Back in Time
"Grandpa Harry, you can't die," said a young man, sitting next to an old man who was in bed.
"Ron Potter, I'm powerful, but I'm not that powerful," said Harry. "I'll be with your Grandma Hermione soon."
"Grandma Hermione died last year," said Ron Potter, as Harry Potter fell asleep, shutting his eyes for the final time.
Harry expected it to be the final time he shut his eyes, but he should have known better, because he was Harry Potter.
He had just celebrated his 200th birthday; his beloved Hermione Granger had just lasted days past her 200th birthday. Magical theorists believed that they lasted so long because they were so powerful. They had outlasted most of their friends, and some of their friends' children (honorary nieces and nephews). Even some of the grandchildren were beginning to die out.
Ron Potter was inexact in calling Harry, "Grandpa" as Harry was in actuality his great-grandfather.
When Harry Potter next opened his eyes, he was in London. If he were The Doctor (from his favourite TV programme Doctor Who), he'd put his finger in the air and announce that it was 1930's London.
But Harry was not The Doctor, so he had to rely on other methods to obtain the date. He looked around. He seemed to be in an alleyway near the Leakey Cauldron, which itself was at the entrance to Diagon Alley. He spotted a conveniently-placed newspaper boy. Harry approached, and saw the date on the pile of newspapers. It was 31 July 1935.
"You wanna buy a copy, guv?" asked the boy. "1d only."
"No, thank you," said Harry hurrying on. He wasn't paying attention, and ran into a woman walking down the street.
"I'm sorry," he said to the woman. His heart sang when he saw the woman, who looked almost exactly like Hermione had. She did a double-take at seeing him, as well.
"What's your name?" asked the look-alike.
"Harry Jameson," said Harry easily. It had actually been one of his aliases when he was writing various books: Muggle fiction, romance, sci-fi. 'Harry Potter' had been reserved for Defence Against The Dark Arts books. "Yours?"
She hesitated for a second before answering, "Hermione Evans."
"Evans?" Harry asked incredulously. "I think that your real name is Hermione Granger."
"Harry?" she asked hopefully. "You should know that no one has used that last name in 182 years, from my point of view. It's been Hermione Potter."
"It's 63 years in the future from these peoples' point of view," said Harry. "When did you get here?"
"Just now," said Hermione. "One minute I was dying, then I actually think I was dead for a minute there, then I found myself here. How do I look, by the way?"
"You look fantastic," Harry said. "Just like the day I married you. Me?"
"You look good as well," said Hermione. "I assume that you just got here, too?"
"Yep,". Both turned as they heard shouting.
"It's a job, you dimwit," said a man towering over a child. "If you say 'no' again, I'll beat you!"
Harry walked over to the man. "This little one's not worth your effort," he said as he subtly cast a wandless Confundus charm. "You should leave him alone and go about your business."
"I'll leave the kid alone and go about my business," repeated the man.
"You will go home and rethink your life," said Harry.
"I will go home and rethink my life," repeated the man.
The child looked vaguely familiar—Harry thought that he'd dealt with offspring of this child before.
"Are you okay, kid?" asked Harry, walking over to the child.
"Yes, sir," said the boy.
"What's your name, and where do you live?" asked Harry.
"My name's Riddle, sir. Tom Riddle." said the boy. "I'm eight years old, and live at Wool's Orphanage. Who are you?"
Harry knew that his day was going too well—his resurrection from the dead, and his reunion with his wife. He had to meet Tom Riddle. Damn, thought Harry. Harry conjured a piece of paper, making it look like he was taking it out of his pocket. He showed it to Tom.
"Harry Jameson, Decte...I can't read that word, Inspector," read Tom. "What's that mean?"
"I'm a detective," said Harry. "A special type of bobby," explained Harry at Tom's look of incomprehension.
"Is it fun?" asked Tom. "When I grow up, I want to be a policeman or a judge."
"It can be difficult sometimes," said Harry. "Either of those jobs. Did your parents die, Tom? Is that why you are at the orphanage?"
"My dad left my mum before I was born," explained Tom. "My mum died giving birth to me. That's what the matron says, at least."
"And where is 'Wool's Orphanage'?" asked Hermione.
"Right down the street, ma'am," said Tom.
\\/
They returned Tom to his orphanage, and decided to walk around London.
"We just saved Tom Riddle," said Hermione.
"Believe me, it was completely unintentional," said Harry.
"You know, if we've been sent back in time, then we could do things for the better," said Hermione. "Have you ever heard about the debate between nature and nurture?"
The Lumos charm went off in Harry's head. "You mean, since we've already seen what nature can do, we should see what nurturing will do?"
"Right!" said Hermione. "Think about how many people we can save!"
"We could actually stop Gindelwald if we wanted," said Harry. Anticipating his wife's (future wife, past wife, time travel was confusing) objection he continued, "Except Grindlewald is what allows Dumbledore to become so famous, so we probably shouldn't. I also think that his Rise to Power has already started. One question though. How are we to pay for all of this. I'm not going to use my mind-tricks for everything."
"We get jobs," answered Hermione. "Normal, early 20th century jobs."
"I might not know much about history, Hermione, but I think that there's a slight correction in that sentence," said Harry. "At this point in history, the women mostly stay at home, and take care of the kids. I have to get a job."
"I'm glad that humans grew out of that in the later portions of the century," said Hermione. "I mean, our police force was close to even when we left."
"When I died or came back in time, it was 240 men, 250 women, all making Auror Standard Wages at 1.5 times the Ministry pay scale" responded Harry with almost military precision.
"You were making a bit of money, then," stated Hermione.
"A bit, yeah," said Harry. "I never really paid that much attention to that, as my vault was rather sizeable before my pay."
After this exchange, they noticed an owl flying towards them. It was a letter from Gringotts.
Dear Mr and Mrs Potter,
Your time-travel has been noted in our records. We also have other matters to speak with you about. Come at your earliest convenience.
Skullcrusher, Gringotts Bank
A/N:
This idea came to me in the shower. There are references to Star Wars and Doctor Who (at minimum). Harry's paper is like the psychic paper from Doctor Who, and Harry does a Jedi mind trick on a number of people.
As always, I don't own Harry Potter, et al. nor Doctor Who or Star Wars
I actually had in mind a reaction similar to The Doctor when he saves Davros in The Magicians Apprentice
