The Time-Turner Chronicles

Chapter 7

The Meeting Of The Houses

A heavy blast of wind causing the great oak front doors to fly open directed Harry's attention from Narcissa Black back to what was happening and he whipped around with the others. Next to him Lily was getting weaker, searching for him, for his support, so he took her astonishing cold hand in his. He wanted to ask her so many things, wanted to explain why he was here and yet his lips had no other choice but to stay sealed. Now at least he had found out why Malfoy was here with them. It was - of course - for his own good, for his mother. Narcissa Black. So Hermione had been right about Malfoy's parents. They were indeed at Hogwarts; or at least his charming mother was.

Harry stared out through the open door. What on earth was going on? The surface of the lake glittered brightly in the sunlight of the early afternoon, slightly rippled by a soft breeze. However, inside the school, it wasn't just a light breeze. It was a hard, cold wind that whipped into their unprotected faces and they were absolutely unable to detect the source of it. The leaves on the branches of the trees standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest were swaying only a little. Everything outside looked calm and peaceful. But still, they all knew - at least the seven people standing around Harry - they all knew that something dark was going on.

Harry's gaze wandered up to the cloudless, light-blue sky, a typical sky of the end of May. All calm. All peaceful. The sun was shining brightly - except for a tiny dark spot in the middle of it - casting warm beams to heat up Harry's freezing face. It was the perfect day to just flop down next to the lake and do absolutely nothing apart from playing with the cool water. Or for a Quidditch match... perfect conditions to find the Snitch, the sun was not too bright, it was not really windy (outside that was), the ground was probably hard and would give them a fast kick-off...

Wait a minute.

Dark spot?

"The sun! There's something wrong with the sun!" Harry yelled.

The second those words crossed his lips, the spot starting growing bigger and bigger, ever bigger until it was far more than a tiny, barely recognizable spot, but already a fairly large, discernible patch. Lily let out a terrified gasp next to him, trembling with fear. There had to be something wrong with her; Harry had already noticed before that she was leaning onto him. She did not seem to have enough strength anymore to hold herself up. He felt her hand clutching his more tightly than before. Feeling her weakness, he slipped his arm around Lily's waist to give her some support, at the same time, trying to stand slightly in front of her, to shield her from whatever it was. The dark patch was growing steadily, now taking up well over half of the sun's space. Aaron, the young boy from Hufflepuff, let out a frightened squeak. Kat, the Hufflepuff prefect with the blond plait, took his hand immediately to calm him down, although Harry could see that she herself was not too sure about the whole thing either. Behind him, the two Ravenclaws Fabi and William - they were both about the same age and actually looked very similar to each other - were holding hands, breathing unsteadily. Malfoy, Harry was glad to see, was looking extremely apprehensive, just as his mother, Narcissa. They were standing right next to Harry, wands out, but not as composed and cool as Slytherins usually were. Actually, Harry had the impression that he was calmest of all. But perhaps that was because he had no idea what was going on. He glanced towards Ron, Hermione, Sirius and James who were still standing at the side of the hall, looking serious and concentrated. They looked concerned, yes, but not near as concerned as they should be, Harry found.

Nearly reluctantly, as if he preferred to not think about it, Harry's gaze fixed itself back onto the curious dark patch in front of the sun. And in that moment, he understood what it was. "It's an object! It's some kind of flying object!" he exclaimed, this time not wasting any time and pushing Lily behind him, where it was safer. It was his fault all this was happening, he was sure of it - and he wasn't going to let anything harm her; she looked weak enough as she was.

"It's coming nearer!" Kat said, eyes wide with fright.

