1. Galacticorb
It was the day before school started. Harry and Ron had had a leisurely breakfast and were planning to play Quidditch. They had already finished most of their packing, and had returned to Ron's bedroom to get ready. Harry had spent most of the summer holidays at the Weasleys', and, for once, had thoroughly enjoyed them. He and Ron were just about to head downstairs again when there was a sharp rapping on the window. It was Hedwig, Harry's owl. She was carrying a large parcel.
Harry opened the window and took the parcel. "Thanks, Hedwig," he said.
Ron looked over. "Present from Sirius?" he asked grinning.
"There's no note with it." Harry said, beginning to unwrap the brown paper. "Its quite heavy," he commented.
Ron moved a little closer as a golden orb fell out of the packaging onto Harry's bed. Harry reached out to pick it up. Ron pushed his hand away.
"Are you mad?" he nearly shouted. "Anyone could have sent that. What if it's from You-Know-Who and has a deadly curse on it?"
The two boys backed away from the orb and watched it suspiciously. Golden light was radiating out from it, and it seemed to be glowing more and more brightly. Just then Ron noticed a bit of white paper amongst the brown. In his hurry Harry had not noticed it. Ron pointed at it eagerly.
"Look Harry! There is a note!" he exclaimed.
Harry pulled it out and unfolded it. Ron leaned over his shoulder and read it with him.
Dear Harry and Ron
The past is unalterable, the future undecided. Use this orb to save their future. Avert the mistakes of our past.
Good Luck Harry, baffled, looked at Ron. "Do we travel back in time with it?" he wondered. "But of course we wouldn't - 'The past is unalterable.' What do we do?"
Ron's eyes were fixed on the orb. "It could be a trick." He said. "Anyway, I'm not touching that."
"If we could avoid past tragedies, that, well, it would be a really good thing." Harry thought of his parents. "Its seems genuine enough. If it were a trick it'd say something like - 'Touch this to make more money than you could dream of.' I think we should risk it."
"If it said that it really would be worth the risk" Ron muttered. But he, like Harry, was curious to see what the orb would do.
Harry picked up the orb. It glowed brighter than ever but still nothing happened. "You touch it too," Harry moved it towards Ron. Ron, relieved that it did not seem to have harmed Harry, reached out.
The moment he touched the orb, it emitted a blinding flash. A roaring filled their ears. They had a strange feeling of weightlessness, and then . . . BANG!!!
2. The founders
They were thrown violently onto a cold stone floor. Breathless, dizzy and nauseous they lay stunned for a few minutes. The orb had vanished. Eventually Harry stumbled to his feet and looked around at where they had landed.
Ron got up rather weakly. "Where are we?" he groaned, looking around. Neither he nor Harry were able to identify their surroundings.
They had landed in a large room with rough stone floors and walls. It was furnished with elaborately carved ebony chairs, and a large desk. The dim lights hanging down from the ceiling cast an eerie greenish glow around the room. On the mantle-piece a number of cups and trophies glowed silver, while the fire beneath crackled and spat out green sparks. The room appeared to be deserted.
Harry moved towards the desk. They had to figure out where they were, and preferably before the occupant of the room returned. Harry began thumbing through the papers on the desk. "Hogwarts," he muttered. "Ron! Look at this!"
Ron reluctantly took the paper. "Harry I really think we should get out of here. This room is kind of creepy. What if its owner shows up and catches us going through his papers?"
Harry ignored him. "Look!" he said again. "This is a plan of Hogwarts. The entire castle."
"So we've been transported into Hogwarts."
"Look at the room labels" Harry insisted.
"Potions room, that's in the wrong place, that's the Charms classroom . . . Hufflepuff's office . . . - what?"
"There are offices for all the founders." Harry said. "Look! Ravenclaw's, Gryffindor's, and, er, Slytherin's."
"So someone set the school up to look like it was when it was first founded. Could be fun."
Harry passed him another bit of parchment. "This is a list of all the subjects taught and their subject teachers. Hufflepuff, - Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Herbology; Gryffindor, - Philosophy and Transfiguration; Ravenclaw, - Arithmancy . . . "
"What's Slytherin teaching?" Ron interrupted impatiently.
"Slytherin, - Duelling and Potions. That's great!" He said sarcastically as he handed the list to Ron, and picked up the next piece of parchment. "Look, a list of pupils who'll be attending the school."
