Alexandra Quick and the Deathly Regiment

The Time-Turner

"So, right now, there's another you out there walking around in the woods, turning back time?" Alexandra asked.

She had wolfed down the rest of the bacon, and now she was much more alert as she held the cup of warm milk in her hands. It was still cold in the crypt, despite Valeria's jar of blue flames, so she drank the milk and tried not to shiver, while lightning continued to flash outside and the rain kept coming down in torrents.

"Not another me," Valeria said. "It is me. I returned to Croatoa just before dawn, and Triss told me that you'd followed me into the woods." Valeria shook her head, as she took the next-to-last donut and broke it in half.

Even as she had been following Valeria into the woods, Valeria had been following her -- Alexandra's brow wrinkled, as she tried to work out the logic. "So if you used the Time-Turner to go back in time to a little after I left, so you could find me, why didn't you just go back to right after you left, so you could catch me following you and prevent me from going in the first place?" The nuances of time travel were still confusing, but all the reading she'd done about Time-Turners was finally proving useful.

Valeria swallowed a bite of her donut. "I was hoping I'd be able to find you quickly and get you back to the house without you realizing what was going on. I didn't want you to know I had a Time-Turner. But if you had just seen me walking into the woods, and then I caught you going out the door --" Valeria smiled ruefully. "I remembered you asking about Time-Turners earlier. I think you'd have figured it out."

Alexandra smiled and nodded. "So you were going to try to catch me in the woods."

"Yes." Valeria sighed. "But unfortunately, I didn't know exactly where you would be at exactly what time, and I had to err on the side of caution, to avoid any chance of meeting myself. So you'd already managed to get yourself lost and wander into the marsh by the time I caught up to you."

"Why is it so bad to meet yourself?" Alexandra thought meeting herself would be pretty weird, but it also sounded rather cool.

Valeria, however, shook her head gravely. "It's the most important rule of time travel. You cannot change what has already happened -- that's the first law of temporal magic. Any meeting with yourself would change your own past. Only bad things can happen when you force yourself into an impossibility."

"Why can't you change the past?"

"Because it's impossible."

"Why is it impossible? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Spend years and years studying it, and learn what's happened when people have tried." Valeria considered the uneaten half of her donut, and set it down with an unhappy sigh. "You're just going to have to take my word for it."

Alexandra folded her arms. "Why did you keep the Time-Turner a secret?"

"Besides the fact that I have two curious younger sisters?" Valeria gave her a bemused look, but her tone was serious. "Time-Turners are very strictly regulated. I'm breaking Confederation law by smuggling one into the country. If the Auror Authority or the Bureau of Historical Oversight found out, they'd confiscate it, which would be highly embarrassing for the Academie, and as for me, well, I'm sure they wouldn't be at all happy about a daughter of Abraham Thorn digging into Confederation history with a Time-Turner."

"What is it you're trying to find out about that's so secret?"

Valeria lowered her voice. "The Deathly Regiment."

She seemed about to say more, but then another voice interrupted: "Speak no more of this, Valeria."

Alexandra turned, to see Absalom Thorn drifting through the entrance to their refuge. He was the oldest ghost who haunted the Thorn family crypt, and he looked exactly as he had last time, the epitome of an Old Colonial wizard, in long, heavy robes, a pointed, wide-brimmed wizard's hat, and a beard that reached down to his chest. His grandson and great-grandson, Jared and Joshua Thorn, accompanied him.

"The circumstances of my death are inappropriate to discuss with Abraham's youngest daughter, who is already troublesome enough." Absalom Thorn looked at Alexandra disapprovingly.

"Or with any of his daughters, for all that you've been willing to tell me, Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather," Valeria said.

"I have shown you the places you wished to see. I have told you the dates."

"But none of the details." Valeria opened her mouth, glanced at Alexandra, and closed it. "You're right. I beg your pardon."

Alexandra said, "You joined the Deathly Regiment?" She remembered the phrase from old wizarding obituaries, and she was annoyed that Valeria and Absalom Thorn had decided she was too young to hear about it.

To her surprise, the Thorn patriarch's expression became even grimmer than before, and he sounded angry as he replied, "No, I died fighting the Deathly Regiment. And that will be enough, great-granddaughter of my great-grandson."

