The Silver Millennium

-|- Chapter Two -|-

Charades and A New Captain

Harry blinked.

"Erm," he stuttered, "who are...erm...wait...what the hell is going on?"

The woman gave him a confused stare as if she was surprised by his words. "Harry Potter," she exclaimed as if he hadn't said anything, "your alive!"

Harry didn't know what to say; was this woman crazy or was he the one dreaming? Harry exhaled a calm breath, telling himself to try to not act surprised that a woman had appeared out of thin air in his dormitory, and was acting stunned to see him walking and breathing.

"Erm...of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked her slowly.

At that moment the dormitory door opened, and Seamus and Dean stepped in. They were talking casually about Dean's favorite Soccer team and had decided to come up to the dormitory to drop off their books. They both looked astonished to see the strange woman in their dormitory at first, until Seamus spotted Harry.

"Oh...oops. Sorry, Harry, we didn't mean to disturb you and your um...company," Seamus said tossing his books down onto the corner of his room fairly uncaringly. He looked over at Dean, and said, "we better leave and stop interrupting."

"Yeah," Dean replied slowly, though he was grinning for a moment, "I've never seen anyone whose had the guts to sneak another House member into their dormitory. Brave, Harry ol' boy, brave." He gave Harry a thumb up before he followed Seamus out the room.

"Wo, wait, hang on you two!" Harry shouted after them, but the door had already slammed shut. He ran towards the door to follow them down the staircase, and make them understand what was going on, until he remembered the lady was still there watching him. He stopped in his tracks, and turned around. "Okay, I'm going to be very straightforward right now. Who are you? And how do you know me?" he asked her.

"Me? I wouldn't expect you to know me. I'm Kira Devree," she answered, "and everyone knows you despite what ended up happening. Look I'm very confused right now. Last place I was some lady was attacking me near this swamp property where my idiotic husband bought a cabin for us. He was trying to be romantic, but we ended up having a fight, and he stormed off, and I was left alone when some bizarre woman appeared out of no where, and attacked me. The Last thing I remember is picking up this Time Turner, and then the next thing I know, I'm here. "

"Right," Harry muttered, dragging out the syllables in the word. He scratched at the back of his head in thought. "So, your how old again?" he asked, "and you've traveled here for some reason from a swamp?"

"Yes, well it wasn't my idea to go to the swamp," Kira explained defensively, "that was the doing of my very slow, and sensitive to any sort of criticism husband." She let out a small growl of anger towards the very thought of her husband; she was content with the idea of never speaking to him again. "Oh, and I'm twenty," she added, remembering Harry's first question.

"And where do you live? Are you from another country? I'm assuming you're a witch, right?" Harry questioned curiously.

"Of course I'm a witch!" she said, offended, "and I'm from England. I live in the Silver Millennium Kingdom. This is the legendary Hogwarts, right? I've always read all about it. Oh my Merlin! Is that the view? What a spectacular view! It's almost as amazing as the view from the Silver Castle!"

Now Harry was confused again. He watched as Kira Devree walked over to the window, and peered out of it with her jaw opened acutely. Once more he scratched at the back of his head, thinking on how to ask her the questions that were running through his head.

"If your from England, how could you have only read about Hogwarts? And what is the Silver Millennium Kingdom? And the Silver Castle, what's that? Didn't you attend Hogwarts?" Harry inquired.

"I've never attended Hogwarts. It's destroyed," she replied with a roll of the eyes as if this were basic knowledge, "and the Silver Millennium Kingdom is where almost every magical folk lives. The Silver Castle is the place where the..."

"Destroyed?" Harry interrupted, "how could Hogwarts have been destroyed? Wo, wait a moment. Hang on, hang on...I think I've just finally understood what's going on. You...your from the future, aren't you?"

"I suppose so if 2020 is the future," Kira answered simply.

"Yes, yes it is the future. It's only 1996," Harry said, "if your from the future, and were born in the year 2000, then you would know what happened to Lord Voldemort, right?" Harry was going to ask the question even though he feared the answer more and more by each second.

"Great Merlin! The legend is really true! The great Harry Potter wasn't afraid of speaking the Lord's name. Or shall I say 'isn't' since I'm now in the present of your time? And yes, Harry Potter, everyone knows what's happened," she said.

