Chapter 10

September 1st, 1991

Disclaimer:I own nothing of this story except the characters I put in. And then there's Stephen, he owns himself.)

Jacob and Stephen's plan was to meet up on the way to the dorms, then take off towards McGonagall's office to tell her about themselves and what they knew. Along with the rest of the first years Jacob stood up to follow the Hufflepuff prefect to the common room. He had a brief exchange with Stephen before they left the groups.

"Saw you fell asleep during the school song." "Yeah, I ate too much" Stephen said plainly

"Well that kind of sounds like you" Jacob said,

When the boys reached McGonagall's office, they knocked on the door. "Come in," they were greeted with.

To Jacob and Stephen's surprise, Dumbledore was also in McGonagall's office.

"...the Gringotts break-in might have something to do with the-"

"Albus!" McGonagall shushed him, and pointed at Jacob and Stephen.

"I believe they know what we are talking about, Minerva."

The two professors turned, and before either Jacob or Stephen could say anything, Dumbledore asked them, "Do you know anything about the Sorcerer's Stone? Please be honest. You won't get in trouble for it."

"Um…" Jacob wasn't quite sure how to word his reply. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't trick him, so he said, "yes, actually, this is what we were trying to talk to Professor McGonagall about. You see, we- Stephen and I- we aren't from here."

"What do you mean by that?" McGonagall asked them, understanding that the two boys did not mean that they weren't from England.

"We...are from an alternate timeline, one where the Wizarding World does not exist, and is written as fiction."

"Fiction?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's right. The story follows the adventures of Harry Potter in his time at Hogwarts, from his first year to his seventh year. There are seven books, one for each year, which ultimately get adapted into films."

"Yeah," Stephen spoke up, "and that there is a lot of chaos we need to warn you about."

"Such as?" McGonagall asked him.

"Well, this year, um, Voldemort tries to steal the Sorcerer's Stone. Through one of the teachers."

"How?!" McGonagall asked, cleary aghast.

"Well, currently, he's hiding under Professor Quirrell's turban.

"He's kind of possessing him," Jacob interjected.

"Very well. Now, is he stopped? If so, how?"

"Yes. By Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger." said Stephen

"He's defeated by Harry when he touches him. Lily's protection," Stephen told the headmaster.

"You know about-?"

"Indeed we do. You tell it to Harry when he's sitting in the hospital wing after it."

"Okay, proceed," McGonagall told Jacob.

"In second year, the Chamber of Secrets gets opened."

"By Voldemort, again, I presume?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah. This time he acts through someone else. Ron Weasley's little sister, Ginny Weasley. He kind of has a habit of possessing people."

"Now, how does Voldemort possess Ginny?"

"Through a diary he wrote when he was sixteen.."

"How on earth does Miss Weasley come to have such an artifact?" McGonagall asked.

"I was just getting to that," Jacob told her. "Lucius Malfoy. He slips into her cauldron in Diagon Alley in one of her textbooks. You might want to send a Ministry official to investigate."

"Will do," McGonagall said.

"Third year, Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban, but he's innocent. The real culprit of Black's crime was none other than Peter Pettigrew. He has been hiding as well, as Ron Weasley's pet rat for ten years. Scabbers, they call him now."

"Good Lord. Albus, send an owl to the Ministry in the morning. We cannot have an innocent man in Azkaban."

"Fourth year is when Voldemort returns," Stephen spoke up. "Kind of a big deal, considering Fudge doesn't do anything about except write a smear campaign against you and Harry, for saying that he's back. The Triwizard Tournament returns, and, um, Harry's name gets put into the Goblet of Fire even though he's underage, and there's four people in the tournament. It goes okay until Barty Crouch gets murdered by his son, yes, he's still alive, he's posing as Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The next year. The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge, is hired as the Defense teacher but doesn't let the class use any spells for fear that you're going to train an army for an assault on the Ministry to seize power, and punishes Harry for telling the other students that he returned. By means of a blood quill, no less."

