Erised - Chapter Sixteen

[tamchronin]

I had something to put here, some witty phrase or something of the sort to relay and delay the chapter just a moment more.  It's gone now.  Please read responsibly.

 

 

People go on and on about fate and destiny and karma at great lengths.  It's hard to think of a world where random events really do just happen.  It's hard to accept that in this world you really are responsible for your own actions, and those actions truly do affect everything and everyone around you.

 

Once you're embroiled in the vicissitudes of time travel, you can't help but see it and know it and accept it, or you could very well destroy the entire universe.

 

Chapter Sixteen

Infinite Possibilities

 

Severus looked around the group, amazed that Black or Potter...that is, James Potter, hadn't jumped up at the opportunity.  They actually looked like they were itching to, but they were also looking at Harry with almost hungry looks in their eyes.  It looked like everyone in the circle wanted to know more about the impossible offspring of Lily and James, and Severus had to admit that he was more than a bit curious as well.

 

"I think Harry should go first," the girl he'd run into, who'd introduced herself as Hermione as she was helping him up, suddenly blurted out.  "Since he seems to know everyone here, but the rest of us are a bit fuzzy."

 

Severus looked at him closely, watching him think about that and come to a conclusion at last.

 

"Okay.  I will.  First, though, I think we should go somewhere warmer."

 

"And where do you propose we do that?" asked Severus with a bit of a sneer.  "If the three of you were seen by any of the professors, they'd know immediately that you didn't belong, and we'd all be in trouble.  Especially you, Harry.  It would be rather difficult to explain a replica of James wandering around with bright green eyes and some stupid scar on his face."

 

"Don't worry about me," Harry said coldly.  "I've got the means to go unnoticed, and I know a room that would be perfect for what we need right now."

 

"I'm not worried about you," said Severus.  "It's not as if you'll get a month of detentions, like the rest of us."

 

"It would be a bit risky," Hermione pointed out reluctantly.  "We can't afford to be spotted by everyone and cause an incident.  Much as I'd love some warmth, we simply cannot risk it."

 

Harry stood up.  "I know how to get there without being caught."  He pulled out a piece of old parchment and said something, quietly, touching it with the tip of his wand.  Severus, Lily, Ron, and Hermione leaned closer, trying to see what he was doing with it.

 

"What is it?" asked Severus, leaning closer.

 

"Just a may," said Harry.  "And it looks like it won't be entirely impossible to get up to the seventh floor without being seen.  It looks like even Peeves is distracted with something."

 

"Some map," Severus drawled, looking closer.  Tiny dots wandered around, with little names attached, but Harry folded it up and put it in a pocket before he could get a good look.

 

"I've always found it rather handy," Harry said as he stood up.  "Let's hurry.  I'll feel much safer once we reach the room."

 

Everyone else stood, also.  Lupin, Black, and Potter were hanging back, whispering urgently about something, but Severus decided to ignore them in light of this new mystery to figure out.  He kept up with Harry, opening his mouth to ask about the map a couple of times, but he kept hesitating over just what he wanted to ask.  That, and Harry kept glaring at him as if they were hated enemies.  Just when he thought he'd get some relief from that sort of thing and had relaxed a little, along came these newcomers, and it looked like the break from reality would be over, just as he thought would end up happening from the start.

 

After a few false starts and many looks at Harry's map, they eventually wound up on the seventh floor, where Harry led them all in circles.

 

Severus, of course, was hardly impressed.  "We've been past this tapestry at least three times," he said, pointing a few paces ahead.

 

Harry just nodded and walked directly to a door that Severus hadn't noticed there before.  "Hurry up, before we're all caught."

 

Everyone looked amazed as they filed into the room.  There were chairs and couches and food and an assortment of drinks and a nice fireplace with a fire already going.  Harry closed the door, and everyone tried to ask him at once what this place was and how he knew where to find it and where all the food and everything had come from.

 

"I think I'll keep that my little secret, for now," he said, looking rather proud.

 

"Any lingering doubts that he's James's son can now be laid to rest," Severus announced with something between a grin and a grimace.

 

"Don't break your face there, trying to smile," Black said in mock concern and alarm.

 

"Oh, don't worry, I don't think that would ever happen," sneered Severus in return.

 

"That sounds like a challenge to me," said James, eyes sparkling with mischief.  "Don't you think so, Moony?"

 

Lupin grinned widely.  "That's what it sounded like to me, Prongs.  What do you think, Padfoot?"

 

"Are you kidding?" said Black, shaking his head.  "If we broke him, who'd clean up the mess?"

 

"I'm not fragile," Snape said coolly, but inwardly he had to admit to being slightly amused.  To cover any hints of it that may have reached the surface, he walked over to the table and looked over the food selection.  He had to admit, it looked rather impressive.  It all smelled appetizing, also.  He selected a few finger foods and a goblet of pumpkin juice, and sat down in a chair that was a bit apart from everyone else.

 

Everyone else did the same, sitting wherever they felt comfortable.  The only one who didn't pick out a snack or something to drink was Harry.  He stood and waited, and once everyone was settled he smiled a little nervously.  "Now that we're all comfortable and safe from detection, I suppose it is time to begin introductions."

 

There was a chorus of consent from everyone in the room.

 

"Well, I'm Harry Potter.  And...in some way or another, I do know everyone here.  The strangest thing to me, about all of this, is that Hermione is the one who told me, when we were third year students, the dangers of time travel and how strictly regulated it is.  So, it's very strange that you're the one who seems to have started this all."  He turned to look directly at her, questioningly.

