Fourth Year, Time Warp
Saturday November 10th 1974
The bedcurtains were still drawn shut, Marlene fluttered her eyes open and closed, trying to get them to focus on her dark surroundings. She yawned widely, stifling it in the crook of her elbow, trying not to make a sound. Stretching her limbs, she felt a shiver run up and down her spine, every tendon and muscle contracting and loosening up again.
Groggily she reached for her alarm clock, sticking one arm through the red velvet curtains. The alarm hadn`t gone off yet and she needed to turn it off, otherwise she would unnecessarily rouse Mary and Lily. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, getting the sleep sand out. Usually she had minute or two before the alarm would go off; ample time.
In the dark Marlene squinted at the clockface and frowned, noticing the arms; it was still only half five. Her alarm was set for six; she still had half an hour. This never happened. Mary always joked that they could throw away all their clocks and just rely on Marlene. Her body was so attuned to her routine that she practically depended on it at this point. Lily was punctual in a different sort of way; drilling them to get to places on time.
However, she decided not to think much of it, try to shake it off and enjoy the extra half an hour of staring up at the ceiling she had left. Marlene didn`t fall back asleep and half an hour later she snuck out of bed to get on with her usual routine.
Sunday November 11th 1974
Marlene let out an audible, `Huh,` as she awoke the next morning, grabbed her alarm, and saw it was only five twenty-five.
One time was odd enough; two mornings in a row was just wrong.
She tumbled out of bed, taking her duvet with her, dragging it over the floor. At this point she didn`t care that she would probably wake her dorm mates. She pulled Lily`s bedcurtains open; she`d probably have an explanation since she was the cleverest of the three of them.
`Lil,` Marlene whispered, urgently. `Lily.`
`Gosh,` Lily shot up, looking alarmed, her eyes puffy from sleep. `What`s wrong?`
`I woke up half an hour early.` Marlene widened her eyes, clutching at the duvet.
`Erm,` Lily frowned, rubbing her eyes, evidently still waking up. `…good for you?`
`No,` Marlene shook her head furiously, forgetting to whisper. `Nae guid. This never happens.`
`Shh.` Lily shushed her, putting a finger in front of her lips. `You don`t want to wake Mary, she`ll kill you.`
`Too late.` Mary stuck her head out of her own curtains, her bonnet slightly askew and circles of mascara underneath her eyes. `What`s going on?`
`I woke up early.` Marlene replied.
`Then go back to bed.` Mary grumbled.
`No, I can`t.` Marlene replied. `Something`s wrong.`
`Did you get a bludger to the head yesterday or something?` Mary pressed her palms into her eyes.
`No, I`m not fecking around.` Marlene whispered urgently.
`Well, I`m also not fecking around-` Mary imitated her accent. `-when I say that I need by beauty sleep.`
`Marls, I`m with Mary here – about the sleep part. Please, just…go back to bed.` Lily sighed and flicked her wand to shut the bed curtains, disappearing from view.
Mary also disappeared, leaving Marlene marooned in the middle of their dorm, her duvet still clinging to her shoulders. Fine, if they didn`t believe her, that was totally fine.
Quidditch practice was still held at the same time as always, and she met up with James and Sirius in the Great Hall. Opposing to James, Sirius was not a morning person by a long shot. The boy looked completely disheveled and was downing cup after cup of coffee.
`Easy, easy there,` James pulled the fifth cup of coffee away from Sirius. `You`re going to be so shaky you won`t be able to hold your bloody bat.`
`No,` Sirius whinged. `My coffee. I need by coffee. Moony would never take my coffee away.`
`Well, I`m not Moony,` James replied primly. `And Moony is a coffee addict.`
Marlene snorted and raised her eyebrows, sipping on her tea. The distress she`d felt earlier that morning had somewhat eased, but still she felt like something was off. She glanced around the hall, trying to locate something that was different than usual. Was it the lights? Maybe the tables were slightly different? Had one of the boys cut their hair?
They trudged down to the pitch. It was that time of year again that the sun started to rise only after they`d already begun practice. There was a noticeable difference between the weeks actually; each weekend getting darker. Yet, Marlene swore that this week, it seemed to be lighter than the last. She shook her head, not saying anything about it to James and Sirius, they`d think she was loosing it, just like Lily and Mary.
