Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
The Time Meddlers
Chapter Eighteen - The Death of Kings
It was early on the morning of the twenty-third of July that Harry unlocked the door to his bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive for hopefully the last time. He was wearing his watch, which carried every possession he owned aside from the clothes he was wearing and his wands, which were with him at all times. He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath. He then marched down the steps to officially leave the house for the first time that summer.
He had just reached the first floor when he heard his aunt gasp. "I take it you're leaving for the year, boy?"
He turned to face his mother's sister and noticed that the house wasn't quite as spotless as he'd always kept it. Obviously, the horse-faced woman was having a hard time keeping up with Dudley's messes. "Yes, Aunt Petunia. Hopefully, I won't have to return next year, but if I do…"
"Fine," she snapped. "If you can't con someone into taking you the whole summer next year then you'll get the same deal. I will NOT feed you nor tolerate your presence at all. Now, off with you."
"Bye," he said before walking out the door. He took a look at the garden that his aunt had clearly not been taking proper care of and walked off. Once he was a few blocks away, he put on a hooded robe to obscure his face and summoned the Knight Bus. He began to wonder if it would be better to use Polyjuice to morph into random muggles whenever he was going anywhere out in public after he got Stan Shunpike to stop asking him questions. It was only two minutes after he sat down that the bus stopped at the Granger residence. He exited the bus, walked up to the familiar door and knocked.
"Harry!" shouted Hermione as soon as she opened the door. She engulfed him in a hug that he readily returned.
"He visited just yesterday," commented Mr. Granger. "There's no need for that much excitement."
"Adam," scolded his wife while the young couple broke apart. "This time is different. He's now staying here and won't have to see those horrid relatives of his for a year." To prove her point, Mrs. Granger also gave Harry a brief hug.
"Sorry, Marissa," Adam replied before shaking Harry's hand. "Harry, welcome to our home."
"Thanks for letting me stay here."
"You know where your room is," said Adam, "and since you don't need help carrying your luggage," he indicated the wonderful watch Harry was wearing, "I suggest you get unpacked while Marissa and I go to work."
"Yes, sir," he replied and walked up the stairs with Hermione.
"Did you have to see the Dursleys on you way out?" she asked.
"Just Aunt Petunia. The others were still asleep."
"Oh."
"I noticed the house wasn't sparkling like she's always liked."
Hermione half-smiled. "She's probably learning how hard it is to keep a house clean without you doing all the work."
"Yeah, especially with Dudley around to mess everything up. If I had a Knut for every time I'd mopped a floor and Dud would purposely track mud in, I'd…" He trailed off.
"But those days are over now," she replied while putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. They heard the Grangers' car start up outside.
"I know," he replied, before leaning forward and kissing her.
--TM--
The next week was quite enjoyable. Even though he'd been able to visit using his vanishing cabinet, it wasn't the same as actually staying at the Grangers' house. He and Hermione would exercise outside every day and practice magic inside his trunk. On the day before Harry's birthday, he and Hermione took a trip on the Knight Bus to the mansion belonging to a certain ancient, noble pureblood home and walked up to the door. Harry knocked.
POP! A small house elf wearing a clean, burgundy-colored tea cosy appeared in front of the couple. "Welcome to Longbottom Manor," she said in a squeaky voice before bowing to them. "May Missy be asking who you two is be…" The elf's eyes bulged out when she noticed the lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead. "You is being Harry Potter, sir!" she said excitedly.
"Yes, and this is my friend, Hermione Granger. We're here to see Neville."
"Make yourselves comfortable," she said before snapping her fingers, causing the door to open. "I is getting Master Neville Longbottom," she replied before disappearing with a small pop.
"I guess we'll show ourselves in," said Harry before walking in with Hermione. Once the two of them were inside, the door closed itself. They looked around the large room they found themselves in. It was full of obviously expensive artwork and made Harry feel like he was in a museum rather than a home. His eyes finally rested on a plush sofa and he went there to sit down, making sure not to touch anything else on his way there. Hermione joined him just as Neville arrived in the room.
