The curse of Ron Weasley

Tazer

Rating: PG
Genres: Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 28/05/2003
Last Updated: 19/06/2003
Status: completed

Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger’s obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts school in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

Chapters

1. An ordinary day

2. What happened?

3. Taking action.

4. Searching Durmstrang

5. Ron's redemption

6. The battle for the future

1. An ordinary day

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never was and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts school in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

***************************************

'Really, you people!' Professor McGonagall scolded her fifth-year students. 'Comparing with the things I had you to do the previous years, how hard could it really be to transfigurate a turtle into something as simple as a fruit-bowl?'

She got up from her desk and began to pace around the gryffindor's. 'Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas, is that bowl really supposed to be walking?'
'Well, I thought that perhaps you could train it to come to you when you're hungry instead of the other way around.' Seamus said. Most of the other people in the room snickered at his joke, the Professor didn't, being as strict as her reputation stated. Instead she approched the next pair.

'Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. I don't deny that that thing looks like a bowl, but…' McGonagall picked it up and tapped a finger to it. '-it's still made out of turtle shell. You were supposed to change it into porcelain.'
'But porcelain is so brittle, Professor.' Ron tried to explain. 'That way it won't brake if it falls to the floor.' Harry tried to no avail hold back a giggle at Ron's attempt to cover up thier failure. McGonagall on the other hand looked even a bit more sour over it. 'That may be, Mr. Weasley, but it most definately won't earn you any points.' and then she turned away to the next one.

'Now that is what I call a fruit-bowl.' she said as she approched Hermione Granger. Hermione was the only one working alone, since Neville Longbottom still was in the hospital wing after an accident at potions class. Professor McGonagall picked up Hermione's shining green bowl and held it up so that everyone could see it.

'Look at this, everyone. A perfectly shaped bowl that's decorated with the back-pattern from her turtle and it's made of…' she tapped a finger to it. '-transparent crystal. Allright, I said porcelain, but crystal is actually harder to make, therefore I find nothing wrong with this. Well done, Miss. Granger.' and once again she gave Hermione one of her rare smiles that made the young girl beam with pride. Ron made a face that seemed like he just swallowed a vomit-flavored bean. Harry didn't mind a bit.

******************************************************************************************************************'

'I really don't understand what you're making such a fuss about!' Hermione argued as they left the class-room. 'It's not like you were the worst one today at transfiguration!'
'I wouldn't make such a fuss about it if wasn't for the fact that McGonagall keeps pushing the rest of us down just because she hold's you as a favourite!' Ron snapped. 'She's beginning to act like Snape favouring Malfoy!'
Harry rolled his eyes. There they go again. How come that his two best friends always ended up bickering at each other?

'She most certainly does not!' Hermione said. 'The reason to why she 'pushes you down' as you call it, is because she want's you to do better than what you do now.'
'There you go, I knew it, now you're the one that's pushing me down!' Ron shouted.
'I do not! I'm only saying that you should start to study a little more if you want to do as good as I!'
'Isn't that like pushing somebody down? Hasn't it ever occured to you that not everybody like being a bloody bookworm like you all the time, Hermione?'
'BOOKWORM?!' Hermione face turned red and she clenched her fist. 'Now who's pushing who down, Ron? I'm gonna…'

'Fellas, fellas…' Harry then stepped in between, thinking that this bickering had gone far enough. 'Ron, let it go. Hermione has been the top student in our year ever since first grade, and it certainly didn't bother us then, why should it do now? I think that her top marks should rather be an inspiration to all of us instead of an nail in the eye, and that's probably what's in Professor McGonagalls mind as well. Besides, where would we really be today if it wasn't thanks to her knowledge and her friendship?
Let's be proud of her instead, don't you think so?'

'Allright, Harry.' Ron said as he calmed down. 'You're right, sorry. I guess I got a little carried away again.'
'Not the first time,' Harry said as he patted Ron's arm. '-but's it's just the way you are. Just do your best at classes and it will be okay.'
'Harry, do you know what I like best about you?' Hermione then said. As he turned to face her he got a little taken aback as he found her giving him her warmest smile.
'W-what could that be?' he asked feeling suddenly strangely warm inside.
'You've always been the perfect gentleman.' With that she slung her free arm around Harry's neck, (Her other arm clutched her books to her chest.) and gave him a tight hug. 'Don't ever change, okay?' she said into his ear, then she released him and went away towards her Arithmancy lesson and called over her shoulder: 'See you at dinner.'

Harry stood stunned looking after her with a funny looking smile in his face until Ron shook him back to reality. 'Wake up, Harry. It's time for Divination.' Harry found himself wishing that he'd choosen Arithmancy instead of Divination. But that wasn't the first time he wished that, he was quite sick of Professor Trelawney and her constant predictings about Harry's death. He told Ron this as they headed upwards the tower.
'I know what you mean.' said Ron. 'She's getting on my nerves telling us about the 'the inner eye' or 'the eye that sees' or whatever she's babbling about all the time.'

'Some day I wish I could prove her wrong about something,' Harry muttered. 'like suddenly doing something unexpected from what she had seen that I should have been doing from her point a view.'
'Yeah. I'd like to see her explain that.'
'Then we would really finally prove that she's nothing but a fraud.'
'Harry.' Ron suddenly stopped on the stairs and turned to him. 'If we are to do something unexpected, we should do it without really having planning it.'
'What're you talking about, Ron?'
'Let's do it now, Harry. Let's skip Divination today. It'll be fun to hear what Trelawney has to say about that.'

Harry looked at his friend with a puzzled expression. 'You know Ron, that's a little bit too unexpected even for me.'
'So much better.' Ron persisted.
'But I didn't mean for us to suddenly just skive it off, that's… disrespectful.'
'You've spent too much time around Hermione Harry, besides who are you to talk about being disrespectful when we're talking about Professor Trelawney?' Ron grabbed Harry by his arm and pulled him with him towards the other direction. 'Let's have an adventure, that was a long time ago.'
'But Ron, we might get caught…!'
'Not if we stay away from the common-room and keep to the un-occupied corridors.'
Harry really felt that this was a bad idea, but Ron seemed to have had made up his mind so he decided to tag along. He wanted a break from Divination anyway.

****************************************************************************************************************

Harry's second's thoughts came back as Ron started to drag him into an all too well familiar corridor. His horrible experiences with the third-floor corridor back in his first year was still fresh in his mind, even though Hagrid's three-headed dog that was named Fluffy no longer guarded the trap-door in the floor. It was after all beyond those chambers underneath his feet where he stood face to face with Lord Voldemort for the second time of his life when the dark wizard was after the philosopher's stone.

'Ron, what are we doing here?'
'Memories, Harry. It's still amazing to remember what the three of us did here when we were younger. I was planning to go back here sometime just to see those chamber's again and now I feel it is a good time.' Ron opened the trap-door and gazed down into the darkness. 'Look, there are stairs here. Guess they were removed when they sealed of this area and now they've been put back. Good, I'd hate to take that dive a second time. You coming, Harry?'
'I don't like the idea really, but okay, since you're obviously going then I'm going too.'
'Great. C'mon, then.'

The boys climbed down the stairs and soon they reached the bottom floor. The Devil's snare plant was gone, but that was expected. There was nothing to guard anymore down here. Gone were also the flying keys, the door was open.
'The chess-board.' Ron gasped as they walked through the door. ' It still gives me the shivers remembering that giant queen towering over me and knocking me out.'
'You certainly gave us a good scare that time.' Harry said, also shivering. 'But it was well played.'
'Yeah, my best game ever.' Ron whispered proudly as he gazed upon the giant pieces. They were fortunately de-hexed, no need for them to play this time.

'I never made it through that door.'
'Be thankful for that, Ron.' Harry explained. 'There was a giant troll in there. Hermione and I never had to fight it though 'cause Quirrell delt with it as he came through here before us.'
'Quirrell. I still can't belive that…' Ron swalloved. '-that You-Know-Who really shared his body with him.' Harry didn't answer, he remembered it all so well, feeling the dread he felt that day once again crawling up his spine. He could still see Professor Quirrell unwrap his turban and reveal Voldemort's bone-white face on the back of his head. Harry had barely escaped with his life that day, but that time was just one of all the close call's he had over the years at Hogwarts. He wondered again if there ever would be a year he could just be in school without having danger hanging over his head like a Damockles sword.

They were now passing through the room where Snape had put his trick with the bottles. There were no flames this time that blocked their path's, which was a relief, 'cause there were no bottles left behind to drink from that would enable them to walk through the fire. Harry smiled at the memory, Snape's clue of logic would've have stopped many wizards, but it didn't manage to stop Hermione. 'She's so clever.' Harry thought to himself.

Harry and Ron now entered the final chamber. Harry found It dark and frankly quite boring. It may be interesting for Ron who'd never been there, but harry had now identified the nagging feeling in his stomach he'd felt since they climbed down through the trap-door. He didn't want to be reminded of this. He felt no pride of what he'd done down here, he'd practically found it unfair that faith had put him through this ordeal. What wouldn't he had given to have a normal life? He felt no desire for his fame, he didn't ask for it, he didn't want it! But there was no point to dwell on it. He was the Boy Who Lived, and there was no way to escape it. Neither did he find any reason to walk further into the chamber, he stayed at the door and let Ron look around for himself. Instaed he again felt shame that he'd let his friend talk him into skipping Divination. Even though Hermione didn't belive in the subject, once she finds out, she will most likely not let them hear the end of the lecture of how important it was to attend to your classes.

'Harry.' Ron then called out. 'C'mere and look.' Reluctantly Harry walked into the camber and joined his friend.
'Harry, isn't this…?'
Harry couldn't belive his eyes. It was the Mirror of Erised. It was still down here! There was no way he could figure out why, it's purpose had been served after Harry had managed to retrive the Philosopher's Stone from it.
Unless of course… The mirror was dangerous, Dumbledore himself had told Harry about the people who had wasted away before it as it showed the people who looked into it his or hers deepest desire.
He had himself fallen for its charm when he saw his family he'd never known in it and it ended with giving him nightmares. That's not an experience he needed again. He was about to turn away, but Ron wouldn't let him.

'Tell me Harry, what do you see in it?'
'I see my parents Ron, you know that.'
'But that was over four years ago, maybe you see something different now. Maybe you'll see something that will help you defeat You-Know-Who?'
'I won't see anything like that. This mirror does not give us any knowledge or truth. Dumbledore told me that. And I don't want to look into it again.'
'C'mon, Harry. You know what this thing is about now, you won't get enchanted by it this time. Besides this is a one-time-only shot, we won't come back here again. Just one peek to get to know yourself better and to get the experience to do something about it if you happen to see yourself differently.'

Harry was quite sure that he would regret this, but he took a step closer to have one fast glance. Sure enough, there he was again with his parents, smiling and waving to him. Harry himself was unchanged in the reflection, but this time there were more people standing around him in the reflection.
'It's Sirius.' Harry said. 'He's holding a note from the ministry…' He leaned closer to read the note in the mirror. '…he's been fully pardoned.'
'That's nice.' Said Ron.
'Someone else is there too… being covered behind my mother. I can't make out who it is…' Harry had now placed a hand on the mirror to lean past the image of his mother, but he could only see the silouette of the person, yet the person seemed somewhat familiar.

The last thing Harry remembered before the strange thing happened was that he heard a strange mumbling behind him, and then he felt an invisible hand grabbing him and yanked him towards the mirror like a magnet. 'I'm going to crash into the mirror…' was the thought that hit his mind at that moment, but the crash never came. Instead it was as if he bounced on the mirror's surface, (although he didn't feel it.) and was instead thrown away from it again. He hit the floor hard on his buttocks with such force that his glasses flew off. Ignoring the pain on his back he scrambled on his feet and retrived the glasses in the process. Luckily they hadn't broken. Angrily he put them back on his face and walked away from the mirror. After this strange incident, he never wanted to see the mirror again.

'C'mon Ron…' Harry growled. '…let's get out of here.'
Ron didn't answer. Infact, Ron was gone. Harry was all alone in the chamber.
'Ron, what the hell are you up to now?' he shouted towards the doorway. Being completely annoyed and disappointed with his friend Harry hurried back through the rooms he came from to catch up with his classmate. As he rushed passed the giant chess-pieces he came to wonder how Ron could have disappeared so fast. Only two seconds had passed when the mirror did its strange behaviour to him, but there wasn't a single sign of the red-headed Gryffindor. It was like he'd vanished in thin air.

It was when Harry finally had climbed up from the trap-door and came out from the corridor when he felt that something was wrong. The castle felt all of the sudden cold, it was quite dark and unusally quiet. But it wasn't night yet, that was impossible. And even if it was, the castle was not supposed to be cold. He reached the staircases that would take him to the Great Hall, he was halfway down when he halted and gazed around. The staircases stood deathly still. They didn't move. Harry felt that something was terribly wrong here, and he began to feel even more cold from the very thought. Resuming his pace he reached the main floor and then he got an idea. He was going to ask the people in the paintings of what was happening. But as he turned to the first frame he got surprised. The paintings were empty. All of them.

Confused, and starting to feel scared, Harry hurried to the Great Hall. He could feel a sense of panic overwhelming him as he looked around. The Great Hall was deserted, and no one had bothered to clean up after themselves. Sure enough, the tables were laid with dishes and goblets, but they no longer had any golden glance. They were miscolored and covered with grime and dust, and the long tables had turned gray and were cracked what looked like from age. But it was the roof that really frightened him. No floating candles were in sight but there was a visible roof. He couldn't see outside. It was no longer bewitched!

Harry was in panic now. Rushing out from the Great Hall he thought that he would go to the Gryffindor common room to check for any signs of what was going on there. But he was sure it probably would be as deserted as the rest of the castle. He quickly reached the corridor that would take him there but halted as he rounded the corner. To his great relif he finally saw movement. A ghost came through the door that led to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and was moving along down the corridor. Harry only saw the back of the ghost and decided that it wasn't Myrtle, the ghost looked like a male. It had to be Nearly Headless Nick, he usually strolled around the castle to keep an extra eye on everything. Thinking that he finally would get some answers to what was going on, Harry rushed after him, calling his name.

'Nick. Sir Nickolas, wait up!'
The Ghost turned around in surprise. Harry on the other hand stopped dead in his tracks as he gazed upon the apparation. He became so shocked that he dropped on his buttocks a second time in only half an hour, only this time he didn't feel it. He could only stare with wide open eyes before him with a just as wide open mouth, being totally unable to speak.

It wasn't Nearly Headless Nick, but neither was it any of the other ghost's that Harry had seen around Hogwarts.

It was Ron.

Next: What happened?

2. What happened?

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never was and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts school in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

(Author's notes: Thank you those who rewieved my first chapter. I hope that you all will find the rest of my story to be just as satisfying as that one…)

*************************************

It wasn't Nearly Headless Nick, but neither was it any of the other ghost's that Harry had seen around Hogwarts.

It was Ron.

'Harry!' the ghost of Ron cried out. 'You… You're out of the mirror!'
'Ron?' Harry's voice was strained as it was held back with shock. 'Ron? You… you're… you're…'
'Dead, Harry.' Ron finished the sentence in a low tone. 'Yes, I'm dead.'
'But how…? Who? Who did this to you, Ron?' Ron looked down on the floor as if he didn't want to look Harry in the eyes.
'I did.' He finally said. 'I'm the reason for that I'm dead. I and everybody else.'

