Chapter 9 – Secret Plans in Motion
The first thing Mel did when she got home was to put her things away, haphazardly. Then she went to the main entrance to wait for Andrew and Jarod, she and Dela had driven home, giggling all the way at the look on Mr Dursley's face when Harry had mentioned his Godfather was an escaped convict and convicted murderer.
Andrew and Jarod had taken to London on foot, so they were further behind, as they came back, Jarod had a confused and annoyed look on his face. Andrew darted around Mel and ran off to his room, where he locked himself in.
"I don't suppose he told you what he's up to," Jarod said hopefully.
"Sorry, Master, he didn't," Mel said, frowning.
"I presume he hasn't slept for a while," Dela guessed.
"Not since the start of June," Mel answered, growing worried about her long-time friend.
"I'm starting to worry that these bouts of sleep deprivation is starting to have some effect on his sanity." Jarod sighed.
In his room, Andrew was busy, talking to himself. "Right, got the pills, got instructions on how to imbue Muggle items with spells," he said, pulling out a book he had borrowed from Dumbledore's private collection. He placed the book, open on the pages he needed, on his desk and poured out some of the placebos.
"Now to get on with stage one," Andrew said, looking over at his calendar and making a note that he was on borrowed time, there was no telling how much time he had to get his self-imposed mission completed. "Just hope that I can get away with this, I am about to perform underage magic."
He started following the instructions, by the end of the day, he had something that should have worked, but he needed a test subject. He sat on his bed, having had nothing to eat, and meditated all night, the next morning he went straight to the medical ward.
"Master Axfow," Andrew greeted with a polite bow.
"That time of year I see," The Healing Master commented, it was only five in the morning.
"Yes, Master," Andrew chuckled.
"I take it you need something, I don't see any injuries," Zan stated.
"I was wondering if you had any lab mice you could spare," Andrew said.
Zan Axfow frowned, it wasn't uncommon for Andrew to experiment while he wasn't sleeping, but he had never asked for a live test subject before. "Might I ask why, young one?"
"I've developed something new, if it works, it should make a live clone. But I don't want to risk a human test subject in case it doesn't work." Andrew answered.
Zan nodded and left briefly, he came back with a small cage, containing a single, white mouse. "I should supervise what you're doing, you've never tried something so risky that you needed a rodent."
Andrew nodded and led the Healing Master to his room/lab. Master Axfow placed the mouse on the desk and observed as Andrew fed it a placebo. The two Jedi watched, patiently waiting for the pill to take effect. After six or seven seconds, the mouse let out a squeal as the Copy Charm took effect and made a perfect clone. The two mice blinked at each other and then looked out at the Jedi.
"Impressive, but to what point?" Zan asked Andrew.
"Well, according to The Committee on Experimental Charms, using my Duplicus spell on anything with bio matter, only creates a temporary copy, which disintegrates after thirty minutes." Andrew explained while he started a stopwatch. "If this pill works in the same way, we'll watch our new friend turn into a pile of ash."
"I see now why you needed the rodent." Axfow said, still uncertain why he was bothering, if he knew it wasn't perfect. Did he intend to try and perfect this 'cloning' process?
While they waited, an owl soared through the window with a letter for Andrew, he tore open the envelope and read the parchment. "Just a warning from the Ministry for using magic outside of school." Andrew said, scrunching the letter up and tossing it into his burning bin carelessly. "If this works right then I'll have already done what I needed to and won't need to use any more magic."
After exactly thirty minutes had passed, one of the two mice dissolved into nothingness. "Brilliant!" Andrew exclaimed excitedly. "Next is phase two!" he went to his desk and started writing a letter, he needed help for his the next stage in his plan, mainly because it needed more magic and he couldn't risk getting into any more trouble with the Ministry, but partly because he needed a wizard who was both older and wiser.
"Andrew, what..." Zan started.
"Thanks for the mouse, Master, I don't need it any more." Andrew cut him off. Zan's frown deepened, he picked up the cage from the desk and left.
Once he had returned the mouse to the rodent pen in the medical lab, he sought out Jarod Cooper, he believed that Andrew's Master needed to know of his concerns.
He found the man in one of the classrooms with his fiancé, teaching a group of Younglings how to tie a splint. "Jarod, can I have a word?" he asked.
Jarod was about to say 'no', but as he looked up he saw his friend's concerned face. "Keep practising for a few minutes children, I'll just be a moment. You don't mind watching them for me, do you, Aurora?"
Professor Sinistra smiled. "Not at all, Jarod," she said, placing a hand on his cheek and giving him a gentle kiss, causing the Younglings to giggle or make 'yucky' faces.
The two Masters stepped into the corridor. "What has you worried, old friend?" Jarod asked, calmly placing a hand on Zan's shoulder.
"Your Padawan came to see me this morning," Zan said, "he asked me for a spare laboratory mouse."
"Hmm, that does seem strange, even for Andrew during his sleepless period," Jarod mused, stroking his beard. "I take it you supervised."
"I did, he was testing a pill on the mouse, it created a clone," Zan told his friend. "The poor thing just … fell apart and dissolved in thirty minutes. What gets me is how happy it seemed to make the boy."
"Hmm, I think it's time I had a word with my Padawan, it can't wait though." Jarod said firmly. "Could I ask you to take over my class for me?"
Zan nodded and ducked into the classroom, while Jarod ran to his student's bedroom, he knocked and heard Andrew call "It's open!" Jarod opened the door and saw his Padawan finishing off a letter.
"Andrew, as your Master, I demand to know what you're doing!" Jarod said, sternly.
