Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
The Time Meddlers
Chapter Sixteen - The End of First Year
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as she walked outside with Harry and Neville. They had just completed their last exam - History of Magic - and Hermione was trying to act the way she'd done the first time around. Both Harry and Hermione were wearing backpacks.
"Yeah, they weren't so bad," agreed Harry. In actuality, he'd done a lot better this time around than the first time he took those tests.
"I suppose not," said Neville, who'd studied with them a lot, "but both my head and my right hand hurt."
Harry grinned. "I'll agree that my hand hurts, too. There were far too many essay questions on that test." He shook his hand to emphasize his point. After exchanging a quick glance with his girlfriend, Harry suggested, "Why don't we go visit Hagrid?"
As the three of them walked to the half-giant's hut, both the time-meddlers glanced at the roosters that Hagrid was keeping in the pen outside his home. They found Hagrid sitting in an armchair outside his house. His trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.
"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"
"Yes, please," said Harry, and the three of them walked into his hut and he prepared some tea.
They stayed inside for about an hour chatting. Yet again, Hermione managed a discreet inquiry into the status of the unicorns, confirming once more that nothing had been attacking them. Harry and Hermione glanced once more at the roosters on their way back. Once they got back to the castle, Harry and Hermione allowed Neville to get ahead of them and quickly ducked into a classroom as they were passing it and used their Time-Turner.
They quickly pulled their Invisibility cloaks out of their backpacks and made their way toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As they walked in, Harry heard other steps behind him, but couldn't see anybody. Unfortunately for them, the unpleasant ghost was in there.
"Who's there?" she demanded. "Someone opened the door and I can hear your footsteps."
"We're just passing through, Myrtle," said Hermione as she pulled off her cloak.
"Passing through to where? This is a bathroom, not a hallway."
Harry took off his cloak and replied, "We're following the passage used by the yellow-eyed monster that killed you."
"Boys aren't allowed in here, Myrtle said before a shocked look appeared on her face. "How did you know…Why are you going there?"
"To kill the beast, of course," replied Hermione.
Harry then pulled a glass orb out of his backpack, held it next to the sink, and activated it. The image of a miniature twelve-year-old Harry Potter projected above it and hissed. Although Harry knew he had said, `Open up,' neither he nor his companions could understand the Parseltongue. It simply sounded like normal, rather creepy hissing to them. He used his wand to pause the recording. There were two more Parsel-sentences stored on it.
Both sighed in relief when the sink responded to the memory of Parseltongue and started moving. Myrtle watched in morbid fascination. "See you later, Myrtle," Harry said before jumping down the hole that was now open. Hermione quickly followed.
Harry landed on the familiar pile of rat skeletons, followed moments later by Hermione, who slid right into him, knocking him face first into the floor.
"Sorry," she said, before looking at herself. "This is disgusting! You didn't mention how slimy that slide was!"
Before Harry could reply, an invisible man landed beside them and re-illusioned himself, revealing that it was Sirius Black holding a cage with a rooster in it. The bird appeared to be squawking, but had been silenced.
After nodding toward Sirius in greeting, Harry faced his girlfriend. "We'll be getting a lot messier later. Besides, you can use a scourgify, or even a shower, later," said Harry as he pushed himself up. "For now, we need to get ready."
"Right you are," said Sirius, before lifting the silencing charm off the cage. The rooster's noise started filling the room until Padfoot pointed his wand at it and said, "Imperio!" He then opened the cage and had the rooster walk out.
"Here," said Hermione as she handed both Sirius and Harry a blindfold. They noticed that her blindfold was on her head, right above her eyes so that it could be pulled down quickly when they encountered the beast. Once Sirius had his blindfold in the appropriate place, she handed him another small blindfold, which he put on the rooster. "We certainly don't want him to die before the basilisk, do we?"
Not willing to take any chances, Sirius slowly walked backwards, using a mirror to guide him. He managed to convince Hermione and Harry to pull their blindfolds down and hold his hand. That way, they wouldn't be petrified (or killed) if the monster surprised them, despite Tom Riddle's assertion that the basilisk won't come until it's called. Sirius said that he wouldn't be missed if he got petrified, while they would be. They'd switched which one was controlling the rooster, so that Hermione would be able to make it start crowing if Sirius got petrified. She had the rooster walking just ahead of her. At a certain point, Sirius said, "We're now walking around the old basilisk skin. You'll be able to get a better look at it once the basilisk is dead."
