Scouring Time

Chapter 1: The Distant Future

One morning in July, a sandy-haired boy was sitting in the woods, his back leaning against one of many trees. Sunlight streamed down on him, illuminating the pages of the book he was reading. He was rather engrossed in the book, as the topic was informative, but he finally sighed, stuck a post-it note on his line in the book, and closed it. His friends were going to come over soon, and it would be wise to put the book away first before they arrived.

He trekked through the woods, as he did not go in that deep. He continued through the grass and into the small house where they lived. Their village was a small, muggle one. The boy, called Remus Lupin, however, preferred it that way, even if he only lived there for about two months a year. He spent the other ten at Hogwarts, a school of magic, where he had just completed his sixth year.

Remus entered his living room, and was shocked to see that his three friends from school had arrived earlier then they had planned. He sighed, put his book down on the table, and sat down next to Peter Pettigrew, who was sitting on the couch across from James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Hey Remus," began Sirius, looking towards Remus with his light gray eyes. "I know we're early, but James was getting sick of hanging around the house, so we grabbed Peter, and came here early." Sirius was currently staying with James' parents, after Sirius finally had enough of his family. He never told them exactly what they did, so they never asked him.

"Me!" yelled James in response. "You were the one who was complaining that you were bored every five seconds, and wouldn't stop doing so until I shoved a chocolate frog down your mouth." Remus laughed at that remark and, knowing Sirius, it was probably true.

"But I was hungry," protested Sirius. "Besides, you have to admit that you get bored sometimes too, Jamesy." He turned to look into his best friends hazel eyes, framed by black glasses.

"Don't call me Jamesy!" yelled James to Sirius. "And to answer your question, I do get bored sometimes. It's just not as often as you do, and I don't go complaining about it every five seconds, Sirius. It's not like I can do that much to help you with that, anyway, even if you are staying at my house."

"Yeah you can," continued Sirius. "We could always sneak around your house, or do something fun outside, you know. Don't tell me there's...Remus, what's that?" asked Sirius, pointing to the book that Remus was reading earlier. Remus, relieved at the change of topic, answered.

"It's a book, Sirius. It is a collection of viewpoints, evidence, and theories concerning the Dark Age of Magic. It’s probably something that you'd find very boring," explained Remus, wondering why Sirius was asking about a book. Sirius hated reading.

"I didn't mean the boring book, Remus," clarified Sirius. Well, thought Remus that explained why he asked. "I met that light-blue thingy sticking out of the pages of that book." Remus groaned at his friends’ ignorance over muggle things. Sirius and James just did not get what was so great about muggles. Peter, while still clueless, would at least let Remus take him to muggle places sometimes. On the other hand, Remus and Peter were best friends in their group, as were James and Sirius.

"That's a post-it note, Sirius," explained Remus. "And before you ask, a post-it note has a sticky thing on the top of the back side, and they're made for writing notes on the front. I use them for marking my line and page while reading though, because they are more accurate than bookmarks." Sirius, however, did not seem to be listening. He was more interested in examining the mysterious muggle artifact known as a post-it note to muggles.

Sirius flipped the book open to the right page, and examined the post-it. It looked normal enough, and Sirius turned the book upside-down, watching in fascination as the post-it note did not succumb to gravity and fall down on the floor. One side tilted downwards a bit, but it stayed to the book due to the top part sticking.

"Whoa! That's a nice practical use of a sticking charm, Remus. You put it on a muggle piece of paper to mark your page, and only partially, so it can be peeled off.” Sirius peeled it off, and stuck it back on to demonstrate. Only problem was, he stuck it back in a completely random place, defeating the purpose of a line-marker. "That was some great thinking, Remus." Remus sighed, and was very tempted to bang his head on a table. Sirius just never understood that muggles could be innovative. Remus guessed his family might be part of the reason, but not all of it. James seemed to think similar, though he thought James understood more than Sirius did.

