I want to use this Author Note to recommend someone else's story, "Double Back" by Methos2523. Now the bad news: the 20-chapter story is incomplete; its last update was in September 2019. The premise: 38-year-old Harry Potter, Auror team leader, accidentally is sent back in time to mid-July, 1991—specifically, to a week and a half before child-Harry is sent his "Cupboard under the Stairs" Hogwarts letter. It is the older Harry who receives the letter. Then older Harry has an epiphany: Without even trying to, he has changed history, so why not change history deliberately? After this realisation, older Harry definitely changes events from how they happened originally, by impersonating James Potter "back from the dead." 'Ships: Older Harry/Amelia Bones and (maybe?) Neville/Hermione.

Chapter 19
Duel Preparations, Part 1

Tuesday, 23rd July, seven days till the Duel
About 7:40 p.m.
Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Harry immediately was handed a problem. He had asked for four volunteers for the high-flying mission, but he got five—George and Fred Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour and Alastor Moody. Bill and his girlfriend promptly got into an argument about who should stay home.

Harry could understand Bill's feelings—if Hermione had volunteered to fly a broom for this mission, Harry would have flat-out refused to let her go—but Harry felt more comfortable with Fleur, after all they had gone through together. "Sorry, Bill," Harry said.

There still were people in the dining room. Harry said, "You four volunteers plus Hermione, I want you lot to stay here after everyone else leaves—"

Hermione's face turned white. "Do you plan for me to fly with them, Harry? I'm scared of heights!"

Harry said, "Relax, Hermione. I want you to be part of the mission, yes—but as the radio operator."

"Oh. Okay," Hermione said. Her relief was obvious.

The twins asked, "Just how high—"

"—will we be flying—"

"—on this secret mission?"

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Bill answered together, "High."

The four volunteers looked amazed.

Harry said, "In the meantime, Hermione, Neville and Professor McGonagall, please follow me to the kitchen."


In the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place

As soon as all four people were in the kitchen, Hermione shocked Harry when she threw her arms around him. "Honestly, Harry, what were you thinking?" sniffling Hermione asked. "When you asked Magic to judge you, how could you have done such a dangerous thing? You could have lost all your magic! What if Magic decided you were a greedy, immature prat for asking for a magical judgement?"

Harry hugged her and replied, "I called for Magic's judgement because I had to, Hermione. I was desperate—there was no other way to get back control of the Order. Also, I was sure I was holding better cards than Dumbledore was. And finally, if the worst happened and I lost my magic"—Harry shrugged—"it wouldn't bother me."

"Losing your magic wouldn't bother you?" McGonagall asked, shocked.

Harry looked the old woman in the eyes. "Only in that losing my magic would lead to my betrothal to Daphne ending. Otherwise? The magical world, I can take it or leave it, so long as I have Hermione and Daphne with me."

Hermione nodded.

Whilst Neville and Professor McGonagall digested Harry's words, Harry cast a spell to lock the kitchen door. Family magic meant that not even Voldemort or a team of goblins could open the kitchen door till Harry allowed it.

Harry pulled from his pocket the wand that Magic had given him, ten minutes ago. "Does everyone know what this is?"

"Dumbledore's wand," Hermione said.

"The wand that Magic awarded you, after judging both Professor Dumbledore and you," Neville said.

McGonagall looked thoughtful. "It is Professor Dumbledore's former wand, but I suspect it is more than this."

"You're right," Harry said. "This is the Elder Wand, A-K-A the Deathstick, A-K-A the Wand of Destiny."

Hermione and Neville gasped; McGonagall frowned.

Harry said. "The wand supposedly has a curse on it. I don't want the curse, and I have no interest in the extra magical power of this wand, so..."

Snap—Harry broke the Elder Wand in half, then let the two pieces drop to the tiled floor. Harry now pulled out his holly wand and—

"Incendio."

—burnt up the two pieces of old wood.

The other three people in the kitchen looked shocked.

McGonagall said, "I would like to believe that if the Elder Wand had been in my hands, I would have made the same choice. But I'm not sure this would be truth."

Neville said, "Once again you amaze us, Harry."

Harry looked at McGonagall and said, "Please make sure that the story of this is told at Hogwarts."

"Starting with the headmaster," Hermione said viciously.


Back in the Grimmauld Place dining room

After the twins, Alastor and Fleur (and Hermione) all took Unbreakable Vows to never discuss their secret flying mission without Harry's permission, Harry spelled out the mission—

On 29th July, which was the day before Harry's duel with Voldemort, the broom-flyers would be flying to Malfoy Manor, above its wards. The broom-flyers' mission would be "to ruin Moldyshorts's planning session."

