The Time-Turner Chronicles

Chapter 10

Prongs vs. Snivellus

"Get out of the way, Snivellus. I have no time for you and your imbecilities at the moment," James muttered angrily.

"Oh, don't you, Potter? Well, now, that's really too bad," Snape smirked. "See, I figured that this was the perfect time for some little revenge."

"Right," James said tensely.

"Exactly, Potter. You have no other choice," Snape sneered. "So, let's just talk for a bit before I curse you, shall we? You can't be much in a hurry right now, can you? I still need a bit of time to decide which new curse to use on you.... Hmm... so what are you doing here, Potter? Looking for a teacher? Very unlike yourself, if I may say so."

"None of your business, Snape," James spat. "And actually, I am sort of in a hurry. See, if I don't get away from you soon, I might be infected by your ugliness and idiocy."

James stepped to the side to pass Snape.

"Oh, I don't think so, Potter. I don't think you're going anywhere right now," Snape said in a harsh voice and jabbed his wand directly at James's chest. "I think you're going to stay right here until I decide that I am through with you."

~

Kat smiled for the first time in a while.

Now, this is not only an unexpected turn but also the best news we could possibly hope for. It could be very useful in... in a battle, her thoughts finished in a whisper.

Yes, indeed, Draco thought. It could be useful when it comes to a fight. And now that we can talk without having to speak out loud...

... We have to find a way to control the flow of energy, Harry finished the sentence for him.

"Harry! How is Lily?" Aaron asked and whipped around.

"Okay. But she shouldn't speak anymore. It tires her out. Luckily we've got this new ability. Without it, we'd be pretty lost," Harry concluded and smiled at Lily.

I'm okay. Weak, yes, but okay. I'm sorry, I don't know what's a matter with me. I'm just causing trouble all the time..., Lily's voice spoke to them and they all jumped.

"Nonsense. Now, what happened?" Fabi asked.

No idea, really. I fell in a kind of - ... never mind, Lily thought and shot Harry a cautious look. Not so important. Anyway, Harry tried the Telepathy on me and that sort of got me out of it again.

"Out of what?" Narcissa asked curiously, rather unlike herself.

Nothing special. Just... (Lily sighed, but went on as Harry gave her a small nod)... fine. Just a small trance.

"Trance?" William asked, aghast.

Yes. I am actually quite talented in Divination.

"Oh. Uhm, right," William said.

"Err... anyway, you're better now, aren't you, Lily?" Kat asked, concerned.

Yes, I feel better, now I don't have to speak. This Telepathy stuff is actually quite fun... Lily grinned at the others.

"Good, you keep practicing that, Lily," Draco said in a bemused voice. "In the meantime, we'll stick to normal English."

Harry grinned and caught Draco's eye, winking. "Exactly. So, my thought is that we can actually move that energy thing. With our thoughts. Problem was that we couldn't really communicate with each other, but now that we can... I dunno, but I think it might work," Harry said.

"Yes, I think so as well," Draco agreed.

"We'll just have to try it," Fabi said.

"Yup, that seems all we can do," Kat said. "But I think it would be easier for us all to simply sit in a circle - especially for Lily."

~

"There... Lily is up again," Ron commented silently.

Hermione nodded and sighed. The whole issue was slowly turning into a catastrophe. Not only were they mixed up into some kind of dark deeds (as if they did not have enough of that to bear in the future), but now they were nearly killing one of the people they had come to rescue. However, Sirius's arm around her shoulder was strangely comforting. But actually, Hermione admitted to herself with a grin, she would rather have him kiss her again. It was so weird. Sirius was not her type at all. He was a troublemaker. Irresponsible. He could not care less about the consequences.

Consequences.

The word rang in her head.

Hermione, what about you? Have you thought of the consequences? For him - and for you? What will you do when you go back? What will he do? What will happen when you meet in the future? Have you thought of the consequences, before passing these judgments?

Hermione shook away the thought angrily. Of course she had thought of the consequences. She was responsible. Trustworthy. She was Head Girl after all. She focused her mind on thinking of way to get them out of the bubble. Or at least to find a way to communicate with them. She had thought of the consequences. Of course she had.

