[DISCLAIMER: And by the way, my name is not Joanne Rowling, so unfortunately HP does NOT belong to me, though it really is such a shame...]
(~ss~ - means something is spoken in Parseltongue;
'ergh' - thoughts;
"ano" - spells;
book - letters, howlers, books and the like =)
Chapter Four:
Temporal disasters.
[12, Grimmauld Place]
As Harry busied himself with happy musings and thoughts of how great it would be to have Remus, Sirius, Luna, Fred, George and so many others back, Neville, with the help of Dobby and Kreacher, was searching for the book. Unlike Harry, who due to his Muggle upbringing was still rather ignorant of many things about the Wizarding World, Lord Longbottom knew what had to be done, at least in general words. He informed Harry of the existing possibility, what he did not mention, was that the ritual in question was one of those Dark and Forbidden magics, that were banned by the Ministry due to the necessity of blood sacrifice. Neville knew full well that Harry might not agree to use it once he learns what exactly it entails. Finally the wizard came across the thick old book with a pitch black leather cover. It was named 'Archaic Magics of Blood and Darkness' by Morgana La Fei.
Neville flipped through the pages, until at last he found what he was looking for - the 'Temporal distortion' ritual. As expected there was a lot of necessary ingredients and most of them had to be bought, therefore he sent Dobby to buy them, asking the House Elf to be as quick as possible. Having done that, he read the description carefully.
The text was nasty to say the least, what with the necessary blood sacrifice, but Neville had an idea about who to ask to donate blood. Young Lord Longbottom carefully copied the list of ingredients and sent Dobby to buy them. Knowing that the elf wouldn't take that much time, he went off onto his quest for blood.
Harry was just finishing reading the new legislation, when Neville strode to the fireplace with a nasty looking book in his arms. The blond gave him a triumphant smile:
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Dobby is in the Twin Alleys buying most of the ingredients, I just have to pick up one from a friend."
Potter could feel that he should ask more specifically about the ingredient, but he decided against it, since he knew that it could be something he wouldn't like:
"So does that mean we'll be able to do it soon?" - he asked excitedly.
This made Neville chuckle at his friend's obvious enthusiasm:
"Yes, as soon as everything is ready." - he replied and muttering his destination vanished in the green flames of the Floo Network.
[Black Cottage, Ireland]
After she left Grimmauld Place, Tonks confided herself to her mother's home. Andromeda was very worried for her daughter and wished the girl would see reason and at least start eating again. Every day Ms. Black nee Tonks sent up food and every day it was left untouched. The only sign that her daughter was still alive was the Black family tree. After Romy's husband, Ted Tonks, a muggleborn wizard, was subjected to the Dementor's Kiss six years ago in a Dementor attack, Andromeda took back her maiden name. This reinstated her and her daughter into the Black family, their names appeared on the family tapestry and they were able to gain access to the house that Druella Black left her oldest daughter on the condition that she divorced her husband, or said husband died. So when the Ministry began enforcing their new laws, both women moved here to avoid getting the Kiss as Death Eaters' relatives.
Only a select few people knew where to find them, so Andromeda Black was quite surprised to see Neville Longbottom at her front door. The blond smiled politely:
"Ms Black, I hope you're in good health... I understand the situation is a hard one, but I desperately need a word with Nymphadora..."
Andromeda frowned at the young wizard in front of her. She had no idea what he wanted to talk about with her daughter, but it did seem important enough, she opened her mouth to reply, when her eyes landed on the book he was carrying with him. She gasped in shock. Being a Black, she recognized the book, after all it came from the library at Grimmauld Place.
"How did you happen across that particular book, Mr Longbottom?" - she asked suspiciously.
Neville blushed slightly:
"I found it at Grimmauld, obviously..." - he replied as calmly as possible - "It is something in it that brought me here."
'Merlin, I hope that telling her about the Plan is a good thing to do, we're very close to actually doing it, so it'd be bad if I blew our chance...' - thought Neville cautiously.
Andromeda narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out just what in that book could have interested the man she was talking with:
"I don't know if it's a good idea... ever since the Ministry forced her to abort her child, she's been holed up in her room, not going out, refusing to eat... I don't want to worry her..."
Neville hesitated for a few moments and then opened the book on the necessary page and showed it to Andromeda:
"This is the reason I came here. However I can't say anything else without a vow to never tell anyone about it..."
The witch looked from the Temporal Ritual description to Neville and back again and finally said:
"No need for that. Since it came from Grimmauld Place and that now belongs to Harry, I can roughly guess your goal. I suppose the reason you seal my daughter's help is because of her being a Metamorphmagus?"
The blond gave a small nod, slightly surprised that Andromeda came to the correct conclusion at once:
"So then you don't mind if I ask Dora to help us?"
Having gained Andromeda's permission, Neville followed the witch's directions to her daughter's room. The blond knocked tentatively on the door, some of his childhood nervousness coming back, since his experience in interacting with the opposite gender was close to none, unless the girl was Hermione, Ginny or Luna. There were other females at Hogwarts and later on in the Order, but he usually avoided them to the best of his abilities.
"Dora?" - he called out, since he knew that the ex-Auror was inside - "Come on, open the door... It's me, Neville and this is really important..."
