Edge Of Gravity

The smell of Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry was different, the air about the school was charged with a energy that made Luna Lovegood sick with anxiety. She could feel the difference for days, but now the air was even pressing on her chest. It had smothered her since first waking up, and had grown more suppressive through the day. Leaving her half dazed in several classes, not that anyone seemed to notice any difference.

Her fingers held the Time Turner hanging from her neck, rubbing the small hourglass in a nervous habit. She knew that she shouldn’t be allowing herself to fritter away the clock’s minutes but something bit at her like a poison. It was making her movements lethargic in the empty hallway, so much so that the portraits around murmured as to whether to alert Madam Pomfrey or not. She quickly waved them off, ignoring the pursed frown of a nameless portrait witch.

Luna gazed up the moving staircases watching them lurch in their usual jerky flow, knowing now was the time to go to her Herbology class, she would be late if she didn’t turn back now. Hiding in the common room, after adding a extra turn, was not only insensible, it was bloody boring. Dumbledore would probably also not look kindly on her for misusing the Time Turner if he found out. A fact that had left several students dropping classes just to keep up with a normal workload.

Now was the time to turn, class was about to let out, only a minute before everyone flooded the halls. Her fingertips tightened on the tiny knob, when suddenly her knees buckled with a wave of panic, her head spinning for a moment. She leaned against a smaller portrait ignoring how it made a small panicked squeal, before it fell silent again, and regained her balance slowly.

The young Ravenclaw’s head ached with a odd surge, making her widen her stance to allow a more even weight distribution, and let herself lean more fully against the portrait’s face. A small whispered, ‘Are you all right?’ was ignored as she looked down to between the banisters spindles. The first jerk of movement caught her off guard, making her push forward and nearly topple over the edge of the staircase.

Portraits where rushing through one another, a panicked knight sprinted past her in the portraits, his clanking of his armor making her shiver. “RUN!” She turned on her heels, staring at a Witch far too big for the original canvas to fit. “RUN!”

Luna didn’t understand the words for several long seconds before she found herself stumbling back up the stairs, her knee hitting edges of dozens of different steps before she heard the first scream. Spinning on her heels she lost her balance and toppled down three steps to land with a painful thump on her hands and knees. The pressure on her lungs made them tingle and quiver in her chest.

“RUN!” Reverberated off the walls below her.

A young first year girl screamed, her eyes wide as she panted up the staircase towards her. Face pale except for the red burn in her cheeks from the frightened running. Her eyes shifted behind her, never slowly her pace for a second.

“RUN!”

The wand in young Hogwarts student’s hand quivered, panicky streaks of tears rolling down off a shaking chin. Her feet skipped over three steps to land on beside Luna. “The…the…”

“NO!” A loud echoing shrill boy’s cry echoed out, making a bile run up her throat.

Luna pushed herself upwards, leaning forward to shove the first year up the steps. “LOCK YOURSELF IN THE COMMON ROOM!” she barked, uncaring at how the girl sobbed even harder. With a quick flick of the wrist her wand was in her grip, ready for battle.

The young Slytherin stumbled up the steps with both hands and feet, her face pinched in horror. When the first year was out of sight, Luna moved down the flight of steps, to see the slumped young man on steps. Ravenclaw…a second year.

To pinpoint a moment in time when the infection on Luna Lovegood’s soul fanned out into a plague, this would be that second. Staring down at a boy that she had passed in the common room, curled up with a advanced year book, growing colder by the second. One of his feet twisted on the steps, showing that he had been running up the stairs only a minute ago. His wand still in his fingers, stiffened by the magic ravaging his inners.

Luna’s hand loosened on her wand, nearly letting it slip through her fingertips, and her eyes dilated. Her hand moved up to rub the small hourglass hanging around her neck, eyes burning with tears as the screams grew louder beneath her. Whatever was happening was only a few flights away, and then she might be lying next to the dead thirteen-year-old.

