I Solemnly Swear
By headsfullofstars
Summary: Harry travels back in time to the Marauders Era in hope to save countless lives from Voldemort. He goes by the name 'Harry Turner', and attends Hogwarts in the 1970s. Hopefully a good read in spite of the probably generic plot line.
Disclaimer: I would like to state that I am only a thirteen year old girl and that despite I wish they were, no characters are mine besides 'Harry Turner' himself. The story is all mine, however.
Chapter 1
The Marauders Era
Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, The Savior of the Light and overused 'The Chosen One' sat comfortably on a plush red sofa, pensive in thought as he stared into the flames of the stoney fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Truthfully, he had never really appreciated the titles given to him, nor when people looked up to him as though he was some sort of saint; he hated that people trusted him with their lives, that he was carrying the future of the Wizarding World on his shoulders at fifteen years old. No where felt safe now Voldemort was on the move, and the ministry didn't even acknowledge it.
"Some ministry." Harry scoffed, staring down at the Daily Prophet in his hand. There had just been a mass breakout from Azkaban, and the ministry had the nerve to blame Sirius? It wasn't his fault that his deranged cousin had escaped along with her Death Eater comrades, nothing had ever been his fault and if the ministry had half a brain they would have seen that - heck, Sirius didn't even get a trial before he was chucked into Azkaban without a second thought. As if he would betray his best friends! Bloody imbeciles.
"Harry!" Hermione said, shaking his shoulder. Harry jumped, slightly startled, and slowly sat up to face his friends.
"What?" Harry said, fisting his eyes tiredly.
"Dumbledore wants you, in his office." Ron said, shrugging. Harry jumped up quicker than he ever had before, said his goodbyes and made his way to the headmaster's office, eager to hear what the old man had to say.
"Sherbet lemon." He read from a small piece of parchment, watching attentively as the gargoyle statue began to turn, revealing a spiralled stone staircase. He clambered onto the a step and waited for the staircase to reach the top.
"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said, welcoming Harry into the office. It was a large, circular room with walls that were covered by portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were watching intently as Harry stepped into view.
"I presume you are wondering as to why I have summoned you to my office on this night, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, sitting down in a chair and gesturing for Harry to do the same.
"Actually sir, after all this time I just sort of go along with it." Harry laughed, sitting down into the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"Lemon drop?" The headmaster asked, holding out a bowl of hard-boiled yellow sweets.
"No, thank you." Harry said as the old man shrugged and plopped one of the sweets into his mouth.
"Well, with Voldemort on the move it is getting hard to stay safe, especially with the ministry hiding the truth." Dumbledore explained, blue eyes twinkling as he spoke. "And that, is where I came up with an idea."
Harry's eyebrows shot up as he looked at the man expectantly, eager for him to carry on explaining.
"I believe you are familiar with this particular device." Dumbledore said, holding out a gold device that Harry recognised immediately as a time-turner, recalling the time where Harry had rescued Sirius with Hermione back in third year. Harry nodded understandingly, urging the man to carry on.
"Again, Harry, I must ask to much of you." The old man said, "I must ask you to travel back in time, to change the outcome of this oncoming war."
Harry sat in his common room, pensive in thought as he stared at the flames in the fireplace once again. He had always know that there was something missing. Something had always been missing, no matter what he had there was always an empty space that nothing could fill. And that empty space was his parents. His mind studied what Dumbledore had told him earlier that night, that he would travel back in time. Travel back in time to the Marauders Era.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He whispered, tracing lines over the Marauders Map, watching as the words appeared on the page. He closed his eyes, a small smile on his face as he thought of all the great times he had spent with Sirius and Remus; what great times he would have shared with his parents too. He gathered all his possessions and stuffed them into his trunk, holding the Hogwarts letter in hand that Dumbledore had prepared for the future, well, for the past, so Harry could attend Hogwarts.