~

"Get out of my way, Snape."

"Oh, getting angry, are we, Potter? It does not suit you well. Your head is already swollen enough, add the red colour and you look like a balloon, waiting for somebody to puncture it."

"I meant what I said, Snape."

"So did I. I think I've found a nice hex to use on you. Yes, should be quite interesting. Admittedly, I haven't ever tried it before, so if it goes wrong, I'd say that's my usual bad luck turning to good luck for once."

Snape was not pointing his dark wand at James anymore, but twiddling it idly in his fingers, a nasty, typical Slytherin-grin spreading on his face. James cursed himself. Why had he not bothered to take his wand out earlier? Why? He could still try now, of course, but he figured that even though Snape was an idiot, he would have cursed him before James had as much as just touched his wand. Why had he stumbled upon the git? Why now? Now of all times? He could see pictures of Lily falling behind the pale blue walls of the bubble flashing up in his mind. When she had awoken for the first time in the hospital wing, eyes rolling, talking nonsense, rocking forward and backward in the bed. When she had fallen to the floor. Lying on the floor, unable to move. That boy crouching over her, trying to wake her up. Had that person perhaps taken some Polyjuice Potion and that was the reason he looked like him? Well, whatever. He had to find a teacher.

"Potter? Awfully quiet. That's unusual."

James caught a glimpse of Snape's sneer. Enough. That was definitely enough. He had wasted enough time with this moron. It was time for the Escape Plan. The big Escape Plan. They had never really used it on anybody before - but there always had to be a first time.

James swallowed hard.

"Shut up, Snivellus, and get your move on. I'd rather have this over with quickly."

~

"All sitting? Comfortable? Too bad we don't have any cushions," Kat said, smiling broadly.

"Actually, considering our position, I'd really like to know why we're in such a good mood," Draco laughed.

"Because we can't wait to get out. We know we can get out," Harry said.

"Exactly. We're getting out of here and then that's that. Out and finished Lord Voldimart. Or whatever his name was," William grinned.

"If he heard that, you'd be the first one he would kill," Lily said.

"He can't do anything to us! We are the houses united!" Fabi exclaimed triumphantly.

"He has not a chance," Aaron said.

"Well, he does if we don't get a move on," Narcissa said and brought them back to where they were - trapped in the bubble.

"Right," Harry said tensely. "I think we should do it like before. Just make sure you are touching the two people sitting next to you."

"On the count of three," Draco said with a small nod. "One - Two - Three!"

Harry reached out and took Lily's hand on his right and Draco's on his left. Immediately he felt the warmth of the energy flowing through him. Over their heads, a big glittering ball of power formed, just like before. After getting used to the sensation again, Harry tried to communicate with the others.

Hey. Okay, now I had already tried this before on my own. I thought really hard about moving that object and it did a bit. I suppose not much because I was the only one trying to move it. So, my suggestion is that we try to move the thing towards the walls. I guess you can see those funny blue beams of light that seem to come from the black balls on the floor. There are sixteen of them and they all meet right over our heads. I think that if we can interfere there, the bubble will not be able to maintain itself.

Harry looked around at the others, who were all nodding grimly.

Right. On the count of three, I say we try and move it towards the nearest beam - that one there, behind Aaron. Okay? One - Two - Three! MOVE!

Even Harry was surprised as the mass of energy over them gave an enormous jolt and started drifting towards the arc. All eight of them watched in amazement as it floated towards the wall and hit the beam of light. It was now blocking the transmission of the beam from the black ball to the top of the bubble. A part of the wall near them started flickering, as if somebody was trying to turn it off, as if it was only a projection. Harry felt like cheering.

Yes! We did it!

But then, his heart stopped beating. The ball of energy was being engulfed by blue light, with the light coming from the black balls. Was it not strong enough? Were they not concentrating enough? He hardly had any time to think of something to do as the ball of energy exploded with a tremendous bang. The pressure tore him away from the others; he felt himself flying through the air for a few metres, thudding back onto the floor and finally skidding to a halt quite far away from where he had been before, a bit bruised and cut, but quite okay. Harry looked up and groaned. The bubble was still intact.

