Myth of the Hourglass

By:

RLSdreadnault

Published simultaneously on the Sink Into Your Eyes fan fiction archive.

Disclaimer: This following is a work of fan fiction. The author is not earning a profit from the writing or publishing of it.

Author's Note: This story presupposes most of the events up to the end of the fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. From that point, it departs from the 'canon.'

Chapter One: Harry Potter's Disappearance

Upon arriving home from his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry discovered that a number of subtle changes had taken place among the Dursley family. Most of these changes were improvements. The first and foremost improvement being that his cousin Dudley, his uncle Vernon, and even his aunt Petunia were now generally avoiding him even to the extent that he was rarely asked to perform chores.

By way of eavesdropping, Harry later learned that these changes in behavior were the consequence of a letter they had received from Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. In the letter, Professor Dumbledore had detailed some of Harry's escapades during the past year, perhaps even exaggerating some of them. The letter had instilled in the Dursleys a healthy respect, or rather fear, of Harry's capabilities and was the source of the improvements that Harry now enjoyed.

In addition to the information about Harry's adventures, Professor Dumbledore had also taken the liberty to inform them of a few facts about Lord Voldemort, the self-proclaimed Dark Lord who considered Harry Potter to be his primary nemesis. Harry was not sure whether the Dursleys understood just how important a role Harry played in the ongoing fight against Lord Voldemort, but they seemed to understand at least one thing. Voldemort was at large and the defense Harry could provide was better than nothing. This created an unfortunate annoyance for Harry.

Whenever one or more of his relatives opted to leave their neighborhood in Surrey to go shopping or to run other errands, they brought Harry along with them. Apparently they hoped that his presence would work to stave off the evil 'freaks' that were not content to merely exist and annoy people like the Dursleys, but were in the habit of going around and killing people.

As a consequence of this, Harry found himself in a mall not far from London with the Dursleys one Friday night. The Dursleys normally purchased clothes at shops not far from Privet Drive, but Dudley had become so obese that finding clothes for him had turned into a major quest.

"I won't wear this!" Dudley exclaimed loudly, drawing glances from the other customers who were thumbing through the clothes racks. "It's . . . stupid!"

"Nonsense!" Vernon declared gruffly. "It looks quite respectable."

Petunia chose not to comment on the style factor of the shorts they were trying to buy for Dudley. They were indeed hideous, but she was sick of shopping and it would be worse if Dudley had nothing to wear. "Could anything my Diddykins wore look bad?" she asked in her usual high-pitched voice.

Harry rolled his eyes. Watching Dudley shop for clothes was miserable. "I'm going to wait outside," he mumbled to no one in particular.

Usually, no one would have paid attention. This summer was different though. Aunt Petunia withdrew her attention from Dudley and the prospective shorts for long enough to issue a peremptory command to Harry. "Don't wander far!"

"Don't worry," Harry muttered as he escaped the clothing shop, wondering how they could assume that he'd lift a finger to save them from a Dark wizard or witch. By their standards, he would be perfectly justified in joining in to help kill them.

The bench directly outside the clothing shop, Extraordinarily Big & Tall, was occupied by an elderly couple resting from their shopping exertions. A mother with a gaggle of children was standing in front of the next closest one. He spotted a vacant bench just across the way in front of an electronics store and quickly darted over to it and sat down.

At first, he contented himself with watching the people passing. There were a few people who were dressed oddly enough that they could be wizards or witches. Then again, they might have actually been people who just didn't know how to dress or had gotten suckered into buying hideous clothes.

Harry quickly got bored and thought back to the conversation he had endured with Professor Dumbledore after the showdown at the Ministry of Magic. At first he had been terribly angry with the aged man for holding back the secret of the prophecy, and then angry at fate in general for dealing him such a bad hand.

The time that had passed since that night had tempered Harry's feelings somewhat. He was resolved that he would have to play an important role in Voldemort's defeat. The thing that chafed him now was waiting for something to happen. If he was so important to the conflict, why wasn't Dumbledore keeping him close and letting him in on the action?

Harry was abruptly jerked from his reverie by the shouts from the mall security guards. He looked up to discover that the mall was now swarming with black robed wizards and witches who were silently taking positions along the corridor and blocking off the exits.

