*AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THE READER*
Again, it would probably benefit readers to follow along with Chapter Thirty-Five of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is that same chapter, from Hermione's perspective. I love it! It's so cool to notice all of the little details in that section. I've tried to incorporate a lot, and I've added some of my own as well, so on with the show!
CHAPTER 2 - IT'S TIME
The jet of red light flew right over the Death Eater's shoulder and hit a glass-fronted cabinet on the wall full of variously shaped hourglasses. The cabinet fell to the floor and burst apart, glass flying everywhere, then sprang back up onto the wall, fully mended, then fell down again, and shattered-
(OotP – pg. 790)
It was the room Professor McGonagall had taken Hermione to when she'd had to return the time turner at the end of third year. In her mind, she'd dubbed it the Time Room.
Clocks.
They were everywhere, on the ceilings, on the walls, even built into the floor, some sitting on desks, and others stuffed away in corners; the sheer bulk amount was striking, especially because the scene was illuminated by a light that could be classified as just shy of blinding. Hundreds of glass time turners glistened behind crystal cabinets, and they seemed to be winking furiously at her, even as the clocks seemed to move to obscure them from view.
And the noise! Hermione's ears were filled with tickings of all different pitches and volumes. A small cuckoo clock to her left seemed trained to release a miniature dragon every thirty seconds, and the flapping of its wings made a terrible grinding sound.
Hermione's hands were covering her ears, so she couldn't hear what Harry was saying, but he seemed to be gesturing towards the far side of the room, and he looked rather excited. For an instant, Hermione was torn between wanting to explore the room more (which she knew contained many fascinating articles, some not even invented yet) and following her best friend. A memory of Sirius in his animagus form, with his tongue lolling adorably out the side of his mouth flashed through her mind, and she instantly felt ashamed for wanting to dawdle.
Still, in her defense, with the possible exception of Harry, everyone seemed to be having the same inclination. Ginny was examining a large bell jar that seemed to be the source of the brilliant white light. Hermione stared at it in fascination as Harry whisked them all by. It seemed to be displaying the life cycle of a hummingbird; beginning with the egg, and ending in death, only to be born again. It was oddly reminiscent of Fawkes, the phoenix.
"This is it!" Harry said agitatedly, sweeping a hand through his messy black hair. He seemed to have forgotten they were there as he approached, surprise, yet another black door.
Hermione shared a worried glance with Ron. She knew he was thinking about the dream Harry had shared with them. She was unsurprised when the room they stepped into was covered in shelves of dusty glass orbs, lit dimly by more blue candlesticks.
Yes, so this is the right room then. Didn't Harry say he walked down to row ninety-seven? And here's fifty-three, and if that's fifty-four…
"We need to go right, I think," Hermione nudged Harry, who seemed to be temporarily frozen at the sight of his dream, real and tangible before them. He whispered that they should get out their wands, and Hermione noticed that her hand was shaking as she held her wand aloft, reading the row numbers. The silence was menacing, and Ron's face was so pale that his freckles stood out like drops of blood.
Morbid thought, Hermione, you need to focus…focus…
"Ninety-seven!" she whispered, steering the group down one of the darker rows. Hermione gulped, and she suddenly felt certain that Sirius was not there. They were walking into a trap.
Ginny looked at her, wide-eyed, as though seeking comfort, and Hermione squeezed her hand before stepping up to Harry. He had a crazed glint in his green eyes, and for a moment Hermione was certain he'd gone mad, looking up and down the row, and even over into the next one. She noticed the mounting uneasiness of the others, but everyone looked to afraid to approach Harry while he was like this. Even though fear was holding her in a viselike grip, Hermione tentatively reached out.
"Harry?" she whispered, as gently as she could.
"What?" he practically growled at her. Hermione jumped back a bit before voicing the fact that no one else seemed willing to tell him.
"I… I don't think Sirius is here." Hermione watched despairingly as her words took effect. Harry's shoulders slumped, and all the fight seemed to leave his body. He looked like a lost, desolate little boy. Hermione shuddered and glanced back at Ron. She was surprised to see he was paying hardly any attention to the conversation, and she observed as he curiously raised the lightened tip of his wand to one of the small glass orbs on the shelf.
Each orb glowed with its' own light, and at any other time, Hermione would have been eager to find out more about them. But the twisting in her belly was making itself known once more, and the menacing darkness of the room seemed to be looming ever larger. She was snapped out of her terrifying thoughts when she saw Harry reach for one of the glass orbs.
