Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 17
Difficult Goodbyes

Harry sprinted through the halls of the Hogwarts of 1943, Ginny limp in his arms. James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus were next, discussing what time the others had all visited. Ron and Hermione brought up the rear, hurrying in awkward silence a little behind the others. They had seen the future, a future with the two of them together, and looking each other in the eye after seeing that was very difficult for them to do. As the group turned the corner, Harry caught sight of Dumbledore's auburn hair and hollered.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Dumbledore turned his head and saw them hurrying towards him. He rushed over to meet them.

"So you all found one another?" Dumbledore asked urgently, looking from Harry and James to Sirius and Ginny. "Oh my, what happened to her? And where's Tom? And who are they?" Dumbledore asked, motioning to Hermione, Ron, Remus, and Peter.

"They're more friends from the future. Tom hit Ginny with some sort of spell in the Chamber of Secrets, and he's in there now, unconscious. Can you help her?" Harry pleaded. Dumbledore looked her over swiftly before nodding.

"Follow me. To the Time Chamber!" And they were off again.

"Who's Tom?" Remus asked Sirius in a whisper as they followed Dumbledore.

"Nasty Slytherin git that apparently Harry and Ginny are acquainted with from the future. Lord Voldy-thingy or something like that in our time." Sirius told him.

"Oh, I see." Remus answered uncertainly, still miffed of who Lord Voldy-thingy was. Before he could inquire further, Dumbledore opened a door and beckoned for them all to come in. Inside, James and Harry watched the others have a similar reaction of curiosity and wonder like their own upon first entering the time chamber. Dumbledore motioned for Harry to lay Ginny on a table in the corner, and the group crowded around as he examined her.

"What type of spell was it? What did he say?" Dumbledore asked, checking Ginny's pulse.

"Innundo, or something." Harry informed him, and Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly. "What does that mean? Will she be okay?" Harry asked urgently, and Ron was looking very pale.

"She'll be fine, I just found it ironic that Tom used that spell. 'Innundo' is a spell that causes the attacker to inflict damage to the person while they exist after they are hit with it." Dumbledore told them, but Harry found his words were not reassuring.

"Well, then how will she be fine, if more damage is done to her all the time?" Harry asked angrily, but restrained from yelling as Dumbledore didn't really know him yet, and Dumbledore was the only way they could get back to their own times.

"Haven't you figured out the cure by now? It only inflicts her after she's been hit." Dumbledore replied enigmatically, but Hermione and Remus gasped as what he was saying dawned on them.

"Time Travel!" They exclaimed at the same time, and Dumbledore smiled.

"Exactly. The most obvious thing to do would be to go back in time for Ginny to wake up, and the damage will stop." Dumbledore began to tell them, but it Ron interrupted him.

"Wait, so we have to go back in time again?" he asked, but Dumbledore continued to smile while shaking his head.

"Not necessarily. You could also travel forward in time and achieve the same results." Dumbledore answered. "Time is continuous, it's the 4th dimension that we as mortals cannot see. Back and Forward in time, Past, Present, and Future, they really don't mean anything at all. Yes, what one person does during one time affects all other time, but us mortals are the ones who label time with past and future. I myself don't even understand it. I do know, however, that by taking her back to her own time for her to wake up and heal, you could save yourself an extra trip through time."

No one said anything for a moment, still trying to absorb what Dumbledore had said. Ron found his voice first. "I vote for going to the future. I've had enough time travel to last me a lifetime." Everyone agreed they all had had enough of time travel.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. If you all will just step into the Time Ascenseur, and tell me what year you're from." Dumbledore said as he busied himself with adjusting various knobs and buttons on the "Time Ascenseur", or the time elevator. They all stepped in, but Remus found a serious problem.

"Uh, actually, we're from 2 different times." He reminded them, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that this mistake had been caught.

"Oh, well, then the group with Ginny in it should depart first. What year?" Dumbledore asked again.

"1996." Hermione told him, and Dumbledore began to twiddle the knob on one of the wheels. Harry's stomach dropped slightly upon hearing this, and it wasn't because of Ginny in his arms. This time he was really leaving James and Sirius in the past for good. He exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione, and they could see his anxiety.

"Harry, it's been incredible meeting you. You're a cool guy, and I'm proud to be your father." James smiled at him, shaking his hand. Harry felt his throat closing up. "Of all the people I could've had for a son, I'm glad I have you."

Harry felt his eyes start to moisten. Before this day, he had always wondered what his father had been like, always wishing there was a way to find out. He had met the great guy that would one day be his father, and now he had to say goodbye, never to see him again. It had been one thing to wonder about him, but now another to live without him having met James. He hugged James tightly again, not really caring what the others thought.

