Fixing Time
Moments Ago
The floor gave an inch and Hermione nearly lost her grip on Ron's arm.
"Let go!" he shouted.
"I can't leave you to die! We'll think of something!"
"They can't reach Gryffindor Tower fast enough to get help! If the knights come any closer, we'll all fall! Sirius can't do anything to help! Let go!"
Hermione stole a glance at Sirius, who paced nervously not far from them. Every few seconds, he looked at the Nimblewrights. He was waiting on them to do something. They were frozen in place, the contradiction in their orders too great.
A dull pain shot through her hand. She looked back to Ron and saw him wail on her hand again with his free hand.
"Stop it!"
"Let go!"
They lost another few inches, but Hermione tightened her grip when she heard the rock cracking. She remained determined to keep her hold on Ron, even if it meant falling with him.
She glanced back at Sirius, then a thought struck her.
"Sirius! I think I can get my wand out of my back pocket! If I throw it to you, do you think you can levitate him up?"
When she didn't hear a response, she glanced back at Sirius. He backed up a step, ears back, like an injured wolf retreating from a bigger wolf.
"Sirius!"
Another glance back told her all she needed to know: He wasn't going to help them. She didn't know if it was fear of getting hurt himself, or an unwillingness to get involved, but Sirius wasn't going to save them. There was nothing she could do.
She freed her other arm and grabbed onto Ron with both arms. Her heart raced when she felt herself sliding down.
"Taltria! Alavel!" She took a breath as she came to terms with what was about to happen. "Tell my parents I love them."
Ron swung his fist at her again, but she grabbed it with her free hand and held him tightly.
"I wish I hadn't gone out and apologized," Ron said, struggling to free his hands. "Then you'd be safe."
"I'm glad you did." Hermione smiled at him, blinking away tears. "Goodbye, Ron."
"No!"
The floor gave way beneath her, and they fell through to the fifth floor. Hermione kept her gaze focused on Ron as they fell. She knew she was about to die; at least the last thing she'd see was her friend.
Sirius carefully approached the hole in the floor and peeked over the edge. The children lay at the bottom of the fifth floor, a pool of blood forming around them. He closed his eyes and backed away from the sight of the dead children.
"Enough!" Rose shouted.
"The others are self-explanatory," Sally said. "Toad was crushed beneath falling rocks, and Herbology was unable to retrieve him in time. Princess was knocked out by a nasty head injury, then tossed around the Dungeons by a torrent. Runes was too preoccupied with dealing with the rush of water to rescue her."
Rose stood, frozen in the corridor. A nagging sensation reminded her she was supposed to be doing something, but she couldn't remember what it was.
Did it matter? Sirius knew Hermione and Ron were dead, so she couldn't resurrect them without him knowing. She couldn't explain it to Professors Sprout or Babbling, which meant Neville and Sally-Anne were gone too.
"You can just bring them back of course," Sally said. "I never had that option with Rosalind, otherwise I might have taken it."
"How am I supposed to explain what I can do?"
"Wipe everyone's memories."
"All of Hufflepuff?"
"Oh. Toad may have to be an acceptable loss."
"Acceptable loss? He just fought Valignatiejir alongside me!"
"How much better did you feel when you were beating down that man in the corridor earlier? Or the Minister? How does it feel to ignore the rules and do whatever needs to be done? Wouldn't you prefer that over caring what other people think? Just let go!"
Sally's expression hardened, his eyes piercing her defences. Rose took a step back, taken aback by Sally's sudden shift in tone. His usual apathetic look was gone, and it unnerved her.
"What happened to trying to help me?" Her words came out shaky, uncertain.
"I am trying to help you. Look around you! Time is bleeding around you. You can fix it. But can you truly go back to the way things were?"
Rose hesitated again, caught off guard by Sally's question. For the first time since she'd broken the time turner, she allowed herself to look at what she'd done. She couldn't tell anyone about it. Shadow might understand, but none of her other friends would. Dumbledore would never let her out of his sight if she spoke a word about it.
At the same time, it felt so good to let loose and take control. She couldn't do that without getting lectured by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sk'lar, or Carolina. Rose realized that she didn't want to return to the way things had been. For once, she could use her abilities without fear of people seeing what she could do. She could do what she knew was right without concern for some dictator trying to make their lives miserable.