What was he thinking!
"Harry, I don't think you should touch it!" she ordered forcefully, but Harry just scowled, and her advice went unheeded, even when Neville put in his uncharacteristically bold agreement.
"It's got my name on it." And before she could yank his hand away, Harry had grabbed the orb. Hermione held a hand up to her mouth to stifle a scream as the tension suddenly mounted, and she huddled with the rest of the group around the orb, just as a clear, dreadfully familiar voice cut through the darkness.
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me." Hermione's head snapped up to meet the cruel gray eyes of Lucius Malfoy. He sneered at her, and held his hand up towards Harry.
Death Eaters were coming out of the shadows, and Hermione counted at least twelve, cataloguing their shapes and trying to figure out who they were. One of them at least was obvious, and Hermione cringed as she heard the mocking tones of Bellatrix Lestrange.
They seemed to want the orb.
But why? And if they were already here, lying in wait, why didn't they just get it for themselves?
Hermione's mind was racing.
Maybe Harry is the only one who can take it off the shelf? But why would that be the case? Because it had his name on it, possibly.
Hermione saw Harry raise his wand, and mimicked him along with Luna, Ginny, Neville and Ron. The Death Eaters tensed, and something felt off.
Why aren't they attacking? Unless… what happens if the orb breaks? If they've been ordered to bring it back to Voldemort, he'd want it whole. Judging by Lucius' slip of the tongue, it's some kind of prophecy. If that's the case, then that little orb is the only thing keeping them from killing us! We've got to use it to get out of here, somehow…
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt." Lucius' voice was tense, and although Hermione could tell he was trying to project authority, he failed to mask the faulty tremor that signaled his fear.
Harry started laughing, and Hermione turned to gaze at him in horror.
"Yeah right! I give you this prophecy, is it, and you'll just let us skip off home, will you?" Hermione let out a tiny whimper and Ron covered his eyes with his hands briefly. Harry's temper always made a showing at the least opportune moments.
Bellatrix snarled, and made an attempt to Accio the prophecy, but Harry managed to hang on to it, though just barely. Lucius began yelling at her.
"I TOLD YOU NO! If you smash it, there will be hell to pay, you hotheaded fool! Our Lord made himself quite clear on that matter. This is my mission, and I'll not see it failing simply because a little bratling causes you to lost control!" Hermione and the others watched with wide eyes as Bellatrix smoothed down her robes, and her eyes, beneath the dark black of her Death Eater's hood, flashed in anger at Lucius. However, she must have realized he had a point, because she held down her wand and slowly approached the small group huddled around the edge of shelf ninety-seven. Her steady prowl reminded Hermione of Crookshanks when he played with mice in the fields behind her house before pouncing. It was the stalk of a predator.
"Take the smallest one." Hermione, taken aback by Bellatrix's tone, looked over at Ginny's whitened face, and she instinctively clutched the young girl, shielding Ginny with her body. Ron, Luna, and Neville moved to do the same. Harry stood frozen, as though he could not quite believe what Bellatrix had just said.
"Let him watch while we torture the girl. I'll do it." Hermione couldn't tell, because of the Death Eater's mask and hood, but she would have bet her last galleon that Bellatrix was smiling.
Harry stepped in front of Ginny protectively, and it didn't take a genius to see that he was seething. An angry Harry was far worse than a frozen Harry, and Hermione saw Ron place a hand on Harry's shoulder, as though to stop him from doing something stupid.
Yes, because that's been so effective in the past. Although really, I shouldn't be criticizing Ron. At least he's trying to help the situation, instead of just standing around with his mouth open, like me.
Hermione closed her mouth and allowed her mind to drift back to the conversation in time to hear Harry talking about Voldemort.
"Did you know he's a half-blood too? Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle – or has he been telling you lot he's pureblood?" Hermione whimpered, unable to believe Harry had dared to say that, even as a flicker of curiosity caused her to consider his question. Pushing it to the back of her mind to analyze later, Hermione decided she was done with the whole damsel-in-distress act.
Just then, Malfoy intercepted a spell of an enraged Bellatrix, and a few of the glass orbs fell to the floor. Hermione watched in fascination as figures emerged from the broken glass, speaking words that were hardly distinguishable above the sudden roaring noise of the furious Lucius Malfoy, although for some reason a few of the words found their way Hermione's ears where they burned like a brand.