"Then I'll be able to see if it'll have any use," she agreed.
"Stop," Padfoot finally said. "We've reached the entrance. I'll play that command now." Sirius pulled the orb out and played the next hissed sentence, causing the door to open. He closed his eyes tightly and listened for any sound in case the snake was in there. After a minute of silence, Harry's godfather whispered, "I'm going to look in there with my mirror. If you hear me fall, or I don't answer you, have the rooster start crowing."
"Alright," said Harry. "Be careful. I really don't want to carry you out of here."
Squinting, Sirius looked in the mirror as he moved it around to get a full view of the chamber. He was ready to close his eyes the moment he saw anything move. "It seems like it's not loose," he finally declared. "You stay here and stick to the plan."
Hermione moved her blindfold up long enough to make the rooster take a few steps into the chamber get out of the way of the entrance (so it wasn't blocking Sirius) and readied herself to command the bird while Harry stayed beside her, holding her left hand. Padfoot walked up to the statue of Slytherin and placed the orb on it. Once it was there, he hurried back to Harry and Hermione. He pointed his wand at the orb to activate it one more time and pulled down his blindfold. Harry knew that the hisses he heard actually meant, `Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four," and was Tom Riddle's voice.
"Be ready," Harry whispered to his girlfriend, who silently nodded. They heard the mouth open and the sound of something slithering.
After a few seconds, Harry heard the rooster crow, "Ka-ka-doodle-doo!" The sound repeated itself, but was soon joined by an unearthly screaming that they all knew came from the snake. The sound was nearly unbearable, and the basilisk's agony was almost felt by anyone who heard the screams, but the rooster kept faithfully crowing.
After about forty seconds, there was a loud thud and soon the rooster's crow was the only sound in the room. After waiting another minute, Sirius finally asked, "Do you think I should check?"
"Use the mirror," Harry replied while Hermione pointlessly nodded.
Padfoot slowly pulled up his blindfold and looked in his mirror the same way he'd done before. He soon saw the basilisk upside down on the floor. The eyes were opened, but they no longer had the bright yellow color Hermione had described from her experience of being petrified. Somehow, they were darker. "I can see its eyes in the mirror and I'm still conscious," he said.
"You shouldn't have tried!" Harry whined.
"I had to find out," Sirius replied.
Hermione huffed at him. "Well, at least we'll make the rooster look directly at its eyes first."
"Alright," he said obediently. The bird, under Hermione's spell, walked back to them and Sirius removed its blindfold. "Okay. Send it back in." She did so, and nothing happened when the rooster looked at the snake's eyes.
Satisfied that it was safe, they entered the chamber and admired their work. Hermione then looked around in awe. "We should take this for ourselves and redecorate." She rounded on her boyfriend. "You never explored this place, did you?"
He shook his head, "No. After I beat the basilisk and destroyed the Horcrux, Ginny and I left to catch up with Ron." He sighed. "I never thought to return here."
"We should make this place ours, don't you think?"
"A New Marauders' den," declared Sirius enthusiastically.
Harry grinned at Hermione. "Sure, whatever you'd like, but we should probably wait on that until next term. Hopefully, Voldemort will be gone by then, so we can relax."
"Alright," she agreed with a gleam in her eyes. "Now, let's harvest the basilisk."
It was a grueling couple of hours as they got everything useful out of the corpse before vanishing it. They put everything, including Sirius, into Harry's special trunk, knowing they had it properly harvested and most of it would be good for decades. Anything that would go bad quickly, they'd sell in Knockturn Alley that summer under false identities. As they made their way out, Hermione determined that the shed skin was too old to be useful and vanished it. They rode Harry's broom (which had been in his trunk/watch) up to Myrtle's bathroom and found the ghost was waiting in there.
"Did you kill the monster?" she immediately demanded.
"Yes, we did, Myrtle," answered Harry, trying to sound kind, "But you can never tell anyone about it. I could get in trouble for being in a girl's bathroom."
Fluttering her eyebrows, the specter replied, "Anything for you, Harry. You're welcome to visit my toilet anytime you want." Winking, she added, "Especially alone."
