Chapter 28—The Prince Again

"Meet me in the Astronomy tower at noon on Saturday. I have a couple of experiments that you may be interested in. Especially you, Katja, and your friend Remus, too."

It was Saturday around 1130 that the Marauders went up to the Astronomy Tower to meet Snape. They were quite interested in what he had to say. Perhaps he came up with a better type of Wolfsbane, thought Katja. At precisely noon, Severus Snape, his robes billowing in a fashion all too familiar to Katja, came up the stairs.

"I'll make this brief," he started. "I don't want to be up here with you any more than you want to be with me. The Dark Lord has commanded me to conduct experiments on werewolves."

"What do you mean, 'conduct experiments on werewolves'?" asked Sirius.

"The Dark Lord wishes for me to experiment to try and make werewolves stronger." Severus turned to the door and said, "Muffliato!"

He continued, "The Dark Lord, however, does not know that he is not my only Lord. I play all of the sides, Lily. I do not intend to carry out His orders. I intend to use this access to werewolves to my advantage, so that I can figure out a way to reverse the transformation completely or if I fail at that, to temporarily halt the transformations for about nine months."

"Don't think that I am doing this for you, Black, Wagner, Potter, or Lupin," Severus said. "Lily is the only reason that I am telling you this, Potter," he said the name, like usual, as if it were a curse word. "Lily is the only true friend I've ever had. As much as it pains me to say it, she is a good match for you, Potter. I wish to make the world a better place for people like her. I was forced into the Dark Lord's service, but I intend to seek Dumbledore's protection."

"So, you're using your position with the Dark Lord to cure werewolves?" asked Katja.

"Yes. I find that it is better to experiment on people I don't like, for example, Fenrir Greyback, than people who are paying me good money to make a potion every full moon," responded Snape. "I may have a solution by the next full moon, but don't get your hopes up. The Dark Lord will expect results quickly."

With that, he waved his wand, the Muffliato fell, and he went back down the steps back into the castle. Just then, the date came to Katja. "It's already the eighth of January, and I haven't started studying for the NEWTs yet! They are only six months away, and could determine what type of job I can get when I leave school!" Out of everyone in the group, only Remus shared her concern. Both James and Sirius had managed to get great OWL scores, and were planning on doing what Harry and Ron always had done—wait until the last month and then study like mad.

One day, after teaching Defence class, she was talking to Auror Williamson. She had thrown up Silencing Charms around the room, so that nobody could hear what they were talking about.

"Does the Bumblebee know who you are? Or rather, what you are?" she asked.

"What do you mean? Yes, Dumbledore knows the full name I've been using in this time, and yes, he knows that I was one of the most brilliant Ravenclaws to ever step foot inside Hogwarts School (and that is saying something). What he does not know is that I am The-Boy-Who-Lived, The-Boy-Who-Conquered, Harry James Potter, or that I am a time traveller from the 22nd century. I don't plan to tell him where I came from, or any of my titles from where I came, because it would just introduce things that ought not to be introduced."

Katja then asked if he had told anybody, aside from her, when he came from. "No, I don't plan to, either. I have a feeling that in 1991, Dumbledore is going to suspect something when a child who will presumably act like me comes to the school."

"I was disoriented when I told the Headmaster my story. After a little bit of that mind mumble-jumble he does, he was convinced that I was who I said I was. One curious thing was that he didn't resort me when I came to the school. I'm pretty sure that The Hat would have done the same thing for me as it did you—if I would have been resorted, I would have gone to Ravenclaw."

The professor pulled out a bottle of cider and a few glasses from his Magical Refrigerator. He handed her a glass, and poured a generous helping for her, and then did the same for himself. "To honorary Ravenclaws!" he toasted.

"I was thinking about saving my future counterpart some stress by eliminating Dobby from the picture. I'm thinking about buying his parents and allowing them to work 'The Hideout.' That's the Floo address for my home. Naturally, the would be treated nicely, and would be able to do all the work they wanted."

"I think that's a great idea," said Katja. "By the way, I saw your face the other day when I was up in Hospital. I've sort of given up SPEW, because I've realised that house-elves tend to start to die when they don't have a Master. You mayn't have noticed, but Dobby secretly bound himself to you after you freed him from Malfoy. Anyway, I thought that the elf impression was rather decent."

They both chuckled at this. Katja started to talk again. "You know, it's weird, with you being the teacher, being older than me, and all that stuff. I was always the one helping you with Homework, I was the older one. I guess now everything has changed."

That night, something happened that no one was expecting. In the middle of the night, there was a flash of light, and David, Katja and Lily were gone. The next thing they knew, they were in a very familiar place.

the Multiverse Room, Time is irrelvant

It is nice to see you again in my plane of being, a voice echoed through their heads. I hope that it has not been too long for your primitive human minds, has it? You dislike it when I use this method of communication. The voice laughed.