His eyes widened with shock and as quickly as he could, he leapt from the bench and into the electronics store where he could both stay out of sight and watch what was going on as he wondered whether this was a general raid or if the Death Eaters were specifically after him. The Dursleys were right about the necessity of taking me along, Harry realized. Vaguely, he regretted having abandoned them. On the other hand, he reckoned, they're probably not the primary targets anyway.

The security guards were confused and frightened. Though the Death Eaters had said nothing to anyone, they were clearly a dangerous threat. Harry watched as one guard lost his self-control and irrationally tried to subdue one of the Death Eaters.

Harry winced as the Death Eater quickly pointed his wand and killed the guard with a single "Avada Kedavra!" At this point, all the Muggles froze and raised their hands into the air, assuming that they were dealing with some sort of terrorist group or hostage situation.

Nothing was said by anyone for several minutes except for the occasional grunt or exclamation of surprise made by the occasional unsuspecting shopper exiting a store and finding his or herself a hostage of some sort. Harry was very confused. It had been his impression that Death Eaters usually struck small, remotes locations quickly, hard, and escaped fast.

Nothing happened until the unsuspecting Dursleys exited the Extraordinarily Big & Tall shop with their purchases for Dudley. Of all the hostages, their reaction was the most pronounced. Petunia screamed and tried to run, Vernon collapsed, and Dudley tried to run but was hindered by his bulk.

They were promptly cut off by the Death Eaters who with menacing looks goaded them into the center of the mall's corridor where they stood quivering with fear. Their appearance seemed to garner a reaction from the Death Eaters in charge and within a few seconds, Lord Voldemort arrived.

Harry watched, feeling the blood slowing leaving his face. He didn't know what he could do for the Dursleys that wouldn't leave all of them dead. Undoubtedly, the Death Eaters would notice any magic he did and they had certainly taken precautions against an alarm being raised very quickly. Deciding that he'd have to wait, Harry focused on Voldemort and the Dursleys.

"Petunia and Vernon Dursley," Lord Voldemort declared as he walked up to them and looked each of them in the eyes for a moment. "You've indirectly played into my hand. I must congratulate you." He turned and retreated toward some of his Death Eaters.

Vernon Dursley summoned up some courage and shouted at Voldemort's retreating back. "You and your cronies are just freaks! Do you hear me? Freaks!"

Voldemort spun around and stared at Vernon for a moment. "You remind me of my father," he said quietly. "You'll have the opportunity to meet him shortly, as soon as I conclude some important business." An evil smile spread across Voldemort's face and he turned in Harry's vague direction. "Potter! Come out from where you're hiding. You have my word that I mean you no harm this evening."

Harry didn't believe Voldemort for one moment. He knew all too well Voldemort's desire to kill him. However, there wasn't much choice. Knowing Voldemort, he would eventually discover Harry's hiding place. In the meanwhile, he might try killing the innocent bystanders.

Counting on the blood wards guaranteeing him protection, keeping in mind that his wand and Voldemort's shared cores and could never properly duel, and knowing that only the Dark lord could kill him, Harry opted to step out and reveal himself. Surely the Ministry had detected Voldemort's mischief and would be on their way before too long. Perhaps he could stall long enough for the Aurors to arrive.

Harry drew his wand, emerged from his hiding place, and slowly walked out into the center of the mall between the Dursleys and Voldemort. "All right, Voldemort. I'm here. What do you want?"

Voldemort stared at Harry, hatred painted all over his face and burning in his red eyes. "It is clear that my attempts to kill you have resulted in disaster for the both of us. You refuse to die and I refuse to have you continue meddling in my affairs. I'm here to dispose of you." He raised his wand and pointed it at Harry.

Before Voldemort could say anything, Harry quickly shot a stunning charm toward Voldemort, hoping that Priori Incantatem would work in his favor. The Dark lord had anticipated this. He quickly dodged the stunner and with a silent curse and flick of his wand, caused Harry's precious wand to explode.

Harry gasped as the explosion wrenched his arm and left him holding only a stub of his former wand. Harry was now quite angry, and his face betrayed it. The wand had been one of his most valued possessions.

