A Fictional Tale by a Muggle-born Witch (Disclaimer: There may be inconsistencies with magical principles in this story.) This story is only meant for entertainment purposes. This is a work of fiction. (Any incidence of any names, places, or any other proper nouns that appear to have a resemblance to any existing people, places, or objects is not on purpose, except for the references to Hogwarts Castle and other canon items.)

My two best friends and I stood in the common room of our house, hands held together, staring intently at the grandfather clock, waiting for the New Year to tick in. The clock went tick-tock tick-tock until there were just 10 seconds left. We tightened the grasps on each other's hands and started counting after deep breaths: "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1" and "Happy." "What?" Leah exclaimed. So did I. So did Rita. We stared at each other in utter shock and confusion as the hands of the grandfather clock began to move backwards instead of moving past the 12 o'clock mark and ushering in the New Year, 2024. The hands went round and round anti-clockwise at very high speed. After what seemed like an eternity but was actually an unmeasurable period of time due to having no clock to refer to, the hands of the clock steadied and fell back into rhythm, going tick-tock tick-tock again in the forward direction from the 12 o'clock mark. But the clock said "Welcome 2023" in big, bold letters.

"My watch did the same", Rita chimed in. "It wasn't just the grandfather clock."

"Shall we go look at the clock tower?" I asked, my brain suggesting several possible theories about how and why this could have happened. I thought of the world coming to an end—some weird sort of magic, alien invasion, a spell backfire, an unknown spell or potion experimentation, folie á troix, etc. I had worked on a time-machine project with my grandfather the previous year, but as far as I knew, one would have to be inside the time-machine to make it work and to experience this. We sped across the corridors, breaking curfew, knowing that we could explain this away as an emergency, and reached the clocktower courtyard. The clocktower showed the same time as Rita's watch, and the year showed 2023. We decided to check a few calendars and the dated journals we had bought. All dates had somehow changed back to the previous year. "Okay, we are in this together. Take a deep breath,"  Leah said. Suddenly, I spiraled into a déjà vu moment and remembered when Leah had said the same thing in the previous year, 2023. "Okay, we are in this together. Take a deep breath," she had said when we had decided to secretly go down to the long abandoned Chamber of Secrets. "Hey!", I exclaimed, trying to tell them about my sudden thought, then stopped when I looked at the expressions on their faces. I realized that they had had the same thought as mine, at the same time as me. "This has to mean something,"  Rita said. "Does that mean?" Leah asked, with a dubious expression on her face, never completing her question.

Unable to decide on any new course of action or to find an explanation for this strange happening, we went straight back to the dormitories to sleep. "Let's sleep on this,"  Rita suggested, "and see how the New Year, 2023, unfolds. Maybe there's something about all of this that we are yet to see.The castle was eerily silent, and I kept having déjà vu moments, feeling that it was the same last year. "Girls, I think we should go back to the Chamber of Secrets. I have an intuition that we left something there or made some mistake there," I said.

Rita and Leah agreed, and we made our way down to the Chamber of Secrets through the girls' bathroom on the second floor. Leah spoke in Parseltongue like our last time, and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets opened with a rumbling sound in response to her series of hisses and snake-tongue whispers. We lit our wands like last year and slid down the entrance to the dark chamber. It looked as empty as when we had seen it last year. We looked around a bit more, and finding nothing, we decided to come back. "Does this mean?" Leah repeated, this time under her breath. I stopped to ask her to complete her question but was distracted by a bit of rubble falling near my head. We didn't encounter Moaning Myrtle, just like last year. The New Year celebrations were on in different common rooms but were mostly taking place in the dormitories, with students still up on their beds. Not much hue and cry was heard anywhere in the castle. As we returned to our own dormitory, where the three of us lived, Rita let out a big yawn. Then she exclaimed, "Wait, I did this same thing last year. I came back from the Chamber of Secrets, and I was yawning and tired, so I went to sleep. I did not do my Potions homework."

"So did I", Leah said. "Me too", I joined in. "Well, let's try doing it this time", Rita suggested. We all thought that it was a very good idea, and we sat up on our beds late into the night and finished our homework and completed our assignments. The next morning we went to Potions class, and Rita got an outstanding mark on her homework and a pat from the Professor. "Wow, I didn't expect that", she said. My intuition said something. "I know. This year has come back to let us fix our mistakes," I said. "Or maybe one big mistake", Leah said. I wondered why Leah kept saying such things ominously, as if she knew a bit more. I suspected her of hiding something about the matter.

