Disclaimer: Don't own HP. No profit being made.

A Clock on the Face of Hell

Chapter 2: Remember Me

There is something uniquely beautiful about time-travel, something that pulls you to it; a concept so stunning, so perfect that it is often only the mind that gets to play with it. It's the dream of romantics, the muse of writers and the hope of those of us who regret; yet it is so dangerous intellectuals quiver in fear over its paradoxes.

East of Paris, under Lac du Der-Chantecoq, in Eclaron-Braucourt-Sainte-Livière, France, something stirred. It was so deep under the lake that none but Merfolk noticed the subtle shaking of the ground. Yet many felt a sudden shift in the ambience magic, which most shrugged off as a ward being cast in their neighborhood, while researchers stared dumbly at their monitoring devices, wondering about the sudden drops in their readings.

A witch or wizard deeply tuned with the feeling of magic would notice a trend – a direction, if you will. A few wizards in Eastern France would later tell of how one day magic went west, while other civilians in Paris would disagree, arguing magic went east. Only a select group of individuals would successfully pin-point the subtle rearrangement of forces.

Under the lake an explosion shook the earth and the peaceful waters above rippled. Ignoring the Laws of Physics, a small, circular object that resembled a ring appeared inside a gap in the rock. It began to expand. Slowly, very slowly, its mass inexplicably grew as the ring pushed in all directions, and the rock cracked and splintered.

The steady roar of displaced earth came to a stop and all was still. On the lake bed Merfolk poked their heads from inside their strange stone houses and looked around cautiously. Wizards and witches on the surface hadn't felt the tremor but the magic that had momentarily captured their attention dissipated. Thinking it had been just an unusually strong ward they went about their boring, selfish lives.

Inside the ring – the Clock – I woke up to silence and darkness. I didn't know the date. I didn't know the time. I couldn't even tell if it was day or night. My body felt heavy and my head light. I felt rather than saw Filius' body lying next to me.

I blinked groggily and blindly groped for my wand. The Clock was dark save for the dim light of the grains of sand, tiny pinpricks of red still burning hot. I decided to stay the hell away from those. The material they were made of was unknown and I didn't know what side-effects we could possibly suffer from after breathing the sand's burning fumes. What I did know was that I wouldn't be stepping inside this damn Clock again anytime soon.

Under the light of my wand the room came into view, with its objects littered all over the place. I remembered seeing the ceiling crack and the walls spinning before I passed out. All was in one piece though, and unless I was mistaken, the rock that surrounded me looked…new, as if the Clock had been freshly made only hours ago.

"Come on, Filius. Wake up, damn it," I whispered.

The half-goblin wasn't snoring pleasantly but he didn't look like he'd be waking up shortly either. I decided I would side-along him and deal with his little temper tantrum elsewhere. It surprised me to realize I was looking forward to it and to exploring this new time with him. Maybe this was one of the side-effects from that sand.

Before I could grab him and apparate, however, I heard shouts in the distance. I frowned. I had thought we had travelled back in time and arrived at exactly the same place we had left from. But if that were the case then there was no reason for somebody to be lurking around these underground tunnels, bypassing the admittedly solid defences and looking for something that had no business being found.

I stood up slowly, wincing as my back popped, and conjured a few balls of light to hover ahead of me as I walked towards the door. I opened it carefully and looked around the next room. It was empty and dark. My lights flooded the room and the voices I'd heard became louder. I crossed the length of the room and pressed my ear against the next door, listening alertly, slowing my breathing so as to not miss anything.

There were voices alright, and they definitely sounded human. I couldn't tell how many there were but I identified at least two of them, both male and probably young. I thought them to be curse-breakers, archeologists or simply amateurs looking for thrills.

I noxed my lights out and stealthily cracked open the door. The first thing I noticed was the darkness and the glowing globe of light hovering on the other side of the cavern. There was no sign whatsoever of the Gubraithian fire I'd had to extinguish. As far as I knew an enchantment I'd dispelled in the present should've been working in the past…

I had been partly right about these people. Under the light of their charms I could see not two but four men, their ages probably between twenty and forty. One of them had a piece of parchment in his hands and was arguing with another while the other two remained silent.

The language was definitely not English, and it didn't sound like French either. It sounded harsh on the lips of the man with the parchment, like a series of commands or a severe reprimand, and it echoed around the large cavern. I was getting a bad feeling about this.

I considered going back and forcing Filius to wake up. His knowledge on history was undoubtedly better than mine, and if there was an instance in time where someone had come close to reaching the Clock, and if that instance had been documented, then Filius had probably read all about it. But at the time it seemed pointless. I didn't know who these men were and what they were trying to accomplish.

I decided I'd watch them from the shadows and call Filius if it became necessary. It's not like I couldn't have handled four wizards by myself.

