Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
The Time Meddlers
Chapter Thirteen - Breaking and Entering
Classes were quite easy for Harry and Hermione, who did continue to help Neville a lot. However, their main focus was two different projects, one of which would be much easier than the other, yet both had one thing in common - they involved breaking and entering. The first and simplest of these missions occurred during dinner a few days into the new term. Harry and Hermione had taken their time eating their meal and being seen by everyone sitting near them, as well as most of the staff, including Dumbledore. About fifteen minutes into the dinner, the headmaster got up and left the room, returning after ten minutes and taking a piece of cake. Once Harry and Hermione left the Great Hall, they used their Time-Turner.
Harry enlarged his broomstick after removing it from his pocket and mounted it, allowing Hermione to get on behind him, hugging herself tightly to him.
"This is cozy," Harry commented with a grin.
"I suppose so," she said. Being an owl-Animagus helped her overcome most of her fear of heights, but she still didn't really like riding brooms. However, she knew that Harry loved it and she did enjoy hugging him like that, so she didn't talk about her discomfort. In fact, hugging Harry tightly was the reason she'd decided to join him rather than transform and fly up there herself. "I'll disillusion you and then you do the same to me." She then touched his head with her wand and watched her boyfriend disappear. A few moments later, she felt his wand lightly tap her head, followed by the cold sensation associated with that spell.
"I'm taking off now," Harry said, in hopes of not frightening Hermione. He did know she didn't enjoy flying on brooms. About half-way up to their destination, he commented, "I wonder if I can control a broom in my form."
"I doubt it," she replied, with a bit of laughter in her voice.
"I should try sometime."
"Not with me on the broom, you won't. I'll need to be ready to catch you when you fall."
"It's just not fair that your form can fly but mine can't," he complained.
"Life isn't fair," she replied. "Anyway, we're here."
Harry let go of the broom with his right and got his special wand out. Wordlessly, he vanished the glass of Dumbledore's large window and flew inside. Harry noticed Fawkes watching them intently, but not making a sound. Once they'd dismounted the broom, Harry whispered, "Accio, my dad's Invisibility cloak." He didn't think it would be that easy, but he thought they might learn something from the spell, and he was right.
After a second, they heard a sound similar to a pillow hitting a wall, coming from inside a drawer in the Headmaster's desk. "There," whispered Hermione. Harry reached out to open it, but was stopped by his girlfriend slapping his hand. "Wait. I need to check it for hexes." She pointed her wand at the appropriate place and shot a few spells at the drawer, causing it to turn red. "You see. You'd have gotten a mild shock and your hand would've turned blue for days. You'd have gotten us caught."
"I'm sorry," he said, properly chastised.
"Let's see," she mumbled more to herself than Harry as she went through a list of counter-jinxes in her mind. "I've got it," she said, finally causing the drawer to turn blue. She touched it with no problems and opened the drawer, revealing the cloak. At that moment, they heard something they'd hoped to avoid.
"Tootsie Rolls," said the voice of Albus Dumbledore.
"He's not in this room," Harry commented.
"He must have a listening charm at the entrance," said Hermione as she grabbed the cloak and closed the drawer. "That's how he knows who's at his door."
While she was replacing the spells on the drawer (with her special wand so that the signature couldn't be traced), they heard footsteps echoing up the stairs. "The hallway, too," commented Harry as he mounted his broom. "Get on."
Hermione obeyed and they quickly flew out the window, with her performing a, "Repairo," charm on it once they were through.
"He can see through invisibility cloaks," said Harry, "so he probably could see through the disillusionment charm as well." While he was talking, he shot straight up until he was above the castle, and then flew over it toward the other side. Only when they were above the castle did they slow down to make themselves invisible. They managed to get where they belonged before the full hour was up, so they weren't missed.
--HP--
Professor Dumbledore had been spearing a piece of steak with his fork when he felt a security ward go off in his office. He had them in place whenever he was out of the office because he had many valuable objects there, as well as books with information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. He didn't make them sound a loud alarm for a few reasons. One is that it could cause a panic, and the other is to lure the culprit into a false sense of security. He ate the food on his fork and stood up. "Excuse me, but nature is calling," he said before walking out of the Great Hall. He made his way to his office as quickly as possible, giving the gargoyle his password, "Tootsie Rolls," before walking up the stairs.