"…will come a new triumph, wrought by… Sisters of Despair, a child… indifferent to this…" Hermione glared desperately at everyone around her, forgetting for a moment where she was, so intense was the need to hear those words, but the ghostly wisp of the man who had been speaking diffused into a gray gas upon the air. She heard another thin voice, and turned her attention to a similar wisp of air, this one a woman, who was also speaking softly. Hermione strained to catch the words as they fell from the mouth of the ghostly woman.
"and none will come after, because his glory is our despondence, his joy, our terror… unless she comes, and come she will, to fill…" Someone stepped on her toes, and Hermione blinked. She had been so focused on the shattered glass of the prophecies that for a moment it felt like coming out of the Imperius curse, and it took the young witch a moment to recollect her bearings.
Someone stepped on her toes again, and Hermione realized that it was Harry, and that he was trying to get her attention.
Perhaps he has a plan?
Hermione was filled with a sudden hope. They could still make it out of here alive.
"What?" she whispered urgently, barely moving her lips, praying that none of the Death Eater's had heard. Harry's spoke out of the corner of his mouth, and it was all she could do to catch his desperate plea.
"Smash shelves." Hermione hurried to convey the message to the others, whispering discreetly, feeling them gather more tightly around Harry. She reached out her hand and directed each of their wands towards a different expanse of shelf, then held up her hand in a waiting gesture, as the group collectively tensed for Harry's signal.
"Use Reducto." Hermione hissed, a scarce second before Harry yelled out a frantic "NOW!" and suddenly the shelves were exploding all around them, and orbs were crashing to the ground to break into thousands of tiny glass shards. Death Eaters were cursing and swearing, and Harry was screaming that everyone should run.
Hermione felt Harry's hands grab her robes, dragging her forward straight into the midst of the Death Eater's, creating a path for his friends.
"Go!" Hermione cried, as Ron, Ginny, and Luna raced past. Harry faltered beside her and she saw Ron look back desperately. "GO RONALD!" she roared, not even sparing time to see his reaction before turning back to find Harry being grabbed by one of the burlier Death Eaters.
"Stupefy! "Hermione yelled as she fiercely yanked Harry out from the Death Eater's grasp, and shoved him in front of her, leaning back to catch Neville's sweat-slicked hand.
"Come on, Neville, we've just got to make it back to the Time Room -" Hermione dragged Neville along behind her as she struggled to keep up with Harry's longer stride.
Hermione felt something cold whiz by her head, accompanied by a Death Eater's angry cursing. His voice had been uncomfortably close behind her, and her breathing became even faster as he legs pumped furiously.
Harry's shoes were pounding on the hard marble floor, and spells were shooting in all directions, as the trio raced back towards the entrance. The towering shelves seemed to be closing in, and Hermione could hear the muted whisperings of hundreds of broken prophecies as more Reductos were aimed at the shelves to their left. With an extra burst of speed, Hermione and Neville caught up to Harry, and Hermione felt her heart soar when she saw how close they were to the door. Just a little farther…
Hermione pelted through the door, at breakneck speed, Harry just ahead of her, Neville on her heels. Harry slammed the door shut and Hermione raised her wand.
"Colloportus!" she wheezed, clutching a stitch in her left side, and breathing hard.
"Where are the others?" Harry questioned, panting as he bent over with his hands on his knees, head resting on the sealed door.
Panic gripped Hermione as she remembered pushing Ginny, Luna and Ron ahead of them. She whirled around the room, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"They must have gone the wrong way!" Hermione desperately raised her wand again, ready to reopen the door and plunge back into that awful room, but she was brought up short by the sound of voice just on the other side. She started shaking, and her face whitened as she turned to Harry for guidance.
"Let's get away from this door." She felt Neville nodding in agreement besides her, and they both found themselves once again running after Harry, who seemed to be making more of an effort to keep quiet. They ran past the shimmering bell jar and Hermione felt something strange tug at her navel. The feeling persisted, growing in intensity as they sprinted towards the far door.
Hermione heard a yelled Alohomora from behind them and quickly ducked beneath a desk, the sudden movement causing the strange feeling in her stomach to disappear.
The next few moments happened in quick succession. As Death Eaters raced into the room, Hermione started flinging curses. She paled as she saw a flash of green light emerging from a wand point directly in front of her, but the wand suddenly fell to the floor as Harry tackled its' owner, and Hermione rushed to another desk. She aimed a Stupefy at the nearest Death Eater, which missed as Neville cast a desperate Expelliarmus. Hermione winced, horrified, as Neville's spell caused Harry's wand to fly out of his hand, back towards the door that led to the prophecies. The Death Eater, Harry, and Neville instantly began running after Harry's wand. Hermione dodged a curse from yet another Death Eater and hurried to follow the boys.
