Chapter 132: A Thousand Years Ago
"Tee-shirts, jeans, money, toiletries, underwear, socks-" Lily muttered as she tried to compress her belongings into her orange Deuter backpack. "Luckily there's always magic just in case." After casting Waterproofing and Fireproofing charm on the finished pack, she started wearing her ankle socks and black Sketchers cross-training shoes.
"Lily, are you ready?" James called from the room outside. He knocked and then took a peep into the room.
"Planning to peep at me changing or something?" Lily teased as she tightened her shoelaces. She stood up and neatened her loose fitting white tee-shirt and hipster jeans.
"You know me too well." James was in the room now, picking up her backpack on the bed. "You look nice enough. Can we get going?" He was shooting her a mildly impatient look.
"Okay, thanks." Grabbing her new denim jacket from the armchair, Lily followed James out of her room. "You're looking a little off." She commented.
"With this uncertainties, and Sirius annoying me with kissing noises for the last half an hour, it's really hard to remain sane." James told her in a more irritated tone than before.
"Don't take it too hard." Lily hooked her hand to James' right elbow. "Everything will have a happy ending." She smiled and nudged James muscles on his upper arm.
"Alright." James grinned. "This is our life anyway." They turned into the hallway whereby Remus, Stefanie and Arabella were waiting.
"Finally." Arabella commented. "I thought we had agreed on eleven o'clock." The antique grandfather's clock at the corner of the room was showing five past eleven.
"At least we're not the last." Lily settled on the two-seater couch next to James.
"Who's holding onto the Light Compass?" James asked suddenly as though he just remembered its existence.
"I think it's with Harry." Remus said. "Returned it to him when we came back last night." The five of them sat in silence for less than a minute before Harry and Ginny joined them.
"Thought we're late." Harry said in a light-hearted tone. Everyone seemed to be having an inner debate towards the current situation.
"Sirius always tries to be fashionably late." Stefanie told him. "You probably realize that he is rather dramatic."
"The Sirius I know in the – future is not exactly like that. Rather amused by his younger self behavior." Harry laughed, remembering the dramatic re-enactment at breakfast this morning.
"Are you all talking about me?" Sirius announced his arrival; his slightly bulky Krumpler sling bag was hanging behind him.
"No one is talking about you." Stefanie said quickly before he could get more egoistical. "We better get going, kind of behind schedule thanks to you." It was already fifteen past eleven when their agreed departure timing was eleven.
"Here's the Light Compass." Harry took out the magical triangular disk with three rounded edges. "Is everyone ready?" They carried up their bags and held onto it tightly. "So, what will be the date?"
"According to Hogwarts: A History, I think it states that the school was founded somewhere between AD 990 – AD 1000." Lily tried to recall the content of the books. After all, it had been several years ago when she read it.
"To have accumulated such achievements for setting up such a school, they must have been at least around sixty to eighty years old." James told them. Although it did not appear to be, his father had died in his seventies a couple of years ago.
"And back in those days, it takes longer to get such achievements and credibility." Remus suggested. "I supposed they must been around Dumbledore's age when they set up the school."
"Which is like somewhere in their hundred and thirties." Stefanie commented. She knew Dumbledore turned a hundred and fifty somewhere during the time when Harry was attending Hogwarts.
"Would it be a good idea if we return to January AD 900?" James suggested. "If let's say they're too old or something, we can go back further in history. That would be better than missing their era by going too far back."
"We can go back in early spring AD 900." Sirius told them. "It isn't a good idea to explore a foreign land in winter or something."
"Everyone ok with spring AD 900? Hogwarts grounds?" Harry asked the group. Everyone nodded in approval. "Let's move on." He placed the Light Compass on the ground, the same way as he did the last time while thinking hard on the date and venue of arrival.
Suddenly there was a blinding white light emitting from the floor where the Light Compass was. "Let's go in." Harry informed the rest who were standing behind him. "Hold tight." He said in a softer tone to Ginny as he grabbed her hand.
"I can't seem to see the ending point." Lily blinked and tried to see where she was walking.
"It's totally dark here." James commented. He could hear Harry and Ginny talking in front of them and Sirius' jovial voice behind.
