Title: Time and Again
Author: BertaS
Characters: Harry – Kreacher – Dobby – Petunia
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2347
Summary: This is a redo fic where Harry travels back and integrates into his younger self. It really was just as an excuse to write the interaction between Kreacher and Dobby. Starts summer after fifth year.
Warnings: Brief Cross Dressing / Time Travel
AN: This one has been sitting on flash-drive for quite a while. It is not beta-ed just spell checked.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, movies or anything else you may recognize.
Time and Again
Harry Potter woke with a startled choked off cry of pain. He relaxed slowly as his hand automatically reached up to his forehead to rub the pain away. He was surprised when his hand came away sticky with thick black blood. He started to reach for his glasses but had to wipe his hand off first. He then looked around the room he was in and recognized it as Dudley's second bedroom on Privet Drive.
"Hedwig?!" he whispered with a growing smile which turned crafty as he continued to examine the room while moving to pet his beloved familiar. His eyes fell on the makeshift calendar on the wall and he thought, 'It worked, not as well as I would have liked, but well enough.' He had been aiming for a bit earlier, it would have been nice to have been able to save Sirius and Cedric, but he could work with when he had landed between fifth and sixth year.
Harry gave Hedwig one last caress before gathering his things and making his way to the bathroom for his normal morning routine. He was surprised when he got downstairs that Vernon and Dudley were both out of the house so early but then remembered that they had attended a professional boxing match that year and they had stayed two nights in London.
On returning to his room Harry called out, "Kreacher!" The elf appeared promptly with a strange surprised look on his face. Harry held up one finger as he hissed, "Silence! When I allow you to speak again you will do so calmly, quietly, politely. Do you understand me?"
Kreacher nodded sullenly.
"Excellent." Harry said as he smiled brightly. "Now tell me, has the Order vacated my house yet?"
"No, nasty…" Kreacher's face twisted as he was unable to say the words he wanted to use, "Order peoples is still thinking that they is allowed to be taking... master's thing." He again looked like he wanted to choke on the words, but he was at least calm and quiet if only barely polite.
Harry frowned as he said, "Well, that will need to stop. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, when we are through here, will be to retrieve all those items that have… shall we say, gone missing from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?" Harry smiled at the gleam that came into the elf's eyes.
"Before that though," Harry gestured to a stack of books on the floor, "Sit down and tell me about Master Regulus."
~~HP~~
Kreacher had gone on his hunt for lost Black treasures when Harry went downstairs to make lunch for himself and his aunt. As they ate Harry studied the woman.
"Is there some reason you are staring at me?" Petunia snapped sharply as she set her silverware across the top of her plate. He was actually surprised to realize that this was an old-fashioned Wizarding way to indicate to one's servants that one was finished and that the plate could be removed.
"Sorry Aunt Petunia," Harry said politely. "I was just thinking. When I turn seventeen, next year, the protections on you and the house ends. The Order…" he shrugged frowning a bit. "The people that keep an eye on me, will ask you, Uncle Vernon and Dudley to go into hiding at that time. They may ask this year but I doubt it. I know that we haven't always gotten on the best, but I want you to be safe. I'll do my best to get rid of Voldemort before anything happens to disrupt your life but…" he trailed off with another shrug.
Petunia snorted. "See than you do then. I assume that someone will be along to retrieve you soon?"
Harry looked at Dudley's school calendar attached to the refrigerator. "Another couple of weeks, the end of the month probably. But I…" he stopped and frowned. "I need to make a trip to London before that." He smirked when Petunia snorted again. "Would you believe I need to see a Goblin about a dog?"
Petunia sneered and shook her head as she rose to take her dishes to the sink.
Harry leaned back in his chair. "I can see to my own travel arrangements but it wouldn't hurt to have a disguise." At her sour look he continued, "My eyes, hair and scar are quite distinctive, and I can't…" he waved his hand as though holding a wand, "well, you know."
Petunia turned from the dishes and studied him. "I've been trying to make your hair behave for the last fifteen years. The only thing I never tried was letting you grow it out longer." She considered the problem with a calculating look. "Contacts could change the color of your eyes and without your glasses…" she lifted one shoulder and frowned. "That scar… I never really thought about hiding it other than with a hat or scarf."
Harry nodded and looked thoughtful as he answered, "Hats always get pushed back. Maybe a bandana?"
"And have you look like a hooligan?" Petunia practically shrieked.
"What you'd rather I look like a Nancy?" Harry retorted.
Petunia looked like she had bitten into a particularly sour lemon. "Vernon wouldn't like that." She suddenly smirked. "Although make-up might just be the answer you are looking for. A good concealer should work." She snorted. "As much as you look like your mother you'd be rather pretty if you were a girl."
She wasn't prepared for his sudden happy smile as he asked, "You think I look like Mum?"
~~HP~~
Harry was surprised when the next morning his aunt took him the optometrist and actually paid for two boxes of contacts, one clear and the other that would change his eyes to a dark blue gray. She also stopped at the druggist and purchased some concealer, eye liner and a fashion magazine with makeup tips.
Just before they got back to Privet Drive Petunia warned, "Don't let Vernon catch you with any of that."
Later that afternoon Petunia dumped a couple of armloads of clothing on the floor outside Harry's bedroom and shouted for Harry to come and box it all up for the church jumble.
Harry was able to sneak a skirt, blouse and silky scarf into his room while folding the things into the boxes.
The concealer worked better than Harry had expected especially since the scar was now just a white jagged line that looked completely healed instead of the angry red fresh-looking wound it had been before. It took several tries to get a look he liked with the eyeliner. The magazine helped him get over the fear of poking himself in the eye with the unfamiliar makeup.