"Er, thanks, Myrtle," he replied before looking at Hermione, who was grinning at him.
They scourgified each other to the point where they weren't noticeably dirty and put on their Invisibility cloaks.
They made their way to an empty room and went back a few more hours. They released Sirius, who had the rooster back in the cage, from Harry's trunk. He disillusioned himself and went to return it to Hagrid's pen while Harry and Hermione went to catch up with their classmate. They got to the right place and waited. After about fifteen minutes, they observed themselves walking with Neville and ditching him to travel in time. Once their other selves were gone, they took off their invisibility cloaks and left the empty classroom they'd been waiting in.
"Wait up, Neville," called Harry, once they'd put their cloaks away.
When he turned and saw that he was several feet ahead of the couple, he asked, "What took you so long?"
"I stopped to tie my shoe," replied Hermione.
"And I saw her do it, so I waited."
"We only noticed you hadn't stopped, just now," added Hermione.
They made their way to Gryffindor Tower, and Neville didn't understand why both his best friends went to their respective dorms, explaining that they both needed a shower. A few hours later, they met Sirius at a pre-arranged location and he returned to Harry's apartment/trunk.
--TM--
"Welcome, everybody, to the final Quidditch match of the year," announced Lee Jordan.
Harry grinned to himself as he flew into position. He'd wanted to play this match for over seven years. The first time around, he'd been unconscious in the Hospital Wing from protecting the Philosopher's Stone, but not this time. He was determined to catch the Snitch and win the Quidditch cup for Gryffindor this time around.
After Wood and the Ravenclaw Captain tried to break each other's hands as a meaningless sign of sportsmanship, the balls were released.
"And the lovely Angelina Johnson grabs the Quaffle and takes off. Wish she'd date me."
"Jordan!" said McGonagall.
"Sorry, Professor. Roger Davies steals the Quaffle from her. Lousy git! Sorry, professor. Fred or George Weasley - can't tell which - gave him a well-deserved Bludger to the body."
"Jordan!"
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall. Davies drops the ball and Katie Bell retrieves it. She's hit with a Bludger from the other team."
Harry scanned the pitch with his eyes as Lee Jordan's commentary told the story of Ravenclaw dominating the game, and he understood how they'd trounced Gryffindor in the original timeline. Even Wood couldn't block most of the shots the Ravenclaws took at him. Harry decided they must have studied Quidditch as much as every other subject.
After about an hour, the score was 200 to 60 in favor of Ravenclaw, when Harry finally saw the evasive golden Snitch. Seeing that he was closer to it than the opposing Seeker, who was on the other side of the pitch, he went for it as fast as his Nimbus 2000 could take him, avoiding a Bludger by an inch as he went. Finally, he reached out his hand and caught it.
"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins 210 to 200! And they win the House Cup!" It was a good thing they had won their two previous games and were ahead in points before the game began. Otherwise, they could've lost the Cup even while winning the game.
Harry looped the loop in celebration and then watched as Oliver Wood, with tears in his eyes, was presented the Quidditch Cup. He noticed Professor McGonagall smile at him as Wood gave her the trophy. As soon as Harry landed, he was immediately hugged by Hermione, who had pushed her way through the crowd. It took a lot of self-control for him not to kiss her in his excitement. He knew he'd be able to sneak a kiss or two with her later in private.
--TM--
The next day, Harry woke up late, as did most Gryffindors due to the party they'd had to celebrate winning the Quidditch Cup. It was a Sunday, and he and Hermione had agreed to do their workout a little bit later in the day. They didn't need to use the Time-Turner to find exercise time on the weekends - just the school days - and didn't want to get too dependant on it for everyday things. He hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs and to the Great Hall in hopes of getting there before the food disappeared.
He found Hermione was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Neville and others from their year, including Ron. He grinned as he sat as near her as he could, ending up across from her and two people down. The food was still present, so he loaded up his plate. "Morning, everybody," he said before he began eating.
He had just speared his last sausage with a fork, when a familiar voice came from behind him. "Mr. Potter, may we have a word with you?"
Harry glanced across the table at Hermione, who had moved there once everyone else left, before turning to see Dumbledore, the one who had spoken, and McGonagall standing there. "Of course," he said before putting the sausage in his mouth and taking a last drink of pumpkin juice. "I'll see you later, Hermione."