'What about everybody else?' Harry whispered. He couldn't find the strength to raise his voice as he was still in shock. 'Ron, what're you talking about?'
'They're dead, Harry.' Ron was still looking down on the floor.
'Who is?'
'Everybody is, Harry.'
'Everybody is… dead? Who… who killed them?'
'I did. I just told you so, I'm the reason to why everybody is dead, Harry.'

'B… but…' Harry tried to get a grip on himself. None of what he heard made any sense to him. 'Ron, I don't understand how all this could be. How can you say that you killed the entire school in just twenty minutes? It wasn't even an hour ago we decided to skip divination and go upstairs to the third floor. You were with me all the way to the mirror before you disappeared. You can't…' Harry stooped in mid-sentence as he saw that the ghost of Ron was actually chuckling.

'You'd better stay on the floor, Harry. What I am about to say will be quite some extra shock for you.'
'What do you mean? Harry asked. Ron seemed to brace as he forced himself to finally look Harry in his eyes.
'Harry. You… have been trapped in the Mirror of Erised… for three hundred years.'
'THREE HUNDRED YEARS?!!' Harry cried out. The news hit Harry as if he was hit with three hundred brick-stones.
He then recalled the strange mumbling he'd heard before the mirror pulled him into it. Someone cast a curse that made the mirror suck him inside it and trapping him. That must be it.
'Who did it?' he asked. 'You must have seen him, Ron. Who cast the curse to trap me in the mirror?' Ron didn't answer. Instead he looked at the floor again, only this time he was sobbing.

'No Ron.' Harry whispered as the horrible realization hit him. 'No, it couldn't have been…'
'Yes, Harry.' Ron cried, his shoulders shaking. 'It was I who did it...'
'Why? How could you do this to me, Ron? We're friends and…' Harry then thought of something.
'Ron, this better not have anything to do with the incident the last year. Just because I was forced into the Triwizard tournament…'
'No Harry, it had nothing to do with that.' the ghost of Ron interrupted. 'I did it because… Hermione was in love with you. And not with me.'
'…What? Hermione? In love with… me?'
Ron let out a heavy sigh. 'I better start from the beginning. This was three hundred years ago but from your point of view, it all began last week while you served detention…'

**********************************************Flashback*****************************************************

Ron was quite bored. He wouldn't have mind a game of wizards chess right now, but the only one who still would play against him despite of constant losing was right now serving detention under Argus Filch's supervision. Harry had once again fallen for a provoce from Draco Malfoy, and they had both thrown curses against each other in a corridor. The caretaker Mr. Filch had caught them and had them brought to Professor Snape. Like the damn ferret Malfoy was, (and the fact that Snape favoured the Slytherins) he'd managed to put all the blame on Harry. That was why Ron was alone in the Gryffindor Common-room right now, all the other students spent their time doing studying outside since it was such a beautiful day. Ron knew that he should be studying too, but he didn't feel up to it without Harry to help him. And he thought it would be better to stay out of Hermione's sight during that time, otherwise she was most likely going to scowl him for being lazy when he had plenty of time to catch up with his work.

Ron thought that it was too bad that Hermione still would be such a bossy know-it-all sometimes, it had flared up again when she'd become a prefect. (How typical.) She was quite okay otherwise, heck, she even become more beautiful over the past years. Okay, she was his best friend, but Ron would love to spend maybe a little more romantic or even passionate time with her as well. He actually had tried to get nearer to her, but he didn't get any real responses from her, and he still hadn't figured out why. Maybe it was her bossy nature that held her back, and it would be a challenge to tame that side.

He then heard the door to the common room open, and speaking of the devil, it was Hermione, together with his sister Ginny. The armchair he was sitting in was turned with its back to the girls and Ron ducked his head to be completely hidden as he strained his ears to listen to their conversation.

'For being a story written by muggles, it was quite romantic.' Ginny told Hermione, holding a book with fairy-tales the older girl had lent her.
'That story of the 'Sleeping Beauty' has always been my favorite since I was little, I'd thought you'd appreciate it as well.'
'I especially loved it when the prince woke her up with the kiss. That was beautiful. I kind of wish that the Prince of my dreams will someday come and wake me up like that. Wouldn't you?'
'Well… sure it would be nice but…' Ron couldn't see it but he was sure Hermione was blushing. '…I doubt that will happen to me.'
'What makes you say that?' Ginny asked. 'There's a lot of guys who's been looking after you, I bet one of them would love to do that to you.'
Yeah, like me. Ron thought to himself.
'Them? They're only looking at my features, not at my person. I want my prince to look at me for the one I am, not just for what I look like.'
'Oh. I see your point. I suppose no one likes you for your brains, huh?'
'No.' Hermione sighed. 'No one except for…' she hesitated.

'Who?' Ginny asked.
'Never mind.'
'Who?'
'Ginny, forget that I said anything.'
'No, c'mon Hermione, there's someone you like. Who is it?'
Yeah, tell her who you like Herms. Ron thought to himself.
'It doesn't matter. For all I know, he doesn't like me that way.'
'How can you be so sure about that? Is it Victor Krum?'
'KRUM? Definantly NOT! After I realized what kind of a diva he really is, I quickly broke up the very little relationship we had. I don't like divas.'
'So who ever it is that you like, he must be a very sensetive guy. Who is it?'
'Stop it, Ginny.'
'Whoooo iiiss iiit?' Ginny teased.
'Not gonna tell you.' Hermione quickly retreated up the stairs towards her dormitary.
'And I'm not gonna give up until I get to know who it is.' Ginny giggled and rushed after her. 'Tell me who it is, Hermione.'
'NO!'

Ron heard a door slam shut, only to be opened and closed again as Ginny followed her friend inside. Curiosity now overwhelmed his mind; he didn't want to miss the rest of this conversation. Ron quickly rushed up towards his own dormitory to fetch Harry's invisibility cloak. Once he got it he silently tiptoed up towards the girl's dormitory and opened the door slightly ajar. Peeking inside he saw his sister and best friend sitting on the edge of one of the four poster beds. Hermione was blushing all over as Ginny bombarded her with questions.

'Why won't you tell me, Hermione?' Ginny asked. 'You can tell me anything, you know that I'll keep it a secret if you really want to.'
'I know Ginny. It's just that in this case things are a little complicated.'
'Well, he must be really special then.'
'Uuh… kind of.'
'So who could this guy be?' Ginny continued teasing. 'If he can charm Hermione Granger's heart which otherwise is reserved for books, then he must be really special, right?'
'Ginny, please… just because I love to read doesn't mean I'm not human. I can fall in love too.'
'Does he like to read?'
'I wish he could find a little more interest in that actually…' Hermione grumbled.
'Okay, that means he does not spend that much time in the library. Then we can rule out Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan.'
'You won't give up, will you?' Hermione sighed.
'No.' Ginny said with a grin. 'So, how does he feel about you reading all the time?'
'He doesn't care. He knows I like to read and he respects it.'
Ron felt a knot forming in his stomach. He didn't like Hermione spending all her time with books. That means that who ever Hermione fancied, he was just ruled out.

'Is he goodlooking?'
Hermione gave her friend a smile. 'It wasn't his looks I fell for in the first place, it was his personality that caught me. But I can tell you, he has this smile that could just melt me on the spot.'
'Ok, a melting smile. What else?'
'His eyes.' Hermione laid her chin in her palm, whose arm was supported atop on her knee. Her own eyes caught a dreamy look as she stared into the wall. 'Everytime I look into his green eyes… I feel like I could drown in them.'
'Did you say: green eyes?'
'Wha…' Hermione's face jerked up from her hand. 'D-did I say…?'
'You sure did, Hermione!' Ginny said triumphily. 'I only know one boy around here with green eyes!'
'…Oh no…' Hermione buried her scarlet face in her hands. 'No no no…'
'Harry Potter! It must be Harry Potter!' Ginny's face then caught on an odd expression. 'Really? I didn't know you liked him that way? I'm mean, sure you're close friends but… You love him?'
'Y-yes.' Hermione said, still with her face buried in her hands.
'But… I thought you detested people who fall for celebrities just 'cause they're famous. (Especially after the Gilderoy Lockhart incident.) But yet you…'

'I don't love him for his fame!' Hermione exclaimed. 'It's his… person. He's so nice and really cares about people. And I can't just stop admire how well he handles every tough situation that crosses him and still can be the so unselfish afterwards.'
'True. I still remember when he saved me from the Chamber of Secrets in my first year. And he hasn't bragged about it a single time since then.'
'Then you see what I mean? He has no desire to be a hero and yet he does that sort of things. That's the kind of persons I admire and that's why…'
'Now I understand. It's the true person underneath the famous shell you fell for.' Ginny began smiling again. 'Good one, Hermione. That's exactly the thing what true love is suppose to be all about, Mum's trying very hard to teach us all that.'
Hemione finally looked up from her hands. 'You're… not angry?'
'Should I be?' Ginny's smile was replaced with confusion.
'Don't you love him too? I mean, in your first grade…'
'Ooh, so that's why you didn't want to tell me?' Ginny put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. 'That's nothing to worry about. You see, I fell in love with the legend. But once I got to know him and got to learn whom the true Harry Potter was, that crush died. Don't get me wrong, I really like him, but he became more of another brother to me rather than a potential lover.'
'You don't mind then?' Hermione said hopefully.
'No. In fact, I think that you two would be great together.'

Well I don't! Thought Ron who managed to supress his blossomed anger enough to close the door quietly, but then he stormed back to the boy's dormatory, shutted the door with a bang and furiously threw back the invisibility cloak into harry's trunk which he afterwards gave a hard kick. That blasted git! He always gets everything. Like it wasn't enough that he got a popular reputation and was taken into the Quidditch team during first year, now he would get the brightest girl in school as a girlfriend as well. Almost every girl in Hogwarts was trying to hook up a date with him to twirl him around their fingers, but there was no doubt what would happen once Harry finds out that his other best friend had also fallen for him. Hermione didn't love him for his fame; she loved him for his kindness and selflessness. There was no doubt which girl that in the end would win, not giving a second thought about Ron who also happened to love her! Frustrated, he kicked Harry's trunk again, resulting in an aching toe. As he sat down to rub away the pain from his foot, he dwelled on what he had heard.

A strange calm then came over Ron, as he thought about some possibilities. Not this time, Harry. All right, harry had his fame and would continuingly get everything served on a silver platter. He could have that, since there was nothing Ron could do about that, but he would not get Hermione.
Ron had a plan. He would win Hermione's heart and he knew just how to do it, there was just one thing he would have to do first:

Get Rid of Harry!

******************************************End_Flashback********************************************************

'Get rid of me?' Harry looked at his dead friend with disbelif and with building anger. 'So Hermione had this thing for me and just for that you had to trap me in a mirror for three hundred years?'
'Harry, I swear: I never meant to trap you for that long. Only until after I got Hermione as a girlfriend. After that I was planning to get you out of there again, you must believe me!'
'How can I believe that now that I am stuck three hundred years into the future? You didn't get me out of there like you claim that you would, where you planning on releasing me at all?'

The ghost of Ron sighed. 'You know, in the past I would've punched you in the face and scolded you for letting out an outburst like that at me. But I've been waiting a long time actually longing to hear it; it's a kind of relief. But let me continue. I managed to (unfortunately) get rid of you. I saw this spell on how to do it in a book stashed in the restricted section. I looked up the Mirror of Erised when I wrote an essay over magical artifacts for Prof. Binns two weeks ago. (From your point of view.) And after that I went on with my plan to get Hermione to like me. I thought of an easy way to do that: a love potion! One that would be activated when the girl got kissed, so she would fall over the head in love with the one she did it with.'
'Did it work?' Harry asked.
'Don't know. Because that's where I started to screw up. You see, I thought about what Hermione and Ginny had discussed about being awakened with a kiss. I was planning to fulfill that dream of hers. That's why I also along with the love potion secretely whipped up another potion to give her: namely The Draught of Living Death. You know that one don't you harry?'
Harry did. He still remembered Prof. Snape asking him that question on his very first potion lesson. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? That was not a pleasent memory.

'I thought that since love was such a powerful thing, it would most likely overpower the Sleeping Draught so that she would awaken. So a week afterwards I had trapped you I got the potions finished. All I had to do was to make Hermione drink them without her being suspicious. It was actually quite easy. She was so devastated by your disappearence that she refused to leave her dormitory, I had to bring food up to her. And then came that faithful evening when I put the potions in her pumpkin juice: both of them.'
Harry nearly sprang to his feet. 'You mixed the potions? RON! Snape warned us never to mix potions that weren't meant to be mixed, the qonsequenses could be disastrous!'
'And they did become disastrous.' Ron shook his head from the memory.
'What did you do to her, Ron? What did you do to Hermione?'
'At first everything seemed to work: she fell asleep. And since she had lately slept so badly because of your absence, I left her to let her rest for a while. I went back to the Great Hall to continue my dinner. Can you imagine my surprise when I came down?'
The ghost of Ron shivered. As did his voice when he spoke again.

'Everyone was asleep down there Harry! And not just the students and teachers, the ghosts were asleep to! Even the paintings and house elves were asleep! Everyone except me!'
'How did that happen?' Harry asked with a tight throat.
'That's what I wanted to find out as well that moment. I knew it had something to do with the potions. I went straight down to the dungeons to search Snape's books to see what I'd done wrong. And I found it. By mixing those two potions, I accidently put together the ingredients to make a contamination spell. Dark wizards in the distant past used it to spread plagues among the muggles from a human carrier. The carrier in this case was Hermione, and the sleeping spell spread along the magical energy over the whole Hogwarts grounds; affecting everybody! I was the only one unaffected because I had inhaled the fumes from the cauldron when I brewed them, making me immune.'
'Oh my God.' Whispered Harry.

'I read that the curse I'd made would be broken if the carrier was cured, in other words: I had to kiss Hermione to break the spell. So I went straight back to the tower where I'd left her and I kissed her.'
'It didn't work.' Harry stated rather than asked.
'Correct, Harry. It didn't. No matter how many times I tried the kiss, she wouldn't wake up. I got desperate after that and maybe that's what made me think more clearly. Harry, I'm quite positive that I couldn't wake her because it wasn't me she loved, it was you! She was waiting for you to kiss her!'
Harry didn't answer Ron's statement; instead he waited for him to continue.
'Trust me Harry, I really did decide to swallow my pride by then. I never intended to put the whole school to sleep just for Hermione. I went straight back to the mirror to get you out of there so that you could wake her up.' Harry noticed how Ron's voice began to crack here. Despite Ron's jealousy over Harry, he was sure that his now dead friend's words were the truth.

'That…' Ron croaked. 'That didn't work either! I tried, but… I couldn't get you out! I swear: I don't know why! I really wanted to get you out of there Harry, believe me!'
'I… believe you, Ron.'
'T-thank you Harry. Anyway… I panicked by then. I couldn't wake Hermione and I couldn't get you out of the mirror. And none of the teachers were awake so they couldn't help me; I was on my own. I went back to Snape's books. And I found two other possible ways to break this spell. Either to brew an antidote for the Draft of the Living Death, or to kill the carrier. There was no way that I would do the latter, that's why I went straight to work to do the antidote. It took one week to do it, and during that time I neither ate nor slept. And I was nearly done when… when…' Ron gulped. '…When the worst happened.'
'What?' Harry felt a stain of fear hit his heart. 'What happened Ron?'
Ron shivered. Harry was almost certain that the ghostly face paled even more.
'…Voldemort.' Ron finally said.

