AN: This is a new fiction that I'm writing that is heavily influenced by the amazing work of S'TarKan's Nightmares of Future Past. I don't pretend to be as good of an author but I do hope you enjoy it. This story will be mildly AU in the following ways:
- Magical duels will be more interesting and more realistic. This also means that trained wizards experienced in war aren't going to be beat by poorly trained teenagers. (Book 5).
- Horcruxes will exist however there will be some changes that I'll leave as a surprise for now.
- After reading the first chapter it will be obvious the war's outcome was a bit different.
Chapter 1: The Future
William Arthur Weasley looked upon the last hope of the world. The ancient pyramid of Gaza held secrets that could save… everything.
It was a feeble last ditch effort to stop the all powerful Voldemort. But even a shred of hope was better than what Bill had now. He glanced at his two companions. One was an Egyptian witch with olive skin that was chewing her lip in a worried fashion. This pyramid had curses on it that had thwarted the best curse breakers in the world. Her wand was out and Bill couldn't help but notice it tremble slightly.
His second companion was a young American wizard whose eyes were dead. The boy couldn't be older than 16 but joy and merriment were forever gone from his hazel eyes. Too many young wizards and witches had seen too much death. In his weaker moments Bill sometimes thought the untold dead were the lucky ones. Unlike the witch the boy betrayed no signs of nervousness.
The great pyramid had wards that would test Bill like none other. Bill felt every day of his 34 years of life – this task would not be easy. First he would have to separate the pyramid from the rest of magic. The ancient wards were still active partially because they drank in the ambient magic of the world. Oddly enough that would be the easy part. It would tax his reserves but it wouldn't be dangerous.
The air around the pyramid, like most of the rest of the world, was foul and polluted. A legacy of Voldemort's wrath at the muggle interference in his conquest of the magical world. Thankfully Hermione had been able to create a potion that nullified most of the ill effects on the human body. It had been her last substantial gift to the resistance before her horrific death. Bill began the slow walk around the pyramid casting his magic severing ward. The progress was slow due to the pronounced limp in his right leg. A memento of the late Lucius Malfoy. He felt a familiar rise of anger bubble in his chest but Bill hastily pushed that thought away. He would need all of his concentration for this.
Finally the arduous task was done and he had completed his circuit around the pyramid. He motioned his companions forward, the easy part was over.
***BREAK***
Bill groaned as he forced his eyes open. How long had he been out? Bill looked around for his two companions but they were still missing. The last few hours were a haze in his mind as they had been subjected to the tomb guardians as well as fiendishly powerful traps. Had his companions fled or had they pressed on? How did he come to this room? Staggering to his feet he looked around and saw the rune layered sarcophagus. This is what they had been looking for. They had been hunting for over a year chasing fractured legend for the power to slip the bonds of time. The last remaining Weasley nearly sobbed in relief, with this he could change everything.
Using his wand he gently lifted and removed the lid. Underneath the lid was the mummified remains of the ancient wizard king and in his dead hands he clutched a book. Bill hastily checked for any last magical traps or protections. Finding none he touched the book. Dust whipped around him as wind circled the room. Ghosts appeared, one in the regalia of the ancient Egyptian pharos but the rest in garb from different lands and points in time. The lead ghost was a bearded man with robes that were lined in the fur of some animal.
"You have come to alter the paths of fate."
Another ghost spoke, "Does he know the price?"
"Does he know the cost," a third chimed in.
Bill swallowed thickly, "I will pay any price to stop Voldemort. He had brought ruin to all that I know and love. Tell me the price and I will pay it!"
The ghosts looked sadly down at him. The bearded ghost spoke, "Lower your thought shields and I will explain."
He forced away his Occlumency shields. The translucent figure touched his forehead and Bill was elsewhere. He was hovering in a black void looking down at the earth. Bill looked in awe around him. The bearded man no longer had the wispy form of a ghost instead he looked fully human. Standing almost seven feet tall the man held an aura of power that he had only felt when in the presence of Voldemort or Albus Dumbledore.
