Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 9

The Guest Room

Someone was slapping Ginny round the face. 'Ow,' she thought dimly, as if her senses had been dulled. 'OW, ok that did kinda hurt.'

"OW!" Ginny yelped, feeling the full force of the hand hitting her cheek. What was she doing on the ground, anyways. She opened her eyes, and found Sirius peering intently at her, his hand raised.

"Whaddaya think you're doing!" Ginny yelled indignantly, trying to get up. She immediately realized this was a bad idea, as her head was pounding painfully.

"You passed out… don't you remember?" Sirius asked her, very worried. Worry was an unusual emotion for him, worrying was usually left up to Remus (and he always did an excellent job of it!). Ginny squinted, confused. Remember what?

…vortex… hallway… Slytherin… Riddle… TOM RIDDLE! It all flooded back, causing her head to pound again, and her heart as well. "We must have gone back, like, 55 years in time!" she exclaimed, and Sirius's face broke into relief, feeling that it was a good thing Ginny had been able to remember.

"Hang on, how did you know that? You took one look at that Riddle jerk and were on the floor!" He questioned, realizing how unusual it was that she had been unconscious moments before but all of a sudden knew how far back in time they had gone.

"I recognized Riddle. We're, um, old acquaintances, you might say." Ginny explained to him, and Sirius decided that he would just drop it there, getting more confused by this knowledge. "It's just that I hadn't seen him for awhile, and it came as a slight shock." That was certainly true, Ginny thought to herself, but she felt that reliving the ordeal of her first year in the Chamber of Secrets wasn't something she wanted to do just then. "Oh my gosh! Where is Riddle now?!?!"

"Take it easy now! He took off after you fainted, muttering about it being a fishy situation if he were found here with a girl unconscious." Sirius replied, helping her off of the ground (she had been laying in the middle of the corridor where she had fainted). "So, what do we do now?"

This was a good question, Ginny thought. Too bad she didn't have an answer… She checked her watch, a little past midnight. She was just about to tell this to Sirius when they heard footsteps coming down the hall again. Feeling ready for anything, Ginny waited expectantly for another unusual shock to come. Well, it came.

"DUMBLEDORE??" This time it was Sirius's turn to receive a slight shock as he gaped open mouthed at was unmistaken ably a 50 years younger Dumbledore. He had the same long hair and beard, but it was auburn streaked with silver hairs instead of white, and his face was less lined. Dumbledore looked quite surprised to see them there as well, two students who seemed to know him who he had never seen before in his life. Sirius and Ginny rushed up to him, feeling that if anyone could help the situation, it would be Dumbledore.

"Can I help you two? I must admit that you are out of bed past curfew, but I am not sure whether this applies to you or not, as I do not recognize you as students enrolled in this school." Dumbledore asked them politely, though still looking bewildered.

"Well, no, we're not students yet, exactly… but in a couple of years or so we will be!" Ginny reassured him, and he smiled warmly at her. "You might be able to help us, however. Do you know anything about time travel?" she asked, deciding not to waste time by beating around the bush. Dumbledore looked quite taken aback.

"You see, we 'stumbled' into this time vortex in our own time, and we found ourselves here!" Sirius explained.

"Time travel, you say? You must be from the future, as time travel is explicitly illegal now. You can't even get a book about how to travel through time, as it is so dangerous to the balance of everything!" Dumbledore kindly informed them. "In fact, the Ministry monitors all movements between time, and time turners are also illegal. So are certain potions, pocket watches, vortexes, and many other things. Ever since Gamsey of Little Hangleton went to the future and brought back that dragon… really quite an amusing story!" Dumbledore finished, beaming at them. Ginny found it very hard to smile back.

"You mean, there's no way for us to get back?" she asked weakly, and Sirius looked very shell shocked. Dumbledore frowned slightly at this question, analyzing it carefully. It was a moment before he spoke.

"No, I don't necessarily mean that…" Dumbledore responded, his blue eyes twinkling again. "More so that you won't be able to get back legally!"

Sirius always had liked Dumbledore, and this confirmed it more than anything. Ginny did not find this news as comforting as Sirius, however.

"But you said that there were no books, no time turners, nothing that could help us get back to our own time!" She reminded him, but his smile broadened.

"Ah… I did say there were no books, time turners, or vortexes… but I don't recall saying that there was nothing that could help you get back (Still illegal, though!" He added to himself, chuckling lightly.)

"So you'll help us?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Of course! Besides, I don't think it would be wise to have people from the future running around loose in the past for too long, could disrupt history!" He reassured them, and Ginny smiled with relief. "You will have to remain her for at least a day or two, as the magic I will use to send you back is very complex and takes time to invoke."