He sounded rather like her father when he spoke like that. Alexandra didn't like it, but after bristling for a moment, she forced herself to speak in something approximating a respectful tone of voice. "Can you tell me where Maximilian is now, Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather?"

Valeria looked startled, as did the Thorn ghosts. Before Absalom Thorn could reply, Alexandra said, "I know you told the Special Inquisitors that he passed beyond. But I thought..." A wistful note crept into her voice. "I thought maybe you might not tell them if he were here..."

Her great-great-great-great-grandfather drifted over to where she was standing, and gazed down at her.

"We told the Inquisitors the truth," he said, in as gentle a tone as she'd ever heard from the old ghost. "Maximilian is not here; he is nowhere to be found in this world. Of all my descendants, Alexandra, only a bare few have joined me in refusing to pass on."

Alexandra felt a crushing sense of disappointment. After standing there for a few moments, she turned to Valeria, who was watching her silently.

"Now what?" Alexandra asked.

"Now," Valeria said, putting an arm around her, "I am going to take you back to the house. And then I am going to take us both back in time, to just after you went out the window to follow me. I'll talk to the house-elves and prevent them from having conniptions, and I'll ask Deezie to draw you a nice hot bath, which you will take, and then you will go to bed. And we'll both get a good night's sleep despite having already been up half the night and you nearly drowning in quicksand. And if you cooperate, and promise to keep your mouth shut, then possibly tomorrow I'll tell you more about Time-Turners, and being a Historicist."

Alexandra shivered in anticipation at the thought of a hot bath. And though she didn't want to admit it, she was now very tired, and she couldn't think of anything else to say either to Valeria or to her ghostly ancestors. So she nodded.

"Good." Valeria squeezed her shoulders. She turned to the ghosts. "I hope I can trust in your discretion also, my forefathers?"

"We never tell the Inquisitors anything they don't already know," said Joshua Thorn.

"Nor will we disturb Thalia or Julia with tales of your inquiries," Absalom Thorn said. "Have a care, Valeria. You tread dangerous paths, with or without that... device." He pointed disdainfully at the Time-Turner in Valeria's hand.

"I'm just seeking to uncover the truth of history," Valeria said. She looked at Alexandra. "Ready? I'm too tired to do any more hiking, so I'm going to Apparate us both back to the house. Have you ever ridden Side-Along?"

Alexandra shook her head. "No, but I've traveled by Portkey."

"This won't be as bad as that," Valeria said. "Unless I'm so tired that I splinch us."

Alexandra wasn't sure whether Valeria was joking, but she barely remembered to stop holding her breath, before Valeria thrust the Time-Turner into her pocket and gripped her wand. In another instant, they were both squeezed into a dark tunnel that seemed to twist them in half for a moment, and then Alexandra was standing with Valeria in the living room of the King mansion. The large grandfather clock said that it was almost four in the morning, and Deezie and Triss were both standing there, waiting expectantly.

"Miss Alexandra!" Deezie squeaked. "Oh, Miss Alexandra should not have gone out into the nasty wet rain like that, and following Miss Valeria..." She shook her head, looking very distressed, but Valeria held up a finger to her lips.

"Shh," she said. "Let's not wake up Ms. King."

Deezie clapped her hands over her mouth. Triss just nodded.

"As you can see, everything has turned out all right," Valeria whispered. "I told you it would, didn't I?"

The two house-elves both nodded.

"I would never ask you to lie to your mistress," Valeria continued. "But no one has been harmed -- we just went on a little adventure, and now we're back safe and sound."

"Yes," Triss said, a little dubiously.

"Of course you'll tell her if she should happen to ask if anything happened last night," Valeria said soothingly. "But there's no need for you to bring it up, is there?"

Alexandra watched the two elves carefully, worried that a twitch or a grimace might indicate that they were on the verge of punishing themselves, for contemplating disobedience against their mistress. But after considering Valeria's plea, Triss and Deezie both shook their heads.

"We supposes Miss Valeria is free to come and go as she pleases," Triss whispered. She turned to regard Alexandra, with her wide eyes narrowing a bit. "But Miss Alexandra is too young for such 'adventures'..."