The blonde man that was getting his head chewed off nodded and looked down, muttering something that sounded like an apology. He was huge, easily four heads taller than me, and his shoulders were almost as wide as Filius was tall. Maybe he was a half-giant, though that put in doubt my theory of them being Death Eaters.

The apparent leader somehow managed to stare down at that giant of a man into silence. I waited impatiently for something to happen so they would leave. But they had to be here for the Clock. Maybe I should've left and let them have a go at it. I was pretty sure they'd never find it.

I was considering whether to leave or to stun them and erase their memories when they moved. There was that harsh voice again, a command given, and one moment they were standing on a platform and the next they were floating towards me. Across the distance I could barely make out some kind of cloth underneath their feet, flapping in a non-existent wind, visible by the light from their glowing spheres that followed hovering above them. They were half-way to my position when I broke out of my reverie and made up my plan.

I was disillusioned and pressing against the wall beside the door when they stepped down the flying carpet and onto the rock platform. From up close I noticed they were wearing uniforms. The one with the map was clearly the leader. He was wearing a tight, black robe with silver chips on his shoulders. The huge, blonde, pale man, probably the second in command, wore the same robes but his chips were bronze.

The other two wore black robes and a red armband around their biceps. Their nervous expressions and uncomfortable shifting suggested they were Muggles, a theory I confirmed when I noticed they were carrying handguns strapped on brown belts over their robes.

Muggles and their guns… They never learned.

I looked at the four of them as they in turn checked the door for enchantments. My original plan had been to stun them, remove their memories and drop them off at some pub in Paris. But now that I'd seen they belonged to some wizarding army I was curious. I wanted to know which country they served and what they intended to do with that Clock from Hell.

Mindful of Filius lying unconscious inside the Clock I moved quickly. The four of them were focused on the scan. The first Muggle looked scared but determined while the leader waved his wand at the door and sparks jumped away from it. I stealthily positioned myself behind him and drew my wand.

One tap with it on the man's neck, a small spark of red light and he went slack. His knees gave out and I caught him by his cloak before the noise alerted the others. Less than an hour ago, in another Time, I would've probably killed this man. But I didn't know what I was up against or who these men were, so I simply dragged the Muggle back and laid him down on the ground. He wouldn't be moving anytime soon.

The second Muggle was trickier. He had been standing too close to the others. The moment I saw him step back and furtively crick his neck, however, I discreetly stunned him too. I dropped him beside the other Muggle and moved closer to the other two.

But I was too late. The leader turned, a question for the Muggles on his lips, and froze when he found them unconscious a few feet back. His reflexes saved him from my stunner, which hit the door instead and fizzled out, as he rolled on the ground and came up with wand at the ready.

The blonde rhinoceros narrowed his eyes and looked back and forth, trying to find me. I neatly managed to sidestep a barrage of spells the leader blindly fired and retaliated with a wide-area bludgeoner. The leader brought up a quick shield but my spell hit like a sledgehammer. He was thrown violently against the wooden door, which cracked and was torn off its hinges, and landed somewhere inside the dark ante-chamber of the Clock. The hovering globes of light vanished and he didn't get up.

I lit the tip of my wand and noticed that at some point my body had become visible again. I assumed the half-giant managed to hit me with the correct revealing spell. Apparently my wide-area hammer had hit him too, but unlike his partner, the blonde man only staggered back a few steps before shrugging it off.

The half-giant charged at me. I couldn't see a wand in his hands but that didn't mean he couldn't push me over the edge or break my neck with his fingers. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and bent my knees to absorb the recoil of my next spell. The pale bastard kept running straight at me and roaring a steady war cry.

A brief flashback of Greyback charging at me ran through my head. I used the same spell I had then. The half-giant saw no wand movement, no words, only power. The tip of my wand went from white to a bright yellow and the cave lit up. I kept the build up for as long as I could. The man was close, almost ten feet away, when I released the pent up energy.

Lightning flashed golden and pure, a zigzag of deadly electricity that had incapacitated a transformed werewolf for over three hours. The man charging furiously at me hesitated, his eyes wide in the bright light of my spell, and brought his hands up to cover his face. When the spell connected with them the half-giant yelled angrily and violently spread his arms apart.

I remember muttering, "What the fuck…"

He was momentarily enveloped in a dome of blue, crackling energy, through which I saw his hands – no, not his hands, but the gauntlets he was wearing – glowing the same colour of the sphere. The fork of lightning exploded back against me in a wall of energy and a shower of painful, yellow bolts.

Too surprised, too confused, I was unprepared for the backlash. It struck dead on my chest and I was tossed bodily like a rag doll. Pain shot through my system like needles poking me everywhere. I landed on my back, skidded on the rough rocks of the platform and rolled backwards. Abruptly the ground ended and I felt myself falling, and through a haze of disorientation and pain I barely managed to hold on to the edge.