He knew that the intruder could hear him, but there was no way for him or her to escape that quickly. The floo only worked for him, and he was the only one who could make a portkey that went through Hogwarts' wards. When he opened the door, everything looked untouched. He quickly used his wand to try to detect any hexes in the area, as well as to see if any of his own security charms had been removed. The only thing he could find was that the ward for detecting intruders had been set off. Everything else was exactly as it had been. He turned to his phoenix, wishing he could communicate telepathically with it, as many people seemed to believe he could.
"Fawkes, did you see the intruder who was just here?" The bird nodded its head in response.
"Did the intruder steal anything?" The phoenix shook its head in the negative.
"Will you help me find the intruder?" The phoenix shook its head again.
"Very well," sighed Dumbledore, knowing that it was absolutely useless arguing with that bird. Obviously, Fawkes was of the opinion that whoever was in the office did nothing wrong. Albus sighed once more and left, wondering how they exited so quickly. For all he knew, Fawkes had personally flamed them out and returned.
--HP--
"Now we each have our own Invisibility cloak," said Hermione, who was claiming the Crouch cloak for herself, which Harry had no objections to. They were in the Room of Requirement later that night discussing their success.
"I just still can't believe he'd keep mine from me just because I've gotten him upset at me. That's theft." Hermione giggled. "It's not funny."
"I was just remembering how irresponsible I thought he was being the first time around when he gave you the cloak. I mean, you used it to sneak around after curfew the very first night you had it."
He chuckled a bit at the memory. "I suppose." He shrugged his shoulders. "To give him the benefit of the doubt, which I don't know if he deserves or not, he might have intended to give it to me later, after he thought he could trust me to be a good little boy."
"Exactly," Hermione agreed.
"The trouble is that he had no right to make that decision. He can't choose whether or not I should inherit my parents' stuff. He also had no right to choose where I was placed after my parents died."
"Harry," his companion said with concern.
He sighed. "I know. There's no point in worrying about the past. I just wish he'd stop acting like he's God - that he alone is able to decide right from wrong, interfering with anybody else's rights as he goes."
"I know," said Hermione.
"So, have you come up with a plan to break Sirius out of Azkaban yet?"
Shaking her head, she replied, "No, but I did decide on one thing. We need the plans to Azkaban, and there's only one place we'll be able to find them."
He grinned at her. "Let me guess. We're going to break into the Ministry?"
"Exactly, Harry. You've already broken in there once, so how hard can it be?"
"Maybe we can frame someone else for being drunk and get them in trouble."
With a grin on her face, Hermione replied, "No, as funny as it was to see Umbridge's picture like that in the Prophet, we shouldn't do things like that. You technically shouldn't have done that to her either, but I understand how much temptation that was, and can't say I wouldn't have done something similar to that wicked…witch."
Taking a deep breath to stop himself from laughing, he said, "The Ministry is a lot less secure now than it was when Voldemort was in charge. I just had to…"
--HP--
A few nights later, while one set of Harry and Hermione were in their beds at Hogwarts, another set, with the aid of a Time-Turner, had just arrived at the Ministry of Magic. They'd left the school through the One-Eyed Witch secret passage, and once they were clear of Hogwarts' wards, they disillusioned themselves and apparated directly to the lobby. They brought their cloaks with them, because cloaks seemed to work better than the spell, but the spell offered more freedom of movement. Just as before, Harry cunfunded the guard. However, this time they didn't ride the lift all the way to Level Nine - the Department of Mysteries.
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement," announced the lift just before it opened.
Both the intruders were invisible, but that didn't stop the auror on duty from pointing his wand at the door and asking, "Who's there?" When there was no response except for sounds indicating someone leaving the lift, he shouted, "Stop, or I'll fire."
"Stupefy!" whispered Harry, quickly taking down their opponent.
"Harry," hissed Hermione. "You shouldn't have…"
"Ow!" said the disillusioned Harry as a yellow beam of light from the side hit him.
Hermione heard him fall and said, "Protego!" just in time to block the same spell from hitting her.
"Surrender, in the name of the Ministry!" shouted a woman's voice, giving Hermione a target. This female auror was invisible as well.