"Hey, I think we should go back to the Chamber of Secrets and ensure that we seal it completely", Leah said after class. Rita thought that Leah was being obsessive over the chamber's entrance, but I agreed with Leah intuitively and also because of my suspicions. Our quest for entering the Chamber of Secrets had been completely harmless last year, but something wrong had to have happened for this year to come back. Leah resealed the chamber again, and we tried different methods of opening it, including the spell, Alohomora, to ensure that the chamber was completely sealed again. The entrance to the chamber didn't budge, and we returned to our common room, satisfied. Leah looked very, very relieved. We returned to the library, and I settled down to do my usual reading and homework-related research while Leah went about rummaging through books and humming to herself. Rita sat drawing with a demure expression on her face. "I should have returned my squib brother's journal to him",  Rita said. "He was so upset, when I stole it from him by using the spell Accio, just to make fun of him. Then I kept placing it out of his reach and locking it up in places with the help of the spell Colloportus. He is so young. It could have affected his emotions and his brain negatively and given him permanent childhood trauma. I should be sorry."

I wondered if Rita would fix her mistake, and I thought she should. And she did. She wrote an owl to her little brother the next day, apologizing for what she had done and sending him the journal back, bound in a lovely little parcel, along with some Honeydukes candies. She wrote a lovely little note on top of the parcel, reading, "To my dearest brother, you may be a squib, but I love you all the same. You don't have to have magic like mine in you to be magical. You are already magical because of the kind, humble, caring, intelligent, brave, and great person that you are. I love you. Never let anyone put you down because you are a squib. Always remember: '...Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.'

Albus Dumbledore."

I felt so sweet and satisfied with this.

"Great," I thought to myself, "so am I the only one left to fix my mistake? They have both fixed at least one of theirs. Or is this part of something bigger at play? Or should I talk to Leah about what she knew more than us about the Chamber of Secrets? I thought and thought and slept on it all night. The next morning, I thought I should participate in the Hogwarts school drama production because that was the only opportunity I had let slip by my hands last year. I had wanted to participate, but I had held myself back because I was underconfident and unsure if I was fit for drama. I had regretted it later. That was a golden opportunity I had let slip by. That was the only big mistake I could think of that I had made last year. So I walked right into the old classroom that was being used for auditions and threw my name into the ring. The auditions went well, and I was selected to play the lead role. I was overjoyed and excited. I hadn't expected this. I realized that I should stop holding myself back because I think I may not be enough. I should be more confident and trusting of myself, and braver and more optimistic. With my newfound attitude and pleased demeanor, I returned to my dorm. I spent the whole week practicing for the stage, rehearsing the play, and working hard for the production in general. I did not get much time to meet my friends, but I noticed that Leah seemed shifty and upset and kept disappearing at intervals. I thought back to last year and realized that Leah had been way happier and more normal at this time last year, laughing, playing with us, and participating in Quidditch tryouts. I wondered what had happened to her and thought we should have a talk, but I could not take time out for it. Soon, the play production was staged, and I played my role well. I literally nailed it, was praised, and also received a couple of prizes and awards. But what I loved most was the change in attitude that participating in this play had provoked in me, the recognition that I had received, and the new friends that I had made. That night, after the play was over, I lay down satisfied on my bed, staring at the ceiling and chatting with Leah and Rita about the great time I had on and behind the stage and the fun things we did during the rehearsals. It was the night of May 15, 2023. "I guess I underestimated myself," I said. "It is our choices that show us who we really are, far more than our abilities, as said by Albus Dumbledore."

Rita and Leah kept nodding, smiling, and laughing with me until Leah suddenly said, "Friends, I have something to tell both of you. We have to go somewhere." I knew something was up. Leah had been hiding something. My suspicions were confirmed. I had always been the most intuitive one. "Where?", Rita asked. "You will see," Leah replied, "but promise to still stay my friends." We promised.We then followed Leah into the clocktower courtyard, and she led us straight to the Chamber of Secrets. But she did not open it, and pushed us into the dark shadows. "Stay quiet," she warned. "There was a boy here last year at this time and on this night. He should be here soon. Fear not. He will not harm us," she said.

