Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 19

The Prisoner In The Tower

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny huddled in the entryway, still under the ignorable charm but not wanting to get closer to Voldemort than necessary. The Death Eater seemed rather nervous, too. Behind the desk was the back of a large chair, and it covered the person sitting in it completely. As Voldemort began to speak, hidden by his chair, a large snake wound itself around the stand where Fawkes the Phoenix usually resided.

"It's time for you to run an errand for me." The high, cruel voice that had haunted Harry said. "The final task and greatest honor of a faithful Death Eater. You will receive further instructions when you arrive, and be sure to bring your belongings with you, as you will, let's say retire, there."

"Yes, my lord." The Death Eater mumbled humbly. The high backed chair swiveled around slowly, and Ginny felt she was going to be sick as she saw him. The wide, livid eyes like those of a snake were familiar to Harry, but the body was not. Instead of the tall, slender man that had emerged from the cauldron in the grave yard, a powerful, muscular man was there. A Voldemort that had never lost his old body or his old strength. The voice almost didn't seem to fit.

"This portkey will take you to the gates of Azkaban Palace, and the guards will let you in. I will be up there later today to check up on how you're doing." Voldemort said, and Harry felt Hermione twitch nervously next to him. Going to Azkaban, whether it was a prison or a palace, did not sound like a good idea. Too late now, Harry thought grimly, still in a reckless state of mind.

As Voldemort held out a large, battered sombrero to the Death Eater, Harry motioned for the others to take hold as well. When he felt the jerking sensation around his naval, he could have sworn that Voldemort looked directly at him. But as the world began to spin around him, he convinced himself he had only imagined it, as Voldemort would never let Harry slip away that easily.

The landing was rough, as usual. Only the Death Eater remained standing, Harry and his friends having to pick themselves up off of the ground. It appeared that they were standing near the edge of very rocky cliffs. The Death Eater began to climb, and they followed. It was a short distance, but at a very steep incline, and when they reached level ground, Harry found himself short of breath. Looming in front of them were high walls, looking as though they had been carved out of the cliffs themselves. An iron gate with a guard tower on either side opened to admit the Death Eater, and Harry resolutely followed, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny came a little more hesitantly. Being enclosed was not a good feeling.

Whatever Voldemort might have convinced his followers to believe, Azkaban Palace looked like a prison. There was only one detail to suggest otherwise, a tall, solitary tower that rose from the building. There was only one window on it, at the very top, and it was the only light on in the entire place that shone in the early hours before dawn. Harry wondered whether this tower had always been part of Azkaban, or whether Voldemort had added it. His musing were ended when another Death Eater, with a thick, muscled neck came and greeted their Death Eater.

"You'll be guarding the tower." The thick necked one grunted. Apparently the other Death Eater had no idea of what the tower was for, either.

"What's in the-" He began to ask.

"It's not your job to know what's in there, it's your job to guard it." The thick necked one cut him off harshly. Nothing more needing to be said, the thick necked began to lead the other Death Eater to the Tower, and of course, Harry and his friends followed. Apprehension was weighing heavily on Harry now, but the curiosity of what was in the Tower was stronger.

As they wound through the dark, damp corridors of Azkaban, Harry felt for Sirius and Hagrid. To spend a couple months, let alone 12 years, in such a place (not including the Dementors), it was no wonder that people lost their minds. At the end of one of these corridors, there was a wooden door with a chair to one side.

"Sit. Guard." The thick necked Death Eater barked, and the other Death Eater did so. Bet he's feeling pretty stupid now, this being Voldemort's highest honor for those most faithful, thought Harry, though he wasn't sorry for the Death Eater.

As soon as the thick necked Death Eater had gone, Hermione pulled Harry aside.

"Now what? We're here, can we leave?" She whispered pleadingly. Ron and Ginny watched Harry hopefully.

"We came all this way, I just need to see what's in that tower." Harry whispered back, and Hermione's face fell. Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny gave him a sharp look and he fell silent.