Heavy footsteps came closer. I couldn't think straight; my focus was solely on my hands and making sure I didn't slip and fall. I saw the head of the blonde man appear above me as he leaned forward to take a look. He crouched down and grabbed one of my forearms firmly, almost painfully, and I couldn't stop myself from relaxing the grip of my other hand on the rock.

The half-giant spoke, but I couldn't understand him. He was going to drop me any moment, I was sure. His lips moved, his moustache twitched, yet not one of his words reached me clearly through the ringing of my ears and my disorientation.

But it seemed he was patient. He was still treating me warily, like an enemy or an unknown, as he should've after he saw I'd incapacitated his three companions, but he hadn't squeezed me to death yet.

He abruptly stood up and with only one hand gripping my forearm he lifted my whole body above the level of the platform until I was level with his head, an impressive nine or ten feet off the ground, my legs dangling uselessly in the air. My chest flared with pain. I felt my bruised ribs being stretched and I could tell my nerve endings had been damaged by the sudden jolt of electricity.

Through my pain I managed to keep my head from lolling down and I wasn't surprised to see his face didn't look like Hagrid's; friendly, naïve, with the corner of his eyes wrinkled from laughing. This man looked cold and brutal, like you'd expect a giant to be. His eyes held none of that malevolence I'd expected, however.

"English?" he asked, and this time I understood.

"Yes," I wheezed.

The cobwebs in my mind were starting to clear. I began thinking of my escape, of some way to incapacitate or kill the man; after that hit I'd taken I wasn't willing to give these men the benefit of the doubt.

"Who are you?" he asked, some thick accent butchering the language.

"Who are you?" I countered.

The half-giant fell silent, regarding me with cold blue-grey eyes. I glared right back at him while my mind worked a mile a minute.

He was too strong for me to kick. If I managed to make him drop me I would fall, and it was a long way down. My wand was on the platform, out of my reach, resting innocently against an outcropping of rock. I had many spares I'd stolen over the years, most in my Mokeskin pouch, but there was one in a holster strapped around my chest, concealed under my black robe.

With surprising speed he wrapped his other hand around my throat and squeezed; not much, just enough to let me know he could crush my windpipe if he so chose to.

"How are you here? Who are you?" he asked again, and this time he sounded forceful, dangerous.

I swallowed painfully; he was holding me quite tightly. The thought of answering the question momentarily crossed my mind, but on some ridiculous notion of pride I didn't. Instead my hands came up and I tried to fight him off, knowing full well that I'd fall, but counting on my spare wand to soften the landing.

The blonde man didn't even flinch. I dug my nails into his skin, drawing blood, but he didn't look down, his cold eyes still fixed to mine, and waiting for my answer.

Somewhere behind the half-giant's back a silver light shone dimly.

It happened fast.

My captor noticed I'd stopped struggling and the direction I was looking. He turned, twisting his torso around and moving me away from the edge a few inches in the process. The glow I'd noticed suddenly became a concentrated jet of silver light that struck the man holding me on his side. He bent and roared in pain.

I was flung violently down the abyss.

"Harry!" I heard, and recognized Filius' panicked voice.

I yelled something incoherent in response. The wind whipped past me, drowning every other sound as the ground rushed up to meet me. I tried to reach my wand but my robe was flapping madly. I was turning wildly in mid-air, playing that game where you tempt the rock with your head and then your feet.

It must've taken me less than four seconds to pull out the spare, yet the moment felt longer. When the wand was resting in my hand I pointed it at where I thought the ground to be and cried, "Infitialis."

The wind rushing past me and the mad flapping of my robes slowly stopped. I lit the tip of the wand with the dimmest light I could manage and looked around, panting hard.

I was twelve feet above the ground. It had been a close call. If I looked up I could see the flashes of curses being thrown around. When I released the hold of my spell I landed on the ground with a dull thump that went unnoticed amidst the roaring cries of the half-giant and the shaking rock from Filius' spells.

Were it almost any other opponent I would've trusted the dueling champion to take care of things. As it were, however, I had my doubts. I had to get on that platform as soon as possible. Getting Filius killed within the first hour of our trip wasn't part of my plan.

The flash of a purple spell illuminated the cave for a split-second and I caught a glimpse of the flying carpet these men had used. It was perfect. Somehow this device worked inside the cave while our brooms hadn't.

I pointed my wand at it and summoned it towards me. The magic weaved into the cloth tried to resist my pull. A corner of my brain was impressed by the spell work. Soon I tired of its resistance and whipped my wand while I added a little extra something to the Accio.

The carpet was yanked out of its position and quickly descended until it was hovering in front of me. I leapt onto it without hesitating and thought of where I wanted it to go. With much faltering and little grace I managed to make it float slowly up. I could've gotten up there ten times faster using my broom, but this was all I had.