The sky was getting darker now, Harry could see. The calm and peace that he had noticed before seemed to have vanished. The lake was forming waves - they weren't big, but they were waves all the same - and the wind that was still blowing around them like mad seemed to have taken over outside as well. The torches that hung on the stone walls flickered and went out. Harry's heart started beating faster... the object was still coming nearer towards them, ever nearer, ever closer... still, he could not make up his mind about the size of it... but whatever the size was, the object was threatening them... the sky was now already a dark shade of grey, leaves were blowing from the trees of the Forbidden Forest right into the Entrance Hall, all around them, the weather stormy. A bright crack of light made them all jump. Lightning. A second later, thunder. The sky darker than ever. Lily tightened her arms around his waist. He was not going to let anything happen to her. Last time, she had sacrificed herself for him. If it came to that, it was his turn now.

All of a sudden, a dazzling white light shone from in between the open oak front doors. Harry closed his eyes in pain because it was so bright, he was afraid it might blind him, any felt Lily burying her face at his shoulder. This was it. The light was a weapon of the enemy and they couldn't even fight because they were blinded by it.

"YOU - SHALL - NOT - PASS!" a booming voice sounded.

Surprised, Harry risked a glimpse, feeling Lily's unsteady, warm breath on his neck. He couldn't imagine the enemy talking to them like that, although the voice sounded fierce and powerful, so he expected it to be some kind of enemy. However, he found it very difficult to see anything. The light, as far as he could tell, was coming from a tall person in dark blue robes who was blocking the entrance. This was not the enemy. Harry thought he could discern long white hair.

He blinked.

Dumbledore?

"AS LONG AS THE FOUR HOUSES ARE UNITED, NONE WILL FALL! AS LONG AS THE FOUR HOUSES ARE LOYAL TO HOGWARTS, YOU SHALL NOT ENTER! AS LONG AS THE FOUR HOUSES ARE LOYAL TO ME, YOU - SHALL NOT - TAKE - OVER!" the person said forcefully, so loud that a shiver crept down Harry's spine, the hair on the back of his neck standing up, worse than when the thunder had surprised them all.

But at the same time, Harry was relieved, as he had never been before in his life. Dumbledore was here. They were safe. He would know how to handle it.

Thunder sounded again. Harry felt rain starting to hit his face and risked another glimpse.

He nearly choked.

Dumbledore had gone.

And what was...?

"DUCK!" Harry yelled and tore the others down with him just in time, flinging himself next to Lily, close by her, his arm over her protectively. Not this time. Not this time. He was old enough to protect her now. Not this time.

Something black, round and enormous flew away over their heads, rippling their hair. Harry could hear Aaron, the young Hufflepuff whimper. Why was he here? He was far too young! What use was he going to be in this? And Lily....

"There are more coming!" William yelled and Harry put his right arms over his head to protect himself, his left still clutching Lily's slim figure.

Again he felt something whizzing over his head. And again. Was Lily safe? What was happening? He could never forgive himself if anything happened to her now - he wouldn't be able to forgive himself on any account as he would not be born if anything happened to her. His head shot up to have a look at the situation and, even more importantly, check on his mother and he had to duck almost immediately if he didn't want his face to be smashed up. But this time he wasn't so lucky; it - whatever it was - whipped right past his cheek, causing a sore, hot, burnt trace, the raindrops falling onto his face, causing it to sting painfully.

"KEEP DOWN!" Harry yelled at the others, making sure Lily was safe. She was laying on the floor next to him, arms covering her dark red hair, her wand still in her hand, looking startled, but somehow determined - he recognized the glint in her eyes, when he caught her gaze... it was the same he wore often enough.

"Harry!" he heard Hermione yell suddenly, as if she was far away.

There was a funny sound, as if something had bounced off somewhere. Resisting the temptation to look up again, Harry tried to ignore it. He just hoped that it wasn't those bludger-like balls bouncing off the walls.

"What the heck is this?" he heard a girl's voice shout, assumingly Fabi, the Ravenclaw.

Harry looked up again. Fabi was getting up along with William. Quickly, Harry jumped up, just as Malfoy, Kat, Narcissa and Aaron did. Lily was lying on the floor, supporting herself with her arms, trembling from head to foot. Harry pulled her up easily and put his arm around her securely to stop her from falling.

Not this time, he thought to himself furiously. Not this time. Get a grip on yourself, Potter! If anything happens to her....

