The-Boy-From-The-Future
Disclaimer: We do not and never will own Harry Potter or other associated characters and ideas.
Summary: Harry has started his Sixth Year at Hogwarts, but is trying to forget everything that happened in the previous year through continuous work. He's still expected to defeat Voldemort, while studying for his NEWTs and as a result, has morphed into a workaholic, particularly when it comes to Potions.
But life at Hogwarts is turned upside down when a boy with messy, jet-black hair pops up unannounced in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room, wearing a Slytherin crest.
A/N: The Fantastic Four has been reduced to the Despondent Duo due to escalating schoolwork. An earlier work of ours has been almost entirely ignored, which made us feel rather rejected. However, hopefully this story will take off better, so read on and let us know what you think.
Prologue
James Potter frowned. Sighing heavily, he ran his hand through his untidy black hair and sucked on the end of the quill again. The calculations made no sense at all. After peering blearily at the Arithmancy textbook propped up against a pile of Transfiguration books, he scribbled out the last four lines of calculations and started again. Now, if he just adjusted that equation there and maybe –
"James, it's almost two in the morning, what in Merlin are you doing?"
James looked up from his work, frowning at the interruption. However, his frown disappeared and he chuckled when he saw his best friend, Alex Dee, standing at the bottom of the stairs with a look of absolute horror on his face.
"Well, you're up, aren't you?"
"Only because bloody Caxton woke the whole dorm up with his screaming when Bebb's cat clawed him in the face. Then we noticed you weren't there. You haven't been working on that since we left you, have you?"
James laughed, then yawned. "Actually I have. It doesn't make any sense. I think I'm doing something wrong at the beginning, but I can't seem to work out what."
Alex's answer was a questioning arch of his right eyebrow.
"Oh alright, I'll come up. I don't suppose there's any point in me trying to get it right now when I didn't get it right three hours ago. That is what you want to say, isn't it?" James said in reply, with a knowing smirk.
Alex merely huffed and disappeared up the stairs.
Still seated at the parchment-strewn table, James shook his head and reached for his quill to put it away. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a rather awkward equation that did not, under any circumstances, balance out the opposing one. That's it! he thought to himself as he snatched his quill, but instead of putting it away, began to scribble out what seemed like a complicated and indecipherable mass of numbers and strange symbols.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry Potter frowned. Sighing heavily, he ran his hand through his untidy black hair and sucked on the end of the quill again. How on earth could Snape expect him to write an essay explaining how Moonstone could be substituted by Gillyweed in a potion? The two had absolutely nothing in common with each other. And that was on top of the essay on how the properties of the ingredients of the Draught of Living Death corresponded with those of the Draught of Peace that everyone else had been set.
Sighing heavily, he turned another page of the thick book to his left. Properties of Gillyweed,proclaimed the small, loopy script at the bottom of the page. Aha! he thought when he spotted the neat table that summarised not only Gillyweed's physical properties but also its magical properties. Now, all he needed was Moonstone's equivalent –
"Harry, it's nearly two in the morning, what in Merlin are you doing?"
Harry looked up from his work, frowning at the interruption. However, his frown disappeared and he chuckled when he saw his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, standing at the portrait hole, which had just swung shut behind them.
Ron had a look of absolute horror on his face while Hermione's seemed to be fighting a battle between disbelief and approval.
"Well, you're up, aren't you?"
"We were doing our rounds and they would have ended about three hours ago, only bloody Filch insisted that a pair of Fifth Years had hexed Mrs Norris. Honestly, what do you think they were doing on the top of the Astronomy Tower at this time of the night? I can guarantee it had nothing to do with his ruddy cat," explained Ron, emphasising his words with rather violent gestures.
"Harry, you haven't been working on that since we left, have you?" asked Hermione.
Harry laughed, then yawned. "Actually I have. Snape will throw me out of Potions otherwise, and I need a NEWT in Potions to get onto the Auror training course."
"Oh Harry, get some sleep. I'll help you with that tomorrow," said Hermione, which of course caused Ron's mouth to drop open. His girlfriend looked at him and he quickly closed his mouth with a loud 'click'.
Harry smiled gratefully. "Oh alright, I'll go up. I don't suppose there's any point in me trying to do it now when I couldn't four hours ago."