Quietly, Harry placed an ignorable charm on the door, just in case. They all snuck through without the Death Eater noticing. A torch burned brightly next to the door, and Harry took it out of its bracket. The light cast brought the bottom of a spiral staircase into view, and Harry began to climb. Was Voldemort hiding a monster? A weapon, like the one in the department of Mysteries? Gold? Each possibility Harry pondered as he climbed higher, occasionally slipping on the grime and dirt. Behind him, he heard the others making their way as well.

The staircase seemed endless, but they finally reached the top. It opened onto a small landing, with a trapdoor above. Harry had a sudden feeling of foreboding as he looked up at it, and Ron shifted slightly next to him. With a quick gaze around to the others, Harry reached up and pulled the trap door open. It reminded him of entering Professor Trelawney's classroom, but as he climbed the ladder the room he entered was nothing like the attic tea room used for Divination.

He took in the sparse furnishings, a bed, a threadbare rug, a wooden chair, before he noticed that he wasn't alone. His first instinct was that he was looking into a mirror. He then realized he was looking at himself, the Harry of the alternate universe of 1996.

Harry stared at Harry, both speechless. From the landing below, Harry dimly heard Ron calling out to him.

"Harry? You okay? What's up there?" Ron called out in a frightened voice.

"Oh, just me…" Harry croaked, not sure how to word it. Hermione said something he couldn't understand, so he ignored it. "Stay down there, I'll just be a moment."

He closed the trapdoor, now it was just him and, well, himself. His double wore ragged but clean clothes, and looked rather healthy for a prisoner locked in a tower.

"Who are you?" His alternate self asked him.

"I'm you, from a different life, I guess you could say." Harry muttered, not sure if what he said made any sense.

"From time?" Alternate Harry asked. This puzzled Harry. How would his alternate self know about their time adventure? He nodded slowly, and Alternate Harry's face relaxed. "I see." A few more moments passed in silence.

"Why are you, am I, in this tower?" Harry inquired.

"For my, your, well, our safety. Father keeps us safe here." Alternate Harry told him in a cheery voice Harry was sure he never used.

"Father? I thought our father died?" Harry questioned in bewilderment. The book clearly said that James had died, just like in the normal 1996. That was one thing that hadn't changed!

"Our father can't die!" Alternate Harry exclaimed in outrage. "Our father is Lord Voldemort! The most powerful wizard in the world!"

Harry nearly passed out. His father? Lord Voldemort? "But what about James Potter?" He finally got out, struggling with shock.

"Who is James Potter?" Alternate Harry frowned. Harry tried to tell himself to calm down, that Voldemort was not his father. Voldemort had brainwashed himself in this time, he reassured himself, Voldemort was not his father. "What about Lily? What about our mum?"

Lily had died, too, in a tragic accident, according to Alternate Harry. Alternate Harry had lived in this tower his whole life, with occasional visits from his "father". Supposedly it was to keep him safe, but Harry knew there had to be a reason for keeping himself locked up like this. He scanned his double's hairline, and noticed there was no scar. Voldemort hasn't picked me over Neville yet, so that's why we're able to survive while the other one's alive, Harry realized, thinking back to the prophecy.

Alternate Harry was doing some thinking, too. "Let me show you this cool thing, before you go." He said to Harry, who had told him that his friends were waiting for him. Alternate Harry motioned for Harry to come by the window. Harry obliged and got up to look out. All he could see was the sea, surrounding the island.

"I don't see any-"

BANG!

Before Harry finished his sentence, Alternate Harry had knocked him unconscious with the chair. Below him, he heard people inquiring to Harry what was going on, and Alternate Harry knew he had to act fast.

"Harry? What's happening up there?" Hermione called up again, but Ron was ready for action.

"That's it, I'm going up." He told her and Ginny before ascending up the ladder and pushing open the trap door.

He saw Harry looking out the window. Nothing unusual.

"What's taking you so long? Let's get out of- AHH!" Ron had just realized there was another Harry, unconscious, on the floor. "Why are there two of you?"

