Unofficial Portkey Archive

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and related characters are the property of JK Rowling, various publishing companies, Warner Brothers, etc. I'm not making any money from this. If I was, I'd probably get a new computer or something.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Since it has been a while since I posted an update, I thought it would be better if I just go ahead and post this next chapter too. Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Five

A Promise Redacted

James and Lily both took their great-grandmother's suggestions seriously and had taken their mind off of what they had been doing by having a normal meal with their remaining relatives, followed up with a refreshing nap. They couldn't help noticing once again how exhausted their Grandmama looked by the time she left the table. Lily was going to ask her if she was feeling okay, but then Fred challenged the two of them to an exciting game of Exploding Snap before they went to their respective rooms.

When they finally awoke from their nap, they were able to duck out into the hallway and go through the secret passageway. As they silently climbed the hidden staircase together, they shared a quick eyeroll and a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "Here we go again!"

As they reached the once-again darkened attic room at the top of the stairs, by their wand light they saw that the chairs, table, books and scrolls were all as they had left them earlier that day, and that there was a fresh pitcher of pumpkin juice with clean glassware, dessert plates, and silverware already set out in preparation for the evening's studies. James was also excited to detect a slight lemony scent coming from a covered silver platter. However, they were disappointed to see that Hermione was not there yet.

Taking advantage of the unexpected privacy, James and Lily spoke almost in unison. "So, James..." "So, Lily..." followed by a laughing "You go first..." "No, Sis, you can go ahead."

Lily smiled as she pulled her chair up to the table. "So... James...what do you think?"

James sat down heavily and took his head in his hands. "I...I'm not sure, Sis. At first it was just so hard for me to get my head wrapped around this whole time-travel idea, and then you had to throw in this concept of 'different realities' and then things really stopped making sense, at least to me."

He sighed, and then continued. "How about you? Did anything that Grandmama told you when I was catching up on my reading make it any easier for you to understand? I mean, there are so many different inconsistencies and 'little things' that bother me already with what she's told us. In fact, I still have some concerns about certain aspects of all this background she's been sharing with us -some details just don't seem to make any sense. I've been struggling with figuring out a way to express those concerns to Grandmama without offending her or challenging her, but I haven't been able to yet."

Lily nodded her head in sympathy. "Believe me, James, even now that I've read all this material, then listened carefully to Grandmama using the drawings to explain what she was talking about, there are times when I still think that it doesn't make any sense. But I keep on listening to her...and it starts fitting together in my mind so it makes a little sense - at least in my mind. I'm sure it is worse for you, since you haven't had the diagrams explained to you."

James smiled in relief. "Thanks, Sis - that makes me feel better. Up until now, I've been a bit jealous of the fact that you got that extra session with her while I was reading. But now that you said that I guess it probably wouldn't make any difference. If you as a Head Girl and top of the Ravenclaw class on all your O.W.Ls didn't really gain any insights from that timeline, I'm sure I would be completely lost from the first diagram."

From the shadows of the darkened attic, a familiar, yet unexpected voice broke in. "James, don't sell yourself short. I lived through all of this and sometimes I'm still not sure I believe all of it... or really understand those infernally complex drawings."

"Grandpapa Harry!" they both exclaimed happily. "What are you doing here?"

As he waved his wand to bring up the lights in the room, he responded in the same way Hermione had to the same query a few days earlier. "Well, I live here, actually. Or had you forgotten?" He reached out his arms and they quickly went over to give and get a big hug from their well-loved (and still famous) ancestor.

As they all returned to the table, Lily asked Harry, "Where's Grandmama?"

James caught a quick flash of concern and… guilt cross Harry's face as he said, "She's... resting. You two youngsters probably don't realize how tiring and draining, not to mention difficult, this is for her to go through time and time again with each of her posterity when they are old enough to listen to this bit of family history. She's not getting any younger, you know," he said testily.

He lifted the cover off the platter, revealing his favorite dessert. "All you need to know is that she made you this wonderful treacle tart while you were napping, and I'm to carry on in her place this evening, if that's okay with you." They quickly nodded, as they looked forward to any time they could spend with their great-grandfather Harry. Even though he was "officially" retired, he still maintained a busy schedule consulting both at the Ministry and at Hogwarts.

"Now, if it makes you both feel better," he continued, as he served everyone some treacle tart with clotted cream and poured the pumpkin juice, "I'll tell you my opinion about your concerns. Personally I think it all comes down to the inherent 'incomprehensibility' of trying to describe a time travel experience adequately using the written or spoken word. It's partly a result of what Muggles call the Grandfather paradox, and it's partly the 'WHAT???' factor that requires a suspension of disbelief to ignore whatever the concerns are in any discussion that involves time-travel.

