The Time-Turner Chronicles

Chapter 1

Divination Discoveries

"The Intelligence Boosting Potion is to be handled with care. None more than 5 ml of the solution will boost the intelligence (one IQ more than the person already had within). Before using the potion, it is necessary to know one's IQ, as too much potion can bring the level back to zero. The potion will wear off after an hour, no matter how much was used...." a boy with messy jet-black hair, brilliantly green eyes and a thin, curiously shaped scar (the form of a lightning bolt) on his forehead mumbled.

He dipped his quill into the bottle of ink, paused for a second, reflecting about what he had just read, then bent down over his parchment and started writing. Every now and then he would stop to read something in the big dusty volume in front of him or flick through the pages.

Harry was sitting in the library, doing the nasty essay about Intelligence Boosting Potions for Snape - the only teacher that was still giving them homework after every lesson, even now with the NEWTs approaching. But Harry knew better than to neglect it: Potions was the only subject he was really afraid to fail in his NEWTs and therefore he had to study as much as he could before the exams started. He was just scanning the page through his round glasses as Ron walked in cheerfully, clutching a letter in his hand.

"Parents are coming!" he mouthed.

Harry sighed inwardly. The last thing he needed now was Ron here to distract him from his essay. Snape would be over the moon to give him zero points for the assignment... but Ron barely tried to be quiet and Harry noticed a fair few people looking up, feeling annoyed and tutting at the tall, freckle-faced, gangly redhead.

In fact, the library was unusually full for a Thursday afternoon. With only Friday morning classes left until the weekend, Thursday was normally the calmest day considering the amount of homework people had to do. But the up-coming exams did not leave any time for people to sit around the common rooms and have fun. So the library was as crowded as Harry had rarely seen it, the shelves that were usually full of books seemed to be half empty and more than once Harry had returned to his table frustrated because somebody had already taken the book he had been looking for. But even though there were so many people around, the library had been very silent indeed until Ron had come in. Madam Pince, the librarian, was also looking in their direction now; one word that disturbed her and they would be thrown out. Ron sat down next to Harry as silently as he could (which was still very loud) and continued in a faint whisper.

"They want to visit Charlie in Romania, so they won't be able to come to the graduation evening. You know, all families are invited."

"I know," Harry said stiffly and started flicking through the pages again.

"They've asked Dumbledore if they were allowed to come a few days earlier. As far as I know, they should be here just before dinner."

Harry checked his watch.

"Twenty minutes," he mumbled.

"Yeah. Even Fred and George wanted to come. Bill is going to be here as well... I wonder if he's bringing Fleur...." Ron sniggered.

"I wonder," Harry said icily.

But Ron did not notice. Harry snapped his book shut and pushed it into his bag roughly, along with his bottle of ink, quill and parchment.

"I'll leave this off in the dormitory before dinner," he said as he got up.

"Okay, mate," Ron answered. "Meet you in the Great Hall in a few minutes."

Harry merely nodded and went out of the library in a worse mood than even the Potions essay set by his least favorite teacher Severus Snape would have left him in.

~

Shortly afterwards, Harry entered the Great Hall to find most of the Weasleys - since Percy was still working and Charlie obviously could not come from Romania - sitting together at Gryffindor table with Hermione.

"Harry! How good to see you! How have you been doing since - my, the last time we saw each other was Easter, wasn't it?" Molly said cheerfully and hugged him.

"I've been fine...." Harry heard himself reply, hardly managing to breathe in Molly's tight embrace.

"Hello, Harry. Studying a lot?" Arthur asked a shook his hand as she let go of him reluctantly.

"Yes, well...."

"You do look quite tired. This school! When will they learn that you young people need a break sometimes?" Molly exclaimed and shook her head. "After having five children pass through this school and remembering my own times, the stress of the NEWTs don't seem to change. Even though only three other Weasleys were brave enough to go through them...." she added with a glare across the table at Fred and George who had just got up.

"Mum, it's been two years since we left school and we haven't regretted it once," Fred explained patiently.

"You know we're better off like this. We're Zonko's hardest competitor, for heaven's sake! What would we have needed a few NEWTs for?" George added.

"Anyway, it's good to see you Harry. When did we meet you last?"

"Well, we weren't home at Easter... so probably Christmas, right-o?" George asked, furrowing his brow, thinking.

"Yeah, Christmas," Harry said. "You seem to be fine... still not missing good old Potions with Snape or History of Magic with Binns?"

"Oh no, mate, leaving school was the best thing that ever happened to us." Fred said, winking at Molly who scowled at him.