A second curse from Neville's wand caused a cabinet of time turners beside her to burst, and Hermione was showered in a deluge of shimmering glass, which left small bloody cuts all over her face. For a moment, she heard a clear voice ring in her head.
"Hermione. It is time." She felt her navel give another strange tug, and Hermione shook her head to clear her thoughts and refocused on the people in front of her.
The Death Eater up ahead stooped next to the glittering bell jar and Hermione saw her chance.
"Stupefy!" she cast again, and was satisfied to see the red light zoom out from her wand and hit him squarely in the chest, causing the Death Eater to tumble backwards into the jar with the hummingbird. His head lodged itself firmly within the jar, which to Hermione's surprise seemed to give way like melted plastic.
Hermione turned away from this distracting sight and ran towards Harry and Neville. She squinted and could just barely make out Harry's wand resting against a clock in the far corner.
"Accio Wand!" Hermione commanded, tossing the wand to Harry after it flew straight to her waiting hands. "Now come on!"
Harry started after her, with a quick thanks, but they were interrupted by a shocked squeal.
"Look out! Head is…blimey, it's…" Hermione stared at the grotesque sight Neville was pointing at.
The Death Eater was walking towards them, and where his head was still ensconced within the bell jar, now mask-less, a most unnatural transformation was taking place. His face was aging rapidly, a thick white beard was growing from his head, and he started to look even older than Dumbledore, on the verge of death, and then suddenly his head was shrinking, become tinier and tinier as his features once again became young, and suddenly Hermione was looking at the face of a very ugly, very angry baby. And then the process repeated itself, and suddenly she was looking at an old man again, and then a baby, and then –
"My dear, it is time. Time for you to come with us." Hermione heard the voice again, and the tiny shards of glass still embedded in her cheek pricked sharply when she looked at the Death Eater once again. She felt the truth of the voice shoot through her being, leaving her feeling warm and breathless as her brain raced to make the connection she knew was just beyond her grasp.
"It's time." She repeated aloud, looking at the room around her, feeling the tug at her navel once again. Her hands started shimmering, and she gazed at them in shock, then dawning comprehension as she recognized the feelings she had first experienced back in third year.
"Time!" she spoke quietly, and she felt something, a presence, nod, and suddenly that voice was back in her mind.
"Yes, sweet girl, it is time. We must take you now."
"Not now!" Hermione yelled desperately, glancing around to see that Harry and Neville had recovered from the shock of the Death Eater's transforming head. Harry was raising his wand to curse the staggering man, and Hermione found herself grasping his arm, feeling the sudden urge to get him as far away from the room as quickly as possible.
Just give me a second! She pleaded with the voice inside her head. She thought she heard a light chuckle in response.
"Harry, you can't hurt a baby!" Hermione said the most ridiculous thing she could think of, just to make Harry get a move on. She had to go; the voice was still calling her, and she'd be damned if she left before getting Harry and Neville out of the room.
Harry took the hint and began running again, making a quick dash to a small doorway to their left when a second pair of Death Eaters burst into the Time Room. Turning to seal the door behind them, Hermione was caught off guard by two raised wands.
"Impedimenta!" The Death Eaters cried, and she was knocked to her feet along with Neville and Harry. Dizzy, she lurched to the ground, just as one of the Death Eaters began to raise the alarm.
"WE'VE GOT HIM! IN AN OFFICE OFF-"
"Silencio!" Hermione's voice was, shaky, but her spell hit its target, even as the second Death Eater stepped forward furiously.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry's voice rang out from behind her as the second Death Eater collapsed at her feet. Relieved, Hermione turned to her friend.
"Well done, Ha-" she began, until a sudden pain hit her in the chest. Hermione looked behind her to see a stream of purple flame still streaming from the wand point of the Death Eater she had silenced, straight to a bloody hole in her chest.
She felt herself crumpling to the ground as pain contorted every muscle of her body. Just before she blacked out, she felt a warm hand grip her arm and the voice in her mind spoke again.
"We really must be going now. Come along, sweet girl."
And then waves of darkness clouded her vision as the tiny cuts from the time turners burned all over her body, and the pull at her navel successfully tugged her away.