"It's me, from time." The conscious Harry by the window said. The Harry on the floor looked exactly the same, though wearing ragged clothes.

"Like, your alternate self?" Harry nodded. "Why's he on the floor?"

"He tried to attack me, so I hit him over the head with a chair."

"Oh." Ron scratched his head, looking between the two. "Can we leave now?"

Harry nodded, and allowed Ron to lead the way. On the landing, Hermione scolded him for dragging them all the way here, and Ginny merely looked relieved.

As they began to descend the long spiral stairs, Ron told the girls that Harry had met his alternate self. Ginny kept shooting Harry sideway glances, but Harry said nothing, just nodded along with Ron.

"If we can get back to Hogwarts, we might be able to find another way back to 1943." Hermione began to tell them. "We can probably floo there, if we can find a fireplace."

They managed to sneak past the guard, and were now peering down the dark corridors of Azkaban, searching for a fireplace. One of the rooms near the entrance of the fortress, fortunately, had one. Ron held out the pot of powder to Harry, who looked at it uncertainly.

"After you." He finally said, pushing it towards Ron and away from himself. Ron obediently took a handful and stepped into the grate.

"Hogwarts!" Ron stated, and he was whisked off in a burst of flames, ash, and soot. Harry followed his example, and did the same.

I don't like this… he thought as he spun quickly, feeling nauseous. Finally, he felt himself slowing down, and instinctively he threw out his hands. This was very fortunate, as it helped break his fall. Ron helped him up.

"You still haven't got the hang of that yet." Ron teased, and Harry nodded weakly as Hermione and Ginny stepped out of the fireplace behind him. It looked like they had arrived in the fireplace in an empty classroom. But how to get back to 1943 and set things right?

"If we knew where the book was, we could use it." Hermione suggested, and Ron reminded her that they couldn't find it when things had been normal, let alone now.

"We might as well go back to the forest. That river sounds like our only shot." Ginny interrupted with resignation in her voice. Hermione looked exasperated, but nodded. Ron sighed heavily, before turning to Harry.

"To the river, then?" Harry shrugged and nodded. The river, whatever.

Harry followed them out of the castle and into the forest. Ron explained how his life had flashed before him, and how he'd even seen what would happen in the future.
"Wait, did you see our wedding day, too?" Hermione asked suddenly. Ron, Ginny, and Harry stopped, staring at her. Ron nodded, slowly. "Okay, just checking…"

An uncomfortable silence fell after that, Hermione and Ron avoiding one another's gaze. Ginny thought it was very odd, not about Ron and Hermione together (that was pretty obvious to her!) but how Harry was acting. He had been really quiet ever since meeting his alternate self. I guess that would disturb anyone! She reminded herself.

They stepped into a clearing, the same one they had been in earlier in the alternate 1996. This time, however, the river was trickling, the same silvery fluid swirling in a lazy current. It was a very comforting sight.

Hermione instructed them all as how to stand in the river, expressing her own confusion that it hadn't been working before, but that it was working now. It shouldn't have to recharge if we didn't use it until the future, she thought to herself. But she soon heard the approaching tidal wave of memories, and soon forgot about that.

The memories that rushed to her were memories she had never seen before, yet they couldn't be future memories, either, as she was the same age in some of them. Her, sitting at a picnic table, eating a sandwich with a group of girls she'd never seen before. Wearing what looked like a prom dress, arm linked with a guy she'd never met before. Graduating a high school she'd never attended. College parties. Waitressing, trying to make ends meet. Raising a daughter as a single parent. This is the life I would have led if I had never gone to Hogwarts, she realized.

This time she was able to reach the shore herself. Ron was helping a very shocked Ginny out of the non existent water as he'd helped Hermione before, and Harry was getting out nearby.

"I saw different stuff this time. No Harry, no Hogwarts, none of you, either." Ron remarked, and Hermione grimaced.

"Same here."

"Me too." Ginny chimed weakly. "It definitely wasn't my life." Hermione waited for Harry to speak.

