Chapter 3

"Imperius" Draco's frowned in concentration as he controlled Neville's now dead body, which in turn, was hopefully opening the gateway through time. By casting the Killing Curse and the Imperius at the same time, one could, theoretically, control the moment of death and with that one moment, freeze time.

A sudden bright flash blinded the occupants of the room as a strange, almost ghost like, gate began to rise from Neville's dead body. After a minute of waiting, the gate stood at a towering nine feet, and lead into a dazzling array of colours, each one swirling into the next. The Time Gate was open.

"If everything has been done correctly, we should wake up the morning the Hogwarts letter arrives. If not, wait until further orders. Ron, don't kill Scabbers when you arrive, we'll need him later. Gin, make sure Ron follows my orders. Hermione, work on something we can communicate with Gin through, underage magic isn't enforced until first year starts. Draco, I'll see you in Madam Malkins. Good Luck" Harry said as he watched as each of his friends walked into the gate and disappeared.

"Do you want me to burn the body?" Draco asked.

"Yes, but quickly, this timeline is already changing." Harry said as he watched objects disappear and different ones reappear, it would seem that this time, was replacing itself with whatever time they were going back to create. A stack of papers on Hermione's desk suddenly doubled, and her muggle office chair suddenly became an old fashioned armchair, it was time to go. Draco set flame to Neville Longbottom's body.

As Harry waited he heard two people coming down the stairs behind him. With three quick steps, Harry grabbed Draco's arm and threw them both into the closing gateway. With one last quick glance behind him, Harry connected with a pair of twinkling blue eyes. Eyes he hadn't seen for over ten years.

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Harry bolted awake, eyes wide in shock. He sat there, in the dusty cupboard for what felt like ages, he had just seen a glimpse of the future he could, quite possibly, be making right now. He swallowed down the panic, he was an adult, and therefore he would act like one. It wasn't likely that he could change anything monumental by seeing those eyes, if anything, he just had to make sure those eyes stuck around for twenty years. He closed his eyes and looked down at his ten year old body and rolled his eyes. Mentally correcting himself, he was a child who knew nothing of the future and would act as such until he saw fit. Mental mantra finished he crawled his way out of the cupboard.

A foul smell greeted him as he turned toward, what he remembered to be, the kitchen, a smell that reminded him of Ron's old socks. Crunching up his nose Harry walked into the kitchen, and saw the large metal tub in the sink. His muggle school uniform. He scrunched his nose up further still, if he wanted to keep with the current timeline he would have to ask.

"What's this?" He asked. The nearly forgotten face of Aunt Petunia turned toward him, her thin lips pursed. If Harry remembered correctly, she only did that when she was displeased with him or if he asked a question.

"Your new school uniform." She said.

He couldn't for the life of him remember what he had originally said next, so he just nodded and took a seat at the table and waited for breakfast. While he waited he watched his Aunt cooked the bacon, he had nearly forgotten what she looked like, and oddly enough, he wondered if in his original timeline, she had survived the Shadows. It was also strange to be sitting at a dining table, and not at his work desk, signing papers and drinking strong tea; it was odd, but relaxing none the less.

Minutes later Uncle Vernon walked through the hallway door with, what Harry guessed was, his cousin Dudley. Dudley didn't have nearly as much fat on him as Harry remembered, and he was also carrying a long cane, which he hit against the table before propping it up next to him proudly. Harry couldn't understand, or didn't remember, Dudley's fascination with it. Uncle Vernon grabbed the newspaper from the centre of the table and began to read. Harry waited.

The clink of the letter box rang out, followed by a flop of something hitting the floor. His Hogwarts letter had arrived. Before Uncle Vernon could say anything, Harry was up and walking toward the letter slot in record time, leaving a stunned Uncle and Cousin behind.

Beneath a post card from someone named Marge, and what looked like a muggle bill, was a thick yellowed parchment, with his name written in emerald-green ink.

Mr. H Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Harry smiled to himself, it was nice to see a reassuring Mister H Potter, rather than his normal Dark Lord Potter, he had been worried the title would follow them through the gate, despite his reassurances to his friends. Quickly ripping open the parchment and read the contents he nodded to himself, nothing had changed.