"Sirius, I don't think that's what Remus met," said James. Peter nodded in agreement, understanding what Remus met, but too shy to correct one of his idols. Remus was relieved that at least James understood. He was so much better at getting through to Sirius. "I think he's trying to say that a muggleborn used a permanent sticking charm on a piece of paper, and started selling it to the muggles to make money." Remus was tempted to bang his head again.

"You two will never understand this!" yelled a frustrated Remus. Yelling seemed to work even better than banging his head against the table. As a plus, it did not hurt his head. He grabbed the book, walked over to the bookshelf in the room, and put it back. "Now, can we just please stop talking about muggles, unless you two can show some comprehension of what I'm trying to say?"

"Sure, Remus," replied Sirius. "I was getting bored of hearing about the muggles, anyway. I'm sure I wasn't the only one either." Remus officially felt sorry for James' parents for having to deal with both of them. In fact, it was amazing that the four of them even became friends at all.

"Can we go explore the woods behind your house, Remus?" asked Peter, quietly. Remus turned to the very shy boy, who was more comfortable around him, than Sirius and James. He supposed it was because he, unlike them, did not take advantage of the poor boy.

"Sure," replied Remus. The founders of his village built it right next to the woods, and his home was on the edge of those woods. His mother did not like fences, so you could just walk into the woods from his backyard. Remus himself went into there quite a lot; sometimes even into the deep reaches. "To the woods it is, then. From what I've seen, it's a lot nicer than the forest at school."

---

Ten minutes later, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James trekked through Remus' backyard, and arrived at the outskirts of the woods. The trees were tall and majestic, blocking out some of the sun. They were spread out enough to make it through the woods without cutting some of the trees down.

"So, Remus, any interesting spots in these woods?" asked a curious Sirius, "or any interesting creatures for that matter?"

"Well, animals live around here, and quite a bit of them. There is a stream a bit up ahead too, where they get water. It's a rather nice stream, actually," explained Remus, using his sense of smell to get around the woods.

"I want to see this stream," stated James. "There's too much trees in this area anyway."

"We need trees, James," explained Remus. "But, yeah, to the stream it is, then. I always liked that stream ever since I found it. It's pretty close to here, actually." Remus rather enjoyed the woods, as they were very relaxing.

After more walking, Remus finally pushed a branch over that was blocking their way, and walked forward. "Here's the stream, everyone. Enjoy." James, Sirius, and Peter were struck with how nice the stream was. It was very calm, but still rippling. More trees grew on the other end. A deer was drinking water from the other end, but it raised its head at the intruders, inspecting them. The deer then bolted, not wanting to take any risks with the humans.

Remus sat down on a big rock by the stream, relaxing. Sirius and James looked around some more before settling down right by Remus. Peter, however, continued to look around a bit, and noticed something sticking out of the ground.

"Remus, what's that?" asked Peter, pointing to the object that was barely visible. Only a point of it stuck out from over the ground.

"It's dirt, Peter," replied Sirius. "Don't tell me that you haven't seen dirt before?" Remus glared at Sirius for insulting Peter. He did that excessively much, and it had to stop.

"I didn't mean the ground," replied Peter, though he appeared hurt. "I was talking about the thing jutting out from the top of the ground." Sirius suddenly started digging at the object, throwing dirt on top of Peter in the process. It appeared that some traits from Padfoot showed up in Sirius. Remus glared at Sirius, sure that he did it unpurpose. After about five minutes, he dragged a very ancient-looking box out of the newly formed hole.

"It's a box of some sort, with a lock on it," replied Sirius. "We're all seventeen now, so I suppose that we could just alohomora this thing open, and see what's inside!"

"Sirius, you can't do that!" exclaimed Remus immediately. "Even though we're of age, we're in a muggle area. We are not allowed to use magic in muggle areas, except in extenuating circumstances. And before you ask, no, opening a box doesn't count as an extenuating circumstance."

"Remus, we're in the woods!" yelled James. "Do you honestly think that a muggle is going to show up by this stream in the woods three seconds from now?"

