Death and Time Travel. Neither of Which Harry Asked For, Thank You Very Much.

by nlpiersee

Summary:

When the Aurors from the Ministry finally show up to Hogwarts to help with the aftermath of the battle, they set their sights on Draco Malfoy. Harry and his friends protect him. This one action leads to Death dropping Harry, as well as everyone that was standing between Draco and the Aurors, back in time to 1978; the final year at Hogwarts for the Marauders.

Death wants Harry to talk to those there and get them to change the future. But Harry's pissed and tired and just wants to not feel so on edge anymore so he does the one thing he can; he gets in Albus Dumbledore's face and tells him to quite being a tool. More or less, anyway.

It somehow ends up turning out quite well for (practically) everyone.

Notes:

This is a lil thing I wrote because I see so many time travel deals, but I wanted to drop Harry back with some DA members and some Slytherins that Harry only sort of interacted with. Might make a more elaborate story out of this or just make another time-travel deal, some day. But for now, you get this one-shot that has a happy ending!

Harry, even in his exhausted state after defeating Voldemort finally, still pulled Draco Malfoy behind him as they stood where the head table once sat, facing the crowd of Ministry Officials that finally showed up. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Padma, Parvati, George, Ernie, Susan, and Hannah all beside him, all glaring at them and daring them to try and take Draco. Bill and Fleur had joined them, as had a few Slytherin girls; Harry thought their names were Daphne and Tracey, but he couldn’t really focus on them.

 

“He must come with us.” A stern man said, eyes trained on Harry.

 

“No.” Harry growled. “He fought with us. He fought back against them. He’s not one of them. Maybe if any of you had done your damn jobs to begin with this wouldn’t have happened.”

 

“We did what we could with his kind in the Ministry.” The man growled back.

 

“Yeah? And how long did it take you to figure out anyone was there with such dark purposes? Huh? You didn’t. Not until they all abandoned the Ministry to come here to answer that bastard’s call. So fuck you. You’re not taking away another victim of this war and turning them into a pariah.”

 

“What are you doing?” The man asked in confusion as a strange shield appeared around those on the dias. 

 

“That’s not me.” Harry shook his head and looked at his friends, feeling magic gathering around them intensely. “What the fuck is going on?” Harry demanded, looking at his friends, who all had wide eyes like his. Draco was holding onto him as tightly as Harry had been holding him, now. 

 

“Someone stop them!” The man yelled again, and spells shot toward them, but they didn’t make it through the barrier. 

 

Harry and his friends all screamed or shouted as the ground seemed to rip open beneath their feet, dropping them into open space before they landed harshly once more. Harry grabbed his head as he felt it burn like it did when Voldemort was near. When he had the horcrux, still. 

 

“Mother fucker!” Harry groaned, getting to his feet and seeing they were in Hogwarts, but not their Hogwarts. The head table was set and several teachers that he recognized, and others he didn’t, sat looking at them all in shock. Including Dumbledore. When he looked out in the hall, there were rows and rows of students, but Harry only saw his parents, Remus, and Sirius. “NO! No! You send us back!”

 

“Who are you?” Dumbledore asked, getting to his feet, his wand held loosely in his hand. The same wand that Harry carried. 

 

“Do you hear me?” Harry screamed, ignoring the people looking at them in shock. 

 

“Harry, what the hell is going on mate?” Ron asked tensely as they all shifted closer to him. 

 

“Can’t you see?” Harry asked, tugging on his hair. “We’ve been bloody sent back in time somehow. Undo it! Right now!”

 

“I can’t do that, young Master.” The hooded figure of Death said, materializing by the wall, startling screams out of even more students. 

 

“Master?” Dumbledore asked, looking at Harry with a piercing gaze before looking down at his wand. 

 

“You can.” Harry argued. “Whatever fucking reason you brought us here for, I don’t care. I know roughly when we are. We just finished the second war that started in this time, and we are not doing that bullshit all over again!”

 

“Second war?” Several people whispered. “Did he say second?”

 

“Speak to them.” Death gestured to the crowd of students. “Tell them what you must, what you can, and give them the means to prevent the losses you all suffered.”

 

“NO!” Harry screamed, feeling his magic reacting to his anger. “You can’t ask that, not after everything. You can’t!”

 

“Those with you, young Master, will remain with you, trapped in this time, until you speak. Prevent the deaths of those who should not have died when they did.” Death said ominously, and Harry sucked in a breath and looked at his friends that were with him, all having chosen to protect Draco. “You all were brought because you banded together to protect one among you. He did not choose his path, as others in the room have experienced as well.”

 

“Regulus Black.” Harry said, looking out and spotting a boy that looked startled to be called out. His friends stiffened beside him. 

 

“He and young Draco are much the same. Show them how to fix things. Give yourself a chance to have a family, even. Prevent orphans like yourself and Neville. Like Luna and Susan. While you’re at it, show that one that he will never hold power over me so long as my rightful Master, one from the line I once gifted artifacts to, exists and stands firm.” He pointed toward Dumbledore who merely stiffened slightly. 

 

“Can you prevent it?” Draco whispered quietly, still clutching Harry’s arm. “Can you keep the war from happening? Keep me from being marked? From being handed over?” There was a sharp intake of breath at Draco’s words. 

 

“I don’t know.” Harry whispered back. 

 

“I will give you a week to rest, to recover, and then I will meet you here and send you back if you have succeeded. You all need rest. You’ve been fighting your entire life, Harry Potter.” Harry growled when Death said his full name. “You have the chance to change that. I urge you to do so.” As soon as he vanished, everyone was looking at them again. 

 

“Potter, did he say?” Harry looked up and saw his father standing up, the same age as him, or near it. “Any relation?”

 

“It’s not important.” Harry shook his head, stepping back away from the man who would give him life and die before Harry could even form proper memories about him. 

 

“Not right now, perhaps. I’m James, James Potter. Though I suspect you all already know that. Why don’t we show you some place you can rest, maybe shower? Get you some food? If you are able to or want to talk after, we’ll all be here to listen.” James said gently, stopping not far from them. Harry could feel his friends looking between them curiously. Thankfully, Bill answered for them.

 

“A shower and food sound good.” He said carefully. “Though we prefer to stay together if at all possible.”

 

“How close is the moon?” Fleur asked, watching Bill carefully. James’ eyes widened slightly and he looked back to his friends briefly, to Remus. 

 

“Two days.” James answered quietly. 

 

“I don’t know that we have a place for you all to stay together.” Dumbledore said, reminding them of his presence, and Harry barely bit back a snarl at the man, not caring that the look on his face caused him to take a small step back. 

 

“We know a place.” Harry gritted out. “We’ll meet back here tomorrow. And we’ll know if you try to follow or spy.” Harry pulled Draco along with him, everyone else falling in line as they walked through the tables and followed him to the Room of Requirement. 

 

Harry had asked for resting places for them all, as well as bathrooms and a kitchen so they could cook and eat without being gawked at. It took Harry a few minutes to get his hand to unclench from his grip on Draco. 

 

“When was the last time any of you slept?” Fleur asked, looking between Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Draco.

 

“Two days?” Hermione said uncertainly. “Maybe?”

 

“Go.” Bill urged them toward the bathrooms. “Get cleaned up. We’ll get some food for you. For all of you.” 

 

Harry still felt like he was in shock as he went into the bathroom. He stripped out of his torn, burned, ash covered, bloody clothes and sank to the floor of the shower stall, letting the hot water rush over him. His hands shook as he held his head, trying not to break down. So he did what he always did; shoved it down deep inside, determined not to focus on it and just see what came of this new task he somehow had. He washed himself a few times, not sure if he’d managed to get all of the dirt and grime off or not before giving up and getting out. There was a set of clothes on the sink that he pulled on, not surprised that he got a green jumper. 

 

He joined the others on the couches and chairs they were sitting on, just holding plates of food in their laps and staring off. They’d all just come out of a major battle, and none of them were ok. They mostly just picked at their food before giving up the pretense of trying to eat. Harry felt too on edge, though. Still. He knew the school would keep anyone out, but he couldn’t shut off the level of alertness he’d gotten used to over the past year. Draco found a stash of potions and handed out some dreamless sleep that George drank without hesitation. Ginny, Luna, Susan, Hannah, Daphne, Tracey, Ernie, Padma, and Parvati doing the same and crashing on some of the beds that were set up. Fleur and Bill went to bed as well, but they split a potion between them. 

 

“I think it’s their final year.” Draco said quietly. “Your mum and dad’s.”

 

“They look close to our age.” Ron agreed.

 

“Harry’s born only around two years from now, if they’re 18.” Hermione added. 

 

“Dumbledore was afraid of you, so that’s got to count for something.” Ron huffed, hand jittering like he needed to be doing something with them. 

 

“Who was that figure?” Draco asked, watching them all closely. 

 

“Death.” Harry whispered, still not really looking at them. 

 

“You should sleep, Harry.” Hermione said gently.

 

“You first.” Harry replied. “Like we have been.”

 

“You sure?” Ron asked cautiously. 

 

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. 

 

Ron and Hermione didn’t go lay down on a bed, though. They just pulled blankets and a few pillows over to the sofas and lay down on the floor. Draco started nodding off, so Harry forced him to take a potion and he lay down on a sofa as well, not going away from their small group even though he’d only been part of it for a short time. After a few hours, maybe closer to five,  Harry couldn’t tell, Hermione stirred and got up forcing him to lay down and take even half a dose of the potion. Harry only slept for three and a half hours, though. He didn’t wake up screaming, which was nice, but it was a near thing. 

 

When it was nearing dinner finally, they all made their way back to the Great Hall, stopping in the doorway and watching everyone as they chatted and laughed and generally had a good evening. Harry led the way back to the front of the room again and stopped on the dais. 

 

“To prevent us from having to look forward or back, would you mind sitting with the students?” Hermione asked politely. The teachers all nodded and got up to sit at the front of their tables.

 

“I’m not going to apologize for my outburst upon finding out I’d been dropped in the past. That dick knew I’d be pissed and did it anyway.” Harry said, frowning when George reached over and slapped his hand, fighting a smile while his other friends snickered. “We’re going to introduce ourselves, then we’re going to tell you some of our story. Hopefully it’s enough that you’re able to take care of things so a lot of what we experience doesn’t happen.”

 

“I’m Susan Bones.” Susan said, waving her hand. “Hufflepuff.”

 

“Hannah Abbott, also Hufflepuff.” 

 

“Padma Patil, Ravenclaw.”

 

“Parvati Patil, Gryffindor.”

 

“What years?” Someone shouted. 

 

“We were in our final year.” Susan said, pointing between them. “Not that it was much of a year, seeing as the school was being run by Death Eaters.” There were a lot of shocked gasps at her proclamation. 

 

“Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor, sixth year.”

 

“Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw, sixth year.”

 

“Ernie MacMillan, Hufflepuff, seventh year.”

 

“Bill Weasley, Curse-breaker for Gringotts. Formerly of Gryffindor House.”

 

“Fleur Weasley, nee Delacour, Account Manager for Gringotts, formerly of Beauxbaton Acadamie le Magique.”

 

“George Weasley.” George said, biting his lip and trying to keep himself together. “Co-founder of Weasley’s Wizard Wheazes. Formerly of Gryffindor.”

 

“Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin, seventh year.”

 

“Tracey Davis, Slytherin, seventh year.”

 

“Neville Longbottom. Gryffindor, seventh year.”

 

“Hermione Granger. I was meant to be a seventh year Gryffindor, but I spent the year hunting down dark artifacts with my best friends to stop Voldemort.” A few people flinched when she said the name.

 

“Ron Weasley. Same as Hermione.”

 

“Draco Malfoy.” Draco said cautiously. “Meant to be a seventh year Slytherin. My father … my father messed up. To appease his mistake with the Dark Lord I was handed over and marked when I was 16. I spent the year being terrorized in my own home where he chose to set his base of operations.”

 

“Harry Potter.” Harry said finally, looking out at everyone watching him curiously. “Meant to be a seventh year Gryffindor, I suppose. I was given a task from the Headmaster before he died which led to the unfortunate side effect of becoming master of Death before I finally was able to kill Voldemort. Did it right out in that courtyard, actually.” Harry pointed to the front of the school. 

 

“Who are your parents?” Someone from the Hufflepuff table shouted, earning murmurs of agreement.

 

“Frank and Alice Longbottom.” Neville answered proudly, earning a few cheers. “Don’t get too excited.” He sighed heavily. “When I was a little over a year old my parents were caught by Death Eaters and tortured to insanity. They’re in the Janus Thickey Ward at St. Mungo’s in our time. I was raised by my Gran.”

 

“Our parents are Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt.” Bill said, gesturing to his brothers and sister. “Until the battle yesterday there were seven of us kids.” George covered his face as he couldn’t hold in his tears anymore. “Twins run in our family. Our brother, Fred, George’s twin, was the other co-founder of their shop.” Ginny hugged George, letting him try to collect himself once more.

 

“My father is Xenophilias Lovegood.” Luna said with a small smile. “And my mother was Pandora LeStrange.” A woman near Regulus gasped and covered her mouth. “She liked to experiment and one day it went wrong when I was with her. I was nine, at the time. It’s just me and dad now.”

 

“Our dad is part of a Ministry program, an Ambassador from India serving in Britain.” Parvati stated. 

 

“We fought to come back to help keep our friends safe at school.” Padma agreed.

 

“I’m muggle born.” Hermione said, holding her head high. “My parents are dentists.” 

 

“I was raised by my Aunt, Amelia Bones.” Susan stated.

 

“As I already said, I am Harry James Potter.” Harry said, restating his name and finally looking at the younger versions of his parents watching him interestedly. “My parents were James Potter and Lily Evans.” He waited while the noise in the Great Hall erupted before dying down again. “On October 31st, 1981, when I was nearly a year and a half old, they were murdered by Voldemort, personally. I was sent to live with my mum’s sister and her husband. I didn’t know I was a wizard until I turned 11.”

 

“What the fuck?!” Lily shrieked, standing up and looking furious. 

 

“No, we would have put someone else in place to take care of you. I’ve met Petunia and Vernon only once, and I would never have agreed to that!” James added, also looking pissed.

 

“Suffice it to say, the person used as secret keeper when you went into hiding betrayed you. And the one meant to take me in, meant to be my godfather, chased after him in his desire for revenge only to be caught and thrown in Azkaban accused of the crime of the traitor. All of which I found out when I was 13.”

 

“Who would betray something like that?” Remus asked, looking heartbroken.

 

“I don’t want to tell you that.” Harry said tentatively. “Perhaps knowing that doing what he did eventually leads to his own death, as well as everyone he once cared for can change him here and now. He hasn’t done anything wrong here.”

 

“And you willingly trust a Death Eater.” Regulus said curiously, watching Draco. “Though he is not one by choice, it seems.”

 

“Draco hasn’t done anything to me.” Harry said firmly. “Lucius, on the other hand, had better be glad he isn’t here or he’d be dead already. At the minimum, severely maimed.”

 

“That’s a lot of bloodthirsty language, Potter.” McGonagall said, looking at him worriedly.

 

“When you find out that you were raised the way you were because of a prophecy someone was trying to manipulate, raised to be willing to die by facing Voldemort, and others knew about it all along? It tends to rub you the wrong way.” Harry replied. “I’ve a list of people I won’t miss that died in this war, but I’ve a longer list of people I’d do anything to save.”

 

“Maybe start at the beginning, Harry.” Hermione said gently. 

 

“Right. Erm. The beginning.” Harry scratched his head. “My beginning or the Hallows?”

 

“The Deathly Hallows are real?” Sirius asked, perking up and flushing when several people looked at him.

 

“You know they are.” Harry said, looking back to James who also flushed. “Consider it a family secret that’s not so secret anymore.”

 

“James?” Sirius asked, looking at him in confusion.

 

“The cloak.” James said quietly.

 

“The cloak of invisibility, given to the youngest Peverell brother.” Harry agreed. “Passed on through his descendants from father to son for generations. Much as the stone was. The Peverell family can be traced back from at least two of the Founders of Hogwarts; Gryffindor and Slytherin. The cloak ended up with the Potters, while the stone ended up with the Gaunts.”

 

“That’s where part of the story begins, actually.” Hermione added. “You know what happened with Morfin and Marvolo Gaunt, but no one knows what happened to Merope.”

 

“Who?” Someone asked.

 

“Merope Gaunt. Marvolo’s daughter.” Ron stated. “When her family were gone, locked up in Azkaban, she put a muggle, Tom Riddle, under a love potion and kept him under it for a long while. Couple of years. Long enough to marry him and get pregnant.”

 

“She named her son after her father, as well as the man she ensnared; Tom Marvolo Riddle. Care to tell everyone what happens to someone born under the influence of a love potion, sir?” Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore pointedly. “They’re basically born a sociopath, with potential for psychopathic tendencies. They don’t have the capacity to feel as a normal person might. They can fake emotions and reactions well enough, if they practice. But Tom eventually came to school here. I trust you all remember the rumors about the Chamber of Secrets? Little known secret, only someone that is a Parselmouth can open it. The monster within is a Basilisk.”

 

“What?!” Several students shrieked, even the teachers looked alarmed. 

 

“It can’t just get out to roam the corridors, so don’t get your knickers in a twist.” George huffed.

 

“Hagrid truly wasn’t responsible for Myrtle?” Peter asked, drawing Harry’s attention.

 

“No. He was not.” Harry said quietly, watching Dumbledore. “The creature Hagrid was keeping was an infant Acromantula. His name’s Aragog. Unfortunately, because Tom was such a star student, Headboy even, and Hagrid had a history of taking in potentially dangerous creatures, Hagrid suffered the consequences.”

 

“We attempted to get him cleared.” Ron muttered angrily. “But no one believed us.”

 

“When Tom left school,” Harry pressed on, “he worked at Borgin and Burkes for a time. He wanted the DADA position here, quite badly. When Dumbledore refused to hire him, even years after he’d graduated, he put a curse on the job. Haven’t been having trouble keeping a teacher for more than a year, have you?” He asked innocently. “Doesn’t really matter, because he kept on with what he was doing. Creating dark pieces of soul magic. Determined to make himself immortal.”

 

“I knew it!” Regulus shouted, slapping a hand over his mouth quickly.

 

“You’ll not be following that plan again.” Harry said darkly, glaring at the other boy. 

 

“What plan?” Sirius asked, sitting up and looking at his younger brother who was only watching Harry. 

 

“You’re 16 now, yeah?” Harry asked.

 

“Nearly 17.” Regulus answered tersely.

 

“You disappear after you turn 17 because you go after it alone.” Harry said, not liking the determined look in Regulus’ eyes. “You take Kreacher and you force him to return with the relic without you. You will either take friends, or you will not do it at all and Unspeakables or some other fucking adult who is trained in this will do it. Because you never came back from that.”

 

“But I got it.” Regulus stated, slamming his hand on the table as he stood. “I figured out what he’d made.”

 

“Except he didn’t make just one.” Hermione stated, also looking at Regulus sternly. “He made seven.”

 

“Just leave him.” Harry sighed, when Slughorn passed out. Regulus sat down heavily, looking shocked. “He knows what we’re talking about. Right. Erm. So he made seven relics, but he hadn’t intended to make the last one when he did. It was accidental. He made it the night he tried to kill me after killing my parents.”

 

“No.” Dumbledore whispered, looking a little green.

 

“See that’s the right reaction. Finally! Christ, I thought you’d just sit there this whole time and accept that what we went through was an acceptable outcome of your ‘greater good’.” Harry rubbed his scar since it still hurt from the horcrux being destroyed. “Anyway, I spent the next five years after that with Vernon and Petunia Dursley thinking my name was ‘boy’ or ‘freak’. Took me ages to figure it out and answer to actually being called ‘Harry’ in primary school.” 

 

“They kept him in a cupboard.” Ron growled. “Until he started getting his letters, then they padlocked his bedroom shut to keep him in it and eventually put bars on the window.”

 

“Everything I initially learned about magic and the existence of this world was from Hagrid.” Harry let everyone get upset and argue while McGonagall looked like she was going to burst a blood vessel. “Granted, he forgot to tell me how to get on the platform, but Mrs. Weasley was there and helped me out. Coming here, though, finally getting to see this was almost as much of a nightmare as staying where I was. What is it you tell new students when they arrive? Oh yeah, ‘your House will be like your family’. Not a good selling point for people like me, Neville, or even Sirius or Regulus.”

 

“What do you mean?” someone at Ravenclaw asked.

 

“I mean, when your family are the ones that hurt you the most, hearing your House at school is going to be the same only makes you want to run the other way and never look back.” Harry replied. “At least all my Aunt and Uncle did was starve me or use a belt now and again. They didn’t have magic. They couldn’t use curses on me.”

 

“Reg?” Someone sitting near the Slytherin called gently, but Regulus wasn’t looking at them, only Sirius, who was also only looking at his brother. 

 

“Not everyone comes from a nice family.” Harry repeated. “Nev’s Gran isn’t terrible, but if I saw his Uncle I’d punch him in the face.”

 

“Wouldn’t mind seeing that.” Neville grinned at him. 

 

“When I was 16 is really when I figured out the quantity of relics Tom made. Me, Hermione, and Ron spent a majority of the last year hunting them all down and destroying them. Pretty much missed my 17th birthday because of everything kicking off. We came to Hogwarts, where the battle took place, because he’d hidden one in the castle. Once they were all gone, I looked at memories given to me by someone and they showed that because of the one in me, the only way to get rid of it was for Tom to destroy it himself. I had the stone and the cloak on me, and the wand belonged to me, even if I didn’t have it. So when he cast the killing curse, he destroyed the horcrux and I had a chat with an embodiment of Death. Instead of joining the Death Eaters that were fleeing or attacking other students, Draco helped us, fought against his own father. We were sent back here when all of us chose to protect him from Aurors who finally decided to show up and do their jobs the wrong way.”

 

“We wouldn’t have survived like we did if Harry hadn’t taught us defense so well in our fifth year.” Hannah added, smiling at Harry. 

 

“That’s all we can really give you right now.” Harry sighed. “I’m sure you want to know more, but this is already more than I’ve spoken in almost a year and it’s fucking exhausting.”

 

“Would you be willing to meet with a smaller group at some point to cover what you’ve learned?” McGonagall asked, getting to her feet. “Perhaps those you know were more directly involved with certain events?”

 

“We’ll get you a list and you can let us know when.” Hermione agreed.

 

“How will we do that if we can’t find you?” She pressed.

 

“We’ll be in the Room of Requirement.” Bill stated. “Seventh floor corridor near the tapestry of a troll doing ballet.”

 

“There’s not a room there.” James said quietly, looking at Remus and Peter who just shrugged.

 

“Won’t show up on the map.” Ron grinned.

 

“Neither does the Chamber.” Harry added.

 

“So you’ve been to it?” James perked up.

 

“Yeah?” Harry said cautiously. 

 

“You said someone had to be a Parselmouth to get in.” Peter said, looking between Harry and James. 

 

“Long story.” Harry sighed, starting to feel a bit annoyed at being in front of and around so many people. “We’ll discuss it later. But we’re done for tonight. Sorry for keeping you.”

 

Harry froze when James and Lily stood up when they were walking out, stopping him in his path.

 

“We’re sorry for not being there.” James said quietly.

 

“We’ll find a way to fix this, Harry.” Lily agreed.

 

“We’d all appreciate that.” Neville said for him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 

“We can talk more tomorrow or,” Ron looked over at Bill who was rather pale since the moon was coming, “well. Perhaps the day after might be better.”

 

“We can help.” James whispered.

 

“I’ll consider it.” Bill nodded. “Please excuse us for the night, though.”

 

“I don’t know if there’s much dreamless sleep left.” Draco said quietly. 

 

“We’ll figure it out.” Hannah said, giving him an encouraging nod. 

 

“We’ll see you soon.” Padma added, taking a step around those who’d stood up and continuing walking through the halls. 

 

They all still had nervous energy when they reached the room, so they decided to practice some spells and defensive strategies. Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran them through a few drills, with Bill pitching in occasionally, but mostly just watching. Harry didn’t leave the room when everyone ventured out the next day to join the other students for meals or classes. Ron and Hermione went with Bill to the shrieking shack, introducing him to the younger versions of the Marauders, before leaving him with them. It was a tense moon for everyone not knowing what might happen with the group. 

 

Bill was in good spirits when he returned the next morning, though. Apparently Moony could smell his older self on Bill’s wolf and it kept him rather calm. They had set up a time later the next afternoon to meet up with several students. Neville had delivered the parchment of names that the others had come up with about who all should be there. When he couldn’t sleep, he pulled on his cloak and found himself walking by the Astronomy tower. It took a while, but he finally convinced himself to go up. 

 

“I’m telling you, James, he’s up here.” Sirius whispered, and Harry heard the sound of shuffling feet before the four Marauders appeared, Peter holding the map and looking around. 

 

“And I’m telling you,” James whispered back, a little agitation in his voice, “it’s his choice to come to us or not.”

 

“He won’t.” Sirius said adamantly, crossing his arms. “If he went through half of what me and Reg did, you know he won’t. I didn’t.”

 

“I already have people I can talk to if I choose to.” Harry sighed, pulling his cloak off and stuffing it in his pocket. “We don’t know each other, none of us, related or not.”

 

“Is what you said true?” Sirius asked, stepping in front of the others, causing Harry to stiffen and step a foot back, ready for a fight if need be. Sirius noticed the posture and took a step back, giving Harry a bit more space. “About Reggie?”

 

“Regulus Black goes after something and is presumed dead at 17.” Harry confirmed. 

 

“I’m getting him out of that house and away, then.” Sirius said determinedly. 

 

“He’s already marked.” Harry said quietly, watching as Sirius froze. “That’s why you left, after all. So it wouldn’t be you. But that’s how a lot of old pure-blood families work, isn’t it? The heir and the spare. You found a way out, while Regulus saw all that you did, all the attention it brought you and did the opposite. He stayed quiet, he accepted what your parents said, all so he could gain more information. It’s why you were Gryffindor and he was Slytherin. You think with your heart, he thinks with his head.”

 

“That’s definitely not something you’d ever hear me say.” James commented, grinning crookedly. “Maybe Lils but not me. You may look more like me, but that attitude is all her.”

 

“Only you all would know that.” Harry shrugged. “I barely ever heard two words about either of you and ninety percent of the words I did here were that I looked like you with her eyes. Well. One person was constantly telling me that I was just as arrogant as you were.”

 

“You hardly seem the arrogant type.” Peter frowned, leaning against the railing where him and Remus were smoking. 

 

“Doesn’t matter.” Harry said, taking another small step back. “They saw you when they looked at me and never thought twice about whatever else was there.”

 

“Do you know all of us, then? In your time?” Remus asked curiously. He looked far more relaxed and healthier than he normally did after a full moon.

 

“I did.” Harry said hesitantly. “Met you three when I was 13, actually, though none of you were in great shape.”

 

“Sounds right.” Peter grunted, holding his cigarettes out for Harry. Harry accepted one and lit it silently. “We don’t want a lot of specifics when you’ll be going through all that tomorrow, so we won’t press you for answers.”

 

“Were you a prefect or anything?” James asked curiously, leaning beside Remus as Sirius sprawled on the ground.

 

“Not a prefect, no.” Harry chuckled. “Quidditch Captain.”

 

“Yes!” James cheered. “What position?”

 

“Seeker.” Harry admitted with a grin. “Was told I was the youngest Seeker in a century when I made the team.”

 

“Nice.” Sirius nodded approvingly. “Second year?”

 

“First.” Harry corrected, grinning when their jaws all dropped. “Was a bit of a lucky situation, really. One dick in our first flying lesson got a remembrall from Neville and tossed it. I caught it. McGonagall saw and took me straight to the team captain saying she’d found him a Seeker. Had no bloody idea what she was even talking about.”

 

“I’d love to play some time.” James said wistfully.

 

“Haven’t played in over a year because of all the shit that keeps happening and spending most of my time on the run.” Harry nodded. “Purely out of curiosity, anyone in the family a Parselmouth?”

 

“Mum.” James sighed, shrugging when the other Marauders looked at him in shock. “Skips a generation, though, so I don’t have it. I can read it and understand it but can’t speak it.”

 

“So it’s not something that can be transferred from one person to another, then.” Harry said thoughtfully. 

 

“Not how magic works.” Remus frowned. 

 

“Blimey, what are they even teaching you if you don’t know that?” Peter groaned.

 

“Can’t really say.” Harry shrugged. “I had trouble understanding a majority of my early classes and only found out recently that those from muggle families have supplemental materials to assist them when they arrive. Pretty sure the bastard was doing his best to keep me ignorant of a lot of shit.”

 

“Mind if we hex or prank whoever it was?” Remus asked, looking irritated at the prospect of Harry’s lack of education.

 

“Sure.” Harry snorted. “Go right ahead. You won’t do it, though.”

 

“Try us.” Peter said defiantly. 

 

“Albus Dumbledore.” Harry stated, watching all of their reactions. Shock and confusion were most prominent, but Sirius looked like he understood.

 

“That man never liked me.” Sirius grumbled. 

 

“He wouldn’t.” Harry shrugged. “You came from a dark family. Whether you were dark or not, didn’t really matter to him. Pretty sure he tolerated you because you were close with gray and light wizards.” Harry pointed between Remus, James, and Peter. “It’s a bit of a habit of his to write off anyone who doesn’t fit his agenda.”

 

“Like that Draco kid. Lucius’ son, has to be.” James said in understanding as Harry nodded. “Malfoy is a dark family as well. Being dark and going to Slytherin would definitely cause him to turn a blind eye.”

 

“Probably should have just listened to the hat first year.” Harry sighed, looking away from them. “Maybe things would be completely different.”

 

“Asked not to be in Slytherin, didn’t you?” Sirius asked with a grin. “Me too.”

 

“Some of the kids going there reminded me of my cousin and Aunt and Uncle who liked to bully me. If the house was meant to be a family, I did not want a part of that while at school as well as at home.”

 

“Makes sense.” Sirius hummed, laying back and crossing his ankles. “Did we get to spend any real time together?”

 

“Not as much as either of us wanted.” Harry replied quietly. “Technically I was there when each of you died.”

 

“That’s awful.” Remus said, looking pale. 

 

“You three were all older.” Harry offered, hoping it would comfort them. 

 

“Would you want to visit the Chamber while you’re here?” James asked, changing the subject.

 

“Might do.” Harry hummed. “If only to deter him from listening to … someone else later on. That whole thing was a disaster. Everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin and was going around the castle terrorizing other students, muggle borns.”

 

“I mean-” James shrugged, “-you are an heir of Slytherin, in a sense.”

 

“How’d you find trying to date?” Sirius asked, frowning when the others groaned or laughed. 

 

“Practically impossible.” Harry stated. “Never understood why everyone was so intent to pair off and mess around. Ron and Hermione only recently got their heads out of their arses and realized how much they liked each other. Nev’s with Hannah, though they hide it well. Never really had time for it or the drama that came with it.”

 

“So you did the opposite of Padfoot.” Remus said with a mischievous grin. 

 

“Suppose I did.” Harry grinned back. “Guess he went and jumped in with whoever showed interest?”

 

“Pretty much.” James chuckled. 

 

“Harry, you need to sleep.” Hermione chastised as her and Ron found them all. “It’s been nearly two days.”

 

“I’m fine.” Harry grumbled, looking out at the lake. 

 

“Right.” Ron scoffed. “Try again.”

 

“I’ll sleep when all this shit is over.” Harry sighed. 

 

“You’ll crash when this is all over.” Hermione corrected, raising an eyebrow at him. “And wake up screaming like always.”

 

“Haven’t done that in a while and you know it.” Harry frowned at her.

 

“Just because you trained yourself out of it, doesn’t mean you still weren’t about to do it.” Ron countered.

 

“We’re just talking, guys.” Harry flicked his cigarette butt that vanished. “You’ve all been complaining that I’m shutting myself off too much, so this is me opening up.”

 

“You’ll see us all tomorrow, Prongslet.” Sirius said, getting to his feet. “But you are starting to look a bit like a ghost, so you should try sleeping.”

 

“Here.” Peter handed him a hand rolled cigarette and rolled his eyes when Harry gave him an unamused look. “It’s not tobacco, but it helps with anxiety and sleeplessness. Intended to keep it for when NEWT revising became too much, but I think you need it more.”

 

“Long as it’s not another potion.” Harry stuck it in his pocket. “Don’t get caught being out, if you can help it.”

 

“Minnie loves us.” James scoffed. “We’ll be fine.”

 

Harry rolled his eyes and left with Ron and Hermione following. He took a long hot shower when he got back, feeling tired but unsure if he’d be able to sleep, so he smoked while the water was steaming up. It had him feeling relaxed and floaty in no time. He stumbled out of the bathroom and fell face first on the couch, asleep nearly as soon as he was horizontal. 

 

When everyone was meeting in the staff room, with extra couches and chairs summoned in, Harry went straight for Peter and hugged him. He didn’t care if he startled him or not, nor that he’d hated the idea of seeing him after everything. But this was not the same man who ruined his life. Peter eventually hugged him back.

 

“Thanks.” Harry said, stepping back finally. 

 

“Oh. Right. Yeah, no problem.” Peter said, catching on. “I’d say any time but if a lot changes and we get to spend time together in the future I don’t think your parents will appreciate me sharing something like that.”

 

“It helped for now, so that’s enough. Haven’t been able to sleep very well since I was around 14. So … anyway, thanks.” Harry finally backed off and took a seat in the middle of a couch with Hermione and Ron on one side, and Neville and Ginny on his other. “Right. Where would you like us to start?”

 

“What are these dark soul pieces you were referring to?” Lily asked, leaning forward.

 

“Horcruxes.” Hermione answered, her voice slightly shaky. 

 

“Something children should not know about.” Dumbledore said sternly. Harry raised an eyebrow at him defiantly. 

 

“Your older self didn’t seem to agree. Not when he sent the three of us on a hunt for them all.” Harry stated, watching as the man blanched at the idea. “You figured out what he’d done, at some point, and instead of going to authorities, you sent three 17 year old, turned 18 for two of us, wix after them. Regulus figured out where one was somehow, though. He figured out what the twat had done and knew he had to take care of it himself because you wouldn’t.”

 

“You chose who to help.” Hermione added, looking at Dumbledore with anger. Harry and Ron each took one of her hands to help her calm down. “And it won’t happen again.”

 

“No.” Harry and Ron agreed. 

 

“Most of the items he chose were relics of Founders.” Harry continued. “Slytherin’s locket, the Gaunt family ring, diadem of Ravenclaw, and the chalice of Hufflepuff. His first, though, was a simple muggle diary. His other two were living beings, even if one was accidental.”

 

“Harry drew these.” Ron added, handing over the pictures Harry had drawn of the items. His face felt warm as everyone looked at the drawings and back to Harry. Only Ron and Hermione knew that he drew. “Not sure where the diary is now, but in our time, Lucius Malfoy was holding it. The diadem was in the Room of Requirement, but not sure if it’s there now or not. The chalice is most likely already in the LeStrange vault, Bellatrix’s. The locket, well, only Harry actually knows where that is because Dumbledore from our time took him there to retrieve it before he died.”

 

“Nagini, the snake, is always with him, we expect.” Hermione added. “Nev killed it with the Sword of Gryffindor during the final battle, the rest we got with either the sword or a Basilisk fang. I don’t think the fang would work now, though. Harry hasn’t infused the sword with the venom yet.”

 

“How did he infuse the sword with the venom?” A boy who had been quiet asked. He scowled and flushed when everyone looked at him. Well, nearly everyone. The Marauders and Lily pointedly didn’t look at him.

 

“Stabbed it through the head.” Harry replied, watching the boy. He still looked like a pretentious arse, but that was most likely because he had already cut ties with everyone else and was an orphan now himself. “Just for the record, I don’t care how much you dislike each other. I don’t care that you were all horrible to some students, him in particular.” Harry pointed at the young Snape while looking at his parents and the Marauders. “I don’t care that you were doing it for attention or because he was a dick and constantly talking bad about you. His older self never saw the abuse I went through, only you, whenever he looked at me.”

 

“There are still some things that shouldn’t be said.” James said through gritted teeth.

 

“Yeah, and there are grudges that can be held and used against your children.” Harry replied evenly. “You were all, or mostly all, dead. He saw his tormentors when he looked at me and did everything in his power to make me, and Nev, and others, feel small and weak and useless. All because of what you put him through while in school. Bullying is not ok. Not to the extent you went to. You want to hate each other? Fine. Hate each other. That doesn’t require interaction or purposeful antagonization.”

 

“Thank you.” Lily exclaimed, looking at the others sternly. “Well said, Harry.” She passed him a candy, smiling proudly at him. 

 

“Why would people ever think you’re like James when that was pure Lily.” Peter chuckled. Harry’s face felt warm, but it was nice hearing how like his mum he was. 

 

“So what would you have us do, then?” McGonagall asked, watching Harry curiously.

 

“I’m not here to have you do anything.” Harry argued. “I’m here because of events set in motion that made me the Master of Death and he thought we could change your minds. I still think it’s bullshit because none of you ever listened to me when I was in school. When the sorcerer’s stone was kept here, we tried telling you it was going to be stolen, but we were sent off. When the Chamber was opened, we tried going to another teacher about it, but he tried to obliviate Ron and me. No one cared that every time a dementor was near me, which was a lot in third year since they were around the castle to try and keep out a supposed dangerous criminal who escaped Azkaban, I heard their deaths.” Harry pointed to James and Lily who had gone pale. 

 

“Fourth year, the bastard Minister and others decided it was a good idea to bring back the Triwizard Tournament, which I was entered into against my will. I had to watch another student die because a Death Eater turned the cup into a portkey that led to Tom being able to gain a new body. Dementors were sent after me before fifth year where the Ministry tried to expel me without a trial for protecting myself and my cousin. A TEACHER used a blood quill in detentions. She wasn’t even qualified as a teacher, she was an Undersecretary for the Minister and given the position so they could spy on what was happening here.” Harry held up his hand so they could see the words on it. 

 

“You thought it best to avoid me and not interact with me that year because you figured out the connection between my mind and Tom’s. I had to teach my classmates in secret how to actually defend themselves because that bitch wouldn’t. Sixth year, you decided to step in and show me all that you’d gathered about Tom’s life. Which sent me on this past year of hunting horcruxes across the country. We found them and destroyed them and I let that dick kill me so that he could destroy the final one. Shit is always happening in my life that when I finally think I can go to an adult for help, I get turned away or told to keep my head down and not draw attention. So I don’t expect you to do anything. That’s up to you all. We’re offering up information that you can use or not use, to stop this war from ever happening. To stop me and Nev and Susan from becoming war orphans. To stop losing people we get close to. To stop having to fight, year after year, just to be able to live.”

 

“One thing I don’t understand,” Bill said cautiously, “is why there is no one trying to get kids, like Harry and the Blacks, into safer homes? There used to be a department that did that, granted the definitions of what is considered abuse have changed over the years, but surely you don’t truly believe that using Unforgivable curses on children as punishment is alright?”

 

“I went to the Ministry.” McGonagall said, looking rather angry. “They refused to investigate an Ancient and Noble House.”

 

“You did?” Sirius and Regulus asked, looking surprised.

 

“You didn’t honestly believe I would support what your parents did to you, did you?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at them. “Once you were with the Potters, I knew one of you was safe, but there wasn’t anything I could do aside from taking care of you at school.”

 

“How far must we have fallen to allow teachers who abuse students into the classrooms.” Flitwick sighed disappointedly. 

 

“For the record,” George added, clearing his throat, “Harry didn’t know any of what he went through was abuse until we talked to him about it after rescuing him before his second year, my fourth.”

 

“Took us a while to get him over the starvation.” Ron agreed. “Good thing you and Fred were so good with potions.”

 

“How did you get rid of the dementors that attacked you?” Remus asked, sitting forward. “We only just started learning the Patronus this year.”

 

“Er,” Harry shifted in his seat a bit, feeling hot as everyone looked at him, “actually you taught me. Third year. Wanted to learn because I didn’t like what I felt with them around.”

 

“Harry’s was strong enough at 13 to send off about a hundred dementors.” Hermione said proudly, beaming at him. 

 

“It’s part of why we wanted him to teach us.” Ron agreed.

 

“He’s a bloody brilliant teacher.” George added, reaching over and ruffling Harry’s hair, while the other kids nodded their agreement.

 

“Anyway.” Harry said, slapping George’s hand away and trying to flatten his hair again, which didn’t work if the amused looks he was getting were anything to go off of. “Are you able to go to the Ministry with any of this information, or are you going to end up having to do it all yourselves, with the Order?”

 

“How do you know about that?” Dumbledore asked, sitting up straighter. 

 

“Blimey, it’s like you haven’t been listening at all.” Ron grumbled. “Was he like this during your lessons last year?”

 

“Pretty much.” Harry sighed. “You know he doesn’t give up information, whether it would help or not.”

 

“So were you part of the Order?” James asked, looking between Harry and Dumbledore.

 

“No.” Harry scoffed. “People kept deciding what I was too young or finally old enough to know. Never taking my opinions or voice into consideration. I grew up basically as a slave and was given a tiny bit of affection and information, just enough to keep me hanging on for more, when I came to the magical community. I was never part of the Order, and I’d honestly never want to be. They’re as bad as the Death Eaters.”

 

“Explain.” McGonagall said through gritted teeth.

 

“Fine.” Harry said, standing up and his own anger rose. “You want to know my opinion finally? Here it is; Tom created the Death Eaters and led them through fear. He controlled them with pretty words about taking over and making magical Britain theirs to govern and rule as they saw fit. He,” Harry pointed at Dumbledore, “led the Order; giving them words of hope all while gaining and holding onto various government seats that he never did a fucking thing with. He never voiced against laws that came out preventing those with creature blood from learning at Hogwarts, let alone getting steady jobs so they could afford to even live a decent life. He let my godfather get sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit all so he could control where I was raised and conditioned to be reliant on whatever he bloody said. He is the one who kept the Order in line by telling them what they were doing was protecting James and Lily’s child. Their friends’ child. And every single one of them bought it; hook, line, and sinker, because he said it was so. He said I was fine, so I must have been. No one ever fucking checked on me. No one ever asked why I had so much accidental magic even after I’d started school. He directed attacks, counter attacks, and spy networks, just like Tom did. They’re as bad as each other. At least Tom was upfront with me and told me why he wanted me dead, that he was not going to stop until I was. He had someone else show me that he planned for me to die at the right moment the entire time. It’s only pure dumb luck that I didn’t turn into a fucking obscurial like his sister.”

 

Dumbledore was on his feet and glaring at Harry like he never had before.

 

“You speak of what you do not know.”

 

“And you speak as if you ever gave a damn about anyone that followed you.” Harry countered. “Nearly everyone in this room, from your time, is dead. Every. One. McGonagall and Flitwick make it through, though not unscathed.”

 

“You’re obviously still recovering from your trip through time if you are making such accusations.” Dumbledore said darkly.

 

“Yeah?” Harry asked, stepping closer, feeling the magic in the room reacting to their showdown. “And you weren’t part of the reason your sister died? It wasn’t because of an argument between you, your brother, and your lover who wanted you to run away and join his cause?”

 

“Silence.” Dumbledore hissed.

 

“You silenced me my entire life.” Harry said quietly. “And I am no longer your pawn.”

 

“It was Gellert’s spell that killed Ariana.” Dumbledore growled. “Not mine.”

 

“Maybe.” Harry conceded. “But you never spoke of her after that night, nor him. You abandoned your own family, Albus Dumbledore. But instead of taking care of those who came through the school when you could have, you turned them into Soldiers, because that’s all you knew. You fought Grindelwald, because you had to. And you saw the second part of this current war as having the same outcome between me and Tom. The difference between us, old man,” Harry snarled, “is I have done everything in my power to make sure those around me were able to defend themselves, to go on to live a decent life after it all, not die for a cause. Because I was damned if there wasn’t going to be an after for them.”

 

There was silence for a while after Harry spoke while Dumbledore studied him. Slowly, the magic in the room dispersed. 

 

“What went so wrong that I turned children into Soldiers?” Dumbledore whispered.

 

“You were expected to lead three wars.” Harry answered quietly. “They turned to you because you’d lived through it twice already, and they believed you could do it a third time. So instead of thinking for themselves, they went to you. Someone who had already been harmed by death and battle. If you are going to make the differences you want to make, you need to start before it’s too late. You need to make the changes in government that you wish to make our world a better place instead of sitting back and letting those with agendas and deep pockets make their own. You need to fucking step up and be someone to actually look up to for a reason. Lead the school or don’t. But you should not be doing both. You can’t. Not if you want to make anything better.”

 

“You’re right.” Dumbledore agreed after a long moment. “We need to do better. I need to do better.”

 

“Ok, seriously, James is not his father. I demand a paternity test.” Peter exclaimed. Several people laughed nervously, but others laughed happily. 

 

“I guess looking like James with Lily’s attitude is the best compromise.” Remus agreed, slapping Peter’s hand. 

 

“You must have yelled at James a lot when Harry was a baby.” Sirius added, looking at Lily carefully. “Cause that was all you.”

 

“Probably yelling at you nitwits.” She countered, looking at them with raised brows. 

 

“Probably.” They all agreed together, looking a little sheepish and a little excited about the prospect.

 

“That was incredibly hot.” Draco said, leaning back in his chair grinning at Daphne, Tracy, and Ginny who chuckled and nodded their agreement. 

 

“Dibs!” George shouted, jumping up and wrapping his arms around Harry, making him blush furiously as Dumbledore sat back down, not disguising his smile or laughter. 

 

“No way!” Ginny argued. “I saw him first!”

 

“Oi, wait, you can’t call dibs.” Neville argued. “We’ll obviously have to duel for him.”

 

Harry covered his face with his hands and groaned as everyone started laughing again.

 

“There is no way you were a Gryffindor.” McGonagall said, smirking at him.

 

“That was definitely Slytherin worthy.” Regulus agreed, Slughorn and a reluctant Snape nodding along.

 

“Was supposed to go there.” Harry mumbled, unable to get away from George, not that he was trying particularly hard. 

 

“Are we all allowed to duel for Harry, then?” Parvati asked, grinning when the snickering renewed.

 

“I’m not a bloody prize.” Harry argued.

 

“Is that enough information?” Hermione asked, but Harry could hear the smile in her voice.

 

“They may say it jokingly, but they really will fight over him.” Ron added, snickering when Harry flipped him off. 

 

“We should have all we need to end this sooner than later.” McGonagall conceded. “You’ll have to leave the Room of Requirement, though, in order for us to retrieve that particular artifact.”

 

“We can wander ‘round and observe some classes.” Ron said, standing up. “Maybe Harry can even give practicals in defense.”

 

“Will it help on our NEWTs?” Lily asked, standing up and ignoring the Marauders, who were watching interestedly.

 

“Helped with mine.” George shrugged. “Me and Fred left school before the tests were given but we took them through the Ministry and managed to get O’s because of Harrykins.”

 

“He got O’s on his OWLs, but the rest of us got E’s.” Hermione said a little grumpily. “Pretty sure they gave him a NEWT for it instead of an OWL, actually.”

 

“As it is evening already, perhaps start tomorrow with whichever classes you want to sit in on?” Flitwick offered. 

 

“Works for us.” Susan stated, getting to her feet.

 

“Let’s get some food, I’m starving.” Ron agreed, putting an arm around Hermione.

 

“Hey!” Harry yelped when George picked him over his shoulder and marched out with him, ignoring the laughter that followed them. 

 

It was nice sitting together and having dinner in the Great Hall. It reminded Harry of the other dinners he’d shared there with his friends over the years. He still wasn’t positive anything would change, but it was a nice dream. He couldn’t tell how much of the attention George was giving him was earnest, and how much might have been playing a part, but it had him smiling again, and not looking so haunted. He’d liked Ginny, sure, but he couldn’t help but like how George would put an arm around him or hug him close every so often. 

 

It was all very confusing. 

 

When everyone was finally asleep that night, Ron and Hermione included, Harry snuck off again. He was surprised to find Snape sitting on the Astronomy tower, though. 

 

“You’re not very much like him, are you?” Snape asked quietly, apparently knowing he was there. 

 

“I never knew him, not like you did.” Harry said hesitantly, taking his cloak off. “But I know what it’s like to be bullied and chased and, well. He was a dick for a lot of what he did. He and his friends could have chosen to ignore you, to not go after you just because you said something mean back instead of letting them bulldoze over you, but they didn’t. And they have to live with that.”

 

“Not long, it seems.” Snape finally looked at him. “I never wanted anything to happen to Lily. For her to die.”

 

“I know.” Harry nodded. “But war isn’t that way.”

 

“I had to cut ties with her.” Snape said, looking away again. “I couldn’t be friends with her, with a muggle born, if I was going to fit in.”

 

“Then you chose the wrong people to try and fit in with.” Harry shrugged. “You chose people who hated your former best friend for how she was born. There is a middle ground. You’re a teenager. What makes you think that you’ll make your lifelong friends here and now? Nothing. Just ‘cause some people do that doesn’t mean everyone does.”

 

“You did.”

 

“I was different.” Harry shrugged. “I’d never had friends before school. Didn’t know what it was like to have them. You did, with my mum. Fred, George, and their friend Lee were the first ones to be nice to me. Then Ron. Then Hermione and Neville. Besides, I wasn’t expected to live at the end of all this. For all I knew, I had friends for all of six years, seven for some. Not even half my life.”

 

“I’ve already joined.” Snape said quietly.

 

“And?” Harry asked, waiting for him to say more. “What says you can’t mend things with Lily privately and send her information? You’re a skilled Occlumens and Legilimens. You’re more than capable of doing whatever you choose.”

 

“How do you know about that?” Snape narrowed his eyes. It was much less disturbing than on his older self.

 

“Dumbledore. You went to him when you found out Tom was targeting mum and dad. Wanting to protect her, keep her safe. He forced you into being a spy for him in the promise he’d do everything to protect all of us. In order to maintain your cover, he hired you on as the Potions teacher.”

 

“I DO NOT want to teach.” Snape said vehemently.

 

“That was very obvious.” Harry replied dryly. “You were there because he had something on you and because he was using you to know when he came back. At one point, during my fifth year when he was ignoring me, he decided you were the best option to try teaching me Occlumency, regardless of your past with my father. One lesson went a bit wrong and I saw what they did to you after OWLs. It was the first time I saw what he was like, what they all were like, and why you hated him so much.”

 

“I wasn’t even doing anything.” Snape growled. 

 

“Which makes him a complete dick.” Harry agreed, grinning when Snape looked at him, startled. “He was. If they’d left you alone, maybe things could have been different and you wouldn’t have joined up. But you did. And you were able to protect your godson because of it.”

 

“I don’t have a godson.” Snape said, looking confused.

 

“Draco.” Harry stated. 

 

“He’s Cissa’s son?” Snape asked, perking up.

 

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. 

 

“I kept him safe?”

 

“He’s about the only one you could.” Harry agreed. 

 

“But he was still marked.”

 

“Because of Lucius, not you.” 

 

“I don’t want to teach. And I don’t want to be reminded of the friend I once had.”

 

“All you can really do is try and apologize. She’ll either accept that the circumstances were extreme, or she won’t. Nothing else you can do about it.”

 

“What have we here?” Sirius asked curiously, watching Harry and Snape. 

 

“Couple of blokes who can’t sleep having a conversation.” Harry replied, raising an eyebrow at the younger version of his godfather. “Surely you’ve done the same?”

 

“I think he was just curious why you were speaking so calmly with him.” James said, not looking at Snape.

 

“Because as weird as it seems to be, I have more in common with him than any of you, aside from maybe Sirius.” Harry answered, watching them for a reaction. “He may have hated me in my time, but that’s because of all the other shit that was done to and around him. If you can be civil, then stay. Have a decent conversation. If not, bugger off.”

 

“It’s just so bizarre how like Lily that sounds.” Snape muttered. 

 

“Right?” Peter agreed, leaning against the wall. 

 

“We aren’t here to cause problems or start a fight.” Remus said. “We actually wanted to come to apologize.”

 

“Go on then.” Harry said, gesturing to Snape. 

 

“We realize that we may have been overly harsh in going after you.” Sirius said hesitantly, clearing his throat. “I might have egged it on, but I shouldn’t have. Between you, me, Harry, and Reg, we could probably have our own support group for kids that were targeted by their guardians or parents.”

 

“I apologize for going after you so much in our earlier years.” James said slowly. “I didn’t like Lily hanging out with you, spending more time with a Slytherin than her own House.”

 

“It was juvenile.” Remus agreed, watching James. “But we should have done more to actually help you like we did Sirius and tried to with Regulus. We can’t take back what we did, but we can try to be better.”

 

“You don’t have to accept it.” Harry told Snape. “But you can move forward and put them behind you. Holding onto it will only hurt you, not them.”

 

“I’ll consider it.” Snape said finally. “Good night, Harry.” He nodded at Harry and left, leaving Harry once again with the Marauders. 

 

“So who won?” Remus asked, dropping to the floor beside Harry where he was sitting, offering him a smoke.

 

“They haven’t dueled yet.” Harry grumbled, lighting it. 

 

“It was pretty entertaining to watch.” Sirius snickered. 

 

“I never had anyone fighting over me like that.” James pouted. 

 

“A girl sent me spiked chocolates for Christmas one year.” Harry groaned. “Most people were only interested in me because of being ‘the-boy-who-lived’ and all that shite. Not everyone, but most. Fred and George were a godsend while I was here. Always making me laugh and treating me like a normal kid.”

 

“Gonna give ‘im a go, then?” Sirius asked waggling his eyebrows.

 

“Not doing anything until we get back to our time and see how much, if anything, has changed. If nothing has changed, and we get dropped back where the battle just ended, things’ll be different. He still lost his twin brother, so he’ll need time. Not sure how easy it would be for me to do that, anyway. Not with how much my Aunt and Uncle would rant about the sin of it all.”

 

“Merlin, don’t get me started on that bullshit.” Remus groaned. “It’s perfectly acceptable in wix society, but not muggle. Still frowned on for me, being what I am and all.”

 

“Right, because that’s obviously what’s wrong with you.” Harry snorted. “You were still the best DADA teacher a lot of us ever had while at school. Bloody brilliant. Had to quit at the end of the year, though, when some pure-blood families found out about it and you were more or less outed. I mean, who gives anyone the right to determine who would make a decent teacher or not? Flitwick is part goblin, Hagrid is part giant, you’re a howler. Big deal.”

 

“Not when you put it like that.” James chuckled. 

 

“They really should have been more worried about the curse on the job, than what a person teaching it was. Being part creature has nothing to do with the magic they can perform or teach.” Harry shrugged. “Beauxbaton has Veela, Vampires, and Giants teaching, and they’re one of the top schools around.”

 

“How do you know that?” Remus asked curiously.

 

“Fleur was in the Triwizard Tournament with me.” Harry shrugged. “Talked with her and Viktor, the Champion from Durmstrang, a few times.”

 

“Think you’d give George a shot if you get a new start?” Peter asked, dropping to Remus’ other side.

 

“Dunno.” Harry shrugged, feeling his face heat up. “Guess you’ll have to not fuck up to find out.”

 

“Sounds like a plan.” Sirius laughed. 

 

“Shut up and just come on.” Lily said agitatedly as she appeared, dragging Regulus by the hand. “Boys.” 

 

“Lily.” They all replied, nodding to Regulus. 

 

“Hey, Reggie.” James said softly, smiling at him. 

 

“Please, not in front of me.” Sirius groaned, dropping his head in his hands. Lily nudged him with her foot, making him fall over before sitting beside James and pulling Regulus practically in her lap. 

 

“Don’t worry, darling, you know he’s just jealous.” Lily said, tucking a hair behind Regulus’ ear. 

 

“Perhaps, but your son did not know much about me.” Regulus grumbled. “And now you’ve dragged this out in front of him.”

 

“Then he can get to know you now.” James said certainly, taking Regulus’ hand and kissing the back of it, grinning when he flushed. 

 

“Triad, I’m guessing?” Harry asked, pointing between them. James and Lily beamed at him, while the others only sighed heavily. “Only learned a little about that sort of thing recently. Well, I guess the three of you better figure your shit out and keep me from having to grow up like I did.”

 

“Who was your godfather, anyway?” Regulus asked, rolling his eyes when Lily wrapped her arms around his waist.

 

“Why?” Harry looked between them all, not wanting to answer.

 

“You gave us broad strokes, in there. Overall outcomes and such. We would like a bit more specifics to see if we can prevent some things.” Lily commented.

 

“I tell you, then the secret keeper will practically be down to two, and you’ll know which one it was.” Harry replied. 

 

“Then we have time to make sure he isn’t swayed or his family is more protected or something if needed.” James said certainly. 

 

“It was me, wasn’t it?” Peter asked, watching Harry closely. “I was the secret keeper, Sirius was the godfather. The Ministry wouldn’t have allowed it to be Remus, so that makes the most sense. Siri and Reg are the only ones of us that know what those types of curses feel like, so they’re the only ones that would argue whether they think they would handle that sort of pressure or not.”

 

“Dumbledore would have sent me off to parlay with other wolves, too, I expect. We talked about it a few times already.” Remus said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t have been around to be an option.”

 

“If it was Peter, then someone we all trusted would have said something to Sirius to make him doubt his ability to keep it secret.” James agreed.

 

“Which means I left a baby alone to chase Peter down and was the reason he was left with that awful sister of yours.” Sirius said with a sigh. “Bugger. Well. I don’t fancy Azkaban, so that’s not happening.”

 

“I don’t fancy being a Death Eater.” Peter agreed. “Even if Tom was hot in his younger years.”

 

“He wasn’t bad.” Harry conceded. “Definitely not my type, though.”

 

“Wonder what would have sent me over.” Peter hummed thoughtfully. “Not money or power.”

 

“You were described as always chasing after dad and his friends around me once.” Harry said carefully. “As if you weren’t as equal of a Marauder as they were.”

 

“Well that’s rubbish.” James snorted. “Peter and Remus found most of what we needed to make the map. Me and Sirius did the least work for it. Not to mention he got his animagus form before us.”

 

“Well, teachers don’t always see the real dynamics between friends.” Harry shrugged. “No one ever mentioned this relationship around me.” he gestured between James, Lily, and Regulus. “And I doubt they knew anything about Evan or Barty.”

 

“What?” Regulus asked, sounding like a yelp. “How the hell do you know about them?”

 

“Met Winky.” Harry replied. “They only originally joined the Death Eaters because of you. They got lost in their grief and madness when you disappeared, though.”

 

“Sounds right.” Regulus sighed. “I should have told them what I was doing. They’d have helped in a heartbeat.”

 

“You all keep the old man in check and make sure he takes care of everything, then it will be a non-issue. You can harass them for getting caught making out in Slughorn’s office and trying to play it off as if they had actual Potions questions that end with them getting an hour and a half long lecture they weren’t anticipating.” Harry grinned.

 

“Oh Merlin, but that was great.” Regulus chortled. 

 

“So this is where you run off to.” George said, joining them and sitting by Harry. “The three of us used to come up here to hide from Filch.”

 

“Which was usually your or Fred’s fault.” Harry argued. “You were too noisy.”

 

“We can’t all be as sneaky as you.” George countered. 

 

“Only because you never tried.” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “You two could sneak around your house just fine, but not a massive castle with literally hundreds of rooms? How the hell you managed to get caught as much as you did is a mystery.”

 

“We had the map before.” George said, his cheeks pink. “Lost our advantage when we gave it up to you, brat.”

 

“And just think of all I got up to before I even had the map.” Harry snickered. He jumped when someone cleared their throat. He’d actually managed to forget there were other people there for a moment. 

 

“Peeves usually covered for us.” George shrugged unconcernedly. 

 

“So then.” Remus said, trying not to laugh. “Favorite prank of Harry’s?”

 

“That’s easy.” George snorted. “When he spelled Lockhart’s hair his second year. Dunno what he did, cause he still won’t tell, but each time he washed it, for a week, it turned a different color.”

 

“Still not telling.” Harry grinned, when George rolled his eyes. “Besides, you got a few on him, too.”

 

“Yeah, but yours was the best.” George sighed. “Our fireworks were always more popular than subtle tricks.”

 

“Like the dragon that chased Umbridge from the castle?” Harry asked, laughing at George’s bright smile. “God, that was great!” 

 

“Yeah it was.” George pumped a fist in the air proudly. “‘Course we never successfully blackmailed anyone like you did.”

 

“You can’t prove I did shit.” Harry argued.

 

“So get this, right?” George looked at the others, still smiling, “we made bets for the World Cup before the tournament came to the school and the bloke paid us our winnings in leprechaun gold. Fred had the bright idea to blackmail him, but the dick was also deeply in debt with the goblins. He never took our threats seriously, not that I was the threatening one, that was always Fred. But after the tournament, the bloke just disappears, and Harry would only give us an attempt at an innocent look when we talked about what happened. A goblin admitted that the idiot’s hiding place had been passed over for additional funds for our shop to open, which we only found out when we went in to purchase the place to begin with. We only had to put down 200 galleons to get it and got another thousand of funding from them.”

 

“You talked to Griphook, didn’t you?” Harry complained.

 

“Not our fault he’s the one who was there when we went in.” George shrugged, grinning at him.

 

“That’s brilliant!” Sirius exclaimed happily. 

 

“Good to know you still did some things like a kid.” Remus chuckled.

 

“Had to make my own fun.” Harry shrugged. “Was great, too, especially when everyone always blamed them first.”

 

“Which we accepted because it was amazing.” George agreed, dropping an arm over Harry’s shoulders. 

 

“What was the tournament like?” Peter asked.

 

“Considering I was competing at 14? Terrifying. Now? Ha, I’d probably be ready for a nap or something and it wouldn’t phase me.”

 

“The first task was to steal a fake egg, that was a clue for the next task, from a dragon.” George added. “This genius summons his broom and swoops in, stealing it in record time.”

 

“What was it, like half a minute?” Harry asked, looking at him. “Once I had my broom, I mean. Had to wait a bit for it to get to me.”

 

“How far did you summon it?” Lily asked interestedly, braiding pieces of Regulus’ hair.

 

“Like, maybe,” Harry tilted his head as he thought, “from the tower to the pitch?”

 

“Sounds right.” George nodded.

 

“Second task pissed me off more than anything.” Harry huffed. “The egg opened under water and it was a mer-song about how we’d have to search for an hour to find something that was taken from us. Took a bit more than an hour, but still managed to get second.”

 

“Only because he stayed with the people who were suspended down there as the ‘missing items’ to make sure they all got rescued.” George rolled his eyes. 

 

“I didn’t trust they wouldn’t have left them down there.” Harry raised an eyebrow at George who snorted. “Not after they let me compete and let Rita run her stupid fucking articles.”

 

“That’s fair.” He reluctantly agreed.

 

“Third task was a massive, living, hedge maze.” Harry grumbled. “Had to get past obstacles, trying to find the center where the cup was. Made it there same time as Cedric did.”

 

“Cedric?” James asked, head tilted.

 

“Cedric Diggory.” Harry sighed. “Was killed as soon as we landed when the portkey transported us.”

 

“Mum had nightmares for weeks of it being Cedric coming back with Harry’s body.” George frowned. 

 

“Don’t think I really slept for weeks after it was over, either.” Harry grunted. “That all took a rather dark turn.” He blew out a raspberry, accepting another cigarette from Remus.

 

“What about you all? Best prank or magic from your years since you’re nearing the end of school?” George prompted, stealing Harry’s smoke before handing it back. When he did, it tasted like strawberries.

 

“Getting our transformations done without interfering with classes.” Peter said certainly, while the other groaned or nodded along. “Mostly, anyway. James had little antlers for a few days before he could get it fully under control.”

 

“Like father, like I son, I guess.” George snickered and Harry’s jaw dropped open.

 

“How the fuck do you know about that?”

 

“How else? Hermione told Ron who told us.”

 

“Remind me to send some spiders after him later.” Harry grumbled.

 

“What’d you end up stuck with?” Remus asked.

 

“His ears and tail.” George snickered, holding Harry still when he tried to go after him. 

 

“What’s your creature, then?” Sirius asked interestedly. 

 

“Oh, this is great.” George laughed and Harry wriggled more, trying to get free. “Watch this.”

 

“Don’t you fuck-” Harry struggled, but as soon as George touched the spot by his lower back and hip his body sagged and he shifted. He shook himself out and yipped at George, biting at him when he tried to reach over and pet him. “Harry and Hermione did small tattoos to help focus their creatures.” George laughed, but then did something unexpected and shifted as well, landing beside Harry as a sort of cat, but Harry couldn’t be sure. He growled and chased after him, yipping until a bigger animal picked Harry up in its mouth and carried him like a pup, dropping him in someone’s lap. Harry turned and yapped at Padfoot, who only licked his face. 

 

“Such a pretty little fox.” Lily cooed, while James held him up with a huge smile on his face. 

 

“Brilliant!” James exclaimed, kissing his head and setting him loose once more. “We should call it a night to let those two get some rest after today. We’ll get to see them in classes tomorrow.”

 

“How responsible of you.” Regulus said with narrowed eyes at him. “What are you up to?”

 

“Why must I be up to something, Reggie?” James pouted at him, which had no effect on Regulus. 

 

“I’m not staying with you, I’ve already told you I won’t sleep with you with my brother in the room.” Regulus said, rolling his eyes when James grumbled. 

 

“Come on, guys.” Remus laughed, hauling Peter to his feet and heading off. George swatted at Harry’s tail so Harry took off chasing him, while Padfoot chased after Harry. 

 

“The moon was yesterday, Mr. Black.” McGonagall said, spotting Sirius before he caught Harry, making George turn back and follow them when they were in a corridor. She looked at the two newcomers and sighed. “To bed, all of you.”

 

“Yes, Minnie.” Sirius said, shifting back, George right behind him. Harry shifted and gave Sirius a small shove before he took off running back to the Room of Requirement so she didn’t have a chance to chastise him. 

 

“Dick.” Harry grumbled when George caught up to him, but he couldn’t help smiling at him.

 

“That was fun.” George smiled as well. “Haven’t gotten to play with you yet like that.”

 

“I know. Almost like I was running for my life living in the woods when I figured out how to do it.” Harry hummed, laughing quietly as the door appeared and they went inside. “God, I need to shower again, then I’m hoping to pass out for a couple hours.”

 

“Me too.” George agreed, following Harry to the bathroom and taking one of the far stalls. Harry liked the middle, so there was still one between them. Not that that kept Harry from considering taking a peek. He kept his small groan of frustration quiet, not sure why he was suddenly so interested in George, but knowing it had always been there. He gasped when he felt hands on his shoulder and waist and lips on his neck. “Tell me to stop.” Harry shook his head and George leaned up and kissed him rigorously. It was sloppy with all the water rushing over them from the shower, but being completely naked, having so much skin contact, was exhilarating.

 

Letting George lead what they were doing was fantastic. It was ok that Harry didn’t know what to do, as George just told him. It was ok that they were in the shower, because at least it was private and could wash after. And it was ok that they might not remember it in a few weeks, if they managed to fix things with the wars. It was ok, because they would still meet and still get a chance. He never once thought about what anyone else might say about them being together. 

 

Harry fell asleep with his head on George’s chest that night to the sound of his steady heartbeat and hands rubbing his back gently. It was even better when they woke up and everyone had already gone to breakfast, giving them another chance to go again. They still pulled the curtains around the bed, just in case anyone came back for whatever reason. Which turned out to be a good idea. George froze in his movements, putting a hand on Harry’s mouth when the door opened and there were footsteps leading to one of the beds nearby. 

 

He shifted and Harry felt him hit the ball of nerves that made him want to scream in ecstasy. Seeing Harry tense up, George shifted again, smirking when his back arched off the bed slightly. When the steps finally went back to the door and it closed again, George shifted a little more and started fucking Harry relentlessly, making the whole bed move. He took his hand from Harry’s mouth and had just barely had to wrap his fingers around him before he came blindingly hard. George sped up and after a few more deep thrusts, came as well, gasping as he fell on top of Harry’s chest.

 

“Fuck, that was brilliant.” Harry gasped, smiling when George hummed his agreement. 

 

“Definitely finding you in our new lives and doing that again. Many times.” 

 

“Using pranks as foreplay.” Harry chuckled.

 

“Best kind.” George agreed with a small laugh, leaning up on his elbows to kiss Harry. “Probably better get cleaned up to go, though. Don’t want to just sit here all day.”

 

“Says you.” Harry retorted. “But you’re right. If we stayed here and just had sex all day, we wouldn’t actually get to enjoy our break from everything very well. To do any of that, though, you’ve got to get off of me.”

 

“Maybe before we go back we can switch it up, if you’re interested?” George raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“Could give it a shot, but it won’t last long.” Harry chuckled again. “Never had sex before, so don’t expect the same performance you just gave me.”

 

“I did alright for my first time, didn’t I?” George argued.

 

“You’ve really never had sex with anyone else?”

 

“No.” George snorted. “Never had time, same as you. Knew the mechanics behind it, but I think we were both a bit worked up in the shower so it didn’t really matter that it was fast in there.”

 

“That’s fair.” Harry agreed. “Yeah, we can try out more fun stuff later.”

 

“Can’t wait.” George kissed him again before getting up, giving him an apologetic smile as Harry winced. They cleaned up quickly and got dressed, but Harry’s hair was more of a disaster than usual, which would definitely give them away, but they were fine with it. As soon as they got to breakfast, several of their friends groaned and handed Neville and Draco money. Those two just slapped hands and nodded at Harry and George. 

 

George shrugged and sat down, eating like nothing was different. It was nice, so Harry did the same. He laughed pretty hard when Ginny was arguing with another girl about quidditch, because Ginny was very passionate about the sport. Of course, then James dragged Harry into the argument, since he was a Seeker, and everyone was demanding a scrimmage match with them, but Harry didn’t want to play. His last time on a broom had been fleeing Fiendfyre. Draco looked decidedly queasy about the idea, too. 

 

It wasn’t surprising when they went to a defense class that they were called on to participate as well. But apparently how well they did was surprising to the teacher. When he asked who taught them, they all just looked at Harry, who tried not to flush under the attention. 

 

“Perhaps a duel, then, Mr. Potter?” The man said condescendingly. Well then. He wanted to be an ass, Harry was happy to put him in his place. 

 

“If you want.” Harry shrugged, walking to the middle of the room. His friends moved everyone back and set barriers around them, drawing confused looks from the students.

 

“To protect you from ricocheting spells.” Hermione sighed. “Surely you’ve seen that when a spell is blocked it can ricochet into other people?”

 

“Very clever, Ms. Granger.” The teacher nodded approvingly, but Hermione only frowned at him. 

 

“I had a good teacher.” She countered, smirking when he frowned. 

 

“Wands ready.” He said, facing Harry once more and holding his wand up, Harry copying. They turned and walked their paces before facing one another. It was all rather a blur after that. Harry blocked every spell sent at him and after a few minutes had the teacher pinned under three linked shields with his wand laying outside of them, out of reach. “I yield.” He said through gritted teeth. When he did, Harry dropped his shields, letting him reach his wand. 

 

“You’ve gotten better at nonverbal casting.” Hermione hummed, her eyes still on the teacher who looked frustrated about having lost. 

 

“I take it you mean to become an Auror?” The man asked, walking slowly over to them.

 

“That was all anyone ever expected from me.” Harry replied. “Defeat more dark wizards, keep fighting. I don’t know what I want to do because I was never really given a choice.”

 

“You’d make a great DADA teacher.” Remus whistled. “That was brilliant spellwork.”

 

“Easy to remember when you’ve been in actual life and death scenarios.” Harry shrugged. 

 

“He says that,” Parvati interjected, “but he also trained us until our reaction times improved enough we didn’t have to think so much about what was happening next. Taught us to feel for it and strike preemptively.”

 

“Most of us still use verbal incantations, but we’ve also had fewer actual fights than Harry.” Susan agreed.

 

“You three don’t have the same reactions, though.” The teacher pointed at Draco, Tracey and Daphne.

 

“Well, no.” Tracey snorted, looking at the man as if he were an idiot. “Everyone made a point after you-know-who started his rise to power to either target Slytherins or exclude us because a lot of the people involved were our parents or siblings or whatever.”

 

“We’ve always been written off because of prejudice.” Draco agreed. “We may hold our own at times, but we learned it somewhere. We didn’t just decide to hate people for one thing or another. We were shown hate, so why not dish it back?”

 

“Harry would have taught us too, but the Ministry sent a bitch to teach who did everything in her power to keep the Houses separate. To make Harry a pariah and use us as her personal goon squad.” Daphne added.

 

“If she hadn’t singled you guys out, we would have offered.” Harry agreed. “Couldn’t do it while she was around, though.”

 

“You’ll help us when we get back.” Draco said certainly. “I mean, we were dropped here because you and your friends were trying to protect me.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Harry frowned.

 

“We know.” Draco pinched the bridge of his nose like he was asking for patience. “We’re just saying, we’re all on the same side, and if you create your defense club again, you’ll have it open to everyone.”

 

“Oh. Yeah, ‘course I will.” Harry nodded. 

 

“Besides,” Lily stated, crossing her arms and glaring at their professor, “Harry was meant to be in Slytherin anyway. He argued to go elsewhere. Good chance he won’t argue next time, though. Because we’re done with the house fighting and bullying. That’s what you all want, not us.”

 

“What she said.” James agreed, smiling at her like she was the sun. Harry wrinkled his nose.

 

“Don’t look at each other like that when I’m around.” He grumbled.

 

“Like George hasn’t been looking at you like that all day.” Sirius snorted. Harry frowned and looked for George who just shrugged.

 

“I don’t know what my face is doing. It’s got a mind of its own.” Harry rolled his eyes at George, who only grinned. 

 

“Let’s get back to practicing the Patronus, everyone.” The teacher rounded everyone back into groups and watched as they tried casting. Harry bit his lip to not interfere, he really didn’t want to get involved, but several people were doing it wrong.

 

“Ok, hold on.” Hermione interrupted, rubbing her temples. “No, that’s so wrong. Right, we’re taking over this class for the day. Harry, get over here, because I know it’s giving you as much of a headache as me trying not to say anything.”

 

“It really was.” Harry agreed with a groan. “What is it you were told to do for making a Patronus?”

 

“Focus on a happy memory, let it fill you up, then cast the charm.” Peter recited succinctly.

 

“Hate that fucking textbook answer.” Harry groaned. “Right. I’m gonna talk, you’re going to listen, and then we’re going to get at least half of you to make a fully corporeal Patronus before leaving. Got it?”

 

“Got it.” They all agreed eagerly. 

 

“Guys, might as well go take a seat.” Harry gestured for his friends, and all of them sat at the side of the room, dragging the teacher with them. “So. The text says to find a time, a memory, of when you were the happiest, right? Do you have any idea how hard that is when you’ve had a relatively happy life? Nearly impossible. So I’m going to paint you a picture and I want you to close your eyes to imagine it. For as long as I could remember, when I was younger, all I knew was a dark, dusty, broom cupboard under the stairs. It was maybe five and half feet long and ranged from a foot tall to four feet tall with a light that had a small chain attached to turn it on. I slept on a small cot with rags for blankets. I cooked, I cleaned, and occasionally I got to actually eat in the kitchen while I took care of the dishes after serving dinner. 

 

“Odd things were constantly happening. The flowers never wilted like the neighbors did when I tended them. A broken dish was fixed when I panicked about my Aunt finding it. She shaved all of my hair aside from a small part that covered my scar because a classmate had lice. The next morning it had all grown back. My teacher was a horrid shrew and her hair changed colors. I apparated to the top of the school trying to run away from my cousin so he wouldn’t beat me again. The glass at a zoo enclosure disappeared when my cousin and his friend threw me to the ground because the snake I was talking to woke up and was looking at me and not them. Then my letter came. My letter to Hogwarts, which I didn’t know was a place. After nearly a week of the letters coming, they finally moved me to what they called my cousin’s second bedroom. 

 

“They then dragged me across the country while trying to run from more letters, only for a half-giant, half-wizard, to come find us and personally deliver my letter. I found out about this world where everyone knew my name, when I’d only known it for a few short years. I hear kids coming from wealthy families making fun of others for their hand-me-downs, which is all I owned. I see them get sorted and all I know is I don’t want to be where they are. For the first time in my life, I made actual friends. But it couldn’t last, because someone wanted to kill me. So I finish my first year of school, I go back and don’t tell my relatives that magic isn’t allowed out of school, because it was the only thing I had that kept them feeding me or kept them from hitting me for the most part. 

 

“The Ministry sends a notice about magic being used and how I’m not allowed to do it out of school, taking away the only leverage I had. I was beaten, starved, and locked in my room. No less than seven padlocks, bars installed on the window even, as well as a cat-flap so they could push food in without having to actually see me. When they remembered I was there, anyway. Just when I think I won’t make it through the night, I get saved by three friends who were worried that they hadn’t heard from me all summer, taking me to their home and trying to help me recover. I get to school for second year and find out that apparently being able to talk to snakes is taboo. I was tripped and hexed and shunned by a majority of the school, even though all I had done was talk to a snake and tell it to leave another kid alone. 

 

“I had a teacher try and obliviate me, but it backfired and he lost his own damn mind. I fought a Basilisk, saving a friend from dying. I go back home only to have the same treatment from the end of the previous summer. My Uncle’s sister visits and encourages her dog to attack me and says so many awful things about my parents I don’t even remember. I accidentally caused her to blow up, to inflate like a balloon, forcing me to run away so I’m not punished for what happened. I found out I had a godfather and that he’d been wrongfully imprisoned for more than a decade because no one felt like conducting an actual investigation. When I got back home, after a year of being surrounded by dementors, I had a new reason to keep my Aunt and Uncle off my back. After all, the escaped convict the muggles were even warned about is my godfather and likes to check on me. 

 

“Now I told you that much, because I was 13 when I learned how to make my Patronus. Thirteen. Out of what I told you, how much of that would you say qualifies as ‘happy memory’ material?” Harry looked around at everyone, not surprised by the amount of shocked and concerned gazes he found. “Not much, right? Because that instruction about finding a happy memory is utter shit. Take that page of instruction in your brain, wad it up, and throw it out. Close your eyes again and listen. Why must it be a memory? When I first succeeded, it was because I was thinking about being 13, coming home from school, and talking with my parents. We weren’t even doing anything, just having a conversation. 

 

“It wasn’t real, though. I never got to have those conversations. I took a dream, I took a hope, a desire, and I made it real enough that I could cast from it. Think about something in your life now. Think about your friends. Think about your plans after school. How you’re gonna get a flat together and spend the summer being stupid until you have to take on actual responsibilities. Or maybe how you’re going to propose and settle down and have the family you always hoped for. 

 

“Think about how, maybe one time someone fell asleep while they were studying and you saw how many quills you could stick in their hair before they woke up and noticed. Maybe they still had one in when you went to dinner and every time you saw it, it made you laugh uncontrollably. Think about riding on the train, sitting in a compartment with them. We’ve all had that friend who tried to see how many chocolate frogs they could fit in their mouth before they hopped away, leaving us in tears because they look like a complete idiot.” Harry smiled when several people laughed. 

 

“Take that feeling while you imagine each of your individual scenarios, because no one’s is the same. Push that joy, that giddiness, that elation, to your magic to share, and cast your spell.”

 

Harry watched as five Patronuses shot out fully formed, shortly followed by three more. They all cheered and hugged each other at their success, before going to help their friends. When they were done, all but two had gotten it, and the two that hadn’t, were able to make the wispy smoky part. 

 

“That-” The teacher came over, clearing his throat, “-was very well done. I look forward to seeing you teach one day, Mr. Potter.” Harry shook his hand and watched him go to his office. 

 

“I never thought about using a fake memory, essentially.” Remus said, smiling happily as his dog Patronus started to dissipate finally. 

 

“It’s easy to find happy instances when they’re so few.” Harry shrugged. “But having it be enough for the spell is different. Glad you were able to get it, though.”

 

“You are brilliant.” Sirius said, picking him up and hugging him before putting him back down. “Merlin, that was amazing.”

 

“So?” Harry asked, quirking a grin at them. “Who was it then? It was Remus, wasn’t it?”

 

“Ha!” Peter shouted gleefully. “He’s still on his chocolate then?”

 

“Yeah.” Harry chuckled. 

 

“Who was it for you?” James asked, snickering at Remus’ pink cheeks.

 

“Ron.” Harry and Hermione said, looking at their friend who only shrugged. 

 

“What? I got five or six.”

 

“Lee got four.” George laughed. 

 

“Seamus only got three.” Parvati added.

 

“Goyle got six and a half.” Draco said with a small smile. “He looked utterly ridiculous.”

 

“We’re gonna check out Transfiguration next.” Ernie said, patting Harry’s shoulder. “You should stick around here, though. I think you broke the teacher.” Neville laughed loudly, drawing some attention of the other students loitering before the bell sounded to switch classes. 

 

“Yeah, alright.” Harry shrugged. “Go have fun. I know you want to hit Charms or Arithmancy.” Harry looked at Hermione who grinned but shrugged, knowing he was right.

 

“Want me to stay?” Ron offered, looking torn between the pair of them.

 

“Nah, go ahead. I’ll see you all at dinner.” Harry waved off his friends as they all left, aside from George, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. 

 

“We’ll help or demonstrate if you need it.” Neville shrugged. 

 

“Yeah, alright.” Harry smiled thankfully at him. 

 

Weirdly enough, Harry did end up actually teaching the rest of the day. The younger kids were really excited about getting their spells right and learning how to duel properly. Luna’s calm demeanor helped keep Harry’s nerves down about the whole thing. Even when he assigned a few essays, which he was sort of reluctant to do. But he knew they would help with understanding what he was saying. 

 

Dinner was nice, and they walked out by the lake afterwards for a little while. Giving the teachers time to get into the Room of Requirement if they wanted. When everyone was asleep for the night, Harry finally decided it was time to speak with the snake. So he pulled on his cloak and went to the bathroom, surprised not to see Myrtle, but continuing on and opening the chamber. There weren’t nearly as many skeletons on the ground as before. The shed skin wasn’t there either. It was actually a pretty cool space to see, without the rock fall. He hadn’t been able to appreciate it before. 

 

He opened the inner chamber and made sure it shut behind him in case anyone followed him and walked to the pool. Everything was just as damp and untouched as it had been the first time he’d come down. 

 

“ Are you there, ancient one?” Harry called, listening closely.

 

“ Who comes? You do not sound like the heir.”

 

“I’m another heir. My name is Harry. I’d like to let you free once more to protect the castle as you were meant to do. You were not meant to remain locked away like this.”

 

“And what do you want?”

 

“I want nothing but the safety of the students.”

 

“I would speak with you in person. I will shield my eyes from you.”

 

“I appreciate that.”

 

Harry watched as the mouth of the carved face opened up and the great snake slithered into the pool before coming to a rest with its head just in front of him. 

 

“ How small you are.”

 

“I get that a lot.” Harry sighed. “ What may I call you?”

 

“Hmm. Salazaar called me many things. You may call me Jalek.”

 

“Do you have enough to eat down here, Jalek?”

 

“Food has grown scarce. I must ration.”

 

“Surely there are tunnels that can lead you out to the lake, at least?”

 

“They are blocked. I cannot open them, only an heir.”

 

“Can you show me? I’ll open them for you so you may come and go when you need to hunt.”

 

“And you require nothing in return? The last speaker demanded I do his bidding. I did not wish for the girl who interrupted our argument to die.”

 

“I swear on my magic I want nothing from you, Jalek.” 

 

“Your magic tastes sweet.” Jalek hissed, letting out a sound like a sigh. “ Come. I show you.”

 

Harry followed him down the tunnel until they reached a gated tunnel that looked out over the lake. Harry spoke the same command as he had to enter the chamber and the gate lifted. Jalek slid out and into the water, practically groaning as he hit the surface and sank under. Harry laughed as the giant snake played around in the water, gulping down fish and several grindylows that were too slow to get away. When he was sated, he came back in the tunnel, turning when he was back in to see if Harry would close it. So Harry hissed at it to remain open. The opening that the gate had descended from, closed, essentially blocking the bars from lowering again. 

 

When they reached the main chamber again, Jalek circled around Harry and rubbed against him as much as a giant snake could. He took Harry back to see his nest and showed him some of the curiosities he’d collected. His bed was made mostly of old robes and ties that had been lost at some point. He passed Harry a few books before picking him up by his shirt and carrying him over the pool, dropping him on the other side. Harry promised to visit again when he could, but that it might be a long while. 

 

When he exited the Chamber and was back in the bathroom, he waved awkwardly to the group of people pacing around.  “Erm, hello.” Harry jumped when they shouted his name. 

 

“I told you he’d be fine.” Ron grumbled, giving Harry a tired wave before he turned and left.

 

“We did try and warn them.” Hermione agreed, before following after Ron. 

 

“What were you thinking?” James demanded, looking frantic.

 

“I was thinking I’d get him on my side so when or if my second year disaster still occurs, he won’t listen because I already took care of him.” Harry frowned. “He’s lonely, been trapped in one space for a long time. I gave him access to the lake and freedom to go through the tunnels and clear out the rats on occasion.”

 

“He adopted you, didn’t he?” George asked with a grin.

 

“I … wouldn’t say it like that.” Harry said hesitantly. “Anyway, he had some books that he gave me, too.”

 

“Those are in Parsel.” James said suddenly, leaning over to get a better look at them. 

 

“Yeah, figured as much. Anyway, sorry for inadvertently worrying you. I wander when I can’t sleep.” Harry shrugged.

 

“It’s true.” George agreed. 

 

“You can’t just wander off in a school, in a different time.” Remus said, looking tired.

 

“I spent detentions in the forbidden forest in first year and have survived three dragons, mermaids, Unforgivable Curses, and demented Ministry employees. This is the safest thing I’ve done in ages.” Harry said in an unimpressed tone.

 

“So?” George asked, looking like he wanted to go down the tunnel. “What was he like?”

 

“I think he grew a few feet by the time I met him.” Harry wobbled his head. “He went out, ate some fish and grindylows; seemed pretty happy when I left. Granted he did this weird scenting thing we learned about wolves doing. I didn’t realize giant snakes did it too. I feel a bit slimy, not gonna lie.”

 

“So Basilisks scent-mark the same as wolves?” Remus asked interestedly.

 

“Seems that way.” Harry wiped off some slime from his neck and shook it off in the sink that was back in place. “I definitely need a shower.”

 

“I can help with that.” George said brightly, throwing Harry over his shoulder again and walking off. Harry just relaxed and let him do all the work, looking at his books a bit, but also enjoying imagining the way George’s muscles were moving under his clothes since his face was so close to his ass. He waved the Marauders off when they separated near the tower, flipping Sirius off as he laughed. 

 

It felt really good to wash the grime off, even if it took a while. Bending George over the sink when he was clean was definitely a good way to end the night. He even lasted longer than he thought he would. When he was close, he stopped moving and wrapped a hand around George, jerking him quickly and thrusting in time when he felt him getting closer. It felt incredible and he came just as George did. He winced in sympathy as he backed up, pulling George with him back into the shower to rinse off. He fell asleep peacefully, George wrapped around his back, not even having to take a potion or anything. 

 

That didn’t stop him from screaming himself awake, unfortunately. It took a really long time for him to remember he wasn’t in the forest anymore, that he wasn’t dying again. He hated when people touched him while he was trying to come down, so he backed into a corner and sat with his head in his hands, focusing on breathing and counting out his fingers. Hermione and Ron caught him when his whole body sagged forward. Hermione put his head in her lap and Ron rubbed his back and arms. 

 

“Sorry.” He rasped. 

 

“Sh.” Hermione shushed. “We’re in the Room of Requirement. Dropped back in time around 1978. The battle is over. He’s dead.”

 

“You finished him and Hagrid carried you out of the forest when Narcissa Malfoy lied to him about you being dead.” Ron added, still rubbing his back. “You told her Draco was safe and she lied for you so you could come back to us.”

 

“She did?” Draco asked, kneeling down beside them.

 

“Yeah.” Harry said, clearing his throat before Hermione put a straw to his lips for him to drink some water. “He was disoriented after he destroyed his horcrux, the one in me. So he had her check me. She asked if you were alright and then she told him I was dead. But I was. I died.”

 

“You came back.” Hermione said gently. 

 

“I came back.” Harry repeated numbly. “Had to.”

 

“We’re glad you did.” Ron added softly.

 

“Can you get dressed and we’ll go eat breakfast?” Hermione asked, stroking his hair back again.

 

“‘M dressed.” Harry mumbled, before he realized he could feel the floor against his side. “Mostly.”

 

“Get a shirt on and we’ll walk you down.” Ron agreed, reaching under him and lifting him up out of Hermione’s lap. 

 

Harry let them guide him through the motions, holding onto him as they walked to breakfast and sitting him down at the table. He stared at the oatmeal in front of him, not feeling like eating but knowing he needed to. Hermione pushed the bowl away while Ron put buttered toast in front of him along with some strong tea. He sipped the tea and nibbled on the toast. He startled when someone reached across the table and touched his hand, though they moved slowly, he couldn’t help his reaction. 

 

“Yes?” He asked, clearing his throat and drinking most of the rest of his tea in one go. 

 

“You alright?” Sirius asked carefully. 

 

“Fine.” Harry replied automatically.

 

“Rough morning.” Ron said.

 

“Just takes him a while to come back.” Hermione agreed, giving Harry’s hand an encouraging squeeze before letting go so he could eat some more.

 

“So I’m not fine, but I will be.” Harry sighed. “Just trying to reacclimate to not running for my life. Undesirable number one and all.”

 

“Weird title.” Sirius frowned. 

 

“Suppose it was.” Harry chuckled, feeling a little better. “Not sure who came up with it, but it was what they put on my wanted poster.”

 

“What were you wanted for?” Remus asked, leaning over and putting a few pieces of bacon on Harry’s plate.

 

“For what I represented.” Harry answered easily. “Because knowing I was out there; alive, still fighting against the Death Eaters and Tom’s regime, gave people hope. They rallied and fought back because I had fought him at least three times already and survived. Tom wanted to crush their hope by targeting me and trying to bring me in. The longer I was wanted, the more people hoped and knew we could survive. Knew that I could finish it. All the Death Eaters in the Ministry did, by targeting me, was give people more hope and determination to fight back.”

 

“Well said.” Hermione said proudly. 

 

“Did he learn anything about you before he went after you?” Sirius asked in disbelief. “Because it doesn’t sound like he did.”

 

“Doubtful.” Harry snorted, starting to feel better. “If he had, he would have tried very different approaches.”

 

“Maybe offer to kill your Aunt and Uncle or even just get you somewhere else.” Ron agreed. “Honestly, just getting you anywhere else would have probably changed everything.”

 

“Can you imagine?” Harry grinned. “If snake-face of all people got child services onto my home life and put me somewhere else? Christ, so much of my life would have been vastly different.”

 

“Glad to have you back.” George said, looking a little strained. 

 

“Sorry about that.” Harry apologized, trying to give him a reassuring smile. “Some days are like that, though. It’s … it’s a lot.” Harry wasn’t sure what George was going to do, how he was going to respond, but what he did was rather unexpected. George got up and pulled Harry to his feet and kissed him rather thoroughly, leaving him breathless.

 

“We’ve all been through a lot.” George agreed. “We’re all gonna need to heal after this is over. Even if I get him back, I’ll still know that I had to see him dead. That Percy, of all people, was the last one to see him laugh, not me. You died, Harry. Even if you came back. You’re not gonna come back from that unscathed. We’ve both got damage. A bad morning isn’t going to turn me away.”

 

“Ok.” Harry whispered, grinning at him. “Don’t think you needed to do that in front of a crowd, but you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t making a statement.”

 

“Ah!” George laughed delightedly. “You caught me. You know I like making a scene.”

 

“I mean it was you that chose to do the fireworks leaving school, so I should have remembered.” Harry chuckled. 

 

“What happened to waiting until you got back?” Peter teased, making Harry’s face feel warm.

 

“Changed my mind, obviously.” He replied, flipping Peter off.

 

“Talking about me?” George asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Just letting him know that we supported him no matter what.” James shrugged.

 

“Yeah, after you dropped the bomb that you’re in a triad.” Harry countered, causing James to flush while several people whistled and a few others exclaimed in shock. 

 

“Someone’s feisty this morning.” Lily chuckled. “Don’t be mad, darling.”

 

“I’m not mad.” Harry retorted. “But you could have warned a guy before saying I basically was meant to have a third parent.”

 

“Just when your life can’t be more of a drama, Harry.” Ginny laughed happily.

 

“Oh it definitely can.” Harry grinned. “You know me, Gin. After all, you dated me first.” 

 

“Your best friend’s sister and then his brother?” Sirius asked, laughing happily, looking over at James and Lily, before turning around to look at his brother. “That’s definitely more like father, like son, eh Reg?”

 

“You know how much James pines when me or Lily aren’t with him.” Regulus countered, smirking at James who was bright red.

 

“I do not.” He argued, but the two just looked at each other in exasperation.

 

“You must have if the trait carried over to Harry.” George snickered, slapping Harry’s hand. 

 

“He applies himself more than his father.” The DADA teacher said, a small grin on his face. “If it weren’t for him, I’m not sure how many of you would have made a Patronus before NEWTs.”

 

“He was brilliant, wasn’t he?” Lily exclaimed happily. 

 

“So basically give him red hair and he’s just like his mum.” Hannah said, looking between Harry and Lily.

 

“Don’t even think about it.” Harry pointed at his friends and the Marauders who were all eyeing his hair.

 

“His creature has hair that matches hers.” McGonagall said nonchalantly, but she was smirking at Harry.

 

“You did it, then?” Neville asked interestedly.

 

“We all did.” Hermione shrugged. “Figured it out in our year away.”

 

“You two did.” Ron grumbled, “took me ages to get it.”

 

“You still got it.” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s not really drama, though. Hm. Everyone already knows that Slughorn basically collects people, so that isn’t drama worthy.”

 

“The Thestrals like to snag people’s robes or hair when they arrive at the castle or leave for the summer.” Luna said, sitting at the Slytherin table with her mother. 

 

“Not to mention the foals tripping people because they followed their mums.” Harry agreed with a chuckle that had Luna giggling. 

 

“I told you I wasn’t that clumsy!” Evan shouted, shoving Barty into Regulus who frowned at them.

 

“Right,” Harry drawled, grinning wider when Evan looked at him with wide eyes for having drawn attention to himself, “and it obviously wasn’t because you and Barty were too busy sticking your hands down each other’s pants.”

 

“That was one time.” Barty argued, not looking remotely bothered.

 

“Sure. And Hufflepuffs throws horrendous parties.” Harry said deadpanned, winking at the Hufflepuffs who all cheered. “Try another one.”

 

“Puff parties are the best parties!” Peter agreed, pumping a fist in the air when the table cheered again. 

 

“Oh, I know, the elves in the kitchen, once you make friends with them, will constantly send you snacks throughout the day.” Harry added.

 

“What elves?” A Ravenclaw asked, flushing when everyone looked at them.

 

“The elves that work here and make the food, clean the dorms, all that.” Harry shrugged. “Seriously though, you make friends with them, there is no turning back. They will hound you to make sure you’re healthy and taken care of.”

 

“There were a few that were always trailing after Harry before we left school.” George chuckled. 

 

“A fun thing is that becoming an animagus is not nearly as difficult as we are taught, but the teachers don’t want to be tracking down teenagers that learned to become animals.” Harry stated, smiling at McGonagall who sighed heavily. 

 

“It is still better to wait until you’re 17, though.” George shrugged. “That way your magical core has settled.”

 

“Yes, because otherwise, your animal will be as mature or immature as you were at the time you completed it.” Harry pursed his lips as Sirius crossed his arms and sniffed haughtily.

 

“Quick word of advice,” Ron pitched in, “if you’ve a friend who is muggle-born or raised, explain wizard travel before just handing them floo powder and telling them to get to it.”

 

“Wizard travel sucks ass.” Harry grumbled, earning a few murmurs of agreement. 

 

“You ended up in someone else’s grate, didn’t you?” Draco asked, snickering with the other Slytherins.

 

“Don’t know why you’re laughing,” Harry said, raising an eyebrow at him, “managed to see you and your dad in Borgin and Burkes selling shit.”

 

“Before second year?” He asked with a heavy sigh. “Yeah, not my best year.”

 

“I think that’s enough drama for the morning.” Dumbledore said, though he was trying to push down his smile. “Off to class, all of you.”

 

“Mr. Potter, Harry that is, will be assisting in DADA again.” The defense teacher said loudly, drawing a few laughs from Harry’s friends. 

 

“Sure.” Harry grinned. 

 

It wasn’t a bad day of classes, and Harry even managed to find time to set a few of his pranks like he did Lockhart. George laughed happily when they all got to dinner and half the staff had multicolored hair. Even the Marauders looked impressed. 

 

“It wasn’t us!” Sirius said defensively as McGonagall looked at them sternly.

 

“I have a hard time believing that.” She countered. James ruined it, though and couldn’t keep from glancing at Harry. “Potter.” She sighed heavily, looking at Harry who flipped James off before she saw. 

 

“Yes, Professor?” Harry asked innocently. 

 

“Where did you learn such a thing?” She asked, glaring once more at the Marauders who were failing not to watch Harry interestedly.

 

“Giving you any information is giving you the potential to counteract anything done when I get here in your future.” Harry sat back, crossing his arms. “No one else knows how I do it.”

 

“It’s true.” George grumbled, pouting at him. “Wouldn’t even tell me and Fred.”

 

“Perhaps a negotiation of tactics?” Harry offered, raising an eyebrow, fighting not to grin at the surprise on her face. “I provide you with a small list of counters of a few things I’ve come up with, and in return, you don’t out the true responsible party when they occur.”

 

“And you’ll refrain from applying your methods to me regardless of if I am your Head of House or not?” She asked, looking curious.

 

“Might not be a bad idea to have at least one teacher in the know to prevent someone from doing something drastic to work their own ineffective counter method.” Harry shrugged.

 

“Two. Myself and Professor Flitwick.” She challenged. 

 

“Hm.” Harry pushed his glasses up and tapped the table a few times. “Professor Flitwick being involved means he’ll be able to deconstruct and reconstruct my process.”

“So it is a personalized, new, charm? One that you created?” McGonagall asked, looking impressed. 

 

“Can you offer assurances that repercussions would be minimal?” Harry argued.

 

“We can.” Flitwick agreed, joining them. 

 

“Fine. It so happens I have a list of some of the counters because Hermione made me write them out so she could try and figure out what I did.” Harry handed over a rolled up parchment, ignoring the Marauders who were looking at it hungrily.

 

“Don’t think we’ll be going easy on you when you end up playing on Slytherin’s quidditch team.” She said faux sternly. “I fully expect I’ll have the cup more often than not, still.”

 

“Good luck with that, Professor.” Harry smiled at her brightly, glad that she finally smiled and fought a laugh before walking away with Flitwick. 

 

“Hope you and your brothers are prepared to get your arses handed to you.” Draco said, smirking at George. 

 

“Don’t think me and Fred’ll go for Slytherin?” George argued, making Draco pause. 

 

“Why didn’t you?” Tracey asked curiously.

 

“Because they may be cunning and ambitious, but they were also quick to charge in.” Harry stated, giving George an unimpressed look. 

 

“True.” George shrugged. “Hard telling if we’ll still end up where we did or not. Fred was definitely meant to be Slytherin, but I could have gone there or Ravenclaw. We decided before we’d go wherever the other was, though. When Fred went to Gryffindor, obviously I did as well.”

 

“If we get the pair of you and Potter for quidditch we’ll be unstoppable.” Draco said thoughtfully. “I’ll be a Chaser and Potter’s reserve.”

 

“We could all go Slytherin.” Hermione suggested.

 

“You’d eat them alive, ‘Mione.” Harry laughed. 

 

“But it would be epic.” Ron smiled at her besottedly. 

 

“Wait, so are all of us not arguing with the hat this time?” Ginny asked, leaning in. 

 

“Blimey it would be most of you.” Draco sighed. 

 

“Wouldn’t mind being there just to get away from Percy.” Ginny made a disgusted face. “Maybe he’ll unclench a bit not having all his siblings so close.”

 

“You know I never thought of it that way.” George tilted his head curiously. 

 

“Bill and Percy each got Gryffindor Prefects and Headboy, Charlie got Gryffindor quidditch captain. Might as well see if any of us can do the same in Slytherin. We’d be a better option than that Flint dick.” Ginny stated.

 

“I’m still going to be Prefect.” Draco argued.

 

“Why?” Harry chuckled. “Not wanting to give up that fancy bathroom?”

 

“No.” Draco agreed. 

 

“You can have that.” Ron said, making the same face Ginny did when talking about Percy. 

 

“Quidditch captain is still mine, though.” Harry said, pointing at Draco.

 

“I don’t want to be in charge of that. Especially not if all of them are going to be on the team.” Draco commented, gesturing to the Weasleys.

 

“What about you, Ron?” Neville asked.

 

“Dunno.” Ron shrugged. “Hat picked Gryffindor, but if he’s less of a dick I can at least still hang out with ‘Mione and Harry.” He pointed at Draco who only rolled his eyes.

 

“I’ll make sure to fill you in on what to know and assure you learn French properly.” Regulus said, sitting down after shoving James over. Harry grinned when a lot of people went quiet at the Slytherins joining them. Even Evan, Barty, and Pandora came over to join in. “That, and get you an O in Astronomy before you even get to OWL year.”

 

“Astronomy OWL was awful.” Hermione said, glancing up at McGonagall, Ron, Harry, Draco, Neville, Daphne, Tracey, Susan, Hannah, and Ernie doing the same. 

 

“What happened to Minnie?” Peter asked worriedly.

 

“Umbridge called some Aurors to the school to try and apprehend Hagrid for some reason.” Daphne said slowly. “McGonagall went out to try and stop them and caught three stunners.”

 

“She was out for most of a month.” Tracey added.

 

“The proctor was furious.” Hermione added. “The confrontation was in front of Hagrid’s hut. We saw it from the tower pretty easily.”

 

“She was fine.” Ron said, shifting in his seat. “But it was bloody awful to witness.”

 

“She took out two or three of the Aurors before she was hit.” Ernie added.

 

“Of course she did.” Sirius said, sitting up. “She’s brilliant.”

 

Harry winced as a sharp pain went through his head. He rubbed his temples when it started getting stronger. 

 

“What the hell?” someone said worriedly. Harry felt his forehead burning and thought it might be dripping somehow. Like the cut was bleeding from a fresh wound.

 

“Harry?” Hermione called gently.

 

“It’s changing.” Harry groaned, clutching his head more tightly. He took the napkin from Regulus and pushed it against his scar for a moment. “Fuck.”

 

“What’s changing?” Ron asked, holding Harry’s wrists gently to keep him from clawing at his head or face.

 

“The goblins have the horcruxes. Dunno if they destroyed them or forced them back to Tom.” Harry hissed as he was forced to close his eyes to block out the light. “He’ll be able to die this time.”

 

“How do you know?” Regulus asked, reaching out tentatively and rubbing the back of Harry’s neck which soothed some of the pain. 

 

“Destroying them now changes our history.” Hermione said, sounding closer than she had. “It changes what we had to go through to get rid of them.”

 

“I think that means our time here is up.” Bill said softly.

 

“Will we remember this?” Ron asked uncertainly.

 

“We’ll remember it at some point.” Draco said, getting up. There was the sound of several others getting up as well and helping get Harry to his feet, taking the napkin from his face and putting it on the table. 

 

“We’ll wait for when you do remember.” Evan said certainly. 

 

“We’ll help you through it.” Lily said, before she was hugging Harry tightly. He buried his face in her shoulder and let her rub his back like he’d always imagined she would. “We’ll be there and help you with getting past two sets of memories.”

 

“All of us.” Peter agreed. 

 

There was a lot of handshaking and hugs as Harry’s group went to the front of the hall and stepped up on the dais. As soon as they did, the shield light surrounded them again. George grabbed Harry and kissed him again, giving him a hopeful smile.

 

“You’ve done well, young Master.” Death said as he appeared again. “The future you left behind may yet occur, but you have done what was needed.”

 

“Will we remember this? When we get back, I mean?” Harry asked, still rubbing his head, but clutching George’s hand in his, unwilling to let him go. “Will it take long?”

 

“The mind is tricky.” Death sighed. “You will remember, and you may all remember at the same time, but you also may not. You have support from family and friends to help you through it. We will speak again some day, young Master. For now, I send you back.”

 

They dropped through the floor once more, and Harry passed out. 

/
/
/
/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

Harry gasped for breath as he sat up in bed, panicking from a nightmare that he couldn’t remember. He looked around the room and tried to figure out what set him off but couldn’t find it. He got up and used the toilet, washing his hands and face when he was done while he tried to figure out what he was missing. When he looked in the mirror, he froze. He still had a scar on his forehead, but he also had several tattoos on his arms and chest. Looking at the tattoos, he suddenly remembered everything that had happened. 

 

He rushed back into the bedroom and ran to the bed, waking George up as soon as he got to him. 

 

“What?” He mumbled. “Har? T’s wrong?”

 

“Do you remember?” Harry asked, not letting go of the ridiculous shirt with dancing boxes of cereal all over it. 

 

“Remember? Remember what?” George asked, yawning widely. When he was done, he froze. He looked at Harry with wide eyes and tackled him in a hug. “Oh Merlin. We did it.”

 

“We did it.” Harry laughed wetly, holding George just as tightly. “Fuck, we actually did it!”

 

“I’ve got to find him.” George scrambled up, falling out of the bed and grabbing a few things before he dropped them suddenly and tackled Harry on the bed again. “In a minute.”

 

“Or 20.” Harry groaned, kissing him firmly and grabbing whatever skin he could reach. 

“Twenty. Yeah. Much better idea.” George agreed, already yanking Harry’s pants off and throwing his shirt to the floor. 

 

It was a very good 20 minutes. 

 

They showered quickly and dressed, rushing out of their flat to find as many of the others as they could. Starting with Fred, who only lived next door. They banged on the door and as soon as it was open, they both launched at Fred, hugging him as tight as they could, startling him enough they all fell on the floor. 

 

“You guys alright?” Fred asked uncertainly. “You only just saw me last night for dinner.”

 

“We’re good.” George sniffled.

 

“Oh blimey.” Fred sighed. “You remember, then?”

 

“Yeah.” Harry croaked. 

 

“Right. Let me ring the others and let them know.” Fred extricated himself from them as he got off the floor. 

 

“Harry, George.” Angelina said curiously, standing in the door to the kitchen in one of Fred’s shirts and boxers.

 

“Hey, Ang.” They waved. She rolled her eyes and waved them toward the kitchen and got them each a cup of coffee. 

 

“So.” Fred said, walking in and standing behind Angelina with his arms around her swollen stomach. “Do we need to recap anything?”

 

“No.” George replied. “It’s all settling. Just wanted to see you.”

 

“What he said.” Harry agreed. “Also, I need to have words with Regulus.”

 

“Regulus, huh?” Angelina asked. “Not dad? Must be a rough conversation.”

 

“No, not that.” Harry chuckled. “Just, him and dad both knew, they knew that we were going to remember eventually and didn’t say shit about the tattoos I got. Kinda wanna kick his arse.”

 

“I think they look great.” George argued, leering at him. 

 

“Yours was a nice surprise.” Harry grinned. 

 

“Hello?” Hermione called from the living room, before her, Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville walked in hugging everyone. 

 

“So you finally remembered, eh?” Neville teased, sitting by Harry’s other side.

 

“Yeah.” Harry chuckled. “Crazy that we remembered now of all times.” 

 

“Why’s that?” Hermione asked curiously, leaning against Ron.

 

“Well, the battle was May before I turned 18. We went back in time the same timeframe, a month before exams. But we remember it all in December when me and George are 20 and 22?” Harry said, shrugging. “Just seems weird timing.”

 

“Tell me you didn’t both forget what’s happening this week?” Fred groaned.

 

“I don’t remember anything unless Hermione reminds me or I have it written down like a hundred times.” Harry argued.

 

“I don’t remember if Harry doesn’t tell me.” George added.

 

“Oh, this is hilarious.” Angelina said, bursting out laughing. 

 

“What?” They asked, frowning at their friends before looking at each other. 

 

“Maybe we should have sorted ourselves out a bit more before involving them.” Harry muttered.

 

“Seems that way. They’re being a bit mean.” George mumbled. 

 

“You’re getting married.” Ron said, still snickering. “Day after tomorrow.”

 

“Don’t let Draco hear that you forgot about your own wedding.” Ginny smirked. “He’ll give you a lecture for sure.”

 

“We … definitely should have remembered that.” Harry conceded, just noticing the ring on his finger. “Probably should have at least looked at the calendar before bugging everyone.”

 

“Eh.” George shrugged. “We’d have figured it out eventually. Probably when everyone showed up to make us get ready for it.”

 

“About time.” Regulus huffed, walking in with James and hugging Harry as soon as he was close enough. “Nearly gave up on you two getting there.”

 

“Dunno why it took so much longer for us.” Harry said, leaning into both Regulus and James as they hugged him. “How’s mum?”

 

“About the same.” James sighed. “Maybe seeing you will help.”

 

“She’s seen me.” Harry said, pursing his lips. “You think seeing me now that I remember will be different?”

 

“It might.” Regulus said, patting his hair down a little before giving up. 

 

“Why don’t we call a dinner party at the house and everyone can come by and harass you two before coming for the wedding?” James offered, kissing Harry’s temple.

 

“Yeah, alright.” Harry agreed, finally letting go of them. “We’ll go see mum tomorrow so I can get used to having two sets of memories for a day first. Dick move, by the way. Letting me get these tattoos without telling me shit.” Regulus raised and unimpressed eyebrow while James shrugged, looking a little sheepish.

 

“Smart move, kiddo.” Remus said from the doorway, waving at him. 

 

“We’ll plan the dinner, Har.” Peter said, ruffling Harry’s hair back up, making Regulus sigh defeatedly. “Well, me and Remus will. Sirius will probably be too excited to be much help once he gets off work.”

 

“Sounds right.” Harry snorted. 

 

“We already let everyone know, so we’ll just send them the time for dinner.” Luna commented. “Why don’t you and George go explore your flat a bit and get used to things?”

 

“Wonderful idea.” George agreed, smiling brightly and taking Harry’s hand in his. 

 

“Don’t be late, you two.” Hermione said as sternly as she could while fighting a grin. “We’ll see you in a few hours.” She kissed Harry’s cheek and then the hugs started all over before they were walking back to their own flat and dropping to the sofa. 

 

“Should probably eat something.” George hummed, looking toward the kitchen.

 

“I’ll make us something.” Harry shrugged. “Then we can spend the rest of the day without clothes on.”

 

“Perfect plan, darling.” George smiled softly at him and kissed him quickly. “I’ll make coffee, you make food?”

 

“Deal.” Harry agreed. 

 

They spent a majority of the day looking through photo albums, listening to records Sirius or Remus had gotten for them as a housewarming gift, and talking about the memories from this life since they were so different. Voldemort had still attacked Harry’s parents, even though his soul pieces were gone. He’d learned that Harry was the reason his plans were ruined. But because Lily was a brilliant witch, she still cast strong enough protections over Harry that he’d been mostly safe. Lily and Harry had both been injured by the rebounding curse that killed Voldemort. 

 

Harry still had his scar, but it wasn’t cursed, nor did it contain a horcrux. It was just a bit longer. James and Regulus had been out to get food and returned to find Lily unresponsive and Harry sobbing in his crib. She hadn’t ever really recovered and was in the Janus Thickey ward. Neville went with him a lot to visit since they were godbrothers. His dad, Frank, was there too, from a mission gone wrong as an Auror. Alice brought Neville over a lot when they were little and often watched them when Regulus and James needed to work or even just to go out for a night. 

 

The Blacks had been arrested when they were caught hexing Regulus by the Potters who came when Regulus called them. The entire Wizengamot was appalled that they had used such violent and dangerous curses as punishment for children. Sirius was the heir, though, after being reinstated by Regulus because he didn’t want to be. He’d been the most proud of Harry for going to Slytherin, though James seemed pretty content with it as well. Especially when he still managed to make the quidditch team his first year.

 

Harry still went to the chamber once in a while and made good friends with Jalek. The Triwizard Tournament still happened, but George was able to compete and took Harry as his date to the ball. It had been a lot of fun going with someone he actually cared so much about. When George graduated, he and Fred still opened their shop, but they used the money George won, not Harry. Fleur and Bill still got together and got married before Harry’s final year. He was offered an apprenticeship for DADA and spent the year after he graduated going back and helping teach and finishing his Mastery. 

 

When he finished is when George proposed to him. Which was just as ridiculous of an event as George could make it, especially because it involved Harry. 

 

The dinner party was great, getting to see everyone again. 

 

Well. 

 

Again. 

 

Several of their friends found it funny that they only just remembered everything when they’d all been out of school for a few years already and most of them had remembered before school got out or just after. Draco did, in fact, rant endlessly about them forgetting about their own wedding when he’d worked so hard on it. Tracey and Daphne found it all hilarious and they gossiped with Parvati, Padma, Hannah, Susan, Hermione and Ginny all night. Luna was too busy dragging Pansy Parkinson around to meet everyone.

 

Seeing his mum was hard. He fought to keep his hands from shaking. Regulus just offered his for him to hold onto like he’d always done before taking him inside to see her. She was sitting in a chair just staring out the window with a small smile on her face. Regulus and James kissed her head when Harry sat beside her and hesitantly took her hand in his and gave it a small squeeze. She gave a small squeeze back which nearly sent him into tears. He just chuckled wetly and smiled at her when she looked at him.

 

“My beautiful boy.” She sighed, reaching over and touching his face. 

 

“Hey, mum.” Harry sniffled. “Sorry it took so long.”

 

“You’re here now, that’s what matters.” She said, wiping his tears away. “You got me on a good day, it seems.”

 

“I’m just glad we still have you.” Harry said, squeezing her hand again. 

 

She pulled him close and put his head on her shoulder while leaning her head on his and humming under her breath an old lullabye that she used to sing to him. 

 

When they left her after she lay down to rest, Harry didn’t even hesitate to hug his dad and cry in his chest like he couldn’t remember doing. James just hugged him close and waited for him to be ok. 

 

Going home to someone who loved him at the end of the emotional day was really great. He didn’t even bat an eye when Peter had snuck a joint in his pocket before he left, knowing he needed it. Apparently, all they needed to happen for people to change and do the right thing was Harry going back in time to yell at them and tell them to stop being idiots. 

 

Harry met Death in a dream.

 

“Are we tied together, still?” Harry asked cautiously.

 

“In a sense.” He agreed. “I won’t bother you, and I already know that you won’t turn around and try commanding me. You’ve gotten to live two very different lives. I’m glad you were able to find your peace.”

 

“Me too.” Harry hummed. 

 

It wasn’t weird that he knew Death was around, now. He didn’t find it odd that they still had that connection. Not when the interference he caused led him to such an outcome. That he could get married without the world blasting him or his partner across the papers; that he’d been able to date and have a normal school experience.

 

He smiled as George hugged him closer in his sleep, burying his face in Harry’s back. Yeah. It was definitely worth it.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 14 of Harry Potter One-Shots