"But, the only thing that matters, at least from my standpoint, is that what you have heard and what you will hear and read in the future from your great-grandmother is the honest, complete, unadulterated truth, as far as we can remember - even the parts of the story that don't seem to have anything to do with the main story and probably don't really matter one way or another. We may have forgotten a few details over the years, but all you really need to remember is that I...well, we, lived through it. We've born testimony to that effect before the Wizengamot during Dolores and Rita's trial in Courtroom Ten as to the truthfulness of this story as we both lived it", he said emphatically, "whether or not it makes a lot of sense to people who haven't experienced what we went through."

James and Lily both put down their forkfuls of tart and their eyes widened at the mention of the Wizengamot. Lily asked quickly, "When did that happen, Grandpapa? Is there a record of your testimony at the Ministry available for review?"

"Hmm... well... about that. It's difficult to answer your question with anything other than 'yes...and no.' You see, as with any testimony before the Wizarding Council, there was a complete and very accurate record made at the time. However, due to the nature of the testimony and the possible effect of that testimony on both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds... well, the testimony is, as the Ministry records will show if you know where to look, '...no longer available for public access.'"

"No longer available?" James asked. "Does that mean it was destroyed or what?"

"Or what." Harry replied impishly as his eyes flicked almost imperceptibly to the bookcase. "Let's just say it is safe from prying eyes and leave it at that. Besides that, the time travel portions of our testimony at the trial that the Ministry did allow to be accessed for a short time was so heavily censored - redacted, in lawyer-speak - that it was almost useless to anyone who would try to read it.

"Many of these parchment scrolls, by the time the censors got through with them, that is, appeared to be blank. If you ignored the warnings and tried to use any kind of a revealing spell on them to remove the redaction spell you were covered with permanent spattergroit spots from head to toe. That was Hermione's handiwork, actually," he said with obvious pride. "She figured if they were going to redact the documents, she wanted it done right so she volunteered her services."

Lily's scowled. "More secrecy, then? As I asked Grandmama earlier, 'Why the big secret?' I know she doesn't think most wizards could handle it as a group, but here we are, two Hogwarts students hearing the whole story, and we haven't gone batty yet."

Harry chuckled humorlessly. "Give it time, my dear. Give it time. Don't be so sure you won't. You haven't heard the whole story yet." He glanced at the large clock in the corner of the attic and said, "In fact, we'd better stop chatting so I can get this done before... oh, never mind about that."

His face lit up in a grin as he began to fire off a series of strange questions. "First, if I could have your attention while we go over the safety procedures. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and if at any point you become disoriented, there's nothin' we can do about it. Have you removed all of your jewelry? Are you allergic to shellfish? Have you turned off all of your electronic devices? Have you buckled your seatbelts and made sure that your seat backs and tray tables are in their upright and locked positions? Have you reviewed the safety instructions in the pocket in front of you? Always remember that in the event of a water landing, your seat cushion can serve as a flotation device! Please take note of where the nearest exit is located... it may be behind you! Are you both ready to go?"

Both James and Lily, who had no idea what their great-grandfather was going on about (and wondered if today was the day he started going senile), smiled weakly and said, "Sure, Grandpapa....whatever you say. We're ready when you are."

Harry, who obviously knew that the youngsters wouldn't understand his references to Muggle airplane travel restrictions in the late 20^th and early 21^st century, mixed in with a few lines from a Muggle movie he remembered seeing with Hermione the summer after they were married, chuckled internally. <Got to keep my reputation as a barmy old codger up somehow. But it's still sad that kids these days don't understand my sense of humor.> He then smiled at them and said, "Okay! Let's make it happen, Cap'n! What do you want to know about first?"

Lily spoke up first. "Well, Grandmama had mentioned something about Dumbledore using you as a 'cat's paw'. Could you tell us about that? I mean, based on how he's described at the end of the first scroll, he doesn't seem to be all that bad of a person, right? You were at least acting civilly towards him."

James noticed Harry's neck muscles tightening quickly as his eyes focused on a far off memory. "Ah... yes. Albus Dumbledore. I wasn't sure if Hermione was that far along in the story or not. Well, that is as good a place as any, I suppose. Now pay attention, you too. I may repeat some things that Hermione has already mentioned, but that's okay," he said as he closed his eyes and sat back in his chair for a moment, apparently gathering his strength. Then he started to speak in a quiet, yet clear voice.

"First, the only reason I 'acted civilly' with Albus after my future wife rescued me at the end of the first scroll was at her request. The more I was around either Dumbledore in either timeline, the more of a bad feeling I had about him, even before we found out that it was part of Dumbledore's master plan to take over the Muggles and 'protect' them. If either of us had known about that then, well, let's just say you wouldn't have used the term 'civil' to describe our actions towards him.

