“Oh no, oh no, oh this is bad. This is bad. Oh no. I messed up.”
“What’s wrong?” Sergius asked, his brow furrowing as he stared at me through the thick curtain of dark hair falling in front of his face. I was struggling to pull free the two separate chains I wore around my neck: one of delicate silver holding the moonstone Sergius had given me for Christmas on Svalbard the previous year, and the other a lengthy gold rope, the talisman of which was hidden deep beneath my sweater.
“I can’t get the-” I started to say, fumbling through my top layers. “Oh no.”
“Just tell me what happened,” he said in the soothing, nonchalant tone he used to say, ‘everything’s going to be okay’. I couldn’t listen to that tone now, though, knowing I’d made a mistake in the time continuum that could greatly affect the wizard and muggle world alike. I wouldn’t just get in trouble for this - bad things could happen.
I finally pulled the right necklace out and over my head to reveal a tiny gold hourglass, surrounded by spinning bronze bands like those of Saturn; the infinitesimal sands slipping gently back and forth, stuck in a loop. I looked up at our surroundings, my eyes darting past the perimeter of the wildlife enclosure; the craggy mountains engulfed in fog.
“Oh no, we’re going to be here any second!” I moaned, furiously looking around for something to hide behind. There was nothing. I had to use the time turner. I grabbed Sergius’ hand and pulled him close to me, placing the chain around his neck as well as mine just as the enormous spiked head of the Hungarian Horntail came into view.
“Hey, that looks like the one-” Sergius started. I turned the little dials of the hourglass two times, counter clockwise, as fast but as gentle as I could, and the two of us were instantly removed from the scene, set back in the tent we shared in Bulgaria. Sergius was shocked for a moment, then looked down at me in betrayal.
“Why didn’t you tell me they’d given you one of those?” He asked, cornering me back as I fell onto the bunk bed.
“I-I was going to, even though I’m not allowed, just after we went…”
I trailed off and let my head drop into my hands.
“This was supposed to be your birthday present but it went all wrong.”
He was silent for a moment.
“I thought the ride on the Hungarian Horntail was my birthday present,” he said. I shook my head.
“I hadn’t actually planned that, it was all Charlie’s idea. It was great, but I thought it wouldn’t be enough. I’d brought the time turner so that we could see the Romanian Dragon Conservation Society’s new shipment before the summer was over; before we had to go back to Hogwarts. I’m supposed to get used to using it, little by little, before my classes start.” More silence.
“What happened?”
I took my face out of my palms and looked up at him with exasperation.
“I turned it backward two weeks ago instead of forward. That’s it. If we’d seen ourselves…” I breathed a deep sigh of relief, placed the time turner back around my neck, and zipped up my hoodie over it.
Then Sergius tried to stifle a laugh.
“It’s not funny!” I cried, fighting back my own relieved laughter at the sound of his. He caught my eye and laughed harder.
When we had calmed down he helped me up from the bunk and pulled me in for a tight hug, squishing the moonstone and the time turner into the flesh of my chest. I clutched his riding robes in my hand. We began packing our things to leave Varn almost immediately, having said goodbye to Charlie Weasley the previous day.
“I guess you won’t get to see it,” I said with a sigh. Sergius stopped packing his duffel bag and looked at me.
“What was it?”
“Ukrainian Ironbelly eggs,” I answered, stuffing a sweater in my suitcase with yet another sigh. “We could have seen them hatch over the fire.”