Chapter Text
---Preface---
An excerpt from “Traveling Through Time: Tips, Tactics, Tolerances” by Tilda Turner.
<<When performing a Binding Spell related to events in time, it’s essential to choose the leading event carefully. Shouldn’t that particular circumstance occur, the effects might be of catastrophic proportions. A small change in the path established could result in large differences at a later state. This is called the Snidget Effect, which in magical chaos theory refers to a sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which even an inconsequential change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can determine a chain of alarming events in the following states. Imagine a storm destroying an entire city. That storm might have been caused by the flap of the delicate wings of a Snidget on the other side of the world, or rather, as per our case, a flap of wings that didn’t happen when you had anticipated it would. >>
PART ONE
1.
June, 1997
“We need to get you up to the school, sir. Madam Pomfrey…” Harry said, reaching for Dumbledore’s arm and pulling him up, his brows drawn together with worry.
“No, I need Professor Snape, Harry, he’s the only one…” Dumbledore coughed, leaning all his weight on Harry’s side.
“Sir, you can’t walk. We need to knock on some door and ask for help,” Harry pleaded, looking around, desperate for an idea that wouldn’t come.
Dumbledore’s breathing was rattly, his frame shaking with each intake. Slowly, he looked up, his eyes traveling to the castle. He frowned, muttering something.
“Sir?” Harry asked, but the old professor was lost in his thoughts, his eyes flitting back and forth over the castle towers.
Harry squeezed his arm and he looked back at him, as if he was surprised to see him there.
“Sir, we need some kind of transport to go back to the castle,” Harry suggested and Dumbledore nodded, turning to the Three Broomsticks.
“Rosmerta…she always has spare brooms lying around, just…just Accio a couple Harry, will you?” he mumbled, his legs quivering under him.
Harry took out his wand and summoned two brooms that soared towards them from the alley behind the pub.
“Put your cloak on, Harry, in case someone is up late,” Dumbledore instructed, mounting on his broom. Harry did as told and kicked the ground a second after the Headmaster. He flew close to him, ready to grab him should he falter, but it seemed Dumbledore was regaining some of his strength, a glint of determination shining in his gaze. Harry didn’t know what, but something was up. He had a weird feeling, a prickle on his skin, like the aftermath of electric current cursing through him.
As they approached the castle grounds, Dumbledore muttered under his breath in a weird language. Harry’s broom shivered in his hands as they silently swooshed past the wards Dumbledore had placed on the castle. The Headmaster angled his broom up, towards the Astronomy Tower. They landed past the ramparts and Harry immediately took off his cloak while dismounting. He was at Dumbledore’s side in an instant, supporting him while he massaged his chest, a grimace pulling at his thin lips.
“Harry, go fetch Severus. Don’t talk to anyone else, just bring him here and…” Dumbledore was cut off by the door bursting open, a shadow of billowing robes hurrying out of the spiraling staircase.
“I’m here, Albus,” Professor Snape drawled, reaching him and grabbing his other arm. He never looked at Harry, his cold gaze focused on the Headmaster, examining his pale face and ragged breath.
“Severus, right on time,” he mumbled, patting his hand with his blackened one. “Is the castle quiet?”
Snape nodded, his mouth clamped shut, but Harry swore he could see a muscle tick in his jaw. He couldn’t observe further, because Dumbledore faced him, his piercing blue gaze fixed in his green confused one.
“Go back to your dorm, Harry and don’t say a word to anyone just yet. We’ll talk in the morning, I’ll send for you as soon as I’m rid of that foul potion. Now go, put your cloak on.”
“But Professor, you need to go to the infirmary,” Harry started, but Snape turned, his eyes reduced to slits of pure hate.
“You heard the Headmaster, Mr. Potter. Go to your dorm, he will be taken care of,” he hissed, venom and impatience lacing every syllable. Harry ground his teeth, hoping to show just as much hate in his gaze, before turning to Dumbledore and nodding. He took his cloak from the ground, donned it, then stepped through the door and closed it behind him without a backward glance. He slipped a hand through the back pocket of his jeans and took out an Extendable Ear, placing an end right under the door and holding the other to his ear, unfurling the twine while he noisily stepped down the stairs. When he reached the door, he pushed it open and closed it again, remaining hidden on the final step. He waited for mere seconds before Snape spoke.
