After the battle repeated.
Fifty two year old Harry James Potter noticed the look of regret in his best friends eyes as she bid him goodnight and followed her husband out of Potter manor and headed home. 'If only I could tell her, but it would just make her hurt worse to know. Besides there is nothing we can do now, there is no divorce in this foul world of magic.' He thought as he tried to bury the pain of watching her leave with another.
Harry sat in his favourite chair in his study and poured himself a small glass of brandy. "How could they do that to us?" he asked himself for the thousandth time since his son had made the discovery. As he sipped at the brandy he was disturbed by a knock on the door. "Enter," he called knowing it would be his eldest son who had been his only visitor over the past few years.
"Hello dad… er I have some news for you… I have found an answer to your …er our problem… thing is it will mean the end of Albus and Lily, as well as myself, which is really the only drawback for you as I see it." The younger man said as he sat and poured himself a drink of the brandy.
"What are you talking about James? What problem?" Harry asked as he finished his brandy, "We don't have any problems, except your brother and sister have not spoken to me since your mum passed away. They still blame me for being away when she was attacked in Diagon by Malfoy."
James took a large gulp of his brandy before he spoke quietly. "Well ever since I discovered that you and aunt Hermione were split up by being potioned on Amortentia by the bitch who calls her self my grandmother, I have been seriously considering things. Since I lost Julie I decided that I shouldn't be here… none of us should be really here, not Lily, Albus or me, it was never really meant to be. I think that's why none of us can find a life mate… with the love you have for each other you and aunty Hermione should have been together. So with help from the Goblins I have discovered a way to change the past… I think that we can trust the Goblins in this, they even had help from Ragnok… isn't he the one who discovered that Dumbledore had stolen much of your fortune, Ragnok took such great trouble to get you everything that old thief had stolen back?" he said as he finished refilling his glass.
Harry picked up what James was telling him instantly and declared "James son, we can't do that… it would mean that you would not get born, not to mention that twot Hugo, and what about Rose? No we can't do that."
James looked at his father with his eyes almost burning. "Dad Hugo is an almost exact copy of that fat ape Weasley, and Rose isn't much better the way they treat their mother because of how the hag as poisoned their minds against muggleborn, besides like I said we were never really meant to be, and if we were then I would rather be the son of Hermione not some bitch who had to use a potion on you, at least Hermione's honest and would have never even contemplated dosing you with a potion just so she could boast about being Mrs Harry Potter. Anyway I have the machine ready in our family vault. We have it all ready to go, Ragnok has two dozen Goblins ready to power it for you… You should do this dad, especially for aunty Hermione, she deserves so much better and she's been so very miserable married to that ruddy fat bastard you call friend. I see it every time she looks at you, the suffering she is going through, if you do nothing she will have to suffer that awful life for at least another hundred years, it'd such a long time to live in misery dad."
Harry sat with his mouth open as he thought over his sons words, Hermione would indeed have to suffer being married to the obese man that his friend Ron had become. James had been practically suicidal since his girlfriend since their third year at Hogwarts Julie had died in an accident at work. His two other children had all but disowned him. The very idea of being married to Hermione started his thoughts racing, all the things that they could have accomplish together, they could have changed this foul world. After another glass of brandy Harry looked at James and asked, "Will this work and when do you want to do this?"
James smiled "Tonight dad, there is no time like the present, 'or at least before you change your mind' he thought. The quicker we do this the sooner you can reveal to Hermione what the Weasley hag was doing." He answered excitedly. "We can't send you back very far because of the power required but according to Ragnok we can send you back to a few minutes after you finished Riddle, hopefully I'll get to be your son again and get to be with my Julie, then hopefully you will be also able to prevent her premature death. I think that's how you will know if it's me, you know if your son and Julie get together."
The thought of being able to save Hermione from her fate, and to give him self the life he had so wanted and then convincing himself that James knew something he wasn't telling, Harry decided to do what his son wanted. It was just a matter of minutes later that Harry and James took a port key to Gringotts. An hour after James had entered his dads study the two men exchanged parting hugs before Harry stepped into the machine.