Great.

Feeling humiliated and annoyed, he fixed his mind on the first thing he saw - a little cut on the back of his hand. Harry blinked. Maybe the crash had affected his brain. Golden sparks were flying around it, golden sparks like the ones the energy ball had consisted of. How weird. The next thing he noticed was the power. He was not touching the others anymore, but he still felt the power. Flowing in him, as if he was still standing in the circle, holding Lily's and Draco's hands. Then, another weird thing was, that the others seemed to not have moved an inch. They were sitting where they had been before, too surprised to get up to see how he was doing or understand why he had been torn from their middle. Harry looked back at his hand, where he had seen that fine cut and let out a small cry.

The last few golden sparks were actually sinking into his hand, where the cut had been - only that there was no cut anymore.

It had healed up.

~

James grinned at Snape. He was looking forward to this now.

"Fine. Don't say I did not warn you, Snivellus," James smirked and laughed at Snape's dumbstruck face. "Don't go running to mummy. I warned you clearly enough. I asked you to get out of my way. You did not. So you will pay for it."

Snape managed to rid his face from the stupid expression he had been wearing and tried to sneer again. But it was not quite as confident as before. "Go ahead then, Potter. You don't have a wand, but never mind. Just go ahead and try to make me pay for it," he grimaced. "You can do anything you like. I don't mind, my wand is ready and set. Believe me, I will be faster."

"Whatever you say; and thanks for your invitation, Snivellus. But I would have done it without it anyway." James's grin broadened. This was going to be fun. But he had no other choice anyway to get rid of Snape. He had to save Lily. And in this situation, it was either him or Snivellus. "Just a moment. I'm not running away, I just have to go a few steps in that direction," James said and pointed behind him.

Snape sneered, but nodded. James turned and made a step down the corridor. Another. Another. Quicker. Faster. Long, effortless. He leant his torso forward, as his back became broader and the muscles of his neck tightened. Like earth. Listen to earth, listen to yourself. Suddenly, his arms transformed to legs, his hands and feet suddenly were hooves, his robes no more, they had simply vanished into nothingness, as if melting into his new body. Back to life. Back to yourself. His head sprouted antlers, big, powerful, strong antlers with four points on each side. Oh, it was good to be like this again. It was good to be yourself again. Even though these stone floors were not quite as comfortable as a grassy meadow. James turned on his hind legs and faced Snape, who was too perplexed to say or do anything but to stare at the stag in front of him openmouthed.

~

Harry! Lily's voice whispered in his head.

"Why did that happen?" Kat wondered as she and the rest of the group made their way over to him.

Harry sat up slowly, feeling dizzy. Was he imagining things? Was he imagining the cut that had healed? Was he imagining that he was still feeling the power? He wasn't touching anybody, yet he felt it circulating through him. Slowly, things started coming back into focus again. He felt stronger now. Harry pushed the confusing thoughts away, concentrating on the fact that they were still trapped inside the bubble.

"I can't believe it!" Fabi exclaimed. "I was hoping we would finally get out of here!"

"I can't believe it either," William said.

"And I don't understand it," Draco said slowly.

"What do you mean - understand?" Narcissa asked.

"Fair enough that we can't get out," Draco replied and sat down on the floor. "It's bad news, but, to be honest, we couldn't know for sure if it would work. The point is, where did the energy go? And most of all-"

"Why was only I blasted away from you?" Harry finished grimly. He decided that something was wrong with him. He had definitely not imagined that cut. It had been there for sure. And it had mended up again. "I'm okay. I've just healed myself, or so it seems."

"Excuse me?" Narcissa asked.

"Yeah, well I had a cut here on my hand, it was bleeding. Next thing I know, the skin is shining, like from the inside and there are golden sparks all around the cut. They start sinking into my skin - and the cut heals up."