For once, it was actually Harry who flinched. 'Voldemort?' he gasped.
'S-suddenly h-he just stood there, watching me.' Ron's lips trembled. 'I swear; I almost died on the spot when I saw him. And when he raised his wand I… I was sure that he was going to kill me. But he didn't. Instead he used the Imperius curse on me. He asked me what had happened… and I told him. I told him everything. And after that… he laughed. (Oh, that laugh still haunts me today.) He said it was a fitting fate for all his enemies. You forever trapped in the mirror and Dumbledore and his staff forever asleep.
And… he was to make sure that it would stay that way.'
'H-how?' Again, Harry had almost lost his voice. Ron began to cry.
'He took her, Harry!' Ron whimpered. 'H-he took Hermione and… he put her into his blasted secret chamber… where no one would reach her!'
'No one who hasn't the ability to speak parcel.' Harry said slowly to himself. The only way to open the passage to The Chamber of Secrets was to give it a voice-command in parcel-tongue, the language of snakes. And the only known ones who actually could do it were Voldemort and himself.

'I thought he would kill me after that…' Ron went on with a broken voice. '…I actually wish he had! But he didn't. Instead… he must've read that muggle story as well. 'Cause he used some kind of spell to grow magical thorn-bushes that's impervious to spells all over the Hogwarts castle… to keep unwanted visitors out… and to keep me inside. He wanted no one to ever find out what had happened here… and then he left. And I was left behind all alone with a sleeping school.' Ron shook his head in grief as he resumed the last part of his story to Harry, whimpering, crying.
'I went back to the mirror again afterwards, and I never left there alive. I pounded my fists on the mirror, screaming your name, pleading for days for it to release you as a desperate last hope, 'til I died. And to my surprise and despair, I became a ghost. The only thing I could do afterwards was to float around the castle watching my victims… watching them die. The spell wasn't perfect. Eventually they all starved to death, and I watched as the years passed as they crumbled, mouldered away to dust until there was nothing left. Even the paintings died, they bleached into nothingness and the ghosts just dissolved until they too were completely gone. I've been alone here since then; cursed to haunt this castle forever, to be reminded everyday of my shame and my guilt. Probably 'til the end of time.'

Silence followed; the only thing that disturbed it was Ron's sobbing. Harry, still sitting on the floor, was stunned. He thought about everything that the ghost of Ron Weasley just told him, thinking this has somehow got to be a bad dream. But he could only in despair shake his own head, saying to Ron the only thing that kept popping into his mind.

'Ron, what have you done? What have you done?'

Next: Taking action.

(Authors Notes: I honestly have no idea how long a time nature needs to decompose a dead body, skeletons and all. So I'll just claim that the magical energy around Hogwarts helped consume them a lot faster. I hope no one minds...)

3. Taking action.

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never was and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts school in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

Author's notes:

Note 1: I am so sorry that it took a long time for this chapter to be uploaded, but my own computer is malfunctioning since a week back. But now I have a week's access to my brother's PC while he's on holiday. During that time I will do my best to finish this story.

Note 2: I do apologize for the miss-spellings and grammar-problems that did and might still occur in my story. It seems that I have over-estimated my own knowledge of the english language. (I live in Sweden.) But I'll promise to do my best to avoid them.

Note 3: Some re-viewers has expressed some doubts around the effects of the curse Ron Weasley accidently cast over Hogwarts. I'll ask those who feel this to be a little patient. More minor but yet major details of this curse will show up in the future.

Note 4: Perhaps I should say that the story of "Sleeping Beauty" that was spoken of in chapter two does not belong to me either.

Note 5: This chapter might feel a little slow, but it's the calm before the storm.

'Nuff said! On with the story...

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'Ron, what have you done?'

In despair, Harry continued to shake his head, feeling totaly lost and helpless. Of all the trials crossing his path in his past, this was one of the most catastrophic. Being an underaged wizard trapped three hundred years in the future was not an appealing thought. He bent his head down to his knees, trying to think. There had to be something he could do about his situation, but his mind were totally blank, refuseing to work to his favour.
'What can I do?' he mumbled to himself. 'There must be something I can do!'

'I'll tell you what you can do, Harry.' The ghost of Ron spoke up. 'You can save what still can be saved!'
Harry looked up, staring at his dead friend with a confused expression. 'What can still be saved?'
'Hermione!' Ron pointed a finger towards the floor. 'She's still down there, sleeping. The potion was not perfect, but it still did some good. It preserved her, Harry. I been down there everyday checking up on her and she hasn't aged a day.'
'Hermione's still alive…?'
'Yes. Therefore you should now go into that bathroom, open the entrence, go down there and kiss her. She's been asleep for three hundred years because of me, it's time she got waked up!'
As if in a state of trance, Harry got to his feet and started to walk towards the door leading to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He was about to pull the handle when Ron spoke again: 'But before you go down there Harry, you might want to fetch a broom first. There's no Phoenix around to fly you up from there this time.'

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After a detour to the Gryffindor tower where the empty frame that once housed the Fat Lady stood ajar to fetch Harry's Firebolt, (which thankfully still worked, although no longer in top condition) he opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and flew down, followed by Ron. And then for the second time of his life, he stood in the dimly lit chamber with the serpent-carved pillars and the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin. Harry was not happy to be back there. He glanced at the bottom of the statue. The first time he'd been there, Ginny Weasley had been lying at its feet in a state of near death. This time, it was the motionless form of his friend Hermione Granger occupying the spot. As he walked closer, he could see that Ron had spoken the truth. Hermione still looked the same as last time he'd seen her. Had he not known the whole situation, he would probably have mistaken her for being calmly asleep. Harry knelt by her side, watching her, and strangely enough felt his heart skip a beat.

'She looks so… peaceful.' Harry thought to himself. 'And… I never realised that she looks so… pretty.'
'Go ahead Harry. Kiss her.' Ron said behind him. 'Free her of the curse I brought upon her.'
Harry leaned closer to her while several thoughts kept popping up in his mind. 'Is it really me she's waiting for? Does she really… love me?'
Harry's face was now only a few inches away from Hermione's, moving closer. 'Will she really wake up if I kiss her? If she does, how will she react? Will she be… happy that I gave her a kiss? Happy that I awakened her?'
Harry's mind then reached a conclusion: No. Hermione would not be happy! With that knowledge Harry got to his feet, without having touched the girl.

'Harry, what're you doing? Why didn't you kiss her?'
'I can't do it.'
'What do you mean you can't do it?' Ron asked with a miffed tone. 'Surely you have feelings for her?'
'Yes I do. That's why I can't kiss her.'
'But… Harry, you're talking nonsense. You can't just leave her like that if you do, you must…'
'Think, Ron!' Harry interrupted. 'If you were in my position, how would you explain to her that she's been asleep for three hundred years and tell her that everything she knew is gone? Could you think of something to say that would make it easier for her to adapt into a world where she does not belong?'
'I… no I can't think of anything.'
'Exactly Ron. I can't do that to her.' Harry started to walk back towards the dark tunnel from where he came. 'It's best to let her be unbeknownst to all of this while we figure out a way to undo this mistake of yours.'
'But Harry…' Ron floated after. 'Surely you havn't gone mad all of the sudden, just what do you think you can do? There's no way to undo what I have done…'
'There must be a way!' Harry argued. 'We are living in a wizard world where anything is possible, I'm not about to just sit down and feel depressed of all of this. I've got to do something!'
'Yeah, but what?' Ron asked, unconvinced.
'I'm gonna do what Hermione would do.' Harry said as he mounted his Firebolt. 'Go to the library.'

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Harry explained to Ron that it was possible in the wizard world to undo his mistake even though it could prove to be dangerous in some matters. Harry had to go back through time and stop Ron from giving the potion to Hermione, and to do that, he needed a Time-turner. But he needed to go back three hundred years, and he wasn't prepared to use Professor McGonagall's hour-glass she had provided for Hermione in their third year for that kind of trip. Since it only would take him back one hour per turn, he would have to turn it well over Two and a half million times. Besides he doubted that Professor McGonagall even still had that thing left on Hogwarts. A Time-turner was a magical artifact with plenty of safety rugulations written over it; it was not meant to just be lying around somewhere for anybody to use. Still, Harry needed one, and to find out where he could find one was the reason to why he spent the next hours plowing through books in the librarys restricted section, thinking that there had to be a hint somewhere of a stock-house for Time-turners. It took time since he had to work by himself. Since Ron was a ghost, and therefore intangible, he was not much of a help. All he could do was to read the text of titles along the spines of the books, looking for someones that might have the necessary information they needed.

Harry rubbed his eyes as he put away Paradoxes through time. It contained only the documented misuses of Time-turners that wizards had used in the past. There had been an incident where a wizard had managed to travel back to before his birth and had stupidly enough dated his own mother (to get to know her better on how she was before he was born). It had resulted in that he almost managed to erase his own and his siblings existence, since his mother fell in love with him instead of his father. The Ministry's Time-department had to work overtime to correct the timeline, and the culprit was sentenced three years in Azkaban for endangering not only himself, but the rest of his family-tree as well. But not a single word on where you could find a Time-turner.

'Maybe this one, Harry.' Ron said, levitating in eye-level with the top-shelf. 'A guide to the future with the stars.'
'Don't bother with that one.' Harry said as he stiffled a yawn. 'Got nothing to do with time-travel, it's a book of fortune telling, talks about the future written in the stars.'
'What's it doing in the restricted section then?'
''Cause its actually written by a Centaur. Printed in very few copies. The school wanted to keep it safe.' Harry then picked up a book with the title: Magical hours, but then he put it away again.
'This is bloody pointless.' Harry bellowed. He rubbed his strained temples. 'I'm doing this wrong. I'm looking at the wrong stuff, but where am I suppose to look then?' He sighed. 'Hermione would most likely know. I really wish she were here now.'
'It can be arranged, you know.' Ron said.
'NO! I will not wake her up. I told you Ron, I don't want her to face this nightmare.'
'Harry, that particular excuse for not waking her up is ludicrous. We both know that she can handle difficult situations. Now tell me Harry, what is your real reason why you don't want to wake her up?'

Harry knew that he'd just been seen through by Ron. He sighed again and said: 'I honestly don't know myself, Ron. It's just this… strange feeling that I got. That it's somehow connected with danger to break the spell right now.'
'Danger to her or to us?'
'Dunno.'
'That doesn't make any sense, Harry. Sounds to me that you're afraid to face her, which you shouldn't. If someone is to be afraid to face her, it would be me, don't you think?'
'Ron, if there's one thing I learned during these years at Hogwarts, it's to never ignore my feelings of sensing danger. We're in deep enough trouble as it is; I'm not ready to face more dangers until I know for certain what the danger is! It's safer to leave Hermione where she is.'
'Ok, Harry. But it still won't help us here.'
'No. I'm tackling this problem from the wrong direction. Please hush a minute, Ron. I need to think.' Harry placed his head in his hands.

'Now think: what would Hermione do in an unknown situation?
Answer: Look up a book. But that's what I'm doing now. Wait, why would she look up a book?
Answer: to look up all of the facts. So the question is: in which book can you find all the facts?
Answer: in a book that would that would document the situation.'
Harry slapped himself in the head. 'Wrong answer! This is a situation that might never have happened before. Therefore there is no book about it!
Conclusion: if you have no answer to the situation, which means you didn't ask proper question.
Question: What are you trying to do?
Answer: Go back through time.
Question: How are you supposed to do that?
Answer: I need a Time-turner.
Question: Where can you find one?
Answer: That's why I'm plowing through books, so I can find out.
Question: What book do you need?
Answer: I don't know.
Conclusion: Then find out.
HOW?
Conclusion: If you don't have the answer, then you didn't ask the right question.
Then what IS the right question?
If you don't know that, then you don't know anything.
But I need to know everything.
Then start from the beginning. Pretend that you don't know anything. Question: What are you trying to do?
Answer: Go back through time.
Question: How are you supposed to do that?
Answer: I need a Ti…
STOP! You're supposed to not know anything.
Then how am I supposed to know that I even CAN go back through time?
That's the question, isn't it? So what's the answer? Pretend that you don't know that there is a way.
But then I need to find out if there is a way.
Exactly. And where do you need to look to find out?
Probably in an encyclopedia of magic.
Now we're talking. And where can you find that book?
In the library's Reference Section.
And where are you now?
In the library's restricted sect… DAMN! I'm sitting in the wrong section!'

Harry felt really stupid for having wasted time plowing through the restricted books instead of going directly to a source of information, but he also felt a bit awkward having just spent time arguing with himself like he just did. He got to his feet and without a word walked out from the section to look for the References Books at the other end of the library. Once there, he traced a finger along the rows of books, searching… He got startled a second as Ron floated through the shelves catching up with him.
'What's up, Harry? Why'd you just leave without a word like that?'
'Sorry. It's just that I realised we were looking at the wrong place.' Harry said as he pulled out the book he was looking for: The Encyclopedia of Magic: Volume R - T.
'Now let's see…' Harry mumbled as he turned the pages. 'T-e, T-h, T-i… Time… Ah. Time-travel: See Time-turners.' Harry traced his finger a little further down the page. 'Here it is!'

'Time-turners: A magical artifact produced in the shape of sparkling hourglasses that enables a wizard to travel back through time. The most common size and the most used are the smallest that takes the wearer back one hour per each turn. Larger sizes of hourglasses do occur, each larger number will enable a traveler to go back a day, a week, a month or up to a year. The largest known hourglass today resides at the Durmstrang school of dark-arts and witchcraft in Europe. It's record as far has taken a traveler back ten years in one turn, but might be able to transport an individual even farther back through time, although it's possibilities has yet to be studied.'

More text followed, but it spoke mostly of the laws and safety regulations of using Time-turners. But Harry knew now what he needed to know.
'Ron, we have to go to Durmstrang!' he stated as he closed the book with a bang.
'Durmstrang? And how are we supposed to get there? You can't apparate and using a broomstick would probably take weeks, and furthermore; we don't know where exactly it is! And besides: we're trapped inside this castle. Those magic-impervious thorn-bushes are preventing even me to go through them.'
'One thing at a time, Ron. True, we can't apparate, and flying isn't an option either, but neither was on my mind. I was thinking of using floo-powder to get there. With any luck; the Floo-network might just get us there.'
'But you don't have any floo-powder! Such stuff only holds for approximately ten years.'
'Then I'll just make some.' Harry said as he exited the library. 'Snape should have the recepie in one of his books down the dungeons.'
'You'll need to gather ingredients out in the forest.' Ron argued as he floated after Harry. 'And as I said: you can't get out of this castle!'
'I'll find a way.' Harry replied feeling a bit annoyed with his friend. 'In every challenge there is a solution.'
'You know; you're starting to sound like Hermione when she's on her bossy side!'
'I am not being 'bossy'.' Harry said as he walked on. 'This is my stubborn side, the one that disregards with the rules, and the one who refuses to give up!'
'Tell me about it.' Ron muttered.