"Very well," the voice said. "I will use this form of communication." All three of the people saw the form of Fate walking towards them. "It's been many years of your time since I taught you, Mr Potter; it has only been mere months for Ms Granger here. I hope you don't mind my interfering with your time-line."

"Interfering?" asked Katja. "You've blown the bloody thing to pieces!"

"From your point of view, yes. The Time-line has shattered—the events that are history for you, Ms Granger, will not occur, or will not exactly occur in the manner that they happened in your Time. For example, Mr Snape is already turning back—this will only lead to someone else hearing the prophesy that night, Ms Granger. I do believe that the results of that night are a 'fixed point' meaning that they must happen in some way, shape, or form."

"Why have you brought us here?" asked Lily. Although she didn't know it, she was the only human there who wasn't a time-traveller. I wonder why Fate called our Professor Mr Potter? Lily thought. Perhaps he and Katja are both time-travellers. That thought was amusing to Lily, because she had looked up Professor Williamson in the old Hogwarts yearbooks, where it was noted that the boy was one of the brightest individuals to ever graduate Hogwarts, and he did it two years early! Now that she thought about it, though, it did seem logical that he could be from the future—some of the things he did, some of his mannerisms, seemed like that could be the answer.

"Lily," the booming voice of Fate called. "I will escort you to the Anachronistic World. I'm sure that the scholars will find something for you to learn. I must speak with Mr Potter and Ms Granger about a couple of things." They Apparated to the Anachronistic World, where Merlin came to greet them.

When Fate came back to Katja and Williamson, he said, "The time is nearing that you must make your decision. You must decide whether or not you wish to go back to your own time or stay in this one. The question is: How much do you like this new life that has been given you? Harry James Potter, you have been given a new body and a new lifetime, along with the one thing that you always wanted—a family that cared for you. Ms Hermione Jean Granger, you have friends equal to those in your own timeline, and you have the opportunity to save the counterpart Harry from countless tortures that were the result of his extended stay at the Dursleys. You must choose soon, my dears."

Katja looked a little shocked at being asked to make this decision, and then asked a question of her own. "Sir, do you stand by what you said before. I mean, previously you said that if we stayed, our counterparts will still be born. Is that true, and if so, how? I would think that our counterparts would have the same magical signature as we do, and everyone knows that two of the same magical signature cannot exist for more than the length of a Time Turner."

Williamson was amazed. Katja was sounding like her old self again, sounding as if she had swallowed a textbook. If he would have needed a Time Turner he, obviously, would know this information, but those things were hard to get, even if a person was supposedly as smart as he was.

"Your magical signatures will change," Fate returned. "They will be changed retroactively so that no one notices their change. You will notice a change—do not worry, your powers will remain at the same level or higher than they were before. I assume that these facts have made you come to a decision?"

‟I don't know about The Professor, but I'd certainly like to stay in this reality," responded Katja. ‟I've got a 14-year head start in this reality—I'd not be able to learn as much where I came from."

‟I agree with Ms Katja. I am nearly dead in my first reality; I've got fame that I don't want..."

"You don't like your fame?" asked Katja sarcastically. "Ha, Ha," responded Williamson before he continued, "Here, I can just be a normal person. Yes, I will be one of the Lords of the Light, along with Ms Katja here, but I can actually walk down the street without everybody saying, ‛You're...Harry Potter!' like most of the people do. I've made my decision, and I am staying here, with Sirius, Remus and Katja."

"Very well. The process will begin momentarily. You will feel like you did last time, Mr Potter."

Right before yellow flames shot out of their hands, Dave managed to say, "Last time? What do you mean Last Time?"

The yellow flames started to engulf their bodies. Just before it engulfed his head, Dave was able to shout, "I really want to stay!"

The Flames consumed them, and it was agony. They could feel the change in their magics. This was the painful part—the body had to first lose the old magic and be replaced by the new. This was part of the reason for the yellow flame—their bodies had to die before their signatures could be changed. When the flames subsided, both of them looked exactly the same as before, but felt huge levels of power. When Katja scanned The Professor with her wand, she found out that the Glamour that she had used a couple of months ago was completely obliterated, meaning that a simple scan would show that there was something not quite right with him. She quickly cast a new glamour, and the readings went back to completely normal.

"You have chosen with your hearts. You chose for love; not for power, strength, but because you love the people around you. This is why your powers have been upgraded. Your Quantum Signatures now match those of this Dimension, and you can no longer go back. Do not worry, your friend Harry has been provided with a ‛Replacement Granger' or a ‛Ganger Granger' that has all of your memories and experiences up until the point you left. Your shifting to this Dimension has changed that one slightly."

"How slightly?" asked Katja, afraid that something critical may have been changed.

