much to each other, and Harry felt a stirring in not only his chest, but his mind and gut, and in the core of himself where his magic resided. "..."
"?..." "Hermione?" "Yes?" "do you feel that" he waved his hand vaguely off to the left.."what?" "a..a presence,.. like there is someone ...over there.." they turned and saw a blurry outline of a woman almost a wraith, but gathering in a kind of solidity.. Hermione had a sudden flash of the hologram of Princess Leia saying "help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope"
The figure phased into visibility, neither old nor young, just a..sense of presence..
"welcome my children,
I am here to help you do what you have to do,
and drive out the evil that wanders my halls.."
"um.. are you Hogwarts? Harry asked.. the figure nodded, "I thought I recognized you, You welcome me here every year when I arrive from the summer, you are the one who welcomes me home.."
"Yes young Gryffindor, here, you are home,
for you are of the founder's line of Godric."
"I hope I can live up to that responsibility"
"never fear young Gryffindor, you will,
but now you must focus on the task at hand"
the avatar indicated the papers and such laid out on the table.
The young couple sat up and started to sort through the letters and notes, starting with the first, "now how do we go about setting a fidelius charm to hide this room" Harry started writing a list to check off, but the Avatar interrupted.. "I have sealed this room to all except for the two of you, and of course the elves" she smiled as Dobby and Winky appeared with a platter of subs wrapped in foil, and juice and salad, and set it up on the table. Harry's stomach noticed the crisp smell of slightly seared meat and cheese, and growled for attention. The women, both physical and spectral laughed as the red faced young man got up off the couch and went to the dining table to eat.. "Ladies would you care to join me?" He pulled out chairs at the table, and tucked them in to the women.
They ate and enjoyed the food and time together, Harry wondered idly if the spectral avatar of Hogwarts actually ate, or just looked like she ate.. no matter, the company was brilliant, and it didn't seem any weirder than being invited to a death day party for a ghost..
The plans were discussed, notes were taken, and things set in motion. Harry was pleased that while hidden in the bowels of the Room of Requirement, he was totally free of outside attacks on his mind, and for once actually got some sleep..
27 May
The letter had been sent to Algernon Croaker, the Head of the Department of Mysteries alerting him to the breakdown of security there, and plans were set in place at that end to capture the invading Death eaters.. since he had been warned, Croaker noticed where locks had been subverted, and supplies were hidden, as if planning for a siege.. none of these things were touched, but there was subtle surveillance put in place on all the possible access ways and entrances, both to the Department of Mysteries and the Hall of Prophecy. The Hall of Prophecy had a grid work of surveillance charms put on it.. a cobwebbed network, undetectable unless you knew exactly what to look for.. he put his right hand man, Frank Wills in charge of security.
Frank took further measures than what was asked of him, he also put a dark detector at each and every elevator, stairwell, access shaft, air vent and opening. These dark detectors were watching for people bearing the dark mark in particular, and carrying magical items with evil magic in them.
At each and every one of these detectors he had a rune which looked very much like an eye placed, and that rune transmitted a picture back to a monitoring room, where pictures were gathered as data for later action.
In two days, the Ministry of Magic came into the twentieth century.
Croaker was worried, for the letter that had been sent to him had information that came from a future, a possible future, and he was worried about paradox. He sat at his desk deep in the heart of the Ministry, pondering the possibilities, and was about to call in one of his forensics experts to track the letter back to where it had come from, when a beautiful snowy owl swooped into his office and landed on the edge of his IN box.. This was something of a shocking development, since his office was deep in the heart of the Ministry, 9 levels down., and he couldn't remember any owls ever having come here in all his years as an unspeakable.
The owl stuck out her leg with a letter on it, and he cautiously took it, and kept an eye on the bird. "Are you going to wait for a reply? The owl looked at him and nodded. "Alright then," he transfigured a perch for her, with a water dish and a food bowl with a couple tasty looking grubs in it. She nodded her thanks and flew up to wait for his reply.
He opened he letter, there was a crystal phial attached with a sticking charm, he set it aside and read the letter first.
To: Mr Algernon Croaker, Department of Mysteries, London
From: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Hogwarts. 29 May, 1996
Mr Croaker, we are writing you in an effort to stop the death of a good man and to capture 12 death eaters who are going to attempt to steal a prophecy concerning myself and Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort. Attached you find a memory that was sent to us by our future selves, of an event that (will have) happened in six days time, on 4 June.
We have viewed this memory and additional corroborating evidence, and we are doing what we
can to forestall this event from happening, but our fear of creating a time paradox is hampering our efforts.
Please view this memory and if you can get back to us as soon as possible, we would appreciate it. .
There is another, more localized problem, we are fighting a battle here with the Ministry appointed headmistress, D. Umbridge, and we have been limited in our abilities to take direct action, with the Ministry's tacit approval, so we need to maintain secrecy in our
dealings. On the positive side, I have just found out I am a founders heir, and I can take control of the school and the wards, but before I can take action, I need training.
The other problem is this: our future selves sent back a package from 4 June, with assorted memories and evidence. Included in this package was the time turner used to send
it back: We used the time turner to give ourselves a bit of breathing room, so we could contact someone who could help. The only problem is this: We are at school, and we cannot be at school twice, causing a paradox, or maybe the destruction of the universe as we know it, so
we hid ourselves in what is called "The Room of Requirement" a room that can transform itself into whatever a person needs. While here we have been contacted by what we perceive to be the sentient heart of Hogwarts, and she is helping us by making the room unplottable and is not allowing access to anyone without our knowledge.
to paraphrase a muggle film,
Help us Mr Croaker,
you are our only hope
Harry James Potter
Hermione Jane Granger
he sat back and pinched the ridge of his nose, thinking that, for every question it answered , it posed about a dozen more. He sighed and pulled his chair over to the side desk where his Pensieve was. and dropped in the memory. The misty memory swirled around in the bowl, He read the label on the Phial. "events of 4 June 1996 MoM."
He peered into the bowl and stuck the end of his wand into the swirling mist.
To: Mr Harry James Potter
Miss Hermione Jane Granger
Hogwarts
From: Algernon Croaker
Department of Mysteries
Mr. Potter, Miss Granger.
I commend you on the actions taken to avoid paradox, and to see justice served.
You will find this letter is a two way portkey, it will bring you here directly to my office, and also give you a quick escape if you feel the need to do so. The activation word this direction is
'Obi-Wan' the escape is 'Return'
We need to speak at your earliest convenience, Actually, please get here as fast as you can..
You have my Wizards Oath that you will not be harmed or detained in any way.
A. Croaker
He folded the letter and put a string around it, Would you please deliver this back to your person? Hedwig hopped down on his desk and took the parchment in her claw before he could tie it, she leapt in the air and with a powerful flap which scattered the loose papers on his desk.
She accelerated straight toward a solid wall, and vanished.
Croaker had been an Unspeakable for a great many years, and seen a lot of things, but this was just plain surprising. He looked at the clock and wondered how long it would take for them to appear. He sat at his desk writing out questions and notes he wanted to discuss, and was completely shocked when seven minutes and forty five seconds later the two students appeared in his office.
Shock upon shock, Algie Croaker was absolutely dumbfounded.
There in front of him were two students dressed in the costume of Luke
` Skywalker and Leia Organia, grinning like maniacs. He opened his mouth to speak, and nothing came out. A hand appeared on the front edge of his desk, and a greenish creature stood up and wobbled dizzily "Dobby not like portkeys, Dobby don't." and fell over with a thud.
The two students cracked up laughing and crying, and falling all over each other..