"Well, erm...um, what did happen?" he stuttered nervously ignoring her comment about him being brave enough to say Voldemort's name.

"He's the Lord," she said, "the Lord of the Silver Millennium Kingdom. Him and his Legions of Death Eaters, and Dark Imperial Forces."

It was probably the worst answer Harry could have been given. If Voldemort was ruler of the English Magical Kingdom then that surely meant that he hadn't survived much past adulthood if he made it that far. Harry's skin had turned a pale shade like Draco Malfoy's.

"A-and what happened...what hap-happened to me?" he asked fearfully.

Kira's face looked somber. She didn't answer his question for a few suspenseful moments, only stared past him at the now completely dark sky. "No one knows," she said finally, "there have been myths about what happened to you, but to be honest, none have been proven for complete certainty."

That wasn't so bad. Harry took that as an exit for his grief and fear; maybe he wasn't dead after all, even though by the sounds of it, it sounded like Voldemort had come off the better from the final battle they were supposed to have.

"What was the last anyone ever heard of me?" Harry asked her, forgetting about his homework and his thoughts of before; this was way more important. "If no one knows what happened to me, that must mean I disappeared, right?"

"The last anyone heard from you was believed to be on January 1^st of the year 2000...it's quite comical to me, because I was born on that very same night," Kira told him, "you were battling the Lord until you disappeared. Some say he murdered you so terribly that you exploded into some ashes and smoke, while others think that's stupid and believe your just plainly dead, though a body has never been discovered; others say you fled the scene out of cowardice, and changed your identity. Some even think that the Lord is holding you prisoner in the Silver Castle. I personally happen to think your dead, but you decided to remain on the earth as a spirit or ghost of some sort."

Harry was about to respond to what she was saying, but he realized footsteps could be heard coming up the spiral staircase. He gulped, and looked over at Kira. "Erm...you should hide," he said to her strangely, "Dean and Seamus might have told someone..."

Kira looked as if she was about to argue this, until she nodded in consent. She ran over to the bathroom door, and disappeared inside it; Harry prayed no one was going to come in to use the restroom.

The dormitory door opened, and Ron and Hermione came in; Hermione looked suspicious while Ron looked eager to find out the supposed exciting tale of Harry sneaking a girl from another House into his dormitory.

"There's no one here," Ron said disappointedly, "they lied. Blasted prats."

"Harry, what have you been doing up here?" Hermione asked pryingly, "Dean and Seamus said you had a girl from another House in here? Is that true?" As she asked this Ron ducked down onto the floor to check under the beds.

"No!" Harry exclaimed indignantly, "They obviously lied." He didn't know why he had instantly decided to keep Kira Devree, the lady from the future, from them; he didn't feel he could trust them with the information.

Hermione gave him a beady-eyed glare as her right eyebrow rose just slightly. "Then who was in your dormitory?" Hermione wondered, "I could have sworn there was another voice."

Harry looked from Ron's hopeful face to Hermione's suspicious face, and sighed; he was going to lie to them; he didn't want to tell them what had happened, though he didn't know why he was keeping this when he knew he shouldn't have any reason to not trust his friends.

"I...I was talking to myself," he said finally after a long pause of debate inside his head. "Sorry about that. I'll try to refrain from doing that from now on. I'm tired anyway. I'm going to bed...so, if you two don't mind."

Hermione gave a low grumble as she still glared at him in suspicion; he knew she knew he was lying; she somehow always knew, but he knew she couldn't prove it. After a somewhat brief silence, Hermione nodded, accepting defeat this time.

"Okay," she said, "well, I should go finish my homework. Ron." She beckoned him to follow as she walked toward the door; Ron started to follow; Harry exhaled in relief.

SMASH!

Harry's heart froze just as Hermione's hand froze on the doorknob. Ron turned around to see what had smashed. Everyone's eyes traveled over to the bathroom door where the noise had come from; Harry's stomach dropped all the way down to the first floor where the Great Hall was located; he was caught.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, removing her hand from the doorknob.

"I...I dunno," Harry said fretfully, "maybe it's Peeves playing a joke on us. He's probably seeking attention again. You know how he always does stuff like that."