When no answer was given, the man leaned close to the door and put his ear to the wooden surface, listening intently. He heard quiet shuffling and irregular breathing, which made him rather nervous, but for a different reason all together. He knew for sure that the distraught witch was dehydrated and probably well on her way to being delirious from hunger, since she refused to eat. This behavior reminded him of how Harry was after Sirius died. He was pretty sure, that even if Dora wanted to open the door, she'd be too weak to do so by now. Therefore the wizard took out his wand, pointed it at the door and muttered the unlocking charm. To his relief the door opened at once. Glancing inside, he saw total chaos. Books lying everywhere, shards of glass, broken things. Neville cautiously entered the room, careful not to step on anything. He found Lupin's widow sitting on the bed, rocking slightly her eyes fixed on the wall, clearly seeing something that was not there.
The blond wizard looked at the broken woman in front of him and bit his lower lip unconsciously, trying to figure out how to snap her out of her stupor.
'Damn it, why does this have to happen? I can't waste time!' - he thought desperately. And then, looking more closely at Nymphadora, he noticed, that though her eyes were open, she was actually simply asleep. It was obvious that the witch was exhausted, but Neville was here for a purpose and he wanted to be done as soon as possible. He sat on the bed and pointed his wand at the sleeping ex-Auror: "Enervate!" - he said the waking charm and Dora blinked at him in confusion:
"Neville, when did you get here?" - she asked with a small yawn.
"10 minutes, maybe less..." - he answered automatically, trying to figure out how to ask the question he came here for - "Your mother is very worried you know..."
Her hair became dull pink, as she blushed:
"It was very hard... first Remus and now..." - she stopped to take a ragged breath - "How did it come to this? How could Ron do something like that?"
Neville smiled softly, as he looked into her light brown eyes:
"Harry and I have the same questions, he even went to speak with the bastard... it seems like it was a part of some grand scheme of Dumbledore's..." - he spoke calmly, while on the inside he was shaking with nervousness - "And we decided that we didn't need peace for such a price... that's why I came here, Dora."
The Metamorphmagus frowned, not able to understand what he was saying just yet:
"And why would that be?" - she asked guardedly.
Neville smirked, as he finally came to the point:
"Well, we'll try to send Harry back in time."
For a few moments there was silence, which was interrupted by Dora's growling stomach. The witch blushed once again and summoned a House-elf to bring her something to eat, as she thought about just what Neville was implying:
"It can actually be done?" - she asked hopefully - "What can I do to help?"
Inwardly the wizard gave a sigh of relief, but it didn't show on his face:
"Well you see, it is a Blood ritual we need to do... and since we won't be killing someone, I came here to ask if you'd be willing to donate some... I have a blood replenisher with me, so it's absolutely safe."
The woman smirked at him:
"So you were sure I'd agree?"
Neville gave a smirk of his own, as he answered:
"Well, you have some reasons to want this escapade of ours to succeed as well..."
[12, Grimmauld Place]
Barely an hour later Neville was back at the Black London house. When he came back, he was pleased to see, that Dobby was back as well. On his way to the Potions laboratory, he saw Harry pacing in front of the fireplace and chuckled at his expression.
Placing the last ingredient on the preparation table, Neville banished all the extra thoughts and concentrated on what he was about to brew. To say that the potion was complex was like to say that Voldemort was just a bully - the understatement of the century. Still, Neville was now a Master in both Herbology and Potions, which gave him the necessary confidence to tackle the ritual potion.
Finally he added several drops of Dora's blood and the potion changed it's color to lime green, just like it was supposed to. Now he had to just add some Harry's blood and it would be finished. Since he did not want to leave the potion alone, he sent Dobby to collect some blood from the soon to be time-traveler. This was delivered in a few seconds and brought an angry Harry to the laboratory just as Neville added the blood to the potion, which promptly changed it's color to emerald green with swirls of dark blue.
Potter stared from Neville to the cauldron and back:
"Neville just what exactly is that thing?" - he asked, looking at the potion in slight disgust.
The blond chuckled at his friend's expression as he answered:
"This is your potion for the time-travel... obviously..."
Harry gaped at him:
"But then... why did you add blood to it?" - he asked in shock.
"Surely you didn't think that you'd be able to travel back through time with Light magic, did you?" - Neville countered with his own question.
Harry sighed in defeat:
"Damn it, Dumbledore sure did condition me thoroughly... I swear, I'll make him pay..." - he muttered as he studied the swirling colors of the concoction:
"So how do we do this?" - he asked, eagerness returning.
Neville consulted the book and finally said:
"Nothing so hard. First you drink the red vial, then step into the center of the pentagram, I think Dobby already finished it... then you drink the potion, write the destination point and burn the paper. After that the ritual should begin."
As Harry took the red vial, he knew at once that it was blood, he just didn't know it wasn't just his. Taking a deep breath, he gulped down the crimson liquid. Potter expected to throw up, yet for some reason the taste wasn't so back. In fact, he felt strange tingling in his entire body. The raven haired man gingerly walked into the center of the circle, took out a piece of parchment, hurriedly wrote his destination date and burned the paper without even checking what he wrote. Lord Potter-Black glanced at Neville and gulped down the potion. At once the pentagram began glowing and Harry fought hard not to panic. He stayed rooted in his place, as everything around him became a colorful blaze and it was hard to look at. At some point the pain started and soon enough Harry fainted, missing the moment when the movement stopped and he was dropped onto the grass.
[A/N: wow... that's the longest chapter I've written so far =)
So, Harry is back in time... to when he was transported? Well, that will be decided in the next chapter.
Please don't forget to review =)]