Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
Chapter One: The Forest Again
"I don't like my picture, it looks as though I've got a lazy eye!" Ron grumbles, staring intently at the chocolate frog card nestled in his palm.
"I think it's more of a twinkle." Harry teases, tossing his own card aside and peering over his mate's shoulder to get a better look at the offending photo.
"Bugger off." Ron grunts and Hermione rolls her eyes, taking a deep drag of her tea. They were seated at a corner table in the Leaky Cauldron and although they were quiet, they still drew attention to themselves. Witches and wizards gawked at them as though they wouldn't notice or as though they should be happy for it if they do. It had been four years since Voldemort's defeat and some days it still felt like he was out there lurking behind a strange magical loophole just waiting to reappear. It had taken some time for them to adjust to their new way of life, one where basilisks didn't coil below girls' washrooms or where old family friends did not turn into rodents and betray their trust. It helped that they had each other, shared experiences that brought them closer together rather than torn them apart.
Hermione had gone back to Hogwarts to complete her last year and finish her final exams along with Ginny and Luna, as she had taken the year off to hunt Horcruxes with Harry and Ron, they were in the same year. Harry and Ron (despite Hermione's insistence) did not return to Hogwarts, instead they had thrown themselves into the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes business to distract George (and themselves) from the loss of Fred and so many others.
"Have you decided whether you'll take Kingsley up on his offer?" Harry asks Ron and he's met with an indifferent shrug. "Thought I might, you?" Harry nods his agreement at this question. Kingsley, who was now Minister of Magic, had offered them the opportunity to train at the Auror Academy despite not having finished Hogwarts or their N.E.W.T.s. "I think it's a great idea." Hermione pipes in, shooting Ron a reassuring gaze. "It's quite strange though that Kingsley's asked me to join you both this evening as I've already accepted the position with Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." She continues, Ron almost comments on her seemingly incessant need to tell them the mouthful of a department she's going to work for as though they don't know already but he decides against it.
"Maybe it's about something else." Harry suggests, pushing the remaining bits of treacle tart around on his plate idly with his fork.
"Maybe."
"Did you ask why I'm here?" Hermione hisses to Harry as he rejoins Ron and her after greeting Kingsley politely. They stand in the back of the group, at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds in a semi-circle surrounding Kingsley. "Nope." Harry says and Hermione's face immediately turns a putrid red color, prompting Ron to shutter in effort to hold back his laughter. "Harry—" She begins to reprimand but is cut off by Dean Thomas as he embraces the group. "I didn't know you three were going to be Aurors! I mean, I should have guessed so but—"
"Aurors? Well, Harry and Ron were considering it but Kingsley knows that I'm not interested." Hermione insists. "Does he? This is a working interview for the Auror Academy." He asks skeptically. "He's Minister of Magic now, why is he personally heading an Auror function?" Hermione wonders aloud and Ron shrugs, disinterested.
"Why didn't he tell us it was a working interview?" Harry asks, confused. "It was in the letter he sent last week." Dean tells him and Harry nods knowingly, he had spent the last week at the Leaky Cauldron with Hermione and Ron for their meeting with the Chocolate Frog distributors, they had interviews and photo shoots. It had been quite the affair and there was a pile of letters that they hadn't bothered to open during their time there. "But I'm not going to be an Auror." Hermione persists.
"Thank you for joining me this evening, it is a pleasure to have each and every one of you here. You may be wondering why we've summoned you here but that is because there has been some strange activity reported within the Forbidden Forest over the past day or so. We've been asked by Headmistress McGonagall to investigate." He gestures to McGonagall standing beside him who curves her lips to the side in a fashion that looks suspiciously like a smile.
"We'll break off into groups, three of you will come with me, three of you will go with Gilmore, and the remaining three with accompany Headmistress McGonagall. We want to see how you'll do in uncertain situations." Harry snorts at that and Hermione levels him with a stern look. "We will observe you and after you're finished here today, we will follow up with you via owl concerning your results." He says and before anyone can make a move, McGonagall intercepts her three former students and insist they come with her.
Harry is taken aback by this sudden change of events, the last time he had been in the Forbidden Forest he had died. This was something that no one was sure to forget easily so why were they pushing him back there? "Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asks worriedly and unsurprisingly she is met by a nonchalant shrug. He'd never admit his aversion even if it was eating him alive.
"Mr. Potter, I feel the need to explain myself." McGonagall begins, leading them away from the others and into the dark forest. "I know that your last experience here was not exactly… er… pleasant but the disturbance in the forest was right around where you faced Voldemort. I know you, Mr. Potter, and you would have been very upset had you not been the first to know about this so I suggested that Kingsley bring the three of you in. Have your wands at the ready." She tells them briskly, her pace swift and unfaltering.
Hermione rushes to stay at McGonagall's side, blathering incessantly that she is not considering other positions other than the one she's accepted. Harry seems to be in a catatonic state as he walks robotically through the woods as though there were an algorithm to create the movement. "You okay, mate?" Ron asks between squeaks when he's seen a spider scampering atop the dirt.