********************************************************************************************************************

After a detour to the dungeons, (and spending some time to find the recepie for floo-powder) Harry and Ron arrived at the large doors leading to the outside of Hogwarts. As his dead friend had said; the thorn-bushes covered every inch of the doorway. The wines inter-twinned with each other so much that they become like a solid wall, there wasn't even a crack to peek through. And after a closer examination, Harry knew that neither a magical spell nor any kind of tool would even make a dent in the thick branches.
'I know that I really shouldn't say it, but: I told you so.' The ghost of Ron said.
'I'm not convinced, though. I've come to know Tom Riddle enough to know what his true intentions always would be. Hogwarts is a mighty magical area, it's not just something he'd abandon or simply destroy. He'd probably make sure that he would be able to come back if he needed to.' Harry stared at the wines and imagined them to be snakes that had slithered around each other. Then he spoke: 'Open up.' The words came out as a hissing since Harry had spoken in Parcel tongue. And as he watched and had hoped, the thorn-bushes parted like some curtains and revealed a passageway to the outside.
'Still got any doubts Ron?'
'I can't help it, but I hate it when you manage to prove me wrong.' Ron muttered.

The Hogwarts grounds were nothing like Harry remembered it. Instead of open grassy fields, the outside of the castle was overgrown with wild grass, bushes and trees. Several plants had grown out of the large greenhouses and the Quidditch pitch was as good as erased. The spectator's stands were either teared down or overgrown by branches and the golden goal-poles were nowhere to be seen. Harry felt a pang of sorrow as he saw the remains of Hagrid's hut. The walls were still standing, although they were cracked. The glasses in the windows were gone and the door had long ago fallen off its hinges. The roof seemed to have fallen in. With a lump in his throat, Harry squeezed himself past a large tree that had conveniently grown through the doorframe to get into the hut. Once inside, he gazed around to see what still remained, and then he froze. While the sleeping people inside the castle had decomposed into nothingness, the giant fossilised skeleton of Hogwarts Keeper of Keys and Grounds were still lying on the cot.
'Hagrid.' Harry managed to whisper barely.

'I am truly sorry, Harry.' Said Ron who had followed Harry inside.
'That is a sight no one would have to see.' Harry responded slowly. 'I only hope that I can forget this when I'll go back through time and can undo all of this.'
'IF you'll manage to go back through time to undo all of this.' Ron was still sceptical.
'I must succed! I must!' harry said with clenched teeth.
'Forgive me if I'm still a little doubtful about this, but I…'
'Dammit Ron, Can't you atleast TRY to belive in me? Stop try to discourage me all the time, I am after all trying to save your life as well!'
'I don't think I really deserve to live.' Ron sighed.
'Ron, that is enough!' Harry now yelled. 'I'm sick of your whining, 'cause it won't do us any good here. I know that you're depressed of what you've done, but if you please could atleast try to pull yourself together then you can help me.' Harry forced himself to calm down a little.
'Look Ron, I mean it. I could really use your help. And if you're willing to give it, then I'll be willing to forgive you. But you're no good to any of us if you're going to be like this. We have a plan, so that means we got a chance. And as long as we have a chance, then there's hope for all of us. But only if you atleast for the moment can forget about the past. What's done is done, but if you'll help me to repair this mistake of yours, then you'll redeem yourself. Isn't that what you really want to do?'
'Now you sound like Hermione again. No wonder she fancies you.' Harry was about to speak again when Ron stopped him by holding up a hand. 'But I'll do what I can to help you. If you truly belive we got a chance, then I'm willing to give it a go.'
Harry gave a smile of relif. 'Good. Now that that's settled, let's get to work.'

********************************************************************************************************************

It took Harry and Ron three days to finish the Floo-powder. One day to find and gather all the necessary ingredients and two days to prepare it. During that time Harry had not eaten anything since there were no food left on Hogwarts, it was only his determination that gave him the energy to keep going. Even thought he began to feel quite dizzy by now, he would proceeed with his plan. During that time he also came to wonder: the curse must still be active since Hermione still lived. Then why hasn't he been affected by it? He made a mental note to ask Proffesor Dumbledore about it if… no, when he got the chance to speak with him again.

The magical thorn-bushes Voldemort had planted around the castle prevented anything magical to pass through them; therefore Harry couldn't use the fireplaces inside. He now stood in the remains of Hagrid's hut with Ron hovering beside him, going through his inventory to see if he got everything that he needed. He had the stringbag with Floo powder and his wand. He was ready. Harry pointed his wand onto the empty fireplace and shouted: 'Incendio!' and a roaring fire came to life.

'Fill me in again on how I am suppose to come with you.' Ron said. 'As a ghost, I can't touch the Floo powder, and certainly can't travel through the network.'
'Even though you are a ghost Ron, you still have a slight fysical presence. You're going to have to concentrate on being as solid as you can and clung on to my body, and I travel for both of us.'
Ron almost laughed. 'Harry, don't you know that stepping through a ghost is like stepping through a cold shower?'
'I know. But there's not much of a choice, is there?'
'Ok, but… I still feel reluctant about leaving Hermione behind.'
'It's better this way. And besides once I get back in the past, I'll wake her and this will never have happened. Are you ready?'
'Ready when you are, Harry.'

Harry stepped into the fireplace with a pinch of powder in his hand. Ron followed after and placed himself completely over Harry's body.
'AAAHH!' Harry screamed. 'COLD! COLD! COLD!'
'Don't say I didn't warn you.' Ron said smuggingly.
'L-let's get this o-over with quickly!' Harry tossed the powder into the fire which turned emerald green and rose higher. 'Durmstrang school of Dark Arts and Wizardry!' Harry shouted. The next seconds both he and Ron were swept away with a whirl of green flames and a deafening roar. And as Harry spinned faster, he thought to himself that he'd forgotten how much he hated travel by Floo powder. After what felt like an eternity, Harry saw a blurred stream of fireplaces with rooms beyond them; some lit up, some dark. Concentrating, Harry willed himself towards one of the darkened rooms so that he wouldn't announce his arrival, he felt it was better that way. He was then shortly afterwards thrown out through the fireplace he'd been aiming for and landed hard on the floor covered with soot.

Ron immedietly withdrew himself from Harry's body. He was quite amazed that this scheme had actually worked. He glanced around the dark chamber: they seemed to have ended up in an empty classroom.
'Well, we're actually here. Now we just have to find that Time-turner and we can go back and change all this.' Ron said in a matter-of-factly tone, as he now felt a little more optimistic. He turned to Harry, and noticed that he hadn't got up from the floor yet. He was sitting there holding his hands to his head.
'What's up, Harry? Did you hit your head?'
'If only I had.' Harry said nervously. 'I-it's my scar. It hurts like hell.'
'Your SCAR? B-but… surely it wouldn't hurt unless… unless…' Ron couldn't finish his sentence. Harry did it for him.

'Voldemort's here.'

Next: Searching Durmstrang.

Author's notes: I know, I know... since Durmstrang's location is suppose to be unknown, how in the world could the Floo network be connected to it? I did try to work out a way around this problem, but unfortunately I couldn't find a solution. Please don't scold me. You can still send reviews although I'm using my brother's PC.

4. Searching Durmstrang

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never were and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts School in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

Author's notes:

I apologize again for the spelling in the three first chapters. Hopefully, from here it shouldn't be a problem anymore. Thank you those who reviewed.

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'Voldemort's here!'

The ghost of Ron Weasley looked panic-stricken. 'B-but… it's impossible! How could he be here? It's been three hundred years, he can't be alive! Right?'
'My scar's never been wrong thus far.' Harry said slowly while rubbing his forehead. 'One of Voldemort's main goals has been to conquer death. I guess he somehow must've achieved it. I wonder more why he's here at Durmstrang of all places right now. The odds are far too great to make this just a coincidence.'
'If it's not a coincidence, then what is it?'
'The school of Durmstrang must be Voldemort's stronghold.' Harry stated.
Ron gulped. 'W-what do we do now? If he finds us here… then he'll… you know…'
'He'll kill me, I'm sure. Don't know though if he can kill a ghost.'
'If anyone can, it'll probably be him.' Ron said nervously. 'Harry, what're we going to do? I never counted on confronting You-Know-Who!'
'We have to stick with the plan, Ron. It's our only chance to set things right. We just have to keep out of Voldemort's sight.'

'I wonder if we can.' Ron said dejectedly. 'If he's in the least like Dumbledore, he'll know everything that goes on in this castle.'
'If he does, then someone should have been here by now to apprehend us, and…' Harry's extra-developed senses then registered something. He strained to listen and then he heard it. Footsteps.
'Someone's coming! We got to hide!' A quick survey of the dark room found them a cupboard in which Harry quickly dashed inside. Ron followed closely by simply floating through the door. Harry just managed to close the cupboard when he heard the room's door open and a voice that mumbled: 'Illuminate.' Harry could see through the slits of the cupboard-door that the room was now filled with light. He opened it slightly ajar to peek outside. A man had walked inside, a man Harry of course didn't know. He was just a typical average normal-looking person around his thirties. But his robes on the other hand were familiar to Harry because the design was forever imprinted in his mind. This man was a Death-Eater.

The Death-Eater caught sight of the mess of spread ashes from the fireplace, but he merely shrugged at it. Instead he sat down at a desk in the middle of the room with his back against the cupboard and began to work with some papers.
Harry's mind worked hard. They couldn't stay in the cupboard forever, they were wasting time. So he knew that they had to neutralize the Death-Eater. The question was how? Taking a big risk, Harry leaned out quietly from the cupboard to survey the rest of the room. He saw a workbench in the corner to his left. It was stacked with different books, some bottles with different potions and a stone bowl with a pestle inside.
Harry got an idea. He stretched out his wand towards the pestle and whispered as lowly as he could: 'Wingardium Leviosa.' The pestle rose from the stone bowl and Harry carefully steered it towards the unsuspecting Death Eater until it hovered just above his head.
Maybe noticing a ripple in the air or seeing a shadow, the Death-Eater suddenly straightened up from his papers and slowly gazed up. His eyes went wide with surprise as he saw the floating pestle above his head. Acting quickly before the man could regain his senses, Harry mumbled to his wand: 'Deleto.' And thereby taking away the incantation his wand emitted. The heavy pestle fell down hard on the Death-Eater's head, knocking him unconscious.

'That was too close for comfort.' Harry said with a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the cupboard.
'Why didn't you just 'stupefy' him?' Ron asked as he floated out after Harry.
'Because that charm usually sends a person halfway across the room upon being hit, and I didn't want to cause any loud noises. I would've knocked the desk over knocking him out.'
'Good point. But what now? This place is probably crawling with who knows how many more Death-Eaters. How can we search this castle after that Time-turner without being spotted?'
Harry looked down on the unconscious man and let out another sigh, although this was a sigh of a heavy decision. He realized what he had to do and he didn't like it one bit.
'To avoid confrontation with your enemy you have to become your enemy.' Harry said heavily.
'Meaning?' Ron asked.
Harry didn't answer. He instead began to strip the Death-Eater of his cloak and put it on himself. He found the Death-Eater mask in one of the pockets, which he put on his face.

'Harry, do warn me if you'd start to feel comfortable in those clothes. Then I'll know it's time to break our friendship.'
'If I start to feel comfortable in these, then you'll have to promise to kill me.'
'Best you keep sane then. The only way for me to kill you is to put myself over you and freeze you to death. Not a very comfortable way to 'move on'.'
'I'll keep that in mind.' Harry said with a smile. He then conjured some ropes from his wand and tied up the Death-Eater in case he'd wake up and thought of sounding an alarm. 'Well, let's go.' He said after having put a gag over the man's mouth and with some difficulties, locked him inside the cupboard.

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Harry had no idea how the school of Durmstrang looked liked, but he doubted that it was suppose to look like what he saw now. The corridors reminded him a lot of the Slytherin common room back at Hogwarts where he and Ron had managed to sneak inside back in their second year. He guessed that Voldemort had changed the decor into his own liking, since he was a descendant from Salazar Slytherin who had this thing for snakes. Round greenish lamps were plucked into the mouths of snake-shaped pillars supporting the rough stoned roof and along the walls between those pillars, there were tapestries showing pictures of different historical events in the world of magic. (Hermione would probably love to examine those a little closer.) But Harry ignored them; acting, as he knew them well enough, as if he'd passed them at least twice a day. It was necessary to do so in order to avoid suspicious glares from other personnel whom he might happen to walk by. He wished he could ignore the throbbing ache in his scar though, it gave no hint of giving up on hurting his head, which only increased the unavoidable fact that Voldemort was indeed somewhere in this castle. That very thought alone made him nervous.

Ron stayed out of sight by floating inside the thick walls. Once or twice a minute he stuck out his head for a quick peek to see if he was still with Harry and to keep on eye out for other people. Strangely enough they didn't meet anyone, even though they both knew the castle were occupied. Ron's probing in the walls was also an efficient way to find some hidden passageways if there happened to be any. The problem was that even though Durmstrang wasn't as big as Hogwarts, it was still big enough to get lost in it, and they didn't have the slightest clue to where they should begin to look for the big hourglass. After walking around for what to them felt like hours, (while in reality they'd only spent about forty minutes), they reached what they assumed was the bottom floor, and they were hearing music. Harry felt that it was crazy to follow the sound and see what it was all about, but he did it all the same, feeling that there might be an answer to why the corridors were so absent of people.

He reached a pair of oak-doors from where behind the music was coming from, which he opened slightly ajar. The first glance told him that this was Durmstrang's Great Hall, occupied by hundreds of people in different ages. All of them were dressed as Death-Eaters. Harry felt sick. Durmstrang had been turned into a school for training dark wizards.
He could tell that the students and staff weren't just eating dinner, there seemed to be some sort of party going on. People were drinking and laughing in a manner where discipline was totally oblivious, some had already passed out by too many pints of beer, or perhaps had been hit by to many spells that drunken people shot around them. On the other side of the room Harry would have expected to see the staff's table, but the back wall was occupied by a single throne that was shaped liked a Basilisk's head. And there was a man sitting in it that made Harry's scar intensify its pain a little more. It was the dark lord himself: Lord Voldemort. He looked a bit worn, had maybe even put on some fat, but there was no mistake by him giving the impression of still being a powerful ruthless wizard.

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The party had gone a bit out of control, like they always do when there was cause for celebration. Still, it was good from one point of view, since many of the students should take the opportunity to master total vigilance even while they were drunk, or they would be no good for the service of the dark lord. It was of course for their own interest to learn this lesson, or they would fail their exams. And if they failed, they would die. The dark lord had no use of Death Eaters who neglected to learn to be a wizard master.

The celebration tonight was because the dark forces had managed to track down another underground group of resistant wizards, one of the bigger command posts, which they had wiped out. As always, Lord Voldemort had been personally leading his forces to battle and challenged the base commander for a wizard duel, where'd he won after some pleasant hours of torturing his victim. But those pleasant hours had gone by and leaving nothing but emptiness in the Dark Lord. He was bored, feeling no excitement for the party, 'cause it failed to give him the satisfaction he usually felt out in the battlefield. And even that failed to give him a full satisfaction these days.

