Chapter 8

The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

Ron's bad mood eased up the moment they entered the Hogwarts dining hall. The smell of bacon, steaks, lamb chops, casseroles, mash potatoes and various pies and puddings filled up the air. The trio immediately took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table and Ron quickly piled up his plate with everything within his reach and began eating.

Hermione tutted with disgust as she observed Ron's tableside manners. "Honestly," she said to Ron. "You're already fourteen years old. Grow up!"

"Vut fiy yam frowin wup," said Ron. His mouth at that time was full with lamb chop and mash potatoes. "Wat far fiur falkin afout?"

Bits of food flew out of his mouth as he spoke.

"Speak English, Ron! I couldn't understand a word you say. And stop talking with your mouth full! You're spraying the food all over the table!"

Ron swallowed his food and said, "I said I am growing up. What are you talking about?"

"Your tableside manners," said Hermione. "You're acting like you haven't taste food for two months straight."

"I had breakfast this morning," pointed out Ron.

"Then act like you had one!" exclaimed Hermione. "Honestly, can't you be like Harry? Look at him. At least he-, wait!" She stared at Harry. "Since when you like apple pie, Harry?"

Harry who took the role as a silent observer stared down at his plate. On it was a half eaten apple pie. He then turned to look at Hermione. "Since forever?"

"No, it's not!" interjected Hermione. "Since our first years I never saw you touch an apple pie before. It will always be something like the kidney and steak pie or treacle tart."

"Well, maybe I have decided to try something new," said Harry. Using a knife, he cut the slice of pie, jabbed the pieces with a fork and put it in his mouth. "Anyway, this is much healthier than the alternative. Important especially for an old guy like me."

Hermione continued to stare at Harry. "Right. An old guy like you," she said sarcastically. "Since when the age of fourteen is considered old? And you never really use a fork and a knife when eating a pie before."

Harry nearly slapped himself in the face. He had forgotten that despite possessing the mentality of a 92 years old man, he was now in a body of a teenager. "It was just an expression, Hermione," he said hastily. "You should be thankful that I don't have dementia."

"You're too young to have dementia, Harry. Oh, well. At least you have proper manners compare to this one who now sits beside me."

Ron took another huge swallow of his food. "Hey!"

No sooner had she stopped talking, the trio heard feet shuffling. Fred, George and Lee Jordan who were sitting a little bit further from them before coasted closer and joined the trio.

"Can't help but hear everything you said, Hermione," said George, grinning.

"But while your criticism towards our dear old brother was spot on," said Fred.

"You might want to consider the sorry state of your empty plate," finished George.

Hermione looked down at her plate and just realized she had spent the last few minutes criticising Ron and interrogating Harry that she totally forgot to have her lunch. Ignoring the snickering made by twin and their close friend, she gingerly doled the beef casseroles onto her plate and began to eat.

"Attagirl," said Fred. "You know it would be a poor repayment for all the effort the house elves put in preparing these fine dishes if you refuse to eat them."

Hermione nearly sprayed her food the moment she heard what Fred just said. "House elves? What do you mean house elves?"

"You shouldn't have mentioned it, Fred," said Ron, shaking his head. "You really should not have mentioned it."

"Ah, right," said Fred as he watched Hermione with great apprehension. "I forgot."

It was a well known fact on how sensitive the issue of the house elf was to Hermione ever since the tragedy that arose at the Quidditch World Cup. She had never quite forgotten Winky and her master's treatment towards the poor house elf.

Ignoring Ron, she stared, horror-struck, at Fred. "There are house elves here?" she asked. "Here at Hogwarts?"

Fred sighed. "Oh well. Better to tell the truth than keep on lying. Continue Brother George. Let the light of the enlightenment shine on those we deem lesser."

George said, "As thou wish, Brother Fred." He turned to Hermione. "Yes there are house elves in Hogwarts. Lots of them. Nearly a hundred methinks."

"But-, but-, but I never seen one!" said Hermione.

"Well, they hardly left the kitchen by day, do they?" said Fred.

"Absolutely right my dear Fred," said George. "They usually come out at night to do a little bit of cleaning, lighting up the fireplace, do the laundry and so on."

"We thought that being the cleverest of your year, you would have already figured it out," said Lee Jordan.

"No, I haven't," said Hermione, irritated. "How would I know? Filch-."