"There were just a few minor problems he had to figure out a way to overcome - the first of which was the International Statute of Secrecy, not to mention any number of other major wizarding laws and ordinances he would have to ignore or actively violate to accomplish his goals. But he figured out early on that he needed an emissary - someone who would be a bridge between the Wizarding and Muggle worlds, and then he needed a way to 'introduce' this emissary to the Muggles in such a way that they would accept him openly, thereby eventually leading to their acceptance of Wizards in general, and finally Dumbledore specifically as the 'benevolent, yet powerful' Wizard who would help them if they would only accept his control over them 'for the Muggles' own good.'" He snorted derisively.

"To make a long, boring story much shorter, as part of his investigations and research into time travel in the Department of Mysteries over the years he came across evidence of the existence of an extremely large number of parallel universes that were very similar to the one he lived in, along with an unimaginably large number of other universes that were populated with many combinations of different environments, creatures, peoples, and other things that you wouldn't think of in your dizziest daydreams.

"After more experimental work with certain magical instruments that he 'borrowed' and kept with him in the Headmaster's office from then on, he was finally able to find a way to first, identify, and then, travel at will between these different universes - at least the ones that had an environment that was safe for both Wizard Folk and Muggles to live in. Then, he began to observe the similarities between them, and, most importantly, the differences."

"Differences? Like what, Grandpapa?" Lily asked.

"The only difference he was interested in was the presence or absence of representatives of the true Wizarding race living in the same world as Muggles." Harry responded. "But, even in worlds that were populated with Muggles that followed parallel development paths, there were differences in some of the finer details of their respective world histories - some of which were more important than others, but they were still different. Eventually he discovered an alternate reality that contained almost an exact duplicate of his world, except there weren't any true Wizards, dragons, hippogriffs, elves, goblins, centaurs, or anything magical as we know it there - just Muggles.

"What made this reality ideal for his purposes, though, was the fact that for some reason the Muggles there had a lot of legends, fairy tales, and other stories about wizards, dragons, hippogriffs, elves, goblins, centaurs, and magic, along with some misguided folks who described themselves as witches or wizards or 'magic users' over that world's history. But, if you were to meet one you'd realize right away that they were at most pretenders meddling in things they should have left alone - they were never part of the true Wizarding race. You can tell that they are fakes right away - they age at the same rate as the other humans in their world, not half as fast after 'coming of age' as our race does compared to Muggles."

Harry took a drink of juice and continued. "This, he realized, was exactly the reality he was looking for - a world where, if his plans went awry, there wouldn't actually be a violation of the various statutes - he reasoned that if there weren't actually any true Wizards in that world to expose to the Muggles, there couldn't be any harm done. He also guessed, correctly, I might add, that the whole story would originally be explained away as a 'work of fiction' by the general populace, and anyone who actually believed it to be true would be considered somewhat immature or uneducated."

Lily thought for a moment, then asked another question. "But what does this alternate reality have to do with you? You weren't there - you and Grandmama were part of the reality where Albus came from, right?"

"Lily, let's just say you're getting ahead of the story. But you're correct in one idea, at least - I wasn't part of that world...yet. That wasn't true for much longer. Hermione already told you about Ms. Rowling's 'interesting' experience, I take it?"

"Yes... she told us that it appears that Dumbledore used multiple Imperius curses on her over an unknown period to influence the writing of the first books, but that was about all she said before we got off on other subjects. Is there more to it that you can tell us?"

"Yes. Yes there is," Harry replied. "You've probably already figured out that Ms. Rowling lived in the 'non-magical' alternate reality Albus discovered, right?"

James looked puzzled for a second, but then the light dawned and he nodded.

"Good... if you can accept that, you're well on your way to understanding the rest of the story. So, anyway, soon after my fourth year at Hogwarts, during the time when I was having my horrible summer isolated at the Dursley's right after Cedric died during the Triwizard Tournament, Albus implemented this part of his plan. He had observed Ms. Rowling at a distance during other visits to different times in her reality and had determined that, while she wasn't an author of anything more than a few amateur writing attempts, she was a 'kindred spirit' with an open, yet detail-driven, mind. In fact, she reminded him in many ways of your Grandmama.

"So, one day he traveled back to the year 1990 in her reality and found her on a crowded train traveling from Manchester to London. Then he most likely used one or more Imperius Curses on her over the next year or so to give her 'fully formed' ideas for the first five books about me and my adventures to that point. Eventually he also gave her the concepts behind Quidditch and the magical creatures we know from this world, all as a kind of 'proof of concept' test on an unsuspecting world of Muggles to see how they would accept the idea of true Wizards and our genetic abilities to perform magic. If it were successful, then his idea was to use the results of his experiment to petition the Ministry to also try it in his reality."

Lily looked quite thoughtful, and then spoke up. "Ah... that explains why the first five books are reasonably accurate representations of that part of your life the first time through. It also explains why Dumbledore comes off as a benevolent hero type in all of them. I'm curious, though - how did he know all those details to give to Ms. Rowling? What did he do, have spies recording your every move since you were born?"

