Title: The Three Whom He Failed
Summary: AU. Dumbledore decides to ease his guilt by sending two of his "failed boys" back in time - into the third one's youth. However, fifty years is a long time…and love decides to intervene in Albus' plans. SLASH HP/TR, Slytherin!Dark!Harry.
Rating: M, for a reason.
Warnings: AU, violence, torture, gore, language, slash (sexual relationship between [in this case] two males).
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Author's Notes: The story begins during Harry's fifth year – right after the disastrous Occlumency lesson. I'm not going to update very often, so don't be surprised if it takes me two or three weeks to post a chapter. Try to bear with me and my slow-ish typing. :)
Chapter One – The Letter, the Meeting and the Spell
It was lunchtime at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the Great Hall was full of noise. Most of the students were chattering happily, however there was one exception.
Harry Potter was poking at his Shepherd's Pie, having no appetite whatsoever. His best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, had already given up on getting him to eat. Harry was feeling angry, betrayed and ashamed, all at once. He was angry with and ashamed of himself for invading another's privacy, the action that had led to the feeling of betrayal.
The other person was angry as well - though 'angry' was an underestimation. Severus Snape, the resident Potions Master of Hogwarts, was furious with the Potter brat who had dared to snoop around in Severus' Pensieve. And, being Potter, the boy had naturally managed to come across the very worst memory. Oh, how the brat must have enjoyed seeing his most hated Professor 'pranked' by James Potter and his cronies!
Had his father and godfather really been so nasty? Harry didn't want to believe it, but he was having a hard time denying what he had seen with his own eyes. He also had a sneaking suspicion the event he had inadvertently witnessed had not been the first, nor the last of its kind. Perhaps some of the things Snape had said about James Potter were true, after all…
Two owls suddenly flew in through an open window of the Hall. It was somewhat odd, since the post usually arrived during breakfast or dinner.
One of the birds, a brown barn owl, swooped down, landing in front of Snape, while a gray tawny owl flew over to the Gryffindor table, nearly upsetting Harry's goblet of pumpkin juice. Both recipients untied the letter from their owl's leg, and the birds took off again, heading for the Owlery.
Although neither Severus nor Harry knew it, the two notes were identical down to the last word.
Please meet me in my office tonight, at six o'clock. Don't forget to pack and take your luggage with you.
The password is 'Jelly Slugs'.
A.D.
As soon as the Slytherin and the Gryffindor had finished reading their notes, the slips of parchment burst into heatless, magenta flames. Five seconds later all that remained of the letters were two small piles of ash.
What is the old man playing at now? Surely he is not going to send me on an Order mission in the middle of the term...
Dumbledore wants me to travel somewhere? Somehow, I don't like the sound of that…
At five fifty-five in the evening, Severus knocked on the door of the Headmaster's office, and was asked to enter. There sat Dumbledore, behind his polished oak desk, looking uncharacteristically sombre, the twinkle gone from his blue eyes.
"You wished to see me, Headmaster?"
"Ah, Severus. Yes, I indeed did," Dumbledore said with the faintest of smiles. "However, I am expecting another person as well. He should be here any minute."
"This other person has something to do with the reason I am here, I assume?" Snape queried.
"Correct, my boy. In fact, he has received a note similar to the one I sent you."
"You are sending both him and me on a journey?"
Dumbledore did not answer, but instead glanced at Fawkes. The Phoenix gave a short, soft trill, gazing at the door behind the Potions Master.
A few seconds later someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Dumbledore called, and Severus heard the door open.
"Good evening, Professor…s," said Harry Potter's voice. Severus was out of his chair in a fraction of a second, whirling around to glare at the fifth-year, who seemed to have frozen at the door.
Obsidian eyes met emerald ones, and the tension in the air was palpable.
"Now, it seems there are some matters that need to be resolved," Dumbledore observed. "Harry, please get your trunk inside, close the door, and take a seat. Severus, please sit down."
The two obeyed, albeit reluctantly. Once seated, Harry did his best to ignore the irate Professor next to him, and focused on Dumbledore's beautiful Phoenix. Fawkes looked back at the Gryffindor, his dark eyes sorrowful.
"I am afraid I will not be able to send either of you anywhere, unless you settle your animosities. What has happened between the two of you?" The Headmaster's tone was kind, but there was an undertone that made it clear Dumbledore expected an answer.