Having achieved to conquer the world about ninety years earlier, Voldemort's life had slowed down. He had found a way to live forever; he had laid the world by his feet and none could resist him anymore. That meant that there was no longer any challenge in life left for him. Living forever now seemed like a curse, since he lived a life with no challenges and for him: that was a life filled with utter boredom.
A teacher from one of the tables rose to his feet and raised his glass.
'Fellow Death-Eater colleagues and students; I'd like to propose a toast to our master Lord Voldemort, for yet another victory brought to us by his hand.'
'To our Lord.' Everyone in the hall said and raised their glasses. Voldemort grumbled.
'To us, this is yet another proof of the mighty power of our Lord.' The first one continued. 'Yet again he has proven that none stands in his way. And yet again he proves to us that no wizard from either the past, the present and the future can ever vanquish our mighty Lord.'
'If ya don't - hic - count the one'sh he never - hic - vanquished himshelf…' someone slurred. The whole Great Hall fell silent and Voldemort narrowed his red eyes.

'Hold your tongue, Clarke!' The Death-Eater teacher shouted. 'How dare you speak about our Lord like that? Have you got no respect?'
'I jusht shaid that - hic - he never vanquished all of - hic - hish enemiesh…' It was a student boy around fifteen who spoke; too young to drink, and he had had way too much already.
'Silence young fool!' the teacher shouted again.
'Would you perhaps care to elaborate your statement a little more, Mr. Clarke?' Lord Voldemort's voice was still high-pitched even when he whispered. It sent a cold shiver along everybody in the Hall and nobody dared to speak another word. Everyone knew that the drunken student had gone too far.
'Tell me, young one.' Voldemort continued. 'Is it someone special on your mind?'
'Well… - hic - what wash hish name? You know, that - hic - guy… Harry - hic - Potter? - hic - Ya never - hic - beaten him…' Another shiver ran around every occupant in the Hall.

Voldemort sat deathly still with his eyes on the drunken student. The boy himself seemed deep down to realize that he'd babbled too much because he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
'T-the boy is drunk, Mylord.' The teacher stammered. 'Otherwise I'm sure he would know his place. I will of course administer discipline to teach him…'
'The discipline is something I will administer myself.' Voldemort raised his wand. 'Crucio!' The student screamed in pain and fell of his chair. The dark Lord released him after twenty long seconds.
'Come forward, Boy! Kneel before me and beg for my forgiveness!' The drunken student stumbled towards the throne trembling all over, both by fear and from the recent pain. He kneeled and whimpered his apology.
'F-for gi - hic - ive me M-Mylord. I-it washn't my intention t-to - hic - anger you… I - I am your humble shervant and - hic - and I will alwaysh…'
'That will do. Don't get up until I tell you to.' The boy stayed on his knees. Voldemort leaned back in his throne.

'Despite your traitorous tone, you do have a point. Harry Potter… it's true… I haven't vanquished him yet. I'm still waiting for the day of his return. Yes… I know that day will come when he finally will somehow be released from the Mirror of Erised. And knowing Potter… he will do anything for his friends. And that will be his big mistake.' Voldemort smiled his terrible smile, more to himself than to the crowd.
'Why is that, Mylord?' the teacher asked carefully.
'Well, you all know about that curse which reside within that mudblood girl at Hogwarts? She's Potter's friend, and he will most likely free her from it whenever he can. And I will know when he does, thanks to the thorn-bushes I'd planted there. It wasn't just to keep unwanted visitors outside Hogwarts that I put them there, they're connected to the spell, and I in turn am slightly connected to the bushes. Once the spell is gone, I will know: Harry Potter has then come back and by then he's mine for the final kill!' Voldemort chuckled at the thought. Then he put his attention back at the drunken student who still kneeled before him.

'Get up, runt. I grow tired of your heap before me.'
'Yesh, Mylord. Thank you Mylord for - hic - you mercifulnesh…' The student rose to his feet and began walking back to his seat.
'Oh, and Clarke. One tip for you…' Clarke stopped and turned back to the Dark Lord.
'Next time around, stay away from alcohol. Avada Kedavra!' A flash of green light and a rushing sound, and the drunken student fell to the floor, dead.
'Let that be a lesson to everybody present here: don't any of you dare to doubt me! Ever!'
Nobody said a word. They hardly even dared to breathe.
'Someone fetch those wretched house-elves and get this trash out of here.'
'At - gulp - once, Mylord.' The teacher said. But Voldemort paid no attention to him. There had been a moment of satisfaction during the disciplinary act, but that moment was now gone. Voldemort could no nothing else but sink back once again into boredom.

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Harry finally managed to tear himself away from the door and quietly closed it. He then slumped against the wall, to make his beating heart calm down. He had had to summon all of his self-control not to scream in agony by the pain in his scar during the two times that Voldemort had used his curses. But most of all he had to recover from the excitement of learning how close he'd got of blowing his cover back at Hogwarts. So that's what his sense of danger warned him about. That's why he couldn't kiss Hermione and awaken her. If he had, Voldemort would've known he was back, and come after him immediately. It was only thanks to the fact that he'd listened to his senses that he could wander around in Durmstrang with Voldemort totally oblivious of that he was here. Harry only hoped that he could keep it that way.

Ron emerged from the wall he'd been hiding in, and Harry could tell by the looks of his ghostly face that he'd heard everything as well and reached the same conclusion.
'Well, Harry… we do have a nasty habit of getting close calls, don't we?'
'That's a habit I'd really like to break. There's been too much of those lately over the years.'
'You're telling me. So what do we do now?'
'Continuing searching for the Time-turner of course. That's what we're here for.'
'Of course. Silly me.'

The duo resumed their search. They searched for two hours and their hope was dropping more and more, 'cause although Ron found some hidden passageways in the walls, there was no sign of anything in the rooms they led to that resembled a giant hourglass as Ron searched them. (Harry couldn't get through the doors without passwords.) With his mode dropped to almost zero, Harry turned down another corridor that he couldn't recall if they've been through or not. Every corridor began to look the same to him with the supporting pillars shaped as snakes. He didn't notice the hideous statue under an arch in the wall to his right, but Ron did.
'Uuuh, gross.' He mumbled disgusted. 'He must be really fond of that mark of his, don't you think Harry?'
Harry glanced back over his shoulder to look what Ron was talking about. It was a statue of the dark mark: a giant skull made of stone with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It stood about two meters tall inside the circular space formed inside the wall.

'Of course he's fond of it, he invented it.' Harry said nonchalantly. 'It's his own personal mark that resembles his might. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got another statue like that in his personal chambers.' Harry then resumed his walk… until a thought struck his mind. And he turned back and stood before the statue of the dark mark.
'I wonder…'
'You wonder what?' Ron asked but Harry didn't answer him. Instead he fixed his gaze at the snake that protruded out of the stone mouth. It was well sculpt; in fact it almost looked alive. And it was that image he concentrated on as he began speaking to the statue.
'Open up.' He said in parcel. But the statue didn't budge. 'Not that simple, huh?'
'Harry, what are you doing?'
'One moment, Ron.' Then he spoke parcel again: 'Tom Marvolo Riddle.' There was no reaction. 'No, of course not. He never liked his muggle name.'

'Harry, is there a point with this? You're giving me the creeps when you speak parcel.'
'Patience, Ron.' And Harry tried again. This time with several words: 'Lord Voldemort? Salazar Slytherin? Pure blood? Death to muggles? Avada Kedavra?' But nothing happened.
'Look Harry, I checked behind the wall behind this thing and there is no secret passage there. This is just a statue, you're wasting time with this.'
'Ron I'm sure there's more than meets the eye with this thing.' Ignoring Ron's annoyed scowl Harry went back to his thoughts. He recalled the first time he saw this image. It was just before his fourth year at the Quidditch World Cup, when the invisible voice of Barty Crouch Jr. conjured it right in front of him, Ron and Hermione. He thought of the spell… 'Morsmordre?'
'Really, Harry. Isn't it enough with the stone version of this thing? Do you need the real thing around you as well? No thank you, Harry!'
'Sorry, wrong language.' Harry concentrated again on imagining the stone snake being alive. And then he spoke: 'Morsmordre.'

The empty eye sockets of the stone skull suddenly glowed with green light, as did the eyes of the snake. And then the statue began revolving and at the same time rose up through the ceiling, dragging along stairs that were emerging from the floor. Harry couldn't help but smile. Voldemort must've been inspired from the gargoyle back at Hogwarts that rose exactly the same way leading to the headmaster's room.
To Harry, the look of surprise on Ron's ghost face was priceless.
'How did you figure that out?' Ron asked.
'Quite simple, really. Voldemort's got a great ego. It was only logical that he put his office behind something so personal to him. And using a password no one but he can speak.'
'Or you.' Ron said. He now became very worried as they rode up the moving stairs. 'Harry. This is dangerous. If You-Know-Who gets any idea of somebody being in his office… he's going to know it can only be you.'
'I know.' Harry said with a sigh.
'Should we… really go up here?'
'Ron. It would be typical Voldemort to keep all magical items in his own rooms. I'm quite positive that this is where we'll find the Time-turner.'

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In Durmstrang's Great Hall, the Dark Lord raised a hairless eyebrow as he felt some sort of tremor in his senses. It was if something out of the ordinary was happening in the castle at this very moment. But he couldn't imagine what it could be that would make him react to it.
'Must be my imagination.' He mumbled quietly to himself.

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Lord Voldemort's personal chamber made Harry shiver. It wasn't only from the decoration of the Slytherin green color and the massive collection of magical objects, (stuff that Harry would never know half of what they were for), but because of even though the room was unoccupied, Voldemort's presence resided here. It made Harry's scar burn even more.
Harry had guessed right: there was another statue of the Dark Mark in the chamber, along with a statue of Salazar Slytherin; Voldemort's ancestor, and a statue of Lord Voldemort himself. Some people were just so full of themselves that it was disgusting. There was also something else in there:
'Watch out Harry! Snake!' Ron suddenly cried. A giant snake slithered towards Harry with its venomous fangs bared.
'The smell of a stranger. Intruder!' Harry heard it whisper, as he understood its language. 'Let me bite you. Let me eat you. Let me kill you!'

While others would've been petrified by seeing the viscous attacking snake, Harry reacted quickly. The snake would hardly listen to him if he tried to talk to it; instead he pulled out his wand and directed it at the giant serpent.
'Stupefy!' he shouted. The force-blast from the wand sent the snake flying into the wall where it landed in a shape-less heap and it remained there. Harry let out a sigh of relief. 'I should have expected that.' He muttered.
'It's strange, but at times like this; I'm glad I'm already dead.' Ron said.
'Leaving me to face all the dangers.' Harry half scowled while he removed the despise-ful Death-Eater mask from his face. 'No thanks Ron, I'm gonna make you alive again and we'll face the next danger together on equal terms.'
'If you can.' Ron sighed. 'I can't see anything looking like a Time-turner in here. It looks like this has been for naught. Let's get out of here.'
'Take it easy Ron; we're not done yet. Maybe there's another secret door around here. We'll just have to look around a bit more.'
'If I ever get to be alive again I'm gonna kick myself for this.' Ron muttered.

They quickly began to search around the chamber; careful not to touch any of the magical artifacts that was laying around everywhere. Harry looked behind the three statues while Ron surveyed inside the wall for hidden passages. It wasn't long until he found one.
'Harry, over here. Behind this curtain. There's stairs leading upwards.'
Harry joined Ron and shoved the curtain aside. True enough, there was a circular stairwell leading upwards and Harry climbed it without hesitation. Harry understood now that they were in a tall tower, and Harry's experience with the wizard world told him that towers sometimes housed helpful secrets. (Unless it had something to do with Divination.)

They reached a door on the top of the stairs, which they opened; and they were both struck by what they found inside the room. The Time-turner wasn't just big: it was huge. It was about two meters high and three quarters of a meter wide, but it seemed much higher than that because it was fastened by a pivot to the wall suspended another half a meter above the floor. The room itself was circular and about eight meters wide and three meters high. Harry noticed that there was a roof hatch inside the room's pointy ceiling.
'By gosh, Harry. You were right, it did exist.' Ron said breathlessly looking at the big hourglass. 'This thing probably will be able to take us back three hundred years in time, if you can find the strength to turn it.'
'I just hope this thing still works. It doesn't sparkle like Hermione's did.' Harry's heart sank. It would be disastrous if they'd managed to come all this way just to find that the magical hourglass they'd chased no longer worked. Looking around he saw a small desk beside the door they'd come through. There was a collection of several hourglasses in various sizes standing on it, normal non-magical hourglasses. And two books.

Picking up one of them, he saw a picture of an hourglass on it. Thinking it was a book describing how the big hourglass worked; he opened it. Harry's heart sank again. It was written in a language he didn't understand. It looked liked ancient runes, a subject he didn't attend to in classes. Hermione did, but she wasn't here. 'Why did I take Divination?' he muttered. 'I could have taken up something more important to study that might've helped me here, but no: I had to take Divination!'
'You took it because I took it, Harry.' Ron said.
Harry decided not to answer that; instead he looked at the other book. His heart leaped up again: it looked like a dictionary for ancient runes, written in English.
'Well, thank you very much Voldemort.' He said. Perhaps Tom Riddle hadn't been so keen on reading other languages either.

It took Harry some time to match all of the different symbols in the guidebook. To Ron's credit, he kept quiet and let Harry work in peace. Finally, Harry clapped his hands.
'Got it. This Time-turner is way too big to let it reside a constant charge of active chronological power. That much energy could cause some unpredictable distortions when not in use, therefore you have to charge it with star-energy before being used.'
'What does that mean? 'Star-energy'?' Ron asked.
'It means that we have to activate the chronological power with the rays from the stars in the sky. It says here that we have to let the stars shine on the hourglass for the extent amount of time depending on how far back in time we wish to travel. There's a diagram of readings in here that describes it. If I read this correctly; during daytime we would need around eighteen minutes of normal sunlight to travel three hundred years. But as it is night out there we need about twenty-three and a half minute of a full starlit sky to charge it with the same amount of energy we need.'

'I'm sorry Harry, but all of what you just said goes way beyond my head.'
'Don't worry Ron; I'm sure I understand this completely. Let's open the roof hatch.' Harry climbed a ladder upwards the ceiling three meters up and used a long pole to prop it up, letting the moon and the bright stars shine in. They were lucky that it was a cloud-less night. And as the stars were able to shine on the smooth surface of the giant hourglass, they could see how the sand began to sparkle inside it. Harry went back to the desk, found a small hourglass for a ten-minute time limit and turned it. He stood prepared with a smaller one with a three-minute time limit to take over once the larger was out after a second turn.
'Twenty-three minutes Ron. Then we're out of here.' Harry couldn't cover his own anxiety.
'That's great Harry. You know, I really think now that we'll solve this mess. Actually, luck has been with us all the time during this crisis. It's almost too good to be true.'
'It sure has, that's what worries me. With all that luck we had, it's bound to run out any time now.'
'Don't get paranoid now, Harry. Believe it instead: We're going to make it.'