"No, it can't be Peeves," Hermione said cleverly, "Nearly Headless Nick told me today during my Prefect duties that the Bloody Baron wanted to have a private chat with him to remind him of their agreement or something like that. Apparently Peeves has done something to upset the Baron lately."

"Peeves is probably hiding from him," Harry countered more cunningly than he normally was.

"I'll check," Ron suggested; Hermione nodded fervently in agreement.

Harry watched helplessly as Ron walked over to the bathroom door, and turned the knob. He walked inside leaving the door open so that Harry and Hermione could see from where they were standing in the really dark dormitory.

"What the..." Ron began in shock.

"All right! All right, I'll tell you two the truth!" Harry blurted.

"There's no one here," Ron finished, "but there's a soap dish that's been smashed onto the floor. This really is weird. It probably was Peeves." He closed the bathroom door, and looked at his wristwatch in a clueless manner.

"Tell us what, Harry?" Hermione questioned.

"Uh..." Harry trailed off, struggling for an excuse to hide his deceit. He fidgeted with the end of his shirt for a moment before he thought of something. "It was a joke," Harry said with a forced chuckle, "I made the soap dish fall with a Trickery Jinx. You see, it worked."

Hermione rolled her eyes, looking annoyed with him. She turned away, and headed back for the dormitory door. "Ron," she said her voice full of agitation, "are you coming?"

"Just to get my things. I really should be calling it a night. We have Quidditch practice tomorrow, and we're going to find out who gets captain," Ron explained pausing at the mention of captain to glance at Harry, "and I want to be there bright and early." He walked towards the door, and left the dormitory to go get his things.

Hermione gave Harry another sort of annoyed and upset look; Harry began feeling guilty, and he knew it was visible on his face. "Well, I'm going back down to finish my History of Magic homework. Maybe tomorrow you can plan another trick on us, and talk to yourself for an hour or so to get us to come up looking for you out of concern; who knows, it might work again...that is if that's what really happened."

She slammed the door once she left, leaving Harry feeling culpable. He decided not to feel his guilt just yet, and quickly ran over to the bathroom and opened the door to look for Kira Devree, only to discover she really was gone.

-|-

Harry didn't know whether to panic, or to be relieved about the sudden disappearance of Kira Devree, the lady from the future. The next day as he headed out bright and early to Quidditch practice, he decided to push it out of his mind, and decided to worry about it later on.

Surprisingly, Ron had arrived to the Gryffindor Quidditch locker rooms much quicker than Harry had, and Harry noticed instantly that Ron's behavior was odd. He was very quiet and wouldn't stop smiling tensely. His ears seemed to be permanently pink.

Everyone else looked quite unaffected by the announcement of Quidditch Captain minus Katie Bell; she too seemed a bit nervous. Everyone seemed to think that it was probably Harry or Ron that would get the position.

Harry changed into his scarlet robes much quieter than usual, not saying more than five words, and waited off in a corner by himself for Professor McGonagall to show up. His whole Quidditch career seemed to be flashing before his eyes; he didn't see how he couldn't be chosen.

Finally after a decent amount of wait, Professor McGonagall showed up in the locker room with the Quidditch badge in one hand, and her leather gloves she had taken off in her other. She called for them to gather around to hear her announcement; she seemed to be in more of a rush than usual.

"As you all are aware of, our Quidditch Captain from the previous year, Angelina Johnson, has graduated, and now we have been left without any Captainship. I have given this some serious thought as to whom I feel deserves the position of all seven of you, the most," Professor McGonagall said, "I'm going to keep this short. The person that I am awarding the Captain position to, is..."

Just like in Harry's dream, McGonagall paused for dramatic effect. Harry looked over both ways at his teammates, specifically Ron. Ron was looking probably the most hopeful Harry had ever seen him look.

"Katie Bell," McGonagall said at last.

Everyone applauded minus Harry and Ron as Katie walked up to McGonagall with a huge grin and accepted the Quidditch Captain badge. Slowly as Harry contemplated the options and the possible outcomes of this situation, he was happy; he was glad that it had been Katie, and not Ron. He realized Katie deserved it more than himself, because she had been on the team longer, and was reliable and responsible, not to mention a good player; this made Harry absolutely positive that next year once Katie graduated, he would be Quidditch Captain for sure.