Valeria said, "But she was with me."

After another moment, the elves nodded.

"We wasn't asked to tell Mistress everything her guests do or when they comes and goes," Triss said.

"But we isn't liking it very much," Deezie moaned, pulling on her ears a little.

"Alexandra promises she's going to behave herself and stay in bed like she's supposed to. Don't you, Alexandra?"

Valeria nudged her, and Alexandra cleared her throat. "Yeah."

"And you can go check on her right now, since she's already there," Valeria said.

"Yes, Miss Valeria." Deezie nodded, and then disappeared with a pop.

"Thank you so much, Triss," Valeria said, and leaned forward to give Triss a kiss on the top of her broad, domed head. Triss wrung her hands together, almost tucked her face into her shoulder, and did something Alexandra had never seen an elf do before -- she blushed a deep red.

Alexandra looked upstairs. At this moment, she was up there, sleeping in her bed -- even as she stood here now. And if she understood Valeria correctly, Valeria herself was simultaneously standing next to her, sleeping in her own bed in the room down the hall, and still outside in the woods, trying to pry information out of Absalom Thorn. It was all quite confusing, but she pushed that out of her mind as Valeria stood up and took the Time-Turner out of her pocket.

"Hold onto me, Alexandra," Valeria said.

Alexandra obediently wrapped her fingers around Valeria's arm, but her eyes were fixed on the Time-Turner. She watched very carefully as Valeria pushed a tiny latch with her thumbnail, then pulled on one of the dials, which extended a fraction of an inch from the rim of the pocket watch with a little click. Valeria then began gently turning the dial between her thumb and forefinger -- and Alexandra felt something, though she wasn't sure precisely what.

Triss disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the lamps went dim, but otherwise all Alexandra could see was a slight blur wherever she looked, until she glanced at the grandfather clock, and saw its hands spinning backwards at great speed. Then she looked back at the Time-Turner again. Valeria gave the dial several more turns, and stopped. Everything settled into focus again, and they were alone in a darkened living room. The grandfather clock said it was half past midnight -- not long after she had opened her bedroom window and jumped out, swinging on the Skyhook.

"Now," Valeria said, "we have to Apparate into your room; otherwise I have to explain the situation to the portraits in the hallway, and I'm not sure they'll be as cooperative as the house-elves."

"You really thought this out," Alexandra murmured.

"Historicists have to. It's vital that we know exactly where and when we are at all times -- literally." Valeria took Alexandra's arm.

This time, the Side-Along Apparition trip was a brief squeeze, and then Alexandra was standing in her bedroom, in front of a horrified Deezie, who looked as if she were just about to go running out of the room screaming. A crack of thunder reverberated loudly throughout the house, but especially through the open window. Rain had already begun to soak the desk in front of it.

"Miss Alexandra!" Deezie exclaimed. "Miss Valeria! What --?"

"Shh," Valeria said, putting a finger to her lips. "Let's not wake Julia."

"But-but-but"- the house-elf sputtered, and then Valeria shook her head.

"Deezie, I think Alexandra would appreciate it very much if you would draw her a hot bath. And then, if you would be so kind as to meet me downstairs? I will explain everything to you and Triss and the other house-elves, I promise, and I'll put your mind at ease. Will you do that for me, please?"

Deezie stared at the two witches, and then bobbed her head up and down.

Valeria pointed her wand at the open window, and it closed with a sharp bang that made her wince.

"Ooh, Miss Alexandra is shivering!" Deezie moaned. "Deezie will make a bath for her, snap-snap-snap!" She ran into the bathroom, and Alexandra heard water pouring into the tub.

Valeria turned to her. "I want your word, Alexandra -- on your witch's honor, you'll stay here and go to bed after taking your bath. No more running around or causing trouble, and keep quiet about this. We'll talk tomorrow."

Though she was consumed with curiosity, and other thoughts, she was also dead tired. Alexandra nodded. "On my witch's honor," she said. "Unless there's a fire or something. I mean, I'd have to leave my room th --"

Valeria snorted, and patted Alexandra's cheek. "This isn't a magical oath, Alexandra. I'm trusting you to keep the spirit of your word, not the letter." She yawned, and then closed her eyes, concentrated briefly, and vanished.