"Hi, Harry, Hermione," he called out.
"Happy birthday, Neville," they said together.
"Thanks, guys," he replied while blushing. Over the summer, he'd sent letters to both Harry and Hermione. She had received hers while Dobby intercepted the ones aimed at the Boy-Who-Lived. Hermione had written that Harry wasn't receiving his letters for some reason, but that she frequently saw Harry, so Neville started sending both Hermione and Harry's letters to her, while Harry responded through Hermione. They obviously didn't admit they knew who was intercepting Harry's letters.
Harry was reaching into his pocket for his gift when Augusta Longbottom entered the room. She was wearing fancy dark green dress robes and had her gray hair in a bun. Fortunately, she was not wearing her famous vulture hat.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger," she said formally. "Welcome to Longbottom Manor." Harry couldn't help notice her eyes briefly flick up to his famous scar.
"It's good to meet you, Mrs. Longbottom," said Harry politely. Hermione expressed a similar sentiment.
Fortunately, she didn't say anything about his fame. Instead, she said, "It was quite considerate of you to visit Neville on his birthday. He's never had any friends over bef…"
"Gran!"
"Hush, Neville," she said while giving her grandson a stern look that clearly said, `Shut up!' She turned back to Harry. "I understand that your birthday is tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, "but today is Neville's birthday." He then held out a small package to Neville while Hermione did the same.
Neville's eyes lit up. "Thanks, guys, you didn't have to…"
"We wanted to," interrupted Hermione.
He quickly tore open the presents to find Harry had given him seeds for a rare magical plant and Hermione had given him a book on caring for it. The young couple then gave an impromptu rendition of `Happy Birthday to You,' while Augusta looked on with a frown, but Harry could see a smile in the older woman's eyes. Neville gave them a brief tour of a greenhouse that was in the back yard, and then they were invited to stay for lunch, where a cake was served as well.
Harry and Hermione went back to her house a little after 1 p.m., satisfied that they had made Neville's birthday much happier than it had been in the original time.
--TM--
The next day, Harry and Hermione both were on the lookout for a house elf, figuring that Dobby would've followed Harry to the Granger residence once he'd publicly left the Dursleys. It was about 11 a.m. when Harry finally spotted the elf hiding behind a bush in the back yard while Hermione was inside reading. He wasn't sure how wise it was, but Harry decided to take the direct approach.
Looking straight at the little ear that was sticking out from the bush, Harry said, "Dobby, come on out. I know you're there.
An astonished house elf slowly poked his head out from the bush. "How, how is Harry Potter knowing Dobby?"
"That's not important. Have a seat." He indicated a lawn chair near the pool, and Dobby immediately started crying.
"Sit down?"
Harry grinned. "Of course. Come on." Dobby complied and Harry continued speaking. "I know you've been intercepting my mail. I also know your master, Lucius Malfoy, is planning to slip Voldemort's…" Dobby flinched at the name. "…diary to Ginny Weasley so that she'll be possessed and forced to open the Chamber of Secrets."
Dobby's eye grew even bigger. "Dobby has heard of Harry Potter's greatness, but how is Harry Potter so wise?"
"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that I've already killed the basilisk in that chamber, and will retrieve Tom Riddle's diary before it can cause any harm." He paused dramatically while the elf was staring at him in awe. "Which means there'll be no danger at Hogwarts, so no reason for me not to attend."
"Harry Potter is slaying the basilisk?" he questioned.
"Yes. It was simple with a rooster, although I did have some help."
"Harry Potter is modest and humble," the elf replied solemnly, "but he is being a great wizard."
"I need you to promise not to tell anyone about this conversation, Dobby," he said sternly. "If you even accidentally alert your master, he might change his plans, and then I could be in danger…the whole school could be in danger."
