Back to the Past

~A very boring day, a strange little room, and a chance in a million that worked~

There are many secrets in Hogwarts, or so they say.  There are also many rooms.  Infinite quarters in which things are kept.  Albus Dumbledore himself admitted that even HE did not know all of the secrets that Hogwarts holds.

Back to the rooms.  Some are there by accident.  Others were put there for a reason.  Some bring good. Others hold evil.  Some can be entered anytime.  Others can be stepped into only when certain qualifications are met.  The others.  They are the ones most feared-and most unexpected.  They-

But, wait.  It is easier to explain about what can happen in a story.  A story of what DID happen once…

~~*~~

It was another boring weekend at Hogwarts.  Yes, even Hogwarts could be boring.  The Marauders would be the first to tell you.

Lily was asleep, her head in her book.  Sirius and Remus were half-heartedly playing a game of Exploding Snap.  Sirius kept yawning and the only reason Remus wasn’t comatose was that the explosions were deafening.  Dara, Lily’s best friend, was half helping Peter do his homework.  Since, however, it was clear that he was a hopeless case, she was amusing herself by feeding him wrong answers.

James surveyed the common room in complete frustration.  Angrily, he kicked the nearest table and was rewarded by a nearly broken toe.

Lily opened her eyes to see her boyfriend hopping about the room on one foot, cursing.  Dara watched James, half hoping that he would fall over and break his leg or something.  Not that she was malicious or anything.  It WOULD be something new and different, after all.

No such luck.  James plopped onto the couch next to Lily and pulled a face.  Even though he was at his last year of Hogwarts and was seventeen years old, he still was having a bad case of the sulks.

“I’m bored,” he whined, ”There’s nothing to do!”

“Aren’t we being melodramatic today,” Lily commented sleepily.

“He’s right, though,” Dara sighed, coming to sit next to Lily, ”There is NOTHING to do.”

“Well,” Lily said, thinking, ”Searching the Forbidden Forest-“

Sirius interrupted, ”Been there, done that, still have the scars.”

“Okay, well- how about playing pranks on the Slytherins.  That’s an old favorite!”

“Nope,” Remus said sadly, ”The extra violent cheering charms haven’t worn off them yet.  They’d just grin like idiots if we dropped a dung bomb down their pants.”

“We didn’t hit Snape,” Peter reminded them.

“He’s probably hiding behind all his happy little friends, scared to death of us finding him,” Dara said. 

“We HAVE to go do something!” James cried, ”Anything!  Before I go crazy-“

“But I thought you were already-“

“Shut up, Sirius!”

James got to his feet and headed for the portrait hole.

“Where are you going?” Lily called.

“To explore the castle,” he replied.

They hurried after him.

“Yoohoo, James!  We HAVE explored the whole castle.  Remember the Marauders’ Map?” Sirius reminded him.

“Well, “ James said slowly, stopping. ”Dumbledore is always saying that there are hidden rooms and also rooms that only appear sometimes.  Maybe we’ll find one.”

Remus scoffed, ”C’mon, James!  That chance of that happening is very slim.”

“One in a million,” Sirius added.

“It could be dangerous,” Peter added his eyes shifting in the general direction of the safe common room.

They all looked at each other.  As one body, they began to walk again.

“Alright.”

“It’s worth a try, after all.”

“Beats that essay I still haven’t done.”

“This is not a good idea,” Peter told them, but he didn’t leave.

Why can’t I keep my mouth shut? He thought sadly, I should know better!  They thrive on risk.

“C’mon guys!” James said, walking backwards, nearly missing the large statue of an extremely ugly troll, ”What could possibly happen?”

Then he disappeared.

Lily blinked slowly and stuck her arm into the wall James had backed into.  It went through.  With a cry of surprise, she found herself pulled through.

Dara pursed her lips, ”Wonderful!  Trust James to find something strange potentially dangerous like this.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow, ”I thought you liked dangerous things.”

“When I discover them,” she replied haughtily and disappeared along with Lily and James.  The three left behind exchanged looks and followed.

What lay behind the wall was certainly a room that they had never explored before.  Amazingly, it seemed to be perfectly safe.  This disappointed Sirius.

“I would have at least expected some excitement or something!  A room, hidden mysteriously!  I wonder if anyone had ever been here before?”

The others were inspecting the small room.  It was adorned in plush, comfortable chairs and a fireplace warmed it.  No one seemed to find it strange that they fire kept burning with no one to tend to it.

Lily and Dara were inspecting the objects, mostly pictures, on the fireplace mantle and giggling.

Peter was getting nervous as usual.  He had a strange feeling that this could not be good.  He got his shaking legs to move to the wall and he stuck his hand at it sharply to get out again.

“OUCH!”

“What IS the matter?” Sirius asked, looking up from an object that he was examining.

Peter held his finger, which wasn’t broken but felt like it, and stuttered.

“The w-wall-“

“Yes,” Dara said rudely, ”that IS a wall-“

“What do you suppose this is?” Sirius said, almost to himself.  The object was stuck to a table.  It was definitely an hourglass.

Peter was still attempting to tell them about the wall.

“It- it- my finger!  Can’t get- can’t out!”

“Did you get any of that?” Lily asked Dara.

“Nope.”

James noticed Sirius, who had gotten the object free.

“What are you doing, Padfoot?”

“It looks like a Time Turner, Prongs, but it had no chain to put around anyone.”

“We can’t get out!!!” Peter finally yelled frantically.

Several things happened at once.  Lily stepped towards the wall and tripped over a book.  Another person entered the room, unseen.  Sirius, curious creature that he is, turned over the Time Turner and placed it back on the table.  He frowned at it while everyone held their breath.

“Nothing?” he asked in outrage. ”What a cheap-“

The room moved, or rather, it seemed to.  James had just enough time to use a choice swear before the room filled with light and they were no longer at Hogwarts.