"What is at ze Malfoi Manor?" Fleur asked. She gave the name its French pronunciation.

"Voldemort," Harry said. "Voldemort is living at Malfoy Manor."

Fleur snorted. "Lord Flight-from-ze-Death lives at ze-Bad-Faith Manor. Ha, 'ow appropos."

Fred said, "No kidding, Harrikins, we are going to attack Voldemort? We're not going to stand about with our thumbs up our arses and wait months and months for Voldy to attack us? Wow, Mr Longbeard definitely is not in charge here anymore."


After this, the people who had stayed after the Order of the Phoenix meeting all Flooed home (or in Hermione's case, was elf-popped home). Everyone went to bed.

Whilst all the people Harry knew, both good and evil, slept, the latest edition of the Daily Prophet was printed.

The latest edition featured Daphne Greengrass's thoughts about Harry Potter, Hermione Granger's thoughts about Harry Potter, and Harry Potter's thoughts about Daphne Greengrass, Hermione Granger—and Lord Voldemort.


Wednesday, 24th July, six days till the Duel
Early morning, in Scotland

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Daphne Flooed to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Once all four had walked outside, Harry pulled out a big, and utterly blank, piece of parchment.

Daphne asked, "What's that for? Are you planning to write someone a letter now?"

Instead of Harry saying Yes or No, he touched the parchment with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Daphne gasped when the blank parchment suddenly turned into a map of the school.

Harry, whilst consulting the map, led the other three into Broomstix, then into a storeroom in the back of the building. There Harry found a door that opened into a secret tunnel.

About thirty minutes later, Harry and the others were inside Hogwarts Castle.

Now Harry showed Daphne and Neville another use for the Marauder's Map: "Dumbledore is here, the other professors are here, Filch is here, Madame Pince is in this corner, and there are no students here now except us. My plan is to use the map to avoid our being seen between here and where we're going."

Daphne asked, "Where are we going?"

Harry said, "Here's my problem: I have six days to learn, and to be well practised at, magic I don't know now. Well, the Potter library will help with some of that, and the Black library also will help. But I need more knowledge; I need the knowledge that's here."

"Do we really need all the sneaking around?" Neville asked. "What's wrong with a professor finding us?"

Hermione asked, "Why use the Marauder's Map to prevent professors from seeing us, when as soon as we walk into the library, Madame Pince will see us?"

Harry said, "Because we're not going to the school library. Nor to the Ravenclaw Common Room library. And I'm trying to avoid any of the school portraits, as much as possible. Because what I don't want is for anyone who is compelled to report to Dumbledore—"

As Harry was talking, the four teens turned a corner.

Floating in the corridor in front of Harry and his friends, and facing Harry and his friends, were the ghosts called Nearly-Headless Nick, the Fat Friar, the Bloody Baron, and the Grey Lady.

"—seeing us," Harry said, sighing.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hogwarts Castle
During breakfast in the Great Hall

Albus Dumbledore sat in his golden throne and sulked.

Being rebuked last night for his supposed moral failures in the presence of the Order of the Phoenix members was humiliating beyond words.

Worse, when Dumbledore had been Apparated by Magic back to his office in Hogwarts, he had discovered that Fawkes was gone.

Worst of all, last night: to have the Elder Wand taken from him and given to the boy? Unbearable!

But Dumbledore had devised several plans already, how to get the Elder Wand back from the boy. Dumbledore took it for granted that Harry Potter would bring the Elder Wand with him when he returned to school on 1st September; once Harry and the Wand were both back in the castle, then the only issue left to be decided would be how Dumbledore would justify the many detentions that Harry would be given, once Dumbledore had both possession of the Elder Wand and the allegiance of the Elder Wand.

Another frustrating thing for Dumbledore this morning was that he was blocked from information he craved.

Last night at the Order meeting, Harry had apparently announced some major operation in the future that had involved broom-flying at a hundred feet above the ground—but Dumbledore could not find out what Harry had said! Molly had no clue, Arthur and Kingsley did not know much, and Alastor said he had taken an Unbreakable Vow not to spill secrets about the operation. Also, Harry at the meeting had revealed who "Fake Bellatrix" was; Dumbledore was keen to know who the Order woman was so he would know whom to owl an "I'm so disappointed in you" message to. Alas, Dumbledore had been unable to uncover this secret as well. Ironically, the switched-over oath of obedience was the reason that Arthur, Kingsley and Alastor gave for refusing to answer Dumbledore's question about "Fake Bellatrix."

