NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
Sophia's house
Istanbul, Turkey
September 4th
2022 A.D.
Albus had actually decided to sit down n the floor with his back against the wall. After 30 minutes of standing and negotiating his legs were starting to hurt.
"Athena, come out," He tried for the 50th time.
"Why?! Is Armageddon at the front door?!" She yelled through the bathroom door.
The moment he had explained the Prophecy to her she had run and locked herself in the toilet. For a while it sounded as if she were throwing up, now she just sounds angry and panicked. He had expected a pretty bad reaction. It's not every day that your told you have to decided the fate of the world.
"It's not as bad as it sounds,"
"Not bad?! You just told me that I have to somehow stop your demonic brother from taking over the world! Your right! That sounds lovely!" She growled with frightened sarcasm.
"It didn't say that. It just said that your choice would...be taken into account,"
Athena yelled something in Polish. "Your the fucking Colossus! You stop him!"
"I plan to. But I might need your help!"
"Find another spark plug! I'm going back to Poland! Away from you!"
"Fine, go. Watch out for the Cleric, merc's and government agents along the way. I hear they don't like us," Albus chimed. There was no way he was going to just let her go off on her own.
She swore in Polish.
"I know your scared. To be honest, I'm terrified! But that doesn't change whats going to happen!" More Polish swearing came through the door and Albus realized that he really wasn't helping. "Athena...a lot of people are going to die but we might be able to help them,"
"Help them?! Who's gonna help me?!"
"I am! I'm going to look after you!" Albus was actually looking forward to the moment when she would come out of her metamorphosis and her aggression would completely surpass her fear.
"I think you've got the wrong person!"
"Look, this sucks! I get it! Everyone's got this strange misconception that Destiny is a good thing but it's not! But there have been a lot of moments like this in history, when people knew they had a chance to stop something terrible from happening! They were scared but they did it!"
"Or they got killed!"
"Death is overrated!" Albus yelled. He was getting annoyed and his headache had returned. "you'll understand that after you've died," He realized what he had just said about a millisecond too late.
The lights in the house flickered on and off. "WHAT?!"
"That's not what I meant!"
"You said I was gonna die!"
"We all die, for a few minutes! That's all!"
"Fuck that!"
"Athena, you don't understand! It's what I was talking about earlier. You get to see something so incredible and beautiful that you'll never forget it! And after, you'll know that you are never alone!"
This time there was no response. Albus sighed.
A second later the toilet door was unlocked. Slowly Athena emerged from the toilet looking half sad, half confused.
"Will I see my mother?" She asked quietly as Albus stood up.
"Maybe, I'm not sure,"
Athena took a deep breath. "Are you sure we can stop this?"
He refused to lie to her. "The only thing I can be sure about is that it's coming. What happens after it gets here is up to us,"
Merlin's Mug
Hogsmead Village
Scotland, UK
September 7th
2022 A.D.
Aurora, Lynx and Violet made their way through the crowed village towards the only wizarding pub in the world that boast have electricity. It had been here that Albus had been spurred into making his first public appearance as the Colossus. After watching a hostage situation unfold on the TV inside, he had made to decision to intervene. So much had happened since then that it could have been something written in a history book.
Aurora was quite surprised to see Tannis sitting at the bar with a mug of ale in his had. For some reason all students found it difficult to image seeing their teachers outside of school. Her stomach rumbled despite the fact that she had eaten almost twice as much breakfast as she would usually. The baby was more like a bottomless pit than a life growing inside her.
She spotted Scorpius and Rose sitting at a table against the wall. They were both smiling lovingly at each other while Scorpius attempted to attempted to feed her some butter beer off the tip of his finger. Aurora felt a wave of stinging jealousy fall over her, not because she was attract to Scorpius or Rose but because she found it entirely unfair that they got to be with their partners while she, the pregnant one, had to run around acting like a Drill Sargent while caring her lovers child!