"Of course, Sir Harry Potter, Dobby is keeping Harry Potter's secrets even if Dobby is having to iron his hands," the elf vowed before popping away.
Harry vowed to himself to try and free Dobby, although he wasn't sure how to do it. He immediately went inside to tell his girlfriend how the visit went. The Grangers threw Harry a small birthday party that night, which he declared his best birthday ever. The adult Grangers gave Harry a Spider-Man novel while Hermione gave him a set of The Chronicles of Narnia.
--TM--
The Grangers, the Longbottoms and Harry did the necessary Hogwarts shopping together, on a day Lockhart would not be signing autographs at Flourish and Blotts, because Harry most definitely did not want to be photographed with the fraud on the front page of the Daily Prophet. However, Harry and Hermione, along with Sirius Black, did make sure they were in the area on that day.
Disillusioned, the three of them were waiting in Knockturn Alley on the nineteenth of August. Harry grinned when he saw Lucius and Draco enter the dreaded Alley and boldly strut toward Borgin and Burkes. They had discussed whether or not they should wait until after the blond purebloods had conducted their business or not, and decided there was no reason to delay.
Sirius Black knew that no one in this part of town got involved in `other people's business' such as murder in the street, so the plan was a simple one. Padfoot had asked to be allowed to be the one to kill the man who'd Imperius'd his cousin Narcissa into marrying him and made her life a nightmare. While it was tempting to kill Draco as well, Harry and Hermione decided to keep with the vow they'd made to each other before they'd begun meddling with time that they wouldn't execute the kids who hadn't done anything worthy of death yet. While the morality of what they'd been doing was questionable, they did have a line they wouldn't cross. They would not kill someone just for being an annoying git.
With that in mind, the invisible group got behind the Malfoy males in broad daylight and cast their silent spells. Harry stunned Draco while Sirius used a severing charm on his victim's throat. Hermione summoned the diary, which ripped its way through Lucius' fancy robes. Just before Apparating away, Harry silently awakened Draco so that none of the hags would find him unconscious. He still shuddered when he thought of the collection of fingers he'd seen with one on this very day in another lifetime. Harry left before he could see Draco's reaction to his father's death.
--TM--
A few minutes later, in Flourish and Blotts, an owl flew in carrying an envelope to the Daily Prophet reporter who was working the Lockhart story. He accepted the package and read the first letter, and noticed seven other parchments. The letter simply said,
To whom it may concern:
Gilderoy Lockhart, who recently accepted the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, has forced every single one of his future students to purchase all of his books, by putting all of them on the booklist for every year. Enclosed is a copy of every year's booklist to prove this.
Sincerely,
Someone who hates to see children being taken advantage of.
After glancing through the booklists and asking a few random students and parents from the crowd to confirm this information, the reporter publicly asked Gilderoy about it, which caused several parents to get upset while Lockhart began to sweat. His face was pale and he was not smiling when he announced that he'd decided to change it to only one book per year, and specified which one it would be for each level at Hogwarts.
When it came time for the photograph, two invisible strangers interfered with that as well. Harry did the Levicorpus hex while Hermione removed Lockhart's trousers in front of everyone while the picture was being taken.
All of this was put in the newspaper article, along with the offer of that bookstore to give refunds to any student that had already purchased all of his books. However, that was not the story that made the front page.
Prominent Citizen Lucius Malfoy Murdered in Knockturn Alley
By Anna Jesse
Yesterday, Lucius Malfoy, a personal friend of Minister Cornelius Fudge, decided that it would be a good idea to take his son Draco on a stroll through Knockturn Alley. This proved to be a fatal mistake because as soon as they were out of sight the pair was attacked from behind. The boy was stunned, but the man who had made many financial contributions to charitable causes such as St. Mungo's Hospital was murdered with a severing charm to his throat. The boy was revived in time to hear a small pop signaling apparition. It appears that something was summoned from Mr. Malfoy's pockets, but neither his son nor his widow - Narcissa Malfoy (formerly Black, sister of escaped criminal Bellatrix Lestrange) - knows what, or has told this reporter anyway.