"Right in one, Lily! And not just spies. He had other methods, too. Remember the Pensieve? Well, apparently there were nights when I was asleep in my dorm room at Hogwarts or at the Dursley's that he was 'borrowing without permission' my memories and thoughts, along with the thoughts and memories of quite a few others, including Hermione's and the Dursley's, by the way.

"Of course, he knew that if he was ever caught doing any of this to Muggles or Wizards, especially students in his care, he would have been sent to Azkaban immediately - that is, if he would have lived long enough to stand trial - angry parents, you know. But, he was confident in his ability to avoid others because of a certain cloak that he had stolen from the Godric's Hollow house the night my parents died."

Harry's voice became tenser as he continued. "By the way, I discovered later that even after he returned the cloak to me as a Christmas present, he apparently 'borrowed' it from my trunk whenever he felt the situation warranted. Dumbledore also had the house elves to help him when needed, along with a detailed knowledge of all the hidden passageways and shortcuts at Hogwarts and the surrounding area, even ones that weren't on the Marauder's Map. I dare say he likely knew even more about the inner workings of the castle than my father and his friends ever did. But, even the best laid plans can hit a snag. He was caught."

James, who had perked up at the mention of the Marauder's Map that had been handed down to him by Lily on his most recent birthday, asked quickly, "By whom?"

"Well, luckily for Albus, it was by probably the one person who wouldn't immediately turn him in to the Ministry... at least without trying to cut a deal. Albus was first caught by none other than Arthur Weasley... Ron and Ginny's dad.

"One night, Arthur came home to the Burrow after a late shift at the Ministry. As he was heading up the stairs, he heard a strange noise coming from Ginny's room. Assuming it was just the twins pulling another prank on their little sister, Arthur wanted to catch them in the act. So, he pulled his wand out and yelled 'Petrificus Totalus' as he burst through the door, only to see Albus Dumbledore in what looked like a very compromising position in the bedroom, well, actually, in the bed of one of his young female students.

"Not only that, because she had a small bed in a low-ceilinged room, he was actually straddling her in bed so he could get in the correct position with his wand to extract her memories. Of course, since Albus always kept a shield charm around him to protect him from this very circumstance, Arthur's curse bounced harmlessly off of the headmaster... and completely froze poor Ginny in her bed until the morning."

Lily looked shocked. "Then what happened?"

Harry chuckled. "Well, as you can imagine, Arthur was at first taken aback, but his fatherly instincts quickly kicked in and he was, to say the least, quite angry."

"I'll bet he was! I can imagine what my dad would do if he caught an old wizard straddling me in MY bed late one night!"

"Yes, but of course, Arthur, although a capable wizard, was no match for Albus when it came to spell work. After a short and extremely one-sided battle, Arthur found himself tied up and gagged with magical bindings in the kitchen of the Burrow, even angrier than before, but also fearing for his life.

Fortunately, Albus was in a good mood, and was able to calm Arthur down to the point where he could remove the gag. After that, Arthur's first words that are repeatable in mixed company were "You bleepin' piece of dragon bleep! What the bleep were you doing in bed with my daughter?" That yell, by the way, was loud enough to wake Molly. As she came downstairs to investigate, soon she found herself bound and gagged in the chair next to her husband."

Harry continued. "Albus, who was nothing but direct when he knew he had the upper hand, told them both exactly what he was doing - he was extracting some of Ginny's memories... and her fantasies... about me. Remember, this was after I had saved her life in the Chamber of Secrets and she was still a young, impressionable girl with a big crush on her rescuer. The fact that I was also a famous wizard that she had heard about ever since she was a toddler just made her crush worse.

"Albus then gave the Weasleys a magical oath that he had no evil or lecherous intent of any kind towards their daughter. In fact, Albus was willing to cut a deal in exchange for their silence. You see, before he had been in Ginny's room that evening, he had paid a visit to Ron and had already extracted his most recent memories about me...and more of his private thoughts about a certain bushy headed witch."

"Let me guess... Grandmama Hermione?" Lily asked. "So... does this mean Ron wasn't as clueless as she told us? Did he have romantic feelings about her."

"Erm... well... in a word, no." Harry sounded a bit uncomfortable. "Remember, Ron was a teenage wizard, growing up as the youngest son in a house full of older male wizards...all of whom had been or were teenage wizards themselves...with a common tendency to brag about their experiences and conquests, some of which might have been real, but they were mostly imagined. Let's just say that as we reviewed the evidence for the trial, we found out that Ron's detailed thoughts and fantasies - that he repeatedly denied having, by the way - about Hermione at that time were not at all what you'd call 'romantic' and leave it at that. I'll spare you the sordid details."

James, who was just getting to the age where those kind of thoughts were becoming part of his nightly dreaming, and had already experienced that 'locker room talk' from the older boys on the Hufflepuff team after Quidditch practice, shouted "EWWW! Not with Grandmama! That's disgusting!"