He gripped the time-turner in his hands, worrying his bottom lip as he looked around nervously. This was it - he could change the whole outcome of the war with this little device in his hand. He inhaled deeply and began to turn the hourglass, one-hundred and fifty times to be exact, as Dumbledore had told him. After all one-hundred and fifty turns he placed a glamour over himself, muttering a complicated string of latin phrases he was reciting from a piece of parchment Dumbledore had given him; the appearance of fifteen year-old Harry Potter quickly faded, and a dirty blonde messy-haired, eleven year old boy with hazel-brown eyes that were covered by his glasses took it's place. Closing his eyes, he pictured the warm and inviting atmosphere of Platform 9¾. After a moment he felt the familiar tugging sensation of apparition take over him, and before long he appeared on the very platform. He pushed his trolley along, feeling safer already knowing that Voldemort wasn't Voldemort yet, and the Wizarding World was safe for the time being.
A small red-haired girl made her way through the barrier, gripping her trolley tightly. Her emerald green eyes gleaming as she looked around in complete awe at the sight that surrounded her. The platform was filled with swarms of people pushing trolleys along; in the center was a large scarlet steam train called "The Hogwarts Express". Harry watched the girl curiously. This must be my mother. He thought, his eyes following the girl as she moved further onto the platform.
"Lily!" A high-pitched shriek came from behind the red-haired girl and both Harry and the girl turned around in surprise. The girl before her had curly blonde locks and a somewhat horse-like face. "Your not actually going to go are you?"
Harry recognised the girl immediately as his aunt Petunia. He had never really liked her, mostly because of the way she treated him, though after he had parted with the Dursley family he had felt some sort of pity towards her; she had lost her sister, after all.
"Oh give it a rest!" The red-head retorted, sighing in frustration.
"I'm telling you Lily, this school is for freaks, you don't belong here!"
Harry flinched at the word, having been called it frequently, almost daily throughout the years he spent in the Dursley's household.
"Oh, for freaks is it Tuney?" The red-head asked, tilting in her head and pouting in a mock-like way, "That's funny. I could have sworn I heard a certain girl begging to be accepted to Hogwarts?"
"I did not beg!" The blonde haired girl shrieked, her face a menacing scowl.
"Please Mr Dumbledore, sir! I really want to go to Hogwarts with my sister!" The red-head whined, impersonating the blonde's voice perfectly as she mocked her.
"Fine!" The blonde spat, glaring at the red-head, "Be a freak!" She added before turning on her heel and storming off. Lily sighed, her eyes filling with tears; she quickly wiped her eyes and looked around, making her way over to the scarlet steam engine.
"Are you ok?" Harry asked, slowly making his way over to the red-head. Her eyes darted towards him and she quickly, and subconciously, wiped her eyes again.
"Yes." She muttered quickly, looking at the floor. Silence fell over the two for a minute before she looked up at Harry, "I'm Lily Evans."
Harry nodded. "I'm..." He mentally kicked himself, trying to rack his brain for the name Dumbledore had given him. "Harry Turner." He finished, after a few moments of attempting to remember his new alter-ego.
"Well, nice meeting you Harry." Lily said, a warm smile on her face as she held out her hand, which he shook politely.
Harry watched as a young black haired boy, whom he recognised immediately as his godfather, made his way through the crowd at the platform, closely followed by his mother and little brother. His hair was dark, long and wavy, pretty much the exact same as what Harry remembered it to be like.
"Make sure you write." Walburga said sternly, looking around. Sirius nodded obediently and the woman smiled slightly. "You better go on the train and find your cousins."
"Ok Mum." Sirius said, turning his head to look at the steam train. His mother sighed and placed a hand on her son's shoulder.
"I can't believe it." She said, looking down at Sirius with an odd smile. "My eldest is going to Hogwarts, soon to be sorted into Slytherin." She sounded almost excited, and Sirius smiled. He turned to his little brother, who's bottom lip was wobbling.
"Don't worry Reggie, I'll write to you too." He said, pulling his little brother into a tight hug.
"I'll miss you, Siri." Regulus replied, his bottom lip trembling even more.
"Me too." Sirius said, ruffling the boy's hair. He smiled politely towards his family and slowly made his way over to the train, keeping an eye out for his cousins. Harry slowly followed the boy, tightly gripping his trolley. Well. Train's still the same. He thought to himself as he looked around the Hogwarts Express. It had, indeed, stayed the exact same as what Harry remembered it to be like, and he smiled as more memories from his Hogwarts days filled his mind as he searched for an empty compartment.
Sirius slowly made his way through the train, concentrated on finding his cousins. Occasionally, he would cast an eye around the train and smile, before returning back to his cousin-hunting regime. The train soon began to fill up and he worried that he wouldn't be able to find his cousins in time to get an empty compartment, which would probably lead to them having to spend the train ride with some babbling idiots or something.
