Updated version. Enjoy!
PS Most of the Horcrux stuff I made up and is NOT CANON.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 6:
Remus was up bright and early to lead the two time travelers to Dumbledore's office. Apparently the other Marauders valued their sleep and often weren't even fully functional until noon on Saturdays unless they had something they needed to do.
It seemed that Harry and Julia had arrived a few weeks into school, everyone already starting to be immersed in their classes but not enough there was too much homework yet.
"Don't worry," Remus assured them. "We're still just doing review until the end of the month in most classes."
That made Harry relax a little. He didn't want to stand out any more than they already did by being the only one who didn't know any of the new spells. In fact, Harry wasn't even sure what spells they were supposed to learn in the seventh year. It was likely that he'd already learned some of them due to the war. It would also be incredibly attention drawing if he could do a spell perfectly without any supposed prior training.
"Here we are," the werewolf said, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. They were standing in front of Dumbledore's office, something that apparently would not change in appearance in 20 years.
Remus turned to the two 'transfer students'.
"Do you want me to wait or…?"
Julia waved her hand in dismissal, saving Harry from answering. "No, it's fine." She told the Marauder. "We'll just meet you back in the Common Room once we're done."
"Or the Great Hall," Harry added, not sure how long they'd take. "Depending on the time."
Remus nodded.
"Alright, bye then," he said with a wave as he walked away, leaving Julia and Harry standing alone in the hallway.
"Julia," Harry began after a moment of silence in which the two teenagers simply stared at the stone gargoyle. "You don't happen to know the password, do you?"
It took a good ten minutes of guessing different sweets before Julia finally said, "Jelly Slug," and they were finally allowed to enter.
"You're here," was the first thing Dumbledore said when the Gryffindors arrived, barely looking up from whatever he was writing.
"We told James that Harry was his cousin," Julia told the older man without so much as a greeting as she sat down in a chair in front of his desk. Harry took the one next to her, gazing at the girl with an odd sort of curiosity. She spoke as if she were doing a business transaction; emotionless, cold and matter-of-factly.
Dumbledore nodded, apparently done with his letter as he gave both teenagers a long look.
"You've met Mr. Potter then," he commented. Harry nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll have to explain the situation to his parents."
Julia nodded.
"We told him that we knew his mother."
Dumbledore gave her a somewhat amused look.
"Didn't I say not to draw too much attention to yourselves?"
"Well that became rather difficult when you decided to announce our arrival to the whole school," Julia countered coolly.
Dumbledore chucked, "I suppose you're right, although I think it might have caused more problems later on if you two appeared out of nowhere without an explanation."
Julia simply nodded again at the headmaster, her expression carefully blank.
Harry watched the entire interaction between the two with interest, doing his best to find out anything he could about the girl who'd saved his life. He found that so far he had discovered nothing. She was too still, too robotic. Not so much around the Marauders but with him and Dumbledore? She might as well have been a machine for all her expression.
"I suppose we should discuss the best course of action," Dumbledore said, pulling Harry out of his thoughts. Both teenagers nodded in agreement. "In terms of your story," Dumbledore continued. "I think the finer points should really be discussed amongst yourselves." His eyes twinkled over his half-moon spectacles. "Though I would suggest leaving out the time traveling bit to any friends you might make."
Harry almost laughed at that. Who would they tell anyway? He could just imagine what the Marauders would think of that. Hey James! I'm actually your future son! Surprise!
Yeah, Harry was sure that would go down well.
"As long as you two keep your heads down, you should be fine." Dumbledore said. "Durmstrang is also known for its advanced magic so don't worry too much if you are ahead of any of your classmates. As long as you keep calm, you two should be more than capable of getting through this without much or any suspicion. If you have any questions, just come to me."
Harry nodded, slightly relieved that he wouldn't have to explain his level of magical training.
"Now," Dumbledore went on, "turning our minds to the matter of the Horcruxes." Harry noticed Julia sat up slightly. "You said there were 7?"
This brought about yet another nod from both time travellers, Harry wondering again for a moment why Julia had never seemed too surprised about this whole thing. Perhaps she already knew, he reasoned. How though?
"You said they were the Hufflepuff Cup, the Slytherin Locket, the Ravenclaw Diadem, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, his dairy, his snake, Nagini and you, correct?" Dumbledore asked, directing his question at Harry.