Harry nodded emphatically and said "If you only knew how right you were, James. But let's move on with the story. Since Dumbledore was quite familiar with Arthur's 'mixed blood is better' beliefs, and since both Molly and Arthur were already quite aware of how powerful of a witch Hermione was, Albus explained to them what his plans were and then offered them the ideal resolution. If they would promise not to spill the beans to the Ministry, Albus would arrange it so that Ron would marry Hermione, and I would be wed to Ginny."

"I'm assuming you or Grandmama's feelings weren't considered?" Lily said, wryly.

Harry snorted loudly. "That's a fair assumption. While I always liked Ginny as a friend since she was the sister of my first 'best mate' at school, and it is true that I literally risked my life to save hers on more than one occasion, I never really felt that way about her. Now, Hermione, on the other hand...well, I know at one time she did have romantic feelings for Ron. If she had had to choose between us, hey, you never know..." Harry's voice trailed off sadly.

James patted him on the arm. "Don't worry. She told us all about it, Grandpapa. It was all just a childhood crush because of her obs...interest in red-haired gluttons."

"Of course. I already knew that." he said quickly, but they noticed that Harry's spirits improved considerably.

Lily pressed on. "But why would Albus make a promise like that to Arthur? Didn't he make any consideration of your feelings? I know I would HATE to have anyone else make that decision for me!"

"Actually, it's not really all that bad on his part. And by that I mean back then Albus wasn't concerned in the least about either one of us and our future marriage prospects, because that assumed that we would even survive his plan in the first place All that mattered to him was my defeating Voldemort according to the prophecy. So, if he had to promise our betrothals to Ron and Ginny to keep from being exposed, so be it.

"You see, Dumbledore, after he decided on his master plan, had no qualms in doing whatever he felt best at the time to accomplish it. This included keeping me isolated and dependent on him for companionship, guidance, and support. He knew this was the best way to keep very close tabs on me - he wasn't about to trust his fate and the fate of the Wizarding and Muggle worlds (in his mind, anyway) to chance. It was, you see, all 'for the greater good,'" Harry said, again with obvious disgust.

"So, what happened?" James asked. "Seems like his plan was working pretty well and he was taking care of any unexpected problems."

"You're right, James. Everything was going according to plan until Voldemort interfered by inadvertently sending me back to a different parallel universe - one that included Wizards, by the way - when I returned to the Dursley's after our first fifth year. Of course, Tom Riddle had done some time-travel research over the years in his desire to become immortal and had come to similar conclusions as Albus. While Tom was actually trying to send me back in time to my own past in the same timeline, he either miscalculated or his 'aim' was affected by Bellatrix's unauthorized use of magic on me- not that it really matters, of course."

Harry stopped, took another bite of tart, closed his eyes, smiled, and then continued. "But this is why Dumbledore had to send Hermione as Harmony back to fetch me back. All of this is recorded in the first scroll, as you know. By the way, he gave her the very same time turner he had used to visit Ms. Rowling earlier. His various time-travel tracking instruments had already indicated to him that I had been sent back to an alternative universe he wasn't that familiar with - in fact, he thought it was entirely possible that Tom had actually created a new reality by the act of sending me there.

"They also recorded the appropriate time and space coordinates he would have to enter in the time turner so Hermione could find me. From his standpoint, the only thing that mattered was that Voldemort was interfering with his master plan, so he had to quickly come up with a new plan. He was willing to sacrifice Hermione, if need be, to put it right again and return me to our reality. When Hermione/Harmony returned with me, the fact that she was alive was a bonus - it only meant that he could keep all his promises to the Weasleys.

"However, there was something that Albus hadn't been expecting - when Hermione/Harmony returned after successfully rescuing me, instead of Tom's alternative reality's time bubble 'bursting' as he hoped, it somehow became at least partially merged with his reality - he soon found out that to everyone outside Hermione's parent's house, history had changed to become a mix of alternate timeline historical facts and most of what happened before the timeline meddling as being what had happened all along. Dumbledore figured that the two universes were close enough together in energy state that when Harry and Hermione/Harmony returned, a resonant effect of some kind resulted in a merger between the two related universes."

Lily raised her hand timidly. "Grandpapa, why do you keep on referring to Grandmama as 'Hermione/Harmony'?

Harry smiled. "Well, you see, she is a big reason why there was a resonant effect. Remember, the Hermione that came back with me wasn't exactly the same person that had been sent back to find me in the first place." Now it was Lily's turn to look confused for a bit, but then she finally nodded in acceptance as Harry explained further.

"This Hermione was originally a young Muggle-born girl in that alternative universe where Voldemort sent me. She met someone she knew at first as Assistant Professor Harmony June Puckle, who was actually the Hermione from Albus's reality."