"Are you joking?" Kat asked and took his hand, only to let it go straight away again with a soft yell. "Ouch!"

"Ouch?" Harry asked, surprised.

"What did you do that for?"

"What?"

"Your hand is boiling hot, Harry! And you gave me a funny shock!"

That's interesting... Lily said slowly.

"I don't feel hot... I feel quite strong, actually."

"Have you got an explanation, Lily? You seemed to be wanting to say something about it," William asked.

An explanation, no... I think it's more a theory. The energy seems to have vanished, right? I mean, look. If I touch Fabi, Aaron and Draco - nothing happens. The energy is gone from between the houses.

Harry looked up to them and saw that Lily was right. There were indeed four houses united - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. But they were not surrounded by the energy, the power anymore; no golden mist was hovering over their heads. Harry groaned. This could not be true. They had lost their only weapon.

"Shit," Draco said. "Shit. This is bad. We can't unite anymore, we haven't got the power inside ourselves."

"We've lost our only weapon..." Kat whispered.

"Now what are we going to do? We haven't got anymore energy between ourselves and Harry is turning out to be a... Healer?" Fabi asked.

"Healer's can't heal themselves," Aaron pointed out. "My dad's a Healer. He can heal other people, but not himself."

"I don't think I can heal you either," Harry said. "When Kat touched me, she said it hurt her - that's sort of the opposite of healing."

"So what's happened to you?" William asked.

This is where my theory comes in, Lily thought. The power is gone - but I don't think it's been lost. It has to have gone somewhere else.

"Like where?" Narcissa asked.

Like into Harry, Lily said determinedly and looked up at Harry with the same emerald eyes that were staring back at her.

~

"What is James doing? He's been away for ages," Sirius said impatiently. "It can't be so hard to go and fetch a teacher - even if he's not allowed to fly his broom."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Hermione replied soothingly and intertwined her fingers with his.

"He could have run into Snape," Ron said glumly and immediately received a kick from Hermione and furious glare.

"Snape? That would explain the delay. Have you've met him?" Sirius asked, unaware of Ron rubbing his leg where she had kicked him and Hermione's nervousness. "How come you know that James and Snape are arch-enemies?"

"Snape, uhm... yeah, we met him. Ron's just saying that because that Snape-guy seems to hate everybody with Gryffindor robes. Weren't you, Ron?"

"Yeah... yeah, I was..." Ron mumbled barely audible with glowing red ears. "Very unpleasant guy, that Snape."

"Did he do anything to you?" Sirius asked at once, angrily. "Because I still have a few things to talk to him about."

"Uhm... no..." Hermione said tentatively.

"You don't have to protect him, Mione. He deserves what he gets," Sirius said and started fiddling with his wand. "I bet if he wasn't taking his temper out on you, he was torturing somebody else instead."

"Well, he only pushed me out of his way as he was charging down a corridor. Not much, just mumbled something about Gryffindors invading the place," Hermione tried to calm Sirius down.

"Git."

"Imagine him being a teacher-" Ron started.

"Snape? Never," Sirius said and laughed. "His students would just make fun of him and he could never get to teach."

"Just imagine-"

"You have a very funny imagination, Ron," Hermione said tensely.

Ron grinned. He knew she would have liked to kick him again, but as Sirius was looking at them this time, it would lead to awkward questions and Hermione couldn't risk more of them.

"Just imagine... he might go very bitter indeed after all of this teasing his youth and take it out on his students."

"That would look very much like him. Yes, perhaps he would turn out that way - he likes to intimidate people he has power over. Surely he would take points off Gryffindor all the time."

Ron grinned at Hermione's desperation. "Surely."

"Harry!" Hermione yelled suddenly and jumped up, turning their attention back to the eight people trapped in the bubble.

Ron looked up quickly to find his best friend Harry laying a few metres away from the others, slowly getting up.

"James just better hurry up. If he has to, he might want to throw Snape out of the window. That would do us all a favour," Sirius said grimly.

"Indeed," Ron replied, a soft smile playing around his lips.