It was more difficult than usual for Alexandra to get Deezie to leave her alone before she took her bath. She almost fell asleep soaking in the hot water. When she got out, she found her pajamas hanging on the door for her, freshly laundered, and the covers of her bed were turned down. Alexandra slipped into bed, and lay there, listening to the storm that was still thundering outside. She glanced at the clock -- it was just a little after one a.m., but she felt as if she'd been up all night.

She had been up all night. And right now, she was still out there, getting lost in the woods, even as she lay safely back in bed.

Valeria's wrong, she thought. She saved me by going back in time.

She couldn't work out all the implications in her head, but she held onto that thought as she drifted off to sleep.

---

The next morning, Alexandra thought all of the house-elves were watching her and Valeria more closely than usual. Valeria greeted everyone cheerfully at breakfast, as if nothing had happened the previous night, and only raised her eyebrows briefly at Alexandra. Alexandra nodded back at her, and then they were caught up in discussing the proposed trip to New Roanoke. The worst of the storm had passed, but it was still raining quite heavily, with occasional flashes of lightning.

"I don't like crossing the ocean during a thunderstorm," Ms. King said.

"But the carriage is charmed against lightning!" Julia said. "And Valeria knows a marvelous rain-repelling spell!"

"Why can't we just Apparate there?" Alexandra asked. "I mean, me and Julia could Side-Along with you and Ms. King."

"Mother doesn't Apparate," Julia murmured.

"It's true." Ms. King sipped her coffee. "They didn't teach Apparition when I attended Salem, and after I graduated, I just never found reason to learn."

"In any case, we can't Apparate across that much open water," Valeria said.

Ms. King nodded. "It's one of the reasons I stay here at Croatoa -- it's more difficult for Aurors and Inquisitors to drop in on us unexpectedly." She sighed. "It's really not the best weather for shopping, Julia."

"It's wonderful weather for enjoying hot chocolate and croissants at Astoria's," Julia said. She looked at her mother, and asked, more gently, "Have you left the island at all since May, other than to pick us up, Mother?"

Alexandra didn't think Julia would win, but to her surprise, Ms. King relented. "There are some things I've been putting off," she said. "Now that you are my only surviving child, Julia, I need to make some changes in my will and certain trusts. We'll need to visit the CBNW for that."

Julia nodded, and became much more somber until they actually left the house, an hour later.

Mr. Hunter was grumbling about the weather as well, looking up at the sky as he brought the Thestral and the carriage around to the front of the house.

"The carriage is charmed against lightning, but not wind and waves," he pointed out. "If it gets too stormy, you'll be stuck in town."

"We'll be fine, Samuel," Ms. King said.

"The storm will be gone by the afternoon," Valeria said.

Alexandra glanced at Valeria, thinking about the previous night, and then climbed into the back seat next to Julia.

Valeria extended her golden Umbrella Charm to cover the entire carriage, but the wind was still cold and bitter, especially once they reached the beach and began trotting across the waves, so Alexandra and Julia huddled together beneath their heavy robes and cloaks, talking about what stores they would visit.

Julia insisted that Alexandra was not 'dressing her age.' Alexandra was willing to let Julia drag her to robe and Body Charm shops, and she was even willing to pretend to enjoy it, if it would make Julia happy, but inwardly, she chafed; not so much because she didn't share Julia's enthusiasm for feminine frills, but because she really wanted to talk to Valeria, and she didn't see how she was going to get an opportunity to do so.

New Roanoke didn't look as picturesque as on their last visit, mainly because it was drenched in gray sheets of rain. Lamps and magical lights glowed invitingly from the storefronts lining the wizarding town's main street, but only a few witches and wizards were out and about; most were using some sort of rain-repelling charm like Valeria's, though a few carried plain old umbrellas.

Ms. King, with some reluctance, allowed Julia and Alexandra to set off on their own to explore robe shops and book stores. Valeria informed them that she had some shopping of her own to do, and everyone agreed to meet at Astoria's at noon.