"Now that that's settle," McGonagall said, "you all should get to your first official practice. I am confident with my decision, and I know that Miss. Bell will lead our team into victory over the other teams, so that I can brag about Gryffindor to Snape...I mean, good luck this season." She gave them a stern smile before she disappeared from the locker rooms.

Katie stepped out of the line of the team, and looked at her fellow six members. "Let's get to practice. I'll devise a practice chart to which we are to abide by, and of course our training strategies, " she said happily.

Everyone nodded, and left the locker rooms with their equipment. Harry was second last to go as he noticed Ron's face; it was clear he was still mighty disappointed, and angry with the outcome. He sighed finally, and followed everyone looking very solemn.

-|-

Harry and Ron returned to the castle later that afternoon to find almost everyone gone; Harry had completely forgotten about the Hogsmeade trip that day. He and Ron decided to skip lunch, and head back up to the Gryffindor tower; they're whole walk was full of silence between them, which was peculiar for the two best friends.

They entered the Gryffindor common room to find it completely empty minus Hermione sitting in her usual armchair reading the same blue-leathered book, and a group of second years catching up on their homework. Harry and Ron walked over to her, and sat down in their usual armchairs near the fireplace.

"Did you two already eat lunch?" she asked, apparently surprised to see them here so soon. "And what's wrong? You look as if Quidditch has been banned forever or something."

"Nothing's wrong," Harry answered, "we just came from practice. Katie got captain."

"Oh! That's great for her," Hermione said delightfully, "you two shouldn't worry. There's always next year. Katie's been on the team for a long time anyway..."

"Yeah, I know," Harry responded.

"Are you going to do your homework now? You know you didn't bother doing any of it last night," Hermione reminded, looking up at him. "Your in N.E.W.T level classes now, Harry, you have to remember to be more responsible with your homework."

"I need to go do something," Ron mumbled from his armchair. He stood up, and walked out the common room, up the boys spiraling staircase, and vanished inside his dormitory, shutting the door after him.

"What's with him?" Hermione asked.

"I dunno," Harry answered honestly, "he's been acting weird lately...especially today."

"Oh, you mean like you," Hermione said casually, flipping a page in her book as she continued to read at the same time as she talked.

"Me?" Harry said, insulted a bit, "how have I been acting weird?"

"How haven't you?" she snapped back. She shut her book, and stood up. "I'm going to take this up to my dormitory really quickly. I'll be right back as well." She left the common room just like Ron had done a few seconds earlier.

Now Harry was left alone, feeling yet another tidal wave of emotions wash over him. He buried his face in his hands for a moment just to help him think; it seemed so hard for him to think clearly lately, because everything seemed so confusing.

The Portrait Hole opened, and closed, because the group of second years had finally caught up on all of their homework, and had decided to finally head down to lunch. Now Harry was completely alone in the Gryffindor common room.

Harry leaned back into his armchair, now keeping his eyes completely closed as if he were sleeping; it seemed to be easier to think when he did this. For a few seconds he racked his brain to clear all of the puzzlement and bewilderment about absolutely everything that had been on his mind lately. The last thing he felt he needed was to be confused about things. He was sixteen years old, and facing a very dark future; he needed to start becoming sure of things.

He heard the Portrait Hole open yet again, but didn't think anything of it until he opened his eyes. Harry's mouth opened in surprise immediately as he jumped quickly to his feet. The person that had just entered the Gryffindor common room was Kira Devree.

She was looking very lost at the moment in anticipation of finding Harry. When she spotted him, her face lit up, and she dashed over quickly; Harry noticed she was wearing Hogwarts robes, and a Gryffindor badge on her chest.

"Where have you been?" she shrieked at him.

"Me? What happened to you?" he asked her right back, "there was a smash of the soap dish inside the bathroom last evening, and then you disappeared! And how did you get inside of Gryffindor Tower, and where did you get that robe and badge from?"

"It's a long story," she answered simply, "I accidentally knocked off the soap dish inside, and I left, because I heard someone approaching the door and I knew it wasn't you. I escaped through the laundry shoot. The fall was a big one, and it knocked me out for quite a while...I really don't remember how long. I only remember I woke up to a House Elf. A House Elf! I couldn't believe my eyes. There were tons of them, all doing the laundry. The one I met was named Dobby. He was very kind to me, and I told him I was a student here, and had accidentally fallen through the shoot; I thought for sure he wasn't going to believe me, but he did! He gave me a fresh pair of robes and a uniform for my troubles before he let me leave.