"My life was the same." Harry told them, and Hermione frowned.

"The Sorcerer's stone? Sirius? Cedric?" Ginny asked. Harry frowned.

"No, never mind." He mumbled, confused. The others looked at him in a very confused way, too.

Apparently the river had worked again, and Hermione and Ron led the way back to the castle. They were in the same place, it appeared, but a different time of day. A little later in the morning, though still early.

As they entered the castle, Ginny smiled with relief. True, they weren't back in their own time yet, but seeing Hogwarts with four houses, teachers instead of Death Eaters, and the castle's normal décor was very comforting. What unsettled her was seeing herself sitting down to breakfast with Sirius on the other side of the Great Hall.

"We're back in 1943, cause there I am." She told the others as they spotted her as well. "We've got to hurry and get into the Chamber of Secrets before I do." Hermione nodded, and they began to set off, Ron still trying to work out what Ginny had said.

As they hurried through the hallways, Ginny couldn't help but wonder again what was up with Harry. He was never this silent, never just following. He had led them thus far, yet now he remained in the back of the group, as if he had no idea what was going on. Perhaps he's still feeling confused from being in the alternate 1996, she decided. There had been times when she had been confused, too, not sure where she was in Hogwarts or what someone had been talking about.

As they hurried along a corridor, a door flew open in front of them, almost beheading Ron. They ducked behind a suit of armor, and who but James and Harry should step out into the hall. Ron had just witnessed two Harrys in the same room, now they were in the same hallway as another one. Fortunately, James and the other Harry didn't see them, and they hurried off down one end of the hallway and turned, while Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the other Harry went in the other direction of the hall.

They had reached Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and everyone looked expectantly at Harry. He looked doubtfully at the sink.

"Remind me why we're here, again?" he said uncertainly. Hermione dismissed this as memory faulting from the alternate 1996, and Ron explained that he had to speak Parseltongue to get the chamber to open.

"I can speak Parseltongue?" Ginny reminded him that he could, and Harry tried unsuccessfully for a few moments. Ginny knew that she, Sirius, and Tom had already arrived in the Chamber by now.

Just then, footsteps were audible right outside the bathroom door. For a second, no one moved, then Hermione came to her sensed and ducked into a bathroom stall, pulling Ron with her. Ginny did the same, taking Harry into the other stall. As soon as the stalls had shut, the bathroom door opened, and James and the other Harry stepped in.

A strange hissing filled the bathroom, causing a chill to run down Ginny's back. The Harry standing next to her looked quite disturbed as well.

"Did you just speak Parseltongue? How can you speak parseltounge if neither Lily and I are parselmouths?" Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry heard James ask.

"Well, I didn't exactly inherit it from either of you, but I got it from someone else purely by accident. He didn't mean to transfer his ability to speak parseltounge to me by any means!" The other Harry answered. "So, shall we see if they're down here?"

"Okay, then." James replied.

The people hiding in the stalls heard James and the other Harry leave. When the coast was clear, everyone stepped out. The pipe to the Chamber of Secrets was still open. Again, Harry was standing off to the side, so Ron stepped up.

"Well, I guess I'll go first, then." He declared, and Hermione and Ginny watched in rapture as he stepped into the pipe and disappeared as he slipped out of sight. Neither of the girls had ever used the main entrance, in fact, Hermione had never even been into the Chamber. Hermione followed Ron, and Ginny motioned for Harry to go next. Reluctantly, Harry stuck a foot in and was also gone.

Ginny took a deep breath, aware that she was going into the Chamber of Secrets for the third and hopefully last time in her life. Here I go… and down she went.

Once they were all down in the chamber, as they made their way through the rodent skeletons, they heard shouting from aways ahead.

"Just leave him, Harry. Let's get Sirius and go, he's not worth it." Ginny heard herself pleading in the Chamber. Ron motioned for them all to go forward, and they all slipped behind one of the columns to hide.