"Yeah," Harry responds stoically, staring straight ahead at the backs of McGonagall's and Hermione's heads. It all seems too familiar, the way the darkness hits the tops of the trees and the ever-present rustling of leaves that could be anything from a giant to a mouse. He imagines a younger version of himself shuffling through the forest alongside Ron in pursuit of answers to Hagrid's arrest and then again with Hermione as they weaved through the throng of trees to escape their rabid werewolf of a professor.
He doesn't notice that they've made it to the heart of the Forbidden Forest, where those few years ago he stood, with courage leant to him in part by his loved ones and (almost) sacrificed him for the good of the wizarding world. Although he did not die here in this clearing, it did not mean that it didn't haunt his dreams in ways that rivaled legimancy itself. Harry feels Hermione's gaze on him, worried that he'll snap in anger as he used to do under the pressure of Voldemort.
Harry trips over something in the ground, it seems insignificant like merely an angular stone but he falters in his step nonetheless. He instinctively straightens his glasses in his usual fluid motion and stumbles to join McGonagall and Hermione, Ron trailing behind him wearily. He doesn't realize they've stopped walking until he crashes into Hermione, reaching out to steady her immediately.
"Why are we.…" He trails off, his eyes falling where theirs already have. "What is that?" Ron almost whines at the sight ahead of him. The scene before them was hazy, it looked as though it had been caught in an intense heatwave. The ground and the surrounding trees were blurred intensely, almost like a portal out of the muggle science fiction movie Harry had once seen Dudley watching.
"Professor?" Harry asks, his voice cautious and low. "Yes, Mr. Potter?" She whispers distractedly, her sharp eyes unwilling to meet his. "Do you know what this is?" He asks her and he is not surprised when she shakes her head, barely managing to murmur a 'no'. "Well, there's only one way to find out." He says, stepping towards the mysterious mirage. Hermione catches his arm. "Harry, you can't. It may be dangerous." He rolls his eyes at her assessment. "Isn't it always?" He laughs numbly.
"I don't mean to alarm you but whatever it is we're looking at, we're not the first to discover it. There were some dark cloaked figures here yesterday evening and that's what prompted me to contact Kingsley." McGonagall tells them. "Then it's settled we'll check it out, how bad can be? Voldemort's dead now anyway." Harry decides but Hermione tugs at his forearm again. "You don't find it off-putting at all that this was where you almost… died?" She struggles for a moment with the last word, like saying it out loud changes the meaning behind it.
"Of course, I do. I find a lot of things off-putting but it doesn't mean I can run from them. Now, this is our entrance to the Auror Academy so Ron and I have got to do it to get in. You can sit this one out if you'd like." He tells her and her eyes immediately narrow into dangerous slits. "Actually quite the contrary, we wouldn't force you after everything you've been through but I thought you'd ought to have the right to decide for yourself for once. You'll be an Auror no matter what you do here, Mr. Potter." McGonagall tells him but he shrugs it off.
"Ron?" Harry asks and Ron nods at him reassuringly. "Right behind you, mate." He turns to Hermione who is currently wringing her hands together in an effort to bring about premature carpel tunnel. "Oh, alright." She huffs, stomping her feet and trudging through the unknown without a second thought and ignoring the yelps of protest in the background.
Hermione blinks repeatedly, each time she closes her eyes she presses her lids a bit harder together. She's willing something to happen but nothing does, she walked through the strange haze only to find that she was in the same, unchanged clearing. The only thing different was that Harry, Ron, and McGonagall had disappeared.
It's only a moment before they reappear behind her, panting and eyes shifty as they look for same things she did. "It's just the clearing." Hermione tells them lamely and Ron shrugs. "Well, we looked and we saw. We'll just head back up to the castle and meet up with everyone else." Ron says, Hermione and Harry falling into step beside him. McGonagall, however, is standing stiffly in the center of the clearing. Harry turns to her, brow furrowed. "What's wrong?"
She shakes her head as though she's shooing away an unwanted thought and joins them towards the castle. The hike back is long especially considering their slow gait, they make small talk that threatens to end almost as soon as it starts. McGonagall tells them about the school and how the students are working to put the horrors behind them but it's there everywhere they turn. The war is still there in the songs Peeves sings and the conversations amongst the portraits, it's impossible to escape even with time past.
"Um…" Ron says, interrupting one of Hermione's anecdotes about S.P.E.W. and how she will implement it in her new position at the ministry. "What is it, Ronald?" She sighs, not as harshly as normal. "I don't think that was nothing." He says. "Don't you two have enough mystery in your relationship? Out with it!" Harry grumbles and Ron only answers with a point of his finger.
"Is that…" Hermione starts but she can't seem to continue. "Dumbledore." Harry finishes flatly, watching the unmistakable wizard bustle through the school with his silver hair blowing as a result of his rapid pace. "What does this mean? That can't be him, he's dead." Hermione shivers nervously. McGonagall looks pained, her eyes not on Dumbledore but something else. "Professor?" She presses.
"It means we've gone back in time." She speaks in monotone, her gaze never breaking from its target. Harry follows her eyes and stops dead in his tracks when his eyes also fall on a pair of students patrolling the halls, chuckling at something the other said.
Unmistakable long, red hair swishes as she walks quickly to keep up with the tall and messy haired boy beside her. A boy that looks exactly like Harry.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed, be sure to leave a review and I will try to update soon if this story gets enough interest!