"Going a bit far isn't it?" Ron remarked.
Harry was reading down the list. "We know all these people. Slytherin - Aries, Crabbe, Malfoy."
Ron snatched the list from him. "Where's Gryffindor, ah yes, Gryffindor - Longbottom, Potter, Weasley. We'll be taught here?"
Harry looked at him. "Could it be real? We could actually be taught by, by the founders." Harry picked up the plan of Hogwarts. "The completion of the castle is dated for last year! How . . ?" He took the mysterious note out of his pocket and read through it again. 'Use this orb to save their future' - their future. "Have we been transported to a different world, a world where the founders were alive now?" It sounded almost too far-fetched for him to keep going.
Ron nudged him suddenly. "The desk!" he hissed, pointing at the top right-hand corner. "There's a snake engraved in the wood. Well that solves the problem of whose office we're in."
Harry ran his hand over the engraving. It began to glow green. Ron let out a yell, but before he could pull Harry's hand away there was a loud hissing behind them. The two boys jumped and whirled around. Facing them, almost at eye level with them, was a huge black serpent. Ron yelled again, and backed away. The serpent made a lunge at him.
"No!" Harry yelled. "Keep away from us."
"I only obey my master." The serpent hissed. "Don't move and you won't be hurt."
"Your master?" Harry queried.
"Salazar Slytherin," the serpent replied. "I guard his office."
"You don't do a very good job of it." Harry remarked. "You only realised we were here after we yelled loud enough to wake you up." The snake made a threatening movement. "But if we just leave now," Harry continued hastily. "Your master need never know we caught you sleeping on the job."
The snake paused for a moment. "If you leave now," she hissed slowly.
"Yes," Harry said. "So, er, we'll just be going."
"Harry" said Ron urgently in a low voice.
"Sshh" Harry muttered. "It's alright. We can leave now."
"No, Harry, we can't." Ron gasped in a strangled voice.
Harry turned towards the door and gasped. A tall man with black hair and flashing green eyes stood framed in the entrance. He was young - probably in his early twenties, and was wearing an ankle-length black cloak with silver fastenings, a pointed black wizard's hat, and black boots with inch-high silver platforms. Harry noticed that the look of astonishment on his face, caused by their unexpected presence, was rapidly being replaced by one of fury.
The snake, noticing its master, glided over the floor towards him, and twined itself around his body. "Intruders, master," she hissed. "I held them off until you came. They were too scared to move a muscle."
"Liar" Slytherin said, seeming amused. "Go into the corner!" he added more severely.
The snake glided off him and curled up beside the fire, keeping one eye fixed on Harry. Slytherin's wand appeared in his hand. He pointed it at the two boys, and stared hard at them. His eyes were as unblinking as his snake's.
"What are you doing in my office? You, boy, answer!" he gestured with his wand at Harry. His voice was surprisingly soft.
Harry looked at him, scared of the unseen power of the wizard in front of him.
Ron found his voice. "Slytherin?" he muttered faintly.
"Professor Slytherin." Slytherin snapped back. "As you evidently don't know any manners I can soon teach you some." He pointed his wand at Ron and a green spark shot out of the end. Ron yelped and clutched his hand. Pain was shooting down it like flames.
Harry stepped in front of him. "Stop it!" he found himself shouting. "I'll explain," he added.
Slytherin gave his wand a slight flick, and Ron slowly let go of his hand. He watched Slytherin in horror. Slytherin pointed his wand at Harry again. "What are your names?"
"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, sir," Harry took a chance.
"Harry Potter?" Slytherin said thoughtfully, still staring hard at him. "Ah, Gryffindor's students, . . . what a surprise," he sneered sarcastically. "You were supposed to wait for Professor Gryffindor in the hall after you'd been transported into Hogwarts. How dare you go prying around my office?" He strode over to his desk. "Did you touch anything?" He began leafing through the papers.
Harry watched him nervously. He had tried to replace the papers as he had found them. But -
"You went through my papers?" Slytherin shouted raising his wand again. "How dare you. What did you -?"
"Salazar! Here you are! I've been looking all over the school for you. Draco Malfoy's just arrived in the Great Hall. Are these two, students?"
"Unfortunately they are. Fortunately they're yours."
"What are your names?" Gryffindor asked the two boys, sharply.
