The Time-Turner Chronicles

Chapter 8

Uniting The Power

"Come on, Hermione... wake up..." Ron mumbled.

Neither Sirius nor James were of much help to him. Sirius had been sitting in the same position holding Hermione's hand, staring into space, for the last quarter of an hour, ever since she had tried to get into the bubble. Of course, as it had done to Malfoy (but at least he deserved it, Ron thought angrily), she had been thrown backwards on the floor and had landed in an awkward position. She had still had the time to whisper something - then she became unconscious. Ron had checked her through as well as he could. Her breathing was normal and steady; but they couldn't get her to wake up. Nothing had helped, no slapping her face, no water poured over her head from his wand. Ron would have taken her to the hospital wing at once, but she had asked him not to.

"Ron. We must all stay here. Don't bring me to the hospital wing. They might need us - or at least the three of you," she had said just before she had been knocked out.

And the situation was sort of... alarming, to say the least. Harry and Malfoy, along with Lily Evans (as far as Ron could tell; he thought it was her) and five other Hogwarts pupils were sitting trapped in the funny bubble. He could not hear a word of what was going on inside. This had to be some foul trick Malfoy was playing on them. He had known they should not have left the secret room behind the mirror! But, no, Harry had not listened to him and had followed Malfoy. Of all people to trust, why Malfoy? And then Malfoy had ordered them to stand aside. He must have known that the bubble was coming. He must have known and lured Harry into it. Why was Harry so naïve at times? Why did he not listen to his advice? If he had, he would not be trapped in that bubble. And what was more, Hermione was unconscious, they could not get back to the future and if anything indeed attacked either Harry inside the bubble or them on the outside, they might die. Great work, really. Ron could not decide whom he was annoyed with more at the moment. Harry? Malfoy?

Or perhaps Sirius?

But that was something different. Anyway, what exactly had Hermione and Sirius bee doing together all that time? They had acted as if... no, that was nonsense. Hermione could not be foolish enough to do that, could she? And why with Sirius? Why? What was so great about Sirius? He had been sitting on the floor, rooted to the spot for the last twenty minutes! Holding Hermione's hand would not wake her up, that was sure. Feeling helpless, Ron sat down on the floor. At least James did not seem to be such a nutcase as Sirius - well, the young Sirius. He at least seemed to care about what was happening to Lily in there, even though he could not help her. He at least made more of an effort.

"Mione!" Sirius's croaky voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Ron turned around to find Hermione and Sirius hugging tightly. He blinked. Well, if that was not just... just... disgusting. Worse than Krum. Victor. Vicky.

"I'm... I'm okay... honestly, Sirius... I'm fine..." she mumbled.

Slowly, Sirius let go of her. Ron was relieved. She was indeed awake, very pale, but awake, awake and able to talk normally.

"Hermione? You okay?" he asked.

Hermione turned to Ron, who was expecting a hug as well - but she could not, Sirius was sort of sitting in the way. Sirius again! Ron tried to push Sirius aside a bit and sat down close to Hermione.

"Yes, yes... feel a bit weak... but okay," she said.

"You were out cold for about nearly twenty minutes."

"Hmm..."

Hmm? Was that all she had to say? Hmm?! Feeling very confused indeed, Ron tried to make her understand what he had said.

"Uhm... do you realize how long that-"

"What's happening in there? Have you been able to talk to them, have you been able to hear their conversation? Do you know what they are doing right now?" Hermione interrupted and looked past him.

"No, actually-" Ron started but got cut off by Sirius.

"No, we have no idea. Couldn't get to them. They seemed to have had a row or so because they divided into two groups for a while but now they're discussing something. We can't hear them, but I think they can hear us." Sirius looked at her, expressing anxiety about her state. "Are you sure, you're okay, Hermione? D'you want me to get anything? Don't you think you should go to-"

"The hospital wing? No, I can't. They might need me. They might need all of us soon. Besides, I'm feeling better, it's okay. We have to be ready to react if they need our help. We have to try and find out what this bubble is, where it came from, how to demolish it," Hermione said.

