Harry Potter and the Rewinding of Time

Chapter 7: Marauders Assemble

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. A little birdy told me that J K Rowling doesn't want to share the deeds, and is keeping them in a safe under 10 metres of titanium reinforced concrete. I really think that is a bit extreme.

-O0O0O-

When Harry woke up, he hoped that he wasn't dreaming. Was he really lying in a comfortable cotton bed, listening to Remus singing in the shower, or was he really lying in his bed at home in the 'old world'? He sighed, and slowly opened his eyes – to reveal that he was lying in a cotton bed, listening to Remus singing in the shower. He pinched himself to make doubly sure that he was not dreaming, then slowly climbed out of bed. His muscles hurt a little from all the flying he had done late last night, but it wasn't too bad. He stretched his limbs just as Remus came into the room, drying his hair.

"Hi Harry. Shower's free." Harry nodded his thanks, grabbed his towel and clothes (while using metamorphmagusism was easier, the old-fashioned method of getting dressed was neater and harder to mess up) and headed to the shower. He smirked. Today was going to be fun.

-O0O0O-

When he walked down to breakfast with Remus after his shower, he felt that his life was too good to be true. So, when he found himself confronted by Lucius Malfoy in the Charms corridor, he wasn't really surprised at all. He simply smiled.

"Hello. If you could please step out of the way, that would be nice." He said it calmly and innocently, however his hand was very close to his wand holster in his belt. Lucius looked like he was going to explode. Harry smiled, obviously expecting an answer. Lucius drew his wand, and pointed it at Harry. Harry's was out before he cast a spell, though.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried. Lucius, though, was a skilled duellist.

"Protego! Stupefy!" he responded.

"Protego! Alarte Ascendare!" The spell blasted Lucius into the air.

"Arresto Momentum! Baubillious!" Lucius cried. A bolt of white lightning shot out of his wand, heading straight for Harry's chest – only for it to bounce straight back at him. Harry dropped the shield he had conjured, and cast his first lethal spell.

"Confringo!" The spell passed through Lucius' quick, weak shield charm and slammed into his chest, exploding. He cried out in pain, but the spell had not been powerful enough. He only had small cuts. He drew back his wand and cast his own first lethal charm.

"Bombarda Maximus!" Harry conjured a silver shield, which deflected the charm into a wall. It exploded, sending debris all over the duelling pair. Remus was standing back, Harry having cast a charm on him which stopped him from participating. The explosion broke the charm, and he ran forward, only for Harry to place the same charm on him again. He groaned in annoyance. "Defodio!" Harry yelled. The spell hit the wall of ice that Lucius conjured, and gouged a hole a couple of inches deep into it. The wall impeded Lucius' ability to cast spells, so Harry cast next. "Incendio Maximus!" The wall melted instantly, and a wall of flame travelled extremely quickly towards Lucius.

"Aguamenti Maximus!" Lucius shouted. The water jet conjured from his wand fought against Harry's wall of flame, but he was losing. Harry sealed his fate when he silently released the spell holding Remus back. Remus' first spell slammed into Lucius, and the flame wall hit him. He cried loudly in pain, and collapsed. Harry removed the flame wall instantly, and yelled for a teacher. Professor McGonagall ran in to see Harry levitating Lucius towards the hospital wing. She saw the tell-tale signs of a duel and sighed loudly. She raised her wand and stunned Harry. Remus spun around, his wand up. When he saw Professor McGonagall, he refused to lower it, and demanded an explanation.

"Why?" The single syllable was laden with danger. Professor McGonagall was astounded by his bravery, but this could not be tolerated. She didn't like to do this, but she had to by Hogwarts law. She tried to stun him, but she wasn't expecting his reaction.

"Protego!" He shouted at her silent attempt. This had her raise her eyebrows, wand still up. Technically, he was allowed to defend himself if he thought he was being wronged. She lowered her wand when it was obvious that he wasn't going to attack her back. She levitated Harry and Lucius, who had fallen when Harry had been stunned, and headed towards the Hospital wing, signalling for Remus to follow her. As soon as he realised where they were heading, Remus opened his mouth. She beat him to it.