"I'm not your enemy, Rose. I have no desire to harm you, nor your friends. I only want to spare you the pain of losing them. Having friends contradicts who you are; they hold you back."
"You don't know–"
"–Anything about you? I know plenty about you. Your personality is written all over your face, Little Rosie. You loved taking fate into your own hands. Don't let them hold you back anymore."
Rose's mind slipped away, letting Sally's words lift her off into a land where she wasn't trapped. Sally cut the strings that tied Rose down and allowed her to break free and save the world. The possibilities made her quiver with excitement. She could stop the Dementors, finish off Voldemort, or bring Moon's mum back to life. No longer held back by concern for the consequences, Rose was free to unleash her power to its fullest. All she had to do was let go of her friends.
I know you can do it, Rose.
She's my hero, not some bloodthirsty monster!
Let's go find out. Together.
"My friends give me hope. They're the only reason I'm still fighting. Now are you going to help me find Pettigrew or not?"
Peter crawled through a hole in the wall to escape the Dark Lord. He ducked into a siding, narrowly dodging a green bolt that would've spelled his death.
"Come out, Wormtail. Come and meet your master."
The time turner around his neck weighed him down, but he didn't dare take it off. The sand was leaking out of it, and he didn't want to think about what would happen when it emptied.
He stopped for a moment inside the tunnel to catch his breath. No one could get him inside the walls. Whatever was going on, he was safe inside the walls of Hogwarts.
The walls shook with such force that he was thrown asunder. He recovered and checked on the time turner. When he saw that his half was still intact, he scrambled down the tunnel, hoping to escape whatever it was that was shaking the castle.
Something broke through the wall behind him, nearly catching him as it flew past. He caught a glimpse of something green breaking through the wall, then sprinted to escape it.
"There you are, my pet. Come to me."
Voldemort's words were replaced by a hissing sound, telling Pettigrew that the creature was a snake. It ripped through the wall again, nearly catching him with it. Weighed down by the time turner, he didn't know if he could escape. No, he could escape; he could always escape. He heard it rearing up for another attack, and bolted down the tunnel as fast as he could.
"Who are you?"
SHINK!
THUD!
A green flash lit up the small tunnel. Pettigrew knew that sound; it was the sound of Peta-Lorrum's weapon. Whatever giant snake Voldemort had commanded was dead, and with any luck, so was the girl. If he could just escape…
Pettigrew stopped dead. If it was the little girl, then it was likely she had the other half of the time turner. If Voldemort had just killed her, then he'd probably grab it from her. That meant Voldemort now possessed the other half of the time turner. Stopping the little girl was one thing; taking it from Voldemort would be nearly impossible.
No, maybe not. Perhaps he could talk the Dark Lord into parting with it. It was in his best interest after all. Pettigrew was but a humble servant, enacting an ingenious plan to draw the girl out. Yes, that was it. If he could just convince Voldemort of that, he still had a chance.
He crept back to the opening in the wall. Pettigrew stole a glance back into the corridor, but before he could get a good look, a hand grabbed him.
"There you are, Petey," a grating voice said. "I've been looking all over for you."
Peter wriggled in her grasp, then curled up and bit her. He expected warm blood to flow over his mouth, but he didn't break the skin. He wasn't sure if he broke her gloves.
"Nice try, but that's not going to work."
Peter made a final, desperate attempt to escape and returned to his human form. The force of his transformation freed him from Peta-Lorrum's grasp, and he made a mad dash for the end of the corridor. He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to escape from her if he ever wanted a chance to escape for good.
He had nearly rounded the corner when something caught his feet and he fell headlong into the wall. Peter recovered just in time to see a familiar girl with short, bushy hair hold her hand up to him.
A red flash lit up his world, then everything went black.
Rose smiled at another familiar face. It was Hermione, once again older than she'd known her. Rose wasn't good at judging age, but she figured at least sixth- or seventh-year.
"Thanks, Brain."
Hermione turned and glared at Rose, catching her off guard.
"Oh. It's you." The words sounded sour on her lips, and she looked as if she'd just tasted something foul.
Rose didn't know how to respond. What had she done in the future to warrant this?
Hermione glanced down at Pettigrew, noticing the time turner.
"We're just finishing our third year, right?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Rose replied slowly.