Andrew looked up from his letter, worried at the concerned features of his Master's face. "Why do you look so worried, Master?" he asked.
"How about the fact that you watched a mouse die and seemed overjoyed?" Jarod said, not liking the look of innocence on his Padawan's face.
"Ah, that," Andrew folded the parchment, placed it in an envelope and tied it to Snowfire's leg. "Get that to Dumbledore as fast as you can." He stroked his owl's back and sent him off, out the window.
"Well?" Jarod pressed, Andrew was about to answer when his stomach grumbled loudly. "When was the last time you ate?"
"Um," Andrew thought about it for a few moments. "On the train home I think."
Jarod sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Andrew, that was yesterday!" He shook his head and motioned to the door behind him. "Come on, you and I are going to have an early lunch, now!"
He was trying to be stern, but not unkind. Andrew nodded and heaved himself to his feet. "Yes, Master. I'll explain what I'm doing while we eat, I can't do any more work until I hear from Professor Dumbledore, anyway."
They made their way to the mess hall, Dela and Mel meeting them along the way. They sat together and ordered some food from the new waiter droids.
"You going to tell me what you're up to?" Mel asked, a little scathingly.
"Us, you mean," Dela said, pointedly.
"Sorry, Master."
"Well, well." Sirius said, taking a seat with them, he looked much cleaner now, having had access to a shower, toothpaste and some decent food, he looked a lot healthier too. "I was wondering if I'd ever bump into you two."
"I'm glad you're here," Andrew said. "After-all, you're part of the reason that all this has kicked off in the first place."
Jarod, Dela, Sirius and Mel all shared a confused look. "With you still being on the run, I decided that you shouldn't be. But at this point, without Pettigrew to serve as evidence, I need to find a witness to plead your case to the Ministry."
"Good luck finding one," Sirius laughed, dryly.
"Too late, found one," Andrew said as the droid came back with their food.
"Who exactly?" Dela asked slowly, as Jarod was on the High Council, he needed someone to take his seat while he stood with Sirius and pleaded his case to the Grandmaster. So as Dela was on the National Council, Jarod asked her to fill in for him.
"A certain James and Lily Potter," Andrew said simply, between bites of toast.
Sirius and Jarod both frowned in confusion. "How the hell do you plan to pull that off!" Mel demanded. "Hold a séance?"
Andrew let out a chuckle and stopped eating, taking an item out of each of his trouser pockets. "With these," he said. In one hand was the Time-Turner he had copied from Hermione, and in his other palm was two pills.
"You have a plan, explain." Dela said, all business-like.
"I still need Professor Dumbledore's help, to make a device with the Time-Turner's power, but with my own control, so I can tell it where, or should I say when I want to go." Andrew explained. "But the plan is to go back in time, to the point where Voldemort broke into the house in Godric's Hollow, and make Harry's parents swallow these."
"What do they do exactly?" Sirius asked, taking one and examining it.
"I've imbued them with my duplication charm, yes I know, I've used magic outside of school and the Ministry have given me a written warning." Andrew explained. "It's part of the reason I need Dumbledore's help to carry on."
"So that's why you were so happy when the mouse 'died'," Jarod sighed with relief. "It proved that those pills do exactly what you want them to."
"Exactly, Harry's parents swallow these, their clones die trying to protect baby Harry, I bring the originals back to the present and history doesn't change." Andrew simplified.
"That's bloody brilliant!" Sirius said loudly, tears were filling his eyes. "How can I help?"
"By not getting your hopes up," Andrew said. "For one, Dumbledore might refuse to help, for another, I might fail anyway, Voldemort might kill me before I even get to James."
"You should have asked me to help with these pills, I wouldn't have been traced like you." Sirius said, making Andrew slap his forehead and call himself 'stupid'. "Don't sweat it though, you didn't do anything around a Muggle, right?"
"No, what difference does that make?" Andrew asked.
"If you use magic outside of school without Muggles able to see, you get up to three written warnings before being expelled." Sirius explained. "But if you've got Muggles in the next room and the door open, for example, you get one written warning telling you that if you perform any underage magic again, you'll be expelled."
"That explains why the letter I got didn't say the same Harry told me his did last year, long story." Andrew cut Sirius off before he could ask.
"How do you plan to get back?" Mel asked. "From what Hermione told me, those things are a one-way ticket."
"That's also what I need Dumbledore's help with," Andrew answered.
"Well, we're not likely to get an answer to your letter until tomorrow evening, unless Albus chooses to answer in person." Jarod said. Andrew agreed and, once he'd finished his meal, got back to his training.
Sirius stuck with them for the day, eager to see what Padawan's did around the temple, but not too keen to be around children he didn't know. He watched the two have a sparring match, meditate, clean their lightsabers and take some time to teach some Younglings the basics of Form two, Makashi.
"You know, watching you two, is fairly boring," Sirius observed while they were walking towards the mess hall for dinner.
"Well, you didn't have to watch us," Andrew joked, his laugh was cut off when he walked straight into Professor Dumbledore, who had just appeared in front of him, Snowfire perched happily on the Headmaster's forearm.
"You're making a habit of just appearing in the Temple, Professor," Mel said as she helped Andrew to his feet.
"My apologies, I just read through Andrew's letter, I decided to come immediately," Dumbledore said.
"Glad you came, Professor, follow me, I'll explain everything in my lab." Andrew said, he started to walk away, but Mel grabbed hold of his Padawan braid and stopped him.
"Oh no you don't!" She said. "You can explain over dinner, this way!" she ordered, pulling him by his hair.
"OW! MEL, LET GO OF MY HAIR!" Andrew complained, walking backwards.
