Lord Of Time

1

Chapter 1
The students of Hogwarts were currently enjoying their trip to Hogsmeade, joyfully buying anything that caught their fancy, sticking to their own groups as they ventured in and out of shops or sitting in cafes or pubs... which allowed them entrance but only served them Butterbeer, despite the turbulent times brewing in other parts of the world.

They were aware of it, affected by it, but they didn't allow it to dictate their lives; they were after all only underage wizards with no known way to defend themselves. The only other person who could do a thing was content to sit back and live in denial about things that had happened a long time ago.

There were some adults in Hogsmeade, but not as many as usual; they tended to avoid the area when the students of Hogwarts, years third through seventh, flooded to Hogsmeade in droves.

One minute all was calm, then with a deafening crack that didn't sound at all like normal Apparation, a body fell with a thump against the wet and cold cobbled stones. People gasped in shock as one, leaning down over the body wantng to see if the person was okay.

Not a single part of him was uninjured; was he dead? Minerva thought frantically, pressing down on his chest, breathing out in relief when she felt it move. He was alive, but she couldn't help him, she didn't know anything!

She was only in her fifth of Hogwarts, she was a prefect though. "HELP! Get a teacher!" she boomed, speaking to those she could feel surrounding her. With shaky fingers she removed her cloak and rolled it up and placed it under the stranger's head. She didn't care that the blood was saturating in it.

"I did it," Harry murmured, "I did it."

"Oh my god! What happened to him!"

"Merlin, it's horrible!"

"Are they coming here?!" shrieked another student terrified.

"Get a teacher!" another one yelled.

Minerva McGonagall, a Gryffindor, knelt down, pressing her fingers against his neck trying to find a pulse, and was gratified to find one. He was alive for the moment; opening his mouth she made sure his airway was clear using Muggle methods.

Absolutely every single student was gazing at the unconscious wizard or trying to at the very least. The only ones that were even remotely three feet from the wizard was a certain group of Slytherin individuals, the leader himself was trying to feign indifference, but his dark eyes shifted towards the sight... not that he could see anything since the students were all around the stranger in a circle. His eyes flared in anger, though, when he noticed Dumbledore was on the scene.

"Now children, please, some decorum; move aside," Albus Dumbledore chided them, not wishing to push past them. Just like that they all began to move, giving the deputy Headmaster and Gryffindor Head of House room to move. When he caught sight of the child he became immediately alarmed. "What happened?" he boomed, his eyes roaming over them as if he suspected someone in the crowd. Or rather in the crowd of Slytherins; his eyes automatically found Tom Riddle's.

"He Apparated, sir," Minvera told him. "He was like this when he appeared in front of me. He was whispering that he'd done it but he's gone quiet now."

Albus nodded, placated that nobody here had hurt the young child so grievously; withdrawing his wand he muttered a spell conjuring a stretcher and beginning to walk in the direction of the school.

"Sir, shouldn't he be going to St. Mungo's? He looks really bad!" Augusta Arquart suggested. her betrothed, Frazier Longbottom, stood beside her silently supporting her, acknowledging that she was right. The stranger looked very bad; he should be going to a hospital, not back to Hogwarts ― they weren't equipped to deal with things like this. They only had a Medi-witch not a healer, and whoever this was needed a good healer.