A/N: I do not own Harry Potter
Hi guys - this has been completely re-wrote, the same idea, but very different. I am also doing smaller chapters to take the pressure off me on at least one story!
Chapter One - The Time Turner
Voldemort was finally gone. Harry should have been elated; his entire life had been shadowed by the man - he wasn't. So many of the people he cared about were gone too; Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, His parents. Even Snape - a man he had once detested, could have wished death upon; he now would do anything to bring him back. Harry had so much respect for the dark potions master now. He had been an enigma; Harry just hadn't realised it; the man played his part that well.
They, the golden trio, stood in front of Albus Dumbledore's desecrated tomb. The only Headmaster ever to be buried at Hogwarts. The thick broken slabs revealed the aged care-worn face, not at peace even in death. The secrets the man had taken to the grave, the mission that he had died for, still seemed to weigh heavy on his shoulders. Harry simply placed the Eldar Wand in his blackened frail hand. No one said anything, what could you say. Harry would much rather speak to the portrait, part of Dumbledore that no one would be able to extinguish was still there to watch over Hogwarts.
"I thought I would feel better," Harry stated lamely after some time. He felt like Albus; there was no weight lifted from him, he had already felt watchful eyes, what would he do? Harry had the unrealistic expectation of repairing the wizarding world placed on his shoulders at the tender age of seventeen. He hadn't even completed his final year at Hogwarts. What he wouldn't give to rewind.
"How can we feel better?" Hermione asked. "I just walked past Tonks..." her voice caught as she spoke.
"Let's face it, it's just a less crap world now," Ron added bluntly. "a dark, depressing world, and some prejudiced ass-hole is likely to try again."
"There will always be another," Harry mused, seemingly to himself, "Will we be looked to every single time?"
"You will Harry," Ron answered, "You will always be the Boy Who Lived. There's no undoing it."
"I'd give every piece of gold in my vault for that," Harry mumbled.
"Kingsley wanted us to meet him at the Ministry, Harry," Hermione said, "I know it's the last place you want to be, but there are changes to be made, Death Eaters to be rounded up."
Harry sighed, turning from the bright white tomb and walked silently in the direction of Hogsmeade. He didn't have to check; he knew they would follow him. Ron and Hermione always supported him. No matter what they were still there. All Harry could think of was all that they had lost and all that he wanted back. The long walk outside of Hogwarts was filled with memories of the fallen. Flashes of memories, remembrances of the brilliant and brave deeds that had only ended in death. Most of all he thought about his parents - mainly his mother, thinking of his dad hurt now. The memories of Snape's life were fresh in his mind, and he had to accept what his father had done to the man, he also had to admit what Snape had done. The good and the bad. But now everything was uncertain, how much of what he had attributed to Snape had been the evil that he had hated.
They apparated as soon as they were outside of the Hogwarts grounds. Then walking steadily towards the ministry, inside the ministry. They made their way down familiar paths; the door to the department of mysteries. Harry knew what was there. Maybe there was a way to get something back, anything. Without thinking he made the decision and burst through the door.
"Harry, you're going the wrong way," Ron called.
"Ron! He's not lost." Hermione cried pointing to the familiar door.
Harry wanted something back - to save at least one life! Severus Snape had been the last straw and seeing the man's life had filled him with anger. The man had not had the best start, then he had been torn apart and decimated by an evil he could not have understood at that age. A darkness Severus should not have had to recognise. He was angry the man had been grey, and yet he had been treated like he was black. A man that made mistakes, terrible and horrific errors but had managed to redeem himself perfectly. He had sacrificed all for love and had lost everything in return! The man had loved his mother dearly, spent his life protecting her son - literally spent it.
Harry thought about how far he could go back and what to do to save as many lives as he could. He just wanted to get something back - he needed to steal something from Voldemort. He recognised where they were, where he and his friends had fought to save Sirius. Voldemort might have been defeated - but it wasn't enough. Then he saw what he came for, the last of the time turners.
Harry couldn't help but be tempted to turn back a good few hours, to stop this entire chain of events that led to Severus' death, Fred's death, Lavender browns, maybe he could do more this time. It was right there for the taking. He had witnessed just what damage time could do. He heard the footsteps of his friends coming up behind him - ignoring them he stared longingly hoping he would be brave enough.
"Harry, you can't change anything, surely you know that," Hermione whispered. "You know from last time."
"I could have changed more last time," he spun on his heel staring at Hermione. "but you wouldn't let me, you wanted to play by the rules." He stated the fact.
"The rules are there for a reason." She pleaded. "Harry..."
