Time in a Bottle
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If I could save time in a
bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
Til' eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
Chorus:
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Albus Dumbledore sat alone
in his office with his eyes closed, his hands folded under his chin. A dusty
box lay on his desk, the top off and placed nearby.
He opened his eyes. From
here he could see a faded bit of purple silk ribbon and a corner of paper. He
suspected if he turned it over it would be an old-fashioned photograph of him
as a boy, sitting with Her.
He heaved a great sigh and
reached for the box. It made a scraping sound over his desk and he stared at
the purple ribbon. He lifted it gingerly and sniffed at it. Just
a faint dusty smell. It had been far too long for her perfume to linger.
Pity.
He carefully lifted the
thick paper and set it aside without looking at it. If he looked at the photo
now it would take forever to go through the contents of the box.
Some changes to the
Quidditch field had required the moving of a low stone wall. When the wall had
been destroyed the box had been found, protected by a shielding charm.
Filch had, of course,
brought it directly to the Headmaster. Anything could be in that box, who knew
what was guarding it?
Dumbledore had thanked
Filch, instantly knowing what it was. Regretting putting the
thing in the wall in the first place. He had tried to forget it, and in
time it’s presence in plain sight faded in his priorities. It had been years
since he had even thought of it.
Dumbledore peered in the
box, adjusting the glasses on the end of his nose. He was a bit hazy on what he
pad put in the infernal thing. Well, besides the ribbon and the picture. At
least he had the sense to seal the box against light so the picture hadn’t been
damaged that much. If he had remembered to seal the box against dust he might
really have been onto something. He was a bit emotional at the time.
There was a red velvet
pouch, standing out among the other tiny packets and boxes. He certainly had
been thorough in his youth. Gads, what was all this?
Dumbledore opened it and a
shiny flat black rock deeply etched with an arrow shaped rune fell into his
palm. The tip pointed up towards his fingertips, as it always had. He had
forgotten he had put his lucky rune in here. How much had he forgotten?
He gave the rune a
satisfactory pat and put it on the corner of his desk. A small wooden box was
the next thing. It had an antique broach in it with the emblem of the Appleby
Arrows Quidditch team patterned in silver on it.
He stared at it for a
moment, a bit shocked. He thought this had gone back to Owens. He heard that
his family immigrated to
What a petty trick to play
on a Year mate.
No matter how obnoxious he
had been.
Perhaps the trick wasn’t
so bad after all, Dumbledore mused and placed it near his rune, arrows both
pointing up.
Perhaps this wasn’t going
to be that bad. Perhaps he hadn’t been so melancholy as to dedicate the entire
contents of the box to Her. He certainly was morose
for months.
The next pouch had a bit
of sand and broken glass in it.
Dumbledore felt his
shoulders slump and he took a deep breath. Typical teenage
angst. He didn’t know why it got to him so much now. He should have
gotten over this a long time ago.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Albus!”
Aberforth Dumbledore ran
down a stone corridor in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his
hard heeled shoes clicking on the floor as he hurried to catch up with his
older brother. His thick winter robes and full book bag didn’t help his speed.
He prayed he wouldn’t trip and sprawl in front of all the students rushing to
their different classes.
He could see his brother’s
thick red hair, tied with a purple ribbon to keep it tame from the waves he
constantly tried to straighten out. If he started the descent down the stairs
he would never catch up.
“Albus!” Aberforth called out, annoyed as
he saw Albus laughing at whatever it was his friend had said, obviously
oblivious to his brother’s attempts at catching his attention.
Aberforth saw his
brother’s friend turn to him. Obviously one of them was capable of hearing.
Albus finally turned in his direction, halting his stride to the dungeons and
waiting for his brother to catch up.
Both brothers had their
father’s long, straight nose. Aberforth had taken on a bit of their mother’s
dusky tones, making his hair a few shades darker than his brothers, and giving
him a more pronounced smattering of freckles. Albus stood a head taller, but
there was no telling what two more years of growing would do for Aberforth.
“I’ll catch up with you,”
Albus said to his friend and waved him on. The short, black haired boy nodded
and continued down the stairs.
“I really think you ought
to see this,” said Aberforth, panting slightly.
“I have to go to divination,”
Albus said annoyed. “And O.W.L.s are
this year for you. What are you doing mucking about instead of going to class?”
“Pah,”
said Aberforth, waving a hand and trying to catch his breath. “I just had Care
of Magical Creatures.”
Albus waited for his brother
to continue on. Hopefully he had not attended a few classes and decided to take
the afternoon off. Their mother would kill him if his younger brothers’
academic attendance looked anything like last terms.
“We were doing Bundinums in the forest,” said Aberforth. “There was this
funny bang-pop sound and a flash of red light from the forest.”
Albus furrowed his
eyebrows. Perhaps as Head Boy this did concern him. He followed his brother,
who had begun walking back the way he had come.
“Professor Jacobson went
to investigate and he found a girl,” Aberforth said hurriedly.
“What?” Albus asked,
surprised. “Who was it? What were they doing?”
“Good question,” said
Aberforth. “She was wearing Hogwarts robes, but not like any I’ve ever seen.
She also had this in her hand. I got it before Jacobsen saw it.”
Aberforth passed
Dumbledore a small green pouch that felt slightly lumpy. He opened it and it
looked like it had sand and broken glass in it. Something glinted gold in the
bright torch light and Albus pulled it out.
A long gold chain hung
from his hands. Where a pendant would be, there was a circle of gold with what
looked like a broken hourglass in it.
“Father’s experiment,”
Albus breathed. “How did she get a hold of it?”
“I think the better
question would be ‘where’ she got a hold of it,” Aberforth said as they hurried
to the newly built hospital wing.
“Excellent point,” Albus
remarked as he tried to figure out an excuse get in to see her.