"Boy! Where's the mail, you better not be reading it." Uncle Vernon bellowed. Harry looked up before tucking the letter back into its envelope and pressing the wax back down, he walked into the kitchen.

"Right here." He tossed the brown muggle bill and post card toward his Uncle, and proceeded to sit and wait for breakfast.

"What's that?" Dudley asked, trying to reach for the parchment envelope under Harry's hand.

"My letter." Harry said as if he was speaking to a three year old, which was debatable considering who he was speaking too. Uncle Vernon reached across the table and snatched the envelope.

"Who would be writing to you."He sneered

"Apparently, someone does." Harry said as he smiled knowingly toward his Aunt. It was about to begin.

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As Harry lay on the cold, hard floor, he came upon the realization that the number seven, truly is, a magical number. Seven days being the time it took for Dumbledore to finally send Hagrid to fetch him from the Dursleys, which also fell, on the day the seventh month dies, his birthday.

Seven also had a nasty habit of popping up in magical equations and rituals. So instead of counting down the minutes to his birthday, as he had in the previous timeline, he instead counted every instance in magic the number seven would appear. Therefore it came as no surprise to Harry later on, when a large bang had him reaching for his, currently, nonexistent wand while crouched in attack mode. It was all rather funny really.

"Who's there!" Uncle Vernon shouted over the storm, as he skidded into the room. "I warn you! I'm armed!" He was holding his shot gun, another deafening boom followed, along with the crashing of the shack door as it hit the ground.

Hagrid had arrived. Harry stood up from his makeshift bed and watched as his first friend squeezed his way into the small shack door. He was a sight for sore eyes. Hagrid had died early on in the first assault protecting a younger Harry from three Shadows, not too long after Hagrid's death, Hogwarts Castle collapsed. Harry didn't think he ever truly recovered from his first friend's death.

The half giant bent down and picked up the now broken door and sheepishly propped it up against the door frame. "Ah, sorry abou' that. Didn' know me strength." Harry watched his friend scratch his head.

"An' there's Harry!" Hagrid exclaimed happily as he squinted his eyes to look at him. " Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh Dursley? It's not been an easy journey... if yeh know wha' I mean." Hagrid asked as he shuffled his way toward the couch.."Budge up, yeh great lump."

Dudley took one look at the strange man standing before him and squeaked running to hide behind his mother, not that she could hide much.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby!" Hagrid patted the empty spot next to him on the couch, "Come 'ere," Harry strode forward and took the offered seat gladly. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." Hagrid pulled out a great big handkerchief and batted his eyes. "Great woman yer mum, couldn't meet a nicer person."

"N— now hear me, you great big— I demand that you leave here at once! This is breaking and entering!" Uncle Vernon strode forward waving his shot gun around, he was inflated like a puffer fish; it was probably his bravest moment to date.

"Oh, shut up, Dursley, you great prune." Hagrid reached over, grabbed the shot gun, and proceeded to tie it into a knot as if it were rubber. Uncle Vernon deflated and stumbled backwards in fear, mouth opening and closing like a dying fish.

Hagrid turned toward Harry, who had been sitting next to him calmly the entire time, and smiled. "Anyway, Harry," He leaned forward and pulled a white box out of one of his pockets, "Got summat fer yeh here— might o' sat on it at some point. But here yeh go." Hagrid held the squished box out proudly.

"Thank you." Harry said sincerely, even if he knew that eating said cake, could possibly mean his death, "But who are you?"

"Eh?" Hagrid blinked a couple of times before blushing red and chuckling nervously, "True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

Harry was again, reminded how horrible his memory was of the past, and therefore just nodded politely and watched as Hagrid asked Uncle Vernon for that tea, or something stronger. Soon enough, Hagrid had the fireplace lit and all sorts of cooking items and foods pulled out of his pockets, merrily working away. Harry thought about mentioning the stove in the other room, but thought better of it.

When the tea was ready Hagrid pulled out a bottle of Firewhiskey and filled his cup half way before taking a swig. Harry nearly asked for some in his tea before he remembered he was currently underage and wasn't allowed to drink, he silently cursed, it was going to be a long six years. Hagrid passed Harry some sausages and tea and sat next to him again, ignoring the Dursleys. When Harry looked over, the lot of them had moved to the furthest corner in the shack to watch, Dudley looking a little envious of all the food Harry was about to eat.