"No. I mean where has 'playing by the rules' ever got people? What did it get my parents: death. It got Sirius locked up. It got the Longbottoms hospitalised. How big is the death count Hermione? Do you know? Now, let's look to those that don't play by the rules? The Malfoys! Narcissa Malfoy told one lie, and all the wrong her family did is just wiped clean? Playing by the rules..." he laughed disbelievingly.
"Harry, what if you mess things up, what if you turn back time and you do more damage," Ron added, a strange voice of reason.
"What if we saved Fred?" Harry asked, he turned to Ron and looked him in the eye, "Tell me you don't want that! Tell me it isn't worth the risk! I dare you!" he shouted, tears now ran down his cheeks though he was fiercely angry.
Tears welled up in Ron's eyes, and his jaw stiffened. Shaking his head he paced the room, glancing at the ornate time-turner.
"Harry, you think I don't want Fred back? You think there aren't a whole number of people that I would wish back if I could?" Hermione tried.
"You don't understand!" Ron spat, "Your parents are safe in Australia! How can you understand?"
Harry picked up the time-turner and looked right at Hermione.
"Give an excellent answer to that question, and I will consider not going back a few hours. " Harry stated.
"Harry," Hermione cried now, "You know I can never understand, I can't possibly understand what you are going through, but this won't bring your parents back!"
"I'll come for the ride," Ron added grabbing Harry's jacket.
"Hermione, will you come with us?" Harry asked. "Please? You're like a sister to me, the only family I have."
"I'll follow you anywhere Harry!" she cried and grabbed his other arm. "It's just a terrible idea!"
"Kind of like riding a dragon out of Gringotts?" Ron asked.
Harry thought he knew how it worked, a turn for each hour? He turned five perfectly.
"Harry! Wait!" Hermione grabbed his arm; he was unable to complete the sixth turn. They were frozen in time. They stood there for what felt like an eternity - watching the world move backwards around them. They stood in a swirl of colours and people walking around them unseeing, sometimes passing through them. Eventually, time slowed down, the swirling stopped, and they were once again in the Ministry of Magic, and everything was quiet.
"Harry, this time-turner doesn't go back hours! Look at the date!" Hermione cried exasperatedly.
Harry glanced at the sizeable ancient time-turner: it was large and ornate apart from that it looked like a simple egg timer, sand trickled gently from top to bottom. Along to the top was a date, August thirtieth 1943. The time-turner had not gone back for hours, just like Hermione had said. What was more worrying was that it had gone back decades.
"Harry, we can't change anything, we can get in a lot of trouble for this, we can't mess with time, not on this scale." She was starting to get that annoying high pitched whine in her voice.
"It's not like we will be found out." Ron stated, "Last time you said that people lost the plot when they saw themselves. I highly doubt we are going to run into ourselves in 1943."
Harry was about to say that Ron made an excellent point -then Hermione cut in.
"Oh, yea Ron! And what if Harry accidentally murders his Great-Grandma Betty and then he's never born!" she shrieked.
"That gives me the most excellent idea." He smiled. "I say we get a little help? The Albus Dumbledore kind of help!"
What Harry knew was that the Chamber of Secrets was opened sometime in the 40's. He couldn't remember the exact date, but it meant that Tom Riddle was here. Before Voldemort. It was better than Harry could have ever imagined, he would never have thought about going so big. But he knew the saving potential went much further than Fred, Severus and Remus, but he would save countless others. Not to mention, he would no longer be the Boy Who Lived - and he didn't have to die to do it. He marched straight out of the Ministry of Magic. He grabbed hold of both of his friends and apparated.
Ron and Hermione blinked as they discovered where they were. Hogwarts, or rather outside its grounds. They looked up at the majestic castle; it was perfect now - like it had never been destroyed in the war. Which of course it hadn't yet. Harry was determined that it never would be.
"Harry, we can't tell Professor Dumbledore! It could change everything!" Hermione had her chastising voice now.
"What did we say about rules Hermione?" came the only response that Harry was willing to give.
"Ballsy move Harry!" Ron whispered as they walked through the familiar boar-flagged gates.
They walked over the very same bridge that the Thestral-drawn carriages took them over. When they arrived at the massive oak front doors, they merely pushed them open. The castle was mostly deserted, after all, the school term only started the next day. If Albus weren't here now, they would wait in the Room of Requirement - Harry already had the plan of action in place.
"Hermione, what subject did Professor Dumbledore teach before he became Headmaster?" Harry asked.
Hermione stood there silent, her arms folded.
"Hermione, do you want me to go around asking any professor I can find, or do you want me to infect the timeline as little as possible?" Harry threatened.