 

"I have my reasons," Hermione murmured softly.  "I'm just not sure if I can explain them, exactly."

 

"I can," Ron said.  "It's easy, really.  She had a dream about this old guy, went back in time and saved his life, and now he's real."

 

"Ron!" Hermione protested.  "You're oversimplifying the matter.  For one thing, we saved his life from another time traveler."

 

"How d'you know the other time traveler wasn't supposed to kill the old man, then?"

 

"If that's so, then why wouldn't we be supposed to go back and save him?"

 

"Oh, I don't know, because we're only students and not Ministry wizards who are trained to do stuff like that?  Oh, I'm not complaining," said Ron, backpedaling a little.  "I think it was worth it since that Dumbledore guy seems like he'd do a better job of running Hogwarts than Professor Sprout, but you know we're hardly qualified do be just doing this stuff on our own."

 

Everyone looked at the pair in horror or shock.  Hogwarts without Dumbledore?  It just didn't seem right.

 

"You may not have any faith in me and my judgment, Ronald Weasley, but Professor Riddle was certainly impressed!"

 

"Impressed enough to send a group of Death Eaters after us, sure."

 

"Excuse me," interrupted Harry with a horrified look on his face.  "Did you say 'Professor Riddle'?"

 

"Yes, that's right," Hermione said, frowning slightly.  "You're the second person to react like that, now."

 

"Do you mean to say that, where or when or whatever you're from, Tom Riddle is actually a professor?"

 

At the same time, Ron was murmuring, "Dumbledore seemed a little less shocked, and a little more sad about the idea.  Harry's got this whole, 'It's the end of the world' sort of panic in his eyes, see?"

 

"Ron, shut up," Hermione said, looking a little flustered.

 

"What's the matter, Harry?" Lily asked, leaning forward and looking concerned.  "Who is Tom Riddle?"

 

"That's the name Voldemort was given, when he was born."

 

Severus twitched.  "First of all, how would you know?  Second of all, don't speak of him by name!"

 

Harry rolled his eyes.  "I know because I'm the one who killed him the first time around, and I'm going to do it again and make sure I've finished the job this time."  By the end of his statement, Harry looked more resolved and determined than anyone Severus had ever seen.  "And second of all," he went on with steel in his voice, "I will call him Lord Moldy Butt, if I want to.  Voldemort is scary enough in person, without adding to it by being afraid of his name, also.  Besides, I don't care if I give him a conniption fit over his name or not, at this point."

 

"Looks like we've raised him with the right defiance against dangerous megalomaniacs," James said, nudging Lily in the side.

 

"He clearly gets it from your side of the family," said Lily with a grin.

 

Severus was probably the only one who noticed the sad look on Harry's face.  There was so much loneliness in his expression that Severus couldn't stop the stab of empathy he felt.  He didn't understand it, and it made him uncomfortable, but he couldn't ignore it.

 

A moment later the look had vanished as if it had never been there.  "We've drifted from the point," Harry said, sitting down at last.  "We're supposed to get to know each other at least enough to know each others names, and then we're going to ask Hermione what this is all about and why we're all here at the same time and why we've got to work together to change history or whatever it is she's got in mind."

 

"And nicknames," added Black.  "We've all got to have nicknames.  Like a spy novel, or something."

 

"I'd rather not," Harry started to protest weakly.

 

"That would be wicked!" Ron broke in enthusiastically.  "Do we get to pick our own?"

 

"If you were planning on 'His High Holy Studmuffin the Second' you're out of luck," Black replied with a grin.  "And, since that's the only nickname I can picture someone like you giving yourself, you're out of luck, and we'll come up with something for you."

 

"Oh God," Severus groaned quietly.  "If any of you think you'll stick me with a nickname, I'll walk out right now, find the nearest toilet, and be sick in it, in your honor."

 

Ron laughed.  "Go on, it'll be fun!  Don't you like spy stories?  You don't look like the Quidditch type, so I thought you'd love something like--"

 

"No.  I don't," said Severus in a firm voice.  "I don't enjoy any of those sorts of things, and now's not the time for any of it."

 

"You need to conjure yourself a sense of humor, badly."

 

"I've got one he can borrow," James interjected.  "Well loved, well worn, but it's got a few years left in it."

 

Everyone in the room laughed, except for Severus and Harry.  Severus was annoyed, but he might have laughed if the joke hadn't been at his expense.  He was slowly starting to warm to these people.  It was a frightening thought.  To keep himself from giving in to the disgusting abundance of levity in the room, he watched Harry Potter, and he wondered why the other boy also didn't join in with the frivolity.

 

"Guys, please, can we get back to the matter at hand," Harry said in a quiet voice, but it cut through the laughter and focused everyone at once.  "Something tells me we've got a lot to talk about, before we can get anything done."

 

There was a chorus of "sorry" from nearly everyone, and Severus wondered how he did it.  Harry hadn't needed to shout or even raise his voice to get everyone's attention and get them to calm down and do what he said.

 

"I'll go next," Lupin said kindly.  "That is, if you're done, Harry."

 

"I can't really think of anything else to say, thank you," said Harry.

 

Everyone settled back to listen to what Lupin had to say about himself.

Comments

[christmasjedi.livejournal.com]

Very poinant. I wonder though, did James check his back pocket to see if Harry had filched his map? lol!

[twilightspirit.livejournal.com]

Can I glomp Severus? ~puppy dog eyes~

[desert-dragon42.livejournal.com]

I will call him Lord Moldy Butt, if I want to.

ROFLMAO!