Hermione's expression soften just a little. Whatever it was that Rose had done, she hadn't done it yet. That was a plus. It also meant that there was still a chance that Hermione survived the quake.
"I thought you were dead," Rose said.
"Tell me to order Taltria and Alavel to return to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius was afraid they'd kill him as soon as he changed back. Then Sirius will change back, and save Ron and I from falling to our deaths."
Rose frowned. "It already happened, though."
"When your friend repairs the time turner, it will bring you back to just before you blundered into Professor Dumbledore's office. You'll have one chance to fix everything. Don't waste it."
Rose allowed the words to sink in, fixating on one particular part: "your friend". Rose was already planning on getting Sally to fix the time turner, but how did Hermione know? Had Rose told her about Sally in the future? Had she just said she got a friend to fix it?
Hermione motioned to the time turner. "I don't know if it's safe for me to touch that, so I'll leave you to it."
Hermione turned around and began walking down the corridor. It took Rose a moment to understand what was happening, but once she did, she took off after her.
"Hold on! What did I do?"
"Be more honest with me," Hermione said, glaring at her once more. "It won't fix everything, but it's a good start." The sour look returned to her face. "I can't tell you your big mistake, nor would it matter if I did. You'd still do it. It's who you are."
Rose found herself bending under Hermione's glare. She wanted to apologize, but it would just be empty words. She didn't know what she'd done, and there was nothing she could do.
"I'll tell you everything," Rose said. "I promise."
Hermione's glare didn't ease up any. She merely shook her head. "I've heard it all before, Rose. I believed it then, but I won't believe it now. You were my best friend once, but now, I hate you."
Hermione's words stung Rose worse than anything she'd felt in the past hour. Rose felt the sensation of crying, although no tears came out.
"I'm sorry," she said with a broken voice. "I didn't… I won't."
"Yes, you will. You always will. It's who you are. You–" Hermione clenched her fists and closed her eyes, an expression with which Rose was all too familiar. "You'll find out soon enough. When you do, don't come crawling to me for forgiveness. I'm not offering it."
Rose didn't know what to say. After she'd worked to restore order, not for the first time, she wasn't sure if she wanted everything to return to normal. It wasn't that she wanted the freedom this world provided, but that she didn't want to hurt her friend so badly. What had she done that was so terrible? What did Hermione mean when she said that it was who Rose was?
Before Rose could ask any more questions, Hermione faded away, leaving her glare burned into Rose's mind.
"I told you that you might not want to fix this."
Sally held the other piece of the time turner in his hand, looking just as apathetic as he always did.
"What did I do?"
"I don't know. The nature of my existence makes me temporally stable, so I remain immune to the present situation. Although it's given me quite a new wealth of minds to tap."
Rose thought for a moment, then got an idea.
"I couldn't read Brain's mind," Sally said, apparently having the same idea as Rose. "Nor Toad's, nor Moon's. You've trained them well."
"That's something I suppose." Rose bent down and took the other half of the time turner from Pettigrew. "What do I do?"
"Leave that to me."
"Sirius! I think I can get my wand out of my back pocket! If I throw it to you, do you think you can levitate him up?"
When she didn't hear a response, Hermione glanced back at Sirius. He backed up a step, ears back, like an injured wolf retreating from a bigger wolf.
"Sirius!"
Unable to reach the condition conch, Hermione had no way of asking Rose for elaboration, but she pushed it aside to ask about later.
"Taltria, Alavel, see to the rest of the students!"
"Our orders are–" Alavel began.
"Sirius is afraid you'll kill him if he changes back here, and he's the only one who can save us right now! Your orders are to keep us safe, and leaving is the only way to do that! Get out of here!"
She stole another glance at them, glaring in her best impression of Professor McGonagall. However bad it seemed to Hermione, it worked on the Nimblewrights. With one last reluctant look at them, they ran back towards Gryffindor Tower. Once they were out of sight, Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket and flung it over her shoulder, praying that it went far enough to get out of the falling floor.
She started laughing when she heard footsteps behind her, but reminded herself that they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Levicorpus!"
An invisible hand grabbed Ron's ankles and lifted him out of the hole. Hermione climbed to her feet, falling backwards to get away from the collapsing stone.
Sirius guided Ron to an undamaged part of the floor. The moment he'd landed safely, Hermione ran to him and threw her arms around him.
"Don't do that!" she said.