"Ain't this cool?" Sirius was saying in his usual excited tone. "We're literally walking through the timeline backwards."
"Sirius, it would be nice if you don't talk so loudly." Stefanie's voice was more distant, probably several steps behind Sirius.
"This walk seems longer than the one we walk last time." Ginny told Harry. "Or is it because it just feels longer."
"It's definitely longer." Harry agreed. "The last time we had to walk back for twenty years, and now we're walking back for a thousand years."
"I don't think we walked more than five steps the last time." Ginny remembered since it was like just weeks ago.
"If twenty years is equivalent to five steps, I don't really want to try counting how many steps we need to walk to reach a thousand years." Sirius spoke in such an astonished tone as if he just realized something.
"Actually I don't think we walked that long either, probably just around five minutes or so." Harry told them. He was leading the way, through the tunnel. Actually the only sure way was just keep walking ahead. No one actually wanted to turn any other direction just in case landing at the wrong era.
"I think I saw a distant dot of light." Ginny narrowed her eyes for a sharper look. Harry pushed up his glasses for a clearer view.
"Oh yes, I saw that too." Lily confirmed excitedly. The dot of white light was growing bigger and nearer as they increased their speed.
"Ouch!" James groaned when something or more like someone ran into his back.
"Bloody hell! Prongs, why are you walking so slowly?" Sirius complained. He had run straight into James' back as he could not see him walking in a much slower pace ahead.
"You're the one who run into me." James told him off in the darkness. "Take it easy."
"Sirius, you might not want to walk so quickly." Harry advised. "The last time when we traveled back to your time, the first thing we saw was actually a tree trunk."
"If you're running, you may just crash straight into the thick big trunk, and that's not going to be a pretty sight." Ginny chipped in.
"Alright, alright. You guys don't have to start lecturing me about running. Filch had been reminding me about it as long as I could remember." Sirius shrugged it off. He was walking more briskly now; the ending seemed much more appealing than staying another minute longer in this never-ending tunnel.
"I think we're quite close to the opening, it's pretty bright." Stefanie commented from the back as both she and Remus were the last two to walk in. In fact they were less than a hundred meters away now. Harry and Ginny who were leading the way increased their pace so as to reach their destination soon.
"Woah!" Harry stepped out first and moved a few steps forward with Ginny, looking at a large empty plot of land. "Does this place looks remotely like Hogwarts?"
"Where are the lake and the forest?" Ginny asked, looking around. They were standing somewhere in the middle, neither at the highest point nor the lowest, in front of them were acres, and probably hectares of empty lands. Nothing looked familiar to them.
"Is this where Hogwarts going to be in the future?" Lily asked, looking ahead at the vacant terrain.
"Possible." James answered with uncertainty. "Now should we look around to see if there's any trace of our founders."
"Can we try to find Hogsmeade or something? The village probably should be here before the school." Sirius suggested. "Perhaps we can find other small villages in the vicinity too."
"We're in the right place indeed." Remus informed them as he picked up the Light Compass, which looked perfectly still on the floor now and handed it back to Harry for safekeeping.
"How can you be sure?" Arabella asked. "I can't seem to recognize any landmarks here."
"I believe we're standing right in the middle of Hogwarts ground now. The thing is that we don't see the whole area when we're standing in the middle because that's where the Great Hall is." Remus explained. "And since the whole place was magically enlarged, it makes it even harder for us to recognize it. But if my guess is correct, the empty area over there should be the quidditch pitch," he pointed at the empty area at his right. It was a lower ground with a rather steep slope, and seemed unconnected to where they were standing. "The Forbidden Forest probably looks denser now, but less taunting at the moment." He pointed to his right. The rest followed Remus' assumptions and looked around.
"Why don't we have a bird's eye view instead?" James opened his backpack and took out a small matchstick and transfigured it to his Nimbus broomstick.
"Can't believe you transfigured your broomstick to a matchstick." Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "That's an insult to quidditch."
"I don't want to say the wrong charm and spoilt it. Just sent for servicing after Hogwarts and it's good as new now. Besides I'm better with Transfig than Charms." James told him as a matter-of-fact.
"Shucks, why didn't you remind me to bring mine?" Lily scolded him in a joking manner as she slapped his upper arm.