"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, sir," Harry said, for the second time.
Gryffindor seemed to start slightly as Harry gave his name, but recovered immediately. "At school ten minutes and already in trouble?" Gryffindor glanced at Slytherin. "What have they done?"
"I caught them snooping around my office, going through my papers, Godric."
Gryffindor looked at them sternly. "Harry, Ronald, what have you got to say for yourselves?"
"We, we got transported straight into Professor Slytherin's office, sir. We didn't want to stay here, and would have left, only we didn't know where we were." Harry stammered, hoping Gryffindor would accept this.
Gryffindor looked at them hard. "You came down together then? You might not have spoken clearly enough. It often happens with Floo Powder." He turned to Harry. "And I don't imagine you've used it very often. It's a good thing your luggage arrived safely yesterday."
Harry, surprised, glanced at Ron. "And, sir" he said, "we didn't want to go through Professor Slytherin's papers, but we noticed a map of the school on top of them, and were trying to figure out how to get to the Great Hall."
"Alright. I would say good initiative if it hadn't involved looking through someone's papers. Come to my office now. Neville's already arrived. Are you alright with that Salazar?"
Slytherin gave the two boys a final stare. He didn't seem convinced with Harry's story. "Yes, go," he agreed eventually, "but if I ever catch you two sneaking around my office again, I'll make sure you are punished most severely."
Gryffindor looked at them expectantly.
"Er, sorry, Professor Slytherin," Harry and Ron muttered, and quickly followed Gryffindor out of the office. He led them down passageways, which looked oddly familiar until they reached his office. They walked in and Gryffindor closed the door behind him.
Harry and Ron stared at him in awed admiration. He was a tall man, as tall as Slytherin, but not as thin. He also looked roughly the same age. He had chestnut-colored hair and brilliant penetrating blue eyes. Harry felt rather nervous of him, but it was not the same kind of fear he had felt when facing Slytherin. He felt afraid of letting Gryffindor down, of lying to him, or being cowardly - afraid of not being worthy of his house.
Harry looked around his office. It would have been hard to imagine a greater contrast to Slytherin's. The room was very well lit with bright lights, and sunshine streamed through the open windows. The desk and chairs were made of polished oak, and all other furnishings were in reds or golds.
Gryffindor closed the windows and drew up two chairs. "Sit down" he said. "I would advise you not to aggravate Professor Slytherin. I won't come to your rescue again." Harry and Ron nodded. "I'll go and get Neville. Wait here. I hardly need add - don't touch anything." He left.
Ron looked at Harry. "This is amazing!" he said quietly. "Meeting Godric Gryffindor. He's amazing."
"Why do you think we've been sent here?" Harry asked thoughtfully. "The note said to 'avert the mistakes of our past', which mistakes? I mean, I imagine we've been sent here because we know exactly what those mistakes were."
Ron grinned, "Yes" he said. "And I suppose Dumbledore sent us here. I could see him writing a note like that. Trust him not to tell us what we're supposed to do. Honestly anyone else would have told us up front and we'd know exactly what to expect."
"I don't imagine anyone other than Dumbledore could do a spell like that." Harry reminded him. "We're probably in a different universe, somewhere with strange parallels with our world. The founders born thousands of years later, you know there couldn't be a Voldemort."
"Well he's definitely a mistake of our world" Ron said flinching at the sound of the name, even though Voldemort was universes away, quite literally.
"You're right!" Harry said excitedly. "A world where Gryffindor is united with Slytherin, all forms of wizardry combined, no Dark Wizards. That's it Ron. We have to stop Gryffindor and Slytherin splitting the wizarding world in two! We have to stop them quarrelling over Hogwarts students."
Ron gaped at him. "Or maybe we could alter the outcome," he said slowly. "In our world Slytherin just disappeared, on this world if we warn Gryffindor, and he totally thrashes Slytherin it might crush all opposition. I mean, we know Slytherin was definitely in the wrong about muggleborns, and all the wizards who ever went bad came from his house."
"We can't tell Gryffindor. We'd have to explain about coming from another universe and everything, and do you really think anyone would believe us? Anyway even if Gryffindor did believe us, he'd never attack Slytherin unprovoked. Slytherin might find out what we'd said, and decide to get rid of Gryffindor while he could. We could end up altering the outcome for the worse! It would be better if we could keep Gryffindor and Slytherin on the same side."
