Away and Back
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Harry
Shaking his head at his father's antics, Harry made a short detour to the kitchen, only to stare at the fireplace in disbelief, when it began to flare, just when he crossed the entrance hall.
'Who's going to come over now?' he wondered. 'All who're supposed to know our address are at Hogwarts.'
A mere instant later, the twins stepped out of the fireplace, seemingly angrier than Harry had ever seen them.
"We're done with Hogwarts…"
"… that bitch of a headmistress…"
"… made us write with blood quills," they told Harry, who could only stare at his friends in shock.
"Gina," he quickly called the head house-elf. "Please tell everyone to return to the Parlour right away, and please serve some tea," he instructed her, suddenly feeling fully awake.
Ten minutes later, everyone was once more assembled in the Parlour, looking at the twins with combinations of confusion and expectation.
Fred and George
When everyone was assembled in the Parlour, the twins informed them about their detention with Umbridge, before turning to Remus to enquire, "Would you mind us studying for our NEWTs here?"
"Of course you can, provided that your parents are all right with it," Remus replied, questioningly.
"They don't have to be…"
"… as we're already seventeen…"
"… and of age anyway," the twins assured the older wizard.
"You could still return to Hogwarts," Amelia spoke up in clear anger. "James and Sirius, please accompany me to Hogwarts right away. We need to question Umbridge under Veritaserum. She won't be headmistress much longer after using a Blood Quill on students."
"Well in that case…"
"… we can as well return to Hogwarts…"
"… as there's no better way…"
"… to test our prank potions," the twins decided.
"Let's go right away," Amelia suggested and, accompanied by James, Sirius and their boss, the twins headed back to the fireplace.
"Floo directly into the headmistress' office," Amelia instructed them, causing the twins to nod in understanding.
Just a moment later, they stepped out of the fireplace of the current headmistress' office, only to realise in shock that they were not able to see anything, as the office was completely flooded with chocolate frogs – from the floor to the ceiling. Unbeknownst to the twins, a couple of chocolate frogs even managed to get away into the fireplace, while the connection was still open.
Inwardly groaning at their predicament, knowing that it was their own fault, because they had caused the mayhem, the twins waved their wands, trying out all possible spells to remove the frogs from the office to no avail.
Finally, they stared at each other in disbelief, when Fred cast Evanesco, which immediately cleared the office of the unwanted, self-duplicating chocolates.
'Where are Amelia, Sirius and James?' Fred thought to George, who gave his brother a confused look.
'No idea,' he thought back to his twin.
All of a sudden, a voice, which they had hoped to never hear again, spoke up. "Erm ehm, what are you still doing here?" Umbridge enquired, before she added, "Oh I see. It's you to whom I owe half a night covered in chocolate frogs. You're expelled from Hogwarts. Go pack your things and return home right away."
"No," the twins replied, simultaneously. "It's you who must leave Hogwarts."
Before they knew what happened, the pink robed witch pointed her wand at them and began to cast an Unforgivable spell. "Cruc…"
"Expelliarmus!" an angry voice shouted from the other side of the room, and the twins along with the headmistress stared to the spot in confusion, just when Harry made himself visible as he caught Umbridge's wand in his left hand.
"Sorry," he apologized to the twins. "Amelia and the others will be here shortly. The Floo network doesn't work anymore. It's completely blocked by chocolate frogs."
A mere instant later, Amelia, Sirius and James burst through the entrance door.
"She just tried to cast Crucio at the twins," Harry informed them, causing Amelia to step over to Umbridge in clear anger.
"Dolores Umbridge, you're accused of having used a Blood Quill on two students and casting an Unforgivable spell," she spoke up in a sharp voice. "What do you have to say to this?"
Umbridge let out a small chuckle. "Ah, these boys are nothing but attention seeking brats and liars," she began to respond, when James pulled a small phial out of his robe pockets.
