Tempus Inconcessus

Prologue

Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter. That honor belongs to J.K Rowling, and nobody else…except God…and Jesus…and Buddha…and Zeus…and…other people who aren't me, and that's why life sucks.

Warning:This story is a slash, or yaoi, or shounen-ai, or whatever want to call it. In plainer terms, that means that it's guy/guy relationships. If you don't like it then be gone with you! I only kid, you can read it if you want. Like I always say "Curiosity killed the person who wasn't curious…"

Author's Note: Hello and welcome to my story! This is my first Harry Potter fic, but don't be discouraged about that! Give it a chance and hopefully you will like it. And if you like it enough, you just might review which would make me the happiest person in the world! That's it for now and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it.

Edit: I was rereading this story and found so many spelling and grammatical errors which made me feel really ashamed so I fixed 'em all and I'm going to be doing that for the rest of the chapters as well. Also, I wrote this before the 7th book came out which is why Ravenclaw's horcrux isn't a diadem.

The streets were empty, only air occupying their spaces. The only souls there were that of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The cover of night and new moon blocked them from sight from anyone who may be looking, saving them from having to be tightly cramped between the Invisibility Cloak. The three friends were nearing the end of the street that read "Spinner's End". They stood in front of an old abandoned home. Paint was peeling of, the glass from windows were cracked or completely broken, and the unused door creaked loudly when they entered.

Inside the house was darkness, no moon to guide their way. They couldn't even see the wands they held so each muttered "Lumos" and their wands emitted a glow big enough to see where they were going. Their wands revealed dusty furniture, forgotten portraits, and scattered clothing, proof that this place had been a home to someone; home to Snape.

These items may have been of some value, probably worth a couple galleons, but this was not why Harry was there. He was in his professor's home for something of far greater importance: an ancient relic of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts.

The relic itself was an important artifact, especially for the wizarding world. Yet, Harry wasn't there to actually steal the relic. He wanted what was inside of it. Ravenclaw's artifact was a horcrux, an object that holds a soul. And the soul it contained was that of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Harry's venture into this abandoned place was to find it and destroy it, thereby destroying a part of Voldemort himself.

Shards of glass crushed beneath their feet, and Harry nearly lost his balance over something on the floor. He aimed his wand at it, revealing the something to be an old figurine of a dementor. Just the sight of it made Harry shiver in fear. Even though he could easily defeat them, the memory of their kiss draining his joy still haunted him.

Typical that Snape would have had an action figure version of one. He kicked it aside and followed Hermione's and Ron's glowing wands. No one spoke, there was no need to. Silence was their only comfort at the moment, that and their light.

They reached a room that contained a lone piano. There was a pair of drapes as well, probably covering a broken window. Besides the dusty piano, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. There was one sheet of paper on the piano. It was piano music, it read "Horrid Crucifix" and below the title were the notes on how to play the song.

The three friends looked at one another, hoping that the other had any sort of musical knowledge. Hermione was the one who trekked towards the instrument, even though she had no idea on what to do. She had never learned the piano or any instrument in fact. She thought it would have interfered with her studies.

She took her seat on the piano bench and blew away the dust from the keys. That action was quickly regretted when the years of accumulating dust flew up her nose. Her face contorted, as if about to sneeze, but a quick muttering of "Silencio" stopped any sound from coming out. She let out a silent sneeze and lifted the charm from herself. They did not want to be found.

Hermione looked at the sheet music, half expecting it to become understandable, but it wasn't. If anything, it was nearly impossible for anyone to understand it because the musical notes were moving around the page. In an attempt to stop them, Hermione quietly muttered "Immobulus". The notes froze on the page, but started to dance around again not long after. Hermione threw her hands on the piano keys in defeat causing a screeching cacophony of sound to burst from the aged instrument.

Hermione silenced it and mouthed a sorry for the sudden noise. Ron was pointing at the music with his wand and motioned for them to look at it. When they looked, they saw that some of the notes were neatly place in the center of the page, but soon started scattering away.

Harry moved towards the piano and gently hit one key. One of the notes flew straight to the center and stayed there for about a second. He silenced the piano and slid his hand from one end to the other. One by one, the notes flew to a spot on the sheet music, and before they could scatter, an image had formed.

The notes created a simple arrow. Everyone looked in the direction of what the arrow was pointing at, and found their selves staring at the only other thing in the room: the drapes that had gone unnoticed.

Ron was the first to reach and pull open the dark drapes only to find a cement wall behind it. Ron, thinking it was an illusion, tried to walk through it, like platform 9 3/4 at the Hogwarts Express. Yet his body only made contact with the cement.

Hermione and Ron stared at the empty wall, trying to figure out what to do, if anything was to even be done to it, but their minds drew up a blank. Harry had gone back to the first room and returned with a shard of glass in his hand. He slowly pressed it against his palm until blood oozed out. With that blood, Harry rubbed his palm against the empty wall.

The wall absorbed the blood and began to fade. Harry impatiently passed through the fading wall before it could completely disappear, and his friends followed. They were descending down stairs, their wands lighting their way, and now felt safe enough to talk.