"What? Do you think Filch did all those?" asked Fred. "Why do you think Dumbledore only employs one caretaker to take care this one big huge castle? No pun intended. Come to think of it though, one could think that Hogwarts is in severe budget cuts that they don't have any money to employ more."

"One caretaker," said George.

"One gamekeeper," pointed out Lee Jordan.

"And one living dead teacher," said Fred, referring to Professor Binns.

"That's enough!" said Hermione. "Now about the house elves. Like I said, I have never seen one. I take it this is one of your jokes or pranks, sort of."

"It's not a joke. We're serious," said Fred.

"No, we're not serious. Serious is out there somewhere," said George deadpanned. "The last I check I'm Feorge, you're Gred and this is Michael Jordan."

Harry felt uneasy when they mentioned Sirius Black even though he knew they were simply joking. He continued to keep quiet while at the same time wondering where his godfather was hiding.

"Shut it you two!" said Hermione.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry," said Fred, raising both his hands in defeat. "Now let's get serious-."

"We can't. We don't know where he is," said George, once again deadpanned.

"Stop driving me crazy!"

"Okay that's enough you two," said Ron to his twin brothers. He took a gulp of pumpkin juice from his goblet and continued, "Yeah, Hogwarts has house elves. At least that's what mom and dad told us. You remember whenever she got loads to do she would always wish that she had a house elf to help her around?" he asked his twin brothers.

The twin nodded fervently.

"And since when you're going to tell me all these?" asked Hermione sternly.

Ron shrugged. "Must have slipped my mind. But then, given the way you react every time the word house elf is mentioned, I'm pretty sure keeping you out of the loop is a better idea."

Hermione huffed indignantly.

"Look Hermione," said Lee Jordan. "The main reason why you never saw they work is because that is the way, you know, they work."

"And being unnoticeable while doing their job is a mark of a good house elf," said George.

"All you will see would be everything had been laid out for you. Your bed, your laundry, those feet warmers you'll find whenever you go to bed every night and the fireplace. Filch definitely don't do those kind of things," stated Fred.

"Yeah. Besides, how would you feel knowing Filch broke into the girls dormitories every night to perform his 'duties'?" said Lee Jordan while at the same time making an air quote around the word duties.

Both the twin and Lee Jordan broke into a long and hard laugh. It took quite a while before their laugh subsided.

"The-," said George as he wiped his eyes from the tears of laughter. "The content of his dresser will be mightily interesting. Something lacy probably. Sorry, Hermione," he hastily apologized the moment he noticed Hermione's face reddened.

Hermione waved George's apology off. "Alright, that's enough. Let say what you said is true, do the house elves get paid? Holidays? Pensions? Sick leaves? Everything?"

"House elves want none of those things," stated Fred flatly.

"That is ridiculous," scoffed Hermione. "Nobody in their right mind would want to do a job without getting paid. Anyway, this school is a government institution. Every employee is protected by law."

Fred shook his head. "You really don't get it, do you?" he said. He took a pudding and began eating it. "House elves don't want any of those things. They really don't. They just like the job. It is in their nature to serve humans like us. They had to have a master. I'm not making up all these facts. You can ask any of the teachers or even a house elf if you happen to see one."

Hermione went silent. She looked down at the half eaten food on her plate. She then put her knife and fork down upon it and pushed the plate away. "Slave labour," she muttered under her breath. "That's what making this lunch. Slave labour." She ended up refused to eat another bite.

The rest of the boys who sat around her glanced at each other and shook their head.

Lee Jordan leaned forward. "What's the thing we want to talk about before we join this table?" he asked.

"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot!" said George. He turned towards Harry and Ron. "We had Defences Against the Dark Art class before lunch."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Wicked! So you had Moody! How cool is he?"

George let out a low whistle. "Super cool," he said as he gave two thumbs up.

"He's beyond cool," agreed Fred.

"So what was it like?" asked Ron eagerly.

Fred, George and Lee Jordan exchanged meaningful look.

"Never had anything like it,' said Fred.

"He knows, man," added Lee Jordan.

"What? He knows what?" asked Ron impatiently.

"Knows what it's like to be out there. Doing it," said George impressively. "Fighting the dark wizards. I mean, he had seen it all, done it all. He was virtually at the front seat all the time, you know."

Lee Jordan nodded. "Yeah. He was amazing. We got Quirrell for a couple of years before you do him in," he said nodding at Harry.

"Quirrel was lame," said Fred. "I could not stand the smell of garlic whenever I'm in his class. Who could have guess he was hiding something."

