The Golden trio sat in front of Dumbledore and McGonagall silently. Dumbledore had his lips pressed together and his eyes seemed to have lost their twinkle as he gazed upon the three students with disappointment. Hermione and Ron looked down nervously while Harry openly regarded Dumbledore with an indifferent glance. Emerald green met shining blue in earnest.
"I don't think I have to say how disappointed I am in you three," he started. "Nor how angry I am. Using memory charms on another student - "
"I understand your disappointment, but surely you can see why we did it?" interrupted Harry. Hermione let out an indignant squeak at Harry's interruption, giving him a chastising look. Harry wondered if Hermione would ever get over her fears of bending the rules or disobeying her elders. One would think that after all the times an adult had failed the trio, they'd lose respect for most adults. Harry knew he had. The seventeen-year-old boy had just come from a place in which it was adults who had screwed everything up, leaving only children to fix their mistakes.
"Regardless of your reasons behind the choice, the fact of the matter is that you still went behind the backs of Professor McGonagall and myself. Why didn't you talk to either of us before doing this?" asked Dumbledore, his gaze flickering to the Hermione and Ron.
"The Potter's are well-known, right? How on Earth would we have been able to pull off a stunt where I was a secret Potter?" said Harry with a shake of his head.
"Sounds like one of my mum's soaps, to be honest," murmured Hermione after a moment. Harry shared an amused look with her, having known exactly what soap operas were like.
"I am quite sure that we could have found a happy alternative… one that did not need to go so far as to wipe my Head Boy's memories," said McGonagall, placing her hands on her hips and Harry blinked back the memories of his Head of House that replayed over and over in his mind.
"Technically, Professors, we didn't wipe his memories. We only changed them," supplied Ron helpfully, waving the hand that wasn't intertwined with Hermione's absently.
"You performed a false memory charm?" asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows raising in surprise. "It usually takes a Master of charms to perform such a difficult spell," he continued. Hermione blushed slightly.
"Yes, I had to perform it in August for my parents." Dumbledore and McGonagall shared a worried look, no doubt wondering why one would need to perform a memory charm on their own parents.
"Why would you do such a thing?" asked Dumbledore curiously. Hermione bit her bottom lip, her palms shaking slightly even with Ron's constant reassurances. Harry looked at the girl before turning back to the adults in front of him.
"That story is appropriate for neither here nor there," said Harry.
The two Professor's were quiet for a long time, obviously surveying the situation and assessing what they should be doing next. Harry swallowed, exhaustion wavering over his body. Harry was suddenly quite positive that he'd need to sleep for at least a month to recover from the last year.
"What about your story?" asked Dumbledore. Harry flinched. Of course. Harry knew this was coming. He sighed and leaned back slightly.
"What would you like to know?" asked Harry. Ron and Hermione shot him looks of surprise but he ignored them and continued. "I will only answer questions I think are appropriate."
"Of course, Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore with a kind smile that had Harry reeling. He's dead, Harry. Stop it. "Does the war continue on to your time?" Harry found himself surprised. Dumbledore's nature never accounted for bluntness. In fact, blunt was the last word Harry would ever use to describe the old wizard.
"It ends in 1981 for the time being. Voldemort is defeated for a while, but returns to power in 1995. He's finally defeated once and for all on May 2nd, 1998." Dumbledore wore an expression of worry.
"May I ask how?" he inquired.
"He underestimated the power of love," said Harry after a long pause. Dumbledore looked slightly mollified at that.
"Would you be willing to divulge any more secrets? Perhaps… perhaps we can dispose of his power with your knowledge? We can avoid the wa-" Harry stood up quickly, his palms twitching in anger.
"I think this conversation is over now, Professor." Harry's voice was cold, dark in a way that was quite unlike his normal self. Ron and Hermione both stood up. Dumbledore reeled back.
"I just imagine we can spare all the disaster that you three have seemed to have seen," said Dumbledore in a calm voice, standing up as well. Harry laughed loudly then, breathy and near hysterical.
"You want me to change the future? The future that I fought my entire life to fix? I don't think so."
"Harry, maybe he has a point - " started Hermione slowly. Harry glared at her.