She didn't listen, she just kept pulling him along until they got to a table. The four of them sat down and ordered some food. While they were waiting, Andrew told the Headmaster exactly what he had told the others earlier that day.
"Hmm, a very noble endeavour, and I applaud your attempt to ensure that history remains unaltered, however, it is still a criminal act which you are attempting," Dumbledore said sadly. "Not to mention that you have gotten yourself in trouble already, further magic from you could get you expelled, but what you're planning could get you locked up!"
"So you won't help?" Mel asked.
"If I believed for a moment, that this matter would be dropped by my not assisting, then I would say you are correct, Melanie." Dumbledore said, giving Andrew a pointed look.
"If I can save two lives, giving up my own is a small price to pay," Andrew told the Headmaster with determination.
Dumbledore smiled. "I know determination when I see it and I know you'll try with or without my help," Dumbledore smiled. "So I might as well see to it that this is done right. What do you need from me."
Andrew grinned and showed Dumdledore the Time-Turner he still had. "I need to know how this works, can it return me to the present or is it for backwards travel only?"
"When the Time-Turner was first conceived, it was meant to me a measure for preventing disasters," Dumbledore explained. "Therefore, turning it one way would take you back by one hour, turning the other would bring you forward."
"However, it did cause many problems for the Ministry, so although the spell powering the Time-Turner has not been changed, the device you have has been." he finished.
"So, this thing can't take me back and bring me forward, but if we can extract the spell and put it in something else, it will?" Andrew asked, Dumbledore nodded. "Good, that's helpful. I needed to transfer its power to a device that I could manipulate anyway." Andrew explained. "That way I can tell it exactly when to take me and just press a button to come back."
"I take it that's where my knowledge comes in?" Dumbledore asked. Andrew nodded. "Then we can get started in the morning, I think it will take some time, and I should rest first, do you think you could construct something before morning?"
"I think so," Andrew said.
"Great, so let's tuck in!" Sirius said, just as their food arrived.
"What can I get for you sir?" a waiter droid asked at the next table.
"Blood, female, type-O." came the answer, causing Sirius to drop his fork and look over, at Kain.
"You've got vampires here?" he asked, shocked.
"Heh, Kain's story is a long one," Mel said, a little nervously, Dumbledore watched with interest, as Kain was joined by Raziel, Jak, Ratchet and Sly.
"Yo, Andrew, we playing tonight? I heard you're not sleeping." Ratchet called.
"Sorry, Ratchet, I'm working on something." Andrew answered.
"K.A.T.T. again?" Jak asked. "I tell you, as cars go, she's gonna be a babe!"
"No, Jak, something bigger."
"Keep saying that and you'll never finish her," Raziel said, pulling the cork off his soul and breathing it in. Kain's blood was passed to him in a wine glass and he drank it slowly, savouring it.
"What do you suppose he meant by 'playing'?" Sirius asked Dumbledore quietly.
"We happen to be a band," Kain answered, he pointed to his pointed ears, "these are not for show you know."
"Interesting, what do you play?" Dumbledore asked, intrigued.
"Covers mostly," Andrew answered. "Other Muggles songs," he added.
"Songs the Wizarding World probably hasn't heard," Mel tried to explain.
"Hmm, have you ever performed in public before?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, why?" Sly asked.
"The Minister for Magic is hoping to put on a concert before the final at the World Cup, England is hosting it this year, you see." Dumbledore explained. "Sadly Cornelius is wanting to book someone to perform alongside 'The Weird Sisters' if he can book them, however he's hit a dead end in wanting something 'sensational'."
"Something nobody's ever heard before?" Andrew repeated Mel, looking hopeful.
"Precisely," Dumbledore said. "Do you have a name for yourselves?"
Andrew looked at his bandmates. They shared a telepathic conversation.
"(Any ideas guys?)" Andrew asked, the others all looked at each other.
"(Fudrockers?)" Ratchet offered, visibly shrugging.
"(Nah, the restaurant franchise would sue the hell out of us.)" Andrew answered.
"(Yeah, probably… wait, what?)" Ratchet asked
"(They're a nation-wide thing in Ameri… oh wait, you've never been, sorry.)"
"(How about 'The Immortals'?)" Kain offered.
"(Fits,)" Raziel supplied. "(Myself and Kain are immortals, one of the Younglings researched us on your internet and found that the five of us are immortalised in your 'computer games'.)"
By now the six of them were all nodding, so Andrew spoke verbally. "We're thinking of calling ourselves, 'The Immortals'."
"Excellent, I'll send Cornelius an owl in the morning," Dumbledore said, and they then continued to eat in silence.
After dinner, Andrew went back to his lab to continue working, Mel showed Dumbledore to a guest room and the band went to just make sure their instruments were in tune. After three hours, Andrew joined them and they practised a few songs for their, possible, first ever gig.
A little before seven in the morning, not that they could tell, there were no clocks or windows in their practise room, Sly started playing on his piano, while Andrew sang.
"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself, a real good time. I feel ali-i-i-ive." he started, Ratchet on his base plucked his strings for the next line. "And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah," Andrew was holding a microphone in one hand while miming the world with the other, flipping it over at 'inside out'.
"I'm floating around, in ecstasy, so," Ratchet, Jak and Sly all joined in with, "don't stop me now. Don't stop me.."
"'Cause I'm having a good time. Having a good time!"
Kain and Raziel joined in with their instruments now as the beat really picked up.
None of them noticed Dumbledore, Sirius or Mel as they stepped in, quietly taking seats at the band kept playing.
"I'm a shooting start, leaping through the sky, like a tiger," Andrew sang, lightly stomping his right foot to the beat. "Defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car, passing by like Lady Godiva. I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me!"