"I've seen muggles here before, James," replied Remus. "So no, neither you nor Sirius are going to use magic to get into the box."

"But...but...I want to know what's in the box! Aren't you just a tad bit curious as to what's in this box, Remus?" asked Sirius, holding it up to his nose. Werewolves had a very good sense of smell, and Sirius figured that the smell might tempt him.

"This smells like a magic box," replied Remus. "It smells like a magic artifact is in there, which doesn't make any sense. Wizards and witches just do not normally bury a box with a magical artifact in muggle woods, let alone a small one like this. It smells as if it was buried here for around...I don't know, but I would have to guess around the 30-50 year range. I never said that we couldn't open it. We just can't use magic to open it.

Remus took a clothespin out of his pocket, and started to pick at the lock on the box. After a few seconds, he heard a click, and the box opened. Remus then sniffed the artifact. It was made of a white metal, formed into a dragon. "Well, it doesn't smell dangerous, so I think it's safe to touch it. But, just in case..." Remus took a nearby pebble by the stream, and threw it at the artifact. The pebble hit the artifact, but nothing else happened. "It’s safe," he announced. Sirius picked up the dragon artifact, noticing for the first time, that it was wingless, and more serpent-like than the typical dragon.

"How did you open that lock, Remus?" asked Sirius. "And why doesn't this look like a typical dragon? Did a muggleborn make this artifact or something?" He showed the artifact to James, who pointed out the sapphires used as eyes, that only seemed to add to the mystery.

"It's an Asian dragon, Sirius," replied Remus. "They're different then our dragons, being from the East, as you already noticed. They're very intelligent, and use magic to fly, as opposed to wings." He ignored the lock question entirely. He did not want to deal with the lack of knowledge about muggles amongst his group of friends again for today.

Peter, however, was not focusing on the conversation entirely. While he was still taking it in, his main focus was on the box that they found it in. One thing Peter prided himself on was his observation skills. He tended to notice things that other people did not, and Remus was the only one of his friends that seemed to notice that trait. Right now, Peter was thinking that there might be something more to this box. He was examining the box, noting the carving of one of those Asian dragons that Remus mentioned on the lock. On the top, however, was a carving of a wolf with very mesmerizing eyes, a griffin, poised for battle, a phoenix, head raised in victory, and the same Asian dragon that was on the front. Peter somehow had a feeling that those creatures were important, but he was not sure how. Maybe Remus knew, he could ask him.

"Remus?" asked Peter. "Why are these creatures carved into the box?" He held up the box, top facing Remus so that he could see. "They're probably important somehow." Remus took the box from Peter, and looked at the intricate carvings.

"I have no idea, Peter. I would think the dragon is the most important one, since it is on the lock, the top, and the artifact, but that is only a guess. As for the wolf, griffin, and phoenix, I have absolutely no idea, but it might be safe to guess that they're linked to the dragon," explained Remus.

"You mean Remus doesn't know everything?" asked a shocked Sirius. "Well, the four creatures might be linked to the artifact too. It was in the box, after all."

"The box might have been made for something else, besides the artifact," put in James, now examining the artifact with interest.

"Then why did we find the artifact in that box?" asked Sirius, thinking he won this one.

"Maybe somebody wanted a place to store it, and decided to buy this box for it," explained James. "They could be totally unrelated. As a matter of fact, the phoenix, griffin, wolf, and dragon could just simply be four creatures that have no link to the artifact or anything at all, and the person who carved it just thought those creatures were cool."

"James, the artifact is carved into a dragon. All of those creatures have got to mean something!" exclaimed Sirius, holding up the box. He took the artifact from James, and lined the artifact up with the dragon carved on top of the lock. The two perfectly matched, leaving no doubt that it was the same dragon. "It's the same dragon, James."

"They could be twins," put in James, touching the artifact. "You don't know for sure, Sirius. None of us do."

"Why do you two always insist on..." began Peter, but he was cut off when the artifact began to glow in a white and red light, engulfing the four Marauders. It flashed one more time, and the four friends vanished from the fabric of the woods, along with the artifact."

