✧TIME TURNER✧

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Cara Regulus Lestrange had received a brilliant owl from her uncle about the Specks she sent his way after playing Seeker. She now understood the thrill outright, and the kind comments from Harry had aided her quite a bit.

Currently, she had hoped to catch Imara with Hagrid, but without the map, it was utterly difficult to find her siblings. She would need to ask Romulus for it, but after the outburst with Harry and her running off, she doubted she would be given the chance to have it again.

With it being a Saturday, she ditched her school uniform for a Quidditch jumper and jeans. She had managed to sneak Buckbeak a few snacks following her journey to the kitchens.

With tears still in her eyes, she had started to return back towards the castle. Ignoring her cousin and his mates preparing for the execution off on the hill.

It was disgusting to say the least, but she hadn't bothered to say a word to the bloke. Her mother taught her better than to seek out such negative energy.

Just like the Golden Trio had been rallied up at the disturbing comment from Draco himself.

"Ah! Come to see the show?" He called out to the Gryffindors, having spotted their arrival and grinned widely. It was disturbing to making Cara nauseous.

"You!...You foul loathsome evil little cockroach!" Hermione roared, and the Ravenclaw just a few paces away had stood in awe at how beautiful it had been to see Draco backed up against the stone.

"Hermione! No!... He's not worth it!" Ron called out in a sense of worry. But it wasn't Hermione's punch that caused Cara to gasp, it was the figure off to her side.

Was that another Harry?!

Cara couldn't hold herself back and hurried off to the side. "I don't know what you are doing Harry, but time travel is the second most dangerous form of magic there is. You can't be that careless!" She hissed behind the wall, and without a doubt, both he and Hermione had appeared before her.

A much more disheveled look to the both of them, and Cara's eyes widened.

"Sirius is innocent. It was Peter Pettigrew. You were right...We need to stop him from getting captured by the Dementors. If you could—"
"Stop it Harry, if we tell her too much she could go mad!" Hermione had paused Harry's telling of the future. But Cara was stuck on two instances, and in seeing a familiar hand with her family crest engraved onto the rings.

She smiled in recognition to her own hand.

"What time do we go back in time?"

"Midnight, or close to it. We'll be in the infirmary." Cara nodded and then thought for a moment.
"Should I bring anything...? What's happened exactly that I need to prep--" She could hear Hermione scolding Harry for trying to get a word in, but in seeing her hand returned once more. The offered slip of parchment had caused her to smirk.

"Cara no! You'll go—" Hermione started, but the synchronized laughter has silenced her instantly.

"Go mad?... I'm already mad." The two stated, and Cara didn't hesitate to take the detour. After looking through the list, the Ravenclaw had taken the time well spent in avoiding her second person and gathering what needed to get done.

But she also thought ahead—Ahead of her future self, which sure caused a bit of a pause. But if they were attempting to secure Sirius, the bloke needed something as well.

With her erratic thoughts running a muck, it didn't bode all that well when she ran into her brother. Who caught her dazed expression, instantly causing concern to cross Romulus' face outright.

"Are you alright?" He said in utter desperation, this weekend was already taking a turn—But then she recalled of a much current issue of Buckbeak's execution. He was probably assuming she was torn, and she was. Yet Cara had a bit of hope that other things could be changed in that amount of time.

"Oh...I'm fine thank you—Where are you headed?" She asked, however now the aspect of having another her in this timeline made her worry on actually seeing herself...Or others seeing her twice over.
"Looking for Imara, though I'm happy I ran into you. There's an issue of—"

"Peter Pettigrew?" Romulus' eyes had gone wide with fright. And Cara realized she had spoken out of turn to the point of spoiling more than it was worth.
"Look, I haven't enough time to explain all this. Do not go looking for Black, Romulus. I've got it handled."

"Handled—Handled?! What the devils are you talking about?!" Cara sighed in damnation, curling her small fists as she was in a time crunch now. There was hardly enough time in the day to properly formulate scenarios.

Perhaps now was the good time to ask for the map again, then—

"Cara, look at me, what are you doing?"

"Making sure all is well." With a parting kiss, she hurried off and away to the common room first.

It wasn't difficult to raid her brother's bedroom during the weekend, grabbing a few pairs of clothes and a cloak. But it was the ushering of galleons she needed—She would pay him back later.

Realistically, she had the checklist similar to when she was camping with the family. And thus, she stuffed in the sleeping bag they had passed out when Black first trespassed into the castle. But with the given list, it suggested that Sirius was not going to be free on this very night.

The root of Cara's problem was not knowing what was happening in the first timeline to suggest what needed to be changed, hell—As the time began to tick closer and closer together, she was nervous.
So much so that she paced back and forth near the infirmary following a quick snack downstairs in packing a meal for Sirius.

Having wasted hours wasn't the issue, it's that she took herself off the map that was making her fearful of Romulus reaction. She needed to do this, but it will help in the future—Or the past.

"Gods, even I'm getting messed up over—" Cara silenced herself instantly in hearing the commotion, finally connecting the pieces together in what Harry and Hermione had warned her of.

