Day 23: The Problem with Time Travel
Title: The Problem with Time Travel
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Harry Potter
August Fic-a-day Challenge Contribution Date: 23 August 2015
Characters: Dawn Summers, and another you will have to read to know.
Word Count: 1100
Rating: 15
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: AU Post Season 7. Harry Potter: AU from Book 5. Ignores Half Blood Price and Deathly Hollows. Cannon has now been thrown right out the window.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling
Summary: It takes two days for Dawn to realise that the mistake in Willow's spell wasn't the Godsend she originally thought, and that it was an actual mistake. A big one.
It takes two days for Dawn to realise that the mistake in Willow's spell wasn't the Godsend she originally thought, and that it was an actual mistake. A big one.
At first, Dawn thought that all she would need to do was convince the Riddles to move somewhere else, or convince Thomas not to marry Mary - the young neighbour he was in love with.
Except, every idea, including killing Grandad-Riddle, only seems to pose more problems.
Dawn knows, thanks to Willow's countless lectures, that the biggest problem with time travel is creating a paradox. It had been a problem that both she and Willow had considered over and over, especially when trying to determine the exact date the was to travel to. Travelling back eleven years, like Giles had suggested, had been the most perfect. Going back to help Harry Potter kill Voldemort would have been the easiest way to avoid a paradox, if Nivolkov's self-consistent theory was correct.
But the further someone travels back in time, the worse it is. If she changes history - or kills Grandad-Riddle, thus preventing Volde-dork from being born - she creates a paradox because the reason she came back in time would never have existed, so she would never have travelled back in time the first place.
It would mean that she could either cease to exist - something that's of the bad - or create an alternate reality, much like Cordy did with her wish, which could be either good or bad depending on how things end up.
She's not sure what to do, except she knows she can't kill Grandad-Riddle. While she doesn't actually like Grandad-Riddle, Dawn loves his mother. Eleanor Riddle is nothing like her husband or her son, and is the only reason Dawn isn't living on the streets. Thanks to Eleanor, now that she's fully recovered, Dawn is working part time as a housekeeper, and Dawn doesn't think she could hurt her by killing her son.
Once again, Dawn wishes she had only gone back in time eleven years. At least if Dawn had gone back to help Harry kill Voldemort, any paradox could have been avoided.
Her problem with time travel is why Dawn is sitting in The London Library searching for something, anything to help her. She's surrounded by every book she could find on magic and time travel. The only problem is, there isn't a lot written about time travel in 1899, especially by scientists. She's not too sure how much help HG Wells' The Time Machine is going to be.
God, she's so screwed.
The books on magic are a different kettle of fish. There are a lot of books on magic in a section of the library most of the patrons don't seem to notice. Hundreds of books. Dawn suspects that she's found the 'wizarding section' of the library, and that it's warded or shielded to stop people without magic from finding it, much like the wand-wizards hid themselves during the war in her time.
The fact that she can even see it is a bonus that she's not even going to contemplate. With the amount of bad luck she's had, she's not about to look a gift book in the... spine?
Sighing again, she looks through the books. Like in the standard library, the supernatural one doesn't hold a lot of information about time travel. Funnily enough, the books don't say that it's impossible. Just that it's highly illegal.
"That's some interesting reading materials you have there," a voice with a french accent says from behind her.
She turns to see an old man standing next to her table. Her first instinct is to cover the books, just in case he's a 'muggle', but then she remembers that she's actually sitting in the wizarding section and he's dressed in robes.
Definitely a wizard.
She gives him a smile and silently hopes that doesn't see the wariness in her eyes.
Even though he looks like a simple old man, there's a light in his eyes that says he's not someone to take seriously. She imagines Giles would have the same look when he reached that age... if Dawn ever make it back to see it.
"Yeah," she says, glancing back down at the books. Right now she's reading about something called a Time-Turner. "I was bored."
The man smiles, but his eyes tell Dawn that he doesn't believe her for a second and she's beginning to feel a little nervous.
The man pulls out a chair and sits down, and then picks up the copy she found of The Time Machine.
Dawn decides that she's feeling a lot nervous now.
"Time travel is such an interesting topic and such a dangerous endeavour," the man says. "Did you know that the further one travels back in time, the more the magical backlash can be felt? Only the most powerful, and those sensitive to such things, will feel it, but such events will not go unnoticed."
Oh crap.
Dawn wishes she could say that she kept her poker face, but she just knows she looks terrified right about now. She's not stupid. Old guys don't just sit down at random tables in libraries and start spouting random facts about magical time travel unless they know that someone has travelled in time.
And if what he's said is true, she can bet money that he's not the only one who felt her arrival... and he's sure as hell not going to be the only one to be looking for her.
Damn. There was one aspect of the spell she and Willow never considered. Though, to be fair, she doubts that it would have been much to worry about had she travelled eleven years instead of 108 years.
"What do you want?"
The man smiles. "I was asked to come here to help you."
Dawn blinks. "You were asked to come here and help me?"
He nods and reaches into his robes and pulls out an old, crinkled note. She reluctantly takes the notes and as soon as she does, she freezes.
It's in Willow's handwriting.
Panic, what she's feeling right now is panic. Because there's no reason why Willow would send a note to someone in the past, unless something went horribly, horribly wrong somewhere in time. She tries to work out how and why Willow could do this, but all it does it make her head want to explode. Instead she looks at the man as she starts to pack the books.
The note had been quite explicit with its instructions.
"You're Nicolas Flamel?"
He nods.
"Dawn Summers."