---

Remus Lupin was lying flat on his back, eyes level with the ground. There was a door up ahead, judging by the light coming in from the bottom up ahead. He tried to get up, but a weight was pressing on his back. Remus groaned, deciding that he should see who was on top of him. He attempted to flip his body over so that his back was touching the floor, and eventually managed that feat. He now noticed that Sirius was the one on top of him. Peter and James were nearby, both unconscious for the time being, along with Sirius. However, seeing as Sirius was crushing him, he was going to get Sirius off him.

Remus concentrated, and pushed his knees upwards and to the left, pushing Sirius' body off him. It landed to his left, and thankfully not on James or Peter. To his even greater relief, Sirius was still unconscious. Now, it looked like he just had to wait, and figure out where they were, and what just happened. Remus did not recognize the room, but it looked like a living room of sorts. There was a couch, chairs, and side tables around. Being in a strange place really freaked him out, and Remus did not like that feeling at all.

Remus jumped when he heard footsteps approaching the room, and he began shivering when the door began to open. That was not good. How was he going to explain to a complete stranger that they had no idea how they ended up in his/her house? Or even worse, what if he did not have a chance to explain? Remus relaxed slightly though when a little girl made her way into the room.

"Who are you?" asked the girl, pushing her brown hair out of her eyes. Well, thought Remus, at least a little girl could not really harm them, and her parents might be more willing to listen this way. It then registered in his brain that the girl asked him a question.

"I'm Remus, little one," responded Remus. "Who are you?" Remus was friendly by nature, and he happened to like children anyway.

"Amy," replied the girl, "I five, and not little." She beamed at this last statement, as if reaching five was some sort of rite of passage. Or, maybe it was in this household.

"Ok, then," replied Remus, who did think five was little, but decided to play along anyway. "You're Amy, and you're a big girl, right?" Amy nodded. She was happy that an older person understood.

"Right," replied a beaming Amy. "Daddy be in soon too. You meet him." Remus nodded, though he was not looking too forward to meeting her parents. The door, however, then opened, revealing who had to be her daddy. Remus noticed his black hair and blue eyes.

"Hey Amy," said her dad, appearing not to have noticed the guests yet. "How are you, darling?" He seemed nice enough, thought Remus. Maybe it would not be that bad.

"I meet new friend, daddy. This is Remus, and he don't call me little," explained Amy, pointing to Remus and his unconscious friends in the room.

"I see," replied the father, pulling out his wand. "Eneverate." The spell split into three parts and hit Sirius, James, and Peter, causing all of them to wake up. Remus then wondered why he did not think of using that spell. He should of thought of that!

"Where are we?" asked Sirius, staring around the room. "Is this another room in your house?" He asked that last part to James.

"If it is, I've never seen it before," replied James. "But I think we're somewhere entirely different, Sirius."

"That's because we're...what!" exclaimed Peter, in mid-sentence. Everybody in the room, including Amy, turned to stare at Peter. "How is that possible?" he finally managed to say.

"We were talking about where we are, Peter," explained Sirius. "It's possible, because we have no idea where we are, so we decided to talk about it."

"I didn't mean that!" yelled a frustrated Peter. He was very annoyed with Sirius repeatedly teasing him. "We're at the Zabini House. I was talking about that!" Peter pointed to a plaque above the fireplace where Sirius averted his eyes up to in order to read.

"Let's see, Peter. It says 'The Zabini House'. Yes, that tells us where we are, but it's nothing to freak out about like you just did," replied Sirius.

"I know it's not, Sirius," replied Peter, stuttering. "I was referring to the date under the floo destination." Sirius really wanted to slap Peter because of that. A date was nothing to freak out over, after all.

"The date? It's just a date, Peter. It's...How is that possible, Remus? How can this floo address be founded in 2002?" asked a shocked Sirius. "Explain, Remus."