"To our knowledge six times has someone performed the magic necessary to take them back in time. I was there when it happened the 6th time."
He waved his hands and clouds covered the earth. Bill felt his surroundings change and now he was on the earth in the middle of a snow storm. He did not feel the biting cold but shivered nonetheless.
"Violent storms wracked the world for thousands of years, Atlantis fell and all creatures suffered. Magic even failed for a time. We went from a civilization more magically advanced than in your time to utter desolation. Humanity was nearly wiped out; dozens of magical creatures no longer exist because of the arrogant act of time travel."
The would be time traveler looked around in despair. The last bit of fleeting hope he had felt was now fading. Even if he was successful could he really doom the world to this?
The bearded wizard placed a hand on Weasley's shoulder. "Do not give up hope, it has been thousands of years since the last magic user violated fate. The core has healed somewhat, another act of travel will not result in this."
Bill felt fresh hope surge in him.
"Still we would not have aided you; the risks would be too great. But when you lowered your thought shields we learned of the Dark Lord. Eventually the secrets of time would be his and rather than hope he would use this power responsibly we would assist you."
"Thank you. I must ask why do you think Voldemort would learn the secrets of time?"
His guide stared at him with dark eyes, "Your knowledge shows that he is a brilliant if twisted mind. He would delve into all of the secrets of magic. We have prevented others from learning the secrets of time but his magic would overwhelm our servants."
"Servants?"
For the first time the bearded man's countenance slipped into an amused look.
"Few know of their existence and none but we know of their true purpose." A twinkle appeared in the ancient wizard's eye. "Some minds have learned of their existence and they call them nargles and wrackspurts. They have been used to disrupt research and push thoughts of temporal travel away from those who are close to learning its secrets."
The curse breaker was gob smacked. Luna and her talk of crazy creatures were right? There were really things like nargles and wrackspurts? And their purpose was to disrupt the wizarding world from learning how to travel through time?
Finally he said, "So the nargles disrupt any research into time travel but no one knows that they exist. But what about time turners?"
"Time turners cannot disrupt the flow. It is like a child stomping on the earth. The longer one travels back into time the worse the disruption is. An hour is a coin dropped. Three hours is a child stomping. Three days is a mammoth dropped from the sky. And I sense that even three years would not be sufficient to curtail the Dark Lord."
There were in his mind and they based this on Bill's memories. Bill agreed, three years ago Voldemort may not have reigned completely supreme but he had already conquered magical Europe and was about to crush the last vestiges of the alliance between America and the Asian ministries of magic. At that time 90% of the world's population had already been killed and bands of inferi roamed the earth. Voldemort had already retailed for the nuclear strike the American wizards had coordinated with their muggle counterparts. Voldemort had been slain for a third time but it was only a week before he was back and had completed a magical ritual that Bill still didn't quite understand.
A muggle born wizard had explained that the Dark Lord had created a magical version of something call EMP that covered the globe that completely destroyed technology. Without the machinery they were used to muggles had problems transporting and growing food. Millions had died. Cities rioted and panicked. As if that wasn't bad enough Voldemort's second ritual which raised the dead cinched the downfall of muggle governments everywhere.
The ritual created inferi around the world. Anyone killed by those undead abominations would also rise as an inferi. In less than a month a billion muggles died. The sheer number had made Bill stagger. Most people couldn't fathom that high of a number, conceptually a billion of anything was hard to comprehend in any meaningful way. However Bill was a cruse breaker and had received an O in Arithmancy. He had known what that number meant; he knew the suffering that had been caused was on a scale never previously seen. No three years would not be enough.
Turning away from those agonizing thoughts he spoke in a hoarse whisper, "H-how far can I go back?"
The bearded ghost considered and replied, "Not as far as you would like. 1990 would be as far as safety allows. However before we allow you to do this we require an oath."
He was fine with that but the ghost shook his head.
"It is more than a magical oath or an unbreakable vow this is a soul binding."
That didn't sound promising but he motioned for the shade to continue.