She turned to Sirius and smiled at him as he slowly brushed a strand of her hair aside. And at her side, Ron started to feel sick.

~

Silence was upon the eight students sitting in the middle of the bubble. Lily had just finished her story about what Dumbledore had told her. There was no other possibility: this was the beginning of one of the darkest chapters in the wizarding world. The rise of Lord Voldemort. And nobody questioned his name anymore. All eight knew that Lily had been speaking the truth. At long last, the young Hufflepuff Aaron finally raised a timid question.

"Why isn't he attacking, then? Why has he simply locked us away?"

Nobody answered. Harry's mind was working furiously... why wasn't Voldemort attacking? Surely, about half an hour had passed by now?

"He didn't mean for it to happen this way," Kat said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Fabi asked hopefully.

"Well, as I see it, we represent the houses, right? And we're all trapped in the bubble. We're united."

"Are you trying to say that not Voldemort made this thing?" Narcissa asked suspiciously.

"No, I think he did make it. But his plan did not include us standing in the middle of the hall, you see?"

"And what is this thing supposed to be? Why would he want to make a bubble in the middle of the Entrance Hall?" Malfoy asked.

"I don't know..." Kat said silently.

"But I do!" William said and slapped his forehead.

"What is it?" Harry urged.

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before! Hogwarts is protected by more than just the walls surrounding it; there are for instance charms to make it unplottable and so on... so Voldemort can't just walk into Hogwarts, he can't just find it by consulting a map..."

"Yes..." Narcissa said slowly and raised an eyebrow.

"This helped him in. Or at least, it was supposed to," William said.

"And how would a bubble..."

"Oh, yes! You're right!" Aaron suddenly piped up. "This is a kind of portal..."

Slowly, Harry understood. "Yes, yes, exactly! The thing we saw flying... it must have been an item with some kind of charm on it to find Hogwarts. It found the place. Then those other black Bludger-thingies were set loose... to build up a kind of portal, like a Portkey or a Time-Turner... a bit bigger of course, and perhaps a lot more complicated... but that's the main idea!" Harry said excitedly.

Most of the people around him nodded, except Narcissa.

"And why isn't he appearing in here, then?" she asked.

"Because we're blocking him. He can't get in as long as we're trapped in the bubble. We're the houses united, remember?" Harry said and Narcissa fell silent.

"I guess we're right..." Lily said slowly. "... But there still is a problem."

"Which one?" Fabi asked.

"We can't sit in here forever to block him. And in the meantime, he will have noticed that it doesn't work. He will be looking for a way to get in."

"So what do we do now?" Kat asked helplessly.

"We can't get out, even if we wanted to! We'll have to stay here until he does indeed find a way to get in," William said and groaned.

"If only Dumbledore was here..." Lily said. "He could defeat Vol-"

"No he couldn't," Harry interrupted.

"How do you...?"

"We're from the future, remember?" Malfoy said.

"It so happens that Voldemort has always feared Dumbledore, but Dumbledore is not the person that can... kill him. He's tried countless times. Vol-"

"Can you please stop using that name?" Malfoy burst out, after flinching at every single sentence Harry spoke.

"Sorry," Harry replied automatically, as always when he was talking about Lord Voldemort to Hagrid or Ron or the other Weasleys. "As I was saying, You-Know-Who cannot..."

"Why shouldn't he use his name?" Narcissa cut in.

"What's the problem with saying Voldemort?" Fabi asked.

"You-Know-Who sounds really stupid," Aaron added and giggled.

Malfoy shot Harry an exasperated look. Harry shrugged. They could not expect them to fear Voldemort without knowing anything about him. But perhaps, when they had to face him - even though Harry prayed they could find a way out of this without meeting Voldemort - perhaps then, they would understand why most people in the wizarding world would start saying You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or the Dark Lord. He just hoped they would not have to find out the hard way.