"I'm burning through the sky, yeah. Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit. I'm travelling at the speed of light." the other singers got ready joined in. "I wanna make a supersonic man outta you!" Andrew opened his eyes as he pointed right at Sirius, going wide-eyed at their sudden audience.
"Don't stop me now!" Ratchet, Jak and Sly sang.
"I'm having such a good time," Andrew sang along, relaxing as he told himself they'd probably been there a while. "I'm having a ball."
"Don't stop me now!"
"If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call!"
"Don't stop me now."
"'Cause I'm having a good time!" "Don't stop me now." "Yes, I'm having a good time, I don't wanna stop at all, yeah!"
They kept going to the end of the song, Raziel pulling off a perfect guitar solo, where Dumbledore, Sirius and Mel stood up and applauded.
"Yes, I think Cornelius will be most impressed," Dumbledore said with a smile. The band packed up and Andrew took Dumbledore to his lab so they could get on with the task at hand.
The two of them spent the next five days working on transferring the powers of the Time-Turner to a converted Holo-com. All of the usual electronics had been removed and new circuits installed, once they were finished, they showed their work to Jarod.
"This dial," Andrew explained, "is to set what date you want to travel to, the screen shows today's date and date we're aiming for. And finally this red button is to go back in time, and the green one will bring me back."
"Most impressive, when do you plan to get going?" he asked.
"Soon as I'm permitted to go." Andrew answered.
"Well before you're granted clearance, I want to take one precaution," Jarod said, holding up a flash drive. "I've downloaded all the world's current data onto this drive, Albus, I'd like you to charm this drive somehow, to protect it from any changes that might occur by accident."
"In case something goes wrong, that way we'll know what's changed." Dumbledore said with a nod. He took the flash drive, tapped it once with his wand, and handed it to Andrew.
"That quick?" Andrew asked as he placed it in his pocket.
"Yes, that quick," Dumbledore chuckled. "Though I still think we should wait until after you've slept, you told me once that your condition lasts at least four weeks. You've not slept since the start of June and it's July now."
"He makes a good point Andrew," Jarod added. "You could fall asleep in the past and Voldemort would kill you!"
"And then James and Lily will still be dead and we'll have lost you too," Sirius finished.
"I know, but if we wait, we could be waiting days or weeks and I can't keep sitting on this." Andrew said, his thumb poised on the red button, not only was the device supposed to send him through time, but also through space, directly to the village of Godric's Hollow. "It's just a chance I have to take, because it's the right thing to do."
"Wish me luck!" He pressed the red button and vanished in a bright flash.
Once his eyes adjusted to the sudden change of light, Andrew realised something had gone horribly wrong. There wasn't so much as a brick in sight, in fact he was certain that England didn't have volcanos.
"Okay, I know I've screwed up, the question is just how badly did I screw up?" Andrew asked aloud, then he heard a menacing growl from behind, from something much bigger than him. Turning slowly, he swore loudly and leapt backwards as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, of all things, tried to take a bite of him. Andrew landed on a plant of some sort, crushing it and causing one of its neighbours to spit acid at him.
He was forced to jump out of the way of that too, he somersaulted over the T-Rex and gave it a Force Push, then he remembered the device had the return button and pressed it frantically, disappearing in another flash.
"Well, that was quick," a voice said while Andrew was temporarily blinded.
Once Andrew's vision returned to him, he instantly went defensive and drew his lightsaber. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE-AHHH!" he dropped the items in his hands and clutched his head, falling to his knees at Jax Starr's feet.
Jax was by his side in an instant. "Andrew, buddy, talk to me, you okay!?" he asked worriedly.
Andrew groaned. "Ow, my head..."
Jax's mother, Drexia Lee, slipped her hand into Andrew's pocket and took out the flash drive, plugging it into the laptop she was holding, she compared the information on the drive to what was in the other window on her screen and nodded her head.
"I see what's happened. Something's changed … drastically." she said.
"What darling?" her husband Quint Lee asked.
"Well for one, myself, Jax … hell everyone in the Dark Jedi ranks, was a member of the Sith Order, before Andrew left." she said.
"Hmph," Quint scoffed. "As if I would marry a Sith."
Quint was a Jedi Knight, he and Drexia had been duelling one day when he had injured her and, though not killing her, had damaged her womb, making them unable to have children. That was why they had adopted Jax, but the boy had shown much skill in stealth and infiltration, so they had allowed him to train as an assassin.
"No wonder he went to attack me," Jax said, shaking his head. "Guess he didn't remember that we've been friends since we joined the order."
"Sorry, Jax … dunno what came over me." Andrew said, rubbing the side of his skull.
"I would surmise," said Dumbledore, "that you will have similar periods of pain, whenever your memories are corrected. Due to your mind having to adjust to a contradiction."
Panting, Andrew got to his feet and put his lightsaber back on his belt and picking up the time device. "Okay, sit-rep, I screwed up and ended up back in the Mesozoic Era."
"Ooo, burn!" Jax hissed a little.
"Question is, how do we proceed and finish this mission?" Andrew finished.
"I might have a suggestion," Drexia said as she continued to scroll through the data comparison.
"What is it Mum?" Jax asked.
Dela looked over Drexia's shoulder, grinning at the name she had highlighted. "It's a wonder we didn't ask for his help before." Dela said, Drexia turned the laptop around and showed Andrew.
He grinned too. "Probably because he wasn't here before … along with," he paused as his head ached him again. "International Rescue?"
Jarod, having seen the name everyone was reading, passed Andrew a phone having already dialed the number. "It's about nine AM in New York."