"Harry, mate, pull some more Marauder classics when you get back! Keep the castle in mayhem!" Sirius instructed him, and Harry knew he was crying now. If it had been hard to say goodbye to his father, saying goodbye to Sirius was worse. He hadn't even recovered from losing Sirius yet, and here he was again, and already it was time to say goodbye.

"I will. You're going to be an excellent godfather some day." Harry told him sincerely as he hugged Sirius goodbye. Sirius seemed to ponder his words deeply as Remus stepped forward.

"You and your friends have done so much to help us get back. I'm glad we got to share the adventure together." Remus told him politely, and Harry hugged him as well. He had enjoyed seeing Remus as a young, carefree boy, feeling the present Remus deserved to be like that forever.

"Harry, you're a great friend, like your father. It was great meeting you!" Peter told him excitedly, and Harry tensed at these words. He hugged him rather stiffly, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck bristle slightly as he did so. After everyone had said their goodbyes, the Marauders stepped back from the time elevator.

"It most certainly has been an interesting day. I do hope I'm acquainted with you all in the future, you all seem like very exciting people. And if we do meet again in the future, or somewhere else in time, we should all get together and talk about this experience!" Dumbledore smiled at them all, his familiar eyes twinkling.

"I promise, Dumbledore, we will meet again." Hermione reassured him.

"Say goodbye to Ginny for us when she wakes up!" Sirius told them as the glass door was pulled shut.

"Good, something to look forward to! Now, off you go to 1996!" Dumbledore waved to them one last time, before pulling the lever (James and Harry both felt relieved he hadn't tripped that time!). Immediately, the room was spinning around them, but it was quite different from the first time Harry had used the contraption. Instead of being flushed downwards, they were sucked upwards in a kind of reverse whirlpool, or like a tornado. He held onto Ginny tightly as they spun, and continued to do so when the spinning had stopped.

"Are we back?" Hermione asked timidly, everyone wondering the same thing. It was very dark in the room, and Harry cautiously pushed the glass door open, allowing them to all step out.

From the looks of things, the Time Chamber wasn't used much in recent times, or whatever time this was. Everything was dusty, and on closer inspection, the glass on the Time Ascenseur was cracked in places. Just then, however, Harry felt Ginny stirring in his arms.

"Harry? Harry, what's going on? Why's it so dark?" Ginny asked, her eyes darting around the room. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, she was awake.

"You're okay! We found Ron, Hermione, Remus, and Peter in 1943, and Dumbledore brought us back to 1996, or so we think." Harry explained, and Ginny smiled with relief, too. Everyone continued to watched them, and Ginny grinned slightly.

"Harry, you can put me down now." She told him, and Harry blushed as he grinned sheepishly as well, setting her on her feet. Ron hugged his little sister, and Ginny scowled.

"Ron, geez! I'm fine!" She brushed him off, and Ron scowled as well. Hermoine shook her head at the brother and sister, remembering how worried Ron had been upon seeing Ginny unconscious. And she considered how Harry had acted, not letting her go until he had to. Surprisingly, she thought the future might just be right for them after all.

"Well, should we go back to the common room?" Ron asked, in a deflated sort of way.

"We probably should." Hermione agreed, and gestured towards the time elevator.

"I don't think this thing is used anymore. We need to find Dumbledore, and tell him, and talk about all that's happened." Ron reminded them, and Harry nodded silently as he opened the door. They stepped out into the hallway, and Harry did a doubletake at his surroundings. This was most certainly not the Hogwarts of 1996.

"Are we in the right time? Hogwarts definitely didn't look like this when we left!" Ron exclaimed, and he was right.

There hadn't been much change of décor in all the times they had visited Hogwarts in, but Harry was beginning to wonder whether they were even in Hogwarts at all! The stone floor was grimy, and the walls were too. The usual paintings were very different, the subjects all looking very grim. As Harry shut the door to the Time Chamber, he found that the bronze doorknob was shaped like the head of a snake.

"Er, to Dumbledore's Office?" Harry asked them, a little uncertain that Dumbledore would reside in a place such as this.

"Uh, well, sure?" Hermione replied in more of a question than an answer, and they began to walk down the unfamiliar hall. Harry examined the portraits as they walked past, the subjects leering out at them in a very unfriendly manner. He was about to mention this to the others, when he recognized one of the sneering people.

"Ahh!" Harry yelped, causing them all to stop and look for the cause of his cry. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all gasped when they saw the painting, as they recognized it, too. It was the very same painting of Sirius's mum that hung at Grimmauld Place, and it was shrieking insults at the majority of them as it had before.

"Filthy mud bloods! Cowards! Blood traitors! Half bloods!" She raged at them, her shrill voice echoing down the hall.

"What the hell is that doing here?" Harry whimpered, but Ginny grabbed him by the arm.