"Stupefy!" she thought, and from the crash a moment later, Hermione knew the spell had made contact. She peered all around her and listened for any sound.
After about thirty seconds, she heard a familiar voice groan. "What was that?" Harry quietly asked as Hermione followed the voice to her companion's side.
"Are you alright?" she demanded.
"My shoulder's sore and I've got a headache. I think I banged my head after that spell hit me."
"You may have a concussion," she replied.
"Maybe, but I can't exactly lie down here, can I?"
"I suppose not. Let me help you up. Can you see the distortion my hand is making?" She wiggled her fingers to help him.
"Yes," he replied a few seconds later before taking her hand.
Once they were both standing up, Hermione said, "I'll modify their memories on the way out. For now, we need to hurry."
They made their way as quickly as possible and got to Director Amelia Bones' office without any troubles They'd had to cunfund a few more aurors who weren't paying attention, but that was it. Hermione then started scanning the door for any wards while Harry stood guard. After five long minutes, she finally opened the door, commenting, "Madam Bones had a lot of wards on her office."
"I guess she didn't want it broken into," replied Harry with a grin. Right after they walked in, the door closed itself. "I just hope the plans are in this room."
"There'd be no point in summoning them, though," said Hermione. "They'd be charmed against that. We'll have to carefully look through the office. Let's get started."
They did just that, scanning every drawer and cabinet for hexes before opening them, until finally after nearly two hours, Harry said, "I think I found it." He was looking at a paper he'd pulled out of a file cabinet.
Hermione walked over and examined it for a few seconds. "Yes. That's it. It's got a map and a listing of every prisoner." She carefully looked at every page before replacing the documents. "That should be enough. Let's get this office looking exactly like it did before we arrived."
Once that was done, Harry put the Time-Turner around both their necks, wincing when Hermione touched his shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.
"That's just where I was hit by that spell. Once we're back, maybe you should look at it."
"I will. I'm glad you're allowing that voluntarily."
"I think it was just Infligo, but I don't know that for sure," he replied. "Anyway, are you ready to go back in time?"
"Sure." He turned the hourglass twice, and they waited silently for about five minutes until the door opened. They waited until they heard Harry's voice say, "I guess she didn't want it broken into." They quickly slid out the door and shut it behind them.
On the way out, they obliviated the aurors they'd stunned and revived them, making them believe nothing had happened. They managed to sneak out of the Ministry and back to Hogwarts with no further problems. They went to the Room of Requirement, where Harry took off his shirt for Hermione to examine his shoulder.
"You are starting to develop muscle," said Hermione as she ran scans on his bruised shoulder. "In a few more years, I won't be able to keep my hands off of you."
"In a few years?" he questioned, acting like he was insulted.
"Well, you are only eleven. I mean, there's not much on me right now to…er…"
"You're still beautiful," he interrupted.
She blushed for a moment before saying, "According to the scans, you're simply bruised. It looks like the spell simulated a good punch."
"I didn't think it was good," he complained.
"Aww. Do you want me to kiss it and make it all better?"
"Yes," he said with a smirk.
"Too bad." She then pointed her wand at the shoulder, healing it instantly.
"Can I still get a kiss?"
--HP--
The next day, Harry and Hermione were back in the Room of Requirement, looking over Azkaban's layout displayed above several thought spheres. Hermione was taking notes on all of them in a muggle notebook. She sighed aloud, getting Harry's attention as he was trying to commit the cell locations to memory. "Do you see all the security around the island? No wonder it took several months before Voldemort broke his people out."
"He was also trying to steal the prophecy at the same time," countered Harry, "so he was distracted."
She took a deep breath. "That may make a bit of a difference, but this is still going to take over a month to plan."
--HP--
The weeks passed slowly as Hermione (with Harry's help when she wasn't shooing him away in annoyance) planned the break-in to Azkaban. They weren't using the Time-Turner for that, figuring that since they had most of their assignments for the year done in advance (thanks to the Pensieve they'd remembered all the assignments from first year from all the classes except D.A.D.A. and Potions, who had different teachers this time around) so they worked on that when they would've worked on their classes. Hermione's Azkaban notes were charmed to look like Transfiguration notes to anyone who happened to glance at them.