They spent a great deal of time at Glinda's Good Witch Apparel, where they had bought robes for the Spring Cotillion, months earlier. Alexandra was pleased that the Muggle-born proprietor, Glinda Parker, remembered them, and did not seem fazed by having two daughters of Abraham Thorn in her shop.

"I need something for the Salem-Plymouth Yule Ball," Julia informed Ms. Parker. She looked expectantly at Alexandra. "Surely you have balls at Charmbridge, too?"

"A winter ball, which I'm not going to," Alexandra said. "And if I were, I could use the same formal robe I wore to the Cotillion."

"Nonsense! You must have grown three inches since then!"

"Not even."

Alexandra had no desire to try on robes again, nor did she have the money to purchase them, but Julia pushed her to try on a few outfits with her, and Alexandra relented, to make her sister happy. Only Julia bought something, though -- an elaborate periwinkle blue robe with wide, sweeping sleeves and a modest, high-necked collar.

"I didn't only want to go shopping," Julia told her, as they emerged from Glinda's into the rain, both trying to put Umbrella Charms over themselves as they walked across the street. "New Roanoke's magibotanical gardens are famous, and there's the Aerodrome, and a theater, and the Tobacco Guild..." She sighed as thunder rumbled overhead, and the rain, which had tapered off to a drizzle, became another downpour. "But I suppose we'll have to see all that some other day."

The one shop Alexandra did enjoy browsing was Boxley's Books, which was smaller than the one in Chicago, but had a local interest section. Alexandra picked up a book about the Blacksburg Magery Institute, and another book titled The Ghosts of Roanoke. Purchasing the two books used up the last of her spending money.

Julia and Alexandra arrived at Astoria's just after noon, shaking the cold and the rain off as they entered the lovely cafe, which had a large glass bay overlooking the beach. Ms. King and Valeria were already sitting there, looking out across the choppy gray water.

Alexandra had hot chocolate with a chocolate croissant. She had never tasted anything so delicious; she could see why even on a rainy day like this, Astoria's was crowded. She only realized belatedly, as she looked around, that the other patrons were staring at the four witches sitting together by the window, but hastily averted their eyes whenever Alexandra or her sisters looked in their direction.

"Never mind them," Ms. King said softly. Alexandra studied Julia's face; she looked composed and indifferent. Valeria sighed as she drank her coffee.

As they finished their food, Ms. King laid her hand on Julia's. "I need to take Julia to the bank. There are certain matters that must be taken care of."

Julia looked down, and Ms. King squeezed her hand, then looked at Alexandra and Valeria. "I don't mean to exclude you, my dears, but this will not be a cheerful errand, and it will also be quite tedious. There's no reason to drag you along. Would it be a terrible imposition if I suggested that you two stay here, or perhaps visit some other stores, while Julia and I attend to this business?"

"Not at all, Ms. King," Valeria replied.

"I don't mind, if Julia doesn't," Alexandra said, watching her other sister.

Julia looked up and smiled at her. "Of course I don't mind." She leaned over and gave Alexandra a kiss on the cheek. "Mother is right -- it will be terribly boring. I wish I didn't have to go myself."

Dour looks and mutters followed them as they made their way to the front of the cafe. Alexandra tried to imitate Ms. King and Julia's erect, heads-held-high postures.

"I have a little more shopping to do," Valeria said. "And then perhaps Alexandra and I will just take a walk on the beach, if that's all right." She held her wand up as they stepped outside, and said, "Parapluvia," summoning a golden shield against the rain. She winked at Alexandra. "I think my Umbrella Charm will keep the rain off of us. Shall we meet back at this corner?"

"Very well," Ms. King said. "Don't take a very long walk -- we'll try not to be too long."

Alexandra and Valeria watched the Kings ride off in the carriage, and then Valeria took Alexandra by the arm.

"Someone needs a new cloak," she said, nodding at Alexandra's wet outer robe.

Alexandra didn't say anything, as Valeria walked with her into yet another clothing store, this one selling more utilitarian robes and cloaks and hats, but as she began trying on rainproof cloaks, she said, "I spent all the money I had on books."

"This is a gift from me," Valeria said.