Harry paused for a few seconds and glanced at Hermione's timeline drawing as if to check his facts, then continued. "When the time chamber device in the Department of Mysteries recombined Hermione and Harmony into one physical body in an attempt to save their lives, it had the added effect of at least partially merging the two timelines themselves... or at least caused a crossover effect that affected Dumbledore's reality. We're still not sure exactly as to the fine details - all we can identify are the effects. Hermione may tell you more about that when she continues with her part of the story tomorrow."

"So," James said thoughtfully, "that would mean that possibly somewhere there are possible 'realities' where things worked out differently and either you or Grandmama died, or Dumbledore wasn't so manipulative, or you actually did fall in love with Ginny Weasley?" Harry made a sour face at James' last example, but then he nodded his agreement. "Yes, James... all of the above, actually... along with many other equally strange scenarios."

James began to get excited as he thought it through. "But that would mean that there could be worlds where Voldemort..." He stopped as he realized what he was about to say.

Harry completed his sentence for him. "...defeated and destroyed the Muggles, and much of that Wizarding world, completely - well, at least in those realities." He looked with pride at his great-grandson and said, "By the way, James, don't ever feel inadequate when it comes to your intelligence, especially compared to your sister. You figured that side-effect out a lot faster than most of the Wizengamot did when they first heard the story. Good on you!"

James beamed at the compliment as Lily smiled at him. "See, James... what have I been trying to tell you all along? I think you'd make a great Ravenclaw."

Harry continued. "But, rest assured, James. Hermione and I have never been able to confirm that scenario happening in all our investigations into many universes over the years. Remember, we are authorized time-travelers. We weren't authorized by the Wizengamot to time-travel just to give us lots of exotic vacation destinations to choose from," he said, smiling at some private memories, then continued.

"They also correctly assumed that Voldemort, if he existed in another timeline, was still a potential threat to find his way to our timeline. So, for all these years we've been authorized to continue to look for him and report back if we find any reality where he still exists. Apparently, good triumphs over evil in the long run most of the time. And in the very few instances where Voldemort did win, well, let's just say that fortunately for the other timelines, he was too distracted by enjoying the spoils of his victory to consider seeking conquest elsewhere. Besides, there are efforts underway in many of those timelines to rectify the situationBut, let's get back to the part of the story that most directly affects you, okay?"

Harry took a deep swig of pumpkin juice and continued. "Not only that, but Dumbledore found that he had at least three major problems resulting from the time-travel of Hermione/Harmony and Harry.

"The first problem happened soon after our return. Arthur and Molly Weasley met up with us in Diagon Alley when we were shopping for our sixth-year supplies. They immediately felt our new and extremely strong soul-bond - happily married couples can be very sensitive to another couple's soul bond, and, no matter what people may say about them, they were always a happy couple. Anyway, they both realized that the scenario they had been counting on had irrevocably changed, though they didn't know why. They knew that I would end up marrying Hermione if we survived, while Ron and Ginny would be cut out of the previously agreed-to deal.

"The second problem occurred the day after our meet-up in Diagon Alley, Arthur was at the Leaky Cauldron, drowning his sorrows over losing a chance for his two youngest to marry non-purebloods. Rita Skeeter, who was lurking around at the pub looking for additional material for the exposé she was writing about Albus, overheard just enough of his firewhiskey-driven threats to expose Albus's actions to the Wizengamot for her to want to investigate further. She was desperate to get revenge on Hermione specifically for the events that had occurred to her in the alternate timeline because of Hermione and Harmony's intervention.

"So, with the help of a few drops of stolen Veritaserum in Albus's next pint, she got quite a story. Unfortunately for her though, she was seen drugging him by Tom the bartender and she spent the next few years in Azkaban after they confirmed what she had done. Stealing Veritaserum and using it on another person without legal authorization from a member of the Ministry was (and still is) a major offense- even if Severus Snape was from time to time known to threaten his students with that very worrisome possibility."

"Finally, to make this long story shorter, let's just say that all of this timeline meddling had also changed the course of many events in this timeline and completely messed up Albus's original plans. This resulted in his unplanned death at the end of our sixth year, followed by Voldemort's defeat in our seventh year as documented in Ms. Rowling's book...just not exactly the way it is documented in her books." Harry stopped talking as he waited for the inevitable 'obvious question'. He didn't have to wait long.

"But...wait a minute." Lily interrupted. "What about those last two books? Obviously Dumbledore didn't go back again and 'Imperius' her again, did he? How did Ms. Rowling know enough to write those last two books if he was dead?"

"Well, those books mostly started out as her idea. First, though, I want you to take a look at the publishing dates on those books. You'll see that there is an interesting pattern there. The first four 'full year' books, plus Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, were all published in her reality in less than four years - which makes sense, since, at her own admission, she had just been writing down what Albus had imprinted so deeply in her mind over that time. But then you'll see there is a big gap of over two years before the fifth year book is published, followed by another two year gap between the fifth and sixth year books and the sixth and seventh year books. Then, just a short while after her version of our seventh year was published, her publishing house released the handsomely bound volume of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that you see here."