"Any quidditch player will not leave without his trusty broom, right?" James asked his friends who were around him. "It's commonsense for me to bring it along. Who else brought theirs along?" Harry, Sirius, Remus and Stefanie took out their broom and enlarged them back to the original sizes.
"Oh Stef, why didn't you remind me?" Lily sighed in resignation. It's too late for her to bring it along now.
"I don't know if it's a must considering I'm not even sure if broomsticks and quidditch are already invented at this time. Remus reminded me to bring along just in case. Sorry about that." Stefanie did look apologetic about not reminding Lily.
"It's okay, so let's fly up for a clearer view." Lily smiled. "And don't forget the Disillusioned Charm."
"What's the incantation for it?" James asked Lily, as always. He usually asked her for the Charms incantations because he could hardly remember any. It had always bewildered her how he had gotten the same grade for Charms as her, which can be so infuriating.
"Never mind." Lily pointed the wand at his head and muttered the incantation. He held up his broom for Lily to get on it first before she cast the charm on herself and the broom at the same time.
"Thanks." James took a seat behind Lily. After all, there was no exact seating arrangement for the passenger on a broomstick. "We're going to take off now." He called out to his other camouflaged friends. Everyone looked just like their background, if not for their voices, it was difficult to tell that there were eight young adults out there.
"The air here feels so much fresher, lesser pollution I supposed." Lily commented. She took a couple deep breaths, smelling the fresh crisp air of spring.
"The air around Hogwarts always smells more or less the same. Can't tell any difference." James laughed. It was good to be flying around freely again. He had barely had time to practice his quidditch skills since he got his auror job which took him nearly all his time, leaving a couple of hours with Lily every week.
"Okay, if you say so." Lily smiled fondly at her camouflaged fiancé while holding tightly on the broom handle in front. James wrapped his left hand around Lily's waist to make sure she was stable while his right hand was used to steer the direction. It was not because Lily was not capable of keeping herself firmly on the broomstick, but just his instinct to protect her. "That's the empty area which Remus say is likely to be the quidditch pitch-" Lily pointed to an empty area at some distance away, not realizing that James probably looked through her hand. "Is that the Forbidden Forest? It looks less frightening."
"It sure looks less appealing for us to explore as well." James laughed slightly. They had always been exploring the Forbidden Forest in their animagi selves and had made some non-human contacts there over the years.
"Oh, the lake looks awfully small, almost like a huge pond." Lily exclaimed, looking at the supposedly big Hogwarts Lake. It probably looked much smaller since they were looking from it on a higher level. "The curved road beside seemed almost insignificant."
"Is that Hogsmeade?" James asked as he turned the direction of his broomstick so that both of them were facing the Hogsmeade Village.
"It could be since that's the nearest civilization we can see from here." Sirius' voice could be heard nearby.
"Okay, where shall we meet?" Remus asked from somewhere below them. It was a rational question because they could not see each other since they were looked like part of the sky.
"How about where Hogsmeade station is supposed to be?" Lily suggested.
"Good idea." Stefanie agreed. "That's after the lake on the upper grounds."
"AAHHH!" It sounded like Arabella was screaming.
"See you all there." Sirius' voice was sounding more and more distant as he flew towards their meeting point.
"Let's go. Hold on tight." James told Lily before increasing his speed towards the supposedly Hogsmeade station location.
"Woah!" Lily screamed in shock at the sudden descending motion. Harry and Ginny laughed at their reactions, along with Remus and Stefanie, were flying downwards in a less adventurous pace.
X
"I NEARLY DIED OF HEART ATTACK!" Arabella was screaming at Sirius and her voice could be heard from way above.
"But you gotta admit that you had enjoyed yourself clinging onto me." Sirius was teasing Arabella as usual, although he had cut down the level of irritation over the years. He had returned back to his un-camouflaged state while Arabella was looking just like her background, totally not realizing it.
"We can hear your voice from all the way up there." Lily laughed. "Sirius must have flown down in top speed without preempting you."
"You've got to avenge me if I die of heart attack in the near future." Arabella complained. She was squatting down and still trying to recover from the shock that Sirius gave her. "Can help me?" Lily cast a charm on where her voice was and Arabella was back to her original state along with the rest who had landed much more slowly. "Thanks."