"Then we got that fake Lockhart," pointed out George. "The girls swooned over him though."

"Lupin was great but even he can't compare with Moody," said Lee Jordan.

The twins nodded in agreement.

Ron immediately dived into his bag and retrieved his own timetable. He groaned as he ran through it. "We won't be getting him until Thursday!"

Meanwhile, Harry was listening to the conversation with great disinterest.

They did not know Moody like he do. The Moody that they were so impressed with was not the real Moody. He was in fact Barty Crouch Jr. in impersonation via the Polyjuice Potion. The way he kept strictly to his timing whenever he drank from his own flask during the Welcoming Feast was a good enough proof.

But this did bring out the question of what kind of a teacher the original Alastor Moody would be. Would he be as hard charging as the fake Moody? Would he show his class the three Unforgiven Curses? Would he show the same admiration to the dark magic like the fake Moody and Snape? He guessed he will never find that out.

But the original Moody was proven to be just as crazy during his fifth year in the old timeline. Harry remembered the effort the members of the Order of the Phoenix put when they 'kidnapped' him from the Dursleys all too well. He did not like it, but he cannot help but admire the dedication Barty Crouch Jr. put in studying his victim. He managed to copy Alastor Moody right down to the T.

The six of them stayed at the Great Hall for another ten minutes before they departed towards the Gryffindor common room. They will have another hour of rest before the next class begins.


Gryffindor common room…

Harry immediately threw down his schoolbag and sank into his favourite armchair the moment they arrived inside the common room. Ron sat on the opposite armchair while Hermione went straight to her dormitory after telling them that she wanted a little bit of refreshing. The twins and Lee Jordan meanwhile went to sit at the opposite corner of the room, heads together and began to converse in a quiet tone over a piece of parchment produced by George.

Harry already knew why. It had something to do with Ludo Bagman and the deal he made with the twins during the Quidditch World Cup. He decided not to interfere with what they were planning. If anything, his past experiences dictated that the twins won't get a single dime from Ludo no matter how hard they tried.

"I really can't wait for Thursday to arrived," said Ron.

Harry began to play with his own fingers. "And why is that?" he asked, disinterested as before.

"Moody," said Ron. "Don't you remember? We'll have him this Thursday. If what George and Fred said is true, his class would be awesome."

"I'll reserve my judgement until I see it with my own eyes," said Harry, intending to close the conversation about Moody.

"So you don't believe what Fred, George and Lee said about him?"

"Some of the things they said about the DADA teacher are true. I just don't believe the rest," said Harry.

"You said that as if you really knew Moody," stated Ron.

Of course he knew Moody. Both the original and the fake one. But he could not tell it to Ron, could he?

"Not really," Harry lied, feeling a little bit uneasy at the same time. "Intuition. Besides, I prefer Lupin."

"Lupin isn't an auror. Unlike Moody," said Ron.

Anger began to boil inside him. He immediately quelled it down before it went out of control. Ron will be become one of the ornament hanging on the wall if he lost control. Harry took a deep breath and said sternly, "Lupin will be one too if the ministry gave him a chance. His condition was what stopping him from becoming an auror, not to mention all the prejudice everyone had regarding this so called half-human. He will be just as capable as Moody, though maybe not as crazy. I don't rate a person until I see it with my own eyes, no matter how high people thought of him."

Ron must have realized that Harry was getting angry. He went quiet after that.

The silence was broken s few minutes later upon the arrival of Hermione. She had just returned from her dormitory. She paused the moment she arrived in front of Harry and Ron. She somehow noticed the tension that was brewing between her two best friends.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, raising her brown eyebrows.

Harry shook his head. "Nothing," he said. He then get on his feet and lugged his school bag over his shoulder. "Come on, Ron."

Ron copied him and the trio set off for the dungeon.


The dungeon, a few minutes later…

The rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin were already waiting for Snape to 'invite' them in when the trio arrived.

As always, Malfoy would never fail to sneer at them whenever the trio entered his line of vision though this time around, that sneer was a little bit subdued. No doubt, Moody's 'teaching' a few days ago had some effect on him. The seniors kept calling him 'Malfoy the white bouncing ferret' whenever they got the chance. Malfoy might be a bully, but he was only brave enough to do that to those in his years and below. And also to the Weasleys whom he loathed so much. He never quite forgave Harry for what he suspected Harry did during their first class with Hagrid. He had no proof of that of course but Harry knew that he would be more than willing to confess if Malfoy ever came up to him, just to show him that he already mastered non verbal and wandless spell casting. A feat the majority of the adult wizards had trouble of doing.