Lily, Hugo and the Bob's were playing a game of exploding snap on the table in the center of the room. Lily seemed slightly annoyed at something while Hugo was concentrating on the game a little too hard. As she got closer, she realized that they actually weren't playing snap and were in fact playing Texas Hold em poker and gambling with real Knuts. She had heard rumors that the Bob's had introduced the game to Hogwarts sometime last year.
"You lot do realize that you are committing underage gambling right in front of the headmaster," Violet warned.
"Exactly, we are not in school," Bob one said. "and this happens to be a muggle themed pub,"
"Right you are Bob, we're adding to the authenticity of the place,"
"Full house," Hugo smiled laying down his cards.
"Well done Captain Hormones but your suppose to do that after you bet," Lynx smirked.
"Ah Pit! Cluck! Flamingo!" Hugo gritted his teeth and looked like he had just been hit by a migraine. "I hate my mother!"
"I'll never get tired of that," Bob two chuckled.
"There ya go Vi, we're not even using any dirty language. Nothing to worry your sexy little prefectness about," Bob one smiled.
"There is always something to worry about with you two!" Violet hissed.
"Your right, wait till you here their backup plan!" Lily grumbled.
The Bob's made several gestures that looked like order for her to shut up. Violet, Lynx and Aurora glared at the Bob's who both raised their arms in innocence.
"Hey, we're doing this to help you and ya super powered boyfriend,"
"How do you mean?"
"Nothing, it's only a possibility at this juncture," Bob one said quickly.
"Bob's right, just in the planning stages at the moment so there's really nothing to tell,"
Aurora pulled out her wand. "Really?"
"No!" They yelped but Aurora was already moving through their minds looking at exactly what they were planning.
"What is it with you 2 and Time Turners?!" She growled, pocketing her wand.
"That was an invasion of our privacy!" The yelled together.
"Alright, what's this?" Tannis sighed walking over.
"Tell your bloody minion not to look into our heads!" Bob one said accusingly.
"Minion?!" Aurora looked rabid.
"Legilimens isn't illegal Mr. Lawson,"
"Tampering with Time Turners is!" Aurora hissed.
"It's a back up plan! We never said we'd actually do it!"
"Like you've never tried before!" Violet scowled.
"Alright, explain," Tannis ordered.
"If Albus fails, they're going to try and use a Time Turner to travel back and try again!"
"Well, as happy as I am to think that you 2 are actually thinking up some safety precautions, this is not a good idea. Besides, I think you'd need to travel back a little further than 24 hours. The Prophecy is 1800 years old,"
"Bob and myself think that we can extend the 24 window," Bob one said confidently.
"Yes we do Bob,"
"You can't, it's impossible," Violet reminded them.
"Miss Finnigan is correct. Magic can bend the laws of physic's but not break them. Traveling more than 24 hours into the past simply can't be done," Tannis agreed.
"Everything is impossible, until some one actually does it!" The Bob's said together.
"Stop stealing my boyfriends sayings!"
"I'm afraid that this is something that is impossible," Tannis sighed knowing that he'd have to explain it to them. "there are simply too many obstacles in the way,"
"I heard a rumor that if you use a broken Time Turner...," Hugo started absently.
"Hugo, does a broken wand do magic?" Aurora asked getting even more annoyed.
"Not really,"
"Well then!"
"A broken Time Turner?" Lynx laughed. "A broken Time Turner would do nothing! You'd at least need a super charged Time Turner about 500 times the size of a normal one!"
"Stop encouraging them!"
"Actually Miss Cabot is correct. If you pull enough power through an enhanced Time Turner it would indeed send you back further than 24 hours but of course, you'd arrive at the chosen time dead,"
"What?" Several people asked at the same time.
