The Potter Timeline
Chapter 53 - The Trouble With Time Travel
"The candle's almost out," Harry said.
He walked back to Hermione who stood outside the doorway of the Spellroom, the Time-Turner around her neck. Once Harry arrived at her side, they both watched as the flame on the single candlestick, which they lit almost an hour earlier and placed on top of the teacher's desk, shrank and then disappeared, leaving a small plume of smoke.
"Right. Now, we can...hide around the corner, over there," Hermione said while pointing to the end of the corridor where it veered left.
Harry's brow furrowed.
"Why do we need to hide around the corner?" he asked.
Hermione frowned at him as though it was obvious.
"Because, we don't want to be seen by our past selves, Harry. Remember what McGonagall said."
"Yeah, but we knew we were going to do this. It's not like we didn't know about the Time-Turner an hour ago."
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but seemed stymied.
"Well...we don't want to...we can...pretend our past selves are other students, then," she said with uncertainty as both of them were stepping into unknown time travel territory.
"Besides," she said while closing the door to the Spellroom, grabbing Harry's shoulders, turning him and guiding him toward the corner, "I'm not ready to meet myself just yet."
Harry chuckled.
"I've met myself," he commented, partly tongue-in-cheek.
"But that was different. And you didn't have a choice in the matter," she argued, "let's just keep it simple for now, okay?"
Harry smirked at her.
"Okay," he replied.
Once around the corner, out of sight of the door to the Spellroom, they stopped and faced one another. Hermione then took part of the necklace strand and placed it around Harry's neck. He moved a little closer to her and gazed down at the hourglass pendant in her hands.
"Now, which way do I actually turn it?" she wondered.
As she pushed a swath of hair behind her ear and bit her lip, contemplating whether to invert the hourglass clockwise or anticlockwise, Harry couldn't help but stare at that lovely expression of hers when she was deep in thought. His heart warmed at the sight, especially as the slight scent of the perfume she wore hit him again. But he snapped out of it.
"Perhaps it doesn't matter," he said, "if it contains an Hour Reversal Charm, we can't go forward in time anyway."
Hermione nodded.
"Okay, I guess I'll just turn it away from us, then" she said and held up the circular band around the hourglass with two fingers. She then placed her other two fingers around the top and bottom of the hourglass.
"Ready?" she asked with apprehension while staring at the pendant.
"Hang on," Harry said.
Hermione looked at him in puzzlement. Harry stared into those pretty brown eyes of hers and then leaned down, giving her a brief kiss on the lips. When he leaned back, Hermione's cheeks were flush.
"For luck," Harry told her, still gazing into those eyes.
Hermione smiled.
"For luck," she repeated.
Harry then nodded.
"Okay. Ready," he said.
They both gazed intently at the pendant and with a single flick, Hermione inverted the hourglass.
Harry felt as though someone had violently shoved him backwards and he was flying through the air. And yet, he remained perfectly in one spot with Hermione next to him. Both of them teetered on their feet at the bizarre sensation, however, and Harry felt his ears pounding. Gazing around, translucent swirls appeared along the walls and floor of the corridor, like wind blowing past without a sound. In the next fleeting moment, a pair of themselves separated from the Harry and Hermione standing within the Time-Turner's strand. The teens watched in astonishment as that pair walked swiftly backwards and disappeared around the corner from whence they just came. The candelabra above rocked slightly but very quickly. A small grey mouse then appeared from around the corner, skittering backwards at high speed along the edge of the corridor wall, then disappearing on the other end. The teens gawked at one another wide-eyed.
But before they knew it, everything stopped and both had to catch their balance as though they'd suddenly landed on the floor.
After regathering their wits, Hermione removed the strand from Harry's neck.
"That was weird," Harry said while gazing around.
"It was," Hermione responded with a sour expression.
Harry looked at her.
"So, how do we know..."
"SHH!" she interrupted him, quickly placing her hand over his mouth.
She then removed it and both stood deathly still as a noise came from around the corner, from the opposite side of the Spellroom. It was footsteps.
"So, the plan is to light the candle in the Spellroom, use the Time-Turner, and then go back to retrieve the partly-lit candle?" a voice spoke.
It was Harry from an hour earlier, and time traveling Harry and Hermione gawked at one another.
"Yes," the voice of earlier Hermione answered from around the corner, "it's not the most spectacular feat, I know. But I think we should start small."
"Sounds good," earlier Harry replied.