`Alright lads,` their quidditch captain started. `and ladies, ` he added after Marlene and the other girl on the team glared at him. `Good job last week on completely beating Ravenclaws` arse!`
A hooting went up between the players. `However,` he cut them off quickly. `Just because we`re now top of the league, doesn`t mean we can relax. There`re still two more teams we need to take down!`
`Yeah!` James nodded, showing somewhat redundant enthusiasm. He was truly treating this year as his lead up to becoming captain himself next year; shadowing their current one.
`There is never not room for improvement! There`s always something you can do better; whether it`s your flying, your speed, your coordination, your strength - you get the jest. Let`s not waste any more time now,` he started handing out pieces of parchment. `I`ve made a schedule for the coming weeks. Find your name and get to it!`
Marlene took the parchment, scanning the page for her name and holding in a groan as she saw that for the next couple of weeks, she was to train with Sirius - just the two of them. She desperately hoped the boy had given up on getting her to snog him.
`Right, let`s get to it.` she threw a bat at Sirius and stalked out of the squat little building.
`Hey, wait up,` Sirius jogged after her. `You always seem to be in such a hurry to get places.`
`It`s good for you,` Marlene retaliated. `Makes you faster.`
Sirius frowned, twiddling the bat in his hands. `Why don`t you like me?`
`I like you fine enough.` Marlene replied dryly.
`No you don`t.`
`Alright. I don’t. Don`t need to like everyone, now do I?`
`S`pose not, no.` Sirius said, looking pensive. `Is it the snogging thing? Because-`
`No, no,` Marlene shook her head, though that didn`t really attribute to her liking Sirius any better.
`Well, then what is it?` Sirius looked extremely earnest. `I think it`d be easier if we got along.`
`I-` Marlene faltered, peeling at her nail polish. It would be better, she reckoned. `Aye, well I just feel like you`re always taking the piss on me. Like you look down on me or something.`
`Oh.` Sirius eyes widened. `Wow, so she really wasn`t kidding with that one.`
`Huh?` Marlene cocked her head.
`Doesn’t matter.` Sirius shook his head and waved a dismissive hand. `Look. Yeah, I admit I might have been a bit-`
`Of a tosser?` Marlene offered.
Sirius grinned and nodded. `But, I don`t look down on you. Truly. If anything, I envy you. You really are a good player.`
`Cheers.` Marlene smiled surprised.
`Seriously, where did you get so good?`
`I told you already,` Marlene sighed. `My brother-`
Sirius shook his head, pursing his lips and cutting her off. `Nah, rubbish. You can`t get good at quidditch like that from just your brother.`
`You better believe it - he had me on a broom when I was practically still in nappies.` Marlene replied.
Sirius started to stretch his legs now, evidently deciding they did need to get on with their training. `You two still talk a lot?`
Marlene grinned. `Aye, we try to. `S a bit hard when I`m away at Hogwarts. But we sent letters and during the holidays -and he`s home- we`re practically inseparable.` She double-laced her boots and mounted her broom.
`Must be nice to have such a good relationship with your brother.` Sirius said softly, something fluttering across his face.
`Aye.` Marlene nodded, pushing off on the ground. `He`s my best friend.`
***
Saturday November 17th 1974
`Marlene,` Mary shook her friend forcefully by the shoulder. `Marls.`
The pale blonde head of hair turned, covered up to the nose under the duvet. `Why are you in my bed?` she asked, her voice thick from sleep.
`Where is your alarm clock?` Mary hissed.
`Why?`
`Because it`s going off!`
`Why is it going off?`
`I don`t know, you tell me!` Mary sighed exasperated.
`Bedside table.` Marlene disappeared completely underneath the duvet.
Mary toppled out through the bedcurtains and grappled for the clock that had been going off for God knows how long. It was a miracle that Marlene had been able to sleep through it and that Lily hadn`t woken up yet.
`Wait, did you say my alarm was going off?` Marlene suddenly jumped out of bed, her hair standing completely on end and she scrambled for a pair of trousers that lay discarded on the floor.
`Yeah,` Mary frowned, rubbing her forehead, the edge of her bonnet irritating her skin.
