It's Christmas Time Again: A Time-Traveling TMS Holiday Extravaganza

The First Turn of Time

The Hogwarts Express sighed on the rail in Hogsmeade Station. Rubeus Hagrid was carrying his lantern, walking the length of the platform along side the train cars, thick clouds of breath rising up from his mouth as he walked, double checking that all the doors were well fastened closed, that the last of the students were on board.

I sat on a bench at the very end of the platform, staring at one of the very last of the doors, trying to will myself to get up and board. The closer Hagrid got to my end of the platform, the more my stomach churned. I only had until he reached me and then I'd have to make my move one way or the other.

My fingers closed around the hard egg shell of my best friend - George Michael.

"Oughtn't yeh be on the train by now? Yeh don't wan' ter be missin' Christmas with yeh folks!" Hagrid said as he lumbered up. The boar hound, Fang, stood by his side, snow flakes clinging to the dog's dark fur and on Hagrid's massive coat, beard, and unruly hair. His beetle-black eyes glowed at me, friendly, and his lips curved in a smile.

I slid George Michael into my pocket and stood up, slinging my satchel strap over my head and taking a few steps forward toward the train.

"Sommat the matter?" Hagrid asked gently.

I stared at the train door. The engine sighed yet again. Hagrid's brows shifted with concern.

I took a step back from the train.

Then another...

And another...

And then I turned and ran across the platform - away from the train, away from Hagrid, who stood calling my name through the swirling snow. His voice echoed behind me as I took to the stairs down from the platform, my shoes slid on a bit of ice and my feet went out from under me. I saw a flash of the castle's silhouette on the horizon - a blur of grey sky - and then I was laying on my back in the snow, staring up, the flakes landing on my cheeks as I tried to catch my breath.

The cold air burned my lungs.

Flakes of snow clung to my eyelashes.

I lay there on the ice, feeling as though the entire world had come to an end. Or at least that my part in it had.

And, in a way, I guess that was kind of the moment it did.

Because it was while I was laying there in the snow that I reached into my shirt and pulled out the time turner, letting it hang before me on it's golden chain from my fist. It glistened - shiny and bright against the silver-grey of the world.

I could hear Hagrid yelling my name, his feet thundering over the platform, headed to check on me.

I made a split-second decision.

I closed my eyes and turned the wheel.