When I was level with the platform I saw Filius in all his glory. It was an interesting duel between two opponents that were as different as could be. The half-giant – huge, slow and powerful – charged at the half-goblin with his gauntlets flashing different shades of blue, while my friend – small, fast and skilled – dodged gracefully from side to side, occasionally using his magic to propel himself in the air and land a solid hit on the blonde's head.

I had long ago learned not to play fair. You win more often when you cheat.

I jumped off the carpet and on the platform. The half-giant spotted me out of the corner of his eye. Filius threw a severing curse at his head, which the man deflected with his gauntlets, and while the half-goblin was forced to dodge his own spell the blonde charged at me again.

I smiled grimly into his cold eyes. He didn't stop. The ground shook with every step that hammered the rock. I started a wand movement for a bone-breaker and I saw a glimmer of satisfaction on his face.

But this time I was ready; I usually don't make the same mistakes twice. At the last possible moment I slashed my wand down and I was pushed off the ground. The half-giant, dumbfounded, watched as I flew over his head. I brought my wand down and put all I had behind my spell, which hit him squarely in the face and sent him careening against a wall.

I somehow landed firmly on my feet. The impact of the huge man against the wall brought a cloud of dust and debris raining down on him. Filius glanced at me, surprised and relieved, while I pointed my wand at the half-giant.

"Twitch so much as a finger and I'll kill you," I said.

Through his curtain of dirty blonde hair I saw his eyes regarding me furiously. I smirked at him and walked forward. I would be getting my answers now, whether he cooperated or not. I could be a right bastard when people refused to talk.

"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?" I stopped fifteen feet away from him, aware of just how long his arms were and how quick he could be with them. "Answer me!"

Filius came to stand next to me and supported his weight on my arm. The small man looked knackered and he had a grim look on his face. It would be bed and potions for him when we got out of here. I looked at him but he averted his eyes. I could sense the chewing off wouldn't be long now.

The half-giant ignored my questions and tried to get to his feet. I was starting to think maybe he wasn't very smart, or perhaps my bludgeoners had left a mark after all. Either way I narrowed my eyes at him, aimed straight and calmly said, "Imperio."

The feeling of control never came. My consciousness stayed firmly in place and the blonde gave me a superior look.

"Giant blood," Filius said in a tone someone uses to explain the obvious. "Mind control is rarely possible with them."

"Beautiful."

I suddenly noticed the way my quarry was moving his hands. He was fingering those gauntlets surreptitiously and distracting me with the movement of his arms and legs. I raised my wand again, an incantation on my lips.

My torrent of fire flew straight at him, lighting up the cave in blood-red. I heard Filius gasp. But there was a blue flash around the half-giant and he vanished. My jet of flames slammed against the rock harmlessly and I stopped the flow of fire with a brief twitch of my wand.

"Damn!" I said.

I had so far spent an hour in this time and that bastard had fooled me twice. Shame on me, I guess.

"Impossible," Filius whispered with a frown. "The complex is layered with protections. How did he portkey out?" He looked at me. "And you shouldn't have been able to fly that carpet either."

I ignored the inconsistency for now and instead asked, "You okay, Filius?" He waved me off distractedly and walked away. He sat on a flat rock with a muffled sigh. "Seriously, you look dead on your feet."

He glared at me and said, "Don't talk to me right now, Potter."

Maybe he was a little pissed off.

"Alright, whatever suits you," I said. "But for the record I –"

"What part of 'shut up' did you not understand?" he interrupted. "I do not want to hear your reasons. I do not want to hear your voice. Keep quiet while I think about our situation." He looked away resolutely and added, "A situation you brought about, imbecile."

I nodded hesitantly, summoned my holly wand and went about rounding up our foreigners.

The platform had taken a serious beating. There were pieces of jagged rock strewn all over the place and a blanket of dust had fallen over the ground. The edges of it had broken, resulting in the platform looking smaller. A corner of my brain realized it now looked similar to the one we'd left behind in our time.

To my displeasure I found the Muggles to be missing. I had left them lying somewhere around there and Filius shortly told me he had moved them against the wall when he had stepped out to face the man holding me. But they had vanished, probably using a portkey. Most likely we missed the blue flash because of the half-giant's presence. I found the traces of the portkey but I couldn't tell how it had been activated.

I walked over the door I had now twice blasted off its hinges and found the ante-chamber for the Clock to be empty as well. And again I found traces of a used portkey but not how it had been activated. Frustrated and knowing we had reached a dead end with our prisoners gone, I tried to pin-point the location the magic had travelled to. It was a remarkably difficult feat of spell-unweaving, one I didn't have much experience with.

A thick cloud of white smoke slowly poured out of my wand. It dropped to the ground and moved erratically, coiling around tendrils of magic that had been recently cast. The smoke lingered in the air and I saw a cylindrical void that I took to be my bludgeoner. But the portkey traces were faint, almost unrecognizable, and I concluded someone very skilled had taken the trouble of making the enchantment untraceable. At best I could say the person had travelled southeast from where I stood.