Again, he heard the funny noise, prepared to fling himself back onto the ground in case those balls were really bouncing off the walls. He whipped around with Lily and the rest to see where the noise had come from.

His jaw fell open.

They were trapped.

"At least those black things aren't coming in anymore," Narcissa said in a cold drawl that made Harry shiver.

"We're trapped," Lily said and Harry felt his knees nearly giving away and his free arm shot around her waist at once.

It was true. They were no longer just standing in the Entrance Hall, but trapped under some kind of pale blue tent-like bubble. The black balls were lying on the floor outside their prison. They looked as if they had been chopped in half. Harry let go of Lily, made her sit down on the floor carefully and ran towards the bubble's wall. The bludger-type things were not chopped in half as he had assumed, but had apparently burst open. There were beams of blue light shooting out of them to some spot over Harry's head, the top of the bubble. He counted sixteen of them, all with the blue light beaming to the top of the bubble.

"Those black balls are holding up this thing," he said angrily.

Through the pale blue transparent wall, Harry could see Hermione lying on the floor, both Ron and Sirius bent over her, as well as somebody else standing next to them. James. He wasn't looking at Harry; his gaze was fixed on some spot behind him, presumably Lily. It was his father, James, and although everyone had always told him how similar they looked, although he had seen so many pictures of his father, Harry was totally shocked by their resemblance. He actually had the impression that he was looking into mirror, only that it wasn't a mirror, but a transparent glass wall between them.

"What happened?" he heard Ron's muffled yell. He was bending over Hermione who seemed to be unconscious. Sirius looked as if he was paralyzed with shock, holding Hermione's hand as Ron started shifting her body to a different position so she would be more comfortable.

"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Ron! What's happening?"

He didn't know if Ron was ignoring his voice or if he simply couldn't hear it, because Ron showed no reaction at all and went on with his actions. Harry felt sick with worry about Hermione but turned away from her still body. He noticed that James was not looking at Lily anymore. Instead, he was looking directly at him. It looked as if James was going to say something as Malfoy appeared next to Harry.

"What is this thing?" Malfoy asked and stretched out his arm.

Harry turned away from James to look at what Malfoy was doing.

"Don't!" he yelled, but too late.

Malfoy touched the wall and suddenly, a loud noise issued. There was a kind of bang and Harry felt Malfoy being thrust away from the harmless looking wall, flying back and landing on the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Malfoy!" Harry yelled.

"Draco!"

Narcissa had already knelt down next to Malfoy, shaking him. Harry ran over and saw to his relief (and it surprised him) that Malfoy was still alive. He shuddered violently but his eyes snapped open. There was blood trickling down from his temple, but he managed to sit back up.

"You okay?" Kat asked concerned, coming over.

"Yeah," Malfoy said weakly.

"Well..." Harry said. "Now we know what the bouncing noise was and that we should keep away from the walls." His voice was calm, but inside he was completely confused. What the heck was happening? He just hoped that Hermione would be okay. It looked as if she had touched the wall from her side to the same reaction as Malfoy... or worse? He didn't dare think about it.

Fabi, who had just walked over, nodded. "So don't touch it again, err... Draco, right?"

Malfoy simply nodded in response, touching his forehead gingerly and wincing slightly as he felt the cut. He pulled out a handkerchief with his initials D.L.M. embroidered into a corner and wiped the blood away carefully. Shortly afterwards, William joined the small group with Aaron and soon they were all standing (or sitting in Malfoy's and Lily's case) in the middle of the bubble.

There was no way out.

They were trapped.

Dumbledore had left them.

They were alone.

Harry noticed that they couldn't hear the storm around them anymore. No wind blew in the bubble; no rain splashed their faces. Even though, a few minutes ago, he would have been extremely grateful for this silence, now it was upon them it felt like a constant torture. Outside, he could see that the storm was still violating. But in their bubble it was calm. Calm and peaceful.