"Now don't you talk them into the idea of leaving school, Fred!" she exclaimed angrily. "Just because you two were too lazy to do any school work and bother with a proper career, I don't see why you should-"

"Keep your hair on, mum," George grinned.

Molly threw them another dark look and then sat back down at the table with her husband. Harry noticed that the corner of Arthur's mouth was twitching as if he wanted to laugh out loud, but tried to control it. He grinned to himself as Fred clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Well, you're nearly through too...."

"Yeah, but I don't know if it's that a good thing," Harry said and smiled apologetically.

"Don't you worry, Harry," he heard a voice say from behind, turned around and found himself facing Bill who still had the long, red hair and a fang hanging from his earring.

"You'll think of Hogwarts as great days later. But I'm sure you won't be missing classes. Or Filch - he's still around isn't he?"

"Hi Bill," Harry said, smiling. "Yup, Filch is still here, torturing the first-years as ever - and so is Mrs Norris. Still been able to save your long hair from Molly's wand?"

"Yup. She's not going anywhere near it," Bill grinned.

Across the table, Ginny laughed. She had always been the one to defend Bill's hairstyle and other accessories in front of Mrs Weasley. Harry sat down opposite her, next to George, and started eating as all of a sudden the food appeared on the plates.

~

It was nice to see the Weasleys again, but still, Harry could not help it... this - feeling... like a constant heartache, some kind of deep hole that sucked in all his other emotions... this feeling that seemed to have settled in him ever since that one night nearly two years ago. Harry pretended to enjoy the evening, trying not to show any of his real thoughts - and in the meantime, he was getting good at playing somebody that he was not. Hermione was talking to Bill (who actually hadn't brought Fleur with him) about the upcoming NEWTs... Ron was sitting between Molly and Arthur, who were telling him that some of his aunts and uncles would be filling in their spaces at the graduation ceremony... Harry blocked out their conversation at once as a he felt his chest tightening... Fred and George were talking animatedly to Ginny. All this happy conversation dug deep into him. He had found someone to be there at his ceremony... and it was his fault he had died. Just as it was his fault that his parents had died. If it had not been for him, Voldemort would not have come to their home and killed them. If it had not been for him, all three, James, Lily and Sirius would still be alive. Not to forget Cedric Diggory. It was all his fault. He was poison to people around him.

"Hey Harry! We've got something for you!"

Harry jumped. He had not been listening to the conversation at all.

"What?" he asked, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Fred and George had big smiles on their faces as they pulled out a plain carton box from under the table. They shoved it towards him, laughing silently.

"You want me to open it? No thanks, I know your kind of jokes far too well. I probably know more about the foundation of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes than most people around here," Harry said, laughing.

"No, it's not from our joke shop. It's safe, you can open it."

"Forget it," Harry said.

"It's safe, Harry," Ginny said. "They've got a present for everyone. See...."

She held up a pink leather book titled: The Hundred Sweetest Lovepoems for Valentine's Day. Harry smiled. They obviously still made fun of her for sending him a Valentine in his second year, but Ginny did not seem mind it anymore. She gave him a wink and brushed a strand of her curly red hair aside. For a confusing moment, Harry felt like reaching out and touching it. The deep hole inside him seemed to be gone all of a sudden... as if it was healed up. As if something was filling it up, something he had not experienced in a while. It felt like happiness... no, it was something stronger... but before Harry had time to think about it more, George pushed the box even nearer to him. The hole was back. Harry tore his gaze from Ginny; after all it was only Ron's little sister. Just Ginny. He shook the thought away almost angrily and opened the parcel carefully, expecting it to explode. But it did not. Inside, on a little crimson cushion, rested a crystal ball, glowing in a milky light. Fred and George sniggered as Harry reached into the box and pulled it out.

"Oh, thanks. I'll be constantly reminded of three years of the best ever Divination lessons I experienced."

Fred and George laughed and Ginny joined in as well. Harry grinned. This gift was so typical for Fred and George.

"Thanks. I mean, even if I never worked out how to use it and probably never will either, it's still nice to look at," Harry said.

"We still owe you big time, Harry."

"You know we do," Fred added.

"Oh please, that's long gone. Do you realize it's been three years-"

"Change the subject - Mum's listening," Ginny said silently.

All three of them, Harry, Fred and George fell silent at once. Harry was surprised. Ginny was in on him giving Fred and George his Triwizard Tournament winnings of 1000 Galleons? In that moment, Harry realized that he did not know anything about Ginny. She was not the baby first year writing Valentines and sending get-well-cards anymore. She was 16, for heaven's sake! There was no real difference between being 16 and 17! Harry wondered if she had a boyfriend at the moment; at the time when she had been going out with Michael Corner, he had not noticed after all. But Ginny seemed to have had enough of boys for a while.

