{A/N} Whee! Harry Potter fanfiction! I've been devouring this stuff for months so I believe I've figured out every single trope and cliche there is for it. That being said, There have been a large amount of time traveling/dimension hopping Harry Potters but to my knowledge not one quite like this. I'm probably borrowing unconsciously from a multitude of stories but I'm trying to keep it original, straight from my head. That being said, this is my first piece of writing in quite a while so I hope everyone enjoys it. It doesn't have a beta, or anyone to really edit it except me so please excuse any teensy tiny grammar mistakes. I'm fairly sure I'm an American so if I am not suitably British enough for some readers, I do apologize. Reviews and criticisms are heartily accepted, but please don't flame me, because that's just plain rude. I hold no rights to the characters because J.K. Rowling owns them all, lucky duck.
'Oh Merlin. It feels like Buckbeak kicked me in the head.'
If his head hadn't been in so much pain Harry would have snorted, or laughed, or had some form of visible reaction at the thought of actually surviving being kicked by the hippogriff. Instead he decided to mentally work his way through his current predicament. The last thing he remembered was ending his shift and apparating to a pub frequented by aurors with Ron and a particularly fine auror trainee who was a decade too young for him and whose name he couldn't even remember at the moment. He groaned, for the double reason that his was throbbing and someone had spoken far too loud in his vicinity. Harry decided it was time to go through a concussion test, as much as one could test oneself for a concussion, and began with his memory.
He was Harry James Potter, twenty seven year old senior auror with the DMLE. After the second war with Voldemort he had taken a year off from everything and travelled the world, a mostly extinct tradition that he only knew about through his association with much older wizards. After his return he'd spent a year with his nose to the grindstone and Hermione's stern hand keeping it there studying for and taking his NEWT's. Fighting the war had not managed to quench his ambitions of becoming an auror and so with the requisite grade's he had joined the auror's and spent three years training. His graduating class had been the best group of rookie aurors in decades, thanks in part to the recent war and thanks to the fact that everyone had tried their hardest not to get caught in the shadow of the man that had bested the Dark Lord Voldemort.
The years went by slowly for Harry. As an auror he spent most of his time keeping the peace and tracking down the occasional dark wizard that managed to wander into Britain. His personal life had been a series of ups and downs that had left him, if not happy, fairly content. Ginny Weasley hadn't waited for him, he didn't blame her, but that spark that they might have had during school had been blown out and she had happily plunged into a quidditch career that had, to her brother's glee, the Chudley Cannons at the top of the league and England in position to seriously challenge for the next World Cup. Ron had joined the aurors a year after Harry and upon finishing his training plucked up the courage the ask his long time girlfriend Hermione to marry him. She'd gleefully accepted and then thoroughly hexed him for taking so long to ask. Most of Harry's time off was spent babysitting their four year old daughter Rose and looking after his godson, Teddy Lupin.
Little Teddy was probably the brightest spot in Harry's life. A metamorphmagus like his mother, he had seemingly inherited his father's penchant for pranks if not his serious attitude. Harry split time with Andromeda Tonks, his grandmother, in taking care of him. He generally worked four days on and three off and so had plenty of time to spend with Teddy, and was determined to be the godfather that Sirius hadn't been able to for him.
'Well, looks like my long term memory is there. Probably not a concussion. Oh that reminds me, Andy is going to kill me, I was supposed to take Teddy to diagon alley today and I don't think she'll be impressed by the hangover I have.'
In the time it had taken him to review his memories and gather his thoughts the throbbing in his head had lessened and so he decided that some contact with the outside world was in order, namely using his senses. He felt the cold wooden floor that he was lying on, the lightweight body armor that he hadn't bothered to take off, and the silky texture of his robes where they rested against him. His wand holster was still strapped to his wrist and he could feel the weight of his trusty holly and phoenix feather wand within it. He then focused on the odors pervading his surroundings, namely ale, dust, and sweat, 'So probably a tavern. Damnit, if Ron spiked my drink as a joke again I'm going to kill him.'