Marlene grabbed her clock from the nightstand, her eyes widening as she gaped at the clockface. `Seven fifteen!` she yelped alarmed. `No, no, no, I`m going to be late. Feck, bleeding shite. Feck.`
With a mix of pity and amusement Mary watched on as Marlene ran around their dorm, looking for her quidditch supplies, meanwhile spewing out a truly impressive arsenal of Scottish curse words; most of which Mary had never heard before. She left without changing her pyjamas, or doing anything to her knotted hair whatsoever.
Something odd had been going on this week. It had started with Marlene complaining about waking up too early last weekend. However, Mary and Lily had just dismissed this, not really thinking anything of it. Now, a week later and Mary was starting to get suspicious as well.
Usually, she needed all the sleep she could get, sleeping in until noon if she could – which wasn`t often. Yet, this week she`d been waking up in the middle of the night, wide awake. And this morning it felt like she`d only just gone to bed. Lily was starting to look a little bit frazzled, but so far she hadn`t complained or acted any different from her usual self.
And it wasn`t just the three of them that were noticing this. Avni had also whinged about it getting dark way sooner than normal and waking up in broad daylight.
Mary walked over to the window; it was still pitch-black outside, the sun nowhere to be seen. It wasn`t unusual for this time of year to wake up in the dark, but the day before the sun had already risen at this time. In the distance she could see the lit-up quidditch pitch, the players stumbling over the muddy grass, Marlene among them.
There was nothing more that Mary wanted to do but go back to bed. However, it was a Hogsmeade weekend, which meant that she had access to the phone outside of the village, and she`d promised Darren she`d give him a ring. Every time a Hogsmeade weekend came up, she would sent her boyfriend a letter containing a time and a date that he could expect her to ring him. This opportunity wasn`t presented often, so she wasn`t going to let it pass.
She took her time getting ready; putting on making, choosing an outfit, matching her jewellery to her mood.
`Lily?` Mary said softly, peeking through the curtains. She surely hadn`t slept though Marlene`s panicked exit.
However, the bed was empty and the bedcovers neatly made, like Lily always did.
Hurriedly, Mary left their dorm, needing to find Lily. Her search was short-lived, for immediately upon descending the stairs a flurry of red hair came prancing her way.
`Hiya!` Lily heaved.
Mary frowned, caught by surprise. `You`re up.`
`Hm-hm.` Lily nodded enthusiastically, bouncing up and down. `Couldn`t sleep. So, I got up. I got so much done already; I did my Charms essay, the reading for Runes, I cleaned out my trunk,` Lily rambled, counting her fingers. `I made my bed, I tried to clean the bathroom, but pha,` she flourished her hand in the air and blew a raspberry. `And I-`
`Yeah, yeah,` Mary cut her off quickly, before Lily would tell he that she`d somehow already started on her NEWTs or something. `Did you have coffee, by any chance?`
`Oh, yes,` Lily nodded, her green eyes huge. `Lots of it.`
Lily looked like she did when exam season was at its peak; and that was saying something.
`Do you think I should take up a hobby?` Lily spewed on. `I can already knit, I can-` Lily started listing what she could and couldn`t do. Mary stared at her; the only thought crossing her mind being: oh God, they broke Lily.
With some cajoling, Mary was able to direct Lily towards their room and get her to promise to take a nap at least. Though, she doubted that Lily would close a single eye for the next week or so.
Breakfast was truly a bleak affair, everybody looked bleary eyed and grumpy; nobody seemed to be excited to go down to Hogsmeade.
Mary went to the village on her own; Lily being passed out on her bed when she came to collect her after breakfast. Marlene was still at quidditch practice.
It drizzled, but luckily enough she`d brought an umbrella and was able to get to the phone box without getting completely soaked. By now, she knew Darren`s number by heart; not because she`d used it so much, but because - when she missed him the most - she would recite it in her head, like some sort of incantation, something familiar to hold onto.
However, when she had dialled the number, an unfamiliar voice picked up.
`Erm, sorry,` Mary fumbled. `I thought I had the right number.`
`Oh, no pet,` an older woman`s voice on the other side of the line replied. `They moved, just last week. Hold on, I`ll give you their new number.`
Mary blinked in surprise, pressing the receiver to her ear as she scribbled the number on a gum wrapper she`d found in her coat pocket.
The second time was a charm; after three rings the familiar low voice reverberated over the phoneline.
