We Get Dropped In The Middle Of Nineteen Ninety Three
Colourful flashes of light shot across the alley as the people fought it out. Aurors Harry Potter, Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom, and Healer Draco Malfoy fought against former Voldemort followers Christine Kelf, Maximus Hartley, Youssef Juniper and Killian Julius. They had been caught torturing Muggles in one of the houses next to them, and now found themselves fighting four highly skilled Aurors and a very angry Healer.
Harry jumped as his back hit Dean’s.
"You alright, mate?” Dean yelled over the noise.
“Yep. Stupefy!” He shot a stunner at Kelf’s chest and she fell backwards. Harry turned to Ziyef, but Dean’s horrified face made him swing back around.
Kelf was hovering two or three metres off the ground, and now Harry could see what he hadn’t spotted before he stunned her. A golden Time Turner floated up, emitting a sandy glow that enveloped the trio. None of the others seemed to notice, but as dark dots invaded the pair's vision, Ron and Draco turned and ran towards them. The gold light got brighter, and Dean and Harry passed out, darkness welcoming them.
Jayden was doing his rounds – making sure his territory was safe and his boys were staying out of trouble – when he heard the crack resonate out of a nearby alley. He looked around. No one else had heard it. He ducked into the alleyway and started as he saw two boys laying, unconscious, in the middle of a circle of golden sand. He didn’t think he recognised them, they didn’t look like his boys, but he really didn’t know. He moved closer and noticed a body lying three feet away, unmoving. Jayden switched courses and ran for the lady, rolling her over and checking for a pulse. He couldn’t find one, but she felt warm under his touch. He started CPR.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
One of the boys – the dark-skinned one – sat up.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.
The boy attempted to shake the other one awake.
“Harry, Harry!”
Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.
He noticed Jayden doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Jayden remembered) and walked over.
Two rescue breaths.
Jayden felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t try, mate. She’s dead.”
Jayden looked around to see the first boy looking at the lady, and the messy-haired boy recovering on the ground behind him.
“Where’d you lo’ come from, ‘en?” Jayden asked, standing up and brushing his trousers off.
The boys looked at each other, and Jayden stepped around the first boy to help the second boy up.
“We’re not exactly sure.” The messy-haired boy said, and Jayden noted that they both sounded posher than he did. Jayden realised that they could be rozzers’ kids, but they looked more like government kids with the over-sized suits they were wearing. He led them out of the dingy alley.
“I’m Jayden.” He said, looking around as the boys dusted themselves off.
"Harry,” the messy-haired boy said.
“Dean.”
Jayden nodded. “You playin’ dress-up wi’ Dad’s things?” he pointed to the over-sized suits.
The boys looked down, startled, as if they’d forgotten what they’d put on that morning. They shared a glance before Dean turned to Jayden, twisting to narrowly avoid a light-post.
“What’s the date?”
Jayden blinked. That was unwarranted. He screwed up his face in thought.
“Uh… dunno. August, maybe? Def’nitely nine’een-nine’y-three.” He finished.
Both boys’ faces were carefully blank, and Jayden noted that they looked like the war veterans Jayden sometimes saw in the homeless shelter or on the streets. A change of subject would be nice.
“You said you don’ know where ya came from. Go’ a place ta stay?”
Dean thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“Nope,” he said. Harry didn’t even reply.
Nineteen-ninety-three. Harry mused. They were so fucked.
As far as he could tell, both he and Dean looked thirteen, but he knew that when he was actually thirteen, he was nowhere near this part of London, so he figured that Dean and he had just been de-aged – as opposed to transferred into their thirteen-year-old selves. The boy that found them – Jayden – seemed nice enough, and Harry remembered Aunt Petunia scowling whenever she heard someone talk the way Jayden did, all missing consonants and double negatives. If Petunia didn’t like it, Harry was down.
“You said you don’ know where ya came from. Go’ a place ta stay?”
Harry belatedly registered Jayden speaking. He left Dean to answer. Ever since the two went into Auror training together, they’d become somewhat closer. Both having shared the trauma of the Battle of Hogwarts; they’d started swapping stories of the deceased together. After Seamus and Dean finally got together (it had been a long time coming), Harry, Ron, and Neville had gone drinking with both in a boys’ night out. Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Hannah Abbott – who Neville had introduced the group to – had stayed in and watched Netflix. A smile spread over Harry’s face as he reminisced. Dean nudged him in the side with his pointy elbow.
“Huh?”
“Oh, he does speak! Was worried for a sec’ there mate,” Jayden threw his hands up as if he was praying Hallelujah, chuckling. “I was askin’ if you wan’ed to stay wi’ my lot?” he asked.
Harry opened his mouth to ask who exactly ‘Jayden’s lot’ were, but someone yelled over him.
“Oi, Jay! Who’re the stragglers?” A boy called from somewhere in the darkness, utilising the shadows away from the light-poles.
“Amar!” Jayden yelled, running over to the boy, and tackling him. “You disappeared again! You sai’ you wouldn’t!”
“Jay, Jay ge’ off –” Amar grunted, throwing Jayden off him, and brushing himself off. He spotted Harry and Dean again, the latter of whom was now leaning against a wall. “Who’ve you picked up now?” he asked, pivoting to face the boy on the floor.
Jayden’s face lit up again and he jumped up. “Oh yeah! Dean and Harry. They dunno where they came from, and ain’t got no place to stay.” Jayden said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“I swear, Jayden,” Amar shook his head and the four boys started walking again, Amar and Jayden in front of Dean and Harry, “if these kids stay and the blues-and-twos turn up at our door, I will punch you.”
Jayden stopped and turned to face Dean and Harry. “You on the run from the blues-and-twos?” he asked. Dean and Harry exchanged confused looks and Jayden sighed. “Okay, so not from ‘round ‘ere ‘en. D’you go’ police after you?”
“Oh! No.” Harry said. Jayden swung back to Amar with a smirk on his face and continued walking. Amar shook his head, a smile gracing his amber features.