"Yes," Harry agreed. "Though I'm not one anymore," he told them. "Death fixed that."
"There was another," Julia mentioned, making Harry look at her in confusion. What other? "Though he would not be made yet." He? "He was a teacher here in our first year," Julia went on. "Professor Quirrell."
Harry's eyebrows shot up. Quirrell? A Horcrux? He supposed that made sense when he thought about it, especially considering Voldemort hadn't known that Harry was a Horcrux so he would've thought he was still missing one. Though how had Julia known about Quirrell? How did she know about any of this?
"We also don't need to worry about Nagini," Julia added. "Voldemort hasn't made her yet."
Now it was Dumbledore's turn to nod thoughtfully.
"And would any of these be in the same place they are going to be in the future?"
Harry was about to speak when Julia cut him off, not even paying attention to the dark haired boy.
"Well the Diadem should be in the Room of Requirement," Julia began. "And the Ring should be with Marvolo Gaunt."
"Don't wear it though," Harry interrupted urgently, earning a look from Julia as he warned Dumbledore. "It's cursed."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore replied with something of a smile. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned back to Julia. "And the others?"
Harry was about to respond with an "we don't know" when Julia surprised him with an actual answer. An answer she shouldn't have had.
"I honestly don't know about the Locket," she told him. "But the Diary should be under the school, in the Chamber of Secrets."
"What?" Harry blurted out in his shock. "How?"
Julia's voice was just as cold as always when she turned to him and began to explain that according to the "research" she had apparently done (Harry wasn't sure you could do research on a topic like this) back in their own time, Voldemort had placed it there for safekeeping until their first year when Lucius had visited the school on "business" and opened the Chamber to retrieve the Diary before giving it to Ginny.
"Voldemort taught him just enough Parseltongue that he could open and close the Chamber when the time was right without waking the Basilisk." Julia finished, Harry noticing that she said the Dark Lord's name without flinching. How did she know all this?
"Very good," Dumbledore commented, making Harry start. He forgot the headmaster was there for a moment, so caught up in what Julia was saying and wondering about the girl that he hadn't realized the other man was still in the room with them. "And the Cup?"
"Not totally sure about that one," Julia admitted. "There are a few options, the most likely being that it's hidden in a trap under the Three Brothers' graves in Godric's Hollow."
Harry almost asked how she knew that before biting his tongue, realizing she would give him another vague answer that just confused him more.
"Alright," Dumbledore said. "This is a wonderful start."
"We should go after the diary first," Harry surprised everyone, including himself, by saying. "If we can kill the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor then we can use it on all the other Horcruxes."
Julia nodded in agreement.
"We know where some of the other ones are anyways. We might as well get a weapon to destroy them before going after them. We don't need all the Horcruxes just lying around until we manage to destroy them for anyone to find." Julia paused for a moment, seemingly thinking. "Besides, if we start with the Diary, we can stay under the radar. If we went after another one, like the Ring for example, that might alert Voldemort of our plan and then we would be left without the element of surprise and most likely without the Horcruxes, since he's definitely smart enough to move them."
"Fantastic," Dumbledore praised the teenagers. "I suppose you can go back to your Common Room now. I'll contact you with any further developments and a more concrete plan once I get in contact with the other Mr. Potter's parents."
"Uh, sir?" Harry asked uncertainly as Julia began to stand, a sudden thought occurring to him. "I no longer know Parseltongue."
For the first time since Harry had met her, Julia seemed genuinely surprised.
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, as if trying to comprehend what he had just said. "How did you just lose it?"
Harry shrugged helplessly, feeling rather useless. "When Voldemort destroyed the piece of his soul in me, he also destroyed everything else that connected us, including the Parseltongue."
Harry had been relieved when he first realized that it was gone. He had discovered he could no longer speak it the night before, trying to figure out if Voldemort had left him anything when he destroyed the Horcrux in Harry. Now he just felt annoyed that it had left them just at the moment they needed it most.
"Great," Julia replied sarcastically, lowering herself back into the chair next to him with pursed lips. "Just great."
"Well, we'll just have to figure out a way to get around that," Dumbledore said, ever the optimist apparently in his young(er) age. "Until then, focus on classes." His eyes sparkled behind his glasses. "Wouldn't want you falling behind now, would we?"