And he knew it was more dangerous than standing outside in the rain.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Fabi suddenly yelled in frustration and turned around to stare at the walls of the bubble.

"He doesn't want us out of here," Narcissa said coolly and raised an eyebrow at the Ravenclaw as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you mean?" Fabi said, spinning around and glaring at Narcissa.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Narcissa continued in the typical Malfoy-drawl. "We're in his way. Therefore, he's imprisoned us."

"And who would that be?" Fabi spat.

"The guy that was standing in the door," Narcissa said and flicked a strand of blonde hair from her shoulder.

"Oh, that's non... nonsense..." Lily coughed.

"That wasn't the enemy," Harry said and squatted down next to Lily, who looked as if she was going to pass out any second.

"Who was it?" Fabi, William and Kat asked in unison.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, as if they just all had been too stupid to notice. "Don't you have any...?"

"Dumbledore," Aaron interrupted silently.

Everyone fell silent. Harry was happy that Aaron, Malfoy and presumably Lily had seen him as well, as he himself hadn't been very sure about it. Lily seemed to be better now, so Harry got up and stood behind the young Hufflepuff.

"I saw him too," he said and laid his hand on Aaron's shoulder.

"Right," Kat said. "But then-"

"-Who is the enemy?" William asked.

"A person that wants to take over," Malfoy muttered darkly.

"Like who?" Fabi asked.

Malfoy eyed her with surprise. "The Dark Lord."

Harry was thinking along the same lines as Malfoy, but to his utter bewilderment and astonishment, Fabi, William, Kat and Narcissa snorted in amusement.

"Ooooooh, the Dark Lord, right?" Fabi joked.

"Where d'you get that nonsense from?" William said laughing.

"Nonsense?" Harry asked, feeling weak.

"The last wizard that wanted to take over was stopped by Dumbledore. Grindelwald is not about to come out of his grave, you know," Kat said and shook her head.

"You... you don't know... Voldemort?" Harry asked in a faint whisper.

At the sound of Voldemort's name, only Malfoy flinched and it struck Harry as a bad omen indeed. They didn't know. They didn't know whom they were facing. Whom he was facing, once again.

"Vol-dee-what?" Narcissa asked and laughed.

"The Dark Lord!" Malfoy exclaimed.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Harry added.

"You-Know-Who," Malfoy said.

"Just... just Voldemort," Harry finished exasperatedly.

"Nutcases, you two," William said, but stopped laughing.

"Look, we're in a serious situation. We don't have time to mess around," Fabi said and shook her head disbelievingly.

"We have to make a plan," Kat said and she sat down on the floor.

The others followed her and eventually, only Harry was still up standing. Why did they not know? Was this just some practical joke? They had said the last dark wizard had been Grindelwald, and that Dumbledore had defeated him. Harry had heard of this... but since then, a good twenty years had passed. He sat down on the floor, trying to calculate... his parents had been in the Order just a few years after they had left school... Voldemort must have already been around for a bit then... Harry vaguely noticed Malfoy whispering something to Lily. In the meantime, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were discussing something with Narcissa and weren't taking any notice of what Harry, Malfoy and Lily were doing.

"Harry?" Malfoy whispered.

Harry turned around, being interrupted in his calculations. It took him a while to realize that Malfoy had just called him 'Harry' and not 'Potter' as usually. However, he tried not to dwell on this and sat closer to Lily and Malfoy. Voldemort might not yet be in the open... Malfoy pointed at Lily.

"She believes us. She knows," he said.

"You do?" Harry asked, feeling relieved.

Lily nodded, all colour draining from her face as she worked up the strength to answer. "Yes. I know, Dumbledore explained me more than he explained them, because I am Head Girl."

"What exactly do you know?" Harry asked, feeling his stomach lurch as he saw how much energy it cost Lily to barely sit up straight.

Lily coughed, shaking slightly. "Not much. That he's trying to get in control." Her voice sunk to a minimal whisper, her eyes wide with fright. "Do you really think it's him?" she asked, probably hoping for them to say no.

"Yes," Harry said grimly.