Time travel Harry and Hermione now heard the door to the Spellroom open and their earlier selves walked inside. They could barely hear the conversation inside the room, muffled through the stone walls. After a couple of minutes, earlier Harry and Hermione exited the classroom. The door closed and time travel Harry and Hermione heard the footsteps of their earlier selves walking away.
"So, what should we do for the next hour?" earlier Harry asked earlier Hermione.
At this, time travel Harry and Hermione peeked around the corner and saw themselves walking away. The sight was bizarre, as though they were watching a scene from a muggle film.
"We could...take a walk around the school grounds," earlier Hermione suggested.
Earlier Harry leaned toward her.
"Or fly over them," he said with a grin.
She gave him a scrunched up expression.
"I think I'd rather walk, actually."
He chuckled.
"Okay."
Their earlier selves then disappeared down the stairwell to the third floor. Time travel Hermione and Harry stepped out from behind the corner.
"You were right," Harry told her, "seeing myself like that was kinda odd. Not at all like meeting my older self."
Hermione nodded and her face scrunched up in thought again.
"I think I now know why we can't let our earlier selves see us, Harry."
"Why is that?"
"Think about it. If we interfere with them, they most likely won't use the Time-Turner at the exact same moment and place we did."
Harry thought about this.
"Which means it could change what happens to us after."
"Exactly. We'd create a time paradox which is precisely what Professor McGonagall warned us about. There's no telling what could happen to us physically."
Harry grimaced and nodded.
"Like...killing ourselves or simply disappearing altogether. This could get woolly, real fast," he commented.
"Definitely. Which means my suggestion to take a walk around the grounds was good. Because of that, our earlier selves will be outside for most of the next hour so we won't run into them here."
Harry thought further about this as they headed toward the door of the Spellroom.
"Okay. So, for at least the next hour, there are two pairs of ourselves in existence and we have to wait for...them to return, check the Spellroom, then hide around the corner and use the Time-Turner in order for there to be only...us again."
Hermione threw him a sour look.
"Um...yeah...something like that," she said.
Harry opened the door to the Spellroom and they gazed inside. The candle was back to its freshly lit state.
"Well, mission accomplished," Harry said, "there it is."
Hermione nodded, but then frowned.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"I wish there was a way for us to confirm our other selves will in fact use the Time-Turner at the exact same moment, without us being seen, of course."
"But we know they will, because...we just did."
"I know, Harry. It just feels...unnerving to simply walk away and assume they'll...become us again. I'd like to see it firsthand, at least once, just to make sure."
Harry thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
"What?" she asked with a puzzled look.
He grinned at her.
"Invisibility cloak."
Hermione's own eyes lit up.
"Of course! That's a great idea! In fact, I wonder if we can use it and the Time-Turner at the same time?"
"We can find out," Harry said, "it would certainly help with our class schedule plan."
"Right! Hiding won't be so difficult!"
"Exactly," Harry said while closing the door to the Spellroom, "come on."
They left the fourth-floor corridor and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry retrieved his cloak from his dorm room and the pair decided to linger around the common room until it was time to return to the Spellroom. Hermione plopped down on one end of the sofa while Harry sat on the other. While waiting, they glanced through and discussed the contents of their new Arithmancy textbooks - the strange world of numbers and their mystical meanings. Crookshanks bounded down from Hermione's dorm and after scouring the common room floor for anything of interest, hopped up onto the sofa and walked back and forth between the teens, eliciting a pet from each while purring happily.
When the hour was nearly finished, they headed back to the fourth floor and the Spellroom. No sooner had they reached the fourth floor landing than they heard voices, their voices, from around the corner.
"Besides, I'm not ready to meet myself just yet," earlier Hermione told earlier Harry.
Later Harry and Hermione smirked at each other. Harry then placed the invisibility cloak over them. They quietly stepped into the corridor and, glancing toward the Spellroom door, caught sight of their earlier selves walking around the corner where they used the Time-Turner an hour earlier. The teens briskly moved after them and under complete cover, they stopped to see earlier Hermione holding the hourglass pendant with her fingers, the necklace around both their necks.
"Ready?" earlier Hermione asked.
"Hang on..."
Harry and Hermione watched as their earlier selves kissed. Hermione squeezed Harry's hand under the invisibility cloak. He looked at her to find a grin and those soft eyes staring back at him. She had appreciated his gesture. He smiled back.
"...Ready," earlier Harry now answered.
Earlier Hermione inverted the hourglass and the two suddenly vanished from the corridor.