"I'm fine," he said, standing up as best he could with Hermione's help. "In the future, I'll do my best not to die."
"Good! If you do, I'll… I'll tell your mother!"
Ron let out a low groan, looking as if he were about to be ill.
"I don't know who his mother is, but she sounds terrifying."
Hermione accepted her wand back from Sirius and thanked him.
"I hope that makes up for any damage I did earlier."
"You're fine for now," Ron said. "Let's keep going. We're almost done."
Luna stopped running and nearly slipped on the slick floor. She immediately accepted Rose's words as fact, then began searching for a way to save Princess.
How could she get Princess out of the water? Easy; the same way you got anything else out of the water.
She pulled her chalk from behind her ear and began drawing on the wall. She didn't know how much time she had, but she knew she needed to go fast. No time to make her drawing perfect, only to make it functional.
Tutela ran past her a moment later, disappearing from sight not long after. A minute later, Professor Babbling came running down the corridor. By then, Luna's drawing was almost finished.
"Luna!" Professor Babbling called as she ran past. "What are you still doing here?"
Luna kept drawing on the wall. She only needed another few seconds to complete her drawing.
"I've got to help Princess," Luna replied. "Where's Tutela?"
"Your dog? I passed her on the way here," Professor Babbling replied. "She wouldn't listen to me."
"That's because she's watching the water. She'll–"
"You should get behind me," Luna said, calm as ever. She knew she could save Princess; after all, Rose had entrusted it to her, so she must've known Luna could do it.
"We've got to–"
"I've got a plan," Luna said, smiling.
Professor Babbling stared back at her, clearly in awe of her genius. At least, that's what Daddy had always told her when people stared at her like that.
"Has anyone ever told you you're a lot like your mother?"
"Daddy does sometimes," Luna replied as Tutela ran past her.
Luna hadn't talked with Professor Babbling much since she was a little girl, but she was sure that Professor Babbling was clever. Her mum used to talk about her a lot, so Luna was sure that Professor Babbling had already worked out her plan. That made it easy.
Luna watched as the water approached, then pressed the button she'd drawn on the wall.
A large net sprang out from her side of the corridor. The ends of the net fell neatly into place on the other side.
"Fasten those in place!"
Professor Babbling did as she was told, securing the net on her end. Luna wasn't great with facial expressions, but she was certain that Professor Babbling was impressed.
Water poured through the net, and Luna climbed up the side of the wall so she didn't get swept away. Tutela grabbed Professor Babbling and dragged her up the other wall.
"Is… is your dog flying?" Professor Babbling asked.
"I think so," Luna replied. "She should be."
It wasn't long before the water died down, and one thing remained in the net. Princess lay motionless at the bottom of the corridor.
Luna pressed another button and the net collapsed into the corridor. She and Professor Babbling rushed over to her. Professor Babbling pressed her ear to Princess's chest, listening for signs of life.
"She's alive, but barely. We've got to get her to Pomfrey immediately."
"Done." Luna turned to Tutela. "You heard her. Immediately."
Tutela nodded, then tripled in size. They didn't waste any time securing themselves to Tutela, then the homunculus tore off down the corridor and out of the Dungeons.
"What about Rose?"
"I said normal third-year. Rose doesn't–"
Pomona found herself cut off by a barrage of rock falling from the ceiling. Neville reacted first, shoving her out of the way, taking the hit himself.
"Neville!"
Many of the students turned back and ran to help.
"Keep going!" she shouted, convincing herself that he was alright. "There's nothing anyone can do for him now!"
She couldn't risk banishing the rubble, because she could just as easily catch him in the spell, nor could she risk moving the rock and crushing him. All Pomona could do was stare helplessly as her student was crushed to death beneath part of the castle.
Something shifted beneath the wreckage, then rocks tumbled aside. Pomona's eyes went wide with shock as Neville rose out of the wreckage. Rose stood by his side, tossing rocks out of her way as if they were pillows.
"Rose?"
"Present."
"How'd you do that?"
"I've got this sixth sense that tells me when my friends are in danger." She grinned. "It's not terribly helpful, since it goes off all the time, but sometimes I listen."
Neville started to laugh, contradicting Pomona's shock. "I can't tell if you're joking."
Rose patted Neville's arm. "Now we're even, Toad."