• We waited with bated breath until a boy who looked the same age as us walked in. He held his wand in his hand. On observing closely, we realised that he was a Hufflepuff from our very own year at Hogwarts. He walked straight towards the chamber's entrance and fidgeted with the tap. He couldn't open the chamber because he wasn't a Parseltongue. A few tears slid down his face, and then he went straight back in the direction he had come from. "Phew, we have done it," Leah said. "Does that mean we can go back into 2024?" I almost blurted out, but checked myself in time. "Now, only the meeting is left. Then we can be at peace," Leah said.

An older boy, another Hufflepuff, walked towards us. "Thank you, Leah. You did it. You promised you would do it for me, and you did", the boy said, becoming highly emotional.

"I am sorry for what I did last year. You promised to meet me here at this place and at this time and take the time back to normal again", Leah remarked in a grave tone.

The boy replied, "I did, but it will take a while. I will fix everything". He walked away to a little distance, then began muttering some spells I had never heard earlier and making weird wand movements in the air. Leah explained, "The younger boy we saw earlier was this boy's younger brother. Both of them lost their parents in a traumatic event about two years ago. The little brother couldn't take it well and kept wanting to ease the pain. So, he finally decided to forget his parents by completely wiping them out of his memory. He is a first-year like us, so when he came to Hogwarts, he learned charms and spellcasting and then researched in the Hogwarts Library to learn the spell Obliviate. However, being only a first-year student, he must have failed to do it well. He saw the Chamber of Secrets partially open last year—my mistake, sorry friends—and managed to click it open with a simple Alohomora. He then turned up near the Chamber of Secrets on this fateful night of May 15, 2023, and stunned his older brother, who had followed him to stop him, knowing he had bad intentions. As his older brother lay stunned, he descended into the chamber and cast the spell Obliviate on himself, which backfired because he wasn't a proficient spellcaster yet, a result of trying harder spells in his first year. The backfire caused him to forget everything, including his elder brother and his own name. He was admitted to St. Mungo's thereafter, which explains why we didn't see him more in class."

"But how do you know all of this?" both Rita and I enquired. "This older boy met me a few days after the incident, mad with grief about his younger brother, saying, 'He was my only family left. How could you do this?' Of course, I didn't understand. He then explained everything, saying, 'Your carelessness has cost me a lot and my brother his memory. Don't pretend that you didn't understand. I heard you and your friends discussing the Chamber of Secrets in the Great Hall. There was no known magic that I could use to undo the Obliviation Charm that he cast on himself".

"I could see that he was having enough difficulty dealing with his emotions, and my careless act of not resealing the chamber properly had contributed to the incident. I apologized, but he thought that it was not enough", Leah continued, "He said that he would meet me at this time and this place, and that I would have to fix it. He wouldn't risk being stunned by his brother again, but he would come to the same spot and hide, and if his brother made it out safe, he would fix the time". She paused to take a breath, sighed, and then began again. "I was shocked, but I did not know that he was actually going to do it. I felt very bad for him, but I only realized how serious he had been when the grandfather clock actually showed 'Welcome 2023' instead of 2024 in the Common Room on New Year's  Eve", Leah finished breathlessly.

"You hate me, don't you? We are no longer  friends," she added after a while.

"No, Leah, everyone can make careless mistakes, like I didn't do my homework. Thanks to you, I apologized to my little brother. I wonder what he will look like in 2024 when I go back to see him. He grows up so  fast", Rita said.

"No, Leah, it's fine. At least you fixed  it", I said. "It would have been worse if we couldn't fix it. I got to star in the play production and overcome my fears, thanks to you.Of course we are still friends!", Rita and I both exclaimed.

"Thank you both of you," Leah said. "I love you both."

Meanwhile, the boy had turned around and was walking towards us. "Thank you, Leah," he mouthed again. Leah replied, "I have a message for your little brother. 'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live; remember that.' It is a quote by Albus Dumbledore. I think he will like it."

The boy nodded.

"The magic is done. Go back to your common room", he said. "Now", he added in a warning tone.

We looked at each other, startled by the urgency in his voice, and then ran, sprinting as fast as we could, and dashed right back into the common room. We turned our eyes to the grandfather clock, and it was soon going to be 10 seconds to 2024. We held hands again, and when the countdown began, we counted with bated breath "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and Happy New Year."

The world erupted in cheers around us as we could hear people shouting, cheering, and celebrating in all parts of Hogwarts Castle. The grandfather clock clearly showed "Welcome 2024", in big, bright, and bold letters. We heaved a sigh of relief, almost cried tears of happiness, and hugged each other.