"OK Mr Potter, don't forget the minute you walk out of the machine you will be here at Gringotts, when you step two paces away from the machine you will transfer to your younger body at Hogwarts. Also remember that Weasley quickly whisked Hermione to the Burrow where she got pregnant thanks to all those foul potions, so you will not have a great amount of time to sort things out." Ragnok told him as his Goblins lined up and held out their hands and fed their magic into the time machine.
Harry felt himself changing as the world around him spun at an amazing speed, when it stopped he found himself in a dark chamber he knew was the Potter family vault. The only light in the chamber was the orange glow coming from the machine that was slowly falling apart and vanishing bit by bit. Stepping quickly from what was left of the machine Harry took one quick look around before he took two steps forward. In a flash that was accompanied by a strange tingling Harry found him self on the stairs out of the entrance hall of Hogwarts. After shaking his head to clear it he thought of James's words and he turned as quick as his tired now seventeen year old body would allow and made his way down the stairs toward the great hall again.
Harry had just reached the bottom of the stairs when the Weasley family left the great hall. In front Arthur was levitating the body of Fred who had died during the last big battle. Hermione was walking with Ron who had his arm around her. Just behind them were Molly and Ginny Weasley. Molly was smiling at Harry even through her tears of grief, her thoughts even after losing a son were on the Potter fortune on how she could get her hands on it for her own family.
Harry called out to Arthur and asked him to wait as he rushed up to them. As he reached them Harry pulled out the elder wand and cast a silent binding spell that tied Ginny, Ron and Molly in thick immovable ropes. "Sorry Mr Weasley as far as I know there is no evidence that you have anything to do with this but I ask you not to interfere for a very short time. Hermione I know you don't understand what is going on here but could you fetch Shacklebolt and if she is still in the hall Madam Pomfrey as quick as you can. I am afraid though I am sure that Mr Weasley is not part of this, I would still like to keep my eye on him for now."
Hermione was completely confused about what was happening, one thing she was not confused by was the fact that she knew Harry did not do anything without a reason. Giving him a quick nod she kissed the trust up Ron on his cheek before she returned to the great hall. While Hermione was gone Arthur was trying to get Harry to tell him what was going on. Harry would only answer "we will both know shortly."
Hermione was gone for some time and it was several minutes before Kingsley Shacklebolt Madam Pomfrey accompanied Hermione out of the hall to the group where Harry was waiting patiently. "Mr Potter what on earth is going on, I have injured people in there to see too." Poppy Pomfrey demanded anger in her voice.
"Sorry Poppy but if I left this until just a half hour later it would be far too late to do anything. Now what I want is for you to cast a love potion detection charm on both me and Hermione. Once Poppy has cast the charm Shack I want the Weasleys arrested, all of them." Harry said with a determined look in his eye.
The look that came over the Weasleys almost negated the need for the charm. The whole all looked guiltily at first Harry and then Hermione. Ron stood there staring at the floor, not daring to look up as he wondered where he had gone wrong, he was positive that he had both Hermione and Harry fully under the potion. Poppy stared at the Weasley family in disbelief as she cast the detection charm. Both Harry and Hermione glowed bright pink though Harry's was fading rapidly.
"Shit they were all in on it… I thought the twins and Arthur…" Harry gasped. He had not wanted to believe the twins would be in on something so evil.
"Potions, you mean all this time… They've been feeding us potions?" Hermione asked as she collapsed to sit on the stairs, her legs having given way from the shock of such a revelation.
"Yes Hermione, I, er I was almost up to the dorm when it dawned on me that there was something wrong. In that tent you and I were getting close again, as close as we had been for the first five years we were together, it happened almost as soon as Ron ran off home to his mummy. I suddenly realised that since he returned to us that closeness we had was simply gone once again… it struck me as odd that normally nothing would get me to walk away at the end of a battle without checking you were ok first. Thinking of talking to Ginny and not you is not normal for me at all, that's when I knew for certain it had to be the Weasleys and potions.