Minister Fudge has stated that this is a tragic example of why people should avoid Knockturn Alley at all costs. He further stated that, "Lucius was no doubt on a misguided charitable mission to give money to the underprivileged people that live in that area. As noble as his purpose was, he should've left the distribution of his donations in the hands of properly trained Ministry personnel. We can only be grateful that the cowardly murderers had enough of a sense of honor not to kill the boy as well. Mr. Malfoy's death is a great loss to us all."
There has been some speculation that this was also the work of Bellatrix Lestrange, who did kill three family members when she escaped Azkaban earlier this year, but there is no proof of that.
--TM--
Once that mission was completed and the diary destroyed, Sirius had another appointment to keep, and wasn't too excited about it.
"But you've got to do it, Sirius!" argued Harry.
"But what if I get killed? What if I…"
"You agreed to do it, and know that it's necessary," interrupted Hermione.
"But I…"
"You agreed that it would be much better if you did not have a magical disguise that could be detected and removed with a simple Finite," argued Harry.
"But a muggle surgery?"
"The plastic surgery will give you a new life," said Hermione.
"What if he turns my face into plastic?" he asked with an expression of fear.
Harry burst out laughing while Hermione was doing her best not to. "Just go. You'll be glad you did it once it's over."
"He said it'll take weeks for my face to heal."
"That's if we don't use magic to heal it faster," said Hermione. "By this time tomorrow you'll be completely recovered with a new face."
"Fine," he huffed. As much as he hated the idea of the surgery, he was eager to start his new life as muggle-born Terry Cochran, and knew this was a necessary evil. Besides, he thought that the face he'd chosen was even better looking than his own and looked forward to charming the witches he'd meet in his new life.
Sirius Apparated to near the hospital where they'd arranged to have the surgery done (under a false name) and was joined a few moments later by an invisible couple. Their job was to watch over the procedure until it was finished, Obliviate everyone involved of the particulars of that case, heal Sirius and Apparate out together. Everything happened without any problems, but Harry soon turned away from the operating table, wishing he'd gone to the waiting room with his latest comic book instead of watching the disgusting, bloody procedure. Hermione made sure to change the hospital's computer records before they left.
--TM--
Over the rest of August, Harry, Hermione and Sirius noticed a few disappearances reported in the Daily Prophet that were attributed to Bellatrix Lestrange, but not too many. They figured that they were unsolved crimes in the previous timeline, but now had a scapegoat. After all, the Ministry of Magic was founded on the principle that no crime shall ever be truly investigated. The only Death Eaters that were sent to Azkaban either confessed or were ratted out by someone who confessed. In the case of Sirius Black, the Aurors who arrived at the scene of the crime merely asked a few muggles what they saw and Obliviated them, then arrested the wizard at the scene. If Padfoot had left the scene of the crime, he'd probably never have been charged with it. Since no one came forward and confessed to these new crimes, they simply blamed the first person they could think of, who happened to be Bellatrix Lestrange.
During the last week of August, a man with black hair and gray eyes who appeared to be in his thirties strolled into Gringotts carrying an elegant briefcase and wearing a muggle Armani suit with a cloak draped around it. The man once known as Sirius Black no longer had the aristocratic, somewhat haughty good looks he'd had before his imprisonment. Now his face had a more easygoing appearance and was a bit rounder. His nose was also rounder, along with many other distinct changes that made it impossible to believe he was a member of the ancient and noble house of Black. Because of how different his face was, Sirius had decided to keep his hair and eye color the same, although he had a different, shorter haircut than usual, at least for now. He thought he might change that in a year or two after people got used to seeing him. He was also clean-shaven, something Sirius Black was not known to be. He walked up to the counter.
"May I help you?" asked the goblin.
"Yes," answered Padfoot. "My name is Terry Cochran and I'd like to open an account here."