Both Harry and Ron did not talk much. Ron's face was a little bit paler than usual, no doubt from the anticipation of all the worse things that could happen during the Potion class. Harry was much calmer though. As for Hermione, her eyes kept darting between both of them, as if she was expecting Harry and Ron will embroiled in a shouting match anytime soon.

Harry did not look at her though. His eyes remained fixed to the dungeon's door.

Few minutes passed by and all of the sudden the dungeon's door opened with a loud bang. Like an overgrown bat, Snape stood at the threshold. His eyes wandered to every student that stood in front of him until he saw Harry. His glance lingered on him for a few moments.

"Get in!"

Snape left the door and every student followed him into the dungeon. Harry, Ron and Hermione took their usual seats and waited patiently for Snape's further instructions.

After every student was properly seated, Snape began to speak, "Congratulations. All of you manage to come back. I do expect that some of you would choose to drop out of this school," his eyes stopped at Harry. Harry calmly looked back at him. "After everything that had happened. Now!" He slammed his hand onto the board hard. Some of the students startled as a result. "Antidotes. Besides our resident know-it-all Miss Granger, anyone would like to try to give an accurate definition of an antidote? Anyone?"

Snape looked around. None of the students dared to raise their hands. Malfoy smirked a bit when Snape mentioned Hermione's name but even he himself did nothing. Hermione was the only one who was fidgeting on her seat, trying as hard as she could not to raise her hands.

Snape gave out a mixture of mocked and disappointed look. "Pathetic! Useless! Must I feed you with everything you need to know without you taking the effort to do an extra study beforehand of this subject yourself?!" He then walked over to Neville. He took Neville's Advanced Potion Making book and asked, "Mr. Longbottom, tell me what is this?"

Neville's face was completely whitened. It was a well known fact that Neville scared of Snape the most. It looked as though he was in danger of wetting his pant at any moment. "A-, a book," stuttered Neville. "Sir," he hastily added when Snape cocked his eyebrows.

"And what do you do with a book?!"

"Re-, read it."

"And did you read it?!" asked Snape.

"Yes. I-, I mean no, sir. No," Neville stammered.

Poor Neville nearly fell of his chair when Snape slammed his book hard on the desk.

Snape ignored Neville's whimpers and immediately closed in on him. He was breathing hard on Neville's face. "Let me make it clear. No more mistakes from you, do you understand? Unless you like being put in detention for the rest of the school year," Snape muttered dangerously under his breath.

"I-, I understand, sir. No-, no more mistakes."

Snape straightened up. "We shall see," he said.

Snape then walked over towards the board and began to write. He turned towards the student after he done writing. "Antidote!" he said. "Is an item that can be used to treat or protect against specific ailments. Most of it are consists of brewed potions however, there are natural antidotes that are readily available. Mr. Potter!"

Harry did not flinch at all. Instead, he looked calmly back at Snape. "Sir?"

"I expect you to remember what I told you before in your first year's class," said Snape.

"I remember, sir. You told me about bezoar," Harry replied.

"And what is a bezoar?"

"A naturally occur remedy. A bezoar is a stone taken from within the stomach of a goat. Useful to treat common poisoning symptoms with the exception of a few. Basilisk's venom is one of the exceptions. The victim must ingest the stone in order for the treatment to work," answered Harry clearly.

"And what are the antidotes for the basilisk's venom?"

"There is only one known effective antidote so far, sir. Phoenix tears," answered Harry.

Snape's eyes travelled between Harry and Hermione. "A sentence by sentence explanation no doubt taken wholly from the book," Snape scoffed. "Apparently, Miss Granger traits had finally rubbed off on you. Let's hope you don't end up wearing dresses by the end of the school year."

Malfoy and the gang sniggered at Snape's comment. Harry on the other hand, remained calm.

Ignoring the Slytherin, Snape then went back to stand beside the chalkboard. "This semester you shall learn everything there is about antidotes. I expect by the end, most of you will gain something out of a knowledge so useful in the magical community. If not, you'll have no one but yourself to blame should anything happen." Snape then glowered at Neville. "Let's hope none of you don't end up being the one with a brick for his brain."