When I went to join Filius he noticed my frustrated look. All he asked was "The other is gone too?", and when I nodded he went back to his thinking, ignoring me completely.

This was definitely not how I had imagined my trip to the past to be. I had thought it would be easy; make the leap, find Dumbledore, warn him about the attack on my parents and make sure nobody was 'marked as his equal.' A solid plan, that's for sure, one that I'd came up with in two to three minutes and had gone wrong before it could even begin to take shape.

Now here I sat, staring at my only companion, my only ally, who did his best to convince himself I didn't exist. My first battle, a battle I should've won easily, had gone wrong too, and the three prisoners I'd managed to secure had escaped, all because I hadn't checked if the anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards were still in place.

I usually enjoy silences, and back then I could even fall into reflection every so often, but there were too many things to discuss. Filius' silence was stretching for too long.

"Any idea what time we are in?" I asked. I was sitting against the wall beside the door to the ante-chamber and Filius had his back to me. "The Clock worked, right?"

He ignored me.

"Come on, Fil," I said. "How long are you going to hold this one over me?"

I heard him sigh wearily but he still didn't answer or turn around. I stood up and walked around him. A wave of my wand and I sat down on a conjured chair. Filius' face was wrinkled in a frown. I thought he looked sad, resigned.

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you always wanted? You said so yourself. You said you wanted to live in untroubled times."

He finally looked up and said, "We don't even know what time this is."

It was my turn to frown.

"Well, we should find out then," I said, trying to bring some action into our short-term plans. "I think we've been inside this bloody cave long enough. Let's get out of here, see where we are. Find out what's going on. You know, just generally get a grip on the situation."

Filius shook his head. "You have no idea what you've done, do you?" he said tiredly. "Did you even think about the possible consequences of throwing us both together into the past? Did you stop to think that the effects of the Clock could vary depending on how many people were inside it?"

I had thought about it…in a way. I'd thought about how much Filius wanted to make the trip, though I didn't fully understand why he was so hesitant about doing so. I'd thought about how Filius was worried about paradoxes or some such, hence the reason for travelling to a time before I was even born. I'd thought about how having company would've been a nice change, how otherwise Filius would've died alone in the future, how my past would've died with me.

And I had almost been able to imagine the look on my parents' faces when someone told them they were going to be a mum and dad…

"I guess I didn't think about it very much," I confessed. "But what is so important that could have you all worked up, Filius? Surely nothing so serious. I mean, we made the leap and we're both in one piece. And we know for sure we travelled somewhere…"

Filius stood up abruptly and began to pace in front of me.

"Yes, we travelled somewhere," he said. "And yes, we don't know the time. But do you remember what I told you about how the clock worked? About how a magical core powered the sand?" I winced. I had forgotten about that. "Ah, so now you see the problem. Fantastic, Potter, absolutely fantastic."

"So you mean our calculations were off?" I asked.

He glared at me. "No, my calculations weren't off. Your actions on the other hand…" He pulled out his wand and began tapping it on his palm as he walked and spoke his mind. "With both of us inside, the Clock received twice the energy. In fact, for all we know, the input could have been exponential."

"I understand, Fil. But what's the big problem then? We're here to strike Voldemort down," I pointed out reasonably. "So what if we get to kill Tom Riddle instead? It'll be the same thing. In fact, it'll probably be easier now that he's younger."

"But we don't know just how young he is," Filius insisted as he kept walking in circles. "You have to understand that the further back you make a change, the bigger its consequences will be. Besides, whatever action we take in 1981 wouldn't have changed the fact that you were born. For all we know, a small change now could mean your father dies or is never born. If he isn't around…"

That had never occurred to me. I never pretended to understand the mechanics involved in time-travel, but based on all I'd heard, I used to think paradoxes happened when the past version of yourself saw you lurking around with a pocket watch around your neck. At least that's what Hermione had once told me, and I had never bothered reading further into the matter. But having to tread carefully, otherwise I'd never be born? That was on a whole new level.

"Is this what you meant by 'avoiding paradoxes'?" I asked.

"Yes, that is exactly it."

He stopped his anxious pacing and sat down on the flat rock again. I thought he looked slightly relieved I'd finally understood some of his concerns and the problem I'd potentially created for the both of us. Filius let out an explosive sigh and looked at me through tired eyes. I got the sense that he was preparing himself for something unpleasant.

"I saw the ones you stunned, the other three," he said. "It was dark so I did not get a good look. What were they wearing and what language were they speaking? Describe them for me, please. As accurately as you can."

"Right, let's see," I said. "I didn't recognize the language, definitely not French though. Um, the leader was wearing a black cloak with silver fastenings here and there. The other two were Muggles, I think. Strange black uniforms and red armbands. They were carrying guns, too."