"Your counterpart is no longer with Ronald Weasley. After the Final Battle, when you were comforting Harry, he told you that he had lied to Ronald, because Harry thought he was going to die. You and Ronald came to a decision that you had always loved Harry since that incident with Mr Black in 1993, and Ronald gave you permission to date Harry. Six Months later, you married. By the time nineteen years are up, you have three children—Albus James, James Harry, and Lily Hermione Potter."

Curious as to the new timeline in that Dimension, Katja asked, "Who did Ron end up with?"

"Ms Lovegood. Now, we must go to the Anachronistic Planet, where you can learn to control your new powers." There was a flash of light. "I've reduced your ages to compensate. You will be spending approximately six months here, learning your new powers, and maybe other things. Ms Wagner," Fate said. This was the first time he had called her that. She supposed it was because she now had no link to Hermione Jean Granger. "Your problem will not matter here, as long as you drink what the Matron gives you when you walk in. Any delay, and the world would be in grave danger."

After they Apparated to the Anachronistic World, they were met by a lovely woman with an Australian-Scottish accent.

"I am Doctor Neil. Please drink this immediately," the woman said.

Almost immediately, Katja recognised the woman. "You look like that Muggle nurse from Scotland—the famous one!"

"Yes, I am known to the Muggles by another name. I am here because Fate wished for it to be so. This is the anachronistic world, after all."

When they got into the Great Hall, they met with Lily. While they had been discussing their options with Fate, she had been learning the Dark Shield that Katja had mentioned in class in September. Since it was only a couple of days (relative for Lily), they didn't have much to talk about. Soon, Godric called them over so that they could practise using the right level of Power. Shortly after a small class, Dave and Katja were out on a Spell Range, which Katja thought was similar to a shooting range. At the other end of the range, there were dummies that had displays on them; there was a target and a readout displaying how powerful the spell was. After about three or four hours of this, all three went with Ravenclaw to study wards. They kept this up for six months of subjective time, by which point Lily was proficient with the Dark Shield, the other two were comfortable with their level of power, and all three of them could cast near-lethal wards on properties.

7 January 1978, Lily's home dimension

Shortly after their six months were up, Fate transported all three of them back to their (new) dimension, only a couple of minutes after they left. Since Fate had retroactively changed their signatures, no one would even notice the difference in power, and since Fate had regressed their physical ages to match the time they spent in his world, they did not look any different than before.

One thing that was strange about this stay in the ‛other' dimension was that Merlin wanted to use the Sorting Hat to sort all three of them (for use in the Anachronistic World). Of course, Williamson and Katja had ended up in Ravenclaw and Lily had remained in Gryffindor. I figured that if I was ever resorted that they would put me here, thought Katja.

The next day, when the Marauders were walking up to the Common Room shortly before curfew, they noticed a figure coming up the hall. They immediately cleared the Map, and James was just about to put it in his pocket when they heard a voice.

"I saw you put that in your pocket, James. Accio Parchment." said Williamson. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said to the parchment and to the astonished faces of James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily. "No, your friend did not tell me how to work it, I've seen you use it before. After that, I've also borrowed your friend's copy of the map once or twice."

He took out his wand and touched the parchment with it. "Look here, in the upper quadrant. It is now an automatic range finder. All you have to do is ask it the person's name, for example ‛Severus Snape', and the range and bearing to the target will be displayed."

He then told them in a lower voice to meet him in the Room of Requirement tomorrow evening after classes. He said that it was very important for them to do so, but what they would discuss would have to remain a secret. The next day, The Professor told his story, including his former identity and his new powers. He then cast a Glamour charm to show them what he had looked like before (like James with Lily's eyes and the Scar). They then all took a Wizard's Oath to not reveal anything that they learned in the Room that night.

As she reviewed the last couple of days (for the Marauders, six months for her), she thought that there was something interesting in what Snape had said. "[I hope] I can figure out a way to reverse the transformation completely or if I fail at that, to temporarily halt the transformations for about nine months," he had said. Katja thought that this length of time was very interesting, since it was the length of a normal human gestation period. Lady werewolves could become parents if he succeeds, she thought. She started to think of random things, and she remembered that in February, the Grangers' dental surgery would open. She had plans for Sirius this summer, and they were very interesting plans. Of course, she wouldn't mind if they happened earlier, either.

A/N: Dumbledore aka 'The Bumblebee' does not know who David James Harry Evans Williamson is. I do not plan for David to tell anyone else—his adoptive parents don't even know. It might get around the Marauders that David is from another time, but that is where the stories end

The Harry Potter wiki states, "it is also unlikely that Dorea is James Potter's mother as James's parents took Sirius Black into their home after he ran away from his family... it's likely that Dorea would also have been disowned for allowing Sirius to live with them." Also, since this is my story, and I am not (generally) constricting my story to Canon, I decided that I liked the names "Alice" and "Charles" better.