Hermione smiled at Harry approvingly before giving Ron a peck on the cheek. Then, she disappeared up the stairs that lead to the girls' dormitories. Ron watched her as she walked up before turning to Harry with a questioning look on his face.
"I'll be coming, Ron. Just give me a chance to clear this mess up," said Harry, waving a hand at the parchment-strewn table.
Ron nodded once before he too left the Gryffindor Common Room.
Still seated at the messy table, Harry shook his head and reached for his quill to put it away. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the word 'Moonstone' amongst the mass of parchment and books. Sifting through the pile, he soon found an entire chapter that detailed the two rather rare and, to be frank, odd occasions when Moonstone could be substituted by Gillyweed in a Potion.
Grinning, Harry reached over for a new roll of parchment.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The next day, James walked into the Great Hall half-asleep and irritable, not to mention twenty minutes later than usual. Most students had already finished eating and left for their lessons.
Sitting down at his empty House table, James put his book-bag down and made a half-hearted attempt at a bit of toast, before giving up and settling for a large goblet of pumpkin juice.
Suddenly, he felt a hard thump on his back, pitching him forward and causing him to choke on the juice.
Irritated, he turned around, only to see a pair of First Years running to the doors; Hufflepuffs, he thought, vaguely recognising a flash of straw-coloured hair tightly plaited into pig-tails and secured by bright pink ribbons. Turning back to his plate, he noted with disgust that the toast was drenched in pumpkin juice. Sighing under his breath, James gulped down the rest of the juice while idly wondering where his friends were.
Oh, good point. It's Monday, so they have to get up to the Divination Tower. He smirked inwardly. Am I glad I didn't take Divination. Ugh.
Picking his bag up, James made his way to Arithmancy.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Oh why did I decide to make it a life-long goal to become an Auror? Why? grumbled Harry to himself as he absently stirred his potion.
Already exhausted from the previous night, the fumes that his potion was emitting weren't exactly conducive to making a flawless potion in Snape's NEWT-level class.
Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…sixteen. Now counter-clockwise…one…
Harry checked the instructions again. Something was wrong. The potion should not be producing any fumes until the seventh step; and Harry was only on the fifth. He frowned, reading through the instructions again. Then, he suddenly noticed that he'd forgotten to add the crushed beetle.
Oops.
"POTTER! Why do you have fumes? And brown fumes at that? Any fumes produced by this potion are blue; a deep, royal blue."
Snape had spotted Harry's very obvious error and soon was commenting not only on the quality of this potion, but also every other potion he had ever brewed, not to mention the state of his work-surface and equipment.
Harry sighed. It's going to be a long morning.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
After a long and extremely tiring day, James collapsed onto his bed, throwing his book-bag down at the foot and falling face-first into the green pillows. He was prepared to fall asleep at that very moment, but then suddenly realised that he it was his turn to get hold of certain ingredients for several experiments. WHY? Have some mercy! he screamed silently.
With a loud huff, James picked himself off the bed, straightening his robes and running a hand through his hair. Before he left the room, he made his way to his trunk. Tapping it in an odd figure-of-eight pattern caused the heavy lid to spring open. James extracted what appeared to be an ancient piece of blank parchment and a box of Chocolate Frogs.
Making his way through the Common Room, he noticed that quite a few people were still up. James stepped quietly into the room. He noticed Teddy Bebb and Amadeus Caxton, the other two boys he shared a dorm with, by the fireplace, playing a rather one-sided game of chess. James winced at the sight of Teddy's crushed pieces stacked up on Amadeus' side. Deciding against interrupting their game, James moved on towards the exit; he opened it just as he heard a muffled crunching and Teddy swearing under his breath.
Why on earth did Alex have to let loose a pack of Dungbombs outside the Charms classroom? Now I have to go exploring by myself.
James paused outside the door, before he muttered quickly, tapping the blank parchment with his wand. Once the black lines finished writhing across the page, James was left with a map, no, The Map of Hogwarts. He smirked slightly when he saw Alex Dee in the Great Hall, next to Argus Filch and Mrs Norris.
I should feel sorry, but…
Shrugging off the guilty feeling, James scanned the rest of the sheet, idly pausing at particular names and making note of their positions. Once he was satisfied, he pulled out a piece of shimmering, folded cloth from a pocket, replacing it with the small box of Chocolate Frogs.