"Muggles and guns?" Filius repeated blankly. "Wizards with Muggles and guns…oh, dear…" His wand clattered to the ground and he seemed to shrink before my very eyes. "Potter, what have you done…" he trailed off in a whisper.

His back hunched, shoulders slumped, and a haunted look crossed his face. Alarmed, I stood up and went to kneel in front of him. Filius stared at me with a horrified look on his face.

"What? What?" I asked. Filius seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. "Come on, what is it?"

When he spoke next his voice wavered.

"The – the muggles," he said. "What was the armband like? Was it a white circle with a black drawing on it?"

I had no idea what the big deal was, but my companion's behaviour was giving me a deep sense of dread I couldn't shake off.

I remembered the Muggles and their black robes. I remembered spotting the red armband, which had also had a white circle and strange symbols drawn in black on it. A picture of the same symbol drawn in a textbook filtered through my brain. I thought I remembered it being called a swastika.

Unsettled now, I said slowly, "It rings a bell…" He looked at me impatiently. "Yes, black and white. Both of them were wearing it. Why?"

Filius paled. His blue eyes widened and I saw a thin sheen of sweat on his wrinkled face and the roots of his wispy, white beard. He then took off his hat, revealing an untangled mass of grayish hair, and shakily placed it on his lap.

"How good is your history?" he asked.

It became clear he wouldn't collapse so I stood up, wincing as I discovered my legs had gone numb, and sat back down in the chair I'd conjured. I answered, "Not terribly good actually. Somewhat sketchy on Goblin rebellions."

Filius frowned and asked, "How about wizard history of the twentieth century? Human history, that is, of before you were born."

"Well, I know Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald…"

"That is it?" he asked sharply. "Five or six years of History classes and that is all you ever learned?"

"Well, yeah," I said slowly, uncomfortable about my questionable education being once again brought to the spotlight. "But don't blame me. That midget of a ghost chose the topics. It was bad, really bad. And to be honest, that part about Albus and Grindelwald I first read in a Chocolate Frog card."

It frustrated me that my attempt to lighten the mood didn't work very well. He didn't laugh or smile at the joke. Instead, his eyes narrowed and he tightly gripped the old black hat on his lap.

"This is no time for jokes, Potter," he said. "Those two Muggles weren't civilians, or whatever it is your mind came up with."

"I see," I said coolly. Filius' attitude was grating on my nerves. I wasn't feeling awfully sorry for slamming him against the ceiling at the moment. "So pray tell, Filius, what is so bad about red armbands and Muggles with guns? The mystery is killing me here."

"That's a Nazi armband!" Filius hissed. "You moron, Potter… You – you brought us to the forties!"

"Huh?"

"Huh? Huh? That's your eloquent response? HUH?" Filius breathed heavily. "We were supposed to go to the eighties and save your parents. Instead, you brought us both to the forties, where not only there's You-Know-Who to worry about, but Grindelwald as well. And the Nazis. And Adolf Hitler, too."

I had heard about Nazis somewhere, probably in Muggle Primary school. My knowledge was spotty at best, though. I remembered concentration camps, a world war and Adolf Hitler, quaintly labeled the sum of all evil. Maybe Hermione had said something about Nazis being similar to pureblood supremacists, too. It didn't sound so good, but at the moment I thought nothing could be worse than Death Eaters.

I said so to Filius.

A mistake.

He didn't yell at me anymore; he was past that point. This one seemed to take the air under his wings and he sat back down and kept shaking his head, saying this like, "…we're done…", "…one change and the world dies…" or "…and I'm stuck here with this reckless idiot…"

Part of me knew I couldn't blame him for being a little pissed off. Filius was the type that stopped to think, planned and only acted once he had all the specifics down. It was just how his brain worked. I knew leaving that routine to the side made him anxious, and in this case I had forced him out of his comfort zone, missed our target by a little less than forty years and his carefully thought-out plans and concerns were falling apart.

But another part of me didn't care, the part that had had no qualms about knocking him unconscious in the first place. My face went grim, eyes cold. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees.

"Do cut the moaning, Filius," I said. "I may not remember these Nazis very well, but that's no reason to call me an idiot or to behave like an asshole. Here we are, in the past, all the possibilities in the palm of our hands, and all you can do is sit there like a whiny teenager, complaining about your pitiful situation and generally bitch about how the world is mean."

He looked up with wide, startled eyes. His expression was surprised enough that my anger quickly dissipated. I sighed tiredly.

"Look, Fil, I might have made a mistake, alright? I admit it. But I'm not sorry about it and I never will be. I brought you here because I thought this is what you wanted. I forced you to come because I thought you were scared to make the decision yourself."

"I wasn't scared, Harry," he said very softly. "There is more at play here than you can possibly imagine."

I nodded. He knew my knowledge on history was abysmal.

"Perhaps," I conceded. "But who knows, this might all work for the better one day."