"I told you, you can bend the laws of physics but not break them. After the 24 time window you hit an electromagnetic field known as the Wheeler Barrier which is so powerful that it shuts down all electrical activity. That includes your heartbeat, your brainwaves, everything. And besides, using a time turner that powerful would create violent time/space distortions that would pulverize your body," Tannis had unknowingly moved into one of his odd little muggle science modes. "a time turner works by bending time around the person, the ideal way would be to move the person through time. For that you'd need and Einstein-Rosen bridge, commonly known as a wormhole that would result in curving the fabric of space and causing 2 points in time to co-exist but even that couldn't help you beat the Wheeler Barrier,"
They were looking at him like they'd splashed in the face by something smelly.
"All in all, impossible," Tannis finished.
"See!" Aurora hissed.
"Don't blame us for trying to think outside the bloody box!" Bob one complained. Aurora's eyes narrowed. That statement had seemed to set off a few alarm bells in her head.
"Yeah! We was just saying!" Bob two huffed.
"Saying what?"
Everyones eyes shot around to see Amelia slide into the pub with her trademark mischievous grin on her face.
"Nothing," Both Bobs said instantly, turning away from the vampire.
"I hope you 2 are behaving yourselves," She smiled.
"We are," They said, again n unison.
"Good," She licked her lips. "because you really don't want detention with me,"
The Bobs did their best to hide the fact that Amelia scared the crap out of them but it wasn't going very well.
Aurora turned to the television screen. The various reports of wizards/muggle violence occurring all over the world made her feel cold. It was never going to be a peaceful transition but it was clear that all the worse things that could happen were escalating. War was getting closer by the minute. But still, what Bob one had said was still floating around in her mind.
"Amelia," Aurora said, beckoning her away from the others. The two walked a little closer to the bar where Aurora started whispering something into her ear. Amelia's eyebrows elevated as if she was intrigued.
"Could be fun," She smiled. Both girls then looked back at the rest of the students in the bar with devious grins on their faces.
Sophia's house
Istanbul, Turkey
September 7th
2022 A.D.
Athena was sleeping like a baby. She had asked Albus to stay with her and he had obliged. She was obviously still worried that she might have a lightning nightmare but at this moment, she could have been a statue. Apart from her barely noticeable breathing she was simply lying in bed with her hair flopped over her face.
She hadn't made a sound since passing out.
Albus was sitting in the chair just opposite to her bed. For some reason he seemed to find it incredibly relaxing to watch her being able to get a peaceful nights sleep. His headache had faded again and the entire seemed to have gone silent to let her rest.
She had been a lot tougher than he had expected over the last few days. She was still just a child, at least for now, but she had handled the truth a lot better than many adults would have. The only downside to this was that Albus's powers were still acting erratically. He had done his very best to keep that fact from Athena. She was expecting him to protect her and if he admitted not having the legendary abilities that he usually did, she would panic.
It bothered him that his headaches and power problems had started the same day that he met Athena. He had no evidence that she was responsible for it but knew in his gut that she was.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a vibrating phone in his pocket. She quickly and quietly stepped out of the room and answered the phone.
"Yeah," He said in a hushed voice.
"Albus," Sophia's voice came back.
"Where the hell have you been?! You were supposed to be here 2 days ago!" Albus growled. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen to avoid waking Athena up.
"I'm sorry Albus. Somethings come up. I can't get there,"
"What?!" Albus hissed. "No! I find her, you take care of her! That was the plan! I don't have time to babysit her!"
"So it was the same as the others?" She asked ignoring his protests.
"Yes. The body was hollowed out from the inside. Bones were like glass, all the vital organs sucked dry and that same indent in the spine,"
"That makes 11," She said gravely.
"Yeah," Albus sighed. "It can't be viral. There's no sign of an actual infection, no other cases in the area. They've been popping up all over the world, completely at random! The only similarity is that they always happen within 3 weeks of each other,"
"Do you have a theory?" Sophia asked.
"Same one as before," Albus still made sure to keep his voice down. "Something is jumping into these people and wearing them like suits while it eats them alive from the inside out. The bodies always end up miles away from where they went missing. The one in Somalia was originally from Cape Town!"
"He traveled over 3000 miles since he went missing?"
"Yeah. All the others made long distance trips as well. What do you think it means?" Albus asked.
