Oh wow, look, I actually have another chapter posted. I'm a mess, truly.


Harry was sweating. He could feel it in a long trickle going down his back before it fell into the waistline of Dudley's pants, belted tight around his bony waist.

He had gotten the message that Dumbledore wanted to see him right in the middle of Quidditch practice and his body still felt like an oven from the strenuous exercise. The team had been practicing extra hard ever since they got the news that Snape would be the referee for the next match. Considering Ron was convinced Snape was the one who tried to knock him off of his broom and Harry was convinced that Snape was trying to steal whatever was hidden under the trap door he was quite weary of the man.

He absently wondered who else had sat in this chair before him. Students who had gotten in trouble usually had to go to their Heads of House, so he assumed it was only the worst of the worst who came here. Since he and Ron had stopped their erroneous treatment of Pansy months before, he doubted it was for that.

At the thought of Pansy, he flinched. He still wasn't sure why he and Ron had done anything like that. If Pansy was right, it was because they hadn't seen her and her friends as real people. He wondered if maybe that was why the Dursleys hated him the way they did; because they didn't see him as a person.

That thought train was interrupted by a gentle whoosh in the corner of the room. Harry turned his head to see Dumbledore standing there, decked out in violently purple and orange robes. He swept over to Harry, and behind him, Harry saw Professor McGonagall with Scabbers in her hands, encased in a glowing green cage and a guilty look in her eyes.

...What was going on?

Professor McGonagall sat off to the side, and Dumbledore settled himself in front of him. Unknown to Harry, Pansy had been in this exact position a few months ago. Although with Snape as the one to her side. McGonagall sat the cage on top of the desk before folding her hands in her lap

"Harry, we have something to tell you." McGonagall started. She made a small choking sound and turned to Dumbledore, who seemed more than willing to take over the conversation.

"Harry, when your father was young he had three best friends. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black." Dumbledore paused and searched Harry's face for something. For what, Harry didn't know. Did he expect Harry to recognize any of these names? When Harry didn't make any sign he knew what Dumbledore was talking about, he continued.

"As the war effort drew on, your parents became widely recognized fighters and targets for all those on the side of the Dark. When your mother fell pregnant with you, it was decided that your parents would have to go into hiding. They were moved into their house in Godric's Hollow and their home was placed under the Fidelius charm. Under that charm, their location would only be able to be found out if their Secret Keeper told because their location was now buried into their soul."

Harry felt something like knowing grow within him, but it wasn't knowledge that he wanted. It was an awareness that happened much too often nowadays. With that awareness, he felt something spark in him. Something very bad.

"Your parents had a choice to make. Remus Lupin, they feared, was more susceptible to the manipulations of the Dark Lord. Peter Pettigrew was loyal. But Sirius Black was James closest friend and, therefore, the obvious choice."

"And as the story goes, Sirius Black immediately went out to the Dark Lord to disclose your parent's location. The Dark Lord killed your parents, attempted to kill you, and disappeared. Enraged by his failure, Sirius tracked down Peter who begged him for mercy before Sirius blew up the street killing several muggles. All that was left of Peter was a finger...and that story, as we now know, is a lie."

Dumbledore stopped to take a drink of water, and all Harry could think was what type of man would take a bloody sip of water in the middle of a tale like this?

Dumbledore set the glass down. McGonagall tapped impatiently against his desk and Harry could feel that the trail of sweat that had trickled down his spine had dried. Perhaps the heat that was growing inside of him had burned it away.

"So...the truth is?" Harry prodded, as it seemed Dumbledore was going to keep him in this dramatic pause indefinitely. He reminded him of Lavender.

"The truth is that we were given a tip by someone with in-depth information about the Death Eaters. Then we followed through on this tip, and as it turns out, Peter Pettigrew is alive. The truth is that this information calls that entire story into question, especially as instead of revealing himself, Peter instead decided to live the last ten years of his life in hiding as a beloved family pet."

Professor Dumbledore tilted his head, and Harry suddenly knew why Scabbers was in the room. He turned to look at the rat...man...rat...rat man. Scabbers had always been a rather underwhelming pet. Harry really had no particular feelings towards the animal. Ron was caught up in an odd love-hate relationship with it. On one hand it was his pet. On the other hand, he was just another item on the long list of hand me downs Ron hand been given his entire life, another reminder that nothing Ron had was truly his.