"I went into the nearest lavatory, and changed into them. There I followed some girls that didn't look older than thirteen down to the "Great Hall". I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you. Everyone seemed to be lining the entrance hall, because there was a trip to the well-known Hogsmeade village. I went inside the Great Hall, and got a good meal before I ran into some nice, but gullible boy named Neville. He gave me instructions to Gryffindork Tower, and the password; he seemed to think I, apparently like him frequently, had forgotten where it was, and what the password was. And, so I headed up here though it took me a very long time," she finished.

Harry didn't say anything once she had finished talking; he just simply gaped at her in disbelief with his left eyebrow raised a bit higher than usual. He shook his head to rid himself of his astound, and asked, "you have to leave."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because..." he began, but he ended up speaking too late.

Hermione had finally returned from dropping off her book, and was walking down the girls spiraling staircase now. Her face was covered with question as she stared at Kira Devree in curiosity. She stopped in front of the two of them, and gave Harry a quick glance before she smiled politely at Kira.

"Hi. I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said graciously, holding out a hand for Kira to shake, "who may I ask are you?"

Kira looked from Hermione to Harry, and repeated this several times; she seemed to be thinking up an answer. "I'm...I'm Kira Devree," Kira replied finally, "it's nice to meet you, Her- Hermione Granger." Kira took Hermione's hand, and shook it.

"I've never seen you around before," Hermione said, "where are you from?"

"I'm from Gryffindork," Kira answered. She looked past Hermione at Harry, who had just begun to nod his head in panic at her mispronouncing the word 'Gryffindor'. "I mean...I mean Gryffindor," Kira said embarrassingly, "Gryffindor."

Hermione was eyeing Kira as if she didn't have the slightest clue what to think. Hermione turned around to look at Harry, who was feeling like evaporating into thin air at the current situation. "And you know Harry," Hermione said slowly.

"Well, we just met. I'm a foreign exchange student from France," Kira said, "you know from Beauxbuttons...I mean Beauxbettons..."

"You mean Beauxbatons?" Hermione corrected, looking totally disbelieving of Kira's story.

"Erm...anyway, I know who you are Hermione Granger, although I've never been allowed within twenty feet of you," Kira said, changing the subject.

Hermione was about to question why Kira had said this about herself looking familiar to Kira, but she decided to say something else.

"I don't think I know what you're talking about," Hermione said.

Kira snapped her fingers. "Oh, wait, I remember you wouldn't know, because you don't know the fut-" Kira started, but Harry cleared his throat loudly to cut her off; Kira blushed. "I mean...never mind."

Hermione gave Kira another confused stare just as she spotted the futuristic Time Turner hanging around Kira's neck. Hermione's eyes widened as she stared fascinated at the Time Turner. She seemed to be doing some serious thinking as she stared at it, as if putting pieces of a puzzle together.

"That Time Turner," Hermione said gradually, "it's unlike any other Time Turner I've ever seen before or even read about before. It almost looks like it's futuristic. It...it has to be specially made. Where'd you get it?"

"From...from a place," Kira answered stupidly. She gulped, and tossed some of her delicate brown hair over her shoulders. "I mean it's a secret."

"Kira Devree," Hermione said suddenly, looking oddly calm, "you wouldn't happen to be the person hiding in the bathroom of Harry's dormitory last night? You wouldn't happen to be the one that he was talking to? And you don't happen to be a foreign exchange student transferred into Gryffindor based on the three simple facts; you don't know how to correctly pronounce Gryffindor or even the school you 'claim' to have attended Beauxbatons, secondly based on the fact that you look like your twenty years old, and on the fact that never once in the history of Hogwarts has a foreign exchange student ever transferred permanently to our school. Unless you're a very slow student that has failed two years worth of education, which I doubt, you're lying to me. And, so is Harry. Oh, and let's not forget the futuristic Time Turner hanging around your neck...I think I know what's going on here, but I'd like to hear this in exact words from the two of you. Now can both or either of you tell me what the hell is going on?"

-|-