"So it took her longer to release the last few books." James sounded confused as he interrupted. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting to that, young man." Harry said. "As far as we can tell, after Jo released the fourth book to critical acclaim in July of 2000, she began to get worried as she worked on transcribing her knowledge of the fifth year events. Since she obviously knew she was no longer in possession of the knowledge necessary to guide her through writing the events of the sixth and seventh year, she began to deliberately delay things. We assume she was just hoping to catch lightning in a jar one more time, or maybe she was starting to panic and didn't know what she was going to do after the fifth book was published. So, she started making reasonable excuses to her publisher, and, in late 2001 she also took another big personal step to help explain her delays to her many fans."

"What did she do?" asked Lily.

"She did the same thing that Hermione and I did...on the same day, coincidentally enough. She got married."

"Let me get this straight." James interrupted. "You're saying that Jo Rowling got married on the 26^th of December, 2001, in her reality?"

"Yes, that's right. In fact, here's a picture we found of her and her second husband, Dr. Neil Murray, together soon after they got married. We came across it during our investigation. Do you notice anything interesting?" Harry said with a grin.

Lily immediately saw the resemblance. "Why... Grandpapa...he looks a lot like you... well, how you were described as looking when you were younger, anyway. Glasses, unruly dark hair...nice smile, and, I must say, very handsome in a boyish sort of way."

Harry smiled. "Why, thank you, Lily. I don't know if it's my bald head or my wrinkly skin, but I don't get told that much anymore. But apparently, Jo agreed with you... and ended up marrying.... well, me. At least a reasonable facsimile, that is. But there is one more thing. Guess who Ms. Rowling said she 'modeled' Hermione after in the books?"

It was James' turn. "Let me guess... she modeled Grandmama after herself."

"Yes. On her website, she came out and said that Hermione resembles her at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure. Other quotes from different interviews she conducted go in to more detail about how much she related to Hermione's character and personality, including her obsess... interest in the poor and downtrodden, as she was writing the novels. That affinity for Hermione may have been what attracted Albus to her in the first place - he could sense the similarities between Jo and the Hermione he knew from his world-line. So, in her own life at least, Jo finally 'got the story right' and 'Harry' married 'Hermione'. Just as it should have been all along." he said with obvious satisfaction.

He continued, smiling broadly, "And, to make things even more interesting, we also found that she had been previously married to someone with whom she quarreled frequently and finally divorced after a 'stormy' two years. Remind you of anyone?"

"Minister Weasley?" James said, incredulously. So, let me get this straight. In her own life, 'Hermione' tried a marriage to 'Ron', and it didn't work out. Why am I not surprised?"

"How did she get it so WRONG, then, in the last two books?" Lily asked, visibly agitated. "It just doesn't make sense. And reading that last part of the seventh book the other day made me so mad I slammed the book shut…and I never treat books that way. When 'Ron' is almost bragging to 'Harry' about cheating on his Muggle driving exam by Confunding the poor Muggle examiner, and then lying to his wife, 'Hermione'," she shuddered involuntarily as she said that, "about it, I just knew there was something very wrong. Who would write such garbage when she obviously knew from her own experience that someone like her and someone like Ron would never get along in a marriage?"

"In answer to your question, it wasn't all Ms. Rowling's fault. Hermione already told you who was responsible for the lies of the sixth and seventh books, didn't she?"

"All she told us was that Dolores Umbridge and Rita Skeeter were involved."

"Then that, my dear, is the rest of what we'll talk about tonight. But first, let's stretch our legs a bit." He waved his wand and a previously hidden doorway opened up. "The toilet's down the hall and to your left. We had to add that after the first few times we had this conversation with our children." Meet you back here in, oh, let's say, half an hour?"

*********

After returning from their break and refilling their plates with some more of the delicious treacle tart, Harry continued the story.

"During our research associated with our time-traveling assignments, we found that a few years after the true events of our sixth and seventh years occurred as recorded in the second scroll, Dolores Umbridge was finally released from St. Mungo's. Do you remember what had happened to her in the first scroll?"

James laughed. "Ah... yes. The repeating Muggle-disease sequence. That was brilliant!"

"Yes. Yes it was." Harry nodded and smiled broadly at the memory.

"Well, after fighting for years the very idea of using a Muggle cure to heal her, eventually she agreed to be healed from Hermione's Muggle-disease sequence by a simple course of Muggle anti-viral drugs to break the cycle. Umbridge, while cured from the disease, was by this time, quite crazed by her thoughts of revenge against us - the 'last straw' being the fact that the Daily Prophet had regularly included stories since 26 December 2001 about how happily married we were. Then, soon after our wedding and for the next few years, they started describing our obvious desire and ability to produce more non-pureblood offspring. However, that old hag was somehow able to control the outside signs of her insanity well enough that she was able to return to working at the ministry - and ended up pulling strings to allow her to work in the Department of Mysteries.