"Well, obviously, we have somehow traveled to the future," explained Remus. He held up a hand. "Before you ask, no, I have no idea how this happened. As far as I understand, this shouldn't even be possible, everyone."

"Assuming this is even the future, of course," replied James. "For all we know, Snivellus could have pulled a very intricate prank on us."

"James, Snivellus doesn't know where I live," put in Remus.

"He could have looked in the floo directory, or a muggle book," explained James.

"James, I don't think Snivelly is smart enough to pull something like this," added in Sirius. "Too much work. It's so much easier just to do a standard prank."

"Snivellus is a Slytherin," said James. "They're deceivers, so he would do something that we wouldn't expect him to do. Something like this. That artifact we found was probably a portkey, and one of us said the trigger word to take us to this place with a little girl. Her father is probably Snivelly under polyjuice. Hello Snivellus."

"You're actually in the year 2010," stated Amy's father. He said an incantation under his breath, and a wisp of white smoke traveled out of his wand, forming letters in the air. It said 'July 19. 2010' 10:58 AM.' "There you go. Oh, and forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Blaise Zabini."

"Well, guys, that's settled," said Remus. "I'm Remus Lupin, and they are Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. We're from 1976, and is there, by any chance, some sort of future technology that can get us back to our own time period?" Remus had no idea how this happened, but he knew it was not a good idea to hang around. Time was not something that was met to be messed with. The very knowledge of their futures could interfere with how time should play out, and Remus could not have that.

"I've heard of you four, of course," replied Blaise, sitting down on a chair. Amy crawled into his lap, very content with the arrangement. "A lot of people around here have heard of you, though. It appears that I have some explaining to do, as well. There is no easy way to say this, but your arrival wasn't completely unexpected..." James cut him off.

"Not completely unexpected? What's that supposed to mean?" asked a confused James. Well, thought Remus, at least they did not have to explain why they were in his house.

"It means that my friend, Theodore, and I were expecting help, but we didn't know exactly who that help would be, or from where and when this help came from. He's actually staying with me right now in hiding, as The Emperor wants him dead. Yes, Amy, Zach can keep you company while we explain." Amy beamed at that remark.

"What kind of problem do you have? And what Emperor?" asked Sirius, fearing the answer for some reason. Remus, however, was confused by everything.

"Lord Voldemort," stated Blaise, and everybody in the room, except him and Amy flinched. "He's now Emperor of Europe, both muggle and wizard. The world right now is in dark times. Theodore Nott and I will tell you what we know, starting at the very beginning. I'll go grab him, and some food for everybody." Blaise left the room, and Amy settled next to Remus.

"Emperor You-Know-Who," said Sirius. "I really do not like the sound of that. I always thought that Headmaster Dumbledore would defeat him, like he defeated Grindelwald."

"Apparently not," replied Peter, whimpering at the thought of Emperor You-Know-Who.

"Yeah. I wonder why You-Know-Who wants Theodore Nott dead," said Remus.

"I don't know," replied Sirius. "The Notts are not good. My parents invite them over to parties very often. That is not a good sign, everyone."

"Sirius," said Remus, "Nice information, but that's now the past. We are about 34 or so years in the future, and we cannot be biased due to things like that. Besides, You-Know-Who wants him dead, so he can't be as bad as the rest of his family."

"Fine, but just to make you happy, Remus," replied Sirius, though it was clear that he didn't like the arrangement very much.

"What's going on here, anyway?" asked Peter.

"We don't know, Peter. But...it looks like we just might play a role in this," stated Remus. "Weird, huh? We are just four normal wizards who happen to find a mysterious artifact in the woods, be sent about 35 years into the future, and we have to help with the You-Know-Who problem. This sounds like some kind of muggle book, a long muggle book."

"I prefer their movies," said Peter.

"You're right, Remus. This is really weird," said Sirius. "But, despite the weirdness, we're here. Why us, though? We are just normal wizards. There is nothing we can do that others cannot. I guess we'll find out, or it will turn out that they have the wrong teenagers."