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In the Great Hall, the staff had finally decided to call an end to the celebration. The students were now all standing up to say their usual prayers to the Dark Lord and once again swearing their loyalty to him. Usually while they gave the oath, Voldemort would stand up to receive it and then dismissing them all, but this evening he was still seated. In fact: he was in such deep thought that everything else was oblivious to him. The teacher who toasted to his honor earlier that evening carefully approached him to see what was disturbing the Dark Lord.
'M-MyLord? You seem to be a little on edge tonight. Is something wrong?'
Voldemort only grumbled.
'If you wish MyLord, I will dismiss the students myself and leave you in peace.'
Voldemort hardly heard him. He was still concentrating on the weird feeling he felt earlier, but now he sensed a connection to it with another feeling he'd been sensing in his subconsciousness during the past few days. He'd tried hard to identify the deeper feeling, because he was certain it was something familiar with it.

Struggling to make it clearer, he stretched out his senses around his stronghold to try to find the source of the sensation he felt before. To his surprise he found a strong source similar to the feeling from his subconsciousness lurking somewhere in the castle. He grasped on to it, felt it… it was very familiar…
'I sense something. Presence I haven't felt since…' he mumbled.
'MyLord? What…?'
Voldemort suddenly sprang up to his feet. As if he was staring into a void, he roared:
'POTTER! HE'S HERE!'

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'AAAH!' It felt as if somebody had burned his forehead with hot iron. Harry reflexively clutched at his scar, but the sudden pain was so intense that he dropped on his knees.
'Harry? What…?' the ghost of Ron gasped.
'H-he knows.' Harry's voice trembled. 'He knows I'm here. He's coming after us.'

Next: Ron's redemption.

Author's notes:

Although I mostly follow the books, I just had to use the stairs to the Headmaster's office from the movie. I just loved that scene.

5. Ron's redemption

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never were and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts School in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

Author's notes:

I saw in the swedish newspapers that Daniel Radcliff will quit as Harry Potter after finishing filming 'Prisoner of Azkaban'. That is a real pity. But I sure hope that if they go on with filming 'The Goblet of Fire' anyway, I sure hope Emma Watson stays. No one can replace her, that's impossible.

Well, we'll see what happens. Hopefully it's just a false rumor. For now: on with the story...

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'POTTER! HE'S HERE!'

'H-he knows.' Harry's voice trembled. 'He knows I'm here. He's coming after us.'

Ron's voice dropped to a low strained whisper. 'W-w-what are we gonna do? Harry, let's get out of here.'
'Where are we suppose to go?' Harry said with a likewise strained voice, of his scar burning.
'Anywhere but here.' The ghost of Ron whimpered. 'If we let You-Know-Who find us here he'll kill us on the spot.'
'You mean he'll kill me. You're already dead.'
'This is no time to be sarcastic, Harry!' Ron almost shouted. 'Let's go, we'll come back another time.'

'We can't come back another time, Ron! Now that Voldemort knows I'm alive, we'll never be able to slip back in here unnoticed. We have no choice, we have to make a stand here.'
'You'll never be able to fight off all those Death-Eaters by yourself!' Ron argued.
'Maybe I don't have to fight them.' Harry said as he got up, walked over to the door and closed it. Then he locked it with a charm. 'All we have to do is to stall them long enough for the Time-turner to charge up. With any luck, Voldemort might not even think about looking here until it's too late and we'll be gone.'
'Do you believe us to be that lucky?'
'No. We probably used it all up.'

They both waited nervously, watching the sand in the small hourglass pour through very slowly. Harry strained his hearing towards outside the room, but so far no one was rushing up the stairs. Finally, the first ten minutes were up, now they only needed another thirteen minutes of charging the giant Time-turner.
'Harry?'
'Yes?' he answered as he turned the hourglass again.
'Those ten minutes… that's about half the time…'
'Yes Ron, but we need another thirteen minutes to…'
'Harry, let's use them now. Let this thing take us back one hundred and fifty years… from there we can take the time for the rest of the journey, but without You-Know-Who coming after us. He can't possibly expect us to show up back then, it would…'

'I follow you Ron. And I agree, let's do it.'
'Wonderful, Harry.' Ron said with a breath of relief. Harry walked up to the giant hourglass and took hold of a long golden chain fastened to its middle piece.
'When I turn this thing,' Harry said. '-It will release all of its chronological energy through this chain into us and send us back in time.'
''Us', Harry? How am I going to hold it?'
'You do as you did when we traveled by the Floo-powder, of course. Grab hold onto me.'
'Do you really feel up to some more freezing?' Ron asked with a smirk.
'No, I don't. But what choice have we?'

Wasting no time, Ron once again put his ghost body over Harry, who had to bite his teeth together real hard not to scream from the sudden cold. When they were ready, Harry took a steady hold of the chain in his right hand and put his left on the bottom of the giant hourglass.
And then he pushed hard…
And then he pushed hard again…
And again…
It wouldn't budge.
'Either th-this th-thing is-s-s s-s-stuck…' Harry shivered from the cold of his friends ghost body. '…or it's much t-t-to h-h-heavy for me to b-b-budge b-b-by m-myself…'
'Perfect. Just perfect.' Ron said. 'And who in his right mind would help us budge it? What do we do now, Harry?'
'M-Maybe i-i-f we…'

'Reducto!'
The door was suddenly turned into splinters as it was blasted in from the other side of it. It was thanks to Harry's Quidditch-reflexes that he'd managed to crouch down and cover his head with his arms in time, or the flying wooden debris would've perforated his face. But the dart-like debris still shot painfully into the rest of Harry's body; it was actually a good thing that he wore the Death-Eater cloak, it helped cover him a bit more from any serious damage. The bruises would stay around for some days though.
From the corner of his eye, he saw some Death-Eaters rushing through the now door-less entrance with wands in hands. They didn't know though that Harry still had his composure, and that was his advantage. Ron quickly shot away from Harry as he pulled out his own wand and pointed it at the intruders.

'IMPEDIMENTA!' he bellowed, hitting the Death-Eater in front, stopping him in mid-motion that he blocked the way of his colleagues. A second Death-Eater rushed around the stunned wizard to apprehend Harry, but Harry was ready for him.
'STUPEFY!' he yelled, sending the Death-Eater flying backwards into some others, knocking them down as well.
'You blasted fools!' shouted a well familiar high-pitched voice. Lord Voldemort stomped in, showed aside the wizard that had been stunned by the Impediment Jinx and shot a curse of his own at Harry.
Voldemort's rage had flared up because of the incompetence his men had shown, and that rage sent another jolt of pain into Harry's scar. That pain was what distracted Harry from defending himself from whatever hex the Dark Lord used, Harry was hit square in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and sent him sprawling into the opposite wall.

The Dark Lord laughed and raised his wand again. 'Crucio!'
Harry's body was suddenly like it was on fire. He couldn't help himself: he screamed. The Death-Eaters snickered. And then it was gone again, but Harry was shivering from the after-effects, and he had yet to re-capture his breath as well. For the moment, he was defenseless.
'Harry Potter. Such a pleasure to see you again.' Voldemort said. 'You know, it pains me that you didn't bother to at least say hello to me. Well, truth to be told: you surprised me. For three hundred years I had thought that the element of surprise was on my side upon your return, but you turned it against me instead. Tell me; why didn't you wake your mudblood friend and brake the curse?'

Voldemort turned his red eyes towards the ghost of Ron who nervously hovered behind the giant Time-turner. Harry felt astonishment when he realized that the Dark Lord wasn't in the least surprised to see the apparition. It was as if Voldemort had expected to see him.
'Didn't you tell Potter about the mudblood girl being down the Chamber of Secrets?' Voldemort asked Ron. Ron looked surprised.
'RON? Did you work for him?!' Harry asked aggrieved from the floor.
'No way, Harry! How could you even think that?' Ron asked with a hurt tone. 'A-and how could even HE know about me telling you everything about Hermione? He just left me in Hogwarts, how would he know that I would become a ghost?'
'Because it was my doing that you would become a ghost so you could tell Harry everything you'd done.' Voldemort explained. 'It was also me who left a preservation spell on the girl to hold the curse active until Harry's return, otherwise she would've died just like the rest of the fools at Hogwarts after a while. You're a rotten potion-maker, Kid. I'm surprised that my late friend Snape never just failed you.'

'You used me!' Ron exclaimed. 'And you used Hermione…'
'I use everybody who can help me achieve my goal.' The Dark Lord said totally without remorse. 'And my goal is finally reached. It took you three hundred years to come back Potter. Three hundred years have I been longing for your death, and I'm going to savor this moment.'
Voldemort walked forward to Harry with a few steps, wand raised. The Death-Eaters meanwhile just stood back; they knew that their Lord would not want any interference from them.
'Of course Harry…' Voldemort then said mockingly. 'If you wish to beg for mercy, I might consider inviting you into my ranks, if you'll swear me your complete loyalty. I'll even let you have that mudblood for your personal pleasure. So, Harry? How do you plead?'

Harry crawled up on his knees. 'I'll never join you, Riddle.' He said through gritted teeth. 'I'll fight you 'til my last breath!'
'Such tiresome noble nonsense, Potter.' Voldemort said disgusted. 'But so be it. Don't expect the end to be quick though. Crucio!'
Harry was prepared. Just as Voldemort threw his curse, Harry had raised his wand and simultaneously with the Dark Lord he shouted: 'Expelliarmus!'
Both their hexes met in mid-air and connected, a narrow golden beam of light now formed from tip to tip of both their wands; just like they had that night when Voldemort was reborn.

'BLAST!' Voldemort shouted. 'We have no need for another Priori Incantatem, that one time was quite enough!' And before the rare effects of the incantation could take place, Voldemort wrenched his wand upwards, braking the golden thread.
'I can't duel under these conditions!' he roared, and then he turned to the nearest Death-Eater. 'You! Give me your wand!'
The Death-Eater didn't hesitate; he passed his wand to his Lord. This was too good of an opportunity for Harry not to miss. While Voldemort paused to grab another wand to use, Harry made use of that moment to strike!

To Ron's big surprise, Harry shouted: 'Avada Kedavra!'
It was a bluff. Harry had no idea how the killing curse was to be preformed. Just like the impostor of Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had said in his fourth year: he could point the wand and say the words, but he wouldn't give anyone so much as nosebleed. But the Death-Eaters didn't know that. Even Voldemort had failed to take that into consideration after having spent centuries teaching his young students how to do it. Harry's enemies dispersed to get out of the way of the fake curse, leaving them disoriented and vulnerable in the open. Harry quickly began to stun them; one after one after having started with Voldemort, who staggered backwards upon being hit.
'STUPEFY! STUPEFY! STUPEFY!' he yelled, and the Death-Eaters dropped.

'HARRY, LOOK OUT!' Ron then shouted. Harry barely had time to react before he heard the word: 'Reducto!' and then he were once again slammed into the wall, air knocked out of his lungs. Dizzily and with aching ribs he gazed before him. Voldemort was still standing.
'Nice try, Potter. But it takes a lot more than a stun-curse to knock me out!' he said with a cold smile.
Harry thought for a brief moment to tell him off for using the Reductor-curse on a human being. It was primarily used to blast solid objects out of the way, but it was obvious that the Dark Lords saw it fitting to use it as an attack hex as well. And it had worked: Harry wondered if his ribcage was still in one piece. He was once again defenseless.

'It was a good bluff, Harry.' Voldemort said. 'You really managed to fool me for a second as well. Too bad you don't know how to do the killing-curse; you actually had a good shot on me, which could have finished me off. But that's what you get when you study under that old fool Albus Dumbledore. Do send him my best regards when you meet him in heaven or wherever you're going…'
Harry understood what Voldemort's words meant. It was time to die. Harry tried to raise his wand as a final act of resistance, but to no avail… He could barely move.
'Goodbye, Harry Potter! AVADA KEDAVRA!'

What happened next took only a second, but Harry managed to register everything anyway. Before Voldemort finished saying the words, the ghost of Ron flew right between The Dark Lord and Harry, saying quickly over his shoulder:
'Free us, Harry! Forgiv…'
The ghost of Ron had summoned all his willpower to make himself as solid as possible to take the full blast of the killing curse. The green energy hit the apparition dead on, and the pale smoky form of Ron Weasley was destroyed. He had sacrificed himself to buy Harry some more time.

The Dark Lord didn't even raise a hair-less eyebrow. 'Foolishly gallant.' He snorted. 'But to what avail? He only delayed the inevitable, don't you agree Harry?' He gave Harry an ugly grin. 'Don't feel sad, Harry. You're about to join him.'
Feel sad? It was actually the one thing Harry didn't feel. Ron's last action had told him a great deal about his friend. Even though Ron had messed up real bad, he had just given Harry the final proof that he'd been full of regret and had been willing to sacrifice his own life for their eternal friendship. He understood that Ron had asked for a final forgiveness, and Ron now had it. In Harry's opinion, Ron had just redeemed himself and had acted like a true Gryffindor; that knowledge filled him with happiness. And Harry used that happiness as a next act of defense. Grasping on to it, he conjured a very special spell that not many wizards through history had learned to master.
'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'

A silver stag erupted from Harry's wand and immediately charged against Voldemort and the remaining Death-Eaters. A Patronus was a guardian made of a positive force; it was mainly used as protection against Dementors. There were none of those foul creatures around right now, but as Harry had expected: it took his enemies completely by surprise. How could they know what a Patronus was? It was a defensive magic, and Voldemort didn't teach defensive incantations. To them: Harry had just conjured a powerful unknown magic that could put a serious hurt to all of them, therefore they scrambled into disarray again just to get out of the way from the silver stag's rampage. Even Voldemort were momentarily perplexed, he tried to dispose of it with some hexes, but to no avail.

Eventually the Stag began to fade away, but it had bought the time Harry needed to regain his composure. Using the moment of confusion, Harry pointed his wand. But not against the Death-Eaters, but upwards to the ceiling, and then he shouted:
'DIFFINDO!'
Every brick-stone, every supporting wooden beam above the mass of running Death-Eaters became loose, and almost the whole ceiling fell down on the rooms occupants. Harry barely managed to get a shield-charm around him before the debris crushed down on everybody with a loud noise.

When the dust finally began to clear, Harry was the only one left standing. Everyone else, Voldemort included, lay unconscious under the rubble that had crashed down on them. The giant Time-turner was thankfully still intact, and was now sparkling with energy just like a Time-turner was known to do.
Glancing over to the table with the hourglasses, Harry saw that the rest of the ten minutes had passed, but with how much? There was no way to know, so Harry decided to take this chance to escape anyway, hoping that he would end up somewhere in the past close enough to the events of his disappearance. If only he quickly could find a way to turn the giant magical device.

Harry thought of using a suitable incantation for his problem, hoping that he wouldn't end up destroying the Time-turner instead. He took hold of the loose chain once again and pointed his wand at the bottom of the giant hourglass. Then he heard some movement behind him: Voldemort was awake, but fortunately he was half buried in the rubble and in no condition to fight for the moment.
'Are you going to run, Potter?' he asked weakly.
'Who said anything about running? I'm going back where I belong, and once there, I'm going to break the curse.'
'No. I will not allow it.' Voldemort spat. 'My days may be boring, but I didn't reach total domination of the world just to have you ruin everything for me. No matter where you go Potter, I will follow you. I want to feel the satisfaction of killing you and will not stop before that… unless you kill me now, while I'm defenseless.'