"I know it didn't seem like he was hit, but there are curses that are invisible to the naked eye until their symptoms start – and then it is often too late. As headmistress, I have the authority to use veritaserum to find the truth, and I plan to do so." She said as they walked into the Hospital wing.

"You are wrong there, Minerva." Professor McGonagall spun around to see Professor Dumbledore behind her, with that stupid smile he always wore on his face. She raised her wand.

"I would think that even you wouldn't have the nerve to come to Hogwarts, so-called brave wizard that you are. You are supposed to be smart, and here you are – a wanted criminal, walking into Hogwarts like you own the place." She spat. Dumbledore merely smiled wider.

"I do own the place, Minerva. I was found not guilty by the Wizengamot. Therefore, I am Headmaster." Professor McGonagall's mouth opened wide, and Dumbledore smiled even more widely. He turned to Harry, who had just regained consciousness.

"Technically, you don't own the place. Hogwarts is owned only by the heirs to the place, who have the power to reject and appoint Headmasters and teachers without confirmation by the Board of Governors – or to do basically anything they want with the castle. These heirs include the Potter family, heirs to Gryffindor by blood and Ravenclaw by declaration, the Black family, heirs to Hufflepuff by merging with the Smiths, and the Peverell family, heirs to Slytherin by blood. My grandmother was a Peverell, therefore meaning that, as heir to the noble house of Potter, I am also heir to three quarters of the castle – with my friend, Sirius Black, heir to the other quarter. All we have to do is agree, and what we say goes." Harry said. Dumbledore snorted.

"Old tosh. Blood means nothing, and it should not mean anything in society. The heirs to the castle were lost in time. They should not be able to control what is going on." Dumbledore replied. Harry's eyes suddenly lit on fire – literally. It looked like his pupils suddenly burst into flame. Then he spoke, and Dumbledore stepped back a pace at the venom in his voice.

"You are a headmaster. I am an heir. I can kick you out of Hogwarts if I want to – and the wards will obey me." Professor McGonagall and Remus were astounded by the threat, and the flame still burning in his eyes left no doubt that he was serious. Dumbledore, scared, tried to reason his way out of his predicament.

"Harry, my boy, you can't until-"

"-I'm 17? Of age? Is that what you were going to say? No, the castle will obey my orders as soon as I turn 11. And, by the way, I'm not 'your boy'. I'm Harry Potter, and you will call me by my name. I am not anyone's boy but my parents." Remus placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but Harry shrugged it off. He was beyond calming. "I'll have you know, I am going to have a conference with Sirius Black as soon as I am done here to see about your headmastership and banishment from the castle. You better hope he likes you, or you are never setting foot in Hogwarts again." Dumbledore looked pale. Harry turned on his heel and made to exit, but Madame Pomfrey stopped him.

"You are not exiting until I have checked that you have no curses on you." She said firmly. Harry looked like he was going to walk out anyway for a second, but then the fire in his eyes was extinguished and he nodded, walking over to a chair and sitting down. Remus followed him after a look from Madame Pomfrey and sat in the chair next to his. Harry smiled at him, the thanks obvious in his face. Remus smiled back. Lucius was levitated on to a bed by Dumbledore, who was obviously not looking at Harry, who stared daggers at him, before Madame Pomfrey moved towards him to check for curses.