Snape then took out his wand and flicked it. What he wrote on the chalkboard earlier immediately vanished, replaced by step by step instructions written in a clear and concise manner.

"The Chocking Antidote," said Snape. "I don't need to tell you what it's for unless you have no idea what choking means. One teaspoon would be enough to clear a victim's airway. You should get a colourless potion with a little hint of minty smell. You have thirty minutes."

There was a scraping as everyone drew their cauldron towards them and some loud chunks as everyone began to measure the ingredients.

Harry took one glance at the instruction and immediately began to work. Being an auror, learning on how to prepare antidotes on the fly was essential. Every antidotes deemed necessary would be prepared on the eve of a mission but there are a lot of time when he needed to make them himself on the field. Every minute count whenever he went out on a mission. It will determine whether he came back alive or inside a body bag. Chocking Antidote was one of the essentials potion.

The Chocking Antidote itself was really easy to make. He remembered the recipe really well. He immediately fired up his cauldron and began to work. And within five minutes, his potion had already turned a smooth sky blue, an indication that his potion was halfway done.

As always, like a bat, Snape would hover from table to table observing the student progress and making snide remarks whenever he found something unpleasant. Neville as expected, got the worst of it. His potion was in bubbly red. Upon reaching the trio's table, he took a peek first inside Hermione's cauldron. Hermione's potion was progressing as it should be, though perhaps not as fast and as well as Harry's. Snape said nothing. Ron's cauldron was next in line. Snape took a look inside and all he saw was plain water that was boiling in it.

"No progress, Weasley? You got no more than twenty minutes to finish the potion unless you're planning to accompany Longbottom in detention," he said sternly.

Ron whimpered.

Harry was busy slicing his peppermint leaves and roots when Snape finally reached him. He ignored the man and continued to work on his potion.

And for the next twenty minutes Snape stood in front of him, watching him cutting the roots and the leaves, measuring the ingredient and mixing them within the mortar and pouring them into cauldron. Snape continued to watch silently as Harry stir the potion continuously within the cauldron.

Harry took a glance at Snape at one point, fully expecting him to sneer at his effort. But it was not what he found. Instead what he found was an expression of pain and sadness adorned Snape's face. Harry was indeed curious but decided to say nothing.

Ten minutes before the class ended, Harry's potion turned colourless. A hint of minty smell came out of it.

Using a ladle, Snape scooped out some of the potion from Harry's cauldron and began to examine it. His eyebrows cocked. From the look of his face, Snape was clearly impressed. He then poured the content within the ladle back into the cauldron and said, "Place an example of your potion inside a vial and put it on my desk. You may dismiss, Potter."

Harry did as told. After placing the vial on Snape's table, Harry began clearing up his work table. "I'll see you two back at the common room," he said to Ron and Hermione who were gawking at him once he was done. He then lugged his school bag over his shoulder and set off towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Little he realized that Snape was watching him silently as he went out the door.


Gryffindor common room, a few minutes later…

"Balderdash!"

The huge portrait of the Fat Lady swung opened, revealing the Gryffindor's common room.

Harry climbed inside and through the hole and into the common room. He put down his bag at its usual place and sank his bottom into his favourite armchair. It would be at least another ten minutes or more before Ron and Hermione would return from the dungeon so Harry decided to do the homework Professor Flitwick had given them. He took out some new parchments and the Standard Book of Spells Grade 4 and began writing.

He was about to dip the tip of his quill into the ink for the tenth time when Ron, Hermione and the rest of Gryffindor's fourth year dashed in. He put his quill away and watched as a few of them began to gather around him.

"Being dismissed early from a Potions class because the teacher was impressed with your own work! That is some record!" exclaimed Seamus.

"Yeah!" said Dean Thomas. "Usually it will always the other way around. You know Snape paraded your potion for all of us to see. You should have seen Malfoy's face. He looked like he had ingested a box full of blast-ended skrewts."

"That is-, quite something, Harry," said Hermione she sat beside him. Her brown eyes stared at him. There was no hatred in it, just deep curiosity. "How did you do it?"

Harry could not think of what to say at first. He of course knew the reason why. He was an auror, the best of his time. And as an auror, being well verse in various auror's disciplines was important. Potions brewing were one of it. He already knew how to brew virtually every potion Snape and eventually Slughorn, taught and will teach and he could prepare those potions in much lesser time than the amount the teachers said it would take. He also knew more than that and was capable to create his own potions recipes as well. Back in his old timeline, his potions work was the reason why a lot of the aurors' lives under his command were saved.