"Excuse me? Are you absolutely mad, Mione? What happens if we change things now? Hm, tell me. What happens?"
"Harry, mate, maybe you should take a breath - " said Ron, taking note of Hermione's glassy eyes.
"No, Ron. Tell her to answer me. What happens if we start our old mission now in the 70's?"
"I- I don't know," said Hermione in a small voice.
"Exactly! We don't know what will happen! My entire goddamn life has been a series of moments where I don't know anything. Up until now, I never even knew whether or not I was going to live! Now? I know exactly what the hell I'm going to do. I'm going to get us the hell home. We're going to fix Hogwarts. I'm going to get myself a bloody flat, ask Ginny to move in with me, and join the Auror program. I'm going to become a fully fledged Auror and I dunno, ask Ginny to marry me after a couple years. I'm going to be the best damn godfather to Teddy and then I'm going to be the best damn father to my own kids. I'm going to retire young and spend the rest of that time with my wife. Then, I'm going to die. And I'm going to stay dead," said Harry, laughing in spite of himself at the last line.
"Harry, you can still have all of that!" said Hermione, while Ron stayed quiet, his face a calm mask. In this moment of seriousness, Harry couldn't help but wonder if Ron was a bit annoyed at Harry publically declaring that he was going to marry his little sister.
"No, I can't. Don't you see? Hermione, if we change the future, we can change everything! What if in the new future I don't become friends with you or Ron?" Hermione looked as if she'd been slapped and Ron frowned at the idea. "My entire life has been a constant fray of messiness, disorder, and chaos. My entire life," whispered Harry. He looked at them, his green eyes rimmed with red and dark graying circles beneath them. "But in this life, I have had one constant. You two are the only things that have kept me afloat my entire life," said Harry fighting to make sure his voice wouldn't break.
Harry knew that he'd never voiced his appreciation for his two best friends enough as he took in their pale faces and open mouths. Harry knew he could be an ungrateful, sodding halfwit sometimes.
"I've made my peace with losing my parents and Sirius and Remus and everyone who ever sacrificed their lives for me to make sure that the future will never know evil like we have. It hurts, but I can live with that," said Harry with a slow nod. "But one thing I will NOT jeopardize is the two of you. I would be nothing without you two," said Harry slowly, his head drooping slightly. In a flurry of movement, Hermione rushed forward and enveloped Harry into a hug. Her body shook with sobs and he pressed his face into her shoulder.
"Oh, Harry," she murmured into his chest. She pulled away slowly and wiped away her tears, placing her hand on Harry's cheeks to wipe his tears away as well. Ron walked over as well, pausing for an awkward moment before deciding to hell with it and hugging Harry himself.
The trio stared at each other with bright, stupidly wide grins, ignoring for a second that they had two others in the room with them.
"Sorry, Professor, but you heard the man. We're not changing anything." Surprisingly, the bold statement came from Hermione, who looped her arm through Harry's. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I believe we have a Charms lesson to get to."
Harry and Ron couldn't help the laughs that escaped their throats.
The bell rang signaling the end of Charms and the trio slowly packed up their things, waiting for the crowd of people attempting to leave at the same time to disappear.
"This is the worst fate ever," whined Ron. "NEWT level Charms is a pain in the arse!" Hermione gasped and swat at Ron's arm, but Harry couldn't help but hum in agreement with Ron. Harry had secretly hoped he wouldn't have to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year. Kingsley had already told him that his skills were good enough to get into the training program - all he needed to do was expand his knowledge of spells, really. The three of them walked out, Harry slightly behind his two friends as they bickered about the importance of NEWT's. He watched on fondly with a small smile on his lips just as someone sidled up to him. Harry jumped slightly.
"Oh, sorry, Harry! I didn't mean to startle you," said Lily Evans with a bright grin. Harry's heart beat thunderously in his chest as he attempted to maintain his cool.
"Not at all, mu- Lily." Harry wanted to slap himself in the face. Of course. Try to be cool in front of your mom in vague hopes that she'll like you and you practically call her mum. Way to go, Potter, Harry thought to himself. Lily giggled.
"Did you just say my Lily?" Harry paused before stumbling on his words in an attempt to fix his stupid mistake.