"Then you won't mind if we question you under Veritaserum," he more stated than asked and, while Sirius held the heavily protesting witch in a firm grip, James forced three drops of the truth serum onto her tongue.
Naturally, she confirmed all accusations during Amelia's interrogation, and five minutes later, Sirius activated a Portkey, which took the evil witch straight to Azkaban.
Amelia looked at Harry and the twins. "Thank you, boys, for your cooperation. I'm afraid that Dumbledore might be going to be reinstated as headmaster though."
"That doesn't matter…"
"… as he was harmless…"
"… compared to that bitch," the twins replied, contentedly.
"Well, since the Floo network is out of order, I believe that we'll just have to return home the way we've come," Amelia said to her Aurors and ushered them out of her office.
"Err Harry…"
"… thanks for coming so quickly…"
"… and just so you know…"
"… the chocolate frogs must have got into the fireplace…"
"… from this office…"
"… as it was flooded, when we arrived," the twins informed their Unspeakable friend.
"Thanks for the information," Harry replied, chuckling, "and thanks for the entertainment. I suppose that the frogs are equipped with a duplicating spell?"
"Of course," the twins assured him, grinning, before their friend took his leave and simply popped away, leaving Fred and George to wonder how they could bribe Harry into teaching him that way of travel, which was only known to the Unspeakables.
Hermione
At breakfast the following morning, Dumbledore was sitting on the headmaster's seat at the breakfast table, while Umbridge was not present at all, causing Hermione to wonder what had happened.
'Oh well, I really don't like him because of what he did to Harry,' she thought, 'but at least for everyone else, he's a much better professor than that bitch.'
She did not have to wonder for a long time, as the twins, who were late for breakfast and chose to take the seats to her left and right, quickly filled her in about the happenings of the evening and night.
"So, she's gone and in Azkaban?" Hermione asked in disbelief, finding the news to be too good to be true.
"Yes," the twins confirmed, grinning broadly.
"Oh thank Merlin, she really was a horror," she breathed in absolute relief.
"You know what we're going to do now?"
"… We're going to see Dumbledore…"
"… about re-hiring Remus as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," the twins informed her, pleasantly.
"Oh, that's a wonderful idea," Hermione agreed, offering, "Shall I go with you and help convincing him?"
However, the twins, having barely touched their breakfast yet, had already left and were on their way to the high table.
Remus
After breakfast, Lily and Draco had retired to the Potions lab, Harry, Sirius, Amelia and James had left for the Ministry of Magic, and Remus was quietly enjoying another cup of tea together with the Potter grandparents and Petunia.
'Teaching the children was fun,' Remus thought, on the one hand feeling proud that Dudley had managed to get into fifth year and that Harry had taken his OWLs and NEWTs with huge success; however, on the other hand, he missed his classes with them. 'Maybe, I should try to find some work now that I'm cured from lycanthropy; on the other hand, people still know me as a werewolf, so it won't be easy,' he thought, letting out a deep sigh.
However, he did not have much time wallowing in dark thoughts, as Petunia pulled him into a conversation about the magical world, sufficiently distracting him from his musings.
He had just left the dining room in order to head to the library, when Dobby popped up in front of him, holding out a small parchment. He thanked the elf and slowly unfolded the letter in curiosity, only to realise that it was from Hermione.
'Dear Remus,
Dumbledore is back as headmaster, and the twins talked him into hiring you as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Please come to Hogwarts and talk to him, and please accept the post. You've been the best teacher we ever had.
Hoping to see you soon
Hermione'
'What?' Remus thought in surprise, unwilling to get his hopes up. 'That would be absolutely brilliant.'
Unfortunately, the Floo network was still out of order, and – according to an article on the front page of the Daily Prophet – the ministry was feverishly working on getting it back to work, so that he could only apparate to Hogsmeade and walk up to the castle.
Fifteen minutes later, he knocked at the headmaster's door.
