Trouble With Time

One

It was the day before Christmas Eve and there were no adults in the Burrow. Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley had, once again, been left in charge of a very unruly and excitable bunch of teens. Teddy knew that he should feel very stressed; he was, after all, looking after 11 Weasleys. However he was very calm at that moment.

This was probably because of the light atmosphere in the house. He knew (roughly) where everyone was and what they were doing, which was always a good thing. Albus was sitting up the kitchen table, talking to Hugo about something which was making them both double over with laughter. Lily and Roxanne were playing Wizards Chess in the living room, whilst their cousin, Lucy, watched them. Molly, Dominique and Rose had disappeared into one of the bedrooms upstairs to do what they had called "girly stuff". Teddy hadn't wanted to intervene.

The only problem was that the "marauders 2.0" (as they called themselves) had also disappeared upstairs. They had claimed to be simply playing a game but Teddy knew better than to just presume they actually were doing just that. Deciding that he needed to check that they weren't doing anything too bad, he gave a quick explanation to Victoire, who had been leaning on his shoulder, gave her a quick kiss then made his way up the stairs.

He passed the girls door first: they were in his Aunt Ginny's old room. He then made his way up even more flights of stairs, listening outside each one to make sure that the boys weren't in there.

Finally, he came to his Uncle Ron's old room. Before he could open the door, however, he heard a noise above him and instantly knew that the boys were in the attic.

Teddy climbed the ladder, being as quiet as possible, then pressed his ear against the trapdoor. He could hear muffled voices coming from inside.

"But where did he get it?" Came Fred's voice.

"I've already told you: mum and dad won't tell me. And Al is actually being quite stubborn on this too. He won't say anything." Was James's reply.

"But that's a timeturner James," that was Louis. "They are illegal! How would Al have gotten hold of one?"

"Well he is in Slytherin..."

"Don't you dare start that again Fred! We've been over this! Slytherin is no longer an evil house! And Al is your cousin; he wouldn't do anything illegal!" Louis was the voice of reason, as was normal (being in the year above the others did have some advantages.)

Teddy was in shock; he knew, vaguely, about the timeturner incidents, but he also knew that none of the other teens had been told anything. Plus, he had thought that Al had given the timeturner to his parents? Did he still have it? And how had James found out about it? Pressing his ear closer to the door, he continued to listen.

"Alright, alright, keep your hair on. Anyway, what should we do with it? Do you understand how much fun we could have with this?" Fred's eager voice started to get louder. "I can think of so many different pranks already!"

"I don't know Fred, I know they can be very dangerous. Think of how much trouble we would be in if we were caught..."

"Oh, shut it. Why are you all doom and gloom today? My name is James Sirius Potter and I was named after two of the greatest pranksters that ever lived! I say that we start planning know!"

James had raised his voice to an almost shout at the end of his short speech. Teddy was very concerned now. He wondered how much trouble he would be in if the boys did something. He was obviously thinking too hard as, next moment, he was toppling off of the ladder and landed, with a crash, in a heap on the floor.

Their was a great commotion above and below him. The three guilty boys were soon at the bottom of the ladder looking down at him. Teddy noticed that James was clutching something behind his back. A moment later, everyone else was crowding in the small corridor and in Ron's old room. Victoire had pushed her way to the front and helped Teddy to his feet, giving him a curious look. Teddy shot one back that quite clearly said, 'later.'

"What's that?" Came Hugo's curious voice came from next to James. He had spotted the tineturner.

"N-nothing," said James, trying to push it into his back pocket.

"Let me see," Lily said, joining her cousin in harassing her brother.

Albus's face had gone very white as he stared at James's hands. Teddy noticed that he was shuffling backwards, not that he seemed to of noticed. Turning back to the scuffle with James, Teddy saw that Roxanne and Lucy had gone to help Lily and Hugo, whilst Fred tried to hold them off. Teddy decided to try and intervene. However, as soon as he opened his mouth to say something, their was a crash and a yell from behind him.

Albus had backed away to the edge of the stairs and had fallen backwards.

Because of this distraction, James had loosened his grip on the timeturner and Lily had grabbed it. She darted away from him and down the stairs, followed by everyone else. Once down, she was cornered by a limping Albus.

Lily shouted, "Hugo, catch!" And threw the golden chain to her cousin.

Hugo dived and missed it, instead landing on top of it. Teddy heard a sickening crunch then time stopped. Everything seemed to be spinning around and, despite how dizzy he was getting, Teddy couldn't close his eyes.

Finally, everything stopped spinning.