He could hear soft murmurs around him now that his headache was receding and deduced that there was a large crowd of people in the room with him, 'Just my luck, everyone's probably here to see the Chosen One with a hangover.'
Deciding that it was time to actually figure out where he was he cracked his eyes open and was pleasantly surprised to find that the soft light in the room did not immediately stab his eyes. There were indistinct shapes around him and so he slowly felt around, moving only one arm, and located his glasses that must have fallen off sometime during the night. He rolled over onto his back and put his glasses on and the ceiling came into sharp focus, 'Looks like I'm in the basement of a pub. How the hell did I get down here?"
With another groan he sat up and finally words spilled out of his throat, although they came out raspy and he had to cough once he was finished, "Where the bloody hell am I?"
He hadn't asked the question to anyone in particular but he got an answer, in a voice he hadn't heard in many years, "Well my boy, you are in the basement of the Hog's Head tavern."
Headache forgotten Harry stood, whirled, and drew his wand and at the sight he saw swore a blue streak and finally said, "Damnit. I'm hallucinating again."
Sitting around a long square table or standing around it were people he had only seen once, in a photograph that Mad-Eye Moody had shown him more than a decade ago. The original Order of the Phoenix all stared back at him with curiosity, and no little suspicion. His wand was pointed at the man who had spoken to him, Albus Dumbledore looked almost exactly as he remembered, with a few less lines and white hairs. The annoyingly familiar twinkle in the old man's eye was one of amusement as he asked politely, "And why do you think this is a hallucination?"
With his mind whirling through all of the possibilities, no matter how impossible, Harry answered bluntly, "Because I have a history of them and I was at the pub last night with my friend who I'm fairly sure spiked my drink with something really good, or bad."
A few chuckles rang out and Harry's eyes were drawn to where the loudest one was from. Sirius Black, a young and whole and healthy Sirius Black, was currently laughing at his blunt statement. Harry's heart clenched but his auror training kicked in and he decided to test out all of his hastily formed theories while whoever he was speaking to still thought that he thought he was hallucinating. He had already discarded the hallucination theory because he was thoroughly familiar with them after spending years connected to Voldemort through the horcrux in his head. He decided to go with nonchalant, "Hey Sirius, I haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"
The casual statement caught them all off guard and Sirius stuttered for a moment before saying garrulously, "I'm doing wonderful. Why just last week I met these two wonderful witches at a pub and let me tell you…"
Whatever fanciful story he was going to launch himself into was lost as Harry's attention was clearly not on him, 'That's definitely Sirius, that was probably going to be a little more vulgar than he used to tell me but he's younger."
A small grin twitched at the corners of Harry's mouth as he moved on to the man next to his long dead godfather. He let that twitch grow into a grin, 'A show of trust and knowledge next then.'
"Remus!"
He immediately strode over and before anyone could react hugged the also long dead father is his godson. The man stiffened but Harry let go quickly and said with a smile, "How are you you old wolf!"
Harry's tacit acknowledgement of Remus's lycanthropy seemed to perturb many in the group, but he could see happiness in a younger and less worn Remus Lupin's eyes at his obvious nonchalance about it. The naturally cautious man nodded at him, "I'm well."
Harry didn't let his growing anger show on his face, 'Definitely Remus. Something is definitely wrong here.'
He turned, eyes sweeping over people that he could name but had never interacted with as well as old friends that the sight of sent a stab of pain through his heart. Finally spotting a new target he hurried over to Frank and a very pregnant Alice Longbottom. He grabbed the young auror's hand and began shaking it enthusiastically, "Frank and Alice, I haven't yet had a chance to tell you what good people you are. Your son truly is one of my best friends."
He heard the gasps behind him and saw the shock in the Longbottom couples eyes but Frank played along with him, "Really now?"
Harry dropped the man's hand and ran his own through the messy tangle that was his hair all the while expounding on Neville Longbottom's best traits, "Oh yes. Neville is a very good friend of mine. He got a teaching position at Hogwarts as the herbology professor, poor sod. I don't think I have the patience to teach first years but he's always been a much better man than me. I figure that since I'm hallucinating I'd take this chance."