"Transfiguration!" she spat, "He was Head of Gryffindor too, so McGonagall's office." She sighed as she gave in.
"Brilliant." Ron said and pulled them down a corridor, "This way is more secluded."
All three of them stood in the door. There was a golden plaque on the front that read: 'Prof. Albus Dumbledore - Transfiguration.' It was clear that they were in the right place. Ron was the only one with enough bravery to knock.
"Come in," called a voice from within.
Harry pushed open the door. The office was different than McGonagall had had it. He recognised many of the trinkets on the shelves. The man behind the desk, however, was unrecognisable. The only familiarity was the bright blue eyes.
"Professor?" Ron asked, disbelieving that this was Albus.
"It's him," Harry stated, "I recognise him from the pensieve."
Ron nodded. Hermione had her head in her hands.
"Harry, we can still ask him to help us get home... please!" she begged.
The auburn-haired professor watched them curiously.
"I say we let Professor Dumbledore decide, right?" Harry stated.
"I know my students, you have never been to Hogwarts." The professor replied. "Are you from another school?" he questioned.
"No, we're from another time, and I am here trying to finish a job you gave me." Harry lied coolly.
Albus raised his brows in surprise, but the blue eyes twinkled. He walked around his desk and settled himself, crossing his legs.
"You," he pointed at Harry, "want to change something, and you," he pointed at Harry, "just want to go back?"
"I would love to change things, but it's against the law, it's irresponsible, we are from so far ahead in time, even the slightest change could drastically change our time."
"That's kind of the point!" Harry shouted.
"You may never be born!" Hermione yelled back.
"I don't care!" Harry yelled.
Albus was seemingly not bothered by the outbursts, he watched and listened as Harry and Hermione bickering like a couple of siblings.
"Okay, I think we will start from the beginning." Albus interrupted. "I will decide if we alter things or if we are going to send you back to where you should be? Does that sound fair Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione huffed, though nodded.
"He is the smartest person in the room," Ron added, "I think we should let him make the decisions."
"Thank you, Mr?" Albus asked.
"Weasley, Ron Weasley." he smiled.
"I taught your- I guess the only safe answer is ancestor!" Albus chuckled joyfully.
Albus was young, bright and sprightly. He had a short ginger beard, and his hair was cut short now. He still wore bright coloured robes, but there was more of an air of style to his get-up than there had been with the older version.
"Okay, Harry, I think you should tell me your story, from the beginning, no details missed." Albus smiled and with a wave of his wand a selection of chairs appeared in front of his desk. "Tea?" he asked cheerily.
They had sat in the office for hours and hours telling the story of Tom Riddle and Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived. Albus was an attentive listener, they described every aspect of the war, from the first Horcrux to the final battle. Once they were finished, Albus Dumbledore sat in silence, his fingertips touching in a manner that was so reminiscent of their very own Albus.
"Hermione, I can see why you are against changing anything. Changes of this magnitude could do a lot of damage; the number of people I could inadvertently let slip to- however, I am smart enough to do this brilliantly." Albus smiled a wickedly cocky smile.
"Brilliant, sir." Ron smiled.
"Exactly, what's more, I think I know how to give you something you dearly want Harry. I just need the help of a colleague. Just wait here." Albus then strode purposefully out of the office, leaving them alone.
"What did he mean, he can give you exactly what you wanted?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, but the only thing that I have ever wanted was to get my parents back -" Harry said. "but I thought that by stopping Tom, that would be a given?"
Hermoine shrugged. "I don't know, Harry. I don't know what he's going to do."
"You're sure that's the right Professor Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"You can't tell?" Harry laughed.
They were sat alone for some time, waiting on Albus. Harry was impatient and looked around the office, fiddling with instruments that he recognised and others that he didn't. Hermoine scoured the shelves for a fascinating volume, and Ron sat playing with his Deluminator. Harry threw many glares. When Albus finally got back, he had someone with him, a very young looking Horace Slughorn.
"I thought we were keeping this between us!" Hermione dared to scald him.
"Don't worry, I will Obliviate him myself, Horace agreed to it before I gave him any information." Albus consoled with a cheeky smile. "Horace here is going to concoct a potion that will allow you to go back to when you were eleven, so you can - appreciate the changes that will be made." He smiled, "Is that not agreeable to all?"
"I'll be legitimately eleven?" Harry asked.
"Completely, emotionally, physically, intellectually, completely eleven." Albus smiled. "Based on your story, I think it's what you deserve Harry."
Harry felt overwhelmed by the thought of having an actual childhood. "What will it be like?" he asked.