James disappeared from sight after he flung the Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders. Quietly, he made his way through the dungeons, avoiding the corridor where his best friend was serving detention with the ancient caretaker, Mr Filch, and his equally aged cat.
Pausing outside the room where he had his Potions lessons, James checked the Map again for any sign of the Potions Professor. He grinned when he saw that the man was up in the Headmistress's office along with the other Heads of House.
James tried the door, but unsurprisingly, it was locked.
"Alohomora," he said, but the door did not budge, just as he'd expected. After spending an additional five minutes trying charm after charm, James put his wand away, and brought out a Muggle paper-clip.
With a few deft motions, the lock clicked open. James smirked, mentally sending a thank you to Fred and George Weasley for teaching him the technique, among others. Quietly, he stepped into the room, heading straight for the Professor's personal store-cupboard. As James threaded his way through the desks, he paused every few moments in order to check the map.
Still with the Headmistress; couldn't be more perfect.
Once he reached the store-cupboard, he pulled out his wand, but almost immediately noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
Well, now, that wasn't so hard, was it?
Don't get too cocky, though.
James shook his head and ignored the opposing voices. Glancing at the map, he noted that all the Heads of Houses were safely in the other end of the castle, before he carefully reached out and pushed open the door.
He was greeted by jar upon jar of some of the more dangerous and rare ingredients used in Potions. Although transfixed, he quickly calmed himself and proceeded to methodically 'borrow' several items that were difficult for students to legally procure.
Doxy eggs, concentrated wormwood oil, boomslang skin, Somnolens Essence and…aha, ashwinder eggs!
Good Merlin, I can't believe McGonagall lets him keep this lot here. Mix a couple of these together, and you've got the potential to level Hogsmeade.
James carefully packed each ingredient in specially prepared containers, which he then shrunk a tap of his wand. After making sure that the store-cupboard was in the same condition it was in when he first arrived, James crept out of the Potions classroom and made his way back to his dormitory, avoiding teachers and prefects with the aid of the very useful map.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry groaned. He was sitting with Ron and Hermione in the Gryffindor Common Room; Hermione was doing her Potions homework but Ron was doodling idly on a piece of scrap parchment. Harry himself had taken over a corner of the long table and was once again buried behind stacks of parchment and Potions texts.
It was getting late when Hermione and Ron moved themselves to Harry's side. Harry didn't notice them, so preoccupied was he with the essay he was writing.
"Ok mate. This is the point where I'm actually scared. You've never shown this much interest in Potions before, why now?"
Harry looked up with a start, as he hadn't noticed Ron and Hermione moving over.
"Sorry?" he said, his concentration still partially on the heavy book in front of him.
Hermione looked at Ron worriedly. "Harry, just stop reading for a second, will you?"
Harry stuck a bit of scrap parchment in between the pages before he closed the book. "Yes?" he said, finally fully focused on his two best friends.
Ron glanced over at Hermione on Harry's other side, and after she nodded slightly, took a deep breath.
"Well, you see, it's just that you keep working. That's not normal for you, especially since most of the work you're doing is Potions. It's just, well, scary, Harry."
"Exactly Harry," continued Hermione. "Don't get us wrong, we're just worried that this sudden enthusiasm for work has to do with Si-Snuffle's death. And maybe you need to talk about it, but we haven't really been around for you."
Harry sat, rather quietly, thinking for a moment. He wasn't exactly sure what to say. To him, it had been rather obvious that he'd been doing all this work so he could do well in his NEWTs and become an Auror, in addition to the fact that he'd not wanted to think about fighting Voldemort, but rather try to find something else to occupy his attention.
Now he wondered if all the hard work had also been a way to distract himself from Sirius' death. He was just about to open his mouth and verbalise these thoughts when a bright flash of light near the Portrait Hole blinded him for a moment, and causing a group of Third Years sitting next to it to scream and leap away, shielding their eyes.
Harry, Hermione and Ron immediately leapt up, wands in their hands and the earlier conversation momentarily forgotten. Their actions were duplicated by several older students who sat around the room.
There was a moment's pause before everyone's eyesight was fully restored from the effects of the blinding flash. At that moment, a tall boy who was previously sprawled on the floor, scrambled up with his wand held out in front of him. When he did so, there was a sharp intake of breaths throughout the Common Room, for the boy looked exactly like Harry!
Very cliche chapter break there, yeah, yeah...just couldn't help it ;)
