Chapter 1

It started off like any other day. There was nothing different about the way they were woken up at seven in the morning by the frequently agitated ghoul in the attic or the barn owl that brought them the day's Daily Prophet. There was nothing particularly new in the news it contained either. Every day since His fall it had featured the same thing. A list of all the Ministry officials who had been rounded up for cruelty to Muggle-borns over the past year would usually appear on the right corner of the front page. A list of all the witches and wizards who would be taking up their posts instead usually followed at the bottom of the front page. If they were really unfortunate, a detailed and highly colourised version of their heroics during the war would also be featured (Post-War Rebuilding time was perfect for sensational journalism, you know?) Stories of family members being reunited by the new Ministry appointed task force would take up most of the pages inside. And then there was the advertisements asking for donations to various rebuilding funds (the largest and most frequent of them all being the advertisement for the Gringotts restoration fund).

But the centre of the front page was reserved for one thing only – where Harry Potter and his friends were heading that day.

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone really. Harry Potter had been making the front page of the Daily Prophet, one way or another, for nearly three years now and he wasn't going to stop doing that one week after he had defeated the most evil Dark Wizard of all time.

So it definitely shouldn't have surprised anyone, least of all the young wizard himself, to open the Daily Prophet that morning and read the headlines – 'Potter Down Under?'

"What? What does it say now?" said Ron, rushing down the stairs to reach Harry who had just spat out the freshly brewed tea he had been drinking in surprise.

"How on earth did they find out that we were going to Australia today?" said Harry as he dried the tea-sogged Daily Prophet and handed it to Hermione.

"Dunno. Maybe Kingsley told them. I told him we were going when he asked me if we could make an appearance for St. Mungo's reopening today." Hermione mumbled through her teeth biting down on a flesh coloured rubber band as she hastily tried to flatten her bushy brown hair.

"Here, let me hold that." said Ron, taking the rubber band and dropping a kiss in its place.

Harry turned away from them to hide the smile that was tugging at his lips. It still surprised him how easily Ron and Hermione had gone from pretending they were nothing but two friends who occasionally tolerated each other and mostly just made an effort to get along to support their other best friend to a couple who looked like they had been together since flying carpets had been banned. He was just glad that they had finally reached that place.

Dumping the three used tea cups in the sink, Harry turned to see that Ron was still mumbling something in a nervous looking Hermione's ear.

Thinking that he might as well make himself useful while Ron and Hermione had their moment, Harry decided to get their trunks from their rooms. As he walked up the stairs passing by every closed door along the way, it occurred to Harry how strange it felt to be in the Burrow without the constant noise associated with too many people living in too small a place. It was what he had always loved the most about the Burrow. "Well, here's another thing I can add to the ever growing list of things that have changed" he said to himself, stopping for a second to stare at the door with the bottle green sign that read 'Ginny'.

Not for the first time since he had arrived at the Burrow, Harry wished that he had had the courage to stop Ginny when she told him that she would be staying with Luna for a while. Harry would have gladly given up all the gold in his vault at Gringotts to be with Ginny right now, to spend even just a day with her, and yes, he would even find time to talk to her in between. The only thing that had stopped him that day was the pained look in her eyes as she had looked down at the programs she had been giving out all morning to the guests who had come for Fred's memorial service. "Luna needs me", she had said, "and I can't go home just yet." And so Harry waited, as patiently as he could, for the day Xenophilius Lovegood would regain his health, which had never been the same since his little encounter with the Death Eaters, so that Ginny would come home again.

Next he stopped at Mr. And Mrs. Weasley's room, wondering if maybe today would be the day they would finally be able to get George to change out of the robes he had been wearing since the day of the battle. George had locked himself in the storeroom at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and had refused to come home, forcing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to move into the flat above the shop to be there for him.

He rushed past Fred and George's room (well now George's room) to finally reach Ron's room and pushed the door open. Two trunks lay in between the beds and Harry swirled his wand at them and watched as they shrunk into two match-box shaped boxes. Dropping the two boxes into his rucksack, he returned to the kitchen, hoping that Hermione had already done the same with her trunk.

"She's getting her trunk", Ron muttered darkly as Harry pulled out the chair beside Ron at the kitchen table.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Slightly worse than how she was that morning when our OWL results came."

"That's not surprising, considering we have no idea how her Mum and Dad are going to react when she lifts the Memory Charm she put on them and tells them about what happened last year. That is if she is able to restore their memory", said Harry, feeling a little queasy even thinking about the alternative.

"Well, it's Hermione. If there's anyone in the world who'll be able to pull it off, it's her."

That was true enough. Harry couldn't even imagine how things would have turned out the past year without her help.