But he could not tell that to the three boys and a girl right in front of him, could he?

"All the instructions were clearly written on the chalkboard," he said finally. "I just followed it thoroughly. Maybe I'm just lucky today."

Dean and Seamus shrugged. "Eh, I guess that explains it," Seamus said. "I'll see you guys up in the dormitory. I'm going to dinner early. I'm hungry."

"Yeah, me too," said Dean. "See you guys later."

Both boys put away their school bag and immediately headed towards the twin curved stairways. Ginny who had just come out of her dormitory met them halfway and gave Dean a wide smile in which he returned.

"Are you lot coming for tea?" she asked the trio brightly the moment she arrived at the portrait hole.

"No," said Hermione. "We had just arrived from our class. We'll see you at dinner."

"Okay then," came the simple reply. Ginny then walked into the portrait hole and immediately disappeared to the other side.

Ron put down his school bag and sat at the other side of Harry. "You know mate, you could have shown me the way you did that potion. We both could have left early," he said.

"Ron! Snape was standing right in front of Harry the whole time! How could he help you or even me?!" reprimanded Hermione. "Just be thankful that you did not end up like Neville."

Harry sat up straight when he heard Neville's name. He had just noticed that Neville was indeed not among the group that had just returned from the dungeon. "Don't tell me, Snape slap him with detention?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded. "He melted his cauldron this time, Harry. I had never seen Snape so furious before. It was scary." She shuddered at the memory.

"Melted his cauldron?!" exclaimed Harry. "But the potion was not supposed to do that even if he got the mixture wrong!"

Hermione raised both her hands. "Don't ask me how it ended that way. He wasn't sitting at the same desk with us, remember? And how did you know that?"

"I don't," said Harry. "But I do know the ingredients won't give out any explosive or pyrotechnic effect even when you handle it wrongly. Poor Neville."

"Yeah, I know," nodded Hermione. "Poor Neville. Always losing his nerve whenever he's in Snape's class. Snape should cut him some slack, you know."

"He's the one who needs to grow a pair," said Ron who had remained silent. "If he keeps on losing his nerve, the bullying won't stop no matter what."

"You should not say that, Ron," said Hermione. "It's harsh for him. Try a little bit of sympathy next time."

Harry leaned back against the back of his chair. He sighed. He knew Neville. Back in his old timeline, he watched Neville transformed from a scaredy boy into a man who dared to confront Voldermort face to face. He even managed to kill Nagini, one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry was so proud of him.

But of course in this timeline, Neville had yet found his bravery.

"I think all of us need to give him some slack," Harry said. "Neville is far braver than we knew. He's the descendant of the Longbottom line after all. He had yet found his bravery. He will someday. All that he needs is some encouragement from us, his friends. Anyway, I'm sorry I couldn't help you back in the dungeon, Ron. You know how it went. I promise I will try next time. That is of course if Snape doesn't make 'standing in front of Harry while Harry is working' his new hobby."

Ron chuckled. "That's okay, mate. I understand," he said.

Harry began to shuffle all of his parchments on that table and put them aside. He then stood up. "I'm going to the dorm to have a shower and then to dinner. Come on, Ron. We meet you back down here in fifteen minutes, Hermione."

"Thirty," said Hermione who also stood up. "We girls don't take shower like you blokes."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Right. Okay, thirty minutes then."

The trio separated and walked towards their respective dormitory.


Later that night at the Gryffindor common room…

Nothing much happened during dinner except for Malfoy blocking their way into the Great Hall. He was accusing Harry for doing something to Snape. Much to the trio's relief and surprise, it was Snape who ended up reprimanding Malfoy.

"Never thought I would see that in my whole lifetime," said Ron cheerfully as they walked towards their usual spot.

Back in the common room, the trio took out their parchments and books and began writing Charm's essay. Five minutes into doing their homework, Neville came stumbling in. He fell on his all fours right in front of the portrait hole. Alarmed, the rest of the common room inhabitants rushed towards him. George and Fred were the one who reached him first. The twins pulled Neville up by the arm.

"You're okay, Neville?" asked George.

"You look too pale, mate," said Fred. "What happened?"

Neville could only look down and mumbled incoherently. He was clearly in a state of total nervous wreck.

"He had just come out from Snape's detention," said Hermione. "Let him sit down."