"It's just... you don't know anything about the fear he will cause... the darkness of the age coming up... the constant scare..." Malfoy started and looked at Harry for help.

"Sorry, mate. You're on your own. I didn't grow up in the wizarding world and I've always called him by his name, Lord Vol-... well, You-Know-Who," Harry answered.

Suddenly he felt weird. Mate. He had called Malfoy 'mate'. Harry blinked. How had that happened? Malfoy however did not notice, or at least pretended not to, and tried to explain more.

"You have no idea of the terror he caused, well... will cause, to you. Even though he was gone for nearly fifteen years, people still could not hear his name. Especially the people who had lived through those times. This is so hard to explain... Harry... maybe...?" Malfoy asked with a nearly pleading look.

Harry blinked again. Since when was he Harry to Malfoy? He shook the thought away and tried to concentrate on what he was going to say. He had to be careful. He couldn't let a word slip about Lily's and James's deaths.

"Uhm... well, Voldemort started off as a normal Hogwarts graduate, but started sinking into the studies of the Dark Arts, underwent numerous transformations... slowly he started gathering followers. A lot of them. His aim was to - well, to rule over the world, I suppose. He killed anybody who stood in his way, anybody, or tried to bring other people to the Dark Side with his followers. Of course, some did resist. Dumbledore, along with other witches and wizards. For instance my... uhm, my parents," Harry said weakly and fixed his gaze on the floor. He swallowed hard, sort of hoping that Malfoy would go on. But he did not. Harry took another deep breath of air and tried to continue. "Someone made a prophecy. A child, born at the end of July, with parents that had escaped the Dark Lord three times, would bring him to a downfall. You-Know-Who tracked the child down... wanted to kill him as a young baby, before the kid grew strong enough to be a threat to him. His... his... his parents..." Harry's voice broke off as his vision became too blurry. This was just too much. He was sitting next to his mother, telling her how she was going to die. Slowly, he forced the tears back, his hand trembling on the cold stone floor. They had to understand. They had to know about Voldemort. "His... the parents tried to protect the child. Voldemort killed them," Harry said abruptly. In the back of his mind he could hear a cold, high-pitched laugh; someone yelling... his father, Lily yelling... a loud shriek... a burst of green light... Harry forced another breath of air. They had to know. It was essential for them to know. "He... he killed them. Then he tried to kill the... the kid with the same curse he had used on so many other people and that had never failed, a curse that could never fail. Avada Kedavra. He fired the curse at the kid but it didn't work, it reflected back upon him and he was ripped from his body. Not dead, but reduced to merely a spirit," Harry finished.

"He fired the curse at Harry," Malfoy said.

Lily gasped and grabbed Harry's hand.

"Don't..." Harry choked, pulling his hand away, anger rising in him. Why had Malfoy said that? There was no need for them to know about that. Now how was he going to tell his parents that they were his parents? Lily and James would never get together, would never marry; they would be killed, he would not be born! But perhaps it was better that way... yes, perhaps it was better if he was not born. Harry noticed that everybody was very quiet around him and looked up to find everybody except Malfoy staring at him.

"He killed your parents? And you killed him?" Lily whispered.

Harry whimpered. He did not want to think about it anymore. He had had enough to live through, nobody ever could understand. Everybody was quiet, waiting for him to answer. Harry stared back at his sweaty hands. "I didn't kill him. The curse backfired, but he was not human enough to die. Does this make you understand how powerful he is? Do you understand? He was not human enough to die. But he was extremely weak. For nearly fifteen years nobody heard anything about him. Everybody thought he was gone for good. But Dumbledore was always on the lookout. And after thirteen years, Voldemort managed to get his body and power back. I witnessed it, and told Dumbledore... we tried to warn people, but they did not want to believe it. They did not want him back. And Voldemort managed to keep it very quiet at first - until, finally, Dumbledore managed to open people's eyes. Darkness started again... it is above the future in the wizarding world right now..." Harry said slowly, as if lost in thought.