Harry
'Can this day even get worse?' Harry thought, when he learnt from Croaker that he and Raros should try to assist the Aurors with the Floo network, after he had intensely, however, unsuccessfully, practised the Animagus transformation during the morning.
However, by the time he returned home to Potter Manor, he should realise that it, indeed, could get worse.
"Remus has moved to Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," his mother informed him, James and Sirius.
'Too bad that he'll only be able to keep the post for a year,' Harry mused. As much as he missed Remus at the Manor, he knew that his good friend would be extremely happy to be back to teaching classes. 'If I only managed to finally transform my head,' he thought, 'then I could travel to the time of the founders of Hogwarts and ask them what to do to cancel Voldemort's curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position.'
However, as much as Harry practised to change his head into his phoenix form, encouraged by his family, friends and colleagues, it took him another eight months, before he finally managed the task.
HP
It was on a warm and sunny Saturday at the end of May, which the extended family spent in the park of Potter Manor, when Harry once again practised the Animagus transformation while talking to the others. Everyone was already used to the fact that Harry transformed his whole body except for his head in the middle of their conversations. However, everyone stared at the sand phoenix with a combination of shock and amazement, when Harry suddenly stopped talking and completely transformed.
"Harry, you did it," James blurted out in clear amazement.
"Congratulations, son," Lily added, smiling.
#Thanks,# Harry trilled, feeling extremely happy. He excused himself and spent the rest of the afternoon practising walking on his tiny phoenix feet, flying through the park and flashing from one side of the lake to the other. It was almost dinner time, before he felt completely comfortable in his phoenix form.
While he was eating dinner together with his family, a sudden thought pushed itself to the front of his mind. 'I'm going to travel to the past right away,' he decided. 'If I go right away, it gives me some leeway to time my return between now and tomorrow evening.' He hesitantly voiced his idea, causing everyone to view him in apparent concern.
"Harry, wouldn't it be better if you tried flashing, for example, to Hogwarts in this time first, or maybe even to tomorrow morning, before you flash yourself one thousand years into the past right away?" Lily asked in a faint attempt to caution him.
"Yeah, maybe that's true," Harry replied, pensively.
Knowing that Raros usually spent even the weekends in the Unspeakables office, even if he did not allow Harry to do so, stating that he needed enough time to rest, Harry decided to flash to the Ministry of Magic first. He flashed right into his own office, letting out an excited trill of relief, when it worked.
"Gobi?!" Raros exclaimed in clear surprise, having heard the beautiful phoenix song through the open door. "You did it. Congratulations my boy."
#Thank you,# Harry trilled, happily, not caring that his boss would not be able to understand his trills. He quickly changed back into his human form, grinning broadly.
"Raros, I just meant to tell you," he hesitantly began to explain the reason for his visit on a Saturday evening, "I intend to travel to the time of the founders of Hogwarts right away, and I'll try to be back tonight or tomorrow. I just meant to warn you in advance in case I don't manage to get back at the exact time."
Raros cast him a smile. "Understood, little one. Just be very careful and try to be back soon or everyone is going to be very worried."
"I know," Harry agreed, "and yes sir, I'll do my best."
"Don't forget to speak with Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw about the Horcrux," Raros reminded him, causing Harry to nod.
"Yes sir, I know. That's one of the reasons why I want to travel as soon as possible," Harry admitted, before he transformed back into his phoenix form and returned home, deciding to get a good night's sleep before travelling.
After breakfast the following morning, Harry informed everyone about his plan and, after enduring hugs and kisses from his large family, he finally transformed into his phoenix form.
"Be careful that you arrive at the right time and don't meet the Dark Lord," he heard Draco tell him, right before he flashed away in a small mist of sand.
HP
Harry made sure to arrive right in front of the castle intending to arrive on the first of June in the year 996, reasoning that exactly one thousand years would be good in order to keep track of the times to which he travelled.
'That's it,' he mused, Draco's last words still resounding in his mind, when he slowly transformed into his human form. 'That might work out better than any other plan.'
tbc...