Before Ron returned to us I had stopped thinking of Ginny as attractive, in fact I had begun to wonder why I would ask her out when I already had the most beautiful witch to ever enter Hogwarts as my constant companion.
I knew Ron couldn't brew a potion save his life, gods he can't even brew a cup of tea proper, yet it had to be him feeding us one, so it had to be Molly, who likes to boast about how she potioned Arthur with a love potion. Oh and Shack, I want Ron there to be charged with plotting to rape My girl, and Molly to be charged with having me raped to commit line theft." Harry said as he tied Arthur and George up.
Harry continued as he stepped up to Hermione. "Don't worry Mione, Madam Pomfrey will have a potion for us shortly. From what I know it only takes about an hour for the symptoms to be flushed away." He told the clearly distressed young woman. As Harry finished speaking his elf Kreacher appeared in front of Madam Pomfrey and handed her two vials, which she checked to make sure they were indeed flushing potions before giving one to Harry and one to Hermione.
As the two teens sat on the stairs Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulder and said. "I am so glad I worked it out and managed to stop you leaving with them Mione. I figure Ron was planning to feed you a lust potion on the way home so that he could get you in his bed and ending up pregnant. I think it would be his way of ensuring that you would not be taken away from him by me. Him and his vile jealous streak would hate to see me happy. They would have used those ancient laws and forced you to marry him if you were pregnant and refused his proposal. Though we both know that if he made you pregnant you would have married him for the child's sake. Hopefully once that shit is out of you, you will seriously consider marrying me when we reach Australia.
It took almost two hours before the potion was completely out of Hermione's system, two hours where she had paced up and down the Gryffindor common room, alternately yelling what she would do to Ronald Bilius Weasley, and then crying that he would not have done such a thing. She was totally silent for the last half hour, which had Harry worried until she turned to face him and suddenly said "Yes Harry."
Harry looked at her in surprise not realising what she was saying. Lifting his face to look directly into hers from just three inches she smiled widely "Yes Harry, I'll marry you."
She needed no more words as she found herself sharing her very first kiss with the boy she had hoped would one day be hers. Harry had never in either life felt so happy. He grabbed Hermione around the waist and then dragged her around the room in a celebratory dance while whooping like someone gone quite insane.
They spent the whole of the night talking about all that had happened, what they were going to do and when they were going to leave to retrieve her parents, which was something she had not done in his previous life thanks to the Weasleys. By the early hours their plans were made and they both went to Harry's bed to sleep. Harry drifted off with the promise of a completely new and happy future, Hermione cuddled up at his side.
Two weeks later with help from Shacklebolt Harry presented the case against the Weasleys in the Wizengamot. The ministry had seen to Fred's funeral which no one attended due to his part in the plot against the two wizarding worlds greatest heroes. The Weasleys were found guilty after they all admitted to being party to the vile plan to get their hands on the Potter heritage. Ron was sentenced to fifteen years along with Molly, the rest of them were all sentenced to five years each for their participation.
Two hours after the trial Harry and Hermione caught a plane to Australia, along with Andromeda and Teddy Tonks their godson. They fully intended to start their new life as a married couple by spending a couple of years away from Britain as the magical world settled down again.
As it turned out they spent five years in Australia and did not return to Britain until Hermione had their first child, a boy who they named Richard James who was two years old when they travelled back by ship. Andromeda remained in Australia for a further two years her health benefiting greatly by the far warmer weather.
Both Harry and Hermione attended Muggle College and went on to dentistry school then eventually they joined the older Grangers at their flourishing dental practice. They had little to do with the magical world until Teddy started at Hogwarts, and then their contact was minimal until their first son attended the magical school.
Richard grew up and at the age of fourteen he brought a girl home to meet the parents. A girl by the Name of Julie who Harry persuaded to change her planned career and in so doing saved her from dying an early death. The Potters two other children Lilith and Henry joined their brother in attending Hogwarts as they each reached their eleventh birthday.
Both Harry and Hermione Potter led very happy and content lives, living past the age of one hundred and fifty. Both were given what was basically a state funeral when they finally passed on.
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