Author's Note: After a long time I decided to get in touch with my long-lost muse again and this is what came out. I hope maintaining writing skill is like knowing how to ride a bike or to swim.
Warnings: There are no real warnings but a bit of violence or foul language (may come up in later chapters). This story is AU! Nevertheless, if there are mayor glitches please let me know. It has been some time since I read the books. Fanfiction tends to confuse some facts – which I could have unconsciously picked up.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my idea. Everything else belongs to J. K. Rowling and some other parties.
Summary: AU. Time-Travel. Harry-centric. Voldemort has won and destroys every bit of magic that is not under his control. That's when a powerless Harry encounters an unlikely ally.
Walking the One-Way Street
Prologue
Wind picked up, creating rustling noise all around him as the trees of the Forbidden Forest rocked back and forward eerily. Spindly branches seemed to reach out to him from the darkness like skeletal fingers and the shadows cast by the moonlight seemed to slowly but steadily creep closer. He panted from exhaustion, his muscles and lungs burning. He was at the end of his rope.
With shaking legs he crouched down in the grass, his small black form vanishing from immediate view. But even though he knew that no eye would be able to spot him, he also knew that his thinning magical signature was all around the area, a trail he could not hide nor clear away. Not to the inner eye of this creature.
And as expected, even drowning out the rustling of the trees, small branches cracked as the predator approached. He ducked even lower despite knowing how useless it was.
"Harry...", a voice hissed. Then suddenly the grass parted and the head of a snake appeared, almost two times bigger than he was, tongue tasting the air and yellow eyes fixing on him. His instincts told him to run for it, but there was no way he could have escaped now.
"Harry...", the snake repeated. The scaly body slithered around him like a wall, encasing him, the head looming over him, ready to strike. But the expected attack never came.
"I want to make a deal."
Surprised his ears perked up. Nagini, familiar of Lord Voldemort and also Horcrux carrying part of his soul, wanted to make a deal with him? He wanted to say something, but in his current body he could not speak Parseltongue. He also wasn't able to transform back into his human body. What would Nagini want with someone like him?
"My Master," the snake hissed quietly. "sent me to bring you back. But, as a matter of fact, he is so drunk with power that his control over me is slipping. Do you know what that could mean?"
The tongue of the snake tasted the air again, head inching closer. "I could easily eat you up right now, little mouse."
Harry's breathing quickened, whiskers quivering. But also anger welled up inside him. He did not escape Voldemort's grip just to be eaten by a snake. But then again... did it matter anymore?
"But, little Harry, even a mere snake has long-term plans, as you might imagine.", Nagini's head lifted a bit. "I am very aware of that piece of magic my master planted into me. And I am aware of the fact that you have one as well. It feels polluting. I am drawn back to nature, but this link to him won't let me."
For a moment, poisonous teeth flashed at the roof of Nagini's mouth as she let out a long, angry hiss. Harry slowly processed the information he was given. Could it be? Could Voldemort get careless? Maybe he had been a bit too sure about Nagini's loyalty to him. But how could this help him? Even if she let him go now... he had lost almost all of his magic to the Dark Lord and everybody else was already dead. There was nothing he could do.
"You and me. We are in the same situation." The snake settled back down, her anger having subsided. "He won't let us go and he also won't just kill us. Not with that piece of him inside of us. But... he will never have considered that we might be able to... use it."
Now confused, but unable to express it, Harry just sat there and waited for her to continue. He cursed that animagus body he was trapped in. Raw instincts still screamed at him to run and run and just run until he collapsed, battling against his human logic that knew better. Nagini seemed to have some kind of insight into magic that he had not. Using the Horcrux? It never had occurred to him that this could be possible. Not in all the years...
"I want us to use his polluted magic to make a bit of a journey.", Nagini hissed. "A journey back in time. I want to be the way I have been before. Free and untainted by his dirty soul. And..." She uncoiled a bit. "I believe he has destroyed a lot that you might want back."
Like a deer caught in headlights, Harry was frozen to the spot, even as Nagini released him further. She looked like she waited for some sign of agreement, but he was unable to sort out the frantic thoughts racing through his head. To go back through time? How? Why? Was it worth it?
He remembered Hermione having used a time-turner in their third year of school to be able to be at two places at the same time. But now he was 25 years old, he couldn't even meet anyone, because no one would recognize him. He would be all alone. Would he be watching himself live a good life, pulling a few strings in the background to ensure a good outcome? But all the others would be alive and if he managed to destroy the Horcruxes in time, they also would be happy. Maybe he even could save his parents. Or even more people. Maybe he could...
A hiss brought his attention back to the present. Nagini looked down on him impatiently. "We don't have much time." She inched closer, now almost touching his nose. His whiskers tickled lightly. "I need you to channel the magic."
Then the touch came, together with a forceful pull somewhere between his eyes. He felt the connection between their Horcruxes through his scar, now two pieces of Voldemort's soul forming into one. As she had requested, he channeled the magic coming from them through his body. He didn't have a wand, but he hadn't used one for a long, long time anyway. Voldemort had destroyed all wands but his own, so it had been using wandless magic or not using magic at all.
The magic felt good, even though it came from such a foul source. He had been without any for about a year now, so it was like a swig of cool water to a person dying of thirst. It felt like blood rushing into a body part that had gone numb. It hurt, but it felt so right.
"Harry, if we ever see each other again, hold in mind that I am a snake.", Nagini hissed, while his sight went dark and his mind was pulled into the stream of magic that depleted the Horcruxes and flowed out of consciousness. "And usually snakes eat mice."
-
Harry woke up to the dull aching of his right arm. He slowly opened his eyes, now all human again after what felt like a lifetime, and tried to make out his surroundings. His mind was still fuzzy. Wherever he was, it was small, dark and smelt of dust. And somehow it felt familiar. He inched closer to the only source of light, a small gap under a door. And realization hit him like a fist. He knew this place.
It was his cupboard. The Cupboard Under the Stairs.
End of Prologue
Author's Note:
Tell me what you think of it. Critique is welcome all the time. I am unfamiliar with the Beta Reader System, but I still would be happy to have a Beta – especially since I am not native. So if you are interested or know someone who actively occupies himself/herself with it, do not hesitate to send me a PM.