From 0e3b2ad27a270c5e7090ea328b399b34734e8136 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julian Blake Kongslie Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:28:27 -0700 Subject: Reflowing text, minor edits in chp 1, lots of work and renaming chp 2. --- novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn | 196 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 196 insertions(+) create mode 100644 novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn (limited to 'novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn') diff --git a/novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn b/novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e641873 --- /dev/null +++ b/novellas/contingency/02-escape.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,196 @@ +[[!meta title="Chapter 1: Escape"]] + +Harry awoke to darkness, discomfort, and impossibility. + +He was in the cupboard. Impossible. He and Hermione had personally flattened +this entire house shortly after the war. The Weasleys had disapproved, saying +Harry should forgive his relatives, but this was before the love potions had +kicked in again and removed his free will. + +How could he be in the cupboard? + +And why was he *small?* + +Harry began to hyperventilate. Nothing was making sense, this couldn't be +happening— + +"TIME TO GET UP, FREAK! WHY DON'T I SMELL BREAKFAST COOKING?" + +The tiny door was wrenched open, and Harry saw a dead man silhouetted against +the morning light. + +"DON'T MAKE ME DRAG YOU OUT OF THERE, BOY! GET UP!" + +Harry started moving on automatic. Even after nearly 150 years of adult life, +he would never forget the rules and demands of the Dursley household. He +rushed out of the cupboard and hurried to begin preparing his captors' meal. + +As he slaved away in the kitchen, Harry tried to reason through his situation. +A stolen glance at his uncle's newspaper confirmed the date — July 31st, 1987. +Seven years old. How was he seven years old again? + +He was pretty sure he could still feel his magic, but to be certain he'd need +to reestablish his Occlumency, and with the damage Snape had done there was no +way he could manage that in this emotional climate. + +An accidental glance at his reflection on a spoon was another shock. His scar +was *wrong.* After Voldemort's defeat, the scar had rapidly weakened and +eventually healed over. Now it looked like it was just beginning that process. +Whatever had caused him to return to 1987 must have destroyed the horcrux as +well. + +Harry struggled through the day, barely paying attention to his surroundings. +He had to escape, had to get in touch... with whom, exactly? Harry didn't +trust anybody in power in this year. If only he had Hermione to help him make +sense of this situation. + +By the end of the day, he'd managed to calm down enough to begin to cope with +the situation. Locked in his cupboard, in the dark, he meditated and put +together the barest underpinning of Occlumency. It was enough to give him some +rudimentary access to his wandless magic. + +And so, Harry wandlessly and silently unlocked the cupboard and sneaked out of +4 Privet Drive. His plan was to beg his way into his trust vault at Gringotts, +and then buy a plane ticket out of the country and hopefully into a real life. +In a few years maybe he'd find some way to introduce himself to and rescue +Hermione. + +Plans, in general, had never gone well for Harry Potter. + +She was waiting for him at the bus stop one block away. "Hello Harry," she +casually remarked, "sorry for the time travel. I was wondering when you'd +manage to get out of that house. My parents are waiting in the car just over +there, if you'd like a ride?" + +"Hermione?" + +
+ +"Wake up, Hermione, you need to get ready for school! And happy birthday, +dear! We'll have a cake and presents for you when you get home!" + +"Mom? But you're dead! And it's not my... oh no, it worked. But that means... +why am I at home? I must have gotten the time travel wrong! What year is it?" + +Hermione, let it be known, had always been a very intelligent young girl. Dan +and Emma Granger had soon gotten used to her breathlessly working through +problems out loud, and tried to do their best to stay caught up with her +reasoning and supportive of her curiosity. This was not to say that Emma was +prepared for this particular line of thought, especially not early in the +morning. + +"Darling, time travel? What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?" + +"No. What year, please, mother?" + +"1986. September 19th, your birthday. Darling?" + +"My birthday. My seventh birthday. I must have miscalculated, it was supposed +to be seven months before the ritual, but it was seven years after my birth +instead. It was only supposed to be if Harry or I died unhappily... but I +suppose that makes sense," Hermione was muttering to herself while her mother +looked more and more distraught. Noticing this suddenly, Hermione interrupted +herself, "Can you go fetch Dad? We need to talk about something as a family. +And it might be best if both of you cancel your appointments today." + +"Hermione? What's going on?" + +"Please, Mom. It'll be easier with both of you." + +"OK, darling. I'll be right back with your father." + +"Thanks." As Emma turned to leave the room, Hermione added, "I love you, Mom. +I promise, it's happy news." + +Now alone in her room, Hermione immediately began checking the state of her +mind and her magic. Occlumency needed repair, but that was to be expected and +Hermione had always been skilled at the mental arts. Her magic felt strong, +stronger than it should for her young age; she had her adult power available. +First things first, practice basic control. + +When Dan and Emma Granger walked back into their daughter's room, they could +find no words to speak. Hermione was sitting calmly on her bed, with a dozen +books orbited around her, flying a complicated dance to some unheard tune. + +Hermione smiled at them. "Mom, Dad, look! Magic is real, and I'm a witch!" + +
+ +"Just so I can make sure I have this all right, let me summarize." + +"Go ahead, Dad." + +"Magic is real. You can use magic." + +"That's right." + +"You're a time traveler, from the future." + +"From December of 2124, yes." + +"But you *are* our daughter?" + +"Yes, Dad, I am your daughter Hermione." + +"And you fought in a war at age 17, along with your best friend Harry." + +"A war we nearly lost, yes." + +"And so because you were worried that you would lose, you arranged for you +both to be sent back to the beginning of that war in the case of either of +your deaths, so you could try to warn people?" + +"That's right. It was a contingency, in case things went wrong." + +"But you didn't die. And you won the war." + +"Well, the purebloods were still in charge. But I suppose technically we won +the war, yes." + +"And then Harry and you had unhappy lives because of these purebloods." + +"Very unhappy." + +"And then you died?" + +"I don't remember dieing, although I'm not sure if I would. The magic would +trigger if either Harry or I died unhappily. We were both old, and I'm sure we +were both unhappy enough. I know I was." + +"And then you came back, but not to the beginning of the war?" + +"I miscalculated when I setup the magic. It was supposed to be seven months +before the ritual, but time travel is not well-studied magic, and I must have +set the target for seventh year after birth instead." + +"So... what do we do? Should we be finding some wizard to warn?" + +"NO! All the wizards in power here in Britain are evil! I think this country +is doomed, frankly; at least the magical side is. We have a few years before +they'll take notice of me, and I think it may be best if we just leave." + +"Leave Britain? Just like that?" + +"Well, not just like that. Harry won't be coming back for almost 11 months. +He's my best friend, we have to rescue him too. But we should prepare, because +rescuing Harry will probably make someone in power notice us." + +"So we need to make a plan?" + +"Yes, we need a plan." + +
+ +"Hermione?" + +"Yes, Harry, it's me." + +"Why are we in 1987?" + +"Remember the ritual we performed at the Ring of Brodgar?" + +"That was time travel?" + +"Of a sort. I'll explain in the car." + +"OK. I trust you, Hermione." -- cgit v1.2.3