"Bye, Harry, Headmaster, Professor McGonagall," she said before getting up and leaving the Great Hall.
The three soon made their way to Dumbledore's office, where the mention of, "Chocolate Frogs," caused the gargoyle to move out of the way, allowing entrance.
Albus sat down at his desk, and with a twinkle in his eyes, offered a, "Lemon drop?" which both Minerva and Harry politely refused as they sat down across from him.
"Professor McGonagall informs me that you are less than happy with your situation at home," began the headmaster.
"Actually, I informed you of that last term, Headmaster."
"Ah, yes, while you were displaying your dissatisfaction with other authority figures," he replied.
"The ones who blatantly abuse that authority," said Minerva, causing Harry to smile.
"I'm afraid I must inform you that it is imperative that you spend your summer with the Dursleys, Harry," said Dumbledore, a bit more forcefully than usual.
Harry was getting upset, but trying to stay polite. "Sir, what concern are my summer plans to the headmaster of my school? Doesn't that exceed your authority?"
Harry could swear that he saw the aged wizard's ears turn a touch pink, but couldn't be sure. That was the only evidence that he was getting annoyed. "It may not technically be within my authority, but believe me that I have your best interests at heart." He sighed and looked grim. "I have reason to believe Voldemort is on the move."
While Minerva was flinching from the name, Harry asked, "What makes you think so?" genuinely curious as to whether his nemesis had been manifesting himself in a way Harry hadn't noticed.
"Bellatrix Lestrange's escape from Azkaban, for one. Also, over the past several months, many people who betrayed Voldemort have suffered fatal `accidents.'"
It took every bit of self-restraint Harry had to avoid bursting out laughing. "Y-you believe Voldemort is behind it?" he asked, doing his best to sound scared.
Albus nodded sagely. "Yes. I must inform you that there are incredibly powerful wards at your home to protect you from Voldemort…Wards that cannot be placed anywhere else."
While half-listening to Dumbledore's description of the wards, Harry contemplated his decision. If he showed no fear of Voldemort, or didn't take the warning seriously, it would make the headmaster suspicious. But he really didn't want to spend time with the Dursleys. But his mission wasn't about always being happy. He decided that it would be alright to bargain with Dumbledore.
"Can I leave before my birthday?" he asked, trying to sound like a kid.
"I'm sure you'd want to celebrate your birthday with your family," Albus countered.
Looking straight into the aged wizard's eyes, Harry replied, "The Dursleys don't celebrate my birthday, and they are NOT my family."
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid…"
"Albus," cut in Minerva. "Surely you won't force him to spend yet another miserable birthday with those…people! You told me he only needed a month there to renew the wards. He'll be arriving at home the night of the 20th of June. The month will be over more than a week before his birthday."
Harry saw Dumbledore momentarily glare at his Deputy Headmistress for a split second before resuming his grandfatherly face. Obviously, he hadn't wanted Harry to know that information. Harry immediately jumped at his chance. "I'll leave there on July 21st then."
Sighing, Albus conceded, "The night of the 22nd, Harry, or better yet, the morning of the 23rd. It takes thirty-one days for the wards to fully recharge. That will still be over a week before your birthday." He sighed. "Incidentally, where will you be staying after you leave? The Granger residence?"
"Possibly. I'll have to arrange it with them. A few other friends have also invited me to spend some time at their houses. We'll see." Harry then added, "If security is an issue, wouldn't it be better for as few people to know where I am as possible, so that no one can give away the information, deliberately or otherwise?" Dumbledore nodded. "With that in mind, I probably shouldn't tell anyone, including you, my finalized plans, don't you agree?"
Albus looked surprised while Minerva grinned. "I suppose. However, make sure you do stay with the Dursleys for those thirty-one days before leaving."
"Yes, sir," replied Harry.
"You're dismissed. Have a good summer."
--TM--
Without Snape cheating, the Slytherins had the lowest amount of House points they'd ever had in history, so Gryffindor, with their recent Quidditch victory, easily won the House Cup, without any last-minute points. Ravenclaw came in second with Hufflepuff in third. At the closing feast, Dumbledore made an announcement that Professor Lupin had chosen to take a year off for a personal matter.