-O0O0O-

When Harry and Remus finally walked into the Great Hall for lunch, all eyes turned towards them. Harry saw Dumbledore looking uncomfortable, and decided to make him a bit more uncomfortable. He walked over to the Gryffindor table and bent down to talk to Sirius. "Sirius, can we talk a second?" When Sirius looked confused, he elaborated. "Hogwarts Business." Sirius nodded, and stood up. James looked at Harry with a question in his eyes. Harry nodded, and James stood up as well. The four walked out of the Great Hall, all eyes following them. As they exited, Harry glanced at Dumbledore to see him as pale as a ghost. He smirked, and led his friends into a room close to the hall. It had a desk in the middle with four chairs, couches around the edges, a fireplace on one of the walls, a dorm on each side wall, and a bathroom coming off the back wall. It also had two doors on the back wall leading to a balcony overlooking a large courtyard, big enough to play quidditch in. The others walked around, taking in the sight. Both Harry and Sirius knew about the room, but only Harry had been here before.

"What is this room for?" asked James. Sirius answered with a tiny bit of pride.

"It is for the Hogwarts heirs. It is designed for four people. However, as there are only two, you are going to be invited to join the club, if I'm guessing correctly. Harry?"

"You're right. Welcome to Heir's Resort." They all looked at him strangely. "Come on, it's a cool name." When everyone else still stared at him, he sighed in defeat. "Ok, what about HQ? For Heir's Quarters or Head Quarters, whatever." The others nodded. "HQ it is. Now, I need to speak to Sirius alone for a few minutes." Remus and James nodded and went out into the courtyard, leaving Harry and Sirius alone.

"What did you want to speak about?" Sirius asked.

"I'm thinking that I should make them heirs too." Sirius frowned, confused. "I can make them heirs instead of me. I was thinking that I should make James heir of Gryffindor, and Remus heir of Hufflepuff." Harry explained. Sirius' face lit up, and he smiled.

"Good idea, but I suggest that you talk to your parents first." He replied. Harry grinned, and with a flash of flame, he was gone.

-O0O0O-

Euphemia Potter was making lunch for her and her husband. Fleamont was reading the Prophet at the table. Suddenly, there was a flash of flame and Harry appeared. She jumped, almost dropping the butter, and turned to him, frowning. His face lit up when he saw the sandwiches she was making (cheese and butter) but, when he turned to her, his face was serious. "Mum, I need to speak with you and dad. About serious matters." This had her frowning.

"Why? You haven't got in trouble yet, have you?" she asked. Harry smiled.

"No. Why don't we talk about it over those cheese sandwiches you are making?" he answered. Euphemia smiled widely; she knew he loved those sandwiches. She walked out of the kitchen, Harry following her. She placed the sandwiches on the table and turned to Harry, who had just greeted his father, and indicated for him to start speaking. He got straight to the point. "I want to make James and Remus heirs of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

-O0O0O-

When Harry apparated back into HQ, Sirius turned towards him instantly. The others were in there too. Harry indicated for them all to sit down. He took the chair with the Ravenclaw crest on it, and Sirius took the Slytherin one. As he expected, Remus took the Hufflepuff one and James the Gryffindor one. He started speaking.

"As you probably know, I am heir to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. With the advice of Sirius and my parents, I have decided to change that. James, you are now heir of Gryffindor. Remus, you are now heir of Hufflepuff." He ignored their looks of astonishment and clapped his hands. Pumpkin juice appeared on the table. Harry took a bottle and drank. He sighed in relief. "Trying to convince your parents to do things is thirsty work." Sirius took a bottle as well, and James recovered enough to take one as well. It took Remus a couple of seconds more before he took the last bottle, shaking his head.

"Why?" he asked. Harry smiled at him.

"I think it would stop me and Sirius making all kinds of stupid decisions. The idea of the heir program is to have four people make the decision. It makes sense to have the maximum amount of people to make the best decision." James and Remus nodded. It made sense. "Now, we have an important decision to make. Dumbledore."