"Oh, and she asked me to tell you that she really appreciates us going to Australia with her." added Ron, interrupting Harry's strain of thought. "Like after everything, we'd just leave that part to her."

"It's not that I'm surprised that you two want to come with me Ron, I just want you to know that I'm glad that you're coming!" Hermione's voice floated down the stairs, as her trunk came flying down first. Finally she appeared herself, looking much calmer than she had been a few minutes ago.

"So, are we ready to go?"

XXXXX

"Well, it's a good thing you weren't wearing your Invisibility Cloak when it happened. Imagine having to explain to your kid that you once got sick all over the precious family heirloom when you give it the Cloak for Christmas!" said Ron, handing a glass of water to Harry who was slumped on a chair.

"Honestly, I will never understand how you can fly a hippogriff or a dragon and feel completely fine but three trips by Floo powder and your face starts matching your eyes!" huffed Hermione.

"Why do we have to make five Floo powder trips to reach Australia again?" said Harry, blinking furiously to try to get his eyes to focus again.

"Because it leaves the least traceable trail. We are flooing into the homes of people who have given Kingsley their word that they won't let the Prophet know where we are going. It's the only way!" explained Hermione, in her all too familiar how-many-times-will-we-go-over-this voice.

"Didn't realize that meant we would be going to four countries before noon." Harry muttered, standing up.

"Where now? Vietnam?"

XXXXX

"Mr. Lee, thank you again for letting us floo into your home. We are very grateful for your help." Hermione said graciously, shaking hands with the tall blonde man in midnight blue robes standing before her.

"We are honoured to have you here." replied Mr. Lee, smiling in a way that reminded Harry of someone he couldn't place.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were just about to Apparate to the Muggle hotel that Hermione had booked for them when Mr. Lee stepped forward, as though he had just made a spur of the moment decision.

"Mr. Potter, could I have a word? Alone?"

Harry looked at Hermione wondering if she knew what the man might want. Seeing that she looked just as confused as he felt but curious nonetheless, he said, "Umm, Alright. You guys go ahead. I'll meet you there."

For a moment it looked like Hermione had something to say about this but her eagerness to meet her parents again finally won. Mouthing "We'll wait for you." to Harry, she turned and Disapparated, Ron following her a second later.

An awkward paused followed the crack! that Ron made when he Disapparated. Harry looked at the man standing before him waiting for him to talk. He was a tall, well built man and he looked to be about Professor McGonagall's age. With grey eyes that seemed to notice everything that happened in front of them, he looked at Harry appraisingly.

"I have been reading about your exploits for many years now." he said, walking back into his house.

"You shouldn't believe everything the Prophet tells you. It wasn't too long ago that it was being completely controlled by the Death Eaters", said Harry, following him.

"Oh no, my boy! You misunderstand me. It is not the Prophet that has kept me abreast with all that has been going on in your world. I have many friends still in England even though I moved here when I finished school."

"You went to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"Yes. Many years ago. I came back to my family home after Hogwarts. My daughter though, still lives in England."

Harry nodded, not really sure where the conversation was headed.

"My daughter was one of the Muggle-borns you helped escape from the Ministry last year." said Mr. Lee, still looking at Harry with his unnervingly grey eyes. "It saddens me to tell you that we have never had a very close relationship, my daughter and I. In fact, she wouldn't even reach out to me when she needed to prove her ancestry."

"Oh. Did she get out ok? How is she now?" Harry asked.

"She is living with her husband again. Her mother was a Muggle I met when I was travelling in England as a young man. She died many years ago. My daughter is the only family I have left." He said this matter of factly.

"Er..."

"Mr. Potter, my family is one of the oldest wizarding families in Australia. And like all other wizarding families we have our fair share of secrets, secrets that we never divulge to anyone other than those whose veins have our blood flowing through them. Yet for you I am willing to make an exception."

"Mr. Lee, you really don't have to do that. I didn't help your daughter with the intention of asking for any favours from you or anyone else, I really don't..."

"Mr. Potter, would you like to meet your parents?"

XXXXX

Harry was too stunned to respond.

"Mr. Potter, would you like to get to know them?"

"What do you mean?" said Harry, finally gathering the courage to speak again.

"What I mean is, with my help you can meet your parents again." Mr. Lee repeated.

"No spell can truly bring the dead back to life, I learnt that last year and I-"

"But you misunderstand me yet again, Mr. Potter! I didn't say that I will bring them back from the dead. I meant I could send you back to them."

Harry stared at him, barely believing what he was hearing.

"It's a spell that has been in my family since the age of Merlin. My father told me about it the day I came of age just like his father told him many years ago. The spell can transport a person back in time and they can move around among the people of the past as though they are one of them. Yet they cannot affect them in anyway. They will merely be memories or shadows, present but not actually there and they will be forgotten once the spell is lifted."