Filius looked away. He rested his head on his hands and his gaze strayed upwards. I gave him the space he needed and we spent a moment in silence.

Somewhere in the distance came the steady dripping of water. The underground tunnels of Lac du Der-Chanteqoc, France stretched in front of us, and just by looking at the mouth of the tunnel that had led us to the ante-chamber to the Clock made it possible for me to picture the vastness of the complex. We would have to get moving soon. These Nazis could be back any minute with reinforcements and it wasn't wise for us to be singled out as targets so early in the game.

"This is going to work, Fil," I said quietly but determinately. "I will run over anyone that stands in my way. Voldemort, Grindelwald, Nazis… It's all the same." I stood up and clapped him on the shoulder. "And now that you're here to help me, I don't doubt we'll win."

His back was shaking slightly, and with a start I realized he was probably sobbing. I didn't understand why. Perhaps it was something I'd said, perhaps it was the forties that brought back unpleasant memories. Ironic that I used to be such a keen observer, yet I often missed the things that mattered the most.

I left him to compose himself and made a quick round of the place. Inside the Clock I transfigured the sand we'd used into a lamp and a desk. If someone were to find the Clock I wanted them to have a hard time understanding its mechanics. I also grabbed Dimassio's journal, which Filius had left on the ground when he'd rushed to my aid. As I stood in the second room, staring at the Clock's door, it occurred to me that we'd have to set up some protections.

From inside my Mokeskin pouch I pulled out a wooden chest. It was filled with glass vials, each carrying a different potion. Amidst the rainbow of colours there were two I needed; blue and pink. I uncorked the first and doused the door with it. I grabbed the brown one and repeated the process.

The door sizzled and hissed as if I'd thrown acid at it. Acrid, grey smoke billowed upwards in a spiral and I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve. The stench lingered heavily in the air. I quickly pulled out my wand, packed the vials I'd taken out and replaced the wooden chest inside my Mokeskin pouch. Layer after layer of wards I drew around, in front of, and on the door.

I hurriedly left the room, repaired the door I'd twice blasted off its hinges and closed it behind me.

Filius was waiting for me on the other side, still sitting on the same spot, neatly folding the flying carpet I'd used. He stuffed it inside his pocket and his brownish robe bulged ridiculously.

"You alright, Fil?"

"Oh, yes. Fine," he said distractedly.

"Ready to go then?" I said. "We should get moving in case they come back."

"Yes, quite right." He looked around the large cavern. "Did you secure the Clock?"

"Yeah. Sand into objects, closed the door, charmed it to look like the stone walls, a few nasty curses here and there, and I used some of those potions you gave me."

"Sleeping Pink and Blue Moon?"

I grimaced. Not only did Filius refuse to use deathly curses or wards on principle, but he also insisted on calling the Draught of Living Death "Sleeping Pink" and the nightmare-inducing solution "Blue Moon." Anyhow, I nodded. They were rather tame protections in my opinion, but coupled with the rest I'd laced on the door, I was sure the Clock was as secure as I could possibly make it.

"Good," he said. He seemed composed and mostly back to normal. I was sure our talk wasn't over, though. "Then follow me so we can leave."

To my surprise, Filius closed his eyes for a split second, and with a small smile on his face, he vanished. Almost at the same time I heard a second crack and turned to see Filius standing at the mouth of the tunnel, the one that led to that gigantic complex we'd traversed through in the future.

Once again that disparity, I noted. First I had found the chasm free of fire, then the anti-portkey wards that blanketed this entire system of caves and tunnels had inexplicably failed, and now it turned out the anti-apparition ward didn't work either. Maybe the protections Dimassio's son had set up had already faded by the time the forties rolled around. Someone else probably secured the Clock against intrusion between the forties and the end of the twentieth century.

Filius waved at me to follow. I squeezed myself through space and with another crack I appeared right beside him.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Filius commented as we stared at the ante-chamber of the Clock. "The lack of protection, I mean."

"Yeah."

Filius brought up his wand and waved it over his head. The air around us shimmered and seemed to thicken.

"How is your warding?" he asked.

I shrugged. It was pretty basic, but whatever I'd cast would be powerful and durable, if a little unstable when prodded. I had the magic to make it work, yet lacked what youth usually lacks: finesse and experience.

"Under other circumstances I would say warding is not essential to a wizard's life," Filius said. "Remarkably difficult to learn and its benefits are greatly outweighed by its complexities." He looked at me and gave me a tight smile. "But to men in our position, warding is not only useful, but necessary, too. I can't imagine how you survived all these years with only anti-apparition wards to keep you safe."

I didn't think to mention most of my enemies had been too scared to seek me out. Some of them did anyway, but as the body count rose Hit Wizards and Aurors began to play the game I called "I do when seen." They would keep an eye open in case I made an appearance, but would only engage me in combat if a) I was seen in a public setting, because they knew I would never go all out around civilians, and b) when they were safe in large numbers.