"If it looks random to us, then it probably isn't," Sophia's voice said. "flesh eating parasites don't usually take holidays. My guess...it's looking for something,"
"What?"
"Not what Albus, who. We know it's been to Eastern Europe, America, Brazil, India...it's looking for her,"
Albus felt a great squeezing sensation in his stomach. "You have to hide her Sophia...I don't think I can protect her anymore...,"
"Albus, your the most powerful Anomaly on the planet! If anyone can, then it's -"
"That's the problem! Ever since I met her my powers have been going haywire!"
"What do you mean?"
"They either work too much or they don't work at all! Yesterday I accidentally moved a car that 20 feet across the street! My range is only 9 feet! This morning they didn't work for 3 hours after I woke up!" Albus looked towards the ceiling where he knew Athena was slumbering above. "she's doing something to me...,"
Of course, both he and Sophia were completely unaware that Athena had just that second woken up, heard him talking and tapped into the phone line using the plug socket in her room.
"You can't know that for sure Albus," Athena listened at Sophia spoke. She could hear the conversation as clearly as if she had the phone pressed to her own ear.
"I do know! And...I've been having these headaches...,"
"The Implant?"
"No, those were full on migraines. These are just weird throbbing pains,"
"Albus...," Sophia sighed over the phone. "when was the last time you spoke to Aurora?"
From the tone of her voice, Athena couldn't help but wonder just who Aurora was.
"What's that got to do with this?"
"Albus, you have a connection to the people you care about. It's why you fight so hard. You haven't seen them in 3 months," She said sadly.
"What? I'm not having withdraw Sophia!"
"That's exactly what your having! You need to be around the people you love. They're the ones that drive you,"
"I can't! I have too much...there are far more important things than my happiness going on!" Albus argued.
"Agreed. But the happiness that those people give you effects how you function. If you can't function properly then we are all in very serious trouble!"
"I can't! If you not coming then I need to take care of Athena!"
"Take her with you,"
"No!"
"Why not?!"
"Because if I see her again...I...I won't be able to leave her. I have things that need to be done but...I can't!"
"She's the woman you love, not Kyptonite! You need to see her and once you do, your power problems, your headaches, they'll go away, I'm sure of it,"
Athena was actually quite taken back. She had never thought for one second that The Colossus could have a wife or a girlfriend. From a distance he had always seemed like such an island, like the definition of a Colossus. An icon that towers above everything else. Apparently, this icon didn't tower alone.
"I'll...I'll try, okay,"
"Alright. Look after Athena, she may be more important than we can ever understand," Sophia said softly.
"I haven't forgotten,"
The phone went dead. For a second Athena stayed pinned to the plug socket, somehow expecting to get more information if she stayed there. She suddenly felt a great wave of guilt sweep over her. Albus was going through so much more than he let on. He was protecting her, being kept away from his friends and his abilities were suffering for it and all she had done since she had met him was whine and moan. He was suffering and all she could do was think of her self. He had told her the truth about her mother and that alone guaranteed her thanks to him for the rest of his life. But he had also saved her from enemies she never even knew she had. He had been completely honest with her, no matter how hard the reality of it was. He had watched over and never asked for anything in return.
He was her hero.
Some part of her wanted to run straight down the stairs an apologies to him. To tell him how much she truly appreciated what he had already done for her but as soon as she heard Al's foot steps coming back up the stairs, she fell back into bed, taking the exact position she had woken up in.
He entered the room and took a seat across from her. She friegn sleep as he sat there and thought about Aurora's unforgettable wolf like eyes. As he did, she vowed to make it up to him. Even if she had to do it the hard way.
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland, UK
September 8h
2022 A.D.
Aurora entered the Room of Requirement with Amelia and their newest guest, Lincoln following behind her. The D.A. Looked very worried at Amelia's appearance and slightly confused about Lincolns.