The next morning, Harry and Hermione took the Hogwarts Express with the rest of the students. Surprisingly, Draco did not show up to bother them. "Maybe he's actually learning to leave us alone," commented Hermione.
"Hopefully," said Harry. They were sitting with Neville and a few others in their year, and the train had just stopped. Harry said, "Bye," to everyone and walked off the train with Hermione. "Before I left last September, I told the Dursleys that if I had to stay with them, I'd take the Knight Bus, so they didn't need to pick me up here, so I don't have to look for them."
"There are my parents," she said, and together they walked toward the Grangers. "Hi, mum, dad!"
"Hi, Adam, Marissa," said Harry while his girlfriend hugged her parents. He and Hermione had been sneaking to their house every month to have their braces adjusted, so they were no strangers to him.
"Hi, Harry," said Adam Granger as he shook his hand. Marissa soon engulfed Harry in a hug.
"So, are the Dursleys here to pick you up?" asked Marissa. Neither of Hermione's parents would ever forget the phone conversation they'd had with that family at Christmastime.
"No," replied Harry while shaking his head. "I told them I'd take the Wizarding bus like I did to get here last September."
"And, naturally, they didn't care enough to want to pick you up," added Adam, shaking his head. "How would you feel if I put in a complaint about them to child services?"
Harry half-grinned at the man. "Thanks, but I doubt it would do any good. I firmly believe that Dumbledore has already Obliviated people trying to do the same thing before and would easily do it again."
"Obliviated?" asked Marissa.
"Erase their memories," replied Hermione with distaste. "It's a spell used quite frequently on muggles to stop them from remembering when they see magic."
Adam's face turned pink. "That's terrible! They could do anything to someone - torture, rape - and then the victim wouldn't remember it! Is that one of those Unforgivable curses you once mentioned?"
"No," said Harry, remembering the things he and Hermione had caught Death Eaters doing to muggle victims. "But it should be. Anyway, I'll only be staying there about a month, and leaving a week before my birthday."
Harry explained what Albus had said, and reminded them that he actually lives in his trunk while there and would visit them (and they could visit him). The Grangers offered to drive him to the Dursleys, so he took them up on the offer. They went to a restaurant first and then dropped him off, making sure that he got inside the house before they drove off.
Harry knocked on the door, which was opened about thirty seconds later by Petunia. "So, you're back," she said nastily. "Couldn't get any of your Freaky friends to take you in?"
"May I come in?" he asked, and she moved out of the way. Once the door was closed, he said, "I'll be leaving in a month. Until then, it's the same rules as last summer. Just leave my room alone and you won't know I'm here."
"Fine," she replied, so he walked up the stairs, entered his room and locked the door.
--TM--
At the same time, a rather old couple was leaving Hogwarts Castle. Based off of their white hair and the man's long, white beard, as well as their shapes, you'd think it was Santa and Mrs. Claus. Their robes weren't red, though. They were purple. They had just picked up an item that they'd loaned to their friend, Albus Dumbledore, nearly a year before.
"I must admit, Perenelle, it feels good to have the Stone back in our possession."
"I agree, Nicolas," she said. "It's too bad that Young Albus was unable to lure Voldemort with this bait, but in a way, I'm glad that monster didn't come into this school full of children."
"Quite so," he agreed as they neared the border of the Hogwarts grounds, where they'd be able to Apparate home. "I'll feel safer once this stone is back under our Fidelius Charm. That's for sure. In any case, we should've given Albus a fake stone to use as bait, and not the real one."
"Avada Kedavra," came a voice from behind the old man.
"NICOLAS!!!!" shouted Perenelle, as she watched her husband of over six-hundred years fall on his face, dead. She turned as she pulled her wand, to see nothing but a distortion. The killer was obviously disillusioned.
A yellow beam of light shot from the attacker's invisible wand, which Perenelle barely managed to dodge, but she was already getting out of breath because her body wasn't in good shape. The next Death Curse to leave the attacker's wand hit its target, and Perenelle Flamel fell next to her husband.
The still-invisible attacker searched Nicolas' robes for a few moments before finding the Philosopher's Stone. "You haven't accomplished anything in over a hundred years, old fool. What was the point of your continued existence? You were no longer worthy of this gift. I shall make much better use of it." With that said, the killer Apparated away.
--TM--
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