For a brief second, they saw the scene unfolding before them. Sirius, on the floor, unconscious. Tom Riddle and Harry, wands out and pointing at one another. James and Ginny, alongside of Harry, looking worried. While the others pressed themselves against the wall in order to remain hidden, Ginny watched the ordeal that seemed so long ago happen again.

"Just leave him, Harry!" Tom mocked in a high pitched voice, laughing cruelly. "I see you're not afraid of me, Harry. I better make this short, then. Innundio!" Tom yelled before the other Harry had a chance to react, sending a beam of blue at Ginny's chest, knocking her over. Harry knelt down by Ginny, and Ginny had to admit, it looked as though she had died. Ron and Hermione watched fearfully, but Harry looked rather bewildered again.

"Ginny! Ginny! Please wake up! Don't be dead, Ginny!"

"She won't wake!" Tom gasped, as James was now wrestling with him. "She's alive, but only just!"

"Accio, Sirius!" Sirius's limp form flew across the chamber. "Innervate."

"I'll kill that bloody imbecile!" Sirius growled, but Harry held him back. Now Ginny was interested, getting to see what she had missed while she had been only just alive on the floor. Harry told Sirius to take Ginny and go, and off she went with Sirius.

"James, let him go! Tom's battle is with me!" Harry told James.

"And why would that be, Harry?"

"One of those reasons you'll have to wait and find out, Tom."

"Accio Wand!"

"We may share a future, but not if I leave you in the past, Harry."

"I have the advantage, Tom. We've met in my past, your future. I already know your weaknesses, but you have not seen mine."

"Voldemort has no weakness! You must have gotten lucky." Tom said.

At these words, the Harry standing next to Ginny perked up. It was the first time that he had actually shown interest in what was going on around him.

"Maybe so, but I might get lucky again, and we might settle this once and for all between Tom Riddle and Harry Potter."

Hermione looked mournfully at the Harry that was watching. If only he hadn't said his name…

Ginny and Harry watched as the other Harry dueled Tom. The Harry next to Ginny was watching with an odd expression on his face, and Ginny again wondered what in the world was going on with him.

Ron and Hermione, however, were not watching the duel. They were very amused watching Sirius try to climb up into the pipe, while the unconscious Ginny hovered.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Tom yelled, startling Ginny, Ron, and Hermione (Harry didn't seem phased.)

"Expelliarmus!"

The wands connected again, and Harry broke the connection, flinging Tom against the wall. He landed with a muffled thump, unconscious.

"We should go find Sirius and Ginny, we still have to find a way to get out of here." Harry said to James.

"Oh, er, Right." James finally answered, still staring at Tom. "What about him?"

"I think he's just unconscious, he'll come to in a bit. Being the heir of Slytherin, he can get in and out of this place however he wants, so he'll be fine in a couple of hours or so." Harry shrugged, as they began to hurry towards the exit.

Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry pressed against the wall again as the other Harry and James passed by. As soon as James and Harry had left with Ginny and Sirius, they rushed from their hiding place up to Tom Riddle.

"After we switch wands, and do a memory charm on him, we can finally go back to 1996!" Hermione exclaimed, and she and Ron hugged tightly with relief. Ginny watched them with a smile, and they both broke apart after realizing what they had been doing. Both were rather red, when Ginny turned to Harry.

"Switch the wands, Harry." She instructed him. Harry gave her a blank look.

"Come on, mate! What are you waiting for?" Ron asked him, and Hermione frowned. Harry stared at the wand in his hand in a confused way, as if he didn't understand. Ginny reached for it, and tried to wrench it out of his hands.

"Just give it here, Harry!" She cried, but he wouldn't let go.

She looked up into his green eyes, as if looking for an answer. All of a sudden, a horrible realization came over her.

"What-why-what happened to your scar?" She breathed, and Ron and Hermione's eyes flicked up to Harry's hairline. He didn't have his lightning bolt scar!

"You're not our Harry, are you?" Hermione asked, and Harry smiled.

"You're right, I'm not you're Harry." Ron's jaw dropped. They had left Azkaban Palace with the wrong Harry!