"One day, the date we pick, you will wake up with all these memories, as time goes on they will fade into the background as the life that you will have lived comes to the forefront. You will never completely forget, not unless I obliviate you." He explained.
"But if you remove our memories, you will keep yours, and that was the deal, you lose all memory of what we tell you!" Hermione demanded.
"Which means that you have to choose, either you keep the memories, or you risk me altering the timeline," Albus responded evenly. "You can make the choice Hermione."
"I'm going to be obliviating you, Albus," Hermione demanded.
"Fine." He looked over to Horace, "You have everything you need for the potions Horace?"
"Y-yes, Albus, are you sure?" Horace asked.
"Yes, trust me; this is one of the times when breaking the rules is the right thing to do."
Horace nodded and left the room.
"I will supervise him; I don't want this getting any more out of hand than it already is," Hermione said as she strode out of the room.
"Okay, we need to plan how we are going to stop Tom Riddle, and how you are going to give me the instructions once I have been obliviated."
"What about a letter, something from an anonymous student?" Ron suggested. "I mean you would have grounds to check things out then wouldn't you, but it's not suspicious?"
"You will have to be careful what you put in, how you write the letter," Albus said.
They worked through many drafts of the letter before they had something that covered all basis but wasn't suspicious. When Hermione and Slughorn arrived back with the potions, the desk was littered with crumpled parchments.
"Hermione, do you have a fresh piece of parchment? We ran out, and we need to write this letter up so Albus can stop Tom." Harry asked.
Hermione still didn't look impressed, but dug around her small but unending back for parchment and ink, placing them on the table.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I know you don't want this to happen." Harry looked up at her, and the harsh expression softened immediately.
"Harry, for you, I'll do it for you." she smiled and hugged him.
Horace stood awkwardly in the background holding three vials. Albus took the vials and nodded at the professor. "Are you ready Horace?"
"Yes, just don't muck it up, I don't have time to complete my lesson plans again!" Horace complained showing minimal care that Albus would be removing memories permanently.
"Obliviate," Albus spoke calmly, and a dazed expression came over Horace's face. "I will take Horace back to his office, finish the letter, and we will have you home before you know it." He smiled guiding a dazed and confused Horace from the office.
Harry finished the better and placed it in an envelope and wrote 'Albus Dumbledore' on the front, setting it in front of his chair on the dark oak desk. When Dumbledore arrived, he took two small instruments from his shelves and pulled the time-turner towards him.
"I am going to make three Portkeys, special Portkeys." He smiled. "Once we send you back through time, they will activate, but they will take you 'home' wherever that may be for you in that time. Even if you don't know where that is." With that Albus muttered and waved his wand over each object, all of them glowing in turn. "Now, Hermione, you just need to obliviate me. Be gentle!"
Hermione stood in front of the professor and her eyes softened. "Thank you, Professor." She whispered, and they smiled at each other. "Obliviate."
Harry and Ron settled him into his seat as the confused expression passed over him. They each picked up an object and Harry set the time turner to the appropriate date; July 31st 1991.
"I guess this is bottoms up?" Ron said holding up his vial.
"Cheers," they clinked the vials together and then they were down in one.
"Everyone, hold on," Harry spoke calmly, and the swirl of colours began, this time when it stopped there was the tug behind the bellybutton, dragging each of them to some unknown location.
Harry panicked and then fell with a thump on a soft bed, the time turner still in his hand, though it was huge now, or maybe it just seemed that way in his now much smaller hand. Harry was just about to turn 11 again. Hurriedly he hid the hourglass under his bed; it was then he noticed the large bedroom. It was all painted blue, and the stars swirled on his ceiling. There saw a trunk at the end of his bed, and a mess of toys, brooms and clothes around the large room with a desk on the opposite wall. He had Quidditch posters on his wall, and strangely he had a mixture of the different Hogwarts house banners on his wall, particularly Gryffindor and Slytherin. He thought it odd, but he guessed that Slytherin could have a completely different reputation now. It was late, and he didn't want to anger his parents the first day he met them, so he curled up in his duvet and tried to get some sleep.
"Harry," A man whispered having opened the door. "I heard a bang," the voice was concerned - Harry's heart swelled with joy. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine dad." he yawned as he heard footsteps and then felt soft lips on his forehead.
"I'll see you in the morning, my birthday boy."
Harry thought he recognised the voice, but maybe he was just happy to hear someone talk to him that way - the way a father speaks to a son. Soon enough he fell to sleep.
A/N: Apologies for removing so much, but I am going through and improving everything. It's been hard posting anyway while doing this competition, so I am using the time to make everything better.