Ron did not look convinced, but said nothing. There were other reasons Harry had for not wanting to warn Gryffindor. He felt a strange liking for Slytherin which he did not quite understand, and did not want to. He pushed such thoughts away as quick footsteps echoed down the hall.
The next minute Gryffindor and Neville walked into the room. Harry stifled a gasp. Neville really was Neville.
"Hello" he said eyeing them nervously on entering the room.
"Hi Neville, I'm Harry and he's Ron." They shook hands. A feat Neville just managed without knocking over his chair. He sat down more nervously than ever, and clutched at a (yes, it was) a toad.
"Oh, he's Trevor" Neville stuttered, noticing Ron's stare.
"Good" said Gryffindor. "I'm glad you met before we go down to the Great Hall. You three will all be under my particular supervision, and though you must show respect to all your teachers, there are certain qualities which I particularly admire."
"Courage" Ron burst in. "Bravery."
Godric smiled at his enthusiasm. "You're quite right," he said. "Bravery I value above almost all else. Bravery extends to honesty," he added. "If you do something wrong for your sake tell me at once. I can't stand cowardice, or weak excuses." He stopped himself going further. "I'm sure I'll be very proud of all of you." He looked around, smiling at his students. Neville looked still more nervous, and Harry and Ron determined, and it was only their first day. "I'll take you to the hall now," he said.
As they filed into the hall, Harry and Ron looked around excitedly. The other three founders and their students were already seated around the table, which was positioned at one end of the huge room, and they were eating. As Neville entered the hall he gasped and gazed at the ceiling in amazement.
"Helga, er, Professor Hufflepuff, enchanted it to look like the sky," Gryffindor explained.
Harry and Ron quickly looked up and pretended to be astonished too, but they were more interested in seeing Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and finding out if the other students looked as familiar as Neville.
Gryffindor went to sit between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, leaving his students to take the three remaining seats. Harry could not help staring at Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Helga Hufflepuff was a lot older than the other three founders, and had a very kind face. On noticing Harry's stare she smiled kindly at him and Harry had the strong impression he could trust her with anything. He smiled back at her rather shyly and watched her help Gryffindor to more peas in a very motherly fashion. Harry then turned to look at Ravenclaw. She was young, beautiful and vivacious, and had dazzling black hair and eyes, very white skin, and bright red lips. Slytherin, who was sitting next to her, seemed to be teasing her, and both were laughing. Harry watched as Slytherin leaned closer towards her and whispered something to her. She pushed him away and tried to frown disapprovingly, but her eyes were dancing with merriment and she blushed, making her appear even prettier. Slytherin tried to whisper something else to her but she very determinedly interrupted him with -
"I hope you've prepared your lesson very thoroughly for tomorrow. Potions is the first lesson."
3. The students
"What are your names?"
Harry started and turned to see who had spoken. He found himself staring straight into Draco Malfoy's cold grey eyes.
"I'm Neville Longbottom." Neville stuttered nervously.
"Oh, Longbottom, my father told me about you, apparently your family were convinced that you were a squib. I'm . . ."
"Well he's obviously good enough at magic to get into Hogwarts." Ron snapped backed instinctively.
Malfoy coldly and disdainfully glanced at him. "You must be a Weasley. Father's told me all about your family too. How you can't afford anything. I bet you're glad you can at least eat here."
"Well at least my father's not . . ." Ron began furiously. Harry gave him a warning nudge, and Ron hastily bit his tongue. "Damn," he muttered, "I had at least hoped I'd be rich in this world."
"You mentioned my father?" Malfoy began again. "He's . . ."
"No-one cares," Ron interrupted him abruptly. Malfoy was just as annoying on this world as he had been on the last.
"Yeah," put in Hannah Abbott, a young witch under Helga's supervision. "You've already bored us about your perfect family, no-one's interested."
"Don't interrupt mudblood. Don't you know your place? No mudblood can ever be respected in the wizarding world. My family's pure-blood for generations."
Gryffindor, who had overheard the last part of this conversation, glanced at Malfoy. "In this school," he said sternly, "No distinction will be made between the treatment of muggleborn wizards and pure-bloods, and I don't ever want to hear the word 'mudblood' again. Is that clear?"