"You see, soon after her release from hospital, she had a chance run-in with Rita Skeeter - who had just been released from serving her term at Azkaban - at the Boar's Head Inn. For some reason, over drinks, I suppose, they began to commiserate about their lot in life. They soon found they had common enemies - both the two of us and to some extent, Dumbledore. After hearing the results of Rita's years-earlier investigation and Veritaserum aided interrogation of Arthur, Umbridge started an investigation herself. As a result, she realized she needed to have access to certain books and equipment she knew to be in the Department of Mysteries that had been removed from Dumbledore's office after his death in accordance with his will. So, by sometime in 2004 she had not only found additional evidence of Dumbledore's 'greater good' experiment and his plans to take over the Muggle world, but she had also learned how to travel to other timelines and universes using Dumbledore's instruments along with a time-turner she had 'borrowed' from the Department and modified according to his detailed instructions.

Lily interrupted. "Why didn't she just use Dumbledore's time-turner? The one that he used to send 'Harmony' back in the first place."

Harry put his finger up to his lips. "Hold that thought, Lily. You'll find out about that later, I promise. Good catch, by the way." He winked at her and then continued.

"Based on Albus' records and observations about how events in one timeline seemed to affect the other related timelines, Umbridge thought that if she went back and corrupted the new timeline by traveling once again to Ms. Rowling's 2004 reality to put her version of our sixth and seventh year experiences in Ms. Rowling's mind as she was starting the last two books, it would end up ruining our life together in any number of related timelines. Since she didn't have skills as a writer of fiction that would on the surface at least seem reasonable, she turned to Rita Skeeter, who had extensive experience in writing that kind of material - especially the invented details of the fictional romance between myself and Ginny."

"As a side note," Harry resumed, "we found that Rita also had developed an abnormal interest in the Muggles' use of Tarot cards in an attempt to predict the future. So, especially in the sixth book she incorporated that interest into the story in the form of Professor Trelawney. Hermione and I both knew our Professor Trelawney well enough to know that even she would not stoop so low as to use Muggle Tarot cards to help her make a prophecy, no matter how desperate she might have been. That, by the way, was one of the many things Hermione and I noticed as being completely wrong when we first read that book."

"But Grandpapa," James asked, "Why would Umbridge go to so much trouble to do all this? What benefit does she get out of continuing Albus' plan, even indirectly, by helping Ms. Rowling complete her series of books?"

"That's a very good question, James. We wondered the same thing... until her trial, that is. During the trial, after a review of Dolores' detailed personal journal, apparently she relished the idea of being able to live in a reality where Hermione and I were doomed to be miserable for the rest of our lives - which would be any reality where we were married to someone else. With Albus now dead, there was nothing to stop her and Rita from doing the same thing he had done - just for a different reason.

"You see, Dolores and Rita wanted their revenge on us if possible, or at least on the Harry and Hermione in the reality they were now living in. They figured that an obvious way to at least make their Harry and Hermione miserable (while holding out hope that it might even affect Hermione and me in this reality too )was by changing things there to force Harry to marry Ginny and Hermione to marry Ron and bear his children." Harry shuddered visibly as he said this last sentence.

"Fortunately, we were able to stop that from happening. Hermione will tell you that part of the story tomorrow. But now," he said, looking at the clock, "it is getting really late and I need to see how... well, I need to check on a few things downstairs. And, from the looks of it, you need to get to bed."

Lily and James both yawned in unison then laughed. "I suppose we are getting tired." Lily said, yawning once again.

James nodded and said "Thanks, Grandpapa, for talking to us tonight. It helped a lot."

"By the way", Harry said as he turned out the lights behind them and they descended the staircase together. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention to your Grandmama that I was here talking to you about this subject this evening. You see, I ...sort of helped her get to sleep... well, without her explicit permission." He winked at James and Lily conspiratorially.

Lily feigned an appalled look. "What did you do, Grandpapa? Spike her pumpkin juice with sleeping draught?"

Startled, Harry peered quickly into Lily's eyes. "You haven't studied Legilimency. How did you guess?

"Because it's what I would have done in your shoes." she said simply. "James and I both noticed how tired Grandmama was today, so we're glad you did what you did. Your secret is safe with us. Tomorrow morning when we come up here after breakfast we'll just ask her questions about how she figured this all out and how you both 'put it right' as she said, and that should keep her from suspecting that you've been up here too. Besides, this way we got to spend time with you and hear your viewpoint on this whole thing, so it's been a wonderful experience, right, James?"

James smiled broadly. "Yes, Grandpapa. Since I trust both you and Grandmama and believe you're both telling the truth, and now that I've heard your side of the story too, I've decided that I'm not going to worry too much about the little inconsistencies and the 'concerns' I have about the details of this story. I guess it's just going to be one of those things that you have to take with a little bit of faith."

---