Alexandra found a cloak she liked -- a dark red one. An old witch with a weathered, humorless face and a plain, black robe that matched her eyes accepted Valeria's payment with the thinnest of polite smiles. She looked at Alexandra's jeans and sneakers, visible beneath the hem of her robes, with evident disapproval. The proprietor's hair was covered with a black shawl, and Alexandra suspected she didn't approve of Valeria's floral-patterned robe, makeup charms, or uncovered hair any more than she approved of Alexandra's Muggle wear.

As they left the store, Valeria slipped something into the pocket of Alexandra's new cloak. It was heavy and made a slight bulge.

"I thought you should have that back," Valeria whispered in her ear, as Alexandra slipped her hand into the cloak pocket and found the Skyhook. "But no more sneaking out of your room at night -- agreed?"

Alexandra nodded. "When are you going to tell me what you promised to tell me about?"

"One more stop," Valeria said.

Alexandra rolled her eyes as they proceeded into the Magic Box, which seemed to be a wizarding luggage store. There were trunks, bags, backpacks, and even larger boxes, labeled as shipping containers. Valeria snorted at a sign announcing a clearance sale on Six-Lock Boxes, and then proceeded to buy one of the most expensive trunks in the store. It looked like a perfectly ordinary traveling trunk, but the saleswitch told Valeria it had a 'Muggle-proof magic compartment,' and when Alexandra looked over Valeria's shoulder into the trunk, she saw a vast compartment within, the size of a walk-in closet. It was a much larger version of Maximilian's backpack, she realized, and she wondered just what Valeria was planning to take with her that required that much space.

"I'll be back to pick this up in a few minutes," she said to the saleswitch.

They walked out of the store, and Valeria cast her Umbrella Charm again. The rain was still coming down, but the wind was not quite as heavy as before. In her new cloak, Alexandra was a bit warmer, and with the Umbrella Charm keeping the rain off, it wasn't unpleasant to walk down the street.

"So," Valeria said. "You want to know about being a Historicist."

"I want to know about Time-Turners," Alexandra said. "How long did you have to study history before you got to use one?"

Valeria chuckled. "It took me years. They don't just hand out Time-Turners to everyone who wants to watch history as it happened." She looked up and down the street before they crossed, heading east. "There are so many rules to learn. And, frankly, being an American, and the daughter of Abraham Thorn, it took even longer before the Academie was willing to let me do this."

"Aren't you worried that you'll get interrogated by a Special Inquisitor while you're here, and that they might take away your Time-Turner?"

"I do get interrogated," Valeria sighed. "They always know when I visit home, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone is waiting to talk to me when I go to the airport, as well. And yes, if the Aurors decided to search my trunk, they could find where I've hidden the Time-Turner, but they should believe me when I tell them the magic compartment is where I put potions and books and other things I want to hide from the Muggle inspectors."

"What exactly are you doing? What's the big secret?"

Valeria didn't answer immediately. They walked past the large domed building that Alexandra knew housed the Aerodrome, where they raced winged horses and hippogriffs and other creatures. Several more carriages and one automobile went past. The automobile was an olive green jalopy with dark tinted windows that looked like something Alexandra thought Al Capone would ride in. Valeria pursed her lips and fell silent, until it glided around the corner and out of sight.

"I'm researching our family history," Valeria said, as they reached the end of the street and began walking down a path taking them to the beach.

"You need a Time-Turner to do that?"

Valeria smiled. "You'd be surprised how stubbornly some of our ancestors will defend our family secrets, even after death."

"Why would the Academy of Magic in Europe care about our family?"

"As I told you, Absalom Thorn was an important figure in early Confederation history."

"I've never heard of him in any of my history classes."

"You also never heard about our father, did you?"

Alexandra frowned. "Our great-great-great-great-grandfather was an enemy of the Confederation, too?"

"You sound like Governor-General Hucksteen."

Alexandra eyed her sister suspiciously. "Are you sure you aren't working for our father, too?" She felt a flash of anger. "Is everyone keeping secrets from me?"

"Calm down." Valeria was looking around alertly while Alexandra pulled her cloak tighter around herself.