"In Hogwarts: A History, I know I read that he tried to... uhm..." Malfoy stopped, looking at Harry in a weird way. After all, how could he explain that he had read anything about Voldemort's actions if they hadn't happened yet - they didn't know they were from the future!

Lily looked from Malfoy to Harry. "What?"

"Mu- err... Lily..." Harry started. "It's hard to explain. Do you know who we are?"

Slowly, Lily shook her head.

"Well, you see-"

"But I knew you were coming."

"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked.

"I had a vision about Harry... first I thought it was Potter, but then I saw he had green eyes... you look a lot like him though..."

"Never mind," Harry said quickly.

"It's funny... anyway, Dumbledore told me you were coming as well," she said, pointing at Malfoy. "Both of you."

"WHAT?" Harry and Malfoy exclaimed, staring at her.

"How could he know?" Malfoy asked.

"Why shouldn't he?" Lily replied.

"Lily, it's not that easy. We're not from somewhere else and have just joined the school. We're not exchange students or anything," Harry said, feeling desperate.

"I didn't think so anyway."

"Yes, but you weren't thinking along these lines either..." Malfoy said glumly.

"Lily..." Harry said silently and took her hand in his. "We're from the future."

~

Lily stared at them. It was true that she hadn't believed them to be from another school and just having transferred; after all, they spoke with a normal English accent, so they did not come from America or Australia, and Hogwarts was the only school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Great Britain. What exactly she had thought, she did not really know right now. But could anybody really come from the future? Did that make sense? And how had Dumbledore known they would be coming?

She closed her eyes and tried to screw up the last remnants of what Dumbledore had said to her that evening. Her head felt so sore... but it came back to her... slowly... gradually... she could recall the evening....

~

"Sit down please, Lily..."

Dumbledore gestured towards a seat opposite his desk. Lily sat down quietly, wondering what he could possibly want with her at this time of day. It was ten o'clock, well after dinner. Normally, for a normal Head Girl and Head Boy meeting, Dumbledore would have ordered her in during the morning or afternoon. But Remus was not here... he was Head Boy... so what did Dumbledore want from her? The headmaster walked around the table swiftly and sat down as well, looking extremely grave.

"You remember that I told you about the rising of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort."

Lily shivered slightly. Although she knew only little about Voldemort, she was frightened of him. And the fact that Dumbledore wanted to talk about Voldemort at ten o'clock in the evening, when she should be in Gryffindor tower, made her even more nervous.

"Yes, Professor."

"I had a specific reason to explain this to you, for normally I would not discuss these manners with students; not even the Head Girl and Boy. However, this issue is very important and you are the only student old and responsible enough to know the whole truth. The Dark Lord is ever rising, Lily. The Ministry knows, but it is hard to track him down. It is hard to track down his followers. It could be that your neighbours have changed to the Dark Side, people you thought you knew well. And they still act normally. They know how to disguise themselves. Voldemort is not out in the open yet, Lily. Not yet. But the time will come. And when the time comes, the first place he will come to is not the Ministry. It is Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Lily asked, flustered. "Why... why is that, Sir?"

"The reason is, that it is easy for him to overthrow the Ministry. It's the easy part of the work. But Hogwarts, apparently in the background, is a constant threat to him and he will not be able to succeed. So he has to take over Hogwarts before going on to the Ministry."

"Hogwarts, Sir? What kind of a threat are a few teachers and students, even though you are the most powerful wizard known? What threat is Hogwarts to him?"

"Hogwarts would be like cliff in the sea. Everything around will be chaos, but Hogwarts will stand still and resist - and make him fall. It is neither the staff nor the students that threaten him, Lily. It is the power united. The power of the union of the four houses, an ancient bond of friendship like in the days of the foundation of Hogwarts."

"The friendship between Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin?" Lily asked. "But Slytherin broke away from the other founders, Sir. The houses live in competition with each other."

"That is why they must be reunited. If the houses are united, like they were a long time ago, Lord Voldemort cannot take over," Dumbledore explained calmly, peering over his half-moon spectacles.