Trying to track me down by themselves to collect the bounty on my head lost its appeal by the time Lord Voldemort lost his left arm.

"Must've been some luck involved."

Filius chuckled. "Quite," he said. "But luck won't carry us through these times." He left implicit the fact that it was my fault we had to live through those times. "So please do watch and try to learn. With time experience will prove by itself just how useful proper warding can be."

All traces of kindness wiped clean off his face, replaced by a calm look of utmost concentration. Filius raised his wand over his head again and began a long series of sharp thrusts and jabs, aiming at the Clock we couldn't quite see. The air began to feel heavy and dry, and as Filius started a chant in what I recognized to be Old Norse magic poured out of his wand in long, dense coils of white, which slowly expanded in front of us and began to move away, past the dark chasm, over the rock platform and through the door I'd closed to keep away the smell the potions gave off.

There was a reason the quirky ex-Professor was a Master and not just your every-day instructor. His movements were precise, his words soft yet confident and the white coils that flooded the chasm didn't lose any of their strength as they crossed the admittedly long distance to the Clock. I could easily see at least five ways in which I could potentially fail in casting the same enchantment, and it took Filius only five minutes of work to get it right.

The chant slowly lost its momentum and magic stopped pouring out of his wand. Filius then began what ward-builders call "the grounding" of the enchantment, which consists in fixing that which is metaphysical to a solid, physical and absorbent substance that can prolong the duration of the magic. The Charms Master wisely chose the ceiling of the ante-chamber, both because it was out of reach and unconventional. The more contrived a warding job is, the harder time a curse-breaker will have when trying to unravel it.

Filius pointed his wand away from his body and grabbed it with both hands. Then he sharply pulled it back over his head, much like a fisherman would do to hook the fish and reel it in, and I heard a soft rumble of displayed rock, which meant the enchantment had been successfully grounded. Next came a sudden gust of air, moving from the Clock and towards us. We stood still, immobile and expectant, our robes flapping chaotically, and the air flow suddenly stopped.

He turned to look at me, a satisfied smile on his face, and before I could ask what he had just cast air rushed back through the tunnel, over the chasm and crashed against the door I'd closed. A faint shimmering of gold surrounded the doorway and the walls of rock that protected the Clock and its ante-chamber. I heard a soft hum, the golden hue flickered out of existence and the gust of air died.

"Wow," I muttered, eyes wide. I had felt the sheer amount of power the enchantment had given off, and its complexity was overwhelming. "I mean…yeah."

"Either keep up or give up, Harry," Filius said. "My peers dubbed it the Filius Charm. It's a slight modification of the Fidelius charm. Instead of hiding the location in my mind, I can permanently hide the object or location from those who are not familiar with it. In other words, you can only find it if you know where it is, and what it is. And I tied standard anti-portkey and anti-apparition barriers to it."

I couldn't see any flaws in his logic. If in our time no one had known where to find the clock, only that it existed somewhere, then it meant the forties wouldn't be any different. The Filius Charm, as he called it, would ensure no curious Nazis or other parties could go prodding inside the room, because they didn't know the very room was the time-piece they sought.

"Does it meet your expectations?" Filius asked, knowing full well it did.

I nodded anyway. "How long will it last?"

"Eight to twelve months, depending on how many wizards try to gain access."

"It'll do for now then," I said. "We'll come back once we're settled in and set up permanent protections." I looked sideways at him. "And you've got to teach me warding one of these days."

We walked back the way we'd come from in the future. Filius kept running his wand over the even walls of rock, the tip of it glowing a faint golden colour. The moment the glow died we stopped walking and turned, looking over to the doorway in the distance one last time.

"So where do you want to go now?" I asked.

"London," Filius said automatically. "Definitely London. I want to walk down the streets without looking over my shoulder. You'll finally get to see what a beautiful place Diagon Alley can be without Death Eaters storming around."

Filius donned his hat and I pulled the hood of my cloak up to conceal my face. I said, "Aren't we risking coming across your other self, or someone recognizing you, or someone relating me to my grandfather or something? Isn't England a bit risky?"

"Not necessarily," he said. "I'm not as well-known yet, considering I haven't started teaching at Hogwarts, or won that dueling tournament. And I know for a fact your grandfather is blonde. No one will recognize us." I was about to point out that Filius' height was…unusual, before he added, "Though just in case, keep that hood up and I will use some glamours."

"Alright," I said. "But I want a more permanent solution later. I won't walk around for the next sixty years with a bloody hood on."

"Yes, quite right."

Filius had already checked the anti-apparition ward he'd cast didn't reach this far. We set the location on our minds – Diagon Alley – and turned on the spot. But right before we vanished Filius turned to look at me, an inscrutable expression on his face.

"And don't even think," he said, "that I've forgotten about you slamming me against the ceiling."

I turned to hide my smile and with twin cracks we disapparated.