"A Blood Quill?" McGonagall asked, shocked. She had heard about those when she was very young. Her parents had joked with her about it, saying that they would use it if she stepped out of line. Quite the method for keeping children in line with the thought-she credited it to why she was so stern-, but actually using it? The thought sickened her.

"Then sixth year...uhh...no offense, Professor Dumbledore, but Professor Snape kills you."

"Oh?" asked Dumbledore, mildly amused. "Now why and how would he do that?"

"Well, in the summer, you touch Marvolo Gaunt's ring, which is a Horcrux made by Voldemort, one of seven, and it puts a curse on you, so you have Snape kill you, because Voldemort is planning to have Draco Malfoy kill you, and you want Snape to do it so "Malfoy's soul isn't damaged" or whatever you said.

"So that's how he survived. I wondered…" Dumbledore trailed off.

"And then seventh year, because Voldemort takes over everything, Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue the Horcrux hunt, and Harry kills Voldemort, but it comes at a great cost. Fred Weasley dies, along with Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Lavender Brown, the real Mad-Eye Moody, and, Snape. See, Voldemort's convinced that Snape is the master of the Elder Wand, because he killed you, but it's actually Malfoy, because he Disarmed you that night, and Harry disarms Malfoy when he gets captured by Snatchers, so, the wand's allegiance goes to him."

"Well. Everything you have said is true?"

"Wait, give us some Veritaserum."

"Very well," Dumbledore then proceeded to send for Snape.

"Yes, Headmaster?" Snape drawled when he entered the room. He then noticed the two boys.

"What is one of my students doing here?" he demanded, glaring at Stephen.

"Oh, nothing, Severus. I needed some Veritaserum for some private matters I needed to talk to Mr. Wallace and Mr. Petrarca about. Nothing serious."

"But, Headmaster, if it is Veritaserum you require-"

"Nothing, Severus," Dumbledore said a little more sternly.

He repeated his question when Snape had turned on his heel and left the office.

"Yes."

"Merlin's beard," McGonagall said.

"You may go," Dumbledore told the boys. "Now, as for what you have told me tonight, I do not believe that I will be able do anything."

"No, I understand," Jacob said. "It's like in Prisoner of Azkaban, when you said that you couldn't do anything because the Minister would not believe the word of three teenagers."

"Indeed," said Dumbledore, although he didn't have the faintest clue what they were talking about. "You may, however, assist Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger with what they will accomplish over the coming years.. I must warn you, however. Be very careful whom you tell about this, what you know. This information could be dangerous in the wrong hands."

"Yes sir," Jacob said.

The two boys left Dumbledore's office. Snape was waiting for them.

"A moment, please, Wallace. Petrarca, you may go…"

When Jacob arrived at the Hufflepuff common room he saw a pile of barrels, and he tried to remember how to open them. He searched his memory until he realized how to do it.

He tapped his wand on a barrel two from the bottle in the middle of the second row, and then climbed through the now opened barrel. It was a sloping, earthy passage traveled upwards a little ways until he reached the Hufflepuff common room. The first thing that Jacob noticed was that it was full of plants. Cacti, ferns, ivies, you name it.

I knew Hufflepuff was connected with Herbology, I didn't know they were this connected, Jacob thought. Plants lined the walls and ivy vines weaved their ways through the stone walls.

As Jacob walked through the common room and was looking at the furnished wooden tables and comfortable couches, he noticed another feature when an ivy vine touched his his head. He looked up and saw a bevy of plants hanging off the ceiling.

"Hogwarts really is amazing", he heard himself say out loud. He then heard a voice calling him.

"Jacob!" It was Justin. "Where have you been, mate, we've been worried sick!"

"Dumbledore's office," Jacob said rather casually.

"Already?" Ernie asked. "You're not in trouble, are you?"

"No! Nothing like that."

"Okay, good. Wonder what you could have done on the first day that the headmaster wanted to see you," Justin said as a way to join the conversation, "What did he want?"

Jacob took a deep breath. He believed he trusted every single one of them. "Listen….I'm not from here."