"No" said Slytherin quickly, "Its right for Draco to question the amount we should trust those from non-wizarding families. They're not used to our customs and ways, and until they learn - "
"They will learn quickly enough, Slytherin, and while they do they will be treated like any other wizard."
There was an awkward pause. Harry and Ron exchanged nervous glances.
"You'd better all go to bed now, dears." Helga said gently, breaking the silence. "I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." The students silently and worriedly followed her out of the room. She led them to a portrait of an elderly-looking professor who was wearing glasses.
"Hello, m'dear," it said on seeing her. "You're looking as young and beautiful as ever." It winked at her.
"Thank you, Professor," Helga said, smiling, but more from amusement than from the flattery. "Through this portrait leads to my house. As there are so few of you it didn't seem worthwhile splitting you into houses, so all of you will be staying here. The password to open the portrait-hole is 'Professor Bumpkin'." As she spoke these words the portrait swung open revealing a spacious, brightly-coloured room. She led the students through the room to two doors on the far end. This door leads to the boys' dormitories, and this to girls'. You will not be allowed into each other's. You'll find your luggage upstairs. Sleep well. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Helga," her students said. While most of the others called her 'Professor Hufflepuff.'
She smiled at them. "Call me 'Helga'," she said gently. "Goodnight." She left the room.
"Fool!" Malfoy sneered. "I heard she could hardly do any magic at all, and most of her students are mudbloods."
Ron made a lunge for him, but Harry grabbed his arm. "If you say that again, Malfoy, I'll tell Gryffindor first thing tomorrow morning," he said, trying to stare Malfoy down.
Crabbe rubbed his knuckles threateningly by Malfoy's side.
"Tell on me?" Malfoy sneered. "I'm not sure Professor Muggle-Lover would like that much."
"Gryffindor would think the courageous thing to do would be to stand up to bullies like you." Harry said crossly, but slightly uncertainly.
"Then Slytherin might have to have another little word with him. At least he's got the right idea about how to treat mud-, er, them."
Malfoy and Crabbe disappeared into the boys' dormitories, and Arabella Aries, the other Slytherin, after staring at Harry for a minute, headed for the girls'.
The other students hung around. The muggleborns were looking particularly uncomfortable. Hannah Abbott, seeming on the verge of tears, grabbed hold of Ron.
"Thank you for sticking up for us," she said, and then began to cry. "I feel really out of place here, Helga said it didn't matter what family I came from, but I don't know heaps of stuff about wizards and magic and things. You were so brave, Ron, standing up to Malfoy and that other brute."
Ron, looking awkward and pleased at the same time, patted her arm. "We know it makes no difference if a wizard's muggleborn or pure-blood. You'll soon learn all about our world, don't worry."
The others from wizarding families joined in too.
"That's right. They're just a bunch of jerks from Slytherin. Just ignore them."
Hannah stopped crying and smiled at Ron. "Thanks," she said. "I do feel much better now."
"Maybe we should go to bed now," Harry suggested. "Not that I want to interrupt anything." Ron went rather red and disentangled himself from Hannah.
"See you tomorrow," he called after her, as they went up to their dormitories. Harry and Ron chose two rooms next to each other, which were near the door, and dragged their luggage in.
"How did it get here?" Ron mused. "This is all my stuff."
"I've even got my invisibility cloak." Harry said, pleased. "And the Marauder's Map. Hang on its changed."
"Cool!" Ron looked at it. "The founders are still in the Great Hall."
"Probably trying to decide how they should treat muggleborns. Gryffindor and Slytherin can't just disagree like that in front of everyone."
"It wasn't the best start to the term." Ron agreed. "I don't know how we're going to stop them arguing about it."
"Let's worry about it tomorrow. I'm really tired."
"OK, 'night!" Ron went into his room.
But Harry didn't go straight to sleep. It had suddenly occurred to him that he might get a chance to see his parents.
When he finally did get to sleep, he woke up half way through the night, sweat making his sheets stick to him. A slight memory of the dream lingered, Slytherin's face seemed to flash before him, but his look was cold and proud, his eyes were red, and his face chalk-white. The look stayed with Harry. It was not a look he had seen Slytherin give that evening. The look identified the man as being the one who'd killed his parents.
Harry fell asleep again almost immediately. When he woke up the next morning, although he had no memory of the dream, he was convinced that, as on the last world, his parents were both dead.
To be continued . . . Please please review.