"No problem." Lily helped Arabella back to her feet and picked her flung-away backpack up from the grass patch.
"Erm, shall we check out the village or civilization?" Remus reminded them of the real purpose why they were here, before Arabella and Sirius even thought of starting an argument in the middle of history. They started walking towards Hogsmeade from the path they usually take on those out-of-Hogwarts weekends.
"Do you need me to piggyback you?" Sirius offered in a teasing manner. "Or perhaps send you there in a second on my trusty broom?"
"No thanks! I should have tagged along on a safer driver's broom instead." Arabella muttered which only Lily heard her and giggled slightly.
"Honestly you're just dying to touch me." Sirius walked pompously past her and ahead of everyone else. "That's normal actually. I won't say I mind-" Suddenly there was a rain cloud just above Sirius' head and started raining on him, drenching him thoroughly. "Bloody hell, it's raining." He turned and saw his friends who were still looking dry. "Bell, you can do magic?"
"I asked Lily to do it for me." Lily grinned while Arabella was smirking at him now. "Don't think you know how to get rid of that one."
"Prongs.." Sirius walked towards James' direction.
"Don't come nearer." James dashed forward to avoid Sirius and his rain cloud. "I certainly enjoy being dry for the moment."
"If I get you drench like me, Lily will stop this." Sirius said in a very smooth and persuasive sounding tone.
"Unfortunately I can't. I don't know the incantation to stop it." Lily shrugged. "Only Bell knows." Apparently Arabella had recovered fully from her shock and started grinning at Sirius.
"This is a really simple charm I learnt in second year on the book of pranks, how could you not know?" Arabella teased. She kept a distant from Sirius while she talked just in case he might do something crazy like hugging her or something.
"Hey, this looks like Hogsmeade." Ginny gushed. Their view of the ancient village looked a little similar to the one they had been seeing for five years when they were in Hogwarts. But there were still some major differences, which were normal since it would have evolved over the years.
"Their dressing looks quite different. Let's put on our cloaks." James suggested as he pulled out his cloak from his backpack side pocket and fastened it around his neck, concealing his bag as well. Their modern-day clothing would look too conspicuous among the community and a dark color cloak would reduce the attention on them.
"We've got some serious exploring to do this afternoon." Remus commented as he looked at the folks who were passing by. The buildings, the language, the culture were definitely different from what they were used to have in their modern days.
"Not forgetting that we need to start looking for the Hogwarts founders." Stefanie wrapped the cloak and enlarged it a little to conceal the denim jeans and track-shoes she was wearing. Thankfully cloaks were always part of the fashion among magical folks.
"Time to explore Hogsmeade once again!" Sirius said in an excited tone now that he is almost dry, magically of course. The rain cloud following him had disappeared within five minutes since it made the grand appearance above his head. "The best place to get all the information is none other than the Three Broomsticks."
"How can you be sure that place has already been in existence as long as Hogwarts?" Arabella asked as she walked beside Sirius. "Use your brains, it's a thousand years ago."
"Look at the shops, they look so – old." Lily was amazed by the contents in the shop. They had just walked past a blacksmith shop that was making swords. "Cool." The banging and clanging sound of metals almost seemed to carry a trace of ancient feeling.
"It seems to me that quidditch isn't into the trend yet." James looked around, trying to source for any quidditch shops around. "How do they travel around in these days?" He muttered to no one in particular.
"Shall we look around if there're any potential inns or somewhere which we can spend tonight?" Remus asked, being his usual self, planning several steps ahead of schedule.
"Hey, look over there! I think I saw some inn word or something like that." Ginny pointed at a few shops away. There was a signage hanging outside that stated 'Cozy Inn'.
"That inn definitely didn't manage to undergo the test of time." Sirius commented to no one in particular. And of course, no one bothered to reply him since they had already walked ahead to check it out.
The 'Cozy Inn' did not looked all cozy from the main entrance. The walls were made of wood, and filled with wooden tables and benches where some folks were eating and talking rather loudly. The air inside was a little dusty, with a mixture of alcohol and wood smell. A few tables were occupied with magical folks eating and chatting loudly away.