"No, no! Sorry, I was going to say Mu- Matilda! You look just like Matilda! She was an old friend of mine back home… the resemblance is startling," said Harry, furrowing his brows at his own lame explanation. Matilda? Lily nodded with a smile.
"How do you find yourself enjoying Hogwarts so far?" she asked, sounding very formal. Harry thought she made a great Head Girl. He couldn't help but wonder what she would think about him not becoming Prefect or Head himself.
"It's um, great! I really like it. The castle is absolutely gorgeous."
"Isn't it just? I've spent years sitting on the grounds trying to draw it, but I feel like I can never quite capture the whole essence of magic, you know?" Harry nodded, though his conscience jumped. His mother liked to draw? He wondered if she was any good. Harry had always found he liked art back in primary school, though it had been a long time since he'd held a crayon or paintbrush in his hand.
"You like to draw then?" inquired Harry curiously. He vaguely noted that Hermione and Ron were closer to them from before, obviously listening in to the conversation.
"Oh, I do!" said Lily with a grin. She stopped in the corridor, pulling out a notebook from her bag and flipping it open. "They're not great, but they're fun to do."
Harry stared at the pictures in wonder. The drawings weren't the most amazing he'd ever seen - Lee Jordan was quite talented with a quill, after all - but they were really good. Not to mention they were his mum's. So he was a bit biased, but Harry adored them. He flipped through one and ran a thumb over a drawing of Hogwarts with the Black Lake. The smile on his face grew until he was beaming.
"Lily, this is… this amazing!" She flushed, smiling at his praise. "Can I keep one?"
"Um, o-okay. I suppose you can think of it as a Welcome to Hogwarts gift!" she said brightly. Harry swallowed and took the current picture from her notebook, ripping it slowly so as not to disturb the picture.
"Thanks!" replied Harry with a smile. "I'll hang it up right on my wall." Lily laughed at that and shook her head.
"Yes, you do that, Granger. Anyway, I've got a Prefect meeting to get to. I'll see you all in class! Bye!" With that, the eager ginger skipped off. Harry could only stare after her with a small smile.
"Harry?" asked Hermione slowly, putting a hand on his arm. Harry looked at her.
"She liked to draw. My mum liked to draw," said Harry with a goofy grin that made Hermione giggle and Ron snort. He showed the two of them the picture that Lily drew. Harry couldn't help but wonder if the pride he currently felt would be equivalent to that of his parents if he would have ever shown them a picture he drew. Petunia Dursley always cooed at Dudley's creations, pinning them up on the refrigerator. Harry was never cooed at. Most of his drawings ended up in the rubbish bin.
"It's beautiful, Harry," said Hermione with a nod.
"Looks a bit crooked, though, eh?" suggested Ron, peering at the paper with a critical eye. Hermione slapped the back of his head - "Ron!" - and Harry shook his head at the two of them as they continued their bickering.
Some things will never change, he mused to himself as he headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Unfortunately, Harry hadn't really been looking in front of him. If he had, he would have noticed the boy rounding the corner at the same time as him and neither of them would have fallen to the floor.
"I'm sorry!" said Harry as he reached around in a desperate attempt to locate his glasses. He finally found them after a moment, putting them on. His gaze cleared up only to be focused on the sallow form of Severus Snape. Harry sucked in a breath. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking." Harry offered a hand to the boy who looked at him with a judgmental eye. His eye fell on Harry's Gryffindor patch before sneering and getting up himself, picking his bag off the floor.
"If you ever bump into me again, you'll regret it, new kid," spat Snape before heading out the doors, leaving behind Harry and his extended arm. Harry flinched as he felt a pair of arms thrown over his shoulder.
"Ah, I see you've met Snivellus," said Sirius' carefree voice. "Don't worry about tripping. He tends to leave a slippery trail of grease wherever he goes. Now come on! You haven't lived until you've had a treacle tart made by a Hogwarts house elf!"
A/N: Gah, I really need to stop updating this story so sporadically! I shall do my best to update as soon as possible, okay guys?! Hope you liked the chapter! *grins* I have a couple of plans for upcoming chapters including a hint of... VOLDEMORT! *gasp* Let me know how I did on this chapter!