"Wait till you see what we've got for Ron," George said suddenly after a short silence.

"A pet spider," Fred whispered with tears in his eyes.

Harry forced a laugh. No doubt he would have found it funny, if he hadn't had his mind back on the way he ruined peoples' lives. And another five minutes later, Harry had had enough. He got up from his seat and told them he was going back to the common room to finish off his essay for Snape - which was after all the truth. Nobody asked any questions and so he rushed out of the Great Hall with his crystal ball. He had to finish his essay while everyone was having fun at dinner. Great. Maybe he should have paid more attention in Divination, Harry thought grimly as he looked at the box. Then he could have seen what was to come up in their Potions final. He jumped over the trip step on the staircase leading to the second floor. Maybe, if his parents had looked into the future, they would have seen that he was only going to be trouble, that he was only going to bring danger along. Then, they could have prevented all this from happening... their deaths... Sirius's death...

Harry looked at the box in his hand again angrily - but it was not the crystal ball's fault all this mess had happened... it was not going to help to smash it on the stone floor. Of course he highly doubted that he would be able to use it for what it was really meant for - Harry knew far too well about his 'Seeing' abilities. But it would be nice to look at all the same. And he could still try every now and then... there was no harm in that....

Actually, this could be just the thing he was looking for. This was the idea! He might not be as useless as he thought... it might have only been because of the teacher. There was no need to pretend that Trelawney could not See much more than a Bowtruckle. Harry was already halfway up to Gryffindor common room when he saw the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy... the Room of Requirement! This was the perfect place to test his abilities concerning Divination. He turned on his heel and hurried up and down the corridor, thinking about his plan.

I need a place to See... it must be quiet and nobody must be able to disturb me... come on... a place to See...

As he walked past the tapestry again, a highly polished door had suddenly emerged from nowhere, its brass handle glittering faintly in the dark corridor. Harry felt his stomach lurch as he grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. Hopefully he would not find himself in a place like Trelawney's classroom. He stepped into the room and closed the door slowly, looking around.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

A big shelf was filled with tea cups and kettles for reading tea leaves; crystal balls in all sizes were standing in neat rows in an open cupboard, casting a milky light around them just like his own did; there were maps of stars and books about bird entrails, palmistry and other branches of Divination stacked into long rows of shelves. Even Hermione who hated Divination would have liked to have a look at these. In the middle of the room he found a low wooden table with cushions around it, just comfortable to sit down at and gaze into the 'depths of the orb', as Trelawney would have said. He placed his box with the crystal ball on the table, went to the bookshelves and picked up a book called Techniques to Relax the Mind and Inner Eye. Perhaps there were better explanations in here than the instructions he had received from Trelawney. Hopefully he would be able to See. It wasn't as if he had never done it before. He had had dreams about Voldemort that turned out to be reality in the last few years. His heart pounding, he sat down at the table with the book and pulled the box nearer to himself. Slowly, carefully, Harry pulled out the crystal ball and placed it in front of him. It was resting securely on the crimson cushion; its highly polished surface reflected Harry's face, his big, green eyes... Lily's eyes... his jet-black, untidy hair... James's hair... his scar... the reason they were now dead.

Let me find a way... I must warn them... I don't want them to die - because of me, he thought desperately and tried to see through the swirling mist of the orb. But as it had always been, he saw nothing but the thick, pearly fog that filled it.

Concentrate, Harry! I must find a way... tell me how to do it....

He stared, his eyes watering. Harry started to get annoyed. After all, Hermione might have been right about Divination... a load of guess-work... maybe she had been right to quit it so soon.

I mustn't close my eyes! It's like staring out a Hippogriff, like staring out Buckbeak in our third year....

He could not help it... he tried to fight against it, tried to stare into the crystal ball even harder, forced himself to keep his eyes wide open... but, as usually, his thoughts drifted away....

Buckbeak and Sirius escaped together... if only we had got Pettigrew, Voldemort would never have come back to life... if only we had prevented him from escaping... but, no, Hermione said we weren't allowed to be seen... we could end up killing our future or past selves with the Time-Turner... if only we had captured Pettigrew... Sirius perhaps would have never had to die... it was Pettigrew's fault... just as it was his fault my parents died....

