Harry didn't remember falling asleep, but he sat up, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. He expected to be in Sirius's room, probably still in his clothes. But the bed felt like wood and poked him in the back. The air was chilly, and he didn't remember opening any of the windows. The room was dark, it was probably around dusk. As Harry stood, he heard the sound of creaking wood and knew he wasn't alone. There was a familiar groan on his right.
"Ron?" he called into the darkness.
"I'm here. Where's Hermione?" Ron voice called.
"Right here." The voice was on Harry's left.
He groped around for his wand and muttered "Lumos." The dark space brightened to reveal they were sitting in a little wooden room. Hermione and Ron were both struggling to stand and held their wands out. The events that had happened at the Ministry came flooding back into Harry's memory. "Where did you take us Hermione?"
She was looking around the room in confusion. "I didn't take us here. I mean, this wasn't where I was going. I-" she stopped short and gasped. "Yaxley had a hold on me when we disapparated. The only place I thought of was Grimmauld Place, but he held on and I knew we couldn't stay there, so I got him off and... he's probably inside now. Harry, I'm so sorry." Hermione was in tears now.
"It's alright Hermione. You did the only thing you could. I just hope Kreacher got out in time," Harry said, remembering how much the elf had brightened up once they gave him Regulus's locket.
"If we weren't going to Grimmauld Place, where were you taking us?" Ron asked.
Hermione shook her head. "I was thinking about the woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup."
"Doesn't look like the forest where Death Eaters started attacking muggle families."
"We aren't there, obviously, Ron!"
Harry rolled his eyes and knew that if he didn't do something, they would start bickering for a while. He looked around the room and knew he had been here before. It wasn't like his visions about Voldemort. He, Harry, had been here before because he remembered the smell of rotting wood and the sound of... creaking. He cleared his throat. Hermione and Ron both quick arguing and looked at him. "I know where we are," he said quietly.
Hermione and Ron exchanged worried glances. "Well don't keep it to yourself," Ron blurted out.
"The Shrieking Shack." This caused Hermione and Ron to frantically glance around the room, recognition dawning on their faces. While Ron grimaced at the memory of their last encounter in the shack, Hermione was in deep thought. Harry could see her glassy-eyed stare and stepped forward. Her eyes fell on him and widened.
"Harry!" she shrieked.
He took a step back. "What? Have I got something on me?" He looked down and saw what had made Hermione cry out. Resting on a golden chain around his neck was a polished time turner. Harry recognized it from their third year, where Hermione used her time turner to help save Buckbeak the Hippogriff and Sirius from execution. He thought Hermione had given it back to McGonagall, but there it was.
"What's that?" Ron asked. Harry had forgotten, while he and Hermione saved Sirius, Ron had been bedridden in the Hospital Wing due to the bite Sirius had given him. They had told Ron of their adventure, but he had yet to gaze upon the shiny device. Until now.
"It's a time turner, Ronald," Hermione said, using Ron's full name to express the seriousness of their newfound situation. "It can allow the wearer to be sent back hours into the past. It is extremely dangerous, especially in our situation." Ron look at her, brow starting to furrow. She sighed. "Harry obviously wasn't wearing it in the Ministry and he is now." Ron shrugged. "Which means," she huffed, "he was wearing it when we disapparated from the Ministry. Yaxley probably managed to put it on Harry before I blasted him off. He could have set it to go…" Hermione stopped there, leaving Ron to gather what she was hinting at.
His eyes widened. "Could we be… I mean, we can't be that far…" He too trailed off, lost in thought.
"Maybe we should head into Hogsmeade-"
"Harry, no!" Hermione cried. "We can't be that far back, only a matter of hours, days at most. Death Eaters are still looking for you. We are far too close to Hogwarts as is. We should just leave and lay low for a while."
"But Hermione, where can we go? Grimmauld Place isn't an option right now because we could run into ourselves, and the Burrow is out of the question." Harry pressed.