"Yeh know all about Hogwarts o' course, an' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys and Grounds there." Hagrid said proudly as he swallowed a sausage whole.

"I know only what the letter told me, Hagrid." A look of shock and confusion crossed the giants face as he looked at his younger companion. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon choked in disbelief.

"Yeh got yer letter? But Dumbledore said..." Hagrid scrunched his face up in concentration. "Guess muggles don' know a thing about owls"

Hagrid handed Harry another letter, "You'll have to open tha' one an' reply. Or Hogwarts will keep sendin' more."

"Thank you Hagrid." Harry smiled as he opened the letter addressed to him on the floor, "I guess they're not self updating since I'm now on the couch."

"He's not going! I forbid it!" Uncle Vernon suddenly shouted when he once more found his voice, "We won't pay for him to go to that school! Not ever!" Aunt Petunia frantically nodded.

"Ah' go boil yer heads the both of yeh." Hagrid said as he leaned back on the couch making it groan, "I'd like ter see a great muggle like you stop him." Hagrid pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle from his pocket and handed them to Harry. "Now write that yer going to Hogwarts, I've got to talk to yer Aunt and Uncle."

Hagrid bent his head forward as he stood to prevent hitting it on the ceiling, and took the two giant steps needed to cross the room. Harry just looked down at the parchment in frustration, how does one write like a child? He was so used to writing reports and requests, and signing his name that he had completely forgotten how to write like a child or like any other adult for that matter, it was irritating, considering he would need to write essays for Hogwarts soon.

Dear Mrs. McGonagall

Thank you for the invitation to Hogwarts. I am happy to accept.

Harry Potter

Harry had considered putting spelling mistakes into the letter, but discarded the idea almost immediately; Hermione would kill him if he did, and he knew she would find out at some point or other. The letter also still seemed a tad formal, but he let it go. It would seem, Harry thought, that he would be copying his fellow house mates homework for an entirely different reason.

"Right then Harry," Hagrid pulled a small ruffled owl out of yet another pocket, "Best send that out now." He attached the letter and threw the poor owl out the door and into the raging storm.

"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up ter town, get yer books an' that." He took his coat off and handed it to Harry. "You can sleep under that, Don' mind if it wiggles a bit— think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

"Thank you." Harry said gratefully, he tucked himself under the over large coat and smiled softly. It was relaxing being around Hagrid, he was the only person Harry had ever met that never looked at his forehead upon first meeting him. He was also brutally honest and loyal, something Harry had sincerely missed when he was a Dark Lord.

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I got my first flame!!! Yay! Thank you Bob Dude for adding to my review count, and, if I ever decide to rewrite this story I will sincerely try to find out what exactly sucked, about it.

Onto further news, pairings. Right, now it will be Harry/ Hermione (My favorite Het pairing!!!) but, there might be little bits of Draco/ Hermione too (my second fav), with Draco and Harry being brother like. I did play with the idea of Harry/Hermione/Draco which does sound like an interesting write, but tell me what you think (I promise to listen!). This is not a romance focus story, meaning NO lemons or limes, there will just be the odd kiss or comforting appearance. Later on, if I have time, I'll do side stories. Remember, they are 11 (or 10), and have yet to hit puberty...again (poor buggers).

For Ginny, I left a really good hint behind on who she ends up with and how it will work out. For Ron... I soooo didn't plan for that one. -_- Anyone want to make a recommendation? I really hate time travel stories where a 30 year old goes back in time and ends up dating a 14 year old... its just strange and weird. But that's just me. It'll work out. Oh and because of a certain character that we all know there will be hints of slash, I can't make it clearer on who this individual is.

Alright, so review away! Please? I do so enjoy getting messages from you guys! And I do listen! I am a slave to your will... within reason. Thanks to every one of you who have reviewed! Flamer included!

PS. I misplaced my glasses so I couldn't go over this as well as I would like. Staring at the computer screen without them hurts. Thank you scientist for Advil.

~Siamh