"Siri!" Sirius turned around to face his cousins, who were standing behind him. "We haven't seen you in ages!" The blonde cried, making her way over and pulling Sirius into her arms.
"Missed you too, Cissy." Sirius chuckled, looking over her shoulder at the two girls behind her. Both resembled each other very much, although one's hair was black and the other was a dark brown colour.
"Hey Siri." The brown-haired girl said, a welcoming smile on her face.
"Andy, Bella." Sirius said, smiling back at his cousins.
"Follow me." Bellatrix said before turning and walking towards a compartment. Sirius followed his cousins obediently. They walked into an empty compartment and Sirius slumped down onto the plush blue seat.
"So, how have you all been?" Sirius asked, looking up at the three sitting opposite him.
"Good." Narcissa answered, twirling a strand of white-gold hair around her fingers and smiling at her cousin.
"Same old, really." Bellatrix shrugged, "Nothing interesting." Sirius nodded understandingly. His elder cousins had all been at Hogwarts for a while now; Andromeda was in second year, whilst Bellatrix was in her third. Narcissa was in the same year as Sirius, making this year her first year at Hogwarts too. The compartment was soon filled with conversation between the four, until it was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" An elderly lady asked, her voice slightly withered. She was pushing a trolley that was full with all kinds of sweets that Sirius presumed were from Honeydukes. His mouth watered at the sight of all the goodies on the trolley and he shared a look between his cousins before standing up, making his way over to the lady.
"Four pumpkin pasties, please." Sirius reached inside his pocket and pulled out a handful of sickles. He took the pumpkin pasties, turned heel and began to make his way back to the compartment. He was interrupted quite abruptly from his thoughts when he ran into someone. He apologized out of habit as he looked up.
James Potter turned around and looked at him. They stared at each other for a minute or two, both knowing exactly who each other was. Sirius looked over the boy's shoulder and saw a person he recognized as Peter Pettigrew. James glared at Sirius, both staying silent for a minute until James opened his mouth to speak, "Black." He said, a hint of distaste in his voice.
"Potter." Sirius replied, frowning at James' tone of voice. They stood there for another minute, staring at eachother, before Sirius opened his mouth to speak.
"What house do you want to be sorted into, Potter?"
"Gryffindor, obviously, house of the brave." James said confidently. Sirius remained silent for a minute.
"Are you only choosing Gryffindor because your parents want you to?"
"No, I choose Gryffindor because I feel like I belong in the house, not because my parents want me to be." James said, eyeing Sirius carefully. "Can you say the same, Black?"
"No." Sirius said, before frowning and walking past James, looking at the ground in thought.
James watched the direction that Black had gone, his tousled hair all over the place. He was quite shocked to be honest; the questions Black had came out with made no sense what so ever. Why would Black care what house he wanted to be in, or if his parents influenced his choice?
Remus Lupin stared at the train, gripping his trolley so tightly his knuckles were white and he'd half expected the handles to actually break under the pressure. He was nothing short of terrified to be truthful; he had no friends and his parents would be miles away from him, and when it was his first full moon away from home no one would be there for him. It was absolutely terrifying - What if someone found out? He would feel awful if Dumbledore was fired because of him, all because he was kind enough to allow a werewolf to attend Hogwarts. He'd definately be expelled, and everyone would hate him, though he was used to that. Not many people were willing to accept a werewolf in their company. Or worse, what if he bit someone? The meer thought of it was enough to make Remus feel physically sick.
He let out a long, deep breath and clambered onto the train, searching for an empty compartment. No matter what, although he was feeling absolutely terrified, he was also very, very excited. He was going to attend Hogwarts. The best school of witchcraft and wizardry there is. He pushed all worrying and negative thoughts out of his head and focused on the good things; he'd be taking part in all sorts of exciting lessons, and heck, maybe he'd even make a few friends. He slumped down onto the seat of the nearest empty compartment and stared out of the window. Soon enough the engines began to churn and the train began to move. Remus watched as Platform 9 ¾ faded out of view and all that was left was the beautiful hillsides and valleys besides the train tracks. Yes, Remus was very excited. September 1st had officially begun.