Ginny and Sirius felt that this wouldn't be too bad as a whole, as the other prospect was to be stuck in the past.

"Speaking of disrupting time, you didn't speak to anyone here, did you?" Dumbledore inquired as an afterthought.

"Well, actually, we met Tom Riddle just a moment before we spotted you." Ginny told him, and she saw Dumbledore's eyes widen and his smile falter for a moment.

"Riddle? Hmm, you didn't reveal anything to him about the future, did you? Because I know Tom and his way of thinking…"

"Nothing, Professor! Not even our names!" Sirius assured him, and Dumbledore looked greatly relieved by this.

"Very well. It seems that you already know my name, but I don't think I know yours." He asked them as he lead them to the guestrooms of Hogwarts to spend the night.

"I'm Ginny Weasley, and this is Sirius Black!" Ginny introduced them, and Dumbledore studied their faces.

"I had a feeling you were a Black, who could only have been your father graduated recently. I never expected his son would be a Gryffindor… And a Weasley! I've watched several Weasleys graduate from Hogwarts… yes, I should have recognized the hair!" Dumbledore addressed them as they stopped in front of a large statue of a troll in a traveling cloak (it was very unusual indeed!) Dumbledore went up to the statue and stuck his wand up the troll's left nostril. Immediately the statue lowered into the ground, revealing a portion of the wall previously hidden by the troll. There was a door which Dumbledore opened, allowing Ginny and Sirius to step in.

"Mr. Black, your room is on the left, Ms. Weasley on the right. Hope these accommodations suit you, the guest rooms at Hogwarts are rarely used, not since the last Triwizard Tournament, I believe. Come to my office in the morning and we can discuss your departure." He told them, pointing at the rooms.

"Good night, Professor!" Sirius said in the middle of a long yawn. It had been a long two days…

"Yes, and thanks for helping us!" Ginny thanked him, feeling rather drained herself.

"Good night!" Dumbledore said the same to them, and was about to leave when he changed his mind. "Just wondering… do we beat him?"

"Sorry. Beat who?" Ginny asked with alarm, thinking that there was no way Dumbledore could possibly know about Voldemort.

"Grindelwald, of course! Do we beat him?" Dumbledore asked excitedly again. Sirius and Ginny exchanged amused looks.

"Yes, you beat him. But no more questions! Wouldn't want to ruin history, now would we, Dumbledore!" Ginny chuckled at the professor.

"I, well, no. I suppose you're right." Dumbledore sighed, feeling that they could have at least told him how he was going to beat Grindelwald. But then again, history is a very delicate thing…

Harry and James almost had to run to keep up with Lily, who was walking very rapidly down the corridors of Hogwarts. It seemed odd to Harry, that Hogwarts looked so very similar 25 years ago. Actually, I guess this is the present now… he reminded himself. Lily stopped in front of a large troll wearing of all things, a traveling cloak.

"What are we doing here for?" James inquired as she stuck her wand up the troll's nose. Lily shot him a dangerous look.

"Your cousin will be staying here… he most certainly can't stay in the dormitories. As he isn't a student, he'll have to stay in one of the guest rooms." Lily informed him, as if this made perfect sense.

"Guest Rooms?" Harry and James both said blankly, and Lily threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Honestly! Haven't either of you read, 'Hogwarts, A History'?" she asked them, and Harry wondered how many people had actually read this book, apart from Lily, Hermione, and perhaps Remus.

"Nope! Well, I think I'll stay here with Harry tonight, just so he doesn't feel out of place all alone in a big castle like this! Night, Evans!" James said briskly to her, and she scowled.

"Honestly, Potter! You sound like Harry's father, holding his hand in a strange place so he doesn't get lost!" She stressed to James, and James couldn't help but laugh at the irony of that statement.

"Yea, well, maybe I do sound like that. Well, anyways, see you later, Evans!" James told her, Lily looking highly affronted with his laughter.

"Whatever, Potter. Nice meeting you, Harry!" Lily replied hotly to them, before turning on her heal and setting off towards the common room.

"Such an outgoing girl, that Evans… well, anyways, we need to figure out how to get you back to 1996, and if the others managed to get back." James said, turning to Harry.

"Let's get some sleep… I don't know about you, but staying out after midnight traveling through time usually gets me pretty bushed." Harry tried to tell James, but he was interrupted by a yawn.

"You can say that again!" James answered as he flopped onto one of the beds, and both Potters were asleep within minutes.