Now, though, now Harry had some feelings towards him. He couldn't place quite what they were, but this man may have had something to do with his parent's murder.

"We wanted to tell you before we turned Peter in. This will be a media circus of course, and we didn't want you to suddenly be caught in the middle of it without any pretext. Sirius will be re-trialed-"

"In order to be re-trialed, he would have had to be given a trial in the first place," McGonagall scoffed.

"Now Minerva..." Dumbledore chastised.

"I'm just saying if we had been in America or France this wouldn't have happened. The system is flawed," she snapped.

"Humans are flawed, and they've stumbled as much as we have."

Professor McGonagall's lips thinned, and Harry sat back in his seat. He had the feeling this was about more than just his parents.

Dumbledore turned to him and smiled.

"You can go now, Harry. Rest assured we will keep you updated."

So Harry left. But he left with his thoughts swirling and a spark inside of him, and as these thoughts continued they were fed to the fire like kindling until Harry was consumed in an inferno.


TOF


"Pansy?" Ron was laying on the couch opposite from her with a book hovering above his head. Pansy sat with Sally, finishing up the last of her charms essay. Pansy rued that Older hadn't paid much attention to her schoolwork in her timeline. It left Pansy at a deficit when it came to much of her theory homework and it was becoming steadily more apparent that if she didn't step up her game her position near the top of the class would be in danger.

She may have gotten the prefect badge the first time around, but that was against girls like Millicent and Daphne who didn't want to appear too smart so families didn't see them as a threat. Most of the girls in Gryffindor were better than that.

"Yes, Ron?" she finally remembered to reply. Pansy started to tear the pages out of her journal, which helpfully regenerated as she put the papers together to form a scroll.

"Who is Nicholas Flamel?" He asked. Pansy looked up. He was reading his Herbology textbook, so she knew he probably hadn't come across the name in there.

Pansy's eyes narrowed. "Why do you need to know?"

"I read his name in my book."

"You're reading a Herbology book."

"Not this one, my History of Magic book." Ron was now sitting up, her posture a comfortable slouch as he leaned forward and fixed her with his bright eyes and an easy smile. Pansy had to admit, he was getting much better at dodging her. She guessed that he was getting tired of getting so easily outsmarted in their conversations.

"Well, I guess with your family's financial issues you'd want to follow in his footsteps then?" Pansy stared at him, a challenge in her eyes. Ron barely even flinched, He was too focused.

"Nicholas Flamel," Pansy started, watching as Ron leaned even closer, "Invented the Sorcerer's Stone. It can be used to turn any metal into pure gold and more importantly, can be used to create the Elixer of Life."

Older was very well versed in all of the uses of the Sorcerors Stone. In her timeline, the Dark Lord was hard at work in creating it to extend the lives of his most faithful servants. Even Younger shuddered at the thought of Bellatrix Lestrange living forever.

Ron was frowning now, a truly thoughtful expression on his face.

"Why isn't this in any of the history books? I mean, they'll mention him once or twice, but nothing too in-depth."

Pansy shrugged, a common habit that she had picked up from her time in the muggle world but that her training made look delicate. "Well, first he made it over six hundred years ago. His invention is in no one's recent memory but his. And second, because that's very popular magic and putting it in the public eye too much might give people the wrong idea."

Not people like Pansy, probably. She already had the memories of two wars in her mind and she wasn't looking forward to going through another one. Humans weren't naturally peaceful. She'd be damned if she were going to extend her life just to go through even more.

Ron still looked curious, but now he looked a bit accusatory as well.

"Why do you know about it then?" He snapped. A slow smile spread across her face.

"You'd know about it too if you still had access to your family libraries."

The tips of Ron's ears turned red, and Pansy reveled in the fact that she still had some effect on him. Before Ron could retort, Harry came bursting through the portrait door with a very conflicted look on his face. It reminded Pansy of Older's memories of him in the future when he would pace back and forth over the battle strategies Ron and his team produced for him.

Ron jumped up from his seat with a grin on his face.

"Mate, Pansy-"

"Did you two know about Sirius Black?" Harry demanded. His fists were shaking as his mouth seemed to twist and distort. Pansy was torn between comforting him, slapping the sniveling brat, and cowering in fear.

Ron blinked slowly, but he almost subconsciously moved in front of Pansy as if to protect her from Harry's wrath. She thought the gesture was cute if vastly misguided.

"Everyone knows about Sirius Black, mate." Ron didn't dare move from his position in front of Pansy, but he still held his hand out towards Harry as if he were calming a wild animal. A moment later, Pansy could see why. Even with her blocked view, she could see Harry's magic, whipping around him as though he lived in a hurricane. It burned white like the hottest of flames and she was suddenly afraid, so afraid for Ron.

She rose from behind him slowly while Harry and Ron spoke.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Harry pleaded, but Pansy was not to be fooled by his sad tone. His magic was still poised to attack, and it had only grown larger.

Others in the common room had finally noticed the apocalyptic event about to happen. Unfortunately, Harry was blocking the way to the steps. Also, unfortunately, none of the upperclassmen seemed to have guts enough to step in. Pansy glanced around for Percy, but he was nowhere to be seen. She turned to the top of the steps to see him standing there instead, hurriedly moving curious boys away from the entrance. Away from the danger. Away from Harry.

"We thought you knew, everyone knows why wouldn't you?" Ron shouted. The sound of Harry's magic was like a wind gale. A small twitching movement caught her eye.

"Goddamnit," she swore. His magic was now spreading through the common room like a forest fire, catching onto individual pieces of furniture. Any moment now, pieces would start flying. Pansy whipped out a couple of shields, sending them towards the huddled group of Gryffindors in the corner of the room.

"I thought, I thought it was just Voldemort being evil. But it wasn't true. People just keep lying to me and keeping things from me. You're just like the Dursleys. I'm just like the Dursley's." Harry shouted. Now tears were falling down his cheeks, and every time his voice raised the furniture got an extra push.

People were flinching behind the shields Pansy had put up. She had no idea where this was coming from. The Harry Older remembered during her school years knew Potter as the type to through simple, nonmagical bitch fits and then go sulk in the corner somewhere or take it out on Draco when he provoked him. This Harry was unstable. Then again, this Harry was eleven and the first Harry was thirteen when he found out.

"Pansy!" She turned to see Sally at the top of the steps, casually holding up a shield to protect the other girls from the storm that was clearly about to go down. The look in Sally's eyes very clearly said, "I blame you for this, do something."

"Ron, do something." Pansy jabbed Ron in the ribs even as she ducked to avoid a flying quill.

Ron looked nervous. Harry's voice was now drowned out by the sound of his own magic. He looked like he was ranting now, even as he cried in the middle of the room.

"He won't be able to hear me," Ron shouted back. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Then amplify your voice. Honestly, Ron, use your brain!" Pansy sneered.

Ron barely seemed to pick up on her tone, and instead simply lifted his wand to his throat.

"Sonorus." Pansy saw the pulse of purple that engulfed his vocal cords. Ron seemed to shake himself for a moment, before making himself stand straight. An air of steely determination settled about him.

"Harry, calm down." Ron's voice cut across the room, but Harry seemed to ignore it. He was no longer ranting, but his magic still swirled about him in a deadly storm.

"Harry, calm down right now. You're scaring everyone. Harry!"

That seemed to get through to him. A spell broke, and the wind stopped. Every piece of furniture that had been up in the air dropped to the ground with a very sudden thud. But Pansy didn't care. She left the other students to erect their own shields and ran towards Hary. He looked so small and scared, like the first time she had met him. He was on the ground, his head buried into his hand. She got to her knees beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Not even a moment later she felt Ron on his other side.

There was shouting now. Pansy looked up at Ron with wide eyes.

"We need to get him out of here, now."

He nodded resolutely at her. Together they hurriedly coaxed Harry into standing up and rushed him out of the Common Room. Pansy wasn't even surprised when Sally appeared by her side with all of their bags slung around her shoulders.

"Where are we going?" Ron grunted under Harry's weight. He didn't weigh too much, but he wasn't putting a lot of effort towards his own movement and Ron wasn't exactly made of muscle at the moment.

"Room of Requirement," Pansy replied. he turned to Sally and she nodded, already going ahead of the group.

By the time they finally reached it, both Pansy and Ron were exhausted, but Sally had the room ready and was talking to a house elf about some snacks.

They set Harry down on one of the couches where he immediately curled up into a ball. Pansy left him alone for the moment, choosing instead to grab Ron and Sally and drag them away into a corner of the room.

"Okay, we have to figure out what we're going to do."

The others nodded in agreement, and Sally adopted a deeply worried look on her face.

"Do any of us know what happened?" she asked. Ron shook his head.

"No. He was yelling something about Sirius Black, though. Seems like he just found out about all that, and I'm guessing he thinks we were keeping it from him." This was one of the rare times Pansy had seen Ron, at this age at least, look so serious.

"But we weren't. Sirius Black is common knowledge, we all kind of assumed that he'd just know." Sally said. From the significant look Sally gave her, she knew that they were both aware that there were things about Sirius Black that weren't such common knowledge, but what would two first year Gryffindors know about that, anyway?

Pansy felt her stomach turn. This wouldn't have happened if she had just kept her mouth shut and waited until Harry was more emotionally stable to let this little tidbit out into the air.

"We're just gonna to have to talk to him. Get some food in him first, ask him why he's so upset, yea?" Ron patted them both on the shoulders and they all turned as one back to where Harry was curled up. The house elf had come back and left a large pot of tea along with some sandwiches and biscuits.

Pansy sat beside him and got him back up into a sitting position. She noted with some satisfaction that he wasn't as skinny as he was the first time she met him, but maybe she could get him some nutrition potions or something of the sort.

Older and Younger were in perfect synchrony. This boy needed taking care of.

She loaded a plate with sandwiches and biscuits for him, along with the sole treacle tart the house elves had known for some reason to put on the tray. Pansy even made up his cup of tea, two sugars and a splash of lemon, just how he liked it.

They all ate in silence, but the only one who ate with any enthusiasm was Ron. Pansy didn't let anyone speak until she'd made sure that Harry had eaten his sandwich, half of his tart, and drunk at least a few mouthfuls of tea. With all of the magic he had just expended, he'd need the energy.

"So, Harry, um, what happened?" Sally asked, nervously tugging on a piece of hair.

There was a moment of silence before Harry began to speak.

"Dumbledore he...he called me to his office. Told me about my godfather, Sirius Black." He said. Harry stopped and took another long sip of his tea.

Ron chose this moment to speak up. "Yeah, it's common knowledge mate, didn't really think to bring it up."

"Yes," Pansy added in, fully aware she was about to step in it. "It's not considered polite in good society to bring up the cause of your parent's death."

"He didn't kill them," Harry whispered.

So he related everything that Dumbledore had told him, along with a few opinions of his own. Ron was on the edge of his seat, completely riveted and appropriately disgusted when Harry said that his rat was actually Peter Pettigrew in disguise.

"The blokes seen me naked!" He exclaimed at one point.''

Pansy sat at the edge of her seat for a different reason. She perched there, her back ramrod straight and her expression appropriately interested, but she paid more attention to his expressions than his words.

Harry seemed more invigorated and less sad the more he spoke about it, but the anger remained. She could see it, Older could see it. The type of anger in his eyes was the kind that changed someone.

She wondered how it would change Harry, to have such a deep anger and feelings of betrayal at such a young age. But of course, he would have his godfather now, and that's what she wanted for him. A bit of his family to give him the love he so desperately needed.

We should've known that our every action would come with a consequence. Who knows all that we've changed now.

Younger shivered. If the loss of a bit of Harry's innocence now was the price for his greater happiness in the future, she would make the same decision every time. That is if she couldn't put her already tainted soul in the crossfire first.

All for the greater good.


Yes, oh yes, I have another chapter posted. I've also begun posting on ao3 with this story as well, though it's a bit different and better over there for the previous chapters because I can't stop editing. Although I'm actually not sure anymore if I actually replaced the chapters here with the content over there. I have another couple of chapters already written up, I just have to edit them. I'm also working on like three other independent projects so...yeah.

bluecimmers - Thank you. I love Pansy, and I hope my time travel fic continues to suit your fancy.

MuggleCreator - Thank you.

the hope in that darkness - Yes, I'm trying to and will continue to try to differentiate my time travel fic from others. I want Pansy to continue to feel the ramifications of her decisions.

Ariely - Your English is brilliant, don't have a worry. Yes, it seems a bit divisive on the whole Hermione as an athlete thing. I have my reasons for it.

Slytherin Potter - I'll try my best with my incredibly slow updates XD

GoldenPiggy - We'll see about just where Ginny ends up. After all, even with Pansy's influence, or because of it, Harry still ended up in Gryffindor. Then again Hermione ended up in Slytherin. Also, maybe I'll do another challenge and you could win an one shot of your specifications for Percy and Pansy.

See you until next time!