“How do you feel? What did you have to face?”
“A weakening potion, with hallucinating properties. My lungs and stomach burn, but I will survive, I think.”
There was a ruffle of fabric, then a stopper uncorking. “Here, drink this, it will contain the spreading. I need to brew something more specific, though, and run a diagnostic…”
“I’ll be fine, Severus. Tell me what went wrong here. I was expecting a Dark Mark over the tower. What happened?”
Harry held his breath, eyes slightly widening. What?
After a split second, Snape sighed. “I don’t know. When I didn’t see them arrive, I went to the Room, but Draco wasn’t there.”
“Where is he?”
Silence pressed on Harry’s ear.
“He’s disappeared, Albus. He’s not in the castle, my wards cannot sense him.”
Silence again. Harry frowned. What were they talking about? And where was Malfoy?
“Did you hear from your friends? He isn’t with them, I presume.”
“I just got an owl from Alecto. They couldn’t get through the cabinet, it didn’t work, so the mission was aborted. But they want an explanation to feed to the Dark Lord. He’ll be furious as soon as he finds out.”
Harry went cold. Was he referring to Voldemort? What mission was Snape on about and why was Dumbledore disappointed it hadn’t worked out?
Dumbledore paused. “You have a theory.”
Snape took his time to choose his next words. “I think the cabinet didn’t work. Draco panicked, because the Death Eaters weren’t coming through and he stepped in to try it. I believe he’s stuck in there, Albus, because he didn’t repair it properly.”
Death Eaters? Malfoy had been trying to get them into Hogwarts through a cabinet? How?
Dumbledore mumbled. “This is quite unfortunate, Severus.”
What?
There was a charged pause, Harry could almost picture Snape’s confused look when he spoke again, because he was just as dumbfounded.
“Unfortunate? The boy is missing, Albus, and he was, is , a crucial element of the Dark Lord’s plans, as well as ours! He might be in serious danger there. It’s not just unfortunate, it’s a deadly situation.”
When Dumbledore answered, it was like he was talking to himself, doing some kind of shopping list. Harry’s skin raised with goosebumps.
“We’ll have to come up with a good story, a believable one. And we’ll have to rethink the plan from here. I still have some time left before the curse from the ring eats me alive. I have a brilliant mind, Severus, we’ll find a solution. Let’s go to my office, you have to write back to Alecto before she gets suspicious.”
“What about Draco? How do we get him out?”
“We don’t. He’ll be much safer lost in there than facing the consequences of his failure. Besides, the Unbreakable Vow links him to you. Should he be in danger, you’ll feel it and we’ll worry about it if or when it happens. Now, help me down the stairs, Severus. We have much to do.”
Shocked to his core, Harry pulled the twine and opened his door just as the two professors opened theirs. He stepped in the corridor and turned the corner, waiting for them to get down and walk in the opposite direction, before heading towards Gryffindor Tower. His heart was thumping so loudly in his ears, Harry could barely hear his footsteps on the marble floors. What the hell did he just witness?
He had known Malfoy was up to something, right from the day they had followed him and his mother in Knockturn Alley. He had known he was playing around with something in the Room of Requirements, but this? Getting Death Eaters into Hogwarts, where his friends and innocent children were? It sounded a bit much even for Malfoy. And why on Earth did Dumbledore know about it and had done nothing to stop it? Why was the Headmaster actually disappointed the plan hadn’t worked out?
Dumbledore had asked him to say nothing to anyone just yet, but he couldn’t keep such a terrible secret to himself, especially since he didn’t understand what was actually happening. He needed Ron and Hermione, he needed to make sense of that pile of information and he had to do it now.
When he crawled out of the hole and into the common room, his friends were sitting on the couch. Ron was half asleep, his head resting on Hermione’s shoulder, mouth slightly open. Hermione looked up from the book she was reading, a frown pulling immediately at her brows.
“Harry! What’s going on?” she gasped, getting up. Ron stumbled and jerked up as well, eyes opening in confusion. Harry bunched the cloak and threw it on an armchair, before pacing in front of the fireplace, too on edge to sit.
“I don’t know exactly, but it’s huge. And it’s dark,” he said. Then abruptly stopped and turned to face them.
“Malfoy is missing.”