"There's been a change of plans," Aurora stated loudly. "as I'm sure you've noticed, things aren't going all that well in the outside world. So as of this moment, your training will be accelerated,"
The D.A. Looked from each other to Aurora with confusion on their faces.
"I said I'd teach you how to think and then how to fight. Now I'm going to be doing both at the same time. From now on, while in these lessons, I'll be teaching you defensive spells, offensives spells, protection charms and anything else I think might help you out. But these lessons will not end once you leave this room," She said quickly.
The students continued to look even more confused than ever.
"We have set up a series of traps around this school," That caused the D.A. So start murmuring amongst themselves. "you see, outside these walls, in the real world, there are not set schedules, not preplanned meeting places or areas that are specifically for battle. Attacks can come from anywhere, anytime. As the dear departed Mad-Eye Moody used to say; Constant Vigilance will be required. The traps are set to only spring on D.A. Members. They're non-lethal but they won't be pleasant I can promise you. You will have to learn to think and be cautious by yourselves. Be on the lookout or anything that looks out of place or rigged. We will not be giving you any clues or hints to where these traps might be,"
Now they were looking worried.
"But that's not the bad news. The bad news, is that in addition to the traps, my friends here are going to be looking for opportunities to fuck with you!"
Now they looked terrified.
"I'm sure that you all know Amelia," She waved. "this is her brother, Lincoln," some of the students whispered their questions about his possible vampirism to other D.A. Members. "he's not a vampire, he's an Anomaly," Aurora smiled.
Several students took a step backwards. Lincoln actually seemed a little uncomfortable about being in the spot light.
"He can walk through walls, floors, fire, acid, spells and people, so don't think for one second that you can actually hurt him...of course, they won't actually kill you...but they know a whole bunch of really good ways to ruin your day,"
Lincoln and Amelia smiled causing a large number of gulps to come from the students. Hugo actually mumbled something like; "Oh Shingles!"
"But...that comes a little later on. For now, who can tell me what this is?" Aurora pulled out her wand and with a quick, fluid motion, caused a glowing, ghostly look Phoenix to erupt from the tip.
"A Phoenix...err...A Patronus!" Rose said quickly.
"That's right," Aurora smiled. "And that's what we're going to be learning today,"
Sophia's house
Istanbul, Turkey
September 7th
2022 A.D.
Albus wasn't in Sophia's house, not at that moment. He was in the middle of a street. A street that had been completely torn apart. It was complete chaos.
Everywhere people were running and screaming. Buildings had been destroyed, cars were burning, lying twisted and mangled all around and the smell of blood was in the air. Something was wrong though. His vision was blurred and misty as if he had been hit in the head, knocking his world out of place.
He managed to focus on something on the floor in front of him. It was a severed leg. He looked around to see corpses everywhere, many of them missing parts of their bodies, like they had been eaten.
Something caught his attention. It was Aurora. She was screaming at him...trying to warn him.
Pain erupted around his body as something solid and sharp drove it's way through his shoulder. Then he was in the air, being carried away as Aurora cried out in horror.
Everything faded to black.
Albus bolted up, his eyes wide and sweat pouring off his forehead.
It hadn't been a dream. He had felt this kind of thing before. He had seen Aurora dead on the ground and and known it wasn't a dream. That was a vision. He had seen the future again and although he thought it was impossible, it has been even worse than the last time.
"No!" He breathed. Sophia's words echoed around his mind. EMYou can't fight Destiny!/EM
As the fear grew in his stomach he suddenly realized that Athena's bed was empty. He looked around frantically.
"Athena?!" He called out. "Athena?!"
That was when he spotted the note.
Dear Albus
I know your angry but I had to do this. I heard you talking with Sophia last night. I know there's something wrong with you and I'm going to help you. You've done so much for me and I haven't even thanked you for it. I'm so sorry. I'm heading for Hogwarts School. If you still want to protect me, you'll need to go there.
You're my hero Albus.
Love Athena.
The horror of what he had seen in his vision was now mixing with complete and total anger towards Athena. He could only do one thing...scream.
"FUCK!"