Harry nodded and stood up before realizing that the blonde remained in her chair.
"Julia?" he asked.
"You go on," she told him. "I just need to speak to Dumbledore for a moment." He stared at her. "In private."
"Off you go," Dumbledore added, leaving Harry with no choice but to leave and sulk outside.
What was so important that it couldn't be discussed in his presence? Harry and Julia had traveled here together and therefore had to stay together. They couldn't afford to keep secrets. The only way to win the war was if they worked with one another, which Julia clearly was not planning to do.
Harry sighed and shook his head, climbing down the stairs, past the stone gargoyle and into the slowly filling hallway. It seemed that some of the students were finally out of bed, paying Harry no mind as they went about their own business, which was how Harry liked it. He didn't want to speak to anyone right now.
He was upset. No, not upset really. Harry was angry actually. He had just finished fighting a war, just won it, only to be thrown back into it all over again; only to have to start over once more. He had no guarantee they could win again. He supposed there were upsides to this whole situation, like meeting (and hopefully saving) his parents and stopping a lot of death before it happened but still, there were so many unaccounted for variables. What if they messed up and made everything worse? What if more people died because of them? What if they didn't win?
That train of thought made Harry's head hurt and his stomach twist into knots. It wasn't fair, he wanted to complain, but then again, it never was. At least this time the entire outcome of the war didn't rest on only him. At least this time he had someone else to shoulder the responsibility with; though he found himself wondering after all that transpired if Julia could really be trusted with it.
Julia returned to the group around noon, just in time to meet them in the Great Hall for lunch.
Harry had gone back to the Common Room while she was with Dumbledore, spending time getting (re)acquainted with Sirius and Remus and trying to get to know James and his mother.
Lily Evans was a striking young woman with soft features and a kind look about her. Her hair was thick and dark and impossibly red and her eyes were the same shade as Harry's were when he didn't wear the eye drops. He had stared when he first met her, causing James to remind him that Lily was his girlfriend and not to get any funny ideas. Harry almost laughed at that. James's implication that Harry fancied Lily couldn't be further from the truth.
Lily was funny and welcoming and more than anything, incredibly smart. Harry liked everything about her and as far as he could see, so did everyone else. He felt an odd sort of pride thinking of how admired his mother was. This was his mother, the woman who had given Harry life, and she was wonderful.
Julia seemed to like her as well, though Harry was never sure with her. She was a good actress, that much was clear (to Harry at least). He could never tell what she was thinking. One minute she was cold and expressionless with him, the next she seemed almost warm and caring towards the Marauders. True, she had been a bit standoffish with them at first but by the time lunch was over she was joking and laughing with them as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Harry wasn't sure if it was or if she was just really good at faking it.
For him, it was easy to get along with the boys and Lily. They were witty, generally likable and entertaining. He was careful though, not wanting seem too eager or to get too attached too quickly to people he only barely knew. They were different in the future. Harry didn't want to have one image of them only to realize that he was completely wrong the whole time.
That's why he made an effort with Wormtail.
During the entire tour the Marauders and Lily decided to take them on, he did his best to observe the boy without making it obvious. He did not think he was a Death Eater yet, did not think he was currently plotting to kill his best friends, but Harry could never be sure. Still, it was a bit sad to see how pathetic the boy really was in his youth and Harry almost took pity on him. In fact, later, he promised himself he would.
He hadn't forgotten Wormtail's sacrifice in the Malfoy Manor. He had shown Harry mercy and paid for it with his life. Harry knew about life debts and that that was what could've been at work there but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. He would do his best to steer the boy away from Voldemort's control, though he doubted it would do him any good. If Wormtail was capable of betraying Lily and James once, he was capable of doing it again. Still, Harry would try.
He hadn't wanted to. In fact, he had wanted to rip the mousy haired boy's throat out last night but after thinking about it, he decided that it would do no one any good to hold a grudge over something that hadn't even happened yet. He would be wary, suspicious of Wormtail even, but he would give him the benefit of the doubt.
Even so, if Wormtail was even a toe out of line Harry would kill him. Not for revenge, but to protect his parents.
Well, at least that's what Harry told himself.
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Thanks,
~Liliana
