riddlelog | Back from the Future (Open)

Entry tags:

Back from the Future (Open)

Who: Albus and others
When: September 1
What: Albus realizes he's not in Kansas anymore (not that he's ever been to Kansas in the first place, but you know the drill)
Where: Around Diagon Alley

Waking up in The Leaky Cauldron didn't top the list of the strangest things that had happened to Albus Potter in his young life. It didn't even make the top ten (which was saying something). That didn't change the fact that he was damn confused at being in the middle of the pub with no memory of coming there in the first place. His first thought was to blame his brother, James. Perhaps he slipped a Portkey into his bag. The last thing Albus remembered was packing an overnight satchel for his annual "School Let Out, Let's Celebrate" party with Scorpius at Malfoy Manor. It made sense, except, why would James choose the Leaky Cauldron as his destination and not a pond somewhere near home or The Burrow?

A man stood up from the table next to Albus, leaving The Daily Prophet behind. Albus waited until he'd walked a few steps towards the door before he picked it up, the headline having caught his eye. His stomach dropped as he stared at the date: September 1, 1980.

No. It wasn't possible. Well, of course it was possible, it just wasn't probable. Portkeys didn't work through time. Only Time Turners did that, and Albus knew far too much about Time Turners to know that one couldn't possibly have been slipped into his pocket without his knowledge. He scanned the paper, the sinking feeling in his stomach growing worse as he saw the words "Time Deviant" and the call to have them register at the Ministry immediately upon arrival. Well sod that! He wasn't going anywhere near the Ministry, especially not if the Minister's last name was bloody Riddle. Perhaps it was a coincidence - the name wasn't that uncommon - but Albus found it unlikely. What he needed to do was to find more information, to talk to someone, to talk to...

Scorpius. Shit.

Change of plan. He needed to get a message to Scorpius. If he was somehow stuck in 1980 then his best mate was the only person who would know what to do. Next, he was going to need to track down anyone in his family history who would be alive at this point. He and Scorpius had made a list once upon a time, just in case. Lastly, they'd agreed to keep their heads down and mouths shut until they were certain of their surroundings. At least he was prepared this time. Sort of.

He walked out onto the street, already scanning the Alley for a somewhat familiar face. He could feel a growing sense of panic but he stamped it down. He'd done this before and managed to find a way back with everything put right. Albus could do it again, he was sure of it.

[Albus is out wandering around Diagon Alley. Fell free to bump into him!]

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Scorpius lets out a laugh of relief, hugging Albus back just as tightly. "Dead or worse, definitely. How'd you get all the way to Plan O already?"

He pulls back from the hug, but doesn't go far, not really wanting to let go. Just like that, he's not facing this alone, and just like that, it seems so much more bearable. Reluctantly, he drops his arms from around Albus. "Come on, then, let's find somewhere to talk."

Albus laughs, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly. "To be honest, I sort of skipped through the plans. I didn't realize most of them worked under the assumption that we'd be together. I'm rather glad you showed up when you did. I was about to go mental."

Albus is exaggerating a bit. He's fairly sure he would have been able to put off a full blown panic attack until at least the end of the week. "Yes, talk. I was just in The Leaky Cauldron and I picked up the paper. There's something you should see."

He shows Scorpius the Daily Prophet, watching his friends face for a reaction. "To say this isn't good would be the understatement of the year."

It's nothing Scorpius hasn't read for himself, but he nods grimly. "I know... I've been here about a week, woke up in the Manor. Grandad knows I'm here."

Which means, he's already had to register and take the Trace. No getting out of that one.

Normally Albus is the one to do the dragging but now it's Scorpius insistently grabbing his arm and walking, expecting him to follow. "We're together now, so let's start from the top!"

Diagon Alley is bustling, but there's always quiet little corners to talk semi-privately if you know where to look. A little Muffliato does wonders, too. "So we obviously know where the problem is, yeah? Whatever's made Minister Riddle happen, that's what we have to fix."

"A week?" Albus gapes at Scorpius even as his mate takes his arm and leads him down the Alley. That doesn't seem right. Albus would remember if Scorpius had disappeared for an entire week. Then again, perhaps what brought Albus to the past was different. But that didn't seem right either.

"Yes, of course. We know that Minister Riddle isn't right at all. But, I think there's another problem we need to sort out."

Albus inches closer to Scorpius, not wanting any one to hear them. The muffling charm works well but he didn't want to take any chances. "How did we get here? If you've been here a week then I suppose what brought you here was different than what brought me here. Because I just spoke to you yesterday. I was heading to the Manor when I woke up here. You haven't been missing for a week. I would have noticed that."

Albus' reaction tells him that wasn't at all the expected response. Scorpius' mind buzzes with thoughts, puzzling out everything he's learned so far, and what he knows about time travel in general. "Unless... whatever brought us here brought me back a week earlier than you. Same method, same time of leaving, I just got sent back a little further. We're not the only ones stuck here from a different time, though I haven't talked to any of the others yet. The Ministry's calling us Displaced, or Time Deviants. It can't be a coincidence, whatever's brought us here is what's brought everyone else as well."