Holding Neville by his arm, the twins carried him over to one of the vacant armchairs and carefully sat him down. Hermione knelt on front of him and began asking questions. Neville did not answer any of it though. He just shook his head towards every question Hermione threw at him.

Harry who stood among the crowd silently muttered some incantations. Its effect was shown immediately. Blood began to pump through Neville's skin and soon, his face had its colours returned. Neville became calmer until he took one long breath and looked up towards Hermione. He then slowly raised his hands towards her.

Hermione gasped loudly. She saw his hands were full of scratch marks. Horned toads innards were still stuck in some part of his fingers and under his nails.

"I was asked to disembowel a barrel full of horned toads," he said slowly. "You know what they're like."

"Horned toads, huh?" said Fred. "That is one nasty animal right there. Remember when we had to do the same thing as Neville here, George?"

George nodded. "The nastiest thing we had done so far."

Hermione took out her wand and pointed it towards Neville's hands. She muttered the Scouring Charm incantation several times until his hands were cleaned.

"There you go, Neville. All clean but you need to go to the hospital wing to care of these scratch marks," she said.

Neville however shook his head. "I just want to go to bed."

"No, you won't!" stated Hermione firmly. "You got to go the hospital wing, Neville. We don't know what else these injuries could do to you. Besides, I'm sure you haven't had your dinner yet."

Fred gave Hermione a pat on her shoulder. "We'll take care of this," he said. "Come on, Neville."

Both Fred and George heaved Neville by the shoulder and escorted him towards the portrait hole.

The trio returned to their table after Fred, George and Neville disappeared behind the portrait.

"Poor Neville," muttered Hermione while shaking her head at the same time.

"Don't worry, Hermione. Fred and George know how to make him happy again," said Ron.


Neville returned to the common room an hour later looking happier than before. After giving his thanks to Hermione, he went up to his dormitory. The twins returned half an hour later than Neville. Once again as before, they immediately holed up at the furthest corner of the common room away from where the trio sat.

Time ticked by as the trio continued their work on Flitwick's essay. The night was getting later as the common room's inhabitant began to trickle out until only the trio and the twins were left. Fifteen minutes before eleven, the twins rolled up their parchment and headed towards their dormitory after saying good night to the trio.

It was ten minutes past eleven when the trio heard soft taps from the window. They turned to look and saw a white snowy owl, illuminated by the moonlight, perched on the windowsill.

Harry's eyes reduced to a slit. He recognized the owl before but from where he could not remember. "Whose owl is that?" he eventually asked.

Hermione and Ron looked at him as if he had grown two heads.

"Harry!" said Hermione. "That is your owl! Hedwig!"

Harry looked blankly at Hermione. "Hedwig?"

His eyebrows creased as he shifted through his memory. Then all of a sudden, it came to him. His owl, Hedwig was still alive within this timeline. "Hedwig!" he cried.

Harry launched himself from his chair and across the common room to pull open the window.

Hedwig flew inside and landed on his arm. She gave him a soft hoot.

"You're alive. You're safe," said Harry with joy. He truly missed the bird, his own true companion during the dark days at the Dursleys. Hedwig was killed during the Order's attempt to rescue him from the Death Eaters during their flight from Surrey. Harry was completely exposed back then. Hedwig took the curse in full blast in her final attempt to protect her master. While he eventually took a replacement, in his heart, nothing would replace the white snowy owl.

He then closed the window and hurriedly walked over towards the table carrying Hedwig with him. He placed her on the table and began caressing her.

Hermione and Ron looked at him with utmost amusement.

"She had only gone for just for a few weeks, Harry," said Hermione, smiling. "You're acting like you had lost her for good."

Harry did not say anything. He simply continued to give his attention towards the owl.

If only they knew, he thought.

"Harry," said Ron pointing to one of Hedwig's legs. "She's carrying something."

Indeed, there was a bit of a parchment tied to one of her legs. He hastily untied it and sat down to read:-

Dear Harry,

I'm flying north immediately. This news of your scar is the latest in a list of strange rumours that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore. They're saying that Dumbledore got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means that he had read the signs even if no one else has.

I'll be in touch soon. Send my regards to Ron and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.

Padfoot.

He knew who Padfoot was.

Harry looked up at Ron and Hermione who looked at him back.

"He's flying north?" asked Hermione. "He's coming back?"

"Dumbledore's reading what sign?" asked Ron. "Harry, what's going on here?"

