This is a time travel fic, no we are not raising Harry, yes we are going back to the Marauders Era, yes snape will be different, still an ass, but different. This story will center around Harry Potter, Lily Luna Potter, and Neville Longbottom. There will be character death, Torture, Strong Violence, Mentions of sex, and war as it was not seen in the HP universe.
Out in the country side of London, one seemingly unimportant looking man in a long trench coat atop a somber hill. A single willow, with its cascading branches, sheltered him from the light rains that plagued the land. In his hand was a long stick, carved from some ancient looking wood. It had a motif of a dragon with some sort of gem clasped between its great jaws that spiraled along the grip. It was a deep mahogany color, almost artificial in its hue, and was almost as long as the mans forearm.
He stood on the hill and stared down at the base of the willow. A simple carved stone stood, rested against the base of the tree, with the words 'Death – My Friend Is He'.
The man knelt down before it and ran his fingers across the inscription, as if remembering a long lost friend.
"Mother... I will try harder...," he voice of a young man, one Severus Snape, purred forth from the mans lips. His voice, like silk, was strained with pain and loss. He took the wand in his hand, wrapped it in a fine silken cloth, and sat it down against the stone. With a whispered spell, the wand stuck fast to the stone, and became indestructible.
"I will not let your death be in vain. I will honor your wishes mother, and I will not fall... I will not become him!" Severus growled with damp eyes as he made a vow to himself. In doing so, he changed the course of history, and the future, for the next several decades to come.
2004, May, 31st, Hogwarts.
"Neville! How are you mate?" Harry asked as he walked into Hogwarts, his one and only child, Lily, on his hip. He looked haggard and worn as he traipsed along the castle ground towards his longtime friend. He had dark rings under his eyes, his cheeks were slightly gaunt, and his eyes looked haunted and hollow.
If Neville was honest with himself, his friend had looked like this for almost two years; ever since Ginny had died in child birth. He smiled sadly to his friend -he himself had remembered the death of his own wife, Luna- and ushered him into he castle proper.
"I've been better Harry, just like you. Hows little Lily doing mate, she talking yet?" He asked his friend.
"She said Dada last night," Harry smiled, for the first time in a long time. He looked like the world had righted itself just a bit, but not enough to bring him out of his hell just yet. Neville thought to himself that it might be many a decade before his friend was able to smile and joke like he used to before Ginny had passed.
"That's good to hear Harry," Neville smiled indigently. He was happy for his friends little bit of happiness, it was the least he was due for all the crap he had been put through for the last twenty years. He guided his guests through the empty halls of Hogwarts with almost nary a word. He took them up the infamous changing staircases and up to his personal quarters.
"Not much has changed here in the last few years, has it?" Harry asked. He looked about the castle with moist eyes as he reminisced, his thoughts strayed to Ginny, Hermione, Rn, Dean, Seamus, Draco, and the hundreds of others that had died to save the Wizarding world from Voldemort.
"No, all that's changed is the massive monument out in the courtyard, and the new stones we had to lay to rebuild the destroyed sections of the castle. New please, take a seat, Harry, and tell me what's on your mind," Neville asked not unkindly as he poured them both a small glass of bourbon and a glass of tea each.
Harry sat down and let Lily rest against his chest as he took a small sip of the bourbon. He placed his new wand on the table, a sign of trust that he and Neville had come up with between themselves after so many conflicts in the Order. Most had come to realize that it was more so that they could more quickly stun anyone being a git than anything else. It had just turned into what it was today after so many years of being friends.
"Neville, I am not sure I'm much longer for this place," Harry stated without preamble. He stared his friend in the eye and unblinkingly took another sip of his drink.
"What do you mean Harry" Neville asked, perturbed by his words. "Are you dying?" He asked in concern.
"No, no not at all," Harry smiled melancholic at his friend. "There has been a pull on me, on my magic, I've only recently been able to feel its pull. But, it has been getting stronger with each day that I resist... And I don't know what will happen when I finally let go and … And let it pull me along to where it wants me to go," Harry relented, not wanting to string things along.
"And you don't want something to happen to Lily encase you don't come back … Am I right?" Neville asked, more than a bit frightened by what his friend was hinting at.
"Aye, that is exactly what I'm getting at. But... I think something more is going on Neville, something bad is going to happen, and its going to destroy this place. I think I, no … We are being given an out."