'Kill you? Just like that and end up becoming just like you?'
'I know you want to, Harry. I killed your parents. I know you want revenge. Do it now!'
'For what purpose? To kill you here won't change anything in the past, 'cause back there you're still alive. I'll save my anger to that 'you', 'cause this 'you' is already defeated. Once I'm back and brake the curse, all this will be no more. And I didn't have to kill you to achieve it. That is the ultimate victory!'

With those final words Harry once again pointed his wand to the Time-turner and said: 'Reducto.' The shock-blast didn't shatter the hourglass but instead pushed it around its axel, just like Harry had hoped it would. The giant Time-turner released all of it's chronological energy through the chain into Harry, who suddenly felt like he was flying backwards through a blur of colors and shapes as the energy ripped a hole in the fabric of time and threw the boy into it. The last Harry heard was a muffled cry of rage from the Dark Lord as Harry disappeared from the future where he didn't belong.

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After an unusual long time, everything came back to focus. Harry emerged in the same tower-room he'd just left, but he was unprepared for the many more tables that were placed in there. Working to regain his balance as the last of the time-travel effects left him, he staggered into one that had a lot of equipment on it and tipped it over, making a loud noise. He got to his feet and tried to clean up the mess he'd done when he heard some running in the stairs outside the closed doors. Reflexively Harry took a tighter grip on his wand, but he would make sure that he wouldn't hex the one who was coming to 'greet' him unless he was hexed upon first. The door flew up and Harry was actually glad to see the face of the person who stepped in. It was Victor Krum.

'Vot…? Harry Poter?!' Krum said in his usual gruff but now surprised voice. 'Vot are you… hov did you got here?'
'Krum.' Harry greeted with relief. 'It's actually a pleasure to see you.' To Harry it meant that he had indeed gone back and was somewhere in his own time. 'Could you please tell me the exact date?'
Krum looked bewildered but answered. The answer made Harry whoop with joy.
'That's only seventeen days after Ron trapped me in the mirror!' Harry exclaimed happily. He couldn't believe that he managed to cut it so close.

'I… I don't onderstand… vot are you talking of?' Krum was even more bewildered.
'I'm afraid it's a too long of a story and I don't have time to tell it. My friends need me, I have to get back to Hogwarts.' Harry walked past Victor Krum and headed down the stairs. Remembering the room Lord Voldemort had made into his personal chamber in the future, Harry recalled that there was a fireplace there that he could use.
Krum followed down after Harry. 'Wait. You say your friends need you. Are them in danger?'
'You could say that!' Harry said as he entered the room down the stairs and turned to the fireplace. 'Incendio.' With his wand he lit a fire in the hearth.

'Is Hermy-own-ninny in danger too?' Krum asked.
'Hermione is not in any mortal danger…' Harry explained as he took out some Floo-powder from his string bag. 'But it is her I have to reach to save everybody.'
'Then I come with you…' Krum started but Harry cut him off.
'Don't bother, you can't do anything. It is me she's waiting for.'
Krum looked angry. 'You said to me you haff nothing to do with Hermy-own-ninny!'

'Things seems to have changed.' Harry said as he now began to feel frustration with the Bulgarian Quidditch-seeker. 'Look Krum, I know Hermione broke up with you. And after that she obviously went on and felt a little attached to me, which is just something you're going to have to live with. Now if you excuse me…' Harry stepped into the hearth… 'Hogwarts grounds, Hagrid's hut!' and he threw the powder into the fire. Harry only managed to get a fast glimpse of Krum's disappointed face as he was sucked away.
'Well, he's got himself to blame.' Harry thought to himself. 'Hadn't he been such a diva, Hermione could maybe have been his. He has better learn to live with it, 'cause I will not feel sorry for him.'

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Harry came out of Hagrid's fireplace with a loud noise, since he stumbled over some of the giant's pots and pans. To Harry's disappointment it wasn't enough of course to wake up the giant from the enchanted sleep. But he was relieved to see his big friend alive lying in his cot, with his dog Fang resting just beneath the big feet.
'Don't worry, Hagrid. Soon you will be awake again.' Harry mumbled. He exited the hut and made his way up towards the castle, but it was not with ease. He was quite dizzy after the last trip with the Floo-powder, (how he hated to travel like that) and the poor nutrition was finally starting to get to him. Add the exhaustion from his battle with the future Voldemort, Harry had quite a headache.

Giving the 'Open up' command in Parcel tongue to the thorn-bushes, he entered the silent Hogwarts castle. He smiled when he got to the Great Hall. Here was everyone: students and teachers, all asleep but alive. Neither Ron nor Hermione was there of course. Ron was most likely down in the dungeons under the corridor of the third floor, pounding on the Mirror of Erised, begging it to release Harry. Hermione was therefore in the Chamber of Secrets where the present Lord Voldemort had put her, and that's where Harry was going. He had to take a detour again to the Gryffindor tower though to fetch his broomstick. He had fetched it from there in the future but not in the present.

With a pounding head, Harry made his way down to the chamber once again where he found Hermione just like he'd seen her the first time in the future. This time he also found the remains of the Basilisk that he'd killed the first time he was here, the snake-skin was dry and shrunken around the skeleton. He didn't pay much attention to it, 'cause he was once again overwhelmed with doubts. Was it really him she was waiting for? He knelt beside the girl and leaned over her. He felt a lump in his belly and his head began to hurt even more.
'Will you really wake up if I kiss you?' he whispered. With his heart full of doubts, he leant closer and let his lips touch hers. He would have found it quite exciting if the matter wasn't so serious, but it all seemed to be to no avail.
Harry was dismayed. Hermione didn't even stir.

Why didn't it work? And what was he suppose to do now? He tried to think, but it was impossible when his head hurt so much. If only… wait a minute. It wasn't his head that was hurting! It was…

'Yawn. I guessed I dozed of. You sure took your time to get here Potter.'
Harry spun around and gazed into the shadows. He remembered in his second year when he saw the apparition of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle leaning against the nearest pillar. The owner of the voice was leaning against the same pillar. It was Tom Riddle again, but as Lord Voldemort.
'Surprised to see me?' The Dark Lord snickered.
'Very.' Harry answered, reaching into his robes or his wand. 'I thought you wouldn't expect me to be out of the mirror so soon.'

'Well, you won't be out of it yet for three-hundred years.' Voldemort answered.
'How do you know…?' Harry started, then hesitated. There was no way for Voldemort to predict that Harry wouldn't be released until after three-hundred years, unless…
The dark Lord grinned. 'I see you understand, Potter.'

'You're the Voldemort from the future'

Next and final: The battle for the future.

Author's notes:

Well, if Nearly Headless Nick could be petrified by the Basilisk, why can't the ghost of Ron be killed by the 'Avada Kedavra' curse?

As for Krum: that serves him right. I never liked him, and I think that he should stay away from Hermione.

6. The battle for the future

Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never were and never will be. No money is being made on this either.

Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts School in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.

Author's Notes:

That's 'break' the curse, not 'Brake', as I happened to write in the last chapter. I'm getting so mad at myself for doing such stupid mistakes. My apologizes.

Anyway: CV. The answer to your 'nosebleed' question can be found on page: 192 in Goblet of Fire. (Atleast in the English version.) I hope that will enlighten you.

A Big thank you to you all who reviewed my story, I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully you will enjoy this last chapter as well.

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'You're the Voldemort from the future!'

'I was surprised that nothing changed around me after you had fled with the help of the Time-turner.' The Dark Lord explained. 'I knew that it meant that you've failed to break the curse.'
'Did you do something to her to prevent me from waking her up?' Harry asked with gritted teeth.
'I only put a preservation spell on her, that was all. I suppose the only explanation is that she doesn't love you that way. Tough luck, Potter.'

Harry's heart sank again. He would have to try with something else then, if only he could survive this encounter with Lord Voldemort. He would deal with his disappointment after that.
'You knew I failed… so why did you follow me back through time?' Harry asked.
'Haven't I already told you that, Harry?' Voldemort spat. 'I longed to kill you for three hundred years! My life won't be complete until I've done this, even if it means to follow you back through time! Besides, I couldn't take the risk of leaving you alive so that you could find other means to break the curse. That's why I charged up the Time-turner to intercept you. I've been waiting here for days, while my younger self put the mudblood girl here and grew the thorn-bushes around the castle. But it was worth the wait…'

'Well, how are you suppose to get back to your time then?'
'That is something you have to concern yourself about, Potter. I deal with that once I'm finished here! Now, on your feet! Face me! Let us finish what we started before you so cowardly fled!'
Harry rose and took some steps away from Hermione before he took a dueling position. He knew that she at least was safe from Voldemort. The Dark Lord wouldn't risk killing her; otherwise the curse would be broken. He waited for Voldemort to make the first move…

'Crucio.' Voldemort shouted. Harry had waited for him to open his mouth before he could cast a spell of his own. 'Stupefy!' Harry cried. The jets of lights shot from the wands and met mid-air. They ricocheted off each other and exploded against the walls.
Voldemort snickered. 'Surely you didn't think that I would use my own wand against you? No. This fight will be on equal terms. Reducto!'
Harry threw himself out of the way as his enemy cast the spell. His ribs were still aching from the last times he had been hit by that jinx, and he wasn't certain that they would withstand another hit. They still hurt though as he hit the ground, but Harry had no time to take notice of it. 'Impedimenta!' Harry cried instead.

Voldemort raised his left hand and let Harry's spell explode on it. The Dark Lord grinned: 'Don't you learn anything, Potter? I said that it takes more than some stun Curses to knock me out. I had three hundred years of time to increase my immunity. You have to do better than that.'
Harry knew he was in trouble. The stun-jinxes were his best shots. He could maybe try to distract him with another Patronus, but he doubted that he could summon a happy thought right now. Besides he didn't think that that trick could work twice.

'Stop standing there doing nothing, Harry! Fight!' Voldemort roared. 'Reducto!' Again Harry threw himself out of the way. 'You really disappoint me, Harry. You've learned plenty of spells here, use them. Give me a challenge!'
'Accio, wand!' Harry shouted. But Voldemort held on to it tightly.
'Please, Harry. Do better!'
Harry really tried to do better. He only used the spells he quickly could think of while he tried to work out a plan. He needed an advantage he didn't have before, and suddenly he had it!

'Accio, Firebolt!' Harry's trusted broomstick came to him immediately and Harry quickly mounted it and took off in the air before Voldemort realized what was happening.
'What's this Harry? Thinking of running again?'
'Who said anything about running, Riddle?' And then Harry began circling around the Dark Lord from above and threw jinx after jinx against him. Voldemort had to use all of his attention to counter Harry's attacks. 'Better. Much better.' Voldemort said under his breath.

Unfortunately Harry had a much harder time of flying than usual. With a burning scar and lack of food, plus that he now was flying in a cramped chamber his skills were quite limited. He had to break off his attacks from time to time to avoid crashing into the walls, and it wasn't long until the Dark Lord saw those openings.
'Imperio.' He muttered softly.
Harry suddenly found himself empty of all thoughts as he was flying through the darkness of the cave. He felt very relaxed, and let go of all control of his broom.
'That's it, Harry.' Voldemort's voice spoke to him from the empty pit of his mind. 'Fly into the wall. Fly into the wall.'
Right, I'll fly into it. I'll crash into it and… AND CRIPPLE YOURSELF! PULL UP, YOU IDIOT!

The stronger voice caught Harry's attention just in time and he managed to turn away before he'd cause himself some severe pain. But then the pain came anyway.
'Crucio!'
Every nerve in his body was on fire. Harry wasn't sure but he assumed he was screaming. The pain was so intense that Harry finally lost all control of where he was and what he was doing. The Firebolt were still turning and centrifugal pull threw him of the broom high up in the air. Harry fell, and landed hard on the stone floor beside the corpse of the Basilisk. Harry was barely conscious, but still he heard the mocking laughter from the Dark Lord. He tried to move but that was a painful attempt. His left arm was broken.

'Ha ha ha ha! Does it hurt, Harry? Does it hurt?' Voldemort approached him with a triumphant smile.
You want to know if it hurts? Feel it yourself! It was Harry's anger that was driving him now, and that was something the Dark Lord had failed to take into consideration. 'Reducto!' Harry spat as he with an angry determination raised his wand. Two can play dirty! Voldemort took the full blast and was himself sent flying hard into the wall. Harry watched him all the way and saw something from the corner of his bruised eye. He was looking into the open mouth of the Basilisk, and saw the remaining poisonous fang protruding from the rotten flesh. The other fang had come loose when the Basilisk in its death rows had managed to bite Harry's right arm, but this one could come in handy.

Harry pointed his wand at it; 'Diffindo.' The fang came loose and fell to the floor. 'Wingardium Leviosa.' What Harry did now was something he usually wouldn't do. But he was driven with anger, and something in the back of his mind told him that it was either he or Voldemort. Harry sent the fang at high-speed like a dart towards the staggering form of Voldemort. He was going to impale him, would most likely kill him. But the Dark Lord had quickly regained his own composure from being slammed into the wall, he snatched the projectile in mid-air before it hit him.

'Well, Harry. I was beginning to think that you didn't have it in you.' Voldemort said with a smile. 'Let's see if you can repeat my gesture.' And then the Dark Lord sent the fang back, towards Harry. Thanks to his drive of survival Harry managed to duck away from the returning projectile, which buried itself deep into the body of the Basilisk. Bruised, with a broken arm and a twisted ankle Harry quickly limped out in the center of the chamber to start another attack against Voldemort. But the other was faster.
'Expelliarmus!' Voldemort cried. Harry's wand flew from his hand while Harry himself was sent flying again through the air. He landed in a heap on the floor; all breath of air left his lungs. This time he couldn't find any strength to get up. He was vaguely aware of that his head was resting on something soft. He turned his head and saw a pale pink face with a mess of brown hair. He was sprawled almost on top of the sleeping form of Hermione.

Voldemort was twirling Harry's wand that he'd caught between his long fingers as he approached him. His red eyes pierced into Harry's green and he grinned, it was a grin of death.
'Well, Harry? If you got any more tricks up your sleeve it is time to use them.'
Harry didn't answer. He was out of tricks, as well of strength.
'Harry, Harry, Harry.' Voldemort shook his head mockingly. 'You should have killed me when I was lying under the rubble. It always pays to do onto the one that he would do onto you! I'm teaching my students that. And just because you're so damn disgustingly good, it has now brought you your end!'

Harry still didn't say anything. He was tired. Dead tired. It really did seem that fate had finally caught up with him.
'Got nothing to say, Harry? No last words? No crying for help from a mother who's not around to save you with her dying love?'

Love. His mother's love had bought him fourteen years. Ten pitiful years with the Dursley's and four full years at Hogwarts full of life and adventures with friends he would die for. Those years had been the best time of his life, where he learned true friendship and true… love. Now, at the brink of death, he finally admitted it to himself. He loved someone. In his fourth year he thought he loved Cho Chang, but now he knew… He loved Hermione. Hermione who had always stood by his side even when everything was against him, who always was there when not even Ron would be. He wished that she were awake now, so that he could tell her that. Maybe he should ask for a last wish? Harry wondered if Voldemort would allow him to kiss Hermione goodbye? A real kiss this time; one of love, not one of…

An idea struck Harry. When he kissed her the first time, it was because he felt he had to. It was a cold un-emotional kiss. That kiss didn't work, but if he gave her one of love…
Harry couldn't help but smile. It was ironic: it was Voldemort who brought up the idea of love…

Voldemort narrowed his eyes. 'What're you smiling at? Shouldn't you be on your knees by now begging for your life?'
'Never.' Harry answered softly.
'Is that it? You're going to meet your end with a smile? As a final mock against me?' Voldemort sighed. 'Well if that's the way it's going to be… Avada…'
'Wait! Don't you want to know why I'm smiling?'
'Spill it out then, it wont make any difference.'
'Yes it will.' Harry said.