"Yes, can I help you?" It was a young lady, probably in her early twenties, who asked that question.
"Erm, yes please." Lily answered politely since she was nearest to the lady. "We need some rooms for tonight."
"How many rooms would you all like?" She asked politely. They looked at one another for a moment.
"How many people can a room hold?" James asked, since she was still looking at them expectantly.
"It's up to you." She smiled. "But I would recommend one room for the ladies and one for the gents, each room can hold four guests without a problem."
"That's sounds pretty good." Arabella nodded. "What do you guys think?"
"Sure." They all agreed. People in the olden days might be more conservative, judging from the way they covered themselves with layers of clothes. Moreover, having a single-gendered room might be a more appropriate move.
"Each person will cost five knuts a night, is it a problem?" The lady asked as she led them through a door out of the eating area into a long corridor.
"Five knuts!" Sirius was totally surprised at the cost.
"Sorry, but is it too expensive?" The lady said quickly. "As our rooms need to be enlarged magically, and we serve breakfast every morning-"
"Oh no, I don't mean that." Sirius said rather sheepishly. "It's kinda cheap I supposed."
"Cheap?" The lady looked surprised at Sirius' comment. "Most of us don't find that five knuts are cheap. Are you all tourists?" She slowed down her pace and walked beside Sirius.
"Yes, from somewhere faraway." James answered before Sirius could say something stupid.
"Oh, I see." The lady could sense that they did not want to disclose too much of themselves and decided not to probe any further while she walked along the corridors. "Well, if you all have any questions about Hogsmeade, do feel free to ask me. I can recommend you some places for sight-seeing."
"That's wonderful of you." Stefanie said gratefully. "In fact, you still haven't introduce yourself."
"Oh, how forgetful of me." The lady chuckled slightly and stopped walking. "My name is Rowena, please to meet you." She bowed politely at them.
"So you're- ouch!" Sirius was about to ask if her name was Rowena Ravenclaw when Stefanie kicked him on his shin.
"Sorry, he's trying to flirt with you." Stefanie told Rowena. "Please don't mind him." Sirius glared at Stefanie was interrupting him when Remus gave him the look which said keep-your-mouth-shut.
"Alright, we're here." Rowena stopped in front of the double doors. She took out her wand and pointed at the double doors and muttered some incantations. "There you go." She pushed open the double doors which gave a slight squeaking sound at the hinges.
The room was very simply decorated, with four beds, two at each side. There was a side table on the right side of every bed and a small single door cupboard on left. In the middle of the room, there was a round table and four stools. It looked very similar to the Hogwarts dormitory except that the room was square and windows were all on one side.
"Here's the washroom." She led all of them across the room and opened another door; the room was divided into two areas separated by wooden dividers. "The right entrance is to the toilet and the left is for the bath. This is an enclosed room and lit purely by magical candles, and had been protected by anti-peeping charms. In fact all rooms are sound-proof and password protected as well." She waved her wand to close the doors. "To change the password, speak clearly – the password is now we are in Hogsmeade, the end. So now the password is 'we are in Hogsmeade'. Get it?" They nodded. The whole password-protected rooms gave them a nostalgic feeling. It was just like Hogwarts. "Just change it to a password that only the four of you know. And do change it as often as you like. When you're outside, whisper it to the door will do. You don't want the entire inn to hear the password to your room." They laughed at Rowena's sense of humor.
"This inn looks really cool." Ginny complimented.
"Thanks, not to boast or anything, but the password protected part is my idea." Rowena blushed slightly. "Okay guys, your room is just next door. It will look exactly the same." She opened the door and led the four guys out of the ladies' room. In front of the door, she did the exact action with her wand. "There you go." She pushed opened the doors of the guys' room.
"Thanks Ro, mind if I call you that?" Sirius said flirtatiously.
"Most people call me Ro or Wen here, that's fine too." She smiled shyly. After all the four guys, though probably younger, were definitely good looking hunks. Any girls would blush to have them flirting to you, especially in those older eras. "So I leave you all here, please enjoy yourselves." She left the room and closed the door behind her. "Don't forget to change the password." She called out from outside.