"What do you mean?" Hannah asked. "We know you're from America, you said it last night at the feast.

"No, nothing like that. I mean… I'm not from this universe. I'm from an alternate universe where all of this is fiction, so that Slytherin I've been sitting and talking with, his name is Stephen. We're friends back in our universe. In our universe Harry Potter is the main character in a seven book series, the first of which is taking place now. That's why I said I thought you'd be in Hufflepuff, Hannah. I didn't think that. I knew."

"That's actually kind of cool," said Ernie. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't think that you'd believe me. I mean, I'm also from the future, so even Justin here doesn't know about iPhones and Play Stations. 2018, to be exact."

"Whoa."

"Just don't tell anyone, okay?" Jacob asked. "I really don't want Voldemort capturing me and torturing me for information. Yes he's alive," Jacob said to the shock and astonishment of the Hufflepuffs,"he has survived through Horcruxes."

"What? You mean to tell me-" Susan began.

"Yep," Jacob said grimly. "Harry didn't kill him, but he does eventually."

"Eventually! When?!"

"May 2nd, 1998, to be precise. He fully regains his body at the end of fourth year, and after the Minister ignores him for a year out of fear for his job…he ends up taking over in seventh year."

"But Dumbledore can stop him, right?" Hannah asked.

Jacob bit his lip. How should I put this? Doing it with Dumbledore was easy, as he knew he was close to his time. But with first years, not so much. He remembered how Harry thought Dumbledore would live forever, so, he figured that they would react just the same, if not worse, to his death. He took a deep breath.

"Actually…. no. Dumbledore dies in the sixth book. Snape kills him."

This stopped the rest of the Hufflepuffs cold.

"Snape?" Ernie asked. But he's a teacher."

"Yeah, and he's also a triple agent."

"Don't you mean double?" Justin asked.

"No, triple. Snape's story is complicated you won't really understand. It's actually the most complicated in the series. Just remember that even when he does it, he's still on our side."

"So, Jacob…" Justin asked. "You said Harry Potter kills Voldemort, right? Now, that has to be a big battle. Do, um, do any of us die in the battle?"

"In the original series, no. Time can be a tricky thing, though, so I don't know what me or my friend's appearance may have caused."

"So if your friend is like you,why is he a Slytherin?" asked Susan.

"In my world, there is a website-do you know what a computer is, Justin? I know they're fairly new around this time."

"Yeah, I do."

"So, basically, you can take a test on the computer, and it tells you what your Hogwarts house would be, Believe me, Justin, if you saw a 2018 computer, you would not recognize it."

"Okay." he said. "Sounds cool."

"This is what I've been talking about with my friend. We're going to try and help Harry and his friends stop Voldemort easier." At this Jacob watched everyone flinch for the umpteenth time.

"Why do you say HIS name," Hannah asked. "Why?"

"Fear of a name only increases fear of a thing itself. Real Dumbledore quote by the way."

"Okay," Ernie chimed in, "so where is he now? V-V-Voldemort?" he stuttered.

"Oh..um…. I probably shouldn't tell you."

"WHY?!" exclaimed Hannah.

"I think it would be better if I didn't tell you guys, I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed, good night. Jacob sighed. "It's been a long day."

Jacob walked slowly down the hall to the first year bedroom followed by Justin and Ernie, who were still trying to get some answers out of him.

"Listen, guys, it's just too.. unbelievable, even for Voldemort."

Jacob made his way down the hallway to the dormitories. Because the Hufflepuff common room wasn't in a tower like Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, it was a hallway and not a staircase. This too, resembled the Hufflepuff love for plants, as it was a carpeted floor but the walls were made of solid earth. He didn't have to go far as the first door on his right read FIRST YEARS. Replicating Helga Hufflepuff's famous hospitality, there was a bathroom facing each dormitory door. Already waiting for him when he got in the dormitory was a boy that Jacob had not heard of, Wayne Hopkins. Jacob was too tired and exhilarated from the day's events to engage in any more form of conversation, so when his head hit his black and yellow pillow, he was asleep.