Yet seeing the uncurious figure of the said Gryffindor, she hurried forward and stood beside Hermione. "Good goddess! What's happened?" She hurried out, but the girl's attention was on Ron and the fussing Madam Pomfrey was pushing forward.

"Oh good, Lestrange...Could you get me the ditty?" It had caught her from spiraling out of thought and she hurried over towards the potion's station and fiddled through the offered potions.

She took both the ditty and the blood replenishing potion and handed it off to the healer. "Twenty points to Ravenclaw, thank you, sweetheart." Cara had indeed spent a good amount of time in the infirmary listening to the stories Madam Pomfrey held, it was a suggestion from her mother. And Ronan was meant to join her this semester but he pushed it off once again.

Hermione had taken a seat beside Ron, who was freshly bandaged and cared for. However that left Cara standing, and just as she was about to question them once more.

"Harry—!" Cara shouted and hurried to his side. "I—I saw—I saw my dad." He mumbled, disoriented for a moment as both she and Hermione had questioned him.

"He sent the Dementors away...I saw him. Across the lake..." Harry deemed and Cara turned to look at Hermione as she hadn't been completely told as to what has happened.

Cara had shared a glance with her and it earned her a bitten lip. "Listen, Harry...They've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the kiss." The Lestrange daughter had gasped, her hand clutching her heart as she hadn't thought it was a possibility for him to get caught.

How did he even manage to get caught?

"The kiss...?" Harry questioned and Cara sniffled for a moment. "It's what Dementors do to those they want to destroy. They clamp their jaws over the victims' mouth and...and suck out their souls." The build-up of tears in her eyes projected Harry's worries as he hurried to sit up.

"You mean, they're going to kill Sirius?" Hermione had turned to Cara and the Ravenclaw had shaken her head. "N-no...It's worse if they perform the kiss. Much worse in fact. The person goes on living but they hold no memory. No sense of themselves. They turn into empty shells..." With that in mind, the opening door of Albus Dumbledore had caught sight of the given group of third years.

"Headmaster! You've got to stop them! They've got the wrong man!" Hermione ushered, running forward to the elder and Harry followed in pursuit.
Leaving Cara a few paces away, slowly watching forward to them.

"It's true, sir. Sirius is innocent—" Harry started, but it was Ron had interrupted. "It's Scabbers who done it!"

"Scabbers...?"

"My rat, sir. Only he's not really a rat. Well, he was a rat. You see, he used to be my brother Percy's—" Ron had begun to dwell off course to the story, and even Hermione's voice couldn't pull Cara out of it.

"Wormtail..." She whispered under her breath for nobody but herself.

"I do, Miss Granger. But I'm sorry to say the word of four thirteen-year-old wizards will convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen." Cara huffed at the thought.

"Not the first time the Ministry convicted the wrong man." She claimed, bitterly at that. And unfortunately, the Headmaster had heard.

"Ah...A shooting star. If ever one was to make a wish, now would be the time. But time, I'm afraid, is precisely our problem..." On cue, the Midnight bell had begun to chime in around them and Cara's eyes had turned wind in recognition to Hermione and Harry's words from prior.

"Mysterious thing, time. Powerful. And, when meddled with...Dangerous. Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower." Cara had soaked in this information, regardless that the Headmaster's attention was solely on Hermione.

"You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen. And you would, I feel, do well to return before this last chime. If not...Well, the consequences are really too ghastly to discuss. Three turns should do it, I think. If you succeed, more than one innocent life may be spared tonight." With a final wink, Dumbledore had started to leave the infirmary, though held himself in the threshold for a final comment.

"By the way, when in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin...Good luck." With a smile to assert his goodbye, Harry had looked as though he was about to question him once more.

But it was too late, the four of them were left alone. Finally.

Cara had returned back to her fallen bag and come closer to Harry and Hermione. "What in the bloody hell was all that about?" Ron said in the better part of the bed, and Hermione doesn't reply, instead she began fiddling with her pendant's long chain.

"Sorry, Ron. But seeing as you can't walk..." In the apology, Cara had stepped forward and Hermione had stopped her action.
"Oh please, I've seen it twice in the past few days. You aren't that conspicuous 'mione. Besides, I go with you. I ran into you two's versions this morning." That was enough for Hermione to wrap the golden necklace around Cara as well and tinked the dial three turns to secure their time.

The three were soon introduced into a dizzying backwards blur, every moment that occurred in the hospital room flickered by at a quickened speed while, outside the window, darkness gives way to dusk and then sun returns backwards, returning to it's place low on the horizon.

At this point, the time-reversal ends and the room is completely empty. Leaving Ron's bed empty. The only persons in the room now was Harry, Hermione, and Cara. With Hermione unloosing the necklace, Harry took the glances around in confusion.

Cara felt elated to know that she was both back in time, all in the attempt to save her uncle. She couldn't wait and sighed in relief at the opportunity.

She just needed to keep her feelings separate until all was well and done.

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Date Posted: 08/07/2021

Time: 9:45

Words: 2114