"It will never allow you to willingly or unwillingly break the vow. The binding will make it impossible for the secrets of time travel to be revealed. Even were you to be forced to drink the truth potion the moment you begin to utter anything of your temporal travels you will burn from the inside out and turn to ash. A similar fate awaits if a legilimens breaks through your thought shields. I suggest you do all within your power that this never occurs."
Bill really had no choice. He sensed the shades were not normal ghosts and that they could kill him especially after being so drained from his earlier activities. The bearded ghost smiled grimly; since Bill's Occlumency shields were down they heard all of his thoughts. He looked at the shades and mentally agreed to the terms. The shades gathered around him and the words he needed to speak were thrust in his mind. Magic filled the air.
"On my soul I will never reveal the secret of time travel. On my soul I vow never to attempt this ritual again. On my soul I will face the eradication of my flesh and spirit before I speak, write or involuntarily reveal the potential of time travel. On my soul I bind all that is me to this vow."
The shades nodded and then flood his mind with the ritual needed to rip apart the temporal veil and thrust himself back in time.
***BREAK***
Bill opened his eyes and immediately raced for his wand ready to defend himself. His wiry frame was poised to unleash his most powerful curse. There were no threats however and his head ached terribly. He clutched his head and then all of the memories came flooding back. It had worked! The shades had spoken truthfully he back in his old body at the age of 20. His limp was gone as were the other scars he had suffered in the many battles of the future.
It was 1990, one year before his youngest brother Ron would enter Hogwarts. He closed his eyes, tears silently careening down his cheeks. His family was alive. His mum and dad… his brothers and his sister. They were all alive. It took significant will power not to immediately Apparate to the burrow. He longed to embrace each of them to tell them how much he loved them and missed them. A brief chill tightened in his chest. It was an idle thought but the soul binding had warned him. If he started raving about how much he missed them it might be inferred that he came from the future. Bill had to ponder this, just how much leniency would the soul bind give him? Better to be safe than sorry, he would need regain control of his emotions first.
He would also need to come up with a plan. He couldn't write anything down so he would need to keep things straight in his own memory. He needed to find a way to stop Voldemort. One person that had stood out was Harry Potter. There was a prophecy that only Harry Potter could defeat Voldemort. Sadly it was Harry who had been ripped apart when he challenged Voldemort. He had just not been ready to face such a powerful foe despite his impressive magical core and bravery. Bill wished he had learned more about what occurred during Harry's early years at Hogwarts. However once he started to make changes a ripple effect would occur and that knowledge may not have held true anyway. He did know that Harry was currently being abused by his relatives.
That had to end now.
He paused considering a few things. There were blood wards at the Dursley home; they had been placed there to protect him from any Death Eaters. Harry was behind those wards where he was safe but also ignorant of his magical heritage. He vaguely remembered someone telling him that Dumbledore had done this so that Harry could receive a 'normal' childhood and not become influenced by his celebrity status. Clearly that was a mistake. Harry had been abused and had never had a normal childhood.
No, Harry didn't need a normal childhood he needed to be forged into a weapon. Bill remembered the boy had fantastic reflexes and the capacity to learn. He was brave and had untold depths within his magical core. If he had been given proper training and a chance to develop his magical ability perhaps the world could have been saved. He needed to start training Harry as soon as possible but the question was would Dumbledore allow it?
The eldest Weasley child gave the matter more thought. Finally he came to the conclusion that Dumbledore's perspective was skewed. Bill admired and respected the powerful headmaster but he knew Albus could be difficult to persuade. In some ways the man could be quite arrogant. Yes he had a humble demeanor but when it came to analyzing a situation he trusted no one other than his own intellect. The only way he could convince Dumbledore that his methods would fail would be to reveal that he was from the future and that was impossible.
Bill Weasley couldn't go to Dumbeldore; instead he would take matters into his own hands.
AN: I hope you found this interesting – please leave me a review if you liked it! This will be the third story I've started, I swear the plot bunnies are multiplying.