Harry removed the invisibility cloak and the pair stood gazing at the spot their earlier selves had occupied.
"I don't know that I like this time travel stuff so much," Harry commented with a frown.
"Yeah, it's...odd, to say the least," Hermione responded, "but hopefully we'll get used to it after a while."
Harry nodded.
"Okay. Ready to test the invisibility cloak?" he asked her.
Hermione thought for a moment.
"I think we should wait another hour first," she said.
"Why?"
"If for some reason the cloak doesn't return with us to the past, it will...wind up with our...new earlier selves back in the common room," she spoke with that sour look again, clearly trying to get her head around this time travel business.
Harry pursed his lips.
"And you think if we go retrieve it, it will interfere with our new earlier selves who brought the cloak here in the first place and used it just before our...previous earlier selves disappeared."
Hermione looked mystified.
"...Um...yeah," she answered with a scrunched expression.
Harry nodded.
"This is getting complicated," he remarked.
"To say the least," she replied.
They exchanged serious looks before both of them suddenly burst out laughing at the bizarreness of the whole thing. After a few moments, they regained their senses. Harry looked at her.
"So, why would you think the cloak might not return to the past with us? We'll be wearing it," he said.
"Yes, but outside of the necklace. Since it's not like wearing clothes, which we know went back with us in time, what if it disappears like the rest of the environment around us?"
Harry thought for a moment.
"Well, what if I hold onto the cloak from the inside while you turn the hourglass?" he asked, "after all, we'll have to hold our book satchels for class won't we?"
Hermione nodded.
"You're right. Okay. Let's try that, but in a different part of the castle where none of our previous selves have been this afternoon."
"Alright," Harry said with a chuckle.
The pair headed up to the sixth floor and after passing several empty classrooms, finally entered one on the left. Hermione once more placed the Time-Turner strand around Harry's neck. Harry then threw the invisibility cloak over them both, grasping part of the cloth with his left hand. Hermione inverted the hourglass. To their delight, the trick worked. They went back one hour in time and the cloak remained intact over them both.
"This is fantastic, Harry! Hiding from others or ourselves won't be so much trouble now with your cloak."
"Yeah, as long as no one accidentally bumps into us," he remarked.
They left the sixth floor, heading downstairs with the invisibility cloak on just in case. While passing the fourth floor, they heard their much earlier selves again near the Spellroom.
"Why do we need to hide around the corner?" earlier Harry asked earlier Hermione. The current Harry and Hermione exchanged amused looks.
As they proceeded toward Gryffindor Tower, they ran across their newer earlier selves heading back toward the fourth floor to view their even earlier selves, invisibility cloak in hand. This was getting stranger and stranger. Once they arrived in the common room, Harry threw off the cloak and they both sat on the sofa.
"I think I'm done traveling through time today, Hermione. Seeing our past selves any more is going to drive me mad. Let's work on our class schedule plan another day," Harry uttered with a frown while sitting back.
Hermione chuckled. She drew close to his side, took his hand in hers, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Agreed," she said with a sigh.
~HP~
The rest of the holidays flew by in a blur.
Outside of going over their first-term class subjects in advance, as well as finishing the homework assignment Professor Binns gave them for the holidays, the teens took time to explore more of the castle and grounds. Harry showed her two secret passageways he had discovered inside the castle, though he hadn't yet followed them to see where they led. The teens also went with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest a few times so Hermione could see some of the fascinating and scary creatures Harry had on previous hikes.
They finally devised and perfected their routes to each class for term using the Time-Turner, settling on which spots in the castle or on the grounds they could hide or where they could simply use Harry's cloak. By the time they finished, they were both confident they could attend all nine classes without a hitch. The question now was how they would handle the increased workload. But that they decided to figure out as they went along.
As their time alone together dwindled down, they enjoyed the remaining days but also looked forward to their friends, Dean, Seamus, and Neville arriving for term, along with the rest of their House and schoolmates. It had been an absolute blast of a summer for Harry Potter. He had learned and grown so much, and spending the last month with his best friend and girlfriend had been icing on the cake.
But the day before students and remaining staff were to appear for the start-of-term banquet, Harry and Hermione came across a disturbing sight. During their trek around the Black Lake that late afternoon, dark gloomy clouds appeared on the horizon to the south. The two teens were startled when at least a dozen shadowy forms appeared from within those eerie-looking clouds, floating in the direction of the school. The sight sent a chill down their spines.
The Dementors were coming.