-O0O0O-

Harry paced to and fro. He was currently in Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster in question was sitting behind his desk, worried for what Harry might say. McGonagall was sitting on a chair against the wall, waiting for the Heirs' decision. She knew that she would be Headmistress again if Dumbledore was kicked out, but she had a feeling that that wasn't the case. Finally, Harry stopped in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Dumbledore, the heirs have reviewed your case and have decided to keep you as headmaster." Dumbledore sighed, relieved. But Harry wasn't finished. "However, due to your alleged crimes, one of which was witnessed by myself, we have decided to keep you in house arrest. You cannot leave the castle, unless there is a meeting of the Wizengamot. When said meetings occur, the castle wards will only let you apparate to the Wizengamot chambers, and wards there will stop you leaving there until the end of the meeting. At that time, you will be allowed to return to Hogwarts. Any muggle or magical concealment methods will cause you to be killed instantly by the wards. Also, a new rule has been enacted which means that anyone with a dark mark trying to enter Hogwarts will also be killed by the wards, effective immediately. So mote it be." He said. McGonagall nodded. This was fair. But Dumbledore wasn't happy. This meant that he couldn't direct death eater activities.

"Those crimes were cleared by the Wizengamot!" he shouted. Harry looked at him. He was carrying the full power of the heirs. He wasn't going to be shouted down by a mere headmaster.

"You might not have noticed, but I am not a member of the Wizengamot. The ministry does not have any authority over the heirs, other than laws concerning every citizen. We make our own decisions – and let me tell you, your actions have you under investigation. If we find you guilty, you will be banished from the castle for life. You have been warned." Dumbledore's face was pale again. Professor McGonagall nodded and escorted Harry to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to Dumbledore again. "Professor, we will meet again. The outcome of that meeting relies completely on the outcome of our investigation. One last warning: do not mention this meeting to anyone. If word of our investigation gets to the ministry, they will attempt to shut it down. I do not want to waste time explaining that our investigations cannot be affected by the ministry. If we hear that you have told them, we will dig a lot deeper with our investigation and bring it to the ministry. You know that they will be very interested in a complete investigation – one you can't shut down with money and influence. You have been warned." And with that he left the room.

-O0O0O-

When Harry arrived back at HQ, the others were waiting for a description of what had happened. When he was finished his tale, the other heirs were grinning widely. He then started on some business he had to discuss.

"There are some things we need to talk about." Remus nodded at him to continue. He had been elected as a kind of speaker, and his job was to direct the discussion and stop arguments. He could take part in discussions as well, of course. "I think that we need a name. Just being called the heirs is boring." They all nodded agreement. "I have a name idea. What about the Marauders?" The other heirs pretended to consider the idea, but their faces showed that they liked it. So, when they all nodded agreement, Harry wasn't surprised. That, and the fact that he knew that that was what they had been called in the 'old world'. "Ok, next order of business. I think that we can raise morale in the castle by becoming a pranking operation, not just the heirs." This was met by laughter from Sirius.

"Nice. You do know that we would have agreed even without the façade that is the morale boost?" he asked. Harry grinned back.

"I wasn't sure, so I did it just in case." This made Sirius laugh even harder. By the time he shut up, they had already designated the dorms. Harry and Remus would sleep in one, and James and Sirius the other. They then said goodnight and went to bed, Sirius still chuckling to himself.

-O0O0O-

Harry woke up in the middle of the night to Blaze tapping him with his beak. He had told him to wake him up at 12, and he had. He sneaked out of the dorm and into the common room. He heard the toilet flush and ducked down behind a couch. Sirius came through, yawning, and went into his dorm. He followed a few minutes later, once he had heard loud snores start from the Gryffindors' room. He crept inside and started waving his wand. When he was satisfied, he left and went back to bed.

-O0O0O-

"HARRY!" The shout woke Harry from fitful sleep. He glanced at his watch. It was 5:30. He looked at Remus' bed, and saw that he was awake as well. In reply to his friend's questioning look he shrugged and rolled out of bed. He put on his glasses and walked into the common room. There was no one there. He walked to the door of the Gryffindors' dorm and saw Sirius and James. They were standing there, side by side, but it looked like they were sprinting on the spot, arms pumping. "Get to the door!" said Sirius. He began to slow, triumph on his face, but then his face crumpled. He groaned and began to run again. Harry began to laugh. Remus was looking confused. Sirius heard his laughter. "Harry? You there? Get us out of here!" Harry began to laugh harder, until eventually he waved his wand and they stepped out into the common room, staring daggers at Harry. Remus looked very confused. Harry turned to him.

