Preparing for the Time Turner's Trials

Sirius had spent the days between his return from Arizona and the days of Harry's tests negotiating for use of a time turner, making arrangements to reverse aging on Harry that would occur because of the time turner, finding out information about teachers and people of various magical disciplines, and making arrangements for living for two months in each city near the specialists he had chosen to educate Harry.

Dr. Melanie Hoffesetter had been cooperative in every sense. Once Sirius had talked to her and they had negotiated her compensation and Sirius had signed the release from liability and had performed a magical oath that if things went badly she wouldn't be held accountable she relaxed and helped them deal with Stuart-Cavanaugh so Harry would be able to miss classes. She had examined the ritual and talked with Winry and her grandfather in a six hour conference call where the rewrite of the ritual was planned down to the minute for the benefit of Harry.

The Inexplicables had given Sirius a time turner that would allow two month long jumps. Walter and he brewed a large batch of anti-aging potion enough for a twelve month supply. They had just finished bottling it when Roy came in.

"Roy, what brings you here?"

"I've got to consult with you about security for you and Harry while you're doing this time jaunt. I know you were planning that it would just be you and Harry but you're part of the President's family now which means security."

"How much?"

" Minimum three men team, I would prefer five. You having a background in security and both of you knowing self defense helps."

"Hmm… Can I steal Rachel and could we get her to do the jumps with us, then we could get four regional people in each area we wind up going to."

"Why?"

"Ulterior motives. She knows us, we know her and she can keep Harry up on his martial arts."

"I'll ask, and see what she thinks. I know she thinks a lot of Harry."

By the time they went on vacation it was decided that Rachel was jumping with them, a replacement for the team had been found and joined the team. Harry, Sirius and Rachel would spend two months in six areas of the country with various Masters in various disciplines that were contracted to give Harry a grounding in their respective disciplines.

Harry had gone ahead and selected his classes for the next trimester and made arrangements to get the notes and do study group meeting via speaker phone so if he was late returning to school as he expected to be, so his education wouldn't be hurt. The school had waived a couple of the requirements for the trimester, and Harry took a light schedule: Humanities, Social science, composition, Latin, math, and science.

Harry, Sirius, Beth and the security team drove from Flagstaff towards Monument Valley. Almost everyone was a little uptight. Last week's vacation was great. It was sun, fun, and relaxation after the stress of Harry's finals and heart related tests, Beth's NATO meetings, and Sirius' planning.

Harry was happy with his grades. He had managed to get an A- in Humanities, Composition, and Latin, an A in Critical Thinking, Social Science, Physical Education, Cotillion, and Science, and an A+ in Math and Orchestra. Everyone had happily helped celebrate his achievement their first night at Disney.

But as they drew closer to Monument Valley, Harry grew even more scared but determinedly hid it. He had made his decision; now he had to stick to it and trust his godfather. That was something he had learned from Sirius, you surround yourself with those you trust, you plan and make sure you have the best of everything possible and plan for as many contingencies as possible then you stop worrying and trust that things will work out as they are meant to because control is an illusion. He just wished he bloody well hell didn't have to do this.

He had started taking the blood thinners Dr. Hoffesetter had prescribed for his procedure as she called it. And the day after tomorrow was the day. The day he would finally get to start living as a wizard. Focus on the outcome he told himself. To distract himself he mentally started reviewing the Navajo customs he had researched so he would make a good impression on his healer.

Beth was quiet and worried, but was conscious of the fact she didn't want to make things harder for Sirius or Harry. Both of whom reminded her a a guitar string tuned to high; pluck it and it might break. She was also a little concerned because the plan afterwards involved Sirius and Harry being gone two months. It wasn't she didn't trust Sirius but she just would miss them.

Her other concern was while her team knew about the whys of the ritual and the plans for afterward, Zoe Washburne the WIS agent replacement for Rachel didn't.

As she wasn't participating it had been deemed she didn't need to know. But if she found out what was involved it could become a problem.. Roy had scheduled her so she would likely be sleeping when the ritual happened. All of them didn't want questions about what they were doing or why they were doing it. She quietly reached out for Harry's hand. When she took it into her own Harry gave her a tremulous smile that she suspected was supposed to reassure her, but the occasional quiver of fear from his hand belied the mostly confident smile.

Sirius on the other side of Beth tried to rest and appear completely confident so Harry wouldn't pickup on his fears. He felt more confident in this version of the ritual than he did in the original. The revisions that had been made, in his mind improved the ritual ten to twenty times making it safer for everyone involved.

But they still were stopping Harry's heart effectively killing him and Melanie had been blunt anytime you stop a heart there's at least a twenty five percent chance of it not starting again and the longer it's stopped the higher that percentage goes, there would be dangers of arrhythmia, and stroke for at least a week following the procedure Harry would be on blood thinners for a week afterward and wouldn't be allowed his normal physical activities for three weeks although he would be encouraged for light to moderate activity at the end of the first week.

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