Andrew took the phone and listened as the line connected. "Good morning, Stark Tower, how can I help you?" a lady said.
"Good morning, I'm hoping you can help me, is Mr Stark available?" Andrew asked.
"I'm sorry, but Mr Stark is a very busy man," the lady said.
"I understand, could you perhaps pass on a message for me?"
"Certainly," there was the sound of a clicking keyboard on the line. "Go ahead, Sir."
"The Jedi Temple, in London, could really use his help on something vital, and two lives hang in the balance." Andrew said.
There was the sound of a cheerful tune on the line and Andrew realised he had been put on hold, so he put the handset on speaker.
"Hi, you've reached Tony Stark." a man said on the other end. "How can I help the Jedi Order today?"
A/N I had originally planned this to be a massive cliffhanger, but since I'm uploading the whole story in one go and chapters nine and ten were shorter than all the other chapters, I've decided to just splice them together. Read on dear viewer, read on. ^_^
Chapter 10 – Operation Temporal Rescue.
Andrew almost dropped the phone. "Hello? Anyone there?"
"YEAH! Sorry, um, Mr Stark, this might be a little hard to explain on the phone." Andrew stammered, shocked.
"Hey, no problem, the message said lives are at stake, Pepper, honey? … Cancel all my appointments for today … alright, can you handle it instead? … Great, Happy, call ahead and get the jet prepped! We're on our way, see you in the morning … hang on, who am I talking to?" Stark asked.
"Oh, um, Jedi Padawan, Andrew Payne, Sir." Andrew answered.
"… Do you have the bill payers permission to make this call?" Stark asked, Jarod heard that and laughed.
"Jedi Master, Jarod Cooper here, Mr Stark. Yes, I gave my Padawan permission to call you." he said. "In fact I was the one who dialled."
"Right, well, I'd better hang up or we'll never get there, talk to you soon!" with that the line went dead.
"I … just … talked to a genius!" Andrew exclaimed, geeking out a little.
"While he's here, Master McKnight may want to have a word with him, we've been trying to invest in Arc Reactors for our various branches." Quint Lee mused as he pulled out his Holo-com.
"Well, there's not much we can do until he gets here, you've clearly got some time until you pass out," Jax pointed out. "So we might as well get you caught up, get all the headaches out of the way now."
"Good idea, we've got until morning." Andrew agreed.
"I'll go ask Master Axfow for some painkillers for you," Mel said, running off.
"Something I don't get … why can't I remember anything from before I was five any more?" Andrew asked.
"Because that would be when you woke up in hospital, you'd been shot while in Chicago and had to have two pints of blood pumped into you," Jarod explained. "When you woke up, you didn't remember a thing. It took months to help you remember everything, learning you were a Jedi scared you half to death."
By the end of the day, Andrew had one hell of a migraine and was now up to date on what had changed. "All this from stepping on a plant," Andrew thought out loud while shaking his head.
The next morning, Tony Stark and his personal bodyguard Happy Hogan arrived in a flashy Lamborghini Gallardo. Jarod was at the main entrance to greet them.
"Good morning, Mr Stark, I take it you must be the famous Mr Hogan." he said, shaking their hands.
"Wow, you've heard of me?" Happy asked.
"I saw you on the news once, tackling some drunkard, it was before Mr Stark became the Iron Man," Jarod explained.
"Right, cool. I believe we're needed somewhere?" Stark asked, wanting to get down to business. "If Pepper finds out I'm here on some pleasure cruise, I'm a dead man."
Jarod laughed. "You've no need to tell me about women being strict, I'm recently engaged myself. This way gentlemen."
"Engaged, seriously?" Stark asked as they walked up the stairs. "I thought you guys were celibate or something."
"It never ceases to amaze me how often we're mistaken for Catholic priests," Jarod laughed.
He led them towards his Padawan's room, as they got within five feet of it, there was a thunderous explosion and Andrew came sailing through his door, sending splinters of wood everywhere.
"Jeez, Andrew, what the hell are you working on now?" Jarod demanded, making sure his pupil wasn't too badly injured.
"I thought I'd kill some time while waiting on our guest," Andrew groaned, coughing as bits of dust settled everywhere. "I guess the TARDIS cube needs a little more work."
"You guess?" Jarod said, giving his Padawan a look.
"What's a TARDIS cube?" Stark asked.
Andrew noticed that Stark and Hogan were there and allowed his Master to help him up. "It's supposed to be a device to make areas larger on the inside than the outside. For example, you could use it to turn a two-man tent into a six-man instead."
"Nice idea, what else are you working on?" Stark asked, taking off his sunshades.
"I've built a car that can transform into a motorcycle, fighter jet and even a submarine, but I can't get the software to work. Right now I've got something more important to get done, which is why I need your help." Andrew explained.
"Right, maybe I can help with your car once we're done with the important stuff." Stark said. "Tell me what you got."
Andrew led the way into what was left of his bedroom/laboratory, he showed Stark the cloning pills and his time device and explained what he was trying to do.
"… But when I tried it myself, I ended up in the Mesozoic Era." he finished.
"So you've basically got a Math problem," Stark simplified. "Gotta say, the idea of cloning people who are about to be murdered is, just, fantastic. Sometime I should introduce you to my Protégé, Peter, you two would get on like … 'a house on fire'? Is that the right phrase?"
"Is he an inventor too?" Jarod asked.
"… Sort of," Stark said vaguely. "Anyway, getting off point, when exactly do you need to get to?"
"The thirty-first of October nineteen eighty one, location, the village of Godric's Hollow. I'll use the Force to guide me from there." Andrew said, taking a seat on his bed.