"And it will be above you soon," Malfoy added.

~

The colour had, once again, drained from Lily's face. This was a nightmare come true. She closed her eyes as if that could make the bubble disappear, but when she opened them again, the shimmering pale blue walls glittered back at her innocently, as if they were mocking her, teasing her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to throw things against them... and yet she knew that there was no way for her to do so. Even if she had had the objects to throw at the wall. She was too weak.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Fabi whispered into the silence.

Harry looked up at her. "We have to fight. There is no choice."

Suddenly, Lily started coughing violently. Harry reached for her immediately, as did Malfoy and Fabi who were sitting next to her. She was bent double and it sounded very bad, as if she was coughing her lungs out.

"Here!"

Narcissa offered Harry a handkerchief. He let go of Lily's hand, grabbed it and gave it to his mother. Lily took it gratefully, supported by Malfoy and Fabi who were sitting behind her so she would not fall over, holding her back. Harry knelt in front of her, sick with worry. Lily coughed one last time and wanted to put away the handkerchief quickly as Harry saw. Red. Blood.

"Blood!"

"No... no blood, nothing..." Lily started.

"Lily!" Kat said and touched her hand to retrieve the tissue from her.

And in that moment, a cloud of little bright stars erupted over the group consisting of Lily, Kat, Fabi and Malfoy. They cast a golden light from above, which attracted the attention of the others at once. Kat let go of Lily's hand, she was so surprised. The stars vanished at once.

"What?!" William exclaimed.

"What was...?!" Aaron muttered under his breath.

"What the heck was that?!" Harry asked, just as perplex as the others.

"I dunno..." Kat said weakly and looked at Lily.

Her trembling fingers reached out for Lily and touched her white hand. At once, the curious cloud of stars was floating over them again. This time, Malfoy let go of Lily's arm from behind. The stars vanished. Harry could nearly hear them all blink in unison. What was this about now?

"Another trick from Voldemort's side?" Narcissa suggested weakly and sat closer to the others.

"I don't think so..." Fabi said slowly.

"It felt far too positive to be from Voldemort," Kat said.

"What do you mean, positive?" Harry inquired at once. Suddenly, he thought he had a shrewd idea what it could be... perhaps this was... he just had to be sure of one thing... and if it was what he thought it might be... they might even have a chance to escape. "What did it feel like?" he asked.

"I dunno... strange..." Fabi said and looked at the other three helplessly.

"It was some kind of energy... positive energy..." Malfoy said.

"Power," Lily whispered and looked up.

"Yes! I knew it!" Harry said and punched into the air with his fist.

"What? What did you know?" William asked.

"Wait a second," Harry said, holding up his hand to silence them. "Lily, what is a matter with you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"You're not," Narcissa snorted.

"We know what we saw, Lily. And coughing blood is certainly not a sign of being healthy," Kat said sternly.

"Lily, we need to sort this out. There's something wrong," Harry said in a worried voice.

"I... I don't know what's wrong, I've been feeling bad all week... also that vision didn't help... the one I had about Harry... it made me feel very drowsy and weak... I don't know what's a matter, but I swear, I feel better now. Honestly," Lily said.

Harry knew she was not telling the truth, but did not insist. He thought he might have found a way out of the bubble - and the faster they proved it right, the faster they could get out, and Lily in safety.

"Okay, Lily... but we're keeping an eye on you," Kat said.

"And Harry... you were saying?" Fabi asked.

Harry turned his anxious-looking face away from Lily who was as white as a sheet and tried to focus his mind on the getting out of the bubble. "Yes... yes indeed. Power, Lily said. Positive Energy. It all fits. I just have to try one thing," Harry said.

"What?"

"Okay, listen. I want Narcissa, William, Aaron and me to all touch at the same time. I bet... well, just wait and see," Harry said.