Harry called Kreacher to take him to Diagon Alley and Gringotts that evening. He was surprised when the elf looked him over critically and shook his head as he said, "Kreacher is not taking Master anywhere looking like that." He then disappeared.
Harry was contemplating calling the elf again when he reappeared laying a really nice set of silver trimmed dark blue robes on the bed. "These is belonging to Master Regulus. Master Harry is looking much better in them than in that." He gestured at the ill-fitting skirt and blouse Harry had on.
Harry snorted, "Agreed, but the whole point is to not be recognized."
"Master Harry is not being recognized by anyone but Goblins. Master Harry is looking like a proper pure blood wizard when he is seeing about his accounts. Master Harry is going to secure entrance that only proper pure blood wizards is using." He snapped his fingers and the women's clothing that Harry was wearing disappeared causing Harry to yelp in surprise he was left in just his under pants. And the scarf that he had tied around his head slithered about and retied itself ascot style around his neck. "Master Harry is head of Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Master Harry is dressing like a proper pure blood wizard even if he is only a nasty half-blood." Kreacher said firmly as he pointed at the robes. "Master Harry is getting dressed now." Kreacher then hopped onto the bed to assist Harry to put on the robes.
Harry had never seen the elf act this way, nor had he ever heard him say so much all at once other than when he was telling Regulus' story.
Harry chuckled. "Alright." While he dressed he asked, "How are you doing with the retrieval of my property? If you need any help go to Hogwarts and find an elf named Dobby."
Harry barely finished saying his name when the manic little elf appeared. "Oh Harry Potter Sir calls Dobby. Dobby is…" he looked between Harry and Kreacher, who was holding the outer most robes for Harry to slip his arms into. Dobby's ears drooped. "Dobby is stupid to think the great Harry Pot…"
Harry interrupted, "No you aren't. Dobby I want you to meet Kreacher. I inherited him form my godfather. Kreacher this is Dobby. He's a very good friend of mine. I'd like the two of you to be friends." He finished putting on the robe.
Kreacher sneered, "Kreacher is knowing disgraced elf."
Dobby folded is spindly arms a crossed his thin chest, and glared at Kreacher for several seconds before saying, "Harry Potter Sir is called Dobby. What can Dobby be doing for Harry Potter Sir?"
Harry smiled. "I wanted to know if you would like to come work for me and if you would help Kreacher find and return some 'lost' black Heirlooms?"
Dobby's eyes gleamed then he bit his lip. When he answered, it was slowly as if he were choosing his words most carefully, "Dobby would be happy to be helping, but if Dobby is not working at Hoggy-warts as a free elf then he is not being able to take care of Harry Potter Sir while he is at school." He looked at Kreacher. "Nasty old elf is needing to get whole story before he is saying nasty things."
Kreacher studied Dobby carefully before stepping forward to grab Dobby's ear. He seemed to be attempting to look inside the floppy appendage.
"Hay! Stop that. What are you doing? You two need to be nice to each other, and when you talk, address each other properly, with respect."
Kreacher snorted again before answering Harry's question, "Kreacher is checking to see if elf's brain is falling out." He gave a small shrug. "Then again, Dobby always was Kreacher's most devious spawn."
Dobby smirked rather disturbingly, "Dobby is learning from his sire."
Harry wasn't sure he really wanted to know but asked anyway, "Spawn? Sire?"
Kreacher said, "Part of agreement when old Master Arcturus signed betrothal agreement with old Master Abraxas Malfoy was that new elf was to be provided to young Master Lucius." He gestured to Dobby. "Dobby is product of Kreacher's attentions to Master Abraxas old elf Tabby."
Harry stood there and stared at the elves for a moment before an all over body shiver ran through him. Then Kreacher continued, "Master Harry is needing to be at Gringotts now and Kreacher and Dobby will be being about assignments.
~~HP~~
The best way to describe Harry's trip to Gringotts would have to be profitable. Under some of the old laws followed by the oldest families, including the Blacks but not the Potters, Harry was able to take full control of the black accounts and properties since he was the sole beneficiary of Sirius' will. The title of Lord Black would go dormant until a second son of his, Draco's or possibly Tonks', would be of age to, with Harry's permission, claim the title.
Harry was, with his knowledge of the future, able to suggest several business investments in both the Wizarding and mundane worlds, that would increase the already impressive fortune.
He was also able to inquire about the vault used by Bellatrix Lestrange and whether it was a black or Lestrange vault. He grinned when he was told that it was a dowry vault and that as such, Harry had the right to have it inspected for illegal or dark items. He asked this to be done and that all truly dark items be cleaned as quickly and safely as possible. He did, of course, pay a rather healthy fee for this service.
Several days later after Harry and Dobby retrieved the ring from the Gaunt shack and Kreacher brought him the locket from Grimmauld Place. The three of them went to a remote area in the forest of Dean to destroy them with the sword of Gryffindor that Harry had Dobby borrow from the Headmaster's office.
Harry received word from the Goblins that they had completed the cleansing of the dark items from Bellatrix's vault. They only had trouble with one of the items, a gold cup that they eventually had to melt down to an ingot before replacing it in the vault.
Harry was quite pleased as that left only two. He was fairly certain that the one in him had been forced out when he came back in time. He would have the diadem within the first week of the new school year. Then he would talk to Snape about the snake.
The End
AN: Yes, I know there could be more, but I can't seem to write it. Thank you for reading and making me feel all warm and fuzzy when you review.