"Any idea what time of day?" Tony asked, starting to write on Andrew's notepad.
Sirius, who had just poked his head through the smoking door frame, chose to answer that question. "Somewhere around three in the afternoon, better to be early and have to wait around, right?"
"Definitely," Andrew said.
"So what exactly are you hoping to pull off without us Nomags noticing?" Stark asked, causing everyone to stare at him. "What? You don't expect a guy with my level of tech and brains to not know, do you?"
Jarod was the first to break through his surprise. "Do you ever run out of surprises, Mr Stark?" he asked.
"Rarely," Stark answered. "Okay, a little work on your time device and we should be ready to go!"
"Programmed and ready?" Andrew asked as Tony turned the dial to the right date.
"Yep. Now, just to give you a head's up, chances are that time will continue to flow here while you're gone, so don't be amazed if you get back later than you left." Stark said, handing the device to Andrew.
"Let's go somewhere a little more spacious, Andrew, in case you or your companions need medical attention when you return." Jarod said.
Andrew nodded, grabbed his travel robes, and they all left his room, heading to the mess hall.
"The return function is set to bring you back to the point you left, so when you come back, you'll be on this very spot." Stark explained.
"Right, well, wish me luck … again." Andrew said, getting ready to press the button. Dumbledore, Mel, Drexia, Quint, Sirius, Jax, Jarod, Tony and Happy all did so and watched as he vanished.
"Now, we wait." Quint said, taking a seat.
October 31st, 1981 – Godric's Hollow
Andrew materialised in an alley, thankfully nobody saw him arrive, he pulled up the hood of his robes to conceal his face. He checked the Chronometer on his time device, it said 14:59.57.
"Good, a little early." Andrew said to himself, he stepped out of the alley and watched a younger Peter Pettigrew dart past him, heading out of town. He seemed nervous and in quite a hurry.
Andrew frowned after him, tempted to just kill him there, but instead he turned and headed in the direction that Pettigrew had come from, history had to stay unchanged. Opening his Senses to the Force and seeking out the familiar presences of Remus and Sirius, he set off to the East. After about three quarters of an hour, he found where they were, but it was an empty plot of land. "Probably because I've not been told by the Secret-Keeper." he muttered to himself.
Knowing that Harry and his parents were alone when Voldemort attacked, Andrew guessed he was early, as Padfoot and Moony were still there. With that in mind, Andrew moved away, climbed a tree and allowed the bark to blend with the brown of his robes, camouflaging himself in the branches. From there, he watched, and waited.
In the next hour, nothing much happened, then Sirius and Remus both left, having appeared from nowhere, checked up and down the street and disapparated, leaving Andrew to start to pay closer attention. After another hour and fifteen minutes, bang on six o'clock, a figure, shrouded in a black, hooded robe, appeared across the street. Voldemort raised his wand and blasted the garden gate to pieces, at which point Andrew was able to see the cottage.
He slipped from his branch, landing silently with the tree trunk between himself and the Dark Lord, and made his way to the garden wall, where he heard Harry's father's voice. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off..." Voldemort blasted the door open as Andrew watched Lily running up the stairs.
Standing straight, Andrew held his hand out, feeling Voldemort's presence, he gripped the man with the Force and pulled him, hard, through a wall, through the garden wall, and dragged him through a few feet of cobblestone road.
Andrew then vaulted the wall and pelted up the garden, he smashed his way through the living room window as he dived. Rolling to his feet, he dropped his hood and started talking quickly.
"Mr Potter, this is going to be very confusing, but I'm here to rescue you, I'm one of Harry's classmates from the future and I need you to swallow this, now!" he said rapidly while holding out one of the cloning pills.
"Who … what..." James started to say.
"Look, there's no time, Voldemort's getting up already, man he is one tough bastard!" Andrew didn't have time to argue and shoved the pill down James' throat, then he gripped the man's shoulder as the pill took effect.
James stared, in confusion, at his doppelgänger. "You, hold him off for as long as you can!" Andrew ordered the clone, whipping James' wand from his hand and pressing it onto the clone. "And you get to your room and hide, I'll send your wife there soon!" Andrew turned and shot a Force Push at the door, shattering it and sending the debris all over Voldemort.
He pushed James up the stairs, shouting "GO! MOVE!" and James then got the idea and started to run. Andrew followed him and then went to the nursery, knocking gently. "Mrs Potter, please open the door, I'm a friend and I'm here to save you." he said softly. There wasn't an answer, except in the form of sobbing, so Andrew used the Force to unlock the door, opening it a crack and putting both his hands through.
"See? I'm not here to hurt you," he called, inching his way through. "I know this is going to sound strange, but my name is Andrew, I'm one of Harry's classmates. I've come from almost thirteen years in the future to rescue you."
Lily looked at him like he was insane, then she recoiled when she saw him reaching into his pocket. "I need you to swallow this for me, then join your husband in your bedroom." the boy said calmly. The look on his face was so sincere that she couldn't help but trust him, she took the pill and placed it in her mouth, swallowing it quickly.
Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder, mainly so he could tell them apart, and watched as her clone materialised beside them. He passed baby Harry and Lily's wand to her clone and said, "Guard him with your life!"
Downstairs, Andrew sensed James' clone die. He darted to the door, pulling his lightsaber from his belt. "This is where the fun begins," he muttered to himself, pulling his hood back up. "I'll distract him, you make for your room and do not come out until I say so."