Neville frowned at her, evidently as confused as Pomona was. "For what?"
"Ask me another time, and I'll tell you." She turned to Pomona. "Are the rest of your students safe?"
Pomona nodded, still unclear as to what the girl had done. She pushed it out of her mind. Everyone was safe, and that was the only important thing at the moment.
"Let's get to Hogsmeade," Pomona said.
"You go on ahead," Rose said. Her expression twisted into a dark look, not quite hateful, but not quite angry. "I've got one last thing to take care of."
Pomona took one look at the girl and had a question to ask her. Several questions, in fact, but she chose to stick with an order instead of asking any of them.
"Don't kill anyone."
Neville gasped as if she'd just spoken blasphemy, but Rose understood her sentiment. A grin crossed the girl's face that was more unnerving than the look of murderous determination.
"Don't worry, Professor. I'll take good care of him."
She held her wand to her face and whispered something. Pomona swore she caught the word "Pettigrew". Exactly six seconds later, Rose vanished in a burst of rose petals.
"That can't be good," Pomona muttered.
"Who's Peter Pettigrew?" Neville asked.
Pomona looked down the corridor, then back to Neville. "I suppose we've got some time to kill."
Rose appeared in a field far outside the bounds of Hogwarts. She didn't know where precisely, but she was close enough to Pettigrew that she didn't care.
The man jumped when he saw her, then remained frozen in place.
"I'm sorry, did I not give you a good enough running start?" Rose asked. "Or did I forget to mention that I can find you no matter how far you run?"
Pettigrew transformed into a rat, the time turner dangling from his neck, and bolted through the field. Rose looked ahead to a forest that wasn't far off. If Pettigrew could make it to that forest, it'd become harder to track him.
Rose turned back to the parting of grass that identified Pettigrew's location, then activated undermaster.
Pettigrew flew into the air, unable to escape from reverse gravity. He returned to human form, flailing helplessly in the air.
Rose floated over to him, positioning herself right in front of him.
"I'm not going to let you escape, Peter. Instead, I'm going to take every happy memory you've got. Every memory that gives you hope or comfort; I'm going to take them all. People I cared about are dead because of you. After everything you've done – everything you've caused – I should take it all away."
Rose pulled out her scrolls and began to read from the one of mindrape.
"Please, no!"
Rose wanted nothing more than to see Pettigrew suffer. Every single inch of her wanted to hear him scream in agony. She wanted to tear into him with Crimson Thorn and spill his blood over the ground. What she'd done to Fudge would be nothing compared to what she'd do to Pettigrew.
You were my best friend once, but now, I hate you.
She's my hero, not some bloodthirsty monster!
"That's what I should do… what I want to do, but I won't. That's what Valignatiejir would do, and I will never be like him."
Rose rolled up the scroll and placed it back on her bracelet.
"Thank you!" Pettigrew exclaimed, tears in his eyes. "Thank you!"
"Although, speaking of the Abomination," Rose said. She placed her hand on Pettigrew.
"Hibernate!"
Pettigrew's eyes closed and he collapsed. Rose knew from experience it'd keep him suspended for months, and for him, there was no escaping it.
Rose grabbed the time turner from him, slung Pettigrew over her shoulder, then finally brought them back to Professor Dumbledore's office. When she arrived, she found him just leaving the same room he had when she'd broken the time turner. Its box was on the floor, wide open, as Pettigrew had left it.
"Rose, what happened?" Dumbledore asked, noticing the open box.
"This one tried to use your time turner to escape." Rose shifted Pettigrew's body when she said it. "Suffice to say, it didn't work."
Rose held out her hand and presented the time turner to Dumbledore.
"Get rid of this thing. I was lucky, but a student might not be. It's too dangerous to leave lying around."
Professor Dumbledore took the time turner from her and placed it back in its box.
"I will make sure it stays safe from now on." He placed it back inside a drawer in his desk. "What did you mean, 'you were lucky'?"
Rose thought back to her adventure in Broken Time Land and frowned.
"I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, we've got to get this one secured and check on everyone else. My friends are all safe; I've seen to that, but I don't know about the students."
Dumbledore nodded to her.
"Thank you for your help today," he said. "We're still going to talk about your behavior this year, but you've gone a long way towards making up for it."
Rose gave a too-big smile, glad Professor Dumbledore didn't know the half of what she'd done.