A Stitch in Time

Chapter 2

"Where are we?"

"Narnia."

"Be serious, Scorpius. And this is all your fault by the way."

"Well, you made me drop it in the first place!"

"If you hadn't been so "

"Guys, stop fighting! Where are we anyway?"

Albus looked around. They were standing in a dark hallway, which surprisingly looked somewhat, only a little newer, like -

"-Hogwarts!" Rose exclaimed. "We're in Hogwarts! Scor hasn't done much damage this time after-"

"Hey...you know, that hurts Rosie!"

"SHHH!" Albus said, putting his hand over Scorpius' mouth. "There's someone coming!"

Indeed there was. They hid behind a wall, and watched as a tall shadow holding a candle came walking slowly towards them. They all held their breath.
A man appeared, with long, greasy hair and a somewhat hooked nose. He wasn't the most attractive Albus had ever seen, nor had Albus ever seen him at Hogwarts, although he seemed somewhat familiar. However, the man seemed to have an aura to him that made Albus believe that he was the boss and in charge.

Maybe Headmistress McGonogall hired some night guard, Albus thought.

The man had seen them, and he held up the candle and walked closer towards them. "Potter? Malfoy? Is that you?" The man said.

Albus had no idea how he knew who they were. "Who are you?" he said, acting on an impulse, thinking it was alright to speak now that the man had seen and identified them.

"What are you doing out after curfew, Potter? You know exactly who I am, and I shall not be spoken to that way. Where's your little Weasley cronie? And Malfoy, what are you doing here? And who are you?" He added to the list of questions, eyeing Rose warily.

"Uhh..."

"Wait just a second! You aren't Potter or Malfoy! Who are all of you? You are going to Dumbledore this instant!" and the man seized them by the collars, and dragged them off.

"Dumbledore? He's dead!" Albus whispered to Scorpius, who was being dragged by the opposite hand, sharing it with Rose. The two were touching each other, cheek to cheek.

Scorpius shrugged.

Rose tried to get the mans attention. "Uh... sir?"

"Hush, imbecile!" The man said rudely. "You will face the consequences of your punishment, and I will find the answer to this mystery." He turned sharply, with his cloak swishing like a bat, hurting the students who were being dragged. They approached to where McGonagall's office should have been.

"Lemon drops..." the man mumbled, in his nasal voice.

Albus had been to McGonagall's office, after Scorpius had been straining, pulled down his pants, then made a relieved face and lifted himself from one of the Mandrakes in the greenhouse and yelled, "IT'S ALL NATURAL FERTILIZER!", resulting in both Albus and Scorpius falling over in uncontrollable giggling, which resulted in Scorpius bumping into Albus, who fell over and landed in another pile of mandrakes, causing them to scream loudly and a few students passed out, luckily the mandrakes were only babies. Professor Longbottom sent them both to her office immediately. They had to clean the toilets of the boy's bathrooms as punishment afterward.

As far as he knew, 'lemon drops' was not the password to her office. The gargoyles jumped back, and the doors opened. The man strutted in like he owned, or would like to pretend he did to unknowing onlookers, the office. Albus had been looking down at the floor, and when he looked up, a man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles, wearing a purple cloak with stars and moons decorated across, was sitting at the chair. It was Dumbledore. He saw his portrait in McGonagall's office. And the other man... His portrait was there too, he realized. Snape... His dad told him about him. Severus Snape! Both his namesakes were here with him, in the same room. Two dead people.

A sudden realization swept over Albus. The pieces were coming together. The 'necklace' had been some sort of time device, and they had just met a man who they had never met before, who thought they were someone else, and now he was dragging them off to a man who was dead. They had traveled back in time.

"Severus! So glad you're here!" Dumbledore stood up and greeted Snape with an embrace, although Snape looked awkward standing there, lanky and greasy, while holding three children by the collar.

"That's delightful, sir," Snape said, a little sarcastically. "Now, anyway-"

But Dumbledore seemed not to notice. "So what brings you here so late, my dear Severus?" he asked, releasing him and the children.

"Yes. As I was saying, I found these third- year pests running about the corridor around five minutes ago."

"Ok, Severus, just send them back to bed and notify their Head of Houses. Why have you brought them here? I don't recall you saying anything about them doing something wrong, other than breaking curfew?"

Snape looked a little annoyed. "Yes, but you must see, sir, I don't believe these-" Snape looked at them with dislike and disgust, "-rats are..." he trailed off, as if he was going to say something ridiculous.

"Yes?"

"Um..." Snape swallowed. "I don't believe they are students at this school."

Dumbledore's smile did not falter, and he chuckled. "Nonsense, Severus! Now, move out of the way and let me have a look at them."

Snape slowly parted, and Albus, Scorpius and Rose lined up in a row in front of Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked at them, still smiling. He stared at them for a few minutes, until finally his smile faded. He looked at them over his spectacles, took them off, cleaned them, then looked back at them, frowning now. "Who are you, really?" he asked.

Scorpius, who had been standing in the middle of the line, looked at Albus and Rose like, "I got this." Scorpius strode up confidently to Dumbledore's desk, and said with a posh voice, "I'm Draco Malfoy. Of THE Slytherin House."

Dumbledore gave him a skeptical look. "Excuse me, young man, but contrary to your belief, I know my students when I see them. You are not Draco Malfoy, although, I must admit, you have done a very well job with that Polyjuice Potion." He looked at Albus now. "And you as well." Now he looked at Snape. "Severus, will you kindly pass me a bottle of Veritaserum?"

Snape nodded curtly, then turned just as he had earlier, swishing his cloak like a bat, his demeanor screaming, "Can't touch this." Scorpius began sweating. A lot. Dumbledore didn't say anything, but simply stared at them.

Snape walked back in, holding a bottle. "If you resist to drink this, we shall Stupefy you." He said with a sneer.

Dumbledore glanced at Snape. "Now, now, Severus I'm sure there is no need for that kind of tone of voice with these children, I'm quite sure they are civil enough."

"But we should use it, just in case they are Death Eaters?"

"Mr. Dumbledore, sir, we are most certainly not Death Eaters, we are just third years and-"

"Safety first!" and with that Dumbledore promptly took the Veritaserum bottle from Snape. "You," Dumbledore said, pointing at Scorpius, who looked nervous. "Since you appear to be the most confident about your identity, you can go first." Scorpius, now drenched in sweat, walked up to Dumbledore. Dumbledore handed him the potion with a big grin. Scorpius looked at the bottle with a suspicious look.

"Drink it," Dumbledore said.

Scorpius swallowed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Snape said, giving him a death stare, while pulling out his wand.

Scorpius closed his eyes and uncorked the bottle. He gulped it and his eyes became hazy.

Dumbledore walked over and said "Who are you, really?"

"Scorpius. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy."