I'm looking for a beta, if anybody is interested. If you don't want to make any long-term commitments, it's fine, you can quit whenever you want. All you need to do is be able to go through a chapter a week— I'm about two weeks ahead right now, so you'll have the whole week to do your thing— The only requirement is an ability to check for flow, plot, and characterization.
The Time Warp Saga
Harry and Draco get stuck in a paradox. Now they have to re-live their Hogwarts years. Over and over. And over. And---
Warp One
Harry Potter wakes up one morning in the body of his ten-year-old self. This time around, he declares, nobody is going to die! (That's a lot harder than you think, Potter. People shouldn't meddle with time.)
When there is a time skip it can be assumed that during that time something equivalent to canon is happening without major changes.
Book 2, Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall; Chapter 10: The Rough Bludger; Chapter 11: The Duelling Club
Warp 1, Year 2 (part 3), Chapter 8: Suspicions
Harry really regretted giving the three Gryffindors a taste for adventure last year. Their adventure last year was completely pointless, and yet here they were, planning on meddling in things that weren't any of their business.
Granted that is sort of was Ron's business, but they didn't really know that yet. So far they'd interrogated Myrtle, been caught and scolded by Percy for lurking in and around the second-floor girl's bathroom, and managed to throw the blame onto Malfoy.
"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Luna sceptically as Ron, Hermione, and Neville explained their theory. "I can't really see that…" Luna had begun to hang around the four Gryffindors. None of the Ravenclaws really liked her, and everybody else in her year had already begun to call her Loony.
"Last year you thought it was Snape and look how that turned out," Harry supported Luna before she could spout any nonsense that Hermione wouldn't take seriously.
"I think it might be a Blithering Humdinger," Luna decided to give her own support anyways.
He looked over to Luna and then nodded slowly. "Right, a Blithering Humdinger— because that's not an oxymoron at all…"
"But how do we prove it?" questioned Ron.
"Obviously you look at the definitions of the words and— oh… are you even listening to anything Luna or I have been saying?"
"There might be a way," Hermione replied, also ignoring the two objections. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking at least fifty school rules, I expect."
"Taking a book from the Restricted Section without permission, stealing some potions ingredients from Snape, brewing Polyjuice Potion, boys in the girl's bathroom, Polyjuicing ourselves, brewing a potion that can knock out students, drugging students, impersonation said drugged students, and entering another house's common rooms… am I missing anything? That's hardly fifty. And danger? I laugh in the face of danger! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"How did you know what I was going to say?" Hermione questioned him with a weird look on her face.
Harry didn't tell her. "Why don't I just go ask Malfoy now?" without waiting for an answer he called across the hall, "Hey, Malfoy! Come over here a moment!"
"What is it, Potter?" he snapped loudly across the hall. "I'm not going over there."
"Well, these three idiots think you're the Heir of Slytherin…" Harry yelled back over the chatter, which was becoming quieter and quieter.
"Really?" Malfoy said with an amused tone. "And what provoked this? I am twelve,you realize? And I'd think a descendent of Slytherin would be a Parselmouth. I'm not a Parselmouth, Weasel, Granger, and Longbottom."
"Are there even any Parselmouths in the school?" Neville enquired.
"Yes," Malfoy replied instantly and gave a final, satisfied smirk at Harry. "Of course there'd have to be if somebody is the Heir of Slytherin! Right, Potter?" the way he said it was unnoticed by the onlookers, but the quintet caught what he was implying.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks Malfoy, I really owe you one," he murmured.
"You're a Parselmouth?" Luna questioned absent-mindedly. He nodded.
"Why didn't you tell us you were a Parselmouth?" Ron almost yelled.
Harry rolled his eyes lazily. "Seriously, Ron. How often does the subject of talking to snakes come up in casual conversation? Now can we drop the subject before somebody else hears?"
"Of course we can, Harry. We wouldn't want anybody to think you're involved the Ministry's Parselmouth Experimentation in the Department of Mysteries."
"Yes," Hermione said with blatant sarcasm. "Heaven forbid somebody think that when they could think he was the Heir of Slytherin or something!" Harry had a feeling that Hermione didn't really like Luna...
"I still think it's Malfoy," Ron stated bluntly and Harry banged his head against the table.
"Yes, so do I. So, what teacher would sign a waver for a book in the restricted section…?"
"They'd have to be really thick—"
When Harry woke up in the morning the first thing that sprung to his mind was Dobby's Bludger. He shot out of bed. "Damn," he muttered. The match was today and he hadn't dealt with Dobby yet! The only thing that he'd asked Malfoy to stop was closing the barrier!
He dressed quickly and took off down the stairs, skipping every other step and eventually accidentally falling into a trick step. "Damn," he said loudly and hoisted himself back up. He brushed himself off and started to run again. When he reached the bottom he spotted Malfoy crossing the Entrance Hall. "Malfoy!" he called breathlessly.
The other time-traveller turned around instantly and raised his wand instinctively. Harry rolled his eyes and Malfoy shrugged as he lowered his wand. "What is it, Potter?"
"The bludger," he panted. "Remember the rouge bludger?"
"Yes I do, Potter. I have a brain you know. I've already ordered Dobby to leave you alone in the most specific way possible."
"Oh," he was surprised. Malfoy usually didn't go out of his way for others. "Why?"
"That bludger came pretty close to hitting me too, you know. It'd be easier for me if I didn't have to deal with dodging a bludger that keeps going back for you. Aren't you going to thank me? He'd probably have already placed the enchantment on it, Brainless Potter."
"Thanks," Harry said mockingly. "And I'll still win the match."
The party in the common room that night lasted until midnight when Percy decided he'd had enough and forced everybody to go to bed. They won the match by a landslide and Luna's roaring lion hat had made an early return.
On the subject of Luna, Harry wondered how she managed to return to the Ravenclaw Tower when she was kicked out of the Gryffindor tower at eleven-thirty— she was shoved out the minute that Percy realized she was there. "No Ravenclaws in the tower," he'd scolded her.
Harry had protested immediately, "But something attacked Mrs. Norris! What if it gets Luna! And it's already after curfew!" but Percy didn't listen. She was a pure-blood, but still, Harry worried about her quite a bit.
The rest of the quintet was conspiring against Malfoy in a corner the entire party. Harry decided that they needed to get lives outside of saving people.
Something was worrying Harry though, and he couldn't quite place his finger on it— that was, until he began to wonder where in the world Colin Creevy was. Apparently, fate did not like making things easy, and Colin was out an about even without Harry in the Hospital Wing, probably taking pictures of the castle at night. He hoped that Ginny—
He couldn't find Ginny! Not that he hadn't already planned for things to run their course, but still— while Colin was supposed to be petrified, Luna wasn't. He vowed that if the poor girl got caught by the loose snake because Harry asked her to come and celebrate with them he would not forgive himself for a long time.
He knew that this was definitely not the time for an attack on a Gryffindor, (or Luna, for that matter); Harry only just managed to catch the snitch from right out of Malfoy's reach. When Colin (and Luna?) is (are?) petrified that night, Hermione, Ron, and Neville would be sure to blame the Slytherin boy.
In the morning he was woken up by Ron and dragged into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "Here's the thing," Ron explained seriously as the Gryffindors exited through the portrait hole, "You and Hermione are the top in our year! We can't brew the potion without you!"
"Yes," Harry insisted as he was pulled into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, "yes, you can! I don't want to be involved in another conspiracy against the people you have a problem with. What if I blamed everything on Lockhart?"
"Then all the power to you, mate."
Luna, who was already in the bathroom when they arrived, laughed. "But Lockhart is behind everything, Harry. Haven't you been reading the Quibbler's latest articles on it?"
Harry smiled happily at her. She had gotten back to her tower safely! Praise Merlin! "Of course I have!" He hadn't, really, and hoped that she'd mention something he could play along with. He made a mental note to stay caught up on what the Quibbler said for conversations with Luna.
"Yesterday Daddy wrote about how he's secretly behind the Rotfang Conspiracy."
Harry looked thoughtful. He remembered the Rotfang Conspiracy a little; the one with gum disease. "Yes, yes that would make perfect sense. It explains why his teeth are always so bright— he's been given immunity against gum disease." he conspired with a smile.
"Ghastly, isn't it?"
"Absolutely horrifying!"
"Harry," Hermione complained. "Can't you two just focus for once? Every time I turn around you're going on about things that don't exist!"
"Yeah," Neville and Ron both coursed their concurrence. Harry and Luna glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.
"I heard that Colin Creevy was petrified," Luna announced after a moment of silence.
"I think we should start that Polyjuice Potion," Hermione replied.
Ginny glued herself to the group in fear, much to Ron's annoyance. After a handful of angry arguments about Ginny's safety, her brother gave up. He just pretended that she wasn't there most of the time. She wouldn't say much— not in front of Harry, at least— so it was quite easy for the five to forget she was there. Harry wondered why she was doing it, but didn't last time, and came to the conclusion that Ginny thought it was all right because they had a first year friend.
The other first years stuck together though. They wouldn't talk to the older years because they felt sure that any one of them could be the attacker. They travelled in large groups, too, and between classes Ginny would linger on the edges of their packs.
"I heard that she's really not a muggleborn at all!" Ernie Macmillan told Hannah Abbot one day as Harry walked by.
"Really?" Hannah questioned.
"Yeah, she was just made to live with muggles because she's a danger to wizard society."
Rumours spread like wildfire and Hermione was widely avoided. Luna and Ginny were the only first years who went within twenty feet of her and Fred and George had taken to clearing the halls. "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin!" they called. "Seriously evil witch coming through!"
"But she has alibis!" Harry announced, standing on the Gryffindor table, to the school during dinner one December evening. "During the first attack we left her almost right in front of the Great Hall! And during the second she was with Neville and Ron in the Gryffindor tower!"
"But Slytherin's monster," one first year in Ravenclaw squeaked. "She was alone long enough to order it to attack somebody!"
"Maybe at the first attack," the second-year admitted, "but she didn't have time at the second one. There's more of a chance that Draco Malfoy is attacking people than Hermione Granger, and trust me, that's a pretty tiny chance…"
This time a third year Gryffindor fought his point, "But I saw her leave to go to the loo at around the time that they guessed Colin was attacked!"
"And," a fourth year Ravenclaw added, "The chances of Draco Malfoy being the Heir of Slytherin are higher than you'd think. His grandfather was at Hogwarts fifty years ago when it was opened and that girl died, and they're an old pureblood family that's all been in Slytherin! And he hates muggle-borns!"
At this Malfoy stood up on his table and announced, "I am not the Heir of Slytherin! I'm twelve, remember? I wouldn't have it in me to set loose a deadly monster! Not for a couple more years, at least. There's more of a chance it's a fifth or sixth year than a second, be it Granger or I that you're accusing."
"Thank you Malfoy," Harry teased from across the hall. "Now take a bow— that was some astounding logic." Malfoy just stuck out his tongue and sat back down. Harry looked around. "You can also note that neither Hermione Granger nor Draco Malfoy can speak Parseltongue. I mean, you'd think that the Heir of Slytherin would speak it…"
"They're probably hiding it!" the first-year that spoke out first said. "It's not like they'd advertise that they're the Heir!"
Harry sighed after a moment of silence. "Who do we know hates all muggles and muggle-borns and was at the school fifty years ago? Hmm…I'll have to think about that one…" he stared at Dumbledore intensely. "Voldemort, you morons. Voldemort possessed Quirrell last year to steal the stone, has it not occurred to you that he might be possessing a student to open the Chamber?"
"But Voldemort—"
"—is the Heir of Slytherin. He's a Parselmouth. He hates all muggles and muggle-borns. He's a more logical choice than two random second years… of course, I can't verify that Malfoy isn't being possessed, but Hermione isn't."
"Right," the fourth-year Ravenclaw laughed. "Potter's just paranoid that Voldemort is out to get him. Now tell us, do you see anybody in a turban around here? No. Nobody is possessed by Voldemort."
He didn't know how to respond. He'd already said too much— Ginny might get suspicious and stop writing in the diary. Of course, just being around her threatened to change too much. She might write in the diary less often… or even more often, you never know. He stepped down from the table and walked out of the Great Hall.
He stormed into the Entrance Hall. Seamus and Dean, who were late enough for diner that they missed the announcement, beckoned him over to the notice board. "They're starting a Duelling Club!" Seamus said excitedly. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind duelling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days…"
"Do you recon Slytherin's monster can duel?" Ron read the sign with interest and commented to the other six. The entire group had followed him out into the hall.
"Nahh," Harry laughed.
"Slytherin's monster is a snake," Luna said like everybody should know it. "It's a Venomous-Lapideus. Daddy wrote an article about them in The Quibbler the other day. They're tiny snakes that look like little stone statues up close, and their bite causes petrifaction."
"Somebody died last time," Hermione argued.
"It could be an allergic reaction to their venom. It's not uncommon."
"I don't think Slytherin would've used something that petrifies people— I think he'd aim for death every time… but I do think it's a snake," Harry informed the two. He hated turning down Luna's weird beliefs. He missed them since she'd met that guy and grounded out in the future.
"That," Hermione looked pointedly a Luna, "would be a perfectly reasonable assumption. Slytherin was a Parselmouth, after all."
"Could still be useful," Neville said on the subject of the duelling club.
At eight o'clock that night they hurried to the Great Hall. "I wonder who'll be teaching us," said Hermione as the edged into the crowd.
"Lockhart," Harry replied instantly, and as if on cue Lockhart waltzed onto the stage followed by Snape.
Harry didn't listen to Lockhart's speech, and only tuned into reality when Lockhart was blasted off his feet by the disarming spell. The Slytherins and Harry all cheered.
"Do you think he's all right?" Hermione squealed and a couple other girls said the same things to their friends.
"Who cares," the rest of the group except Ginny said together.
"I think Snape's a good duellist," Luna stated as Lockhart stood up.
"That was the Disarming spell—"
Harry once again tuned out the lesson. He knew how to duel and he didn't need a fraud to teach him again. The next thing he knew he found himself being paired off with Malfoy again. "Time to split up the Dream Team, I think," Snape sneered at them. The Dream Team… that had potential— he even liked it.
"Face your partners and bow!"
The time-travellers bowed at each other. "Same rules as last time," Malfoy muttered to him and they spread a bit further apart.
"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent— only to disarm them— we don't want any accidents. One… two… three…"
Harry was the first to cast a disarming spell. "Expelliarmus!"
Malfoy quickly jumped out of the way of the red light and cast back, "Expelliarmus!" he parroted.
Harry did the same thing he'd done and also kept a good hold on his wand. He cast back a jelly legs jinx and Malfoy immediately cast a finite. Harry carelessly cast levicorpus (silently, of course) and Snape's head snapped in their direction to see Malfoy dangling upside-down. This obviously brought back some bad memories because Snape cast the counter-curse and Malfoy fell down.
"Potter!" Malfoy complained as he rubbed his head. "Why'd you have to do that?"
"Mr. Potter, where might you have learned that spell?" Snape said venomously from right behind him.
"Uhhmm…" Harry stuttered and racked his brain for a good answer. "A… a book?"
"Is that a question?"
"No! I leaned it from a book…"
"Which book?" Snape inquired with a sneer. Harry guessed that Snape suspected him of thievery or something, because the only place to learn that was Snape's own textbook.
"Ahh…"
"Well?"
"I forget…"
"Detention, Mr. Potter. Tomorrow at seven." Snape stalked off.
"Dammit!" Harry cursed as Malfoy laughed at him. "I hate detentions!"