"Try walking through the door, then going back out." Remus did, and so did Harry. As they tried to get back into the common room, they found that they had to go through a long corridor, but just when they reached the end, they would be teleported back to the start. Remus began to laugh as he got what Harry had done, and he clapped his best friend on the back. Harry performed the spell again, and he found that Sirius and James were laughing at them.

"Sorry, but it looked so funny." Said James. Harry nodded, grinning.

-O0O0O-

Dumbledore arrived at the Wizengamot chambers just on time. The wards were very restricting, but he knew how to change that. The people to do so were right in front of him. "Witches and wizards of the Wizengamot, I called this emergency meeting because of an unspeakably unjust problem I have. I have been restricted by mere children to only ever be in Hogwarts and this Wizengamot chamber. This cannot be stood for. The castle, for reasons unknown, has stuck with these children and obeyed their orders. I can handle the castle. But the same restrictions were placed on the ministry, disallowing me from stepping outside this room. The reason for all this? Crimes which have been cleared by this council! And those children have the nerve to say that they saw me commit the crimes and that they can make their own decisions. These children are rejecting the authority of this council! Who knows what they will do next? We must stop them before they find an excuse to murder someone, or kill muggleborns for sport. We must stop them! They have to be arrested and tried, and then sentenced. Who knows what might happen otherwise?" He took a deep breath. He knew exactly how to whip up the Wizengamot. "I cannot believe that I have to do this, that I have to call children to trial, but it is for the good of the rest of the students. I wish that this was different. I wish that I could change the minds of these students. Alas, I can't. They are so stuck in their ways that they ever neglected to call me headmaster! They called me Albus. And they are only children! Children who have no respect for their elders. Children who have been brought up by imbeciles. They deserve Askaban, for their own protection. I rest my case." By now, the chamber was full of witches and wizards who would support his cause to the end – and that end is sentencing to Askaban.

-O0O0O-

When Harry walked out to breakfast, he saw once more that every eye was on him. However, he ignored them all, and sat at one of the four new chairs at the head table. Professor McGonagall was on his right, and James (who had come a few minutes earlier) was on his left. Remus smiled at him, and he smiled back, before eating a piece of bacon. When he was done eating, he sat back and started a conversation with Professor McGonagall.

"So, Minnie, how's it going? Dumbledore annoying you much?" he asked. She frowned.

"I'm fine, but I'm not sure if you are going to be. Dumbledore called an emergency Wizengamot meeting this morning, and he is very good at manipulating them." Harry shrugged. Dumbledore didn't worry him.

"Dumbledore doesn't worry me. He might be good at duelling and smart, but I can predict his every move – and plan ahead for it. See, right now there are probably aurors on the way to pick up the Marauders for trial. That's our new name, by the way. However, I have planned for this." As he said it, the doors opened and eight aurors rushed in, wands up.

"Harry and James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black! You are to come with us to the ministry for trial for disregarding the Wizengamot!" Harry gave a what-did-I-tell-you look towards Professor McGonagall and turned towards the aurors.

"On what charge?" he asked.

"Disregarding the Wizengamot!" the head auror replied. Harry snorted loudly.

"I said, what charge? Disregarding the Wizengamot is not a crime. Even if it was, we would not be committing it. We are merely performing our own investigation. By the way, when is this trial you are talking about?"

"In two hours."

"Do we have legal representation?"

"I was told that your right to legal representation was suspended due to your crimes."

"By law, if we do not have legal representation, we do not have to face trial until at least a month after we are noticed of it. However, we will go with you; if only to tell the Wizengamot what they did wrong." The auror nodded, and Harry glanced at the Marauders. They were off to the ministry.

-O0O0O-

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