parents after all

chapter 2

Chapter 2 - New Rules and Regulations

In Dumbledore's office, five teenagers sat across Dumbledore's desk, waiting for their punishment after finishing their accounts of the incident. Professor McGonagall, the deputy Headmistress, sat beside Dumbledore's desk with deep furrows between her brows, her mouth thin like a line. Dumbledore, however, remained as calm as ever, eyes twinkling and reflecting the warm light of the fire-lit room.

'So,' said Dumbledore, his hands resting casually on the desk, the golden hourglass on his palm, 'have you any idea where, and when you are now?'

'Your office, Headmaster,' whispered Lily, 'past curfew ... probably near midnight now. I'm deeply sorry that we - '

'No, Miss Evans, that's not what I meant,' said Dumbledore mildly as he raised a hand to stop Lily, who had been apologising again and again after entering the Headmaster's office. 'Do you know, say, what today's date is?'

'1th September, 1974,' said James matter-of-factly, his palms outstretched, 'if you're checking if we've gone nuts, I can assure you that, no, we haven't, Professor.'

'That's not what I meant either, Mr Potter,' said Dumbledore smoothly, but his expression grew more serious. He lifted up the dangling hourglass and showed it to the teenagers, 'this is a time turner. The name says it all – it is a device for time travel. Normal time turners allow time travellers to stay in the past for five hours at most, with the number of times one turns the hourglass corresponds to the number of hours one travels back in time.'

He glanced at the teenagers, who were gaping with a mixture of awe and shock on their faces, while Lily and Remus also demonstrated horror and exasperation at what their classmate had done.

'However, that's not quite the case we have with you,' continued Dumbledore. 'The one you took from my office, Mr Black, is a faulty time turner, one of those earliest models the Ministry created then discarded promptly. I happened to get hold of one of those to further my research on time travelling, which, unfortunately, had been forced to come to a halt some twenty years ago.'

The teenagers exchanged a glance. None of them spoke a word. Time-travelling, after all, was a complicated concept for fourth-year students. The fire crackled softly, wisps of smoke rose from the cups of tea offered by Dumbledore for the midnight guests. Suddenly, Remus looked up and whispered, 'you stopped ... twenty years... ago, did you say, Professor?'

'Indeed, Mr Lupin,' said Dumbledore serenely.

'Because you lost the t... time turner,' whispered Remus.

'Logical as ever, Mr Lupin,' nodded Dumbledore.

'And now... Sirius here has your time turner,' Remus trembled.

Dumbledore nodded again.

Remus fell silent. His face turned even paler. The Marauders watched him intently, Sirius felt even guiltier that he had put his friend through such misery. Lily looked between Remus, the Professors and the time turner, her eyes narrowed suddenly, 'Remus, you're not suggesting-? '

'Mr Lupin is correct.' Watching the teenagers' dumbstruck expressions, Dumbledore stood up from his chair. 'Twenty years ago, I lost my time turner. Twenty years after, you present me my lost time turner, which, I believe, perfectly explains the disappearance of the device in the past. It has brought you twenty years into the future – so welcome, lady and gentlemen, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on this frigid night of 1th September, 1994.'

'Did you hear what I heard?' Peter turned to James, who nodded excitedly.

'We went from 1974 to 1994!' gasped Sirius.