Most disturbing of all, Harry had made another announcement at the meeting; and Arthur, Kingsley and Alastor all admitted that they could tell Dumbledore the information—they were not blocked by oath or Vow—but they would not tell. All three said in essence, "You'll find out soon enough, Albus; and when you do, hopefully for once in your life, you won't meddle with what Harry is doing."

Dumbledore still was trying to guess what Harry's "You'll find out soon enough" plan might be, when an owl brought him a copy of this morning's Daily Prophet.

Ten minutes later, Dumbledore was thinking, Harry has challenged Tom to a duel? Here at Hogwarts? In six days? Has the boy gone insane?

But then Dumbledore had a thought that made him smile: If the duel kills the boy, this leaves the way clear for me to kill Voldemort myself, before the withering curse debilitates me and without a worry about any prophecy. Defeating both Grindelwald and Voldemort would cement my reputation as one of history's great wizards.

Dumbledore still was smiling when McGonagall leant over and murmured, "Last night, Harry snapped the Elder Wand"—the headmaster gasped—"then burnt the pieces to ash." This news changed Dumbledore's smile to a scowl.


Meanwhile, in Malfoy Manor

Even Dark Lords need to eat breakfast, and so Voldemort was at the moment in the Malfoy Manor dining room, sitting and eating at the head of the table.

The oval table was made of grey granite. The table was so big about, and so thick on top, that Lucius often boasted that the table was impossible for even a dozen Muggles to lift, much less carry; so the presence of the table in this room was proof of the family's magical power.

Voldemort had never cared about that. All Voldemort cared about was whether Nagini could slither across the table without breaking the table, when the Malfoy Manor dining room was used as a Death Eater meeting room.

Then this morning's Daily Prophet arrived. Within minutes, Voldemort had many more things to care about.

"Lucius," the Dark Lord said, "come here."

The blond man stood up and walked towards Voldemort, his face showing none of the fear that was in his mind.

When Lucius Malfoy was standing before Voldemort, the Dark Lord said, "I gave you a special book for safekeeping. It was supposed to stay here. Instead, you removed it, one thing led to another, and Potter learnt some of my secrets. Today"—Voldemort grabbed the newspaper one-handed, and shook the Daily Prophet at Malfoy—"some of my secrets are printed in this newspaper. Crucio!"

Five minutes later, Voldemort finally ended the Cruciatus Curse on Malfoy. As the blond man writhed on the floor, Voldemort raised his voice so that everyone in the dining room could hear him—

"The Potter boy has challenged me to a duel," Voldemort said with haughty amusement. He paused whilst the Death Eaters laughed scornfully. "This duel is to be six days from now, at the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, at noon. I'm sure Potter expects to face me alone, whilst his friends do nothing but watch from the spectator seats. I'm sure he expects Dumbledore, the Leader of the Light, likewise to watch the duel whilst otherwise doing nothing. I'm also sure Potter expects you lot to quietly, peacefully watch the duel from other spectator seats. I tell you, if the Potter boy believes these things, he is naïve. Come, people, we have six days to make plans."

Amidst the cheering, Voldemort looked at Snape and said, "Come, Severus, walk with me. I have questions."


In Hogwarts Castle

Harry and his three friends eyed the four House ghosts.

Harry said to the ghosts, "Should we feel honoured that we've attracted almost the full set of you? Only Peeves and Myrtle Warren aren't here."

(Daphne whispered to Hermione, "Harry knows Moaning Myrtle's real name?" Hermione shushed her.)

Nearly-Headless Nick smiled. "Harry, it's always good to see you! But we're puzzled what you, Mr Longbottom, Miss Granger and...?"

"Daphne Greengrass, Heiress Greengrass," Daphne said, dropping a curtsy.

"One from my House," the Bloody Baron said.

"Bravo, Harry," said Nick, beaming, "a Gryffindor betrothed to a Slytherin? The last time we saw this was ... your grandfather, Fleamont Potter, I do believe. Good show, lad!"

"Nick," said the Grey Lady. "Why are they here now?"

"Right, right," said Nearly-Headless Nick. To the teens, he said, "The school is between terms, and all four of you left the castle for the summer. So why are you sneaking into the castle today?"

Harry grinned. "We aren't 'sneaking in,' we are making an unannounced untraditional entrance." Dropping the smile, Harry asked the ghosts, "How much do you know about the Dark Lord Voldemort, formerly"—Harry glared at the Bloody Baron—"Tom Marvolo Riddle of Slytherin House?"