"How'd you know to do that?" Ron's voice squeaked after not being used for what felt like an eternity.

All Harry said was "Dumbledore…" and Ron fell quiet. The memory of their old Headmaster pained them, so neither spoke again until they reached the bottom.

Hermione saw that Harry's hand was still bleeding so she created a bandage with "Ferula" and wrapped it around Harry's wound. They now stood before a wooden door, and a sign sat beside it. Harry tried to read it, but it was written in mysterious symbols or some unknown language.

He didn't want to even try to decipher it, so he beckoned for Hermione. She looked closely at the symbols, thinking back to her Ancient Runes class.

"It says, 'Don't look, don't peek, or you'll stop yourself from what you seek.'" Hermione shrugged her shoulders when Harry and Ron gave her confused glances. They readied themselves in front of the door, not sure what to expect on the other side.

On the other side was a room filled with body-sized mirrors each in a different shape or frame. Some made the looker appear taller, shorter, fatter, skinnier, distorted, dead, and other things. Harry, Ron, and Hermione cautiously moved into the room, not sure of where to go next.

Ron was busy staring at himself in a mirror that made him look muscular. His chiseled chest and mammoth biceps moved in sync with his body. He flexed his arms so his reflection would do the same. Once he was finished gawking at his improved self, Ron turned his attention to another mirror that made his face looked distorted.

Body parts were placed on the wrong spot, and his hair was blond. Ron quickly looked away, not really liking what he just saw. Hermione and Harry, on the other hand, were actually searching for some sign of the horcrux. But all they found were more disfigured mirrors.

Ron was staring at one of his reflections, trying to find something out of the ordinary. But this mirror only portrayed an actually image of himself. There was nothing wrong with it, so Ron got bored and moved on to another one, but the reflection remained, its eyes following him. Ron's reflection started to move on its own out of the mirror. Ron was busy staring at his muscled self again when he saw two reflections in his mirror. He thought that it was only a trick of the mirror but quickly changed his mind when he found himself being strangled by another him.

Ron tried to call out for help, but he couldn't even breathe. His wand was still in his hand, but he couldn't say any spells. So he resorted to flailing around like crazy.

Hermione came running yelling. "Don't look at the mirrors!" Always a little late with the information, she noticed Ron's struggle with himself. "Stupefy!" She aimed her wand at the imposter. A stream of red light shot from her wand and made contact with Ron's reflection, knocking him down to the floor.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Ron didn't make a sound, or movement, or even blink. Hermione waved her wand over Ron and said "Ennervate". Ron immediately rose to his feet, now cured from the stun spell.

"Thanks" he muttered, catching his breath. "Where's Harry?"

Hermione opened her mouth, about to answer, but she just remembered that she had left him alone at the end of the hall. She dragged Ron, and ran towards Harry.

The young wizard was just casting a stun spell on his reflection when Hermione and Ron came running. "What's going on?" he said out of breath, his doppelganger stunned on the floor.

"The sign said not to look at ourselves which means that this room of mirrors was put here to prevent us from getting further. The only way to get passed here would be to close our eyes, but then we wouldn't be able to know where we're going."

"We don't even know where to go with our eyes open!" Ron added. "There's got to be another way."

Harry closed his eyes, to hide from the mirrors and to think about what to do. He raised his wand, opened his eyes, and said "Reducto!" The mirror in front of him shattered into pieces leaving nothing but a frame.

Ron and Hermione caught on and started doing the same to the mirrors. Each mirror was destroyed, some reflections silently screaming as they shattered to the ground. Ron hesitated a bit when he came to the muscled mirror, but as soon as it started to move of its own accord, he reflexively smashed with it with his foot.

Only one mirror stood, but this one had no reflection. When Harry stood in front of it, the glass was all he could see. He raised his wand and shattered it, revealing a pathway that went further down.

The path had darkened, so they lit their wands again to guide them. The path went deeper and deeper underground. Who knew who far underground they were? It felt like walking into an endless abyss.

The walls around them seemed to expand, moving wider and wider apart until they reached a vast room. A single pillar of light flowed from nowhere to the room's center. Nothing else could be seen except for the item that glittered in the light.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved towards the light, already knowing what lied beneath it.

Rowena Ravenclaw's mirror. It was handheld, had a silver-blue frame, and the Ravenclaw insignia was carved into the handle. The owner of the mirror was not only known for her intelligence, but for her beauty as well so her relic being a mirror was not all that surprising. Now, all that was left was to destroy it.

Ravenclaw's mirror was hovering over a silver pedestal, and Harry was reaching for it, but Hermione slapped his hand away.

"Don't! This is too easy, it's probably cursed" Hermione's reasoning was right, but Harry didn't want to just stand there and think, being so close to Voldemort's soul.

"I don't care! I have to destroy the mirror!" Harry reached for it again, but Hermione persistently slapped his hand away.

"But if something happens to you, then who is going to defeat Voldemort?" she yelled, making Ron shudder at the Dark Lord's name. Harry tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't. She was right, as always, and he couldn't danger himself like that.