Between the pouring rain and the crashing of the surf, nearly every other sound around them was drowned out, as they set foot on the packed, wet sand. They were practically the only ones in sight now. Sailboats like those that could be found on any Muggle beach were planted in the sand, high on the beach, as if they had been buried there by giant children. Alexandra had seen them plow through sand the way they skimmed across the water.

"I've never lied to you, Alexandra," Valeria said, as they continued to walk down the beach. "I am certainly not working for our father. I've spoken to him perhaps three times in the past five years. I want nothing to do with his 'circle,' especially after what he did to the Roanoke Underhill."

"So what did Absalom Thorn do that isn't in history books?"

Valeria slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as they continued walking. They were now heading towards one of the piers that extended out into the water. It looked small and frail against some of the waves crashing against it, but it didn't buckle or give way at all -- Alexandra suspected that, like the Invisible Bridge at Charmbridge, it had charms to reinforce it and protect it from the elements.

Valeria spoke softly into her ear. "Do you know why I went out into the storm last night, to do my research?"

Alexandra shook her head.

"Because it's almost impossible to scry through a storm."

They walked on, while Alexandra thought about that, and then Valeria spoke again.

"The original families who emigrated to the New World and formed what became the Confederation -- the Elect, as they're called -- have a lot of dirty little secrets. Infidelities, indiscretions with Muggles, Squib children, homosexuality, incest... and that's without even going into the more serious issues, like denominational warfare, piracy, Dark Arts... It's all quite operatic, and worthy of a few books that would scandalize Old Colonial society even today." She chuckled. "Absalom Thorn, for example -- he was quite the randy old goat. He claims all of his children were legitimate, but there's an eighty-year gap between the births of his oldest and youngest sons... you do the math."

"So he probably had children with more than one woman?" Alexandra snorted. "Sounds familiar."

"Yes, the apple didn't fall far from the family tree, as far as our father's reputation with the witches goes. We come from a long line of Thorns who were known for having children suspiciously late in life. At least Father had the decency to marry the mothers of his children."

"Most of them." Alexandra stared out at the waves, as they reached the pier.

Valeria glanced at her. "Yes... I'm sorry, Alexandra. I didn't mean to discount your mother."

Alexandra shrugged. "I don't suppose you could use your Time-Turner to investigate that? You know, something that actually matters?"

Valeria shook her head at Alexandra's bitter tone. "Even if I could, I wouldn't. Historicists aren't voyeurs. The things I'm researching, including our illustrious ancestors, do matter, Alexandra. Not just to us personally. And I'll be perfectly honest -- some things I'm simply not going to tell you, because some of those secrets are dangerous."

"I've heard that before, too," Alexandra muttered.

"No doubt." Valeria smiled a little sadly at her. They had ascended the steps up to the pier, and were now standing on it, where it was anchored to a rocky stretch of shoreline. No boats were docked to it at the moment. The remnants of last night's storm were still sending pounding waves against the shore, and splashing right over the pier where it projected out over the water. Alexandra could see some of the sea spray being deflected off of Valeria's Umbrella Charm, just like the rain.

"It won't work, you know," Valeria said softly.

Alexandra turned to look at her. "What won't work?"

"What you're thinking." Valeria shook her head, with a sympathetic expression. She spoke even more softly. "You can't save him."

Alexandra's eyes narrowed, while her heart hammered. Words of anger and denial rose to her lips, but Valeria shook her head again. "Do you really think no one has ever tried to use a Time-Turner to prevent someone's death, Alexandra? Honestly, do you think I wouldn't save Maximilian, if it were possible?"

"Why isn't it possible?" Alexandra snapped. "You went back in time to save me last night!"

"But I didn't change what had already happened. If you had drowned, rather than extracting yourself from the quicksand pit, I couldn't have gone back before that happened to save you."

"But if you stopped me from falling into the quicksand in the first place --"

"You did fall into the quicksand. It happened. Therefore, I couldn't change that."

"That makes no sense! If you hadn't gone back, maybe I would have dangled there until I fell in and drowned. So you changed the past --"

"I wish I could explain the laws of causality in a few easy steps, Alexandra, but I told you, I've spent years studying this. Greater wizards than me have tried and failed to do what you want to do. It doesn't work."

"Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done!" Alexandra grated back.

Valeria closed her eyes, and sighed. "I can see you're going to be very stubborn about this. I'm not surprised." She opened them again, and met Alexandra's hot, indignant stare unflinchingly.

"I'll tell you what," Valeria said. "You spend as many years as I have studying temporal magic. And then, after you know what it is you're talking about, maybe you will find a way to do the impossible."

"Don't make fun of me!" Alexandra said angrily.

"I'm not." Valeria clasped Alexandra's hands. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're a more talented witch than me. Perhaps you take after our father in that respect -- maybe you will accomplish things no one else has done before. But even Father didn't become a powerful wizard just by dint of wanting it badly enough." She shook her head. "I wish you success -- I truly do. But you're going to have to spend years working at it." She smiled slightly, and squeezed Alexandra's hands. "I'm sorry, Alexandra, but no one is going to just hand a Time-Turner to a thirteen-year-old."

Alexandra's angry expression didn't change -- stubbornly, she tried to think of a way around what Valeria was telling her, some argument she could use to convince the Historicist.

She should at least let me try! she thought bitterly.

"Look." Valeria pointed, and Alexandra, annoyed, turned to see where she was pointing. Down the beach, she saw a Thestral trotting across the sand, pulling a carriage behind it. It was difficult to make the passengers out, in the rain, but Alexandra recognized the carriage easily enough. She was pretty sure she could see Julia and her mother in the front seat. And in the back --

Her mouth fell open. Two more figures were sitting there, beneath a golden glow.

"That's -- us!" Alexandra exclaimed. "But, they're -- we're -- leaving without us..." Her voice trailed off in confusion, as the Thestral and carriage moved parallel to the pier, directly into and over the water.

"Now, hold onto me," Valeria said. She pulled the Time-Turner out of one of her pockets. Alexandra watched very carefully, only raising her eyes briefly to note how the rain and the waves had turned into a blur around them -- and where, between eyeblinks, she could pick out individual waves that were moving backward. But then she focused again on the dials Valeria was turning, and the way the hands moved counterclockwise across the face of the watch.

When Valeria stopped it again, it was ten minutes earlier than it had been.

Valeria pointed again. "You never looked up, when we first approached the pier."

Alexandra followed the direction of her finger, and gasped, as she saw a couple of figures, very far down the beach, treading across the sand in their direction, beneath a golden Umbrella Charm.

"Let's go," Valeria said, dropping the Time-Turner back into her pocket. She clasped Alexandra's hand, and with a brief wrench, they Apparated.

They were standing back on the corner where they had agreed to meet Ms. King and Julia, and down the street, Alexandra saw the Thestral-drawn carriage coming towards them.

"Once I saw us in the carriage," Valeria said, "I knew this would work -- that it had worked."

Alexandra just stood there, her mind awhirl.

"I planned out what I was going to do from the moment we left Astoria's, and I had to pay very close attention to where and when we were at all times. Little tricks like that are relatively easy. Imagine trying to go back hours, or days. Months or years? All but impossible."

"How do you observe history, then?" Alexandra asked.

"That's more complicated. There are ways to observe the past without actually entering it yourself." Valeria smiled at her. "And I can't explain to you in a few minutes what took me years to learn."

Alexandra watched silently, as the Kings' carriage pulled up.

"We'll ask Ms. King if we can take a quick detour to pick up my trunk," Valeria said. She leaned over and whispered in Alexandra's ear. "Not a word about this to either of them -- promise?"

Alexandra nodded.

Ten minutes later, Alexandra and Valeria were sitting together in the back seat, with Valeria's new wizarding trunk strapped to the carriage behind them, as they headed across the beach. Julia and Ms. King both looked rather somber, and Alexandra didn't mind when Julia stayed in the front seat, leaning against her mother.

She was much more preoccupied with what Valeria had told her and shown her. She looked down the beach, as the Thestral spread its wings and the wheels of the carriage began crashing through the surf, and then were magically buoyed above the water. The pier was a thin, blurry line, but through the rain, she could see two people standing there, surrounded by a golden glow, and she shivered, just before the figures disappeared.