As she gets to her feet, Dawn decide that she hates time travel.
End
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Harry Potter
August Fic-a-day Challenge Contribution Date: 23 August 2015
Characters: Dawn Summers, and another you will have to read to know.
Word Count: 1100
Rating: 15
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: AU Post Season 7. Harry Potter: AU from Book 5. Ignores Half Blood Price and Deathly Hollows. Cannon has now been thrown right out the window.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling
Summary: It takes two days for Dawn to realise that the mistake in Willow's spell wasn't the Godsend she originally thought, and that it was an actual mistake. A big one.
It takes two days for Dawn to realise that the mistake in Willow's spell wasn't the Godsend she originally thought, and that it was an actual mistake. A big one.
At first, Dawn thought that all she would need to do was convince the Riddles to move somewhere else, or convince Thomas not to marry Mary - the young neighbour he was in love with.
Except, every idea, including killing Grandad-Riddle, only seems to pose more problems.
Dawn knows, thanks to Willow's countless lectures, that the biggest problem with time travel is creating a paradox. It had been a problem that both she and Willow had considered over and over, especially when trying to determine the exact date the was to travel to. Travelling back eleven years, like Giles had suggested, had been the most perfect. Going back to help Harry Potter kill Voldemort would have been the easiest way to avoid a paradox, if Nivolkov's self-consistent theory was correct.
But the further someone travels back in time, the worse it is. If she changes history - or kills Grandad-Riddle, thus preventing Volde-dork from being born - she creates a paradox because the reason she came back in time would never have existed, so she would never have travelled back in time the first place.
It would mean that she could either cease to exist - something that's of the bad - or create an alternate reality, much like Cordy did with her wish, which could be either good or bad depending on how things end up.
She's not sure what to do, except she knows she can't kill Grandad-Riddle. While she doesn't actually like Grandad-Riddle, Dawn loves his mother. Eleanor Riddle is nothing like her husband or her son, and is the only reason Dawn isn't living on the streets. Thanks to Eleanor, now that she's fully recovered, Dawn is working part time as a housekeeper, and Dawn doesn't think she could hurt her by killing her son.
Once again, Dawn wishes she had only gone back in time eleven years. At least if Dawn had gone back to help Harry kill Voldemort, any paradox could have been avoided.
Her problem with time travel is why Dawn is sitting in The London Library searching for something, anything to help her. She's surrounded by every book she could find on magic and time travel. The only problem is, there isn't a lot written about time travel in 1899, especially by scientists. She's not too sure how much help HG Wells' The Time Machine is going to be.
God, she's so screwed.
The books on magic are a different kettle of fish. There are a lot of books on magic in a section of the library most of the patrons don't seem to notice. Hundreds of books. Dawn suspects that she's found the 'wizarding section' of the library, and that it's warded or shielded to stop people without magic from finding it, much like the wand-wizards hid themselves during the war in her time.
The fact that she can even see it is a bonus that she's not even going to contemplate. With the amount of bad luck she's had, she's not about to look a gift book in the... spine?
Sighing again, she looks through the books. Like in the standard library, the supernatural one doesn't hold a lot of information about time travel. Funnily enough, the books don't say that it's impossible. Just that it's highly illegal.
"That's some interesting reading materials you have there," a voice with a french accent says from behind her.
She turns to see an old man standing next to her table. Her first instinct is to cover the books, just in case he's a 'muggle', but then she remembers that she's actually sitting in the wizarding section and he's dressed in robes.
Definitely a wizard.
She gives him a smile and silently hopes that doesn't see the wariness in her eyes.
Even though he looks like a simple old man, there's a light in his eyes that says he's not someone to take seriously. She imagines Giles would have the same look when he reached that age... if Dawn ever make it back to see it.
"Yeah," she says, glancing back down at the books. Right now she's reading about something called a Time-Turner. "I was bored."
The man smiles, but his eyes tell Dawn that he doesn't believe her for a second and she's beginning to feel a little nervous.
The man pulls out a chair and sits down, and then picks up the copy she found of The Time Machine.
Dawn decides that she's feeling a lot nervous now.
"Time travel is such an interesting topic and such a dangerous endeavour," the man says. "Did you know that the further one travels back in time, the more the magical backlash can be felt? Only the most powerful, and those sensitive to such things, will feel it, but such events will not go unnoticed."
Oh crap.
Dawn wishes she could say that she kept her poker face, but she just knows she looks terrified right about now. She's not stupid. Old guys don't just sit down at random tables in libraries and start spouting random facts about magical time travel unless they know that someone has travelled in time.
And if what he's said is true, she can bet money that he's not the only one who felt her arrival... and he's sure as hell not going to be the only one to be looking for her.
Damn. There was one aspect of the spell she and Willow never considered. Though, to be fair, she doubts that it would have been much to worry about had she travelled eleven years instead of 108 years.
"What do you want?"
The man smiles. "I was asked to come here to help you."
Dawn blinks. "You were asked to come here and help me?"
He nods and reaches into his robes and pulls out an old, crinkled note. She reluctantly takes the notes and as soon as she does, she freezes.
It's in Willow's handwriting.
Panic, what she's feeling right now is panic. Because there's no reason why Willow would send a note to someone in the past, unless something went horribly, horribly wrong somewhere in time. She tries to work out how and why Willow could do this, but all it does it make her head want to explode. Instead she looks at the man as she starts to pack the books.
The note had been quite explicit with its instructions.
"You're Nicolas Flamel?"
He nods.
"Dawn Summers."
As she gets to her feet, Dawn decide that she hates time travel.
End