"I'll do it" Ron stood straight and tall now, Gryffindor courage shining brightly from him. Hermione and Harry would have protested, but knew that it was the only option they had. They nodded in agreement, and took a couple of steps back in case the mirror did have a curse.

Ron reached for the mirror's handle, hand trembling. His hand gripped it, his eyes clenched shut, and he waited for something to happen, anything. But nothing did. He opened one eye to see if he was still alive, and everything seemed to be fine. Behind him, Hermione and Harry's sighs of relief brought him comfort and he pulled the mirror away from the light.

As soon as he did this the light faded, bringing nothing but darkness. No one could see anything or anyone. Ron was still holding the mirror, Hermione and Harry were desperately searching for their wands, yet Ron was the only one who had his out. He stuttered a "Lumos" and a glow of warmth filled him as soon as there was light.

Harry and Hermione had drifted from one another in the darkness, but they could clearly see Ron's wand in the center of the room. They started to follow the light in order to get to Ron.

Ron, in his fright, looked into the mirror, uneasily looking at the reflection of himself because of the room before. Suddenly, his reflection turned into a gaunt, snake-like demeanor creature with gray skin and eyes like a serpent. Ron realized that he was looking directly into the serpent eyes of Lord Voldemort. He dropped the mirror in fear and called out for his searching friends.

The mirror landed with a loud crash. It had broken. Harry and Hermione found their wands and summoned light. Ron was on the floor, trembling in fear. In front of him stood the Dark Lord himself, an evil grin plastered on his face. He raised his wand, and pointed at the red haired teen.

Hermione let out a high pitched scream, tears falling from her eyes at the sight. Harry was sprinting now towards Ron, not knowing or caring what he was going to do to save his friend. But as he drew closer, Voldemort said in a clear loud voice.

"Avada Kedavra!" A bright green light filled the room, and then everything went dark.

Harry woke up at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. His head ached and his body was completely paralyzed. He suddenly felt like throwing up, but in his present state, that seemed impossible. Footsteps were walking towards him, but he couldn't see whose they were.

He couldn't see anything at all except for the blinding lights of the hospital. "Harry? Are you awake?" It was Hermione, worry obvious in her voice.

Harry attempted to answer her, but he couldn't open his mouth. Hermione's face came into view; her eyes were red from crying. She saw Harry's open eyes and threw herself onto the young wizard. Her head was buried in his chest, and she was shaking uncontrollably. When she looked back up, her face was stained with more tears and her nose was puffed up. "You're okay," she said between sobs. Her wand was raised and she muttered something.

Harry suddenly felt a lot lighter, and bolted straight up from the bed he was. "What happened?"

"You were shaking in your sleep, and the doctors tried to hold you down, but they couldn't…So I stunned you…" Hermione explained.

"Not that..." Harry was remembering what happened back in Snape's home. His memories were scattered, only able to recall darkness, light, and a flash of green. "Where's Ron?" Harry loudly asked as soon as he remembered.

Hermione hesitated before answering, fresh tears forming in her eyes. "Voldemort came out of the mirror and-"

"Where's Ron?" Harry interrupted but Hermione ignored him.

"—and then Snape came and fought with Voldemort-"

"Where's Ron?" Harry's voice was getting louder.

"—Voldemort used Crucio on him until he lied on the floor and-"

"WHERE'S RON!" Harry shouted, frightening Hermione.

"He—Volde—the mirr—he's dead!" And Hermione burst into more tears. "Voldemort killed him…" She rubbed her eyes, hoping that she would wipe all the tears away, but more just kept on falling from her bloodshot eyes. She threw herself on Harry again, only this time, he was able to comfort her. He rubbed her back absentmindedly, thinking more about what she just told him.

'Ron…? He's…dead? No…he can't be. It's not true! No! This is my fault! No!' "NO!" Harry yelled suddenly. Harry pushed the covers from him and stormed out of the hospital room, but immediately wished he hadn't.

Mrs. Weasly, Mr. Weasly, Ginny, Fred, George, the entire Weasly family were outside, crying their eyes out. Most muttering something about Ron and how they never said I love you enough, and how they'll never see him again. Harry walked back into his room, unnoticed, to where Hermione was still crying on his bed.

"Tell me…" Hermione turned to Harry, whose voice was steady and forced. "Tell me how to get him back."

"I-I don't know." Hermione responded, not sure if Harry was addressing her or not.

"Yes you do! You know everything, and you know how to get Ron back!"

"I can't let you!"

"Tell me!" Harry was screaming at her, eyes full of rage. Harry noticed his anger, and tried to control it. He didn't want to be mad at Hermione, especially since Ron was…he didn't want to think about it. He just wanted a way to get him back. Harry took in deep breaths and started to calm down. "Please, Hermione. Just tell me how to get Ron back"

"But it's extremely difficult, and what if something happens to you or-"

"I don't care about myself, I just want to get Ron back" Harry was getting irritated that she wouldn't tell him.

Hermione gave up trying to convince Harry, and decided to tell him, even if the risks were incredibly great.