Voldemort laughed at him. "Don't worry, Harry," he said mockingly. "I'm not going to kill you. In fact, I'm not even going to hurt you. The blood wards prevent that until you're seventeen years of age. I'm just going to . . . exile you."

Harry looked around at the people watching. The Death Eaters were snickering, clearly enjoying Harry's predicament. The Muggle bystanders who had not fainted were staring at both him and Voldemort with confusion. The Dursleys weren't even moving.

He turned around to see Voldemort raise his arms and began a complicated incantation, swishing his wand and waving it in odd patterns. Finally, Voldemort shouted a final word and jabbed his wand toward Harry.

A sound louder than a sonic boom reverberated through the mall and Harry felt an intense burning sensation consume him as the mall and people watching abruptly disappeared as if someone had flicked a light switch off. The burning sensation became unbearably cold as a second ear-splitting sound occurred.

Harry stumbled and fell to the ground, panting heavily and shivering. Several minutes passed before he could spare the strength to look up and observe his surroundings. The only light anywhere was the moon in the sky and its light was barely enough to reveal to Harry that he was now surrounded by a forest and was completely alone.

He pushed himself to his feet and tried to walk, but after only a few steps he stumbled and fell to the earth breathing heavily. "Where am I?" he muttered to no one in particular. Before he could attempt to draw any more conclusions, exhaustion overcame him.

Tonks muttered a few choice epithets as she observed the damage the Death Eaters had caused to the Muggle shopping center. Usually the Ministry responded quickly to Death Eater attacks, but it seemed that this attack had been especially orchestrated and carried out in such a way as to avoid Ministry detection for as long as possible.

The area struck by Voldemort's followers was larger than usual. Hundreds of Muggles had witnessed the Death Eaters performing their handiwork. It would take days if not weeks for the Ministry to contain the situation and alter the Muggles' memories.

Since Lord Voldemort's appearance at the Ministry a month previous, wizards and witches across Britain had been on alert for possible attack. As a result of this, once the alarm had been sounded the response had been more than adequate. There were already dozens of Ministry officials swarming all over the scene, all in a very confused state.

Tonks spotted her immediate supervisor a couple of hundred yards away and began to make her way in that direction but was almost immediately waylaid by Kingsley Shacklebolt, a high ranking auror and fellow member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Get in here!" he hissed at her discreetly, motioning with his hand. He was standing just in the entrance of the ruins of a shop.

Tonks glanced around and saw that no one in particular was watching them. She quickly joined Kingsley. Before the Ministry had acknowledged Voldemort's return, Professor Dumbledore had instructed them not to make it public knowledge that they were more than passing acquaintances.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Have you already reported in?" he asked.

"No."

"Good. You won't be missed. You've got to get out of here and notify Albus that we've got serious trouble."

Tonks frowned and looked around, seeing the occasional official run past the shop. "I don't understand."

Kingsley pointed toward three Muggle bodies laying just a few feet outside the shop near the center of the mall's corridor. The Ministry had not begun to attend to the dead as there were still wounded Muggles and others who were in need of memory charms. "Do those particular Muggles look familiar?" he asked.

Tonks took a closer look at the bodies in question and gasped when she recognized them as the Dursleys, Harry's supposed guardians. "Are you positive it's them? Was Harry here with them?"

"Yes, it's them and I don't know about Harry." Kingsley said curtly. "I'll try to keep them from being noticed and identified by the others until Albus tells me what we should do. You need to get to Hogwarts and notify him immediately."

"Right, I'm on my way now." Tonks said, drawing her wand.

Tonks quickly Disapparated away and found herself just outside the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The summer holidays had left the usually lively school empty and for the most part devoid of life. Without the students wandering around, the castle reminded her of a dread fortress more so than ever before with its looming walls and high towers. She began to run up to the front doors, praying that Professor Dumbledore would be found there.

It seemed an eternity before she arrived at the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office. It quickly leapt aside when she uttered the special password given to members of the Order.

Tonks found Professor Albus Dumbledore sitting behind his desk examining several documents. Because he had somehow been forewarned of Tonks coming up the stairs he was looking right at her when she entered the office. "What is it?" he inquired.