"What do you mean 'present but not actually there'?"

"I mean if you go back, you will be able to talk to your parents and you will be able to touch them yet when the spell is lifted they will forget you. Nothing you do over there can change the course of history. You cannot change anything by going there. All I can offer you is some time with them."

"But... what's the catch?" Harry asked, suspiciously. He had spent enough time in the Wizarding world to know that nothing came without a price.

"The catch?" Mr. Lee asked, smiling. "What do you mean, Mr. Potter?"

'I mean, if this spell allows you to go back in time and talk to people in the past then why isn't it more famous? It could be used for good! If someone has been murdered, you can go back in time to find out who did it. You can spend time with your family or someone you once loved long after they are gone!"

"Because for as long as the spell is cast, the caster leads a cursed life and for every day that a person spends in the past, the caster loses a few minutes of his life. Prolonging someone else's time on this planet only shortens another man's time a bit. Do you understand?"

"So if I go back, you would live a cursed life for as long as I'm gone and you'll die earlier than you would have?" Harry asked.

"Yes, to summarize it."

"How could you possibly expect to agree to that?" Harry asked incredulously.

"It's a small price to pay for my daughter's life, Mr. Potter."

"But I have never asked you to pay a price for it!" Harry said, beginning to get annoyed.

"If you went there for say, twenty days, I would only be shortening my life by a few minutes! And if I take a Dreamless Sleep Potion for the time that you are there, I wouldn't feel a thing!"

"No, Mr. Lee, I'm sorry I cannot accept your offer." Harry said, walking away.

He could hear the old man calling after him as he turned on the spot and Disapparated.

XXXXX

Harry was standing in front of the mirror in his room in Diagon Alley. It was 1976.

He had arrived in the middle of The Leaky Cauldron before sunrise that morning carrying nothing but his usual rucksack. In the rucksack among many of his most prized possessions were seven journals.

He had been in the past for nearly three hours now and he still couldn't believe that he had agreed to do this. On leaving Mr. Lee's home that fateful afternoon many weeks ago, Harry had arrived in Hermione's hotel room. They had been waiting for him anxiously. Not wanting to burden them with his own problems, he had kept Mr. Lee's offer to himself. They soon became involved with many other things and Mr. Lee's offer was temporarily driven out of Harry's mind.

It took two days for Hermione to lift the memory charm on her parents. She could've done it much quicker but she insisted on it doing it more slowly, testing them after each step to make sure that nothing had gone wrong. Two days later, Harry returned to England, leaving Ron and Hermione behind, who had decided to spend some time Hermione's family.

For weeks Harry kept himself busy with rebuilding activities, spending most of his days moving from one place to another. Meanwhile Mr. Lee was persistent. Harry received at least five owls from him each day and even a Howler on three occasions persuading him to reconsider. Nothing made him change his mind. Finally, it was Dumbledore who influenced his decision.

He was in the Headmasters office, nearly two months after the final Battle. The rebuilding had finally come to an end that morning and McGonagall had called all the surviving Order members to celebrate. Harry had flooed into the Headmaster's office only to find it strangely empty. Even the portraits were empty. All except one.

Harry didn't know what made him tell Dumbledore about Mr. Lee's offer. He still wasn't sure he had done the right thing in telling him. But the result remained the same. Four hours later when he returned to The Burrow to find the sixth letter that day from Mr. Lee on his table, he scribbled 'I'm in.' at the back of the letter and sent the owl back.

The next day Harry turned up at The Leaky Cauldron.

It was the summer before his parent's seventh year. It was Dumbledore who picked this time. He said that Harry's parents, Sirius and Remus would be in Diagon Alley that day, having just received their booklist that morning. Peter was still in Bucharest visiting his aunt for the summer. It was the perfect time to meet them, and Harry had to agree.

The sound of an owl hooting snapped Harry out of his reverie. It had returned after delivering all four of its letters in less than five minutes. That meant they were all in Diagon Alley already. Just a few minutes from now, I'll meet my parents, Harry thought walking down to the bar. He had asked them to meet him here.

He froze in his steps the minute he entered the bar.

There, standing before him were his seventeen year old parents, Sirius and Remus.

He didn't know what made him do it. He ducked to hide behind one of the display shelves. Perhaps his Gryffindor courage had finally failed him because the minute he saw Lily and James standing on opposite ends of a table, Lily looking impatient and annoyed while James looked uncomfortable in her presence, he pointed his wand at his face and emerged from behind the bookshelf looking like Dudley's younger brother. Only thinner, much thinner.

He walked up to the little group gathered around the table and said, "Hey, thanks for meeting me here."

XXXXX