Lily nodded and Andrew threw the door open, he saw a cabinet further up the hallway, he gripped it and pulled hard, causing it to crash its way down the hall and down the stairs. Andrew then stepped out into the hall and ignited his lightsaber, with his right hand he started filling the corridor with Force Lightning. "GO, NOW!" he shouted over his shoulder, Lily nodded and ran for her bedroom, where James held her tightly.
Andrew backed up and shut the nursery door, Lily's clone locking it from inside, as Voldemort cleared the top of the stairs. "I don't know who you are, and I don't care. For tonight, you die alongside the Potters!" The Dark Lord then started shooting green curses at the Jedi, who implemented his skill with Shii-Cho and started to reflect and deflect the spells.
"Go ahead and keep shooting, I can keep this up all night!" Andrew shouted mockingly back at Voldemort. "It's child's play!"
The young Jedi ate his words quickly, as Voldemort unexpectedly used a powerful Force Push, sending Andrew back so fast, that he bounced off the carpet and through a window. He screamed in sheer agony, as the tree outside impaled his right arm, just above the elbow joint, with a thick and sharp branch.
He glared up at Voldemort as he stood at the smashed window, blood running up to his shoulder and down his chest. "We underestimated each other, though it would appear, that you paid the greater price, boy." Voldemort said. "Avada Kadava!" The Dark Lord shouted, sending another green curse at the Jedi.
With great difficulty, Andrew painfully brought his blade up to deflect the curse again. Then he used the momentum from the down swing to throw his lightsaber, his blade narrowly missed Voldemort's head and came back to him. Andrew cried out in pain and, under his hood, Voldemort smirked. "On second thought, I'll just leave you to suffer here, let your death be that much slower."
Andrew almost blacked out from the pain, except his condition wouldn't let him. He watched as the house shook, green light everywhere, some parts even caving in. At this point, Andrew knew part of his mission was a success, he could still sense Harry was alive, so history had remained unchanged. But had Harry's parents survived? Would he?
With great difficulty, Andrew moved his left arm behind himself, and cut the branch he'd been impaled on, he fell to the ground in a heap, tears of pain flowing freely down his cheeks. He heaved himself to his feet, sliced the wood protruding from the front of his arm and started limping around to what was left of the front door.
The first thing he noticed, was James' body, perfectly intact. He couldn't think about that right now, instead he picked up James' wand and moved past the corpse, dragging himself up the stairs, he glanced into the nursery, seeing Lily's body, Harry was in his crib, crying for his mother.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I can't help you," Andrew muttered to himself breathing deeply through his nose to keep from screaming, he lifted his right arm and used the Force to summon Lily's wand to his hand. Moving past the door and heading to the master bedroom, he raised the hilt of his lightsaber and used it to knock on the door. "Ey, Sanka, you dead?" he joked, the door opened instantly and James was there with his wand out.
"Holy crap, you okay?" he asked, taking his blood-soaked wand from the boy and passing the other wand to his wife.
"I'll live, but we've gotta get out of here." Andrew told him, hissing in pain as blood dripped from his fingers and onto the carpet.
"Alright, I'll get Harry," Lily said, making her way into the hallway.
"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that," Andrew said softly, using the Force to halt the woman's progress, his vision was blurring.
"Why the hell not!" James shouted, causing Harry to cry louder.
"Because, it would change history and the two of you died tonight, saving your child. Professor Dumbledore can explain better when we get back." Andrew said, struggling to stand.
"Back where?" Lily asked, Andrew clipped his lightsaber to his belt and pulled the time device from his pocket.
"July the eighth nineteen ninety-four," Andrew groaned. "Now grab a hold of me!"
The two adults did as they were asked and Andrew pressed the green button on the device, making the three of them disappear in a flash. When they arrived, it was late, only Jax and Mel were there, Mel dozing on Jax's shoulder.
"HELP!" Andrew bellowed at the top of his lungs, causing Mel to scream in fright. Jarod and Dela came in at the sound of Andrew's voice, the first thing they noticed was that he wasn't alone, then they saw the blood.
"MEDIC!" Jarod shouted, Dumbledore came in with Stark and Sirius, when he saw Andrew's condition he conjured a stretcher and Sirius and James carried Andrew to the medical bay, led by the Jedi.
"Zan, medical emergency!" Jarod shouted as they ran in, Andrew full on screaming in pain now.
"What the blazes happened this time!" the healer demanded, his Padawan set up a bed and Andrew was sat in it, the girl grabbed some scissors and began cutting Andrew's clothing off his upper body.
"That bitch, Mouldyshorts threw me out of a window," Andrew gritted his teeth and explained, letting out another cry of pain. "I landed in a tree."
"Looks more like the tree landed in you!" Sirius quipped.
"Be serious for a moment, please?" Lily scolded.
"I thought I was Sirius," Padfoot said, feigning confusion.
"Listen, I have a patient who is in a lot of pain, if you can't be considerate then get out!" Zan snapped. "Please!" he added.
By now, Aberesa Alchiban, Zan's Padawan, had gotten Andrew's upper body clear of any clothing, showing that his right arm had started to turn a nasty shade of green and black, it still had a chunk of wood lodged inside.
Zan examined the wound and looked apologetically at Andrew. "It's not good, I'm afraid. Between blood loss and the inset of gangrene, I cannot save this arm. We'll have to amputate, before the infection reaches your chest."
Mel gasped and put her hands to her mouth, tears beginning to fill her eyes. Jax moved forward and offered Andrew something to bite hold of, then he took Andrew's left hand and they gripped each other tightly.
Aberesa moved Andrew's right arm, as carefully as she could, until the limb was stretched out to his side. "Are you ready?" Zan asked, taking his lightsaber from his belt. Andrew nodded, screwing his eyes shut and turning away, breathing heavily through his nose and gritted teeth.