"Business or personal?"
"Business. I've just purchased premises and will be opening a shop here in Diagon Alley."
"Very well. Do you have your deposit with you?"
With a grin, Padfoot put his briefcase on the counter, changed a number on what appeared to be the combination lock and opened it, revealing that there was more room on the inside than outside, and it was filled with Galleons. In truth the combination lock was actually the setting for which compartment it opens to. The actual security of the briefcase was magically set so that only he could open it. "Will this be enough?"
The goblin suddenly seemed very eager to please, and soon he found himself with a new vault. Instead of the more secure blood identification, he used his wand as the way to prove his identity in the future, for obvious reasons. He couldn't risk them identifying his blood belonging to Sirius Black, and no one had a record of his wand before then, and since he claimed he was from another country, they wouldn't think anything of the fact that Ollivander hadn't made his wand.
Inspired by Harry's tale of the Weasley Twins, Sirius had decided that Terry Cochran's career would be owning and operating a joke shop. Over the past few weeks, he'd acquired premises and made a ton of things similar to what he and his friends had created mayhem with at Hogwarts. His grand opening was the next day, and he'd arranged for all the advertising he could. He'd have loved to call it `The Marauder's Den' but knew that it would be too obvious and he'd get caught. Therefore, he decided to call it, `The Troublemaker's Paradise.' He figured that in a few years he could offer those Weasley Twins a partnership if he was successful.
--TM--
Due to the Time-Turner, at the exact same time that Harry and Hermione were having breakfast with her parents and Terry Cochran was having the grand opening of his new joke shop, where incidentally, the Weasley Twins did show up and make a few purchases, the three of them were in Albania. Since they'd destroyed Riddle's diary, they'd spent time in some part of that country every day trying to locate Voldemort. They were relieved to find that, according to rumor, something was still in the forest terrorizing animals and whatever people were foolish enough to enter it. Since the theft of the Philosopher's Stone, they'd feared that Riddle had left Albania.
They'd narrowed the area to a twenty kilometer radius and from the outer edge took readings for dark magic, which led them toward the center. Instead of treading inside the forest, they were disillusioned and riding on broomsticks just above the tree line.
"It seems strongest right below us," said Hermione after a few hours of carefully flying around and taking readings.
After taking a deep breath, Harry said, "Get ready for anything. Let's go." He quickly flew down and saw a large snake wrapped around a lion and just sinking its teeth into the king of the jungle's throat. The reptile's eyes were glowing red. Harry aimed his wand at the snake's head while the lion died. "Sectumsempra!" he whispered, shooting the dark cutting curse at the possessed serpent. As the head was separating from its body, Harry heard terrible hissing and wondered what he'd have heard if he were still a Parselmouth and could understand it. A greenish smoke started to leave the snake, but it suddenly screamed something unintelligible and vanished.
As Harry released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, a female voice from next to him said, "He must have been trying to leave that body for another before he realized he no longer had Horcruxes anchoring him to this world."
"I guess," he answered before smiling widely. "It's really over. Voldemort's really dead!"
With a broad grin, Sirius added, "You did it, pup. You fulfilled your prophecy."
All three of them were ecstatic as they portkeyed back to where they belonged, glad that Albania didn't bother monitoring magical travel. Voldemort was completely dead!
--TM--
That night, a man whose throat was dry from making empty promises and whose hands were tired from taking bribes arrived at his mansion. His wife was away for a few days visiting some of her relatives, so he expected the house to be empty. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't.
Stepping out of the shadows, a figure emerged, pointing a wand at the Minister of Magic. "Hello, Fudge."
Cornelius' eyes bulged out. "You're…"
"You may call me…"
With a trembling, sweaty hand, the Minister reached for his wand, which was silently summoned to the other side of the room.
"…the Shadow of death."
"No!"
"Avada Kedavra!" The green beam of light hit Fudge right between the eyes. He fell to the floor with a look of terror in his eyes.
--TM--
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