Harry folded the parchment and kept it inside his pocket. "I don't have the answer, Ron. Only Dumbledore knows."

"You're not worried that Sirius would get caught?" asked Hermione. "Everybody is looking for him, you know."

Harry shook his head. "I won't underestimate Sirius's ability, Hermione. He knows what he was doing. As long he stays below radar, he will be fine."

Hedwig suddenly flew onto his knees and hooted softly.

Harry smiled and began caressing her once again. "You're sleeping in my room tonight, Hedwig. There's water and some owl treats I think I still have. You can go to the owlery tomorrow morning."

Hedwig hooted softly back.

Harry then began putting away his things. With Hedwig perched on his arm, he said to his two best friends, "Let's continue tomorrow. We still have time. We got classes to attend to in the morning."

Both Ron and Hermione nodded and began to put away their books and parchments. The boys bid Hermione good night and they headed towards their respective dormitory.


Harry placed Hedwig on top of his bedside table and began scouring his trunk for some leftover owl treats. He found them at the bottom of his trunk and put the treats into a small flat bowl. He then poured some plain drinking water from the available jar into another bowl and gave both the treats and the bowl of water to Hedwig. He sat on his bed and watched Hedwig ate.

"You really missed her," said Ron who had changed into his pajama and sat on his bed. "Don't you?"

Harry looked up to Ron. He smiled and simply nodded.

"Okay," smiled Ron. "Well, good night, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He then pulled the curtain around his bed shut and went to sleep.

Hedwig finished eating a few minutes later. She was indeed really hungry that she managed to finish all of the treats Harry gave her. After she drank the water, she gave Harry a soft and tired hoot and immediately flew towards the nearest windowsill where she ended up perching. Hedwig immediately put her head under her wings and went to sleep.

"Good to say you again, old friend," he whispered as he continued watching her. "I missed you so much."


He smiled as he lay on his bed. He reread Sirius's letter several times before putting it into his trunk. It was a surreal feeling he was having at that time. Two of the most important people in his life had return. Well, Hedwig was not exactly a person but still, he considered her as one. She was an extremely intelligent owl after all.

He had totally forgotten that he had written to his dear godfather. Of course being thrown back in time caused a lot of confusion in him. The case with Hedwig was one of it. But still, it was good to hear from Padfoot once again. Sirius's letter was a sign. A sign that the time had come for him to start acting on his plan. He would start tomorrow night when everyone had gone to sleep.

Harry's eyelids drooped as sleep began to take over him.

Ron, Hermione, Hedwig, Sirius and many others had returned into his life. Now he was just waiting for the one and he would see her in a few weeks.

The love of his life.

Fleur Isabelle Delacour.

To be continued…

A/n: Made some corrections in this chapter (5/4/2016)

First of all, thanks for the overwhelming responses for the last chapter and also thanks for all the feedbacks. Now to answer some of the concerns put in place by reviewers:-

Grammar

Admittedly, I was horrified when I reread the last chapter. There were indeed too many grammar mistakes that I did. I know it too well that those kind of mistakes can take away the fun in reading. So sorry guys. I had done corrections to the best of my abilities. Hopefully you guys would be satisfied. Actually this is what you get when you tried to cram 9000++ words into a single chapter. Mistakes will happen.

I tried beta before. The arrangement didn't work for the both us unfortunately so I ended up on my own again. But then if I become too dependent to beta readers, I won't learn, would I? Of course I will appreciate some writing pointers if you're willing to share any.

While doing the correction, I had taken the liberty to add some deleted scenes into the last chapter. You can check them out if you got the time and please tell me what you think.

I had decided that starting this chapter, the word count would be limited to no more than 4000 words. This will enable me to exert proper control on the writing quality while at the same time ensure a proper breakdown of each scene. Hope you guys won't feel it to be a little bit short.

The 'Proposal' scene

Yes I have not divulged the reason why Fleur rejected and accepted Harry's proposal. Don't worry. It will be revealed much-much later when the time is right.

French language

Some of you offered to help me translate English into French. I thank you for that. Yeah I'll probably take on that offer when the time comes. To French readers, sorry if the translations were horrible.

Alright that is enough for now. You guys should concentrate on the story more than an author's note. The title of this story is "Across the Time", not "Author's note from Izwan" after all.

Anyway, please read and review. Oh, before you ask, Fleur may appear within the next couple of chapters. Hope you guys can be patient.