Frank was clearly struggling for words but finally said, "Well, thank you for your kind words."
As soon as the words cleared Frank's mouth Harry tensed, putting his body on full alert, ready to spring into battle at any moment. He saw both Frank and Alice do the same in reaction to him, as well as felt it when several others in the room tensed, sensing the danger that clearly radiated from Harry. The boy-who-lived whirled and walked back to where he'd started the day, conjured a chair, and sat down in it, staring at the wide eyed and battle ready Order of the Phoenix. He sighed heavily and said bluntly, "Now, I'm fairly sure I'm not hallucinating. One of you colossal idiots did something, and you, Albus Dumbledore, are going to tell me what."
His old mentor smiled benevolently at him, "Come now, what makes you…"
Harry interrupted when he made eye contact with Dumbledore and hissed "Legilimins!"
His mind crashed into Dumbledore's occlumency shields, but the old man had been unprepared for a mental attack and in the seconds it took him to marshal his defences Harry ripped free a few recent impressions that Dumbledore had had.
A ritual circle. Immense power rushing through his body. Exhaustion. Curiosity at the man who looked like and older James Potter. Amusement at the man's antics.
Harry was ejected from Dumbledore's mind just in time to conjure a large stone wall in front of himself to block the multiple stunners and other varied spells that were flying towards him. He immediately disillusioned himself and flung himself into a corner while the wall was shattered into a fine dust. He waited cautiously while the order shouted and the dust settled. Many of them were panicking and had their wands out, pointed all over the place in an attempt to find him. Dumbledore raised his own wand and emitted a loud blast from it which quieted everyone down immediately. He looked directly at Harry and said calmly, "Now that that is over with, young man I would appreciate it if you would drop that expert disillusionment charm and talk to us. No harm will come to you."
Harry let the charm fade away and as he faded back into view a number of angry looks were sent his way, and many wands were now pointed directly at him. He smiled grimly and sauntered back to where his chair had been obliterated and considered repairing it before deciding to just vanish it all and conjure another chair to sit in. He found himself in the exact same situation as before as he repeated, "Now, Albus Dumbledore you colossal idiot. What. Did. You. Do."
Without pretense Dumbledore explained this time, "The fight against Voldemort is going poorly and new information has come to light. We desperately needed help so we performed a ritual to drag whoever defeats Voldemort back through time to aid us."
Harry stared at the old man and wondered what could have driven him to do such a thing before countering, "Very well. I am from the future… obviously. Now, please perform the ritual to send me back and then kindly obliviate yourself. You of all people should know not to mess with time Albus."
The twinkle never left the old man's eyes as he pressed on, "Ah, but Voldemort has already manipulated time for his own purposes, and I am at a loss on what to do about it."
Harry leaned forward curiously, he hadn't heard of Voldemort ever manipulating time to a point where Albus Dumbledore felt compelled to match him, "What did he do?"
The answer struck him like a hammerblow, "He has performed a ritual to pull my old nemesis out of the past. Grindelwald, and from the looks of it and the power of his spells Grindelwald at the height of his power."
Harry nearly choked on air and had a hard time not vomiting at the disquieting thought of Voldemort and Grindelwald working together, "You're sure of this? That never happened."
Dumbledore nodded sadly, one hand stroking his long white beard pensively, "Oh yes, I faced both in combat not two weeks ago and barely escaped with my life. I would know Grindelwald anywhere, and it was most definitely him. I checked his prison of Nurmengard but he is still there, and so the only conclusion I can come to is that Voldemort has somehow pulled him out of the past."
Harry finished for him, "And so you thought to pull the one who defeated Voldemort in the future backwards. The symmetry appealed to you. You would defeat Grindelwald once again and I would defeat Voldemort once again."
At his blunt statement one of the two people he had desperately been ignoring leaped forward and asked excitedly, "So you did beat him? He can be beaten?"
Harry looked on his own father with a neutral expression on his face and empty eyes, pointing out, "Your ritual could have backfired. I only followed Albus's thought to its logical conclusion."
The brown eyes of James Potter looked at him in disappointment, "So you haven't beaten him?"
"I don't see how knowledge of the future will help you. I like my life, and I do not believe I will change the timeline."
A look of fury passed over his father's face and the rest of the room also tensed, a barrage of hostile feeling crashing into Harry as his father snarled, "So you would abandon us to face two of the most powerful dark wizards ever? How can you be such a coward!"
A bitter smile crept onto Harry's face as he replied evenly, "I have already fought my own war and lost far more than you have. Do not lecture me on cowardice."
It tickled him somewhere in the back of his mind that he was arguing with his long dead father, who was younger than him. A rough voice laughed from somewhere to the side and Alastor Moody spoke, "He's obviously an auror. Probably spent some time with the Unspeakables. You'll never force him into anything, especially messing around with time. You'll have to convince him."
Dumbledore continued, "Indeed. James, please step back. I will have to reason with our guest."
Harry watched as his father whirled and stalked back to his mother's side, his heavily pregnant mothers side. A pang of longing that he thought was long gone wrenched his heart as he drank in the sight of his mother. Long red hair, pale skin, and the same emerald eyes as him. She nodded at him and he gave her a small one in return before turning his attention back to Dumbledore. Before Dumbledore could speak Harry preempted him, "Grindelwald was never part of the original timeline. Whoever did the runes made a colossal mess of them because you pulled me through time and space as well. I'm not even in the right bloody dimension. Obviously whatever ritual Voldemort used here failed in my own dimension."
With no small amount of chagrin Dumbledore replied, "Well… It is an old ritual but I'm quite sure I got the translations right. Come now, I'm sure you can see that we need your help. I cannot contend with the likes of Voldemort and Grindelwald at the same time."
Harry sighed and crossed his arms, glaring out at his audience, "I don't care. Send me back. I have business to attend to."
This time it was Remus who spoke, "Surely no business can be as pressing as Voldemort and Grindelwald. They're the most powerful Dark Lords in centuries, fighting us together."
Harry smiled at him coldly, "Well… Remus. My pressing business would be taking my godson to Diagon Alley to get his wand. That would be my godson, but your son Remus. So kindly stuff it."
A very much younger than Harry had known Remus paled, "My… Son? What? I'm way to young to have a kid!"
Harry barked a laugh and then froze as an epiphany hit him before sputtering, "Sirius. Oh Merlin you're going to love this. Come here."
He stood up and hurried over to his godfather from another dimension and, ignoring the dozens of wands now pointed at him, whispered in his ear, "The woman he has a kid with, in my dimension, is barely out of diapers right now!"
Sirius froze and glanced at Remus before back to Harry and said reverently, "Are you serious?"
Harry took a step back and grinned, not believing for a second that he wasn't being set up, "No, you are. But about Remus' wife? Definitely."
They froze again before simultaneously bursting into laughter, only quieting when Dumbledore said in a stern voice, "I believe that's enough gentlemen. Now, if our visitor would kindly tell us his identity we could move this conversation forwards."
The son of James Potter who was at this moment older than his father shook his head before he started pacing back and forth before the grouped Order of the Phoenix, "Albus, I have no intention of being your cats-paw this time around. Last go around you manipulated me to the point where I literally stood there and let Voldemort hit me with a killing curse."
A chorus of outraged gasps and muttered disbelief sprung up throughout the room as Harry paced and Dumbledore's twinkling eyes followed. The elderly wizard carefully asked, "If you were hit by a killing curse then how are you standing before us today."
Harry grinned and held up two fingers, which many of the confused Order members took as a peace sign until he said, "Twice. I've been hit with the killing curse twice and I am very much not dead. I will not tell you the circumstances because it would destroy the integrity of the time line but they cannot be reproduced."