"United... in what sense, united, Sir?"

"Ah... now this is the part where you step in Lily. I need two students from every house, two students that fulfil certain requirements. It is not about intelligence or age, it is about something different... something I cannot explain to you now. You will know. Are you willing to represent a part of Gryffindor, Lily?"

"Yes, Sir. I am."

"I knew you would be, Lily. But before you give me your definite yes, you need to know what it might cost you. Lily, if Voldemort does indeed try to take over the school, you - in company of seven others - will have to face him. And I will not be there to protect you. You will have to fight on your own. Are you sure you are willing to accept?"

"Yes, Sir. I will fight him, even if it costs my life. He has caused damage already, though operating in secret, and is powerful to cause even more so in the future."

"Your word binds you to your promise."

"I know. I will fight him."

"I have trust in you, Lily. Are there any questions?"

"Who are the other seven?"

"Ah, this is a delicate question. I know of further five: Two Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws and a Slytherin. I cannot tell you the names. You must not talk to them about it and if the names are revealed, the subject might slip. Another Gryffindor and another Slytherin are yet to come. How, I am not sure yet. But I know just about who they will be. Don't dwell on it, Lily. But be prepared for the day. Whatever state you are in, you have to be there on time. You must be there on time, otherwise it will fail."

"Where must I be, Sir? At what time?"

"You will know, Lily. You will know, when and where you will have to be. You will find out, do not worry. All you have to do is to react to the signal."

~

The signal. She had reacted to it. And now she was trapped in a bubble-like construction with no means to get out or contact anybody about it, feeling extremely ill and probably about to be murdered by Voldemort. The bitter irony of the situation was about to overwhelm her, when Lily heard a yell.

"Lily!"

She spun around, still leaving Harry's sentence (his name was Harry, wasn't it? She was feeling a bit dizzy and found it hard to concentrate on much...) hanging in midair. James was standing on the other side of the bubble, looking very worried indeed, in an even worse state than he had been back in the hospital wing. Suddenly, her vision became blurry and she had to hold on tightly to Harry to keep sitting straight.

"Lily, are you okay?" Harry asked urgently.

"Yes... fine... I'm fine, James - I mean Harry. Harry... Harry, right? Sorry, but... but you do look very alike indeed..." she said slowly, frowning, having problems to string two words together.

Harry did not say anymore and Lily was grateful for it. She was confused. This whole issue was making her feel sick again. Sensing that another wave of dizziness was about to come over her, she shut her eyes tightly and fought. She had to stand up. She had given Dumbledore her word. Lily's eyes snapped back open. "You said... you said that you were both from the future?" she asked slowly.

"Yes," Malfoy said.

"And why are you here?" Lily asked.

Harry shot a glance at Malfoy. Well, it was sort of his - Harry's - fault they were here... but he started to feel that there was more going on than just his desire to rescue his parents; he had the feeling that something much more complex was building up.

The way it always was with the Time-Turner.

So, why were they here?

"I have no idea," Malfoy said to Harry's astonishment.

"You don't know either?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.

"No... I know it's not about your initial idea only... there's more, but I don't know what either. I was told to keep an eye on you," Malfoy said.

Harry blinked at him. Now he was really confused. At his side, Lily took a deep breath.

"I suppose I can help a bit. I can tell you what I know, which seems to be more than you. But the others... the others are part of it as well. We must be united," Lily said, speaking slowly.

Malfoy nodded shortly and got up to join the rest of the group, who were still debating on their plan and on what was going on. He exchanged a few words with Narcissa and managed to persuade the others to listen to what Lily had to say. Harry didn't listen to Malfoy's words though; he was staring as if transfixed through the pale-blue bubble wall... staring at James, his father. Only when Lily coughed once again did he snap out of his trance and turn back to the others.

"Go on then, Lily. We really need an explanation," William said, twisting his fingers in his lap nervously.

"And even more important, we need a plan to escape," Fabi added.