Rubbing more quickly on the shapely glass, she dropped down to her knee to stare at the student. She could…she would…she looked down at the small hourglass feeling the weight of it on her palm. She had to turn it back…to stop this…whatever it was…she touched the knob turning it only once.

A slow horror performed before her eyes, watching the young girl jerk backwards, and the young boy come back to life before her eyes. Only the slightest glimpse of a robe and then she was back, back in the empty hallway. Looking about herself, she noticed the sereneness of the castle that had pressed only her only one time turn ago.

Staring up at the steps, Luna perplexed where she was in the castle at that moment, whether she had enough time to run up and warn someone or the rules would forbid her. Deciding instead to move down the steps, instead of tempting fate, her feet carried her down in a slow building run.

The Ravenclaw ran dozens of flights until she wondered if the stairs were leading her in a circle. Stumbling to a stop, she looked about her. Leaning against the wall, she knew mentally that it would only be moments before whatever had killed the second year would be upon them.

“Miss Lovegood?” Madam Irma Pince, Hogwarts’ Librarian, stood before her. A woman of thin vulture like features, who eyed everyone with a suspicious anger. Her hands clutched a wobbling book which she tightened her grip on seeing Luna glancing at it. “Why are you not in class?”

Luna blinked at the woman, her head blank for even a ridiculous reply. “Something…something…” Luna panted, not realizing until that moment how out of breath she was.

Madam Pince’s eyes thinned making her look even more bird-like, while her fingers dug into the cover of the book until they looked like talons. The long black nails digging into its spine making it jerk about in her grip, until it finally fell still for the first time. “Thirty points from Ravenclaw!” the older woman snapped, moving closer. “And another twenty for not answering when I…”

The first scream went up in the air, catching both of their attention and making Madam Pince nearly drop her book. Her face scrunched up on itself, making her look like a wrinkled-up, dying vulture. She pulled her wand, but instead she was clutching her feather duster. Her face crumbled as soft whining moved closer to them.

Luna leaned over the banister, her eyes catching sight of the running students and what she believed to be Professor Rolanda Hooch trying to protect as many as possible. She squinted down trying to catch site of who and what was coming into the castle, when she heard a whining cry run passed her. Turning on her heels, she recognized the Slytherin and Ravenclaw, whose faces were already drowning in tears.

Madam Irma turned a wide eye on her, before charging down the staircase. Her wand now in her hand, and arm still holding the book to her, but now like a shield. “GET DUMBLEDORE!” The word was more a growl then a scream, making her jerk back up the steps.

Two steps at a time for four flights when she saw the back of the Ravenclaw. His face twisted in scared panic, as he tried to usher the first year in front of him. The Slytherin stumbled about like a drunk, her movements growing more unbalanced with each step.

“RUN!” The boy screamed more in encouragement then actual anger, pushing against the girl’s back. The first year stumbled hard, as the first shots of magic floated up to them. It felt like a moist, oppressive heat on Luna‘s chest.

“RUN!” The boy screamed again, jerking the young woman up and forward. He started to move forward when a black sparkle of magic knocked him on the shoulder.

“No!” she screamed, running forward, but with a quick jerk backwards she was in someone’s grip.

“Stop!” a soft feminine voice snarled in her ear, yanking her hair, making her unable to turn and face her foe. “Don’t move.” A sharp poke in the back warned her of the wand, as the hand in her hair dropped away.

Luna remained stock still for several seconds before realizing what the hand was reaching for. The time turner was in a small hand, clutching it like it was life itself. The Ravenclaw tried to jerk away but the wand poked into her spine.

“Help Harry.” Luna jerked about ignoring the words, even as the hand moved the time turned two times. “Or he’ll die.”

The last words echoed in her head as she watched the movements roll backwards, even herself running backwards down the steps. The stairs had lead her in a circle, she thought before a sharp pain stuck the back of her head and she went out cold. Only blackness filled her, as her body was lifted magically and floated up the staircase.


Thank you to my beta Larilee