Mel buried her face into Jarod's midriff, unable to watch, Jarod did his best to cover her ears. Lily caught on to what was about to happen and pressed her face into her husband's shoulder, sobbing quietly.
"He saved us and now this is his reward?" she moaned.
Zan ignited his amber-bladed lightsaber, lined it up with Andrew's armpit, and swiftly swung upwards. Biting hard on the wood in his mouth, Andrew screamed and cried in agony. "Brace yourself young one, this is going to hurt more!" Zan warned.
Andrew's screams got worse, as the healer had to use the Force to pull at Andrew's nerve endings and fuse them to a metal plate, then the plate was fused to the skin where he shoulder used to be attached to his collar bone. The wood Andrew had been biting snapped as he bit down harder on it.
The whole process took less than a minute, but for Andrew it felt like hours, hours of non-stop agony. "I'll have the tech boys get to work on a new arm for you," Zan told his patient softly.
"Mind if I have a crack at it?" Stark asked, trying to get over the horror he'd just watched. "I've always wanted to play with Etherium."
"Be my guest, Mr Stark," Jarod said calmly, Zan wasn't listening, he was too busy setting up a morphine drip for Andrew, knowing it would still be at least ten days before the boy could sleep, he felt it best to try and ease his pain as much as he could.
Stark left the room and Andrew was eased fully onto the bed. "I suppose you need to know what has transpired over the last thirteen years," Dumbledore said to James and Lily, trying to be casual.
"Yes, tell us everything, Albus." James said while Lily dried her eyes.
They headed to the mess hall, leaving Andrew with Jax and Mel. Dumbledore told James and Lily about the protection Harry was living with, how love had saved him that fateful night, how he'd spent the last twelve years living with Lily's sister, every adventure that Harry and his friends had had while at Hogwarts, and finally, Sirius' story.
"So Andrew's reasons for rescuing you were two-fold." Dumbledore finished. "First, he wanted to give Harry his parents back, I would say that soon he will have succeeded."
"The other is, he wants you two to help him clear my name." Sirius added.
"Then I say our next stop is the Ministry, the four of us go together and explain the whole thing!" James said.
"I quite agree," Dumbledore said with his usual smile. "However I would advise that we get Remus and Severus to join us, they too are witnesses."
"Can we wait for a bit, I want to be sure that that young man will be alright." Lily said.
"I agree, love." James said, holding her tight.
"Well if I know Tony, he'll have a new arm done before morning," Happy said, he'd let Tony go to the tech lab alone, figuring he would be safe surrounded by Jedi.
"Just seems so cruel," Dela said sadly. "He's always been wary of the Trial of Flesh."
"I would say he passed with flying colours," Jarod said, nursing a brandy.
"How's he going to cope with school though?" Sirius asked.
"He's strong, he'll manage," Jarod answered with pride. "Etherium is used in the making of lightsabers and prosthetic arms because it can be used to channel Force powers, the same could be true for magic."
"So when will we head off to the Ministry?" Sirius asked, a little apprehensive.
"I suggest when Andrew goes to sleep," Dumbledore said, feeling sorry for the pain that the young man would be in until then.
"That soon?" Lily asked.
"Sadly, Andrew suffers from Nodormiunus," Dumbledore answered. "He gets random periods where he simply cannot sleep. With any luck he'll get to sleep soon, but I've known him to go up to seven weeks without sleep and right now he's gone five. When he does get to sleep, he will slip into a week-long coma, but until then..."
"He has to suffer," James finished. "Man, that's gotta suck, he can't even sleep off the pain!"
"So we've got until he gets some rest, to get a hold of Snape and Moony," Sirius said plainly.
"Yes, it should be a pleasant surprise, for Andrew to wake up and read the headline 'Sirius Black, Cleared of all Charges – Ministry grants full pardon and offers public apology.'" Jarod laughed.
Just then, Zan walked in, sitting down heavily. "How's our patient old friend?"
"Resting, as much as he can be. I've put him on a blood drip, given how much he lost, but … he's slightly out of it, thanks to the morphine I've administered." Zan said.
"'Off his face', I believe were the words my son used." Drexia said as she too sat down.
"He'll be hurting for a while, I'm just sorry I can't give him anything to help him sleep!"
"You're doing what you can, that's what counts," Lily said, patting the Master's hand gently.
"Thank you. At least his mission was a success, Professor Dumbledore?" Zan asked quickly as he remembered something.
"Yes?" Dumbledore answered.
"Andrew's asked if, after he's destroyed the time device, you can erase all knowledge of its construction from his memory. He seemed to think that by not remembering how it was built, he might get into less trouble from the Ministry." Zan said.
"Gladly," Dumbledore said. "He's done a good thing tonight, it would be a pity to see him punished further."
Stark came in and sat down heavily too. "Well, I've designed the arm, and I've got J.A.R.V.I.S. printing a render, who knew that the stuff takes as long to manipulate as Adamantium?"
"Well they are just as tough as each other, Etherium is simply lighter," Quint answered, sitting next to his wife.
"True, well I uploaded J.A.R.V.I.S. to your system and he said it would be done in a few hours, in the meantime, I'm gonna get some sleep. Soon as the kid's up for it, I'll help him make an AI for his car." Tony said, getting up and heading for bed.
As he walked out, Aurora came in and convinced Jarod to head to bed too and the rest of the adults decided that sleep seemed like a good idea.
"I'll stay up tonight, make sure my patient doesn't take any morphine without supervision," Zan said as he got up and returned to the medical bay.
To be continued, in Part 4 – The Goblet of Fire.