They had, however, already had to use the Time-Turner to get their braces adjusted, and Hermione had to admit she enjoyed seeing her parents so soon, even if it meant she had to endure the hardships of braces. They both made sure to disillusion them once they got back to Hogwarts.
Harry had been delighted the day Hedwig showed up with his new Amazing Spider-man comic book, and Hermione had to stop him from using the Time-Turner to read it, saying, "We can't just use it for frivolous things. It's only for our mission."
--HP--
With Hermione busily planning their mission to rescue Sirius, leaving Harry with nothing to do, he took on an extra mission - getting to know Remus Lupin better. When Harry really thought about it, about the only time he'd ever been alone with Moony in the previous timeline had been during his Patronus lessons. Then again, Harry hadn't had much time alone with Sirius, either. He vowed to change both of those problems.
With that in mind, Harry walked up to Lupin's office one Saturday that he knew was nowhere near the full moon and knocked on the door. After about thirty seconds, the door was opened and the Defense instructor smiled down at the first-year student.
"Hello, Harry," he said warmly. "Won't you come in?"
"Hi, Professor Lupin."
When he'd sat down inside the office, Remus asked, "What can I do for you?"
Harry decided to act a bit more unsure of himself than he really was. "Well, sir, I've…I've heard that you used to be a good friend of my father's, and, er, I thought maybe…you could, y'know, tell me about him. My mum, too, if you knew her, too."
Harry was genuinely surprised by the large grin that appeared on the werewolf's face. "Yes, Harry. That is true. I did know both of your parents, and honestly, I've thought about talking to you about them a hundred times but never went through with it. I didn't want to summon you to this office and let you think you were in trouble, but anyway, I'm glad you came to me." Remus sighed for a moment as he got a faraway look in his eyes. "I first met them…"
He then proceeded to tell Harry more about his parents than the Boy-Who-Lived learned during his previous seven years in the wizarding world. However, he wasn't told about his father being an Animagus, nor was Sirius Black's name mentioned. Remus simply said that, "Another friend of ours…" whenever Padfoot had been part of the story.
--HP--
Hermione was sitting next to Harry one morning at breakfast when Hedwig flew into the Great Hall and landed right in front of her. She found that the snowy owl had a card attached to her leg.
"Good morning, Hedwig," Hermione said while detaching the card.
"Morning, girl," said Harry as he held out a piece of bacon for her.
"That's your handwriting," Hermione said as she examined the envelope closely, reading her name.
Harry grinned. "You are correct."
Her eyebrows came closer together as she stared at him. "Why did you send me a card?"
Harry's eyebrows came up. "Don't you know what day it is?"
"Friday," she answered. "What does…?"
"The date," interrupted Harry, while chuckling.
"February fourtee…oh." She frowned.
With a genuine smile, Harry said, "Happy Valentine's Day."
Blushing, Hermione said, "Thanks, Harry," before whispering, "Didn't we agree not to be romantic in public until third year?"
In his normal voice, Harry replied, "I've heard that it's good to give any female friends Valentine's Day cards, and you're my best friend." He then whispered, "I know. That's why I didn't get you a gift, but I wanted to at least give you a card."
"I should've gotten you a card," she said with a hint of concern.
"Don't worry about it. It's a standard card, anyway."
"It's the thought that counts and I wasn't thinking about you at all," she admitted sadly.
"You've been busy with your...studying. Believe me, I understand."
"That's no excuse," she whispered before sighing. "At least my studying is almost done."
He grinned. "That's good, and is a lot more important than Valentine's Day." He added in a whisper, "It's more important to treat people with love everyday than to just remember holidays."
--HP--
The next weekend was the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match which originally had been refereed by Snape, but was now handled by Madam Hooch like all the other matches. Although many aspects of the game were different, including that the referee wasn't blatantly against Gryffindor, thus allowing them more points, the Snitch did make an appearance very early in the game and Harry caught it, matching his record catch from the previous timeline. It was the only game where he remembered when and where the Snitch had made its appearance, as he refused to watch previous games in his Pensieve, but he would never forget that particular catch.
It was only a few days after that when Hermione told him, "Our plan is complete."
--HP--
Please review. Thank you to those who have.
I'm asserting that Albus has those listening charms in place, but turns them off when he's in an important meeting, such as the one with Fudge and fake-Moody in GoF when Harry interrupted them.
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