'Have you gone crazy, Potter? Do you really think you still can beat me? Don't forget, I got your wand…'
'I don't need a wand to defeat you.'
And before the Dark Lord could react, Harry summoned the very last of his strength to roll on top of Hermione and again he put his lips against hers, this time without doubts, this time of love…
It was an electrifying sensation… it was as if he had unlocked a door that was trapping energy that needed to get out, and the energy was now unleashed…

'What?! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO…' Voldemort screamed.
A white light was emitting from the sleeping girl, it escaped from her like a shockwave and rushed to merge with the magical energy around Hogwarts, creating a strange magical wind in the cave…
Voldemort felt it take effect; the unleashed energy had already ripped a hole in the fabric of time, and deleting everything he'd done over three hundred years. As a final desperate act, Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry and shouted: 'Avada Kedavra!'

Harry heard the words even thought he was busy with the kiss; he heard the rushing sound, felt the green energy hit him… but it had no effect. The new timeline that was now forming itself would not allow it. The new timeline now claimed Voldemort: he screamed as he began to fade away, as the new timeline told them all that this battle had never taken place. All the wounds in Harry's body healed, at least those he'd received in the chamber, the one's he sustained from the battle in Durmstrang remained but those wouldn't bother him much.

Shortly afterwards the wind disappeared, the cave became strangely quiet. The only sound that could be heard was Harry's wand that fell to the stone-floor…

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Harry had the best time of his life. He could never had imagined the feeling of kissing a girl being like this, so he was in no hurry to break it just yet. And it became even more exciting when he felt an arm sneaked around his neck to pull him closer, and a warm breath that responded to the kiss. Harry could've continued with this for a long time, but his back was beginning to protest from the position he was holding and he had to straighten himself up, taking the girl with him in a sitting position. Soon they slowly broke the kiss anyway, having to catch new breath of air, and they both opened their eyes…
That was when reality hit them both, and they scrambled away from each other…

'HARRY?' Hermione shrieked, her face turning scarlet.
'Hermione!' Harry gasped. 'Are you all right?'
'All right? You… you kissed me…!' She didn't look angry; she was more surprised and excited.
'I'm sorry, I had to. You were asleep and…'
'Asleep? It.. was an interesting way to be waked up, but…' Then she took on a more serious expression. 'By the way: where have you been?! You been gone for a week!'

'I've been gone for seventeen days actually.' Harry said.
'What're you talking about? I only remember a week!'
'Hermione.' Harry put his hands on her shoulders. 'I promise: I will explain everything. But first: let's get out of this hole and find Ron, he is responsible for all of this.'
'Hole?' Hermione finally surveyed her whereabouts. 'What? Where… where are we?'
'This is the Chamber of Secrets; you know the one under Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.'
'How in heavens name did I get here?'
'I'll explain everything later, I promise. For now: let's just get out of here.'

Harry got to his feet and held out his hands for Hermione to help her get up from the floor. Bewildered, she didn't say anything more for the moment; she just let Harry lead her out of there with her behind him on his broomstick. They took off, flew out from the deep hole and through the bathroom, and through the corridors. He was not stopping.
'W-why aren't you stopping? Where are we going?'
'To the Third-floor corridor. That's where we'll find Ron.' Harry said over his shoulder.
'What's he doing there?'
'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.'

They passed the Great Hall on the way. To Harry's great relief, he saw that all the students and teachers stirred and was in the middle of awakening. They all looked as confused as Hermione was. Harry flew up the stairs leading to the third-floor, he didn't see that a person was watching them and began to follow.
Reaching the corridor, Harry dived through the trap door, causing Hermione to scream. She was apparently not that fond of flying since they both rode Buckbeak.
When they flew through the chambers with the challenges, Hermione tried again to pry information from Harry.

'Harry, what are we doing here?'
'Ron's down here.' He answered calmly.
'Why?'
'You'll see.' Harry was actually amused of all of this although he shouldn't be. He assumed that he was just happy that everything finally turned out all right, and he was amused of Hermione's bewilderment that was now beginning to turn to a bit of anger. When they reached the room where Snape had put his trick with the bottles, Harry landed. He put a finger to his mouth to keep Hermione quiet as they entered the door.

Hermione could never have imagined a more strange sight. Her friend Ron was kneeling in front of a large mirror on which he repeatedly pounded his fists. He looked quite ragged and shrunken; tears were streaming down his face. But his shouts made absolutely no sense to her.
'Harry! Harry, answer me! Please answer me! You've got to come out! You got to help me! Harry!' Ron slammed his head onto the mirror's surface and let out a howl. His shoulders were shaking violently as he sobbed: 'What have I done? What have I done?!'

'Ron?' Hermione called. 'What are you doing?'
Ron spun around. His eyes went wide when he spotted her. 'Hermione?! You're… you're awake!'
'Yes, I'm awake.' She said impatiently. 'But what're you…?'
'Harry?!' Ron then cried out. 'You're… you're out of the mirror!'
'Out of the mirror??' Hermione turned to Harry. 'What does he mean by that..?' She had expected Harry to be just as confused as she was of Ron's statement, but she saw on the look of Harry's face that he wasn't the least surprised.

With her patience completely drained, Hermione placed her hands on her hips, glaring back and forth between her friends and said with a voice that left no more room for argument.
'What's going on?' she demanded.
'That would be most interesting to know.' A voice said behind them. In the doorway stood Albus Dumbledore. 'Why don't we all go to my office where you can tell me the whole story?'
The chamber went completely quiet; the only sound that could be heard came from Ron, who loudly gulped.

********************************************************************************************************************

'Mr. Weasley!' Professor McGonagall gasped in a croaky voice 'Mr. Ronald Weasley!'
Harry had just finished the whole story in Professor Dumbledore's office. Needless to say; there was a large tremor of shock hanging in the air. Ron himself sat crouched in a chair with his head bent deeply down towards his knees, hands above his head, whimpering…
'I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…'
'Sorry?' Professor Snape spat. 'Is that all you can say?' The last time Harry had seen Snape so furious and deranged was back in his third year in the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade when Snape was about to apprehend Sirius Black and the three friends stood in his way. To receive Snape's fury was not a pleasant thing, but Harry felt that Ron had to take it. While the ghost of Ron had redeemed himself, the live one hadn't.

'Don't you realize what you've done to us?!' Snape continued shouting. 'You almost delivered the whole Wizard World to the dark side, and for what?! All because of some stupid love affair?!'
At this Harry glanced over at Hermione. She stood alone against some cabinets half turned away from the group looking quite mortified. Harry couldn't even begin to imagine how she must feel as she stood there holding her arms tightly against her body. She had been the main key behind the whole mess. She had been used, drugged and had been played with, with no thought of her welfare. While Ron would rightfully take the blame, Harry would most likely be praised. That left Hermione with the humiliation. She'd been totally betrayed by her friend.

'Of all the stupid things you've done in this school, all the lines you crossed and all the rule-breaking, this is the most…' Snape went on but was now cut off by Dumbledore.
'Thank you Severus, we all get the point.' The old Headmaster looked very very grave. 'You do understand the weight of the crime you've committed, Mr. Weasley?' he asked softly.
'Oh no… I'm being sent to Azkaban…' Ron whimpered without looking up.
'Professor.' Harry then spoke up. 'I don't deny that Ron has done a very bad thing, but I think…'
'Potter, now that you for once is innocent, shouldn't you be smart enough to shut up?' Snape said in his usual silky voice that could send cold shivers through a person. Harry ignored him.

'Professor Dumbledore. The ghost of Ron I met in the future gave his 'life' to enable me to come back here. He proved to me that Ron here has learned a harsh lesson and is willing to pay for his crime. Surely you can't let him be sent to Azkaban?'
'Headmaster, this boy's crime is one of the worst that has ever been committed here!' Snape spoke up loud. 'He is at least to be expelled from this school. You can't let him walk out from this one!'
'Due to the seriousness of his crime, expulsion is in order,' Dumbledore said. Snape began to smile.
'-however during the circumstances, we may not be able to.'

Severus Snape looked at the Headmaster in shock. 'Headmaster, you can't be serious? You can't just forgive him and…'
'I never said that, Severus. But if we are to expel Mr. Ronald Weasley from this school, an investigation of the circumstances will have to take place. And the past events of those seventeen days that has taken place here must never reach public knowledge.'
'Albus, I don't understand…' Professor McGonagall said.
'If what has happened here would become known, it would be dangerous for Mr. Potter.' Dumbledore said sternly. 'No one must ever know that while we have Mr. Potter here, there is another Harry Potter trapped in the Mirror of Erised for three-hundred years to come.'

Harry was shocked. He had not thought of that. 'W-what will become of him… I mean: me… I mean: that me? I changed the future! How is he suppose to get back here?'
'Now Mr. Potter, you see a perfect example of the unpredictable consequences of time-travel. I don't blame you in any way for what you had to do, but we now have a paradox here that we must have a solution for when the time comes when he will be released from the mirror.'
'I don't even understand how come I even were released from it. It just spat me out after all that time.'

'That actually is my doing Harry.' Dumbledore smiled. Harry looked bewildered. 'It was a safety incantation I cast upon the Mirror of Erised when I put the Philosopher's Stone in it. If something was to happen that neither me nor my friend Nicholas Flamel would be around anymore, I knew I couldn't leave the stone in it forever. So I cast a countdown spell that would spit out the stone after three-hundred years. I actually never thought of removing the spell again.'
Harry was shaken. Hadn't it been for Dumbledore, Harry would've been trapped in the mirror forever.

'Uuh, Professor. One more thing…' Harry said. 'Why wasn't I affected by the curse?'
'You were.' Dumbledore said. 'But since you were in suspended animation in the mirror, it couldn't affect you like it was suppose to do. And during the years, your body adapted to it and made you immune until the time you were released.'
Harry nodded, although he wasn't sure he understood completely.
'As for why Voldemort wasn't affected when he showed up here, I can only guess: all those dangerous magical transformations he underwent all those years ago is probably what made him immune to it…'

'Now, as for your other self,' Dumbledore continued. '-I suppose I will have to leave a note with the whole story for the future generation so they'll know what to do when it's time to retrieve 'you', then they can plant the memory of your journey in his mind and simply send him back. Maybe that's what happened today, but we will never know. As for what happened here: listen carefully Mr. Weasley and everyone…
'You Mr. Weasley conducted an illegal experiment involving both Potions and Herbology: you wanted to create a new growth-remedy that back-fired… The plants grew suddenly after some time of incubation in the seeds to become the thorn-bushes we have here outside and they spread spores that put the whole school to sleep. Fortunately Mr. Potter wasn't here during that time, (we'll solve his absence later); he came back and did a counter-curse that saved us all. All right?'

'It's a good story, Albus.' McGonagall said. Snape looked disgusted but agreed. Harry was pleased. That cover story would mean that no one would know of Hermione's part in it. She would be spared from the humiliation.
'And your punishment Mr. Weasley will be: One-hundred and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor and you will report to Hagrid for him to give you some tools to dig up every plant around the castle. No magic. Do you understand?'
Ron nodded. It would take him the rest of the whole school year until summer to finish that detention, but he would do it. He deserved the punishment.
'Then you may leave.' Dumbledore said. Ron stood and quietly walked to the door. On his way he risked a glance at Hermione, a glance she didn't return. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better against it. Ron knew one thing: he would never have her now, and after what he'd done, he felt that he didn't deserve her. Harry did, and Ron would let him without objection. He would never go after her again. And then he left.

'Now as for you Mr. Potter…' Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. 'I believe that two-hundred points should be awarded for Gryffindor and an award for Special Service to Hogwarts would be in order…'
'I'll take the points Professor, but I don't need an award.' Everybody including Hermione looked strangely at Harry.
'I do not want to look at it and be reminded of what happened here and I feel I'm famous enough as it is. Besides: I don't want to gloat over solving the mess Ron had done; no matter what, he's still my friend. We all know what he's done, but it is something that we should just leave behind us, with nothing to remind us of it.'
Hermione was secretly amazed. Now he did it again: doing what he had to do and rejected the credit, even after this. That was one of the main reasons why she loved him.

'Very well, Mr. Potter.' Dumbledore said confused. 'In that case you may now take your leave. I just have one more request: please escort Miss Granger down to Madam Pomfrey to flush out all remains of the potion out of her system. We don't want to risk any bad side-effects taking place.'
'Yes Professor, I'll do that.' Harry gently put a hand to the small of her back to lead her out of the office. She blushed a bit but didn't jerk away. As he left with his friend, the three Professors were left staring after them.
'A remarkable young man.' Dumbledore said.
'I'll double that.' McGonagall said.
'What an idiot.' Snape muttered under his breath. Rejecting an award for Special Service? He's mad.

********************************************************************************************************************

Hermione hadn't said a word since they'd left the dungeons of the third-floor, and Harry was really worried about it. He took her hand as he spoke to her. 'Are you all right?' he asked softly.
'I will be, I guess.' She answered after a while. 'Although I may not forgive Ron as easily as you did.' She looked at the floor when she said this, but she didn't let go of Harry's hand.
'He did a terrible wrong, but he's learned his lesson. I guarantee you that.' They walked a bit more in silence. 'You're not angry for that kiss, are you?'
Hermione blushed again. 'N-no I'm not. I know you had to, and it was… quite pleasant actually.' She smiled shyly. 'A nice way to wake up. And to think that I told Ginny that it wouldn't happen to me.'

'Well… I-if you want to, it can… happen again. If you want to?'
'Mmh. That would mean that I could finally throw out that annoying alarm-clock.' She said with a smile and squeezed his hand a little. 'You'd have to get up at every 6:30 thought…'
'I could live with that.' Harry exclaimed happily. 'You sure you don't want any wake-up call tonight?'
'Tonight, we will both have a discussion about you skiving off Divination.'
'Oh dear, I'm in trouble…'

********************************************************************************************************************

Epilogue:

Somewhere else in the world, the present Dark Lord went through a rampage.

'Damn, damn, DAMN!!'
His servant Wormtail were crouching behind an armchair, praying that his Lord vouldn't in his anger throw the Cruciatus Curse on him. After all, he had nothing to do with whatever Lord Voldemort was angry with.
'I knew it was too good to be true!' the Dark Lord shouted. 'I thought I had Potter out of the way, but the curse is broken, I can feel it.'

'W-well, MyLord…' Wormtail stupidly spoke up. 'You know what Muggles say? 'If at first you don't succed, try and try again'.'
Voldemort stared a moment with disgust at his puny servant. Then he raised his wand: 'Crucio!'
Wormtail should have kept his mouth shut.

The End.

That's it. So what will happen to Harry in the mirror? I'm afraid I don't know, 'cause I probably won't write any sequel to this. Now when the next book is coming, this fantasy version of their fifth year will no longer apply.

I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thank you and until next time: