A/N: OK, forgive me for starting a new story, but I just got this great idea in my head and I couldn't stop myself from writing this story! I know, time travel is SO cliché, but I still like it!!! I'm writing the next chapter of The Beginning of the End.


Harry James Potter was walking down one of the halls at Hogwarts with two of his best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. It was their seventh year, and Dumbledore's death still weighed heavily on everyone's minds. The only reason Harry had come back to Hogwarts at all was because the Ministry had added extra wards to Hogwarts to make it safer, and Hogwarts was still open. Everyone knew Harry loved Hogwarts, and it would look very suspicious if Harry and his friends didn't come back for their seventh and final year.

Harry suspected there was a Horcrux in Hogwarts. After all, if there was a Horcrux where Tom Riddle had grown up (in the orphanage), why wouldn't there be one at Hogwarts?

Harry had told both Ron and Hermione about the Horcruxes. (A/N: I think it's Horcruxes, not Horcruces, OK?) Both of his best friends had promised to help them look. Harry hadn't told Ginny yet, but then maybe it was only because they weren't speaking on friendly terms. Ginny knew Harry had broken up with her for her own good, but she was still furious about it. After all, as Ginny had put it, her entire family (with the exception of Percy) were all in the Order, and she was Harry's best friend's little sister, so she was already in danger. Harry had refused to take her back—he had promised that if he "defeated Tom," he would (take her back, that is). Ginny had shouted angrily that by that time, maybe someone else would have already taken her, and then she had stormed out of the room angrily, almost in tears.

Needless to say, it was very awkward at Grimmauld Place for the rest of the summer. Ginny acknowledged Harry again, but they were merely acquaintances.

Harry still remembered both of his friends' reactions:

Ron: Harry, mate, I know you're trying to protect my little sister and all, but can't you see how miserable you're making her?

Interruption from Hermione: I didn't know the word "miserable" was in your vocabulary, Ronald.

Ron: Oh, shut up.

(Ron and Hermione were bickering even harder than ever. Harry had thought they had gotten together at Dumbledore's funeral, but now they seemed very stiff and tense around each other, and argued constantly. It was driving Harry mad.)

Ron: You better not do anything to hurt my sister, Harry, or you're really going to regret it.

Harry: If you kill me, I won't be able to kill Voldemort. cue the flinch from Ron (Harry had told both his friends—but not Ginny—about the prophecy as well.)

Hermione: Honestly, Ronald, being friends with Harry means you should be used to saying "Voldemort" by now. You still flinch every time his name is uttered, like he himself is here.

Harry: If you want, you can call him Tom Riddle. That was his name.

Afterwards, Ron and Hermione had argued some more before Hermione had snapped that she had to go do her Potions essay and then stalked off.

Professor Slughorn still taught, even though he was only supposed to stay for one year. McGonagall had convinced him to stay another year, however. Tonks was the new Transfiguration professor. Being a Metamorphmagus, Transfiguration came easily to her. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a strict woman not unlike Professor McGonagall with long black hair and blue eyes, named Janet Lilacson. Harry had met her at Bill and Fleur's wedding—apparently she had been an old friend of his mother.

"Your eyes look just like Lily's," she had breathed at him, before turning on her heel and walking away so that all Harry could see of her was her retreating back.

Anyway, later Hermione had come to give Harry a talking-to about the whole Ginny situation. This was how their conversation went:

Hermione: Harry, you know Ron's right.

Harry: So you finally agree on something for once.

Hermione: Harry, it's not funny. Ginny is really hurt—I've spoken to her.

Harry: Wonderful. So you've all been talking about me behind my back—I'm your poster boy now, am I? Just like the Minister of Magic!

Hermione: No, Harry! What I mean is… well… Ginny thought you loved her.

Harry: I think I do.

Hermione: Then why did you break up with her?

Harry: Look, Voldemort wants me dead, OK? He's killed lots of people for being close to me—my mum, my dad, Sirius, Dumbledore, and Cedric, even though I wasn't really close to Cedric, but anyone who was in the way got killed! I don't want her killed, too.

Hermione: Then what about me and Ron?

Harry: Well, you're my best friends. There's no way I could make you leave me, even if I tried.

Hermione: So you want us to leave?

Harry: No, I really care about all of you. I just don't want any of you hurt!

Hermione: Right, so why can we—that is, Ron and I—be close to you, and Ginny can't!

Harry: That's different.

Hermione: Different how? I don't see any difference!

Harry: You don't understand! Everyone's going to die because of me, and there's almost nothing I can do to stop it! Stop pretending you know how I feel, because you don't!

Harry had stormed out of the common room, with everyone staring after him after his outburst. Hermione had stared after him, abashed, before following. Ron had seen this and left the Gryffindor common room after Hermione. Ginny had glared daggers at Harry and ran up to her dormitory.

"Stop following me, will you?" Harry snapped, finally whirling around to face his two best friends.

"Harry," Hermione cried, tears beginning to run down her face, "we're worried about you."

"Yeah, well—" Harry began, but Ron cut him off.

"Look, Harry, I've never hit you before, I think, but I'm coming this close to doing so now," Ron threatened, holding up two of his fingers about half a centimeter apart. "We don't know how you feel, preferably because we've never been in the same situation as you. But if you keep pushing us away, how will we know?'

Harry remained silent, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Right," Ron fumed. "We're your friends, Harry, and we're going to come with you no matter what. We're going to help you defeat V-V-Voldemort and we're going to stay with you. There's no way you can make us leave or anything. You need friends, remember what Dumbledore said?" Ron ignored Harry's flinch at Dumbledore's name. "The power the Dark Lord knows not is love, and you need love or you can't defeat V-Voldemort. So get that through your thick skull now!!!"

Harry sighed. "I guess you're right," he finally admitted.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around him. Harry stumbled back a bit, looking panicky.

Harry was very relieved when Hermione finally released him. "Now go make up with Ginny," she ordered.

The smile was instantly wiped off Harry's face. "I can't," he sighed.

"Why not?" Ron demanded. "You've just promised to let us help you find all the Hor—"

"Shh!" Hermione hissed, raising a finger to her lips.

"Right. You've just promised to let us help you find all the you-know-whats, and that you won't try to push us away 'for our own good.' What's so different about Ginny?"

"I—" Harry started to say, but he was interrupted, this time by McGonagall, who was walking down the hall.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, you should be in the Gryffindor common room right now," McGonagall admonished them.

"Yes, Professor," Harry said quietly. Then he turned to his friends. "We'll finish this discussion later." With that said, the three teenagers left.

McGonagall frowned after them. She knew that Harry Potter took after his mother, but he was acting even more jumpy and quiet than usual. She also knew that something was up, and she was going to find out what...


The next day, Harry was walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast when he felt something strange. It wasn't like with his visions or his connection to Voldemort, or the pain in his scar—it was something else. Harry just felt a sort of vibration coming from someplace near the Great Hall; it was kind of like with the basilisk's voice, only of course it was just a sort of humming sound, and not hissing.

"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione called after him. Harry ignored her, and followed the sound. He felt strangely attracted to it…

"Harry, mate? Are you OK?" Ron asked.

Harry stopped and turned to his friends. "Shh! Do you hear that?"

Ron stopped in his tracks, looking puzzled. "Hear what?"

"That humming sound!" Harry frowned. He could still hear it, even if just barely. "It's kind of like a vibration, coming from over there…" he gestured with his hand.

"I don't hear anything," Hermione said. "Do you think you know what sound it is?"

"It's a sort of vibration…" Harry frowned again. "D'you think it's one of those things only I can hear? Or feel?"

"Probably, mate, because I don't hear or feel anything," Ron said.

"It's sort of… calling me," Harry mused.

"Calling you?" Ron looked slightly alarmed. "What do you mean, calling you?"

"It's like, telling me to go to the sound," Harry mumbled. "It feels like it." He turned and hurried down a corridor, where the humming sound got louder.

No one noticed Ginny Weasley (who was under the Disillusionment Charm) following them.


"Potter! Black! Detention Saturday night at eight!" Professor McGonagall screeched angrily.

James Potter and Sirius Black both winced. "She's in a bad mood," James muttered.

"Separate detentions," Professor McGonagall added. "You will serve detention with Professor Slughorn, Black, helping him with his potions ingredients, and Potter will serve detention with Filch—polishing the trophies in the trophy room without magic."

James and Sirius both groaned. "You have it better off," James moaned to Sirius. Sirius shrugged.

Professor McGonagall frowned at both of them. "Off to your next classes then."

BOOM!

James and Sirius both jumped, startled. Professor McGonagall, however, looked furious.

"Potter! Black! What did you two do this time?" she snapped, taking her wand out.

James and Sirius both flinched, thinking that their Transfiguration professor was going to hex them, but instead she walked toward the noise with her wand out, to investigate the damage.

James and Sirius looked at each other curiously. This hadn't been their doing. What had happened?

James followed McGonagall around a corner and gasped in surprise.

There were four people on the ground around the corner. There was a boy who looked like James, two redheads, and a girl with long brown hair. The James look-alike was coughing.

"Ginny? What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" the gangly boy with the flaming red hair snapped at the red-haired girl.

"I followed you, Ronald," she sniffed back angrily. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Yes!" Ronald shouted. "I didn't see you! Have you got an Invisibility Cloak too or something?"

"Too? What do you mean, too?" Ginny's eyes were narrowed dangerously. (A/N: I'm not sure if this is true in canon, but Ginny doesn't know about the Invisibility Cloak.)

The redheaded boy named Ronald gulped, clearly recognizing his mistake. "I—" he faltered.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" McGonagall demanded, her wand still pointed at the four strangers.

Ronald jumped and whipped out his wand, pointing it at McGonagall, but he relaxed and put the wand away when he realized who it was. "Hi, Professor," he said.

The brunette was squinting suspiciously at Sirius and James, like she thought she had seen them before but couldn't quite place where. Suddenly she gasped and nudged the James look-alike and whispered something. He stared at Sirius and James as if he had seen a ghost.

"I know I'm good-looking, but do you have to stare?" James joked, hiding the fact that he was unnerved by how much this other teenager looked like him.

The boy didn't seem to hear him. Now he was looking at Sirius, his face white.

"Uh… hello?" Sirius blinked and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Now is not the time for this," McGonagall said briskly. "What are your names?"

"Harry Pot—Patterson," the James look-alike answered quickly. A little too quickly. James's eyes narrowed. He was suspicious.

"Ginny Weas—Wesson," the girl who had been yelling at Ronald introduced herself quickly. She pointed at Ronald. "And that idiot over there is Ronald, my brother."

"It's Ron," Ginny's brother snapped.

"And I'm Hermione Granger," the bushy-haired brunette finished. "We're exchange students—we all went to Durmstrang." She paused and added, "And we don't have accents because we were all born here."

James was even more suspicious when he saw Harry Patterson and Ron Wesson both shoot grateful looks at Hermione Granger.

"Has Dumbledore invited you to Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked.

"D-Dumbledore?" Harry croaked, his brilliant, somehow familiar green eyes widening with shock.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Dumbledore!" Sirius burst out. "Blimey, what rock have you been living under for your whole life?" He ignored the look McGonagall sent him.

"Uh, yeah, we've been living under a rock," Harry replied quickly. "What year is it?"

McGonagall raised her eyebrows but told him the year.

"Merlin," Ron breathed.

Harry was very relieved that the whole living-under-a-rock thing had come up. That way, his supposedly 17-year old father (he looked about seventeen) and godfather would think he was simply playing along with the rock thing.

Sirius, meanwhile, thought this was taking it a bit too far. "OK, you don't have to sound so surprised when Minnie told you the year," he told them, once again ignoring McGonagall's death glare. "We all know now that you used to go to Durmstrang and you haven't been living under a rock."

"Minnie?" Ron asked incredulously, a slightly bemused, yet amused expression on his face. Luckily for the four time-travelers, the two Marauders and the Head of Gryffindor House (at least, in that year) mistook this for wonder at who the strict woman in front of them was, and not surprise that Sirius Black was calling his teacher by a nickname.

"Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House," McGonagall corrected in a no-nonsense voice. "I take it Dumbledore has told you about the houses?"

"Wh—oh, yeah, he did," Ron agreed.

"Can we please see Dumbledore?" Hermione asked sweetly, the picture of innocence. "We have to tell him we're here." She shot a meaningful look at her other three friends.

"Of course," McGonagall said.

By then, Harry had gotten up off the floor with his friends. He was looking curiously at James and Sirius.

"My name's Sirius Black, by the way," Sirius introduced himself. "And this bloke who thinks he's good-looking here is James Potter."

"I am good-looking," James insisted, annoyed at Sirius's insinuation that James Potter was not good-looking. How dare he!

"Right, well, that's only a matter of opinion," Sirius snickered, poking James where his Head Boy badge was. "See, that badge must have been given to him by mistake. He's Head Boy, and his crush is Head Girl."

"And my future wife," James added, a dreamy grin plastered on his face.

Sirius snorted. "Well, we'll be off, Professor," he said innocently to McGonagall. "See you later, exchange students." He left, dragging James (who was still protesting that Lily would marry him someday) with him.


How Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley got there (to when Harry's parents were at school, I mean) in the first place:

"This is that humming noise you kept on talking about?" Ron asked dubiously, staring around him at where he was standing, which was in the Room of Requirement. The Room of Requirement was just a room that looked like the Gryffindor common room, only a bit different.

"Yes!" Harry insisted, staring intently at Ron and Hermione. (Ginny was excluded because no one knew she was there. Of course, the Disillusionment Charm wore off when they bounced back about twenty years. I mean, the charm hadn't been cast then, had it?)

"We were all the way downstairs, near the Great Hall," Hermione fretted. "How could you have heard it there?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "All I know is, it's not louder here."

"Then how do you know the sound's coming from here?" Ron asked. "It could be coming from anywhere!"

"I just know, OK?" Harry snapped back.

"What do you think it means? And how come only you can hear it?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"I don't know why…" Harry trailed off.

"What is it?" Ron wanted to know.

Harry shrugged. "I know this is going to sound stupid, but I have a feeling it has something to do with Dumbledore."

Silence greeted this announcement.

"Harry…" Hermione began tentatively.

"I know," Harry said bitterly. "Stupid thought, Dumbledore's dead, right?"

More silence.

Suddenly, at least to Harry's ears, the humming stopped.

"It stopped," Harry said, surprised.

"What was it, anyway?" Ron asked.

Suddenly a whirring sound rushed through the room. Harry wasn't the only one who could hear it, however.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked, alarmed.

Then there was a sort of BOOM! sound, kind of like an explosion. That was the last thing Harry saw before darkness engulfed the three.

(Well, actually, it's four, but Harry didn't know Ginny was there, and it was told in Harry's third person point of view, so she wasn't included.)


Back to the Marauder Era

"Lemon drops," McGonagall said to the stone gargoyle that was guarding Dumbledore's office.

The stone gargoyle jumped aside. McGonagall led the four teenagers up the winding staircase and knocked on Dumbledore's door; then pushed it open without waiting for a response.

"These are the exchange students from Durmstrang," McGonagall told Dumbledore briskly. "Now I must be off; I have a class to teach." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.

Dumbledore looked at the four people in front of him and gestured to four chairs in front of his desk. "Sit down," he instructed.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny did as they were told.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered, holding out a bag.

Harry took one. "Thanks," he said, popping it in his mouth.

Dumbledore nodded. "So I take it you four are not really exchange students, but time-travelers." It wasn't a question.

Ron's mouth dropped open in shock. "How d'you know that?" he demanded.

"It's Dumbledore, what do you expect?" Ginny shot at Ron.

"Dumbledore knows everything, doesn't he?" Hermione murmured to himself.

Harry coughed a cough that sounded suspiciously like "Legilimency!"

"You are quite right," Dumbledore agreed. "What are your names?"

"Well," Harry sighed, "I'm Harry Potter, that's Hermione Granger"—he pointed at Hermione— "that's Ron Weasley"—again with the hand gesturing— "and that's Ginny Weasley." Point.

"You are the son of James Potter?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

Harry nodded. "Sir, can you find a way to get us back?" He sucked on his lemon drop, ignoring the sour taste.

Dumbledore ignored the question and popped a lemon drop of his own into his mouth. "And I take it you two are the children of Molly and Arthur Weasley?"

Ginny nodded. "Two of the children," she admitted.

Dumbledore smiled and said nothing.

"I'm Muggleborn," Hermione offered tentatively.

"Yes, you are," Dumbledore nodded.

"Sir…" Harry tried again. "Can you find a way to get us back?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I can," he agreed.

"Can we go back today?" Harry asked. He bit off a tiny bit of his lemon drop.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'll be able to find a way, but it will take some time," he admitted.

Harry sighed and hung his head in defeat.

"For now, you three will have to attend Hogwarts under different names. What year are all three of you in?"

"We're all in seventh year, and Ginny is in sixth," Hermione piped up.

"All right. Which names should we use?" Dumbledore mused.

"Sir," Hermione added, we bumped into James Potter, Sirius Black, and Professor McGonagall in the hallway. I kept my name since I'm Muggleborn, but I said their names" —here she pointed to her other three friends— "were Harry Patterson—well, he decided that himself, but I said Ron and Ginny's last name was Wesson. Is that OK?"

"That's fine," Dumbledore said. "Now we have to Sort you." He got up and grabbed the Sorting Hat from where it was resting.

"We're all in Gryffindor," Ginny told Dumbledore. "You don't have to Sort us."

"Yes, but this is a procedure for exchange students," was Dumbledore's reply. He handed the hat to Ginny, who tried it on her head. After three seconds, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

Ginny took the hat off her head and handed it to Hermione.

There was a pause. Then—

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione handed the hat to Ron, who put it on his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron grinned at Harry and took the hat off his head. Harry took the hat from Ron and set it on his own head.

"Hmm, you have a very fine mind there," a small voice said into his ear. "Very brave, but very cunning…"

Just put me in Gryffindor already, Harry thought, feeling slightly annoyed.

"You are rather impatient, aren't you?" It was a rhetorical question. "And you're a Parselmouth…"

Who cares? Harry thought furiously. Voldemort gave me that gift. Sure, it's dead useful sometimes, but I never asked for it. I'm NOT a descendant of Slytherin, so just put me in bloody Gryffindor already!

Harry was slightly aware of everyone in the room (with the exception of Dumbledore) tensing slightly, surely wondering why Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Dumbledore's golden boy (at least in the future), Epitome of All Things Good, Future Defeater of Voldemort, was taking so long. Surely he would be in Gryffindor? Especially since he pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat, and he was a true Gryffindor. What was taking so long, anyway?

"Yes, you have many qualities of Gryffindor, but even more so of Slytherin," the hat whispered in his ear.

I don't want to be in Slytherin! Harry shouted silently at the hat. Don't put me there!

"Ah, but why not?" the voice asked him.

Because all Slytherins are bloody gits, that's why, Harry thought furiously.

"Not all of them," the hat pointed out.

Well, I don't want to be in Slytherin! I mean, I pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat, so doesn't that mean I'm a Gryffindor?

"Yes you are, Harry Potter, but you always have a bit of Slytherin in you…"

No! Gryffindor!

"This will help you to overcome your prejudice for all things SLYTHERIN!"

"No!" Harry gasped out, but it was too late.

Harry pulled off the hat to see the shocked expressions on the faces of his three friends. They were all staring at him, their mouths wide open.

Dumbledore's eyes were still twinkling, and Harry took that as a good sign. He swallowed the now-sweet candy in his mouth and numbly handed the hat over to Dumbledore.

"Slytherin?" Harry heard Ron mutter.

"All right now, you should go off to your dormitories," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I will tell Professor McGonagall to give you your timetables tomorrow morning. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me."

"Sir…" Hermione began tentatively. "What about our stuff?"

Dumbledore merely smiled. "Go to your common rooms," he said. "The Gryffindor password is 'Butterbeer' and the Slytherin password is 'Gryffindors suck.'"

Harry drew his breath in sharply. "Sir…"

"Have a good day," Dumbledore said, waving them from his office.

So the four teenagers left the office.

Once they were outside, Harry put his hand up. "Don't," he said sharply.

Hermione looked confused. "Don't what?" she asked.

Harry scowled at them. "Don't comment on my being placed in Slytherin."

"Why would the Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin?" Ron finally spoke up. "I mean, you're a … a Gryffindor!"

"Brilliant deduction, Ronald," Harry replied dryly.

Ron immediately stiffened. "Has someone been possessing you?" he demanded.

"What do you mean?" Harry replied, slightly colder than he had meant to.

"I mean you're acting like bloody Malfoy!" Ron all but shouted. Hermione winced.

"How am I acting like Malfoy?" Harry retorted.

Ron backtracked hastily. "I mean, you're acting like a Slytherin now," he corrected himself.

Harry sighed. "I am," he said quietly. "Didn't you hear the Sorting Hat?"

Ron instantly deflated. "I'm sorry, mate," he apologized, just as quietly as Harry.

Harry nodded.

"We'd better get going now," Harry mumbled.

Ron nodded. "Don't befriend Snape or anything," he warned, before setting off down the hall.

Hermione hugged him and left as well.

Ginny gave Harry a rather reproachful look before following her brother and her friend.

Harry sighed.


Harry still remembered where the Slytherin common room was, even though the last time he had visited it was in second year. The stone wall looked as dreary and damp as ever.

"Gryffindors suck," Harry muttered, immediately hating the password. The hidden door in the wall slid open.

None of the Slytherins were in their common room, but that was because classes were going on. Harry looked at the low underground room with its damp stone walls and green lamps that were hanging on chains from the ceiling. Even though the fire was crackling merrily underneath the detailed mantelpiece, Harry still had to shiver.

Somewhere near the high-backed chairs were two doors. Harry pushed one open and saw a hall leading to the boys' dormitories.

Harry reached the seventh-year boys' dormitory. Underneath it were the names Severus Snape, Kevin Parkinson, Sean O'Keefe, Mark Incando, and Harry Patterson.

The house-elves sure work fast, Harry thought morbidly.

Harry went inside the room. Lamps hanging from the ceiling cast an eerie glow over the beds and trunks, not at all like the cheery bright light in Gryffindor Tower. There were nameplates with names engraved on them at the head of each bed and trunk.

Severus Snape… Harry's stomach clenched with anger… Kevin Parkinson… Pansy Parkinson's father?… Sean O'Keefe… The name was unfamiliar… Mark Incando… This name was also unfamiliar… and Harry Patterson. Harry stopped and looked at the trunk sitting at the foot of his bed.

Harry sat down on his bed and leaned down to open the trunk. His breath caught in his throat.

Everything was there. Sirius's mirror, his Invisibility Cloak, the Marauder's Map, his Firebolt… everything.

Harry smiled to himself. Dumbledore sure was amazing.

With that thought, Harry suddenly realized how tired he was, even though if he had still been in his own time, it would be around lunchtime now. He closed the curtains around his bed, kicked off his shoes, and fell fast asleep.

END CHAPTER ONE

A/N: So, what did you think??? That was the longest chapter I have ever written in my life. Just to let you know, SweetSummerx3 helped me with a lot of it. She edited it and added some bits. You can R&R her stories too! And DEFINITELY R&R mine—I worked hard on it!