Tonks was panting hard despite the physical conditioning that came with her training to be an auror. "There's been a Death Eater attack at a large Muggle shopping center between London and Surrey. Kingsley just discovered the bodies of all three Dursleys there."

"What!" Dumbledore exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "Are you sure? Did he confirm that they were the Dursleys?"

"Yes and yes," Tonks replied. "He said that he's going to try to keep them from being discovered by other Ministry officials until you contact him and tell him how to handle the situation. He's not sure whether Harry was at the scene of the attack or not."

Dumbledore was rapidly pacing back and forth behind his desk thinking as fast as he could. Finally he spoke. "Attacking a Muggle shopping mall is out of character for Voldemort. The target had to have been Harry whether directly or indirectly."

Only a couple of moments passed before he started giving out instructions. "Go find Alastor Moody and then with him proceed to Privet Drive. Check the status of the blood wards that protect Harry. If they're gone, weakened, or don't seem right to you proceed to the house and search it. If you find Harry, evacuate him from the premises and bring him here. If Harry isn't there, collect his possessions and destroy any further trace of him at that residence."

"Is there anything else?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "If you don't find Harry, I'll meet you both at Alastor's house and we'll go from there. I'm going to go put some of the other Order members on the alert and then meet Kingsley."

Tonks nodded and turned to the fireplace to Floo away to Alastor's residence, grabbing some Floo powder from a pot and throwing it into the flames. Before she stepped into the flames, Dumbledore called out. "Be careful when you go to Privet Drive."

A smirk crossed Tonks face. "Yes, I know. Constant vigilance!" She stepped into the flames that were now burning green and disappeared, shouting the name of Moody's residence.

It was Ron who spotted Professor Dumbledore's arrival at the Burrow. His parents had just a half hour previous made it clear that it was time for himself and the twins, Fred and George, to retire. Whether it being from defiance or just a plain lack of need to sleep, Ron was still awake and near enough to his bedroom window to observe movement near the front door.

Upon identifying the late night visitor as his aged headmaster from Hogwarts, Ron immediately knew that something was up or he would not be calling at this hour. The problem was discovering for his self what Dumbledore had to say. That would require some equipment provided by the twins.

Ron immediately donned a bathrobe and opening his bedroom door as silently as possible, exited. He managed to avoid all the steps on the rickety staircase that would creak and slipped into Fred and George's bedroom without knocking.

The Weasley twins had not been sleeping either, and from what Ron saw, they were working on one of their nefarious projects. Fred and George each gave a start upon discovering that their territory had been invaded. When they saw that it was Ron rather than their mother they let out a sigh of a relief.

"Bloody hell!" George swore in a high-pitched whisper.

"You could give a bloke some warning," Fred added.

"I thought I was having a heart attack." George muttered, turning his attention back to the table they had set up in the corner of the room.

Ron rolled his eyes at them. For the most part, he found them funny and quite amusing. However, it could get old at times. "Look you two, Dumbledore just arrived and I think he has news. I need one of your Extendable Ears."

Fred and George didn't bother asking useless questions. They had learned from their prolonged career of pulling pranks how to take a good opportunity at a moment's notice. Fred went for their stash of supplies beneath a floor board while George extinguished the lights and headed for the door. "You're not doing this without us," one of them said to Ron through the darkness.

"If you insist," Ron retorted. "You need to hurry or we'll miss what he says."

"Obviously."

Before he could respond one of them grabbed his elbow and they were out the door and creeping down the stairs.

Ron found himself following the two of them and was quite annoyed. He was the one who had noticed Dumbledore's arrival after all. Why did they have to take charge? His thoughts froze when he bumped into one of the twins, Fred perhaps.

"Crikey!" George turned and mouthed to Fred and Ron, the lights from the downstairs outlining his profile. "They're standing right next to the staircase!" The front door had just been shut and Dumbledore was exchanging greetings with Mrs. Weasley.

Before Ron could process this information, Fred had made a decision. He poked Ron and George for emphasis and pointed to their sister's bedroom door which was just ahead on the landing.