Harry glanced at the ancient wizard, and then at Snape, whose murderous expression caused the teen to flinch and turn back to the magnificent bird. Shuffling his feet nervously, Harry mustered up his courage. "It's something I did, sir. Something you caught me doing in fourth year…"
"You had done so before? Tell me, Potter, what did you think of that memory of mine?" Snape's voice was dangerously soft. "You enjoyed it, didn't you, seeing your precious father play such a hilarious prank – "
"No, I didn't!" Harry half-shouted, turning to face the Slytherin. "I hated what my father and Sirius did, okay? They were downright nasty, and they didn't even have a reason. James only started it all because Sirius said he was bored – and Lupin, the Prefect, didn't even lift a finger."
Harry drew a long breath, and continued, "I Floo-called the Headquarters, you know. I asked Sirius and Remus about…that day, because I had to find out what the truth was…"
"And what did Remus and Sirius say?" Dumbledore asked softly.
"They said…they said that 'he was only fifteen at that time', and pretty much shrugged it off, as if that explained everything – I'm fifteen, for Merlin's sake, and I sure as he – err…I mean I would never do anything like that, not even to Ma – my enemies!"
Turning back to Snape, Harry went on: "I've said this before, and I'll say it again: I am not my father. I'm sorry for invading your privacy like that, I truly am. I understand you're mad at me, and I won't deny I deserve it."
Both adults were visibly taken aback by Harry's words, and the sheer sincerity with which they were spoken.
Dumbledore recovered quicker than Snape, who was staring at Harry with an expression that was a mixture of so many emotions it was impossible to decipher. The Headmaster's eyes began twinkling as he looked at Harry. The fifth-year was still holding the Potions Master's gaze, and thus didn't notice Dumbledore's apparent cheerfulness.
Severus was forced to believe Potter. As a highly skilled Legilimens, the Slytherin was able to sense when he was being lied to. What the boy had just said had been nothing but the truth, as unbelievable as it was. Thus, there was only appropriate line Severus could say.
"Very well, I accept your apology, Mr. Potter. But do not do it again."
"I won't, sir," the Gryffindor said solemnly.
"Now that that is out of the way, we can finally start discussing the reason I invited the two of you here tonight," Dumbledore said, beaming. "I have an important mission for you."
"What kind of a mission, sir?" Harry asked warily.
"It is not about the Order, is it, Headmaster?"
"No, Severus, it is not about the Order – except in a very roundabout way. What I want you to do is to travel back in time. If all goes well, no Order of the Phoenix will ever need to be founded!"
Harry's eyes widened. "But, sir, surely you don't mean...back into Tom Riddle's time?"
"That is exactly what I mean, Harry," Dumbledore replied, obviously pleased the fifth-year had figured it out so quickly.
"And how, pray tell, were you going to accomplish sending us fifty years into the past?" Severus could not keep the sneer out of his voice – Albus' plan sounded utterly insane. "No time-turner is that powerful."
"I have recently developed a spell that will allow me to send a maximum of three people up to one hundred years into the past." A very rare emotion – for the Headmaster -, pride, could be heard in Dumbledore's voice.
"What do you want us to do in the past? How are we supposed to stop Riddle from becoming the monster he is today?" Harry thought Dumbledore's plan was downright crazy.
"That is for you to decide," said the ancient wizard a little less cheerfully. "The only option not available is killing Tom."
Snape muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "out of your mind...", and Harry completely agreed with that comment. How in Merlin's name were they going to prevent the first rise of Lord Voldemort? By taking Riddle a prisoner? By befriending the boy? Well, the latter sounds ridiculous, even to me!
"Any more questions?"
Harry and Snape glanced at each other, silently agreeing to just let the Headmaster do the talking.
"No? In that case, you shall be leaving immediately," Dumbledore said, drawing his wand. "Now, make sure you are holding both your trunks and each other. Otherwise the spell won't work properly."
Once the two had complied, the Headmaster raised his wand. "One more thing: once you arrive at your destination, please return to this office as soon as possible. I shall see you soon. Tempus Pone!"
There was a blinding flash of bright orange light. Once Albus could see again, Severus, Harry and their trunks had disappeared. The spell had worked.
"Good luck, my boys. You are going to need it."
Author's Notes #2: I know next to no Latin, so my spell incantations are more than likely to be grammatically incorrect. Please excuse me. :)
I will explain the "failed boys" thing in chapter two.