As he continues, he has to remind himself to keep his voice down. It's inappropriate to treat this like an exciting riddle to solve but he can at least admit in his own mind that it's a little exciting, having an adventure with Albus again. Not one he would have picked, had he the choice, but still.

"I've already had to register, and-- they put the Trace on me. They do the same to all muggleborns and half-bloods, and now, everyone who's been displaced. And if you don't register, and you're caught, you'll be sent to Azkaban, or worse." He gives him a meaningful look. It's a lose-lose situation. The Ministry can't be trusted, of course, but trying to be a fugitive will come with it's own troubles.

Albus frowns as Scorpius speaks. There's something very off about this. Of course, waking up to find that he'd been thrown back in time topped the list of "off" things at the moment. "I don't know," he says, biting his bottom lip. "We weren't even together when I showed up here. I suppose it doesn't matter all that much, but, what if we're from a different time? What if you know things from my own future?"

When Scorpius gives him the look, his frown disappears. Even though the thought of being traced leaves a sour taste in his mouth, he can see what Scorpius wants him to pick up. "If you're registered, then I don't see why I should avoid it," Albus says. "It must be safe enough for the moment otherwise you wouldn't have done it."

"Well, what was the date? If the last day I remember it being before coming here is different, then we'll have our answer!" They couldn't be, though. Right? No, they must be from the same time. Albus doesn't look any different...

"It's just the smart thing to do, Albus. They've got the Trace on so many people, they can't be watching us all... we just have to be sure not to give them a reason to look." Scorpius smiles, feeling slightly more confident about having figured things out. Or at least, having figured out how they're going to get by until they can figure things out.

"June 10th. I was packing to visit you for our last 'Schools Out' party. I thought James put a portkey in my bag. It sounds like the sort of thing he would do..."

Albus puts his hand on Scorpius' shoulder and grins. "Easy decision, then. Let me settle in and then we'll head on over to the Ministry. We'll be the most unsuspicious characters they've ever seen. And then, we'll use our time to find our way back home."

"Less than a week's difference, then. I woke up here after falling asleep the night of the 14th. And you definitely weren't missing on the 10th. The only thing I know from your future is that the party was alright." Scorpius frowned, pondering the implications. Merlin, but time travel still seemed more apt to give him a headache than make any sense.

He nods, his mood brightened immensely. "After we make sure the home we're going back to really is our home, of course."

"Four days," Albus says, shaking his head. "You're four days older than me. And what do you mean the party was just all right? It was supposed to be the best party to cap off a Hogwarts run that should go down in the record books."

Albus sighs dramatically. "Right, but in this new version of home I"m going to make sure we party our socks off. That's the only change I'll make. Then we can go on with our lives."

Scorpius shrugs, a small grin starting to form on his lips. "I don't know what to tell you, it was just alright."

It was such a relief to just make jokes with Albus again. Things had been too heavy for too long. "And that extra partying will somehow set off a chain of events that will doom us all, Albus, come on, you know that." He teases.

"Isn't that just the way of it?" Albus laughs, nudging Scorpius' shoulder. "You should know it's not a real party unless I've endangered our lives at least once. No wonder it was just 'alright'. I must be losing my touch."

He doesn't think about the fact that perhaps the reason why they're in the past at all is because of something he's done. Hell, it could all be a ripple effect from Fourth Year. Perhaps they had meddled too much, had pushed the limits in which time could be bent and reconfigured. He wasn't sure and the more he thought about it, the more anxious he felt.

"So," Albus says, needing to tear his mind away from troubling things. "Where to first? You've had a week start on me. Fill me in and we'll figure out what went sideways soon enough."

Scorpius doesn't even know where to start. Well, other than what he's already said. "I-- Honestly?" He shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. I've a few theories but no proof. And the other problem- even if we did know where things went wrong, we've no means of fixing it. That special Time Turner we used hasn't even been invented yet."

The fact that Scorpius had little to go on after a full week was discouraging. If anyone could put things right again, it was Scorpius. He was far more book smart than Albus could ever hope to be.

He winced at the mention of that particular Time Turner. "Maybe we don't need it," he suggests. "There are proper ones in this time. Besides, if that one did exist here we'd be stuck in an elastic loop every five minutes. I'd rather not have 1980 become our new point of origin."

"But the proper ones have Ministry restrictions built into them, remember? They won't take you back more than five hours. Useless for how far back we'd need to go. We'd need the true Time Turner that Nott made, the one without the five minute time-limit." Scorpius pointed out. "Of course, knowing that doesn't change the fact we don't have access to any manner of Time Turner."

He didn't much feel like the one person who could put things right again. This felt too big, too complicated, and he was too powerless to do anything about it. Book-smart certainly wasn't enough this time.

"Maybe it's all we need," Albus said, refusing to feel defeated. "If we had a way of letting someone know where we were... or more importantly when... even if we were brought back here, we could get some help."

Of course, if it didn't work, if the time they arrived had been changed by this current future... well, they'd know, at least. And that was far better than guessing.

"We can figure this out. I know we can."

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Back from the Future (Open)

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