George nodded to Fred and then mouthed a quick instruction. "We'll all go on my signal." He turned his head and shifted his neck a little bit to get a better view of the adults below on the ground floor. Dumbledore spoke a little bit in muted tones to Mrs. Weasley who in turn said in a slightly louder voice that she would go fetch Arthur, the Weasley patriarch.

As soon as Mrs. Weasley, departed George gave the signal and the three boys quietly dashed across the landing, opened Ginny's door, filed in, and shut it before anyone downstairs was the wiser.

Ginny had been slightly asleep, but their entrance had woken and startled her. Her mouth opened to let out an exclamation that was prevented by Fred's hand over her mouth. "Be quiet! Dumbledore is here and we're never going to learn anything if you spoil it."

The youngest Weasley was fairly quick on the uptake and nodded. This resulted in Fred removing his hand from her mouth. "Don't look!" she instructed as she threw off the covers and grabbed a bathrobe to cover her pajamas. "Do you have your Extendable Ears?"

"Of course we do." George muttered as he cracked open the bedroom door and peered out as he removed an Extendable Ear from his pocket. "Who do you take us for?"

"I spotted him first." Ron declared. He was intending to inform Ginny but she didn't seem to hear him as she had already taken position right next to George who had begun to move the Extendable Ear outside the door.

Since the twins' creation of the Extendable Ear a year or so previous, they had become very proficient at manipulating it into prime positions for picking up the voices of their intended targets. It was not long before they were all listening to the conversation between Dumbledore and their parents courtesy of an amplified improvement that the twins had more recently developed for their creation.

". . . attack on a Muggle mall, a sort of collection of shops. Kingsley Shacklebolt is on the scene, and he sent Nymphadora to alert me. The bodies of Harry's aunt, uncle, and cousin were discovered at the scene."

Mrs. Weasley gasped loudly, but it was Mr. Weasley who spoke first. "What about young Harry?"

"I don't know, Arthur." Dumbledore said quietly. "I'm gravely concerned though. Other than Nymphadora, Kingsley, and Alastor, you're the only Order members who have been alerted. I'm going to go visit the scene of the attack. Meanwhile, I want you two to contact the other Order members and tell them to be ready for anything. I've sent Alastor and Nymphadora to Privet Drive to check for Harry. Pending their return and any other information I can gather, the Order may have to act quickly."

"We'll be ready." Mrs. Weasley said fiercely.

Dumbledore quickly thanked her and then issued a few more instructions. "Arthur, the Ministry may call you in at some point. If they do, go and try to glean what information you can."

"Right," said Mr. Weasley.

"Good." Dumbledore said. "Don't do anything else until you hear from me or I send someone. I expect at the very least we will have to have an Order meeting to discuss the information we collect and what will have to be done."

"We'll be waiting." Mrs. Weasley said quietly.

Dumbledore then left the Weasley residence and the children could hear their parents pacing back and forth. Eventually they began to discuss the ramifications of this news, and nothing new or terribly interesting was said.

The Extendable Ear was dragged back into the room and the door closed by Fred and George while Ron and Ginny watched. Finally, one of the twins summed their feelings up in a single word. "Bugger."

"Harry really disliked the Dursleys," Ron said. "I bet he wasn't even with them. From what I hear, they never took him anywhere or did anything nice for him."

"Maybe not," Fred said seriously, "but I don't know that Voldemort would have bothered with attacking the Dursleys alone."

"Even if Mad-Eye and Tonks find Harry at Privet Drive alive and well, there's going to be consequences," Ginny pointed out. "They're not going to let Harry go and live by himself. Someone is going to become his guardian."

Ron was quick to see the good opportunities that might come from the death of the Dursleys. "Harry could come and live here! I bet Mum and Dad would be okay with it. It would be just like having another brother."

Ginny wasn't so sure how she felt about Harry falling into the brother figure category. She wasn't about to dwell on that though. "Do you think we ought to contact Hermione?" she asked. "I reckon that Dumbledore isn't going to go notify her."

"That's not a bad idea." Ron said. "I have her number for the Muggle tellyphone. We could sneak down to the village and call her."