`Hi,` she breathed. `I didn`t know you moved.`
`Yeah, meant to tell you.` Darren replied. `I gave your mother the letter, but I reckon she didn`t sent it out yet.`
`Oh, right, yeah,` Mary replied guilty, she hadn`t yet sent an owl to London.
`So…you moved?` Mary offered.
`Just a bit, really,` Darren laughed. `My mum and da couldn`t afford the rent of the old flat anymore; think they`re planning on tearing down the whole thing. We now live in the same building as yours.`
`You`re kidding!` Mary yelped surprised, glossing over the reason they had to move.
`Just across the hall from you, actually.`
`Oh wow,` Mary breathed. `I wish- I wish I was there to see it. So we could actually be neighbours!`
`Yeah, me too.` Darren replied, a smile noticeable in his voice.
A short silence descended upon the conversation, only their breathing audible through the line.
`I really miss you.` Mary said softly, thumbing her cross necklace.
`I really miss you too.`
Mary bit her lower lip and tucked a braid behind her ear. It was at moments like these, when home became so tangible, that she missed it the most. It was sometimes easy to forget there was anything outside of Hogwarts when you were inside the castle.
`So…how`s school?` Darren asked, evidently trying to lighten the conversation.
`Still there.` Mary replied, grinning. `Still posh.`
`Still posh, eh?` Darren boomed, laughing gruffly.
Mary closed her eyes for the rest of the conversation, imagining that they were in the same room, seeing Darren`s every facial expression as she listened to his voice.
***
Friday November 22nd 1974
Lily had to look twice when she slouched down on her seat at the long oak wooden table, ready for breakfast. She frowned, rubbing her eyes. Maybe her sleep deprivation had finally taken on its final form and she was now starting to hallucinate.
`Please tell me you too can see the lamb being served, right?` she whispered to Marlene.
Marlene nodded wide-eyed as she gingerly picked up a tureen, smelled it and pulled a sour face. `Gravy.`
`For breakfast?` Lily sighed exasperated.
There was truly something extremely odd going on. Not only had she been sleeping horrific these past few weeks, but now their meals were also getting out of hand. It wasn`t the first time that week that they had been severed dinner food for breakfast, and vice versa. Their porridge was accompanied by brussels sprouts and their mashed potatoes were douched in sweet condiments.
`What the hell is going on?!` Mary exclaimed, cradling her head in her hands. Her braids had come slightly undone and little whisps of hair were sticking out.
`What do you mean?` James asked.
Surprisingly enough he looked rather well rested. It was honestly annoying how well he still looked considering these strange ongoings. Sirius, on the other hand, yawned widely and was shooting dirty looks at Remus - for whatever reason. The fuses where short these days, so Lily didn`t blame him for being cross. Their dorm was dangerously explosive this week; more bickering than ever.
`Isn`t anyone else sleeping really badly?` Mary sighed frustrated. `And what is up with the weather?`
Lily nodded in agreement and took a gulp of her second cup of coffee, the scalding hot liquid scorching her palate.
`Yeah, it was really dark yesterday.` Marlene yawned. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was digging into her temples with the tips of her fingers and rubbing her neck; the tell-tale sign that a migraine was forming. `But today it started getting light at six or something.`
`Hogwarts is a very mysterious and magical place.` James just said enigmatically. `Who are we to question it`s inner workings.`
Lily squinted at James, in her opinion, he was being way too casual about this. While everybody else seemed to be walking around dragging their teeth, he was oddly at peace with it all. Maybe it was because he had grown up with magic, or maybe he knew more about it then he was willing to let on. But, then, how could he have anything to do with it. Sure, the boys were always pulling pranks left and right, yet they couldn`t have possibly messed up the time or the weather.
Time was something not to be trifled with; all students were reminded of that constantly by their professors. Lily had read somewhere that there did exist something called a time turner; a devise to turn back time. But they were sparse and highly illegal.
Surely a group of teenage boys couldn`t have messed up time.
Wednesday November 27th 1974
The strange time warp that the castle seemed to have gotten into drew itself out all the way to the end of November. It was almost eleven o`clock in the morning and it was still pitch-black outside; not a speck of light to be seen.