This time there was only shocked silence from the crowd of people and even Dumbledore's eyes widened. Harry pulled out Fabian Prewett's battered pocket watch and checked the time while musing, 'Let's see, perhaps 15 or 16 months before he goes to Godrics Hollow. He's probably made all of his Horcruxes by now with the exception of Nagini. So, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem, and the diary. I would have to procure basilisk venom and the easiest way to do that would be to go to the Chamber again. I could do that today and have the diadem destroyed before supper. The ring tomorrow. The problems would be the cup, the locket, and the diary.'
He snapped the pocket watch shut and looked up at Sirius, "Hey Padfoot, is Regulus still alive or is he dead yet?"
His erstwhile godfather paled and rasped out, "No he's still very much alive, but he's heavy into the Dark Arts and I'm fairly sure he'll be joining the Death Eaters very soon."
Harry ran a hand through his hair, unconsciously trying to smooth it, "Well, that's a pity. It would have made winning much easier."
Sirius' face went red with anger and he snapped out, "How does my brother dying make winning the war easier?"
Harry shrugged, "In my time he joined the Death Eaters right after he graduated. He got in too deep and tried to back out but got killed, at least that's the widely known story. The actual story is that he realized Voldemort was just using his Death Eaters as cannon fodder and sacrificed himself recovering an artifact that was key to defeating Voldemort."
Harry hoped he was vague enough in his mention of Horcruxes but Dumbledore's eyes brightened and narrowed in interest and he asked quickly, "What was this artifact?"
Returning to his chair Harry wagged a finger at Albus, "Now Albus, you've never seen fit to share information with me so why should I share with you? With my knowledge of the future I could defeat Voldemort in a week, probably. However Grindelwald does present a rather large problem. At the moment my current plan is to incapacitate the lot of you, figure out what ritual you used to bring me here, obliviate you, go kill Grindelwald, and then go back to my own time so that if this is a case of time travel I won't have messed with the timeline in any way."
Most of the Order bristled at his threats, although Moody laughed, and Dumbledore smiled congenially, "Surely there's no need for that. I would agree that we have brought you to an alternate dimension so you don't have to worry about destroying the timeline or paradoxes."
Harry snorted, "You're just trying to get me to do your dirty work. Well I already did that Albus. Now, with the ritual you used, is there a way you can send me back?"
Carefully taking note of everyone's facial expressions, Lily frowned imperceptibly as did Remus, both guilty expressions, Harry listened to Dumbledore's answer, "With the ritual we used, at this time we do not know how to send you back."
Harry snorted, "Of course you don't. Still the same old Albus Dumbledore, well, you certainly didn't change. Still willing to sacrifice everyone without telling them the purpose. Tell me, have you hired a new divination teacher yet?"
The innocuous question confused everyone in the Order except Dumbledore and Harry couldn't help but smirk when he noticed the tightening around Albus' eyes on his otherwise impassive face, "I don't know why you believe that has any relevance to the conversation."
Harry's smirk turned predatory, "You and I both know why it's relevant. Have you told them?"
Confusion turned to outright suspicion as the Order watched the back and forth between their illustrious leader and the newcomer that they'd pulled out of time and space to help them, "It was very recent, I was going to inform the pertinent parties after this meeting."
Harry nodded and pondered, 'That would fit. Mother and Alice look like they're going to give birth any day now. Old Sevvy will probably show up in a few months once Voldemort figures out his bit of the prophecy. Damn but that's inconvenient.'
Out loud he said, "Alright then. I want to sit in on that."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the first hint of having leverage over Harry, "I think a show of trust first. Your identity? It really isn't that much to ask since you don't need to worry about the timeline or creating a paradox."
Harry grinned and stood up before bowing at the waist, "Very well. I am Harry James Potter, twenty seven years old. Senior auror in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Defeater of Voldemort and a multitude of other minor Dark Lords. Currently single because I'm a workaholic, although I did have a date with Sue Bones lined up next week."
In the stunned silence following his slightly irreverent introduction he pointed at his father, "James, that baby you put in Lily is going to grow up to be a badass."