The twins rolled their eyes and George pointed out that they could just send an owl to Hermione. Ginny quickly pointed out that by the time the owl reached Hermione everything would have changed and if Dumbledore came back with bad news they wouldn't have the opportunity later on to notify her. The twins conceded this point and arrangements were made for Ron and Ginny to take a couple of brooms and fly down to the village pay phone.

Ron and Ginny soon were able to sneak out of the house because their parents had retreated to the kitchen to use the fireplace to notify the other Order members. The twins had promised that they would keep their ears open for more news and cover for them if the Weasley parents came to check on their children.

A few minutes later, Ron and Ginny were on their brooms and zooming toward the Muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole. Ron seemed to be terribly excited at sneaking around at night and being in on the know, however illegitimately. There was excitement for Ginny too, but this seemed to be overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation.

They made it to Ottery St. Catchpole in record time, primarily because they'd never been allowed to fly there on brooms before. They landed in a small alley and stashed the brooms where they would not be noticed.

Upon exiting the alley into the main street of the village, they discovered that there were still some Muggles out and about. There seemed to be a good sized gathering near the pub where the red telephone booth was located.

No one paid them any attention as they quickly walked to it and shut themselves in. Ron had some previous experience with the Muggle telephone and he soon managed to get some Muggle currency into it and began dialing Hermione's number.

Two or three rings later Hermione picked it up and announced that they had reached the Granger residence. Ron was both startled and glad that Hermione had answered rather than her parents so late at night.

"Hermione, it's Ron here. Something terrible has happened."

"Ron? Is it Death Eaters? Has there been an attack? Are you all right?"

"Yes, there's been an attack, we're all right though. They attacked a Muggle shopping place and Kingsley found the Dursleys, dead."

Hermione's gasp was so loud that even Ginny could hear it. "What about Harry? Is he safe?"

"They're trying to find out. Dumbledore is pretty worried."

"I should think so!"

"Look," Ron said, "we don't know that much about it, but we'll try to keep you updated. We've got to get back to the Burrow before Mum and Dad notice that we've left."

"Okay then. I'll try to find out what I can from the Muggle news."

"What about your parents?" Ron asked.

"They're out." Hermione assured him.

Ron and Hermione exchanged farewells on the phone and then he and Ginny were on their way to pick up their broomsticks.

"I wish our parents went out more often." Ron muttered, envying Hermione's independence to some degree.

"I'm sure Hermione wishes her parents stayed home more often." Ginny said as she rolled her eyes and remembered how much Harry seemed to envy their family when he came to visit.

Sneaking back into the Burrow proved to be a chore for Ron and Ginny given the fact that Mrs. Weasley had taken to wandering aimlessly back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, presumably awaiting word from Professor Dumbledore.

They eventually got back in and found the twins waiting for them in Ginny's room with their Extendable Ear. They had a little bit of news. "The folks from the Ministry called Dad into work." George announced. "They sounded pretty panicked about something."

"I think it's a sign that Harry's missing." Fred said. "They didn't even call him in for the attack. Why would they call him in now?"

Ginny tried to be hopeful. "Cleaning up after a Death Eater attack can take a lot of manpower."

"Maybe," Ron said darkly.

Nothing was said for several hours as the siblings kept vigil in Ginny's room, waiting for news to arrive at the Burrow of Harry's status. The twins sat thoughtfully next to the door, occasionally opening it a crack to check that no one but Mrs. Weasley was downstairs. Ron paced back and forth, the wait wearing on his patience. Ginny settled on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

Sunrise arrived before news came from the Order. At that point, the siblings jointly agreed that there was no point in pretending that they were asleep any longer. They all headed downstairs and found Mrs. Weasley listlessly preparing to make breakfast.

"You're all up early," she commented, trying to make her voice seem light but failing miserably.

"No point in wasting daylight." Fred said cheerfully, faking a yawn.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You already know what has happened, don't you?"

The guilty expression found on the face of all four siblings was answer enough for her. Before she could comment, the flames in the fireplace turned green and Remus Lupin exited.

He tiredly dusted the ashes off himself and then met the faces of the gathered members of the Weasley family who were looking at him hopefully with a forlorn expression. "Dumbledore and the Ministry found the shattered remnants of Harry's wand at the scene of the attack. He's gone."