She held up her beaded bag, as if answering his question. "I had the sense to pack a tent. Mr. Weasley let me borrow it. It was the same tent Perkins had at the World Cup. That's why I thought of the woods."
Ron nodded absently, but Harry felt uneasy about laying low. He at least wanted to get one last look around the village or Hogwarts because he had a feeling he wouldn't be seeing either for a very long time.
"I know we can't stay, but one last look around. That's all I'm asking for," Harry pleaded.
Hermione shifted uneasily on her feet, but she could see the need in Harry's eyes. She sighed and stuck her arm into her bag until it was up to her elbow. Rummaging around for a minute, she pulled out Harry's invisibility cloak and threw it to him. "Alright. Ron and I will go get some more supplies from the apothecary, but we need to agree to meet back here in ten minutes. Then we leave."
Harry smiled as he threw the cloak on top of him and disappeared from sight. As he was running out the door, he could hear Ron whine about shopping. A sharp noise told Harry Hermione had hit him in the arm.
Harry, instead of normally heading down the path that would take the traveler to the foot of the enormous Whomping Willow on Hogwarts grounds, climbed down the stairs to the entrance of the Shrieking Shack. Under the invisibility cloak, he only opened the door a crack so as not to alert passersby that someone unseen was exiting the supposedly haunted shack. Harry then slipped onto the path and turned around to gaze into Hogsmeade. He read over the summer that Hogsmeade had been attacked and many buildings were still being rebuilt. The reporter said Death Eaters had used dark magic that counted regular magic, making it impossible for any of the damage to be undone using a wand.
What he saw was completely different. Instead of seeing blackened buildings and repair groups sent by the Ministry, Harry saw people smiling as they exited shops and small children running in the streets, closely followed by worried parents. There was no visible damage, as if the attack never happened. Turning around, he saw that Ron and Hermione had stopped a few feet behind him, their faces mirroring his thoughts. He took a few long strides and was upon them in seconds.
"Hermione?" Harry whispered cautiously, so not to startle her. She jumped a little, but recognized his voice. He slipped out from under the cloak so they could both see him.
"Harry? Did you read the D-"
"Yeah. I thought they said the village couldn't be fixed with regular magic."
"That's what Ron and I thought too, but it's impossible. I mean, what good would it do Voldemort to give out false information about attacks on Hogsmeade?"
Ron shifted on his feet. "What if the report wasn't fake, but we've just gone back a few more days than we thought."
Hermione shook her head immediately. "Time turners can't do that. They are only meant to go back a few hours. The Ministry put that restriction on so that wizards couldn't go back in time and drastically change the future."
"I know, but just… what if? It's Voldemort we're talking about. Maybe he somehow managed to alter a time turner into taking Harry back months instead of hours."
"That doesn't make sense," Harry said. "A few months ago, everyone knew where I was. He doesn't have a reason to send me back months. It would be more like him to…" He trailed off, a terrible thought popping into his head.
"What is it?" Hermione asked nervously.
Harry's mouth felt dry as he started talking. "Voldemort thinks I'm a threat because of a Prophecy about one of us killing each other. Since they took over the Ministry, he has had more important things to do than to track down me when they don't even know where I am. He would need me out of the way while he builds his army. Months wouldn't do it, so why not send me back years?"
Ron's face paled, the reaction Harry was used to, but Hermione only looked annoyed. "I highly doubt he would send you back in time, Harry. What's the point? Why not have the Death Eaters capture you and deliver you to Voldemort themselves?" She continued to stare at Harry and Ron before saying, "I guess the only way to satisfy this silly theory is to check a paper."
They walked into town, Harry once again under the cloak just in case. He walked behind Ron and Hermione as they pretended to have a discussion about Quidditch, not that Hermione actually knew what she was saying. Outside Zonko's Joke Shop, they found a stack of Daily Prophets. Hermione picked one up and looked at the date. Her eyes widened and she gasped.
"What is it?" Ron asked. She held up the paper so both of them could read the date. It said, August 31, 1977.
"But that means we've gone back-"
"Twenty years," Hermione finished Harry's sentence.