Countenance [1] Sirius Black's Daughter

xxix- the time turner

"GOOD LUCK?" Jessica repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"

　　But Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.

"Harry, Jessica, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"

　　The two moved toward her, completely bewildered. She was holding the chain out. They saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it.

"Here —" Hermione threw the chain around Harry and Jessica's neck as well.

"Hermione — is that a time turner?" Jessica asked excitedly.

Jessica had read about time turners, and had been fascinated by them. They were considered rare, and hard to find so she was bewildered as she saw one in Hermione's hand.

"Yes, it is." Hermione asnswered, "Aiden, Natalie and Ron are sleeping. The three of us will have to do it."

"What's a time turner?" Harry asked, but no one answered the poor guy.

"Ready?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked, completely lost.

　　Hermione turned the hourglass over three times, as Harry stared at the two girls dumbfounded, not knowing what was going on.

　　The dark ward dissolved. Jessica had the sensation that she was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colors and shapes rushed her me, her ears were pounding. And then she felt solid ground beneath her feet, and everything came into focus again.

　　She was standing next to Hermione and Harry in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.

"Hermione, what —" Harry began again, dizzily.

"In here!" Hermione seized Harry's arm with one hand and Jessica's with the other, and dragged them across the hall to the door of a broom closet, she opened it, pushed the two inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind them.

"What — how — Hermione, what happened?" Harry asked, "What's a time turner?"

"Hermione, where did you get that time turner?" Jessica asked at the same time.

"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off our neck in the darkness. "Three hours back, and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies . . . I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? And I —"