Suddenly, for the first time in his life, Harry noticed the swirly, white fog in the orb changing, moving differently.... He screwed up his eyes in effort to not lose the picture... a dark shape, growing out of the white mist... it was a girl fiddling with something in her robes... it was Hermione, hiding the Time-Turner, in their third year... the Hermione in the orb was growing, growing from her younger self in their third year to the way she looked now... she had her Head Girl badge pinned to her robes... she was bent down low over a trunk... it had to be her own trunk... she pulled out something round hanging by a chain....

Harry choked and blinked. Instantly the picture disappeared.

"No way," he whispered.

"No way."

~

Hermione had a Time-Turner? How could she have come across one? There was no reason anymore. She had given it back! She said that she had!

And what if she didn't? Ambitious as she is, she surely didn't mind a few more hours of revision....

Harry was shocked at his own thought. She could not have done that. Not Hermione, model student!

Riddle was a model student, too....

Okay, now it was getting silly. He could not compare Hermione to Riddle. But all the same, she had a Time-Turner. At least, if what he had seen in the crystal ball had not been a figment of his imagination. But it did not answer his question. Why had he seen this, he had asked for a way to save his parents....

And then it hit him.

The Time-Turner.

He could go back to the past.

Somehow he would have to make him travel back more than a few hours... somehow... somehow he would find a way.

Harry jumped up from the table, grabbed his crystal ball and ran out of the Room of Requirement.

He had to find Hermione.

~

"Hermione!"

All heads spun around to see who was shouting like that as Harry jumped into Gryffindor common room. Harry ignored the curious stares, searching frantically. She had to be here. However, one glance around told him that Hermione was not in the common room. As he was not really sure about where she could be otherwise, he sat down in an armchair waiting for her. Surely she would arrive soon. Neville was reading a book about Herbology, noting things down every now and then. Seamus and Dean were going through their Charms notes. Lavender and Parvati were, of course, reading big dusty Divination volumes. They were after all the only Gryffindors who had not quit that class at the beginning of the sixth year, nor now in their seventh. Some fifth years in a corner were learning - they were sitting their OWLs this week. Harry felt queasy. He should be revising as well, or he would fail his Potions final... but he was too excited and confused to learn. After all, he still had enough time till the actual tests started. Over a week. And he had already done more revision than a lot of students thanks to Hermione. He became increasingly nervous. Where was Hermione? She had to come back to the common room sooner or later! Harry decided to finish the essay for Snape in the library. Perhaps she would be there; after all, she was bound to be learning. He got up from his seat and went up to the dormitory to get the essay. He entered without bothering to knock on the door.

"Oh! Hi, Harry."

Harry goggled. Hermione was sitting on the floor with Crookshanks, talking to Ron, who was sitting on his bed. Obviously they had been here for a while, because he had not seen them since when he had left dinner.

"What are you doing here? I've been waiting downstairs for ages!" Harry said in an awed voice.

"Nothing much. We've just been going over some Transfiguration."

"Here?"

"It's too loud in the common room."

That was a downright lie. The common room was extremely calm at the moment; all Gryffindors from first year to seventh were working hard for the exams. He had the impression that Hermione did not meet his eyes.

"Well, what did you want?" she asked impatiently.

For a second, Harry could not remember but an instant later, everything he had seen in the orb came back to him. He took a deep breath. She was not going to expect this, but he decided it would be easiest to be straightforward. He looked her straight in the eye and spoke loud and clearly for her to understand that he was not joking.

"Hermione... I need the Time-Turner."

Hermione jumped. She stared at him wildly for a few seconds and then pretended to be interested in Crookshanks.

"The what...?"

Her breathing was not steady, she was gasping for air; her cheeks were flushed with anger or annoyance. Obviously he had touched a nerve. There was indeed something behind all of this.

"What are you talk-?"

"Look Hermione, I know you have it and I need it. I don't know why you have it and I don't know if you are actually allowed to have it, but I promise that I won't ask any questions."

"The Time-Turner? You told us that you-" Ron started.

"I don't have one. You know that I had to give it back at the end of our third year," she said, her voice shaking.

"Hermione, don't lie. I know you have it," Harry said calmly without lifting his gaze from her startled face.

"How could she still have the Time-"

"Be quiet," Hermione snapped at Ron, "D'you want everyone to hear? Fine, Harry. I'll go and get it. But before I go, I want you to tell me how you found out."

"You will hardly believe me. But if you must know... you shouldn't have given up Divination after all, Hermione. I was crystal gazing, you know," Harry said smiling.

Hermione stared at him incredulously for a few long seconds, then got up, grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and left the boys' dormitory without another glance at them.

"What do you mean, crystal gazing? In an orb? And you saw that she had a Time-Turner?" Ron asked puzzled.

"Yup," said Harry and grinned.