"Harry! Someone would have heard that! RUN!" And the group turned and did just that, running towards what they hoped was Dumbledore's office. Harry was bewildered at why Sirius's mum's painting was here, in Hogwarts, instead of in Grimmauld Place. Through more dingy and dark hallways they hurried, although the sound of Sirius's mum's insults were far out of earshot. Panting, they found themselves outside of the Great Hall.

"Let's go in, have a look around and maybe find out why everything's so different." Harry told the others, who, still trying to catch their breath, nodded and followed him. The sight greeted them could not have been any more different from the Great Hall that they knew.

The room they were now in was unmistakably the Great Hall, or had been the Great Hall at some point. Now, it looked like a cafeteria for the most evil, dark, young wizards and witches. It seemed that there were no longer 4 houses, but one giant Slytherin one. A quick glance at the staff table told them that the usual Hogwarts professors were not there. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny recognized some of them as death eaters they had battled with in the Department of Mysteries last year. What was going on?

"I've never seen you here before. Who are you?" A drawling voice came from behind them. Harry nearly fell over. It was Draco Malfoy, looking exactly the same as when they had left 1996. They were certainly in the right time, and this was certainly Hogwarts, but why was it different?

"What do you mean, you've never seen us before? We've been going here as long as you have, Malfoy!" Ron replied to Harry's dismay. Malfoy looked very confused by this. "What's going here, anyways? Where's the Gryffindor table? Or Dumbledore?"

"Gryffindor-? Oh, Gryffindor! I didn't understand what you meant, at first. Gosh, there hasn't been a Gryffindor House in at least 16 years! And as for Dumbledore, he's been dead a long time. What's with all the stupid questions, anyways?" Malfoy asked suspiciously. Harry looked at the others in horror. Dumbledore, dead?

"And what about Harry Potter?" Harry asked tentatively, although he had a pretty good idea of what Malfoy's answer would be.

"Harry who?" Malfoy asked blankly, racking his brain. "Oh, Harry Potter, the boy who never lived? The boy who was never born?"

The boy who never lived? The boy who was never born? Harry tried to comprehend numbly. Malfoy was staring at them all as though they were nuts.

"Honestly, where have you been? Maybe you've been confounded, if I were you, I'd go straight to the Dark Lord to see if he could sort it out." Malfoy advised them.

"Right, thanks a lot, Malfoy." Harry said to him weakly, and Malfoy gave him one last puzzled look before going on his way. Harry darted out of the Great Hall, or whatever it was called now, and began to run again. Just as bewildered, everyone followed him. They needed a place to think, to sort things out, Harry thought to himself, pacing along one corridor.

"Great idea, Harry!" Ginny told him as the door for the room of requirement materialized before them. They all hurried inside.

"Why's everything changed? The present never changed before, like when we used the time turner in our fourth year! I saw myself across the lake!" Harry asked them in utter confusion.

"We must have changed something really big in the past to have changed the present. We've created some kind of alternate universe of 1996!" Hermione exclaimed, and frightened looks from Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were exchanged.

"Did Malfoy say consult the Dark Lord?" Ron asked timidly after a moment of silence, and Malfoy's words were recalled by Harry.

"Oh my gosh… Voldemort's here! In the castle!" Harry gasped, realizing what all that could mean.

"But Harry, if you're dead, how can you still be here? And if this is an alternate universe, why do we still have memories from the normal one?" Ginny asked, and silence filled the room of requirement as they all pondered this.

"I read about something like this in a book once. We remember because we're not from this alternate universe, but the longer we stay here, the more we'll forget." Hermione said finally. This didn't sound like a good thing.

"We've got to go back, we've got to fix things!" Harry told them all, leaping up from the chair he sat in.

"But when do we have to go back to? What happened that we need to change?" Ginny asked, and Harry mulled it over, twirling his wand absentmindedly in his hand. HIS WAND!

Harry looked down at the wand in his hand, and realized that he still held Tom's wand, not his own. As though he had been electrocuted by it, Harry threw it on the ground, staring at it with a look of disgust.

"Harry, why did you-?" Ron began to ask, but Harry turned to face them with a determined look upon his face.

"He's got my wand in 1943. Tom and I, we switched wands. I still have his, it's there on the floor. And he's still got mine…" Harry explained, and the other three all looked at the wand in disgust as he had.

"What else happened down there in the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked him quietly. Harry thought hard to remember.

"He wanted to know about the future, how he would rise to power. He stunned Sirius when James and I tried to make a run for it with him and Ginny, and then he got Ginny as well. He took my wand, and I took his. I told him we could settle this now or in the future. Then we dueled, and he was knocked unconscious." Harry replied, not sure where Hermione was taking this.

"You didn't tell him who you were, did you?" She asked fearfully. Harry's brow furrowed. He had said something to Tom, what had it been? "we might settle this once and for all between Tom Riddle and Harry Potter…"

"I did." Harry admitted grimly, and Hermione grimaced.

"We're screwed…"