Lily was sitting in her usual seat during Transfiguration. Despite her three cups of coffee, her head swarmed from sleep, and she could barely keep her eyes open; maybe she`d gotten immune to caffeine. Her quill floated above the paper as she stared blankly at the blackboard. Professor McGonagall could just as well have been talking in tongues, because nothing of what she was saying was even getting in the vicinity of Lily`s conscious.
If this would go any longer, Lily was worried that it might actually start to affect her school performance. Midterms were only a few weeks away, and she already could feel herself get feint at the idea of failing one of them.
Suddenly she was snapped out of her lull as Peter, who sat behind her, gasped loudly.
`What is it, Pettigrew?` Professor McGonagall snapped aggravated. Not only the students had been affected by the strange ongoings, the teachers were more irritable than ever.
`N-nothing, Professor.` Peter mumbled.
Lily turned around and followed Peter`s gaze. Her mouth dropped open as the whole class collectively saw the sun rise at eleven o`clock in the morning. Surely, it was almost winter, but even for winter this was preposterous.
`Oh for goodness sake!` McGonagall sighed, losing her composure completely. `Class, I want all of you in the Great Hall at once. I`m going to the headmaster.`
The class stumbled towards the Great Hall; Mary clutching onto Lily`s robes as they yawned their way through the corridors. Marlene was in the hospital wing with a truly horrific migraine since last night and hadn`t shown up for class that morning. Remus scampered behind them, dragging his feet over the flagstones.
`What`s going on, d`you think?` Lily asked Remus as they were waiting in the Great Hall for the headmaster to appear.
Mary had put her head down on Lily`s shoulder and had her eyes closed; Lily wasn`t sure whether or not she was even awake.
`No idea.` Remus replied, shrugging. Lily wished she could put her own head down somewhere; on Remus` shoulder preferably.
The headmaster appeared; all billowing pastel robes and long white hair. As they sat there, Lily realised that she`d barely seen the headmaster at all this term; he was probably away a lot on Ministry business.
`It seems,` Dumbledore began in his softspoken voice. The hall went quiet. `That we have some pranksters in our midst`
Oh my God; Lily groaned inwardly. So it was a prank after all. She turned her head to look at Remus, who was looking at his hands, fidgeting with the cuffs of his sleeves. Peter was shifting nervously back and forth, a beetroot red, and James and Sirius were grinning sheepishly.
The rest of the hall also seemed to know where to look, since all eyes were trained on the marauders. Even Mary had awoken from her slumber and was glaring at the boys with a look that could kill.
Dumbledore just smiled pleasantly and continued talking. `Rest assured that the clocks are being corrected, and measures are taken to ensure that this cannot happen again. In the meantime, I think we could all do with a bit of rest – I am cancelling the rest of today`s classes, to resumed at our usual – and correct – time tomorrow morning.`
A general murmur of positive reception went up between the students at this announcement.
`Yes!` Sirius hissed. `Result!`
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, rubbing her eyebrow. Now it all made sense. The boys had just mucked about with the clocks. There wasn`t any magic at play at all. They`d just moved the clocks back and forth incoherently. She`d read in Hogwarts a History that all the clocks in the castle were connected; move one, move them all. They`d just been getting up and attending classes at different times of the day than usual, the time itself had never actually changed. And there was also nothing wrong with the weather.
It baffled her why they`d have chosen to do it in such a chaotic fashion. It was a really clever idea – to be fair; the execution was just rather strange - to say the least.
`Now,` Dumbledore made a sweeping motion with his hands. `Off you go, use this time wisely.`
Lily dragged Mary up by her arm, desperately wanting to get to their dorm and get some sleep. The boys were called to stay back. Lily hoped they would be in detention until the end of term; that`d teach them to absolutely wreak everybody`s bodily rhythms.
Back in their room, they didn`t even bother taking of their school uniforms and crawled both in with Marlene, who`d returned from the infirmary. Lily`s head had barely hit the pillow before she drifted off to sleep.
When they awoke a little past noon – the actual noon – Lily felt more rested than she had in weeks. Marlene was confused to find them both in bed with her and Mary and Lily started to explain what had happened. Obviously Marlene was fuming; not thinking messing about with time was in the least bit funny.
Lily snuck down to the kitchens to get them some snacks. When she returned they all changed into their pyjamas and held a little indoor picknick on the rug, listening to ABBA and Joni Mitchell, feeling ambiguous about this free afternoon.
///