He felt Narcissa taking his hand in hers, Aaron holding his arm and William who had been sitting behind him, touching his back. And - to no surprise for Harry - a cloud of stars, identical to the one they had seen over Lily, Malfoy, Fabi and Kat, erupted over them. At the same time, Harry felt something very positive coming over him... like sinking into a hot bath or drinking butterbeer... or like having butterflies in one's stomach when you were in love... yes, it was very positive....

Suddenly it was gone. Harry looked around. Slowly, following William's example, Narcissa and Aaron let go of him as well.

"Exactly the same thing," Fabi said with big eyes.

"Yes," Harry said. "And it's not half the power yet."

"Okay... explanation, Harry," Kat demanded.

"Well... as I see it... Lily told us that Dumbledore said, the 'houses united' had a certain power that would help us fight Voldemort, right? Now, let's think about this again: Lily - Gryffindor, Fabi - Ravenclaw, Kat - Hufflepuff, right? And... and... Draco - Slytherin. The four houses were united. Same with Narcissa, William, Aaron and me."

For a long time, nobody said anything, giving Harry enough time to wonder about his calling Malfoy 'Draco'. Why had he done that? It was not that it sounded wrong, it was just... weird. The name Draco left a funny taste in his mouth. Not the one Malfoy left - Malfoy felt like saying a swear word. Why did 'Draco' not feel like that? And why, above everything, was he using it?

Eventually, Aaron broke the silence. "You could be right."

"Yes... you could really be right..." Lily said thoughtfully.

"And what were you saying about 'not half the power'?" William asked.

"That's only an assumption, but we'll be able to prove if it's true or not soon enough. I believe that only half the houses were united. Because, if we look around, there always are two per house. A boy and a girl that represent them. And I think that we will have more than just a cloud of stars that is twice as big. But it is only an assumption," Harry said, looking into hopeful faces. "It's only an assumption... but I have a feeling that I just might be right."

~

"Did you see that?" Hermione suddenly asked.

"See what?" Ron asked and stared around.

"Yeah... weird..." Sirius said slowly.

"I just hope it means they've found a way out of there," James whispered, his gaze fixed as ever on a certain person with dark red hair in the bubble.

"Lily seems to not be very well," Hermione said.

"She's ill," James replied.

"What's a matter with her?"

"No idea. She won't tell," James said, somehow sadly.

"See what?" Ron repeated, annoyed at being ignored by the others.

"There! Again!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh yeah..." Hermione answered.

"It's stopped," James said.

"WHAT?" Ron yelled.

"Could you please quit screaming like that, Ron? Honestly. Like a five year-old throwing a tantrum about having to go to bed early," Hermione said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Ron's mouth gagged open. He was about to protest energetically when he decided that he had better keep quiet. And he was glad they could not see the picture that was forming inside his head (it seemed to involve him punching a bean bag that resembled Sirius's face). Five year-old throwing a tantrum, right? That was what he was? Ron noticed that his hands were clenched to fists and if it had not been for the fact that Hermione was around, he seriously doubted whether he could have controlled himself. That bigheaded idiot! For all they knew, he might've put Hermione under a spell when they were alone! Hard to believe that Sirius would one day turn into a satisfactory person. He quickly loosened the grip of his fists as he noticed Hermione turning to look at him.

She looked him right in the eye, with a glare that McGonagall would have been proud of. Ron's heart sank. Quietly, he sat down on the stone steps, his ears still coloured in a delicate shade of red.

"I didn't see it happening. I was looking somewhere else," he mumbled.

"There was a funny cloud of shimmering dust or something forming over them," James answered absently.

"What? How did they - ... I mean, did they do it with wands or-"

"Couldn't see. No wands; at least I don't think so," James said and sat down on the few stone steps leading to the Great Hall next to Sirius.

"This is all so weird. If only we knew what was happening in there," Hermione said and rested her head on her knees as she drew them up close to her body. "If only we could speak to them... perhaps we would be able to help."