The Bloody Baron said, "I know that he is a disgrace to Salazar's House. I know that he has taken suspicion of Muggle-borns, which is a good idea, and perverted it. He approves the wholesale murder of Muggle-borns and half-bloods, which is disgusting."

Hermione demanded, "Why is suspicion of Muggle-borns a good idea?"

"Because your loyalties are always uncertain. When you are pushed to your limit, Muggle-born girl, can even your closest Hogwarts friends be sure that you would choose the Wizarding world over the Muggle world?"

Hermione snapped, "And is this my fault? Choosing to live in the Muggle world would be, for me, like vowing that I would never again use my right hand. The only reason that I would consider such a thing, even for a second, is that the wizarding world continually makes me feel so unwelcome! If I ever do turn my back on all this, people like Draco Malfoy of Slytherin will be a big reason why!"

The Grey Lady cleared her throat.

Harry looked at the four ghosts and said, "I've challenged Tom Riddle to a duel in six days, at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. I've come to the castle to research offensive and defensive spells. I'm hoping that the Chamber of Secrets has a library of Parseltongue spells in it. If not"—Harry shrugged—"we'll go to the regular library till Dumbledore throws us out."

The Fat Friar asked, "If you're here for research, not vandalism, and the research is intended to help you defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort, why do you think the headmaster will throw you out?"

Harry said, "Because a prophecy has been made about Voldemort and me. I have 'the power to vanquish' Voldemort, but I'm not guaranteed to win. Dumbles wants to sabotage me so that I'll die, then he can waltz in, kill Riddle, and get the glory. I would bet my trust vault that if today we're forced to go to the regular Hogwarts library to do research, Dumbles will throw us out on some pretext."

Hermione said, "He's telling the truth about Professor Dumbledore sabotaging him. The headmaster made Harry grow up with Muggle relatives who hated magic. They beat Harry, starved him and insulted him."

Daphne gasped. "Merlin, Harry, is this true?"

Harry blushed. "Yeah."

The Grey Lady snarled, "Stopping someone from doing library research should be a crime."

The four ghosts looked at each other, engaging in a silent conversation. Nick held up a hand with its fingers splayed.

The Bloody Baron said to the teens, "We must report your presence to the headmaster, without delay. We choose to interpret this as 'without obvious delay.' We shall delay five minutes before we tell the headmaster that you are headed for the Chamber of Secrets. Make good use of your time."

"Thank you, Baron," Harry said, bowing. Then he yelled over his shoulder, "Follow me!" and took off running.


Meanwhile, whilst walking the corridors of Malfoy Manor

Voldemort asked Snape, "What is Potter thinking now? Why did he challenge me?"

Snape's face did not change, and his voice remained calm, but inwardly he was frightened. "I cannot say, my lord." When Snape was not Crucio'd then and there, he continued, "As many times as my godson provoked Potter, Potter never once started a fight against Draco. The brat is thinking new thoughts now."

"Is this duel Dumbledore's idea?"

"No. If anything, the headmaster is telling everyone in the castle that Potter is 'turning Dark.' Which actually means that the boy refuses Dumbledore's quote-unquote 'guidance.' "

Voldemort nodded. "What about Potter's parents? You knew them much better than you know the boy. If one of his parents had challenged me to a duel in 1981, what would they have been thinking?"

Snape told the Dark Lord what he wanted to hear: "If James Potter had challenged you, it would have been because Potter was brash, reckless. The thought that he might die would never have occurred to him."

Snape, no fool, did not speak the other half of his answer: If Lily Evans Potter had challenged you to a duel, it would have been because she had a plan. And Lord Voldemort, you wouldn't have enjoyed your life when Lily carried out her plan.


In Hogwarts Castle

All four teens were panting; they had just finished a sprint across the castle. They now were on the second floor, just outside a lavatory that had a big "OUT OF ORDER" sign on the door.

"You lot ready to go in?" Harry asked.

Neville asked, sounding horrified, "We're going into a girls' loo?

Daphne asked, sounding horrified, "We're going into Moaning Myrtle's loo?"

Opening the bathroom door, Harry said, "Gryffindors charge ahead." He walked inside.

Daphne started to say something; laughing Neville said, "Yes, Daphne, we already know."

Meanwhile, four teenagers had become five. A flirty teenage-girl ghost yelled, "HARRY, YOU'RE BACK!"