Tag-Team Fic, Chapter 6
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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Title: The Other Turn
Author: jackiejlh
Chapter: Six
Rating: (this chapter) PG
Pairings: None.
Warnings: None.
Word Count:(this chapter) 1368
Author's Notes: This was really fun! I should probably apologize to the next author in advance, but it was still really fun! :)
Tightening his grip on Tom's arm, Harry Apparated to the one place he felt certain he could find help, or at least an idea of what to do next. The gates of Hogwarts.
Except when they arrived, the gates weren't there. As Tom staggered back, glaring daggers at him, Harry gaped in horror at the forested countryside. No gates, no road. He hurried through the trees, practically running in his panic, and his fears were confirmed. No castle.
‘Where are we?’ Tom asked when he caught up a moment later.
‘There … there's supposed to be a school here,’ Harry said, almost to himself.
Tom looked around incredulously, and opened his mouth to make what would have undoubtedly been a very scathing comment about Harry's capabilities - both mental and magical, but was interrupted by a woman's voice from among the trees.
‘Hello there,’ a cheerful-looking, red-haired woman called, stepping into view. Her kind, plump face almost reminded Harry of Mrs Weasley, but he could also see suspicion in her eyes. He cautiously took a step closer to Tom, putting himself between the boy and the stranger.
‘Hello,’ he responded, making sure his wand was concealed behind his leg.
‘What are you boys doing out here?’ the woman asked him, taking in Harry's battered appearance and Tom's unusual clothes. ‘Are you lost, perhaps?’
Before Harry could answer, Tom called out: ‘We're looking for a school. He says that there's supposed to be one here.’
The woman's eyes grew wide, and she slipped her hand into her pocket. Acting on instinct, Harry held his wand in front of him, silently warning her. But instead of being afraid, she seemed to almost visibly relax at the sight of it.
‘You're wizards,’ she said more than asked, and then smiled again.
‘Yes, we are,’ Tom answered in a self-important tone, stepping forward despite Harry's attempts to stay in front of him, as if he wasn't a wandless, essentially defenseless kid.
The woman's smile grew wider, more genuine, and she went on: ‘And you've come here looking for a school?’
‘Yes,’ Harry answered warily.
‘Are you a Seer?’
‘Um, no …’ Exchanging confused glances with Tom, Harry shook his head.
‘But …’ Pausing, the woman seemed to contemplate something for a moment, then appeared to make up her mind. ‘There's something I want to show you. Will you come with me?’
‘The last time someone said that, I ended up being left to wander around a graveyard,’ Tom grumbled, glaring at Harry. The woman made a tsking noise.
‘Please?’ she tried again, her eyes pleading.
Frowning in the direction of where-Hogwarts-should-be-but-wasn't, Harry decided that at this point, they didn't have anything to lose, and nodded.
‘Wonderful,’ she said, motioning for them to follow her into the woods. Stopping suddenly, she blushed. ‘I'm sorry, you must think I'm terribly rude. I'm Helga Hufflepuff.’ If she noticed Harry's gasp of surprise, she didn't mention it as they slipped between the trees, finally reaching a small wooden building with smoke curling from the chimney.
Ushering them inside, Helga waved her wand at a handful of candles, lighting the room, and began pulling parchments out of cupboards, spreading them on the table. Looking down, Harry's eyes widened in surprise at the sketches and floor plans before him.
‘We're going to call it Hogwarts,’ Helga explained, pride evident in her tone. ‘We'll start spellwork on the grounds in the spring …’ Turning back to the boys, she asked them with curiousity, ‘How did you know?’
‘Uh …’ Harry's mind raced to think up an explanation, but a second later the door banged open, and three more people walked in, pausing at the sight of the two strangers standing before them.
‘Oh, good!’ Helga exclaimed cheerfully. ‘Let me introduce you to my friends. This is Rowena, Salazar, and Godric.’
Staring in shock, possibly even horror, Harry finally managed to get out: “Nice to meet you,” feeling himself wither under Slytherin's disapproving gaze.
‘They're wizards,’ Helga added, a broad smile gracing her lips. ‘They're here looking for a school.’
‘Going to be waiting a while,’ Gryffindor said good-naturedly. ‘Where are you from, then?’ he asked, frowning at Tom's school clothes.
‘London,’ Tom answered haughtily, obviously unimpressed by their wooded, simple surroundings and glaring with an extra bit of disdain at the candles lighting the room.
‘And your parents? They're wizards?’ Salazar asked.
Harry paled as Tom replied: ‘I don't know.’
He'd really have to have a talk with the kid about keeping things to himself, Harry thought. Tom was too cocky for his own good.
If Tom's tone was haughty, though, Salazar's was downright contemptuous. ‘Not even a proper wizard,’ he bit out, dismissing them with a wave of his hand as he walked past them and headed for a door in the back of the room.
Instantly incensed, Tom clenched his fists at his sides. ‘How dare you?!’ he hissed, and then moved his hand quickly up and forward, sending one of the chairs at the table flying toward Slytherin.
The older wizard spun on his heels and deflected the flying furniture with a flick of his wand, his expression turning murderous. Harry pulled his own wand from his pocket, preparing for a fight - after all, Tom Riddle wasn't Voldemort yet, and he couldn't let him get killed. Not here, not now.
But whatever Slytherin would have done, Harry never found out. Godric hurried forward and coaxed his friend out of the room, and Rowena descended on Tom.
‘You can do wandless magic? At your age?’ she asked, sounding almost, almost, impressed. Tom nodded, his gaze never leaving the door Slytherin had disappeared through.
‘Most wizards ten times your age can't accomplish that,’ Rowena continued, and this finally drew Tom's attention. ‘How did you learn it?’
‘I just … do it,’ Tom said with a shrug. ‘It's not exactly hard.’
‘Oh, quite the contrary … See,’ she said to Harry, as if he had argued with her, ‘This is why a school is so important. This boy could be the next Merlin, and no one has even given the child a wand.’ Tom, obviously engrossed in her words, nodded in agreement, and he grinned - really grinned - for the first time that Harry had seen.
Shrugging apologetically at Rowena, Harry tucked his own wand back into his pocket, but in doing so, accidentally knocked the Time Turner loose and it tumbled out into view, dangling from its gold chain.
‘What's this?’ Helga asked, lifting it up before Harry could stop her. ‘It's very interesting …’
The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. Harry reached for the Time Turner, a shouted ‘No!’ already forming on his lips, as Helga tapped the hourglass with one finger, sending it spinning round and round at an alarming rate. With only enough time to reach out and knot his hand into the fabric of Tom's shirt, Harry felt himself sucked through time yet again.
When the world resettled itself, he was standing on a path through the woods, with Tom struggling to free himself from his grasp and Helga taking in her surroundings with wide-eyed amazement. Walking up the path, Harry nearly jumped for joy when he saw a castle in the distance.
‘Did we just travel through time?!’ Tom asked, looking around frantically, and Harry nodded absentmindedly as he hurried up the path to Hogwarts. He stopped dead in his tracks, though, as he got closer. There was a castle, yes, and from here he could see children, but … something was different. The castle was different. As they reached the front doors, he looked up and saw an ancient carving over the door. Or, rather, three carvings: a lion, a snake, and an eagle. No badger.
‘No, this isn't right … they've built that tower too small - Godric agreed it should be taller,’ Helga muttered, looking dismayed. ‘And there should be windows over there.’
‘Well you built the castle, didn't you?’ Tom asked, looking at her as if she'd gone mad.
‘No,’ Harry answered for her, his heart sinking in his chest. ‘I don't think she did.’