Neville looked at his friend skeptically, he was almost on the verge of thinking him insane! But by Magic he was going to listen to his distraught friend if it was the last thing he did!
"Have you felt something, vague, just beyond you senses, pushing at you, just like a mental probe?" Harry asked, his eyes wide and frantic as he urged his friend to answer.
Neville blinked, and thought, and widened his eyes at how accurate Harry had described his last few months. He had been getting headaches, urgings, and twinges in his magic and mind. They hadn't gotten notably strong, but he hadn't thought much of them because of that simple fact. But, now that he knew what he was looking for, he wondered how he had missed the constant pull he was under in the first place.
Harry must have noticed his surprise, and then pain, because he looked panicked by his friends sudden change in demeanor.
"Are you alright Neville?!" Harry asked urgently.
"Yeah, just finally understood what you were talking about with that 'urging pull' you mentioned."
"Yes, it can be quite painful," Harry snarked, but didn't lessen his keen look he was sending at him.
"No shit Sherlock!" Neville snarked back, tears clouded his sight at the suddenness of the sensation. His magic felt like it was trying to rip him from his seat, almost literally. "This is what you've been dealing with for how long now?!" Neville asked, bewildered.
"Two months now. And it's obviously been about the same length of time for you as well, if your current self is anything to judge by," Harry smiled wanly to his blond haired friend.
"I hate you and your stupid bullshite you bring around, you know that, right?" Neville asked with a strained smirk. Harry laughed at his jab and stroked his sleeping daughters hair; she wiggled in his lap at the sound of his laughing. She murmured out a soft coo and brought both the young mens attention down upon her as she slept.
"I wish Luna and I could have had a child," Neville muttered sadly as he gazed upon the toddler. Harry nodded along with his friend. It was horrific for the two, how their spouses had died. Giny, in child birth, and Luna as she fought against a Death Eater resurgence a year ago.
"To live by the sword, my friend … We both knew what might happen when we took up our parents causes," Harry muttered. A lone tear streaked down his cheek and collided with the dark red hair of his daughter. She flinched slightly at the contact, but simply ignored it in favor of sleep.
"How long do you think it will be until our magic overpowers us?" Neville asked the pertinent question.
"I would imagine … Not much longer. And if I'm reading it right, she will be going with us," harry jutted his chin towards his daughter.
"At least she won't remember whatever it is that will happen, I hope," Neville intoned hopefully.
"One can only hope."
The two young men and small child sat and listened as a soft rain began to spread across the grounds. The wind moaned softly amongst the tree branches, and the creatures of the Forbidden forest joined in on the cacophony with their howls, growls, hoots, and shouts.
Harry and Neville paid it no minds as they felt the magic of the castle pick up and shroud them in warmth. They looked to each other and smiled wanly.
"Seems I was a little off about when it would happen …," Harry chuckled, he rubbed his temples and peered through his fingers at his friend.
"Hey, its not the first time, and won't be the last Harry, at least we won't go alone!" Neville joked. They both giggle-chuckled hysterically at the absurdness of their situation as the magic of the castle continued to build around them.
Harry got up and wrapped his arms around Lily protectively. Neville, only a step or so behind him, moved around the desk and helped his friend shield the girl with his own body.
"Are you ready Neville!" harry yelled over the howling winds that had suddenly picked up.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" He shouted back. It was all they could to hold onto each other and Harry's daughter as the storm of magic engulfed them.
And in the blink of an eye, they were gone, all that gave credence to their departure, was their wands that still lay heedlessly on Neville's desk. With a bit of a wobble, first Harry's, and then Neville's, wands crumbled to ash upon the oak desk.
what has essentially happened is that Harry's and Neville's magics have sensed some far of evil that was almost ready to destroy the world as they new it. And in a sense of self preservation, it said 'I reject your reality and substitute my own!'. and in true mythbusters fashion, I mean, Harry Potter fashion, it sucked them into the past... Of an alternate reality. Things are going to go be severely different to what the two had known of, along with that fact that they get to meet their parents long before the two of them are born. And no, this will not have any adverse effect on them- i.e, no erasing their existences as they are from a completely different reality than the one they are going to be in.
Finally, no, this will not be slash... At least... Not between Harry and Neville... I don't know about anyone else though. Harry and Neville are going to be as straight edge as their previous lives will let them.