To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, perhaps Weasley bashing, possible time paradox.
Part III – A Dream Come True
Arriving in 1970, Hermione sent Fawkes to check if anyone was living in the founders' quarters, and the phoenix swiftly flashed away, only to return an instant later.
#No one has been living there, since we departed 369 years ago,# he relayed what Godric had told him from the portrait.
"Thank Merlin," Hermione breathed, casting the phoenix a grateful look.
They quickly grabbed Fawkes' back feathers to have the phoenix take them to their rooms.
"I feel so guilty," Hermione blurted out, when they let themselves sink onto the edge of Harry's bed, "but I don't even know why. What did we do wrong?"
Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry, dear, but I have no idea. What did we do that might have caused any changes at all? Perhaps the founding of Evans house, but that's about it. Oh well," he added, sighing, "apparently, this will be our time from now on and we'll have to make ourselves comfortable here." He gently caressed her cheek, feeling very happy doing so.
"Harry," Hermione replied, smiling at him, "considering that we're a married couple, don't you think that we should combine our rooms to one? Or simply enlarge your room?" she added as an afterthought.
"A fantastic idea," Harry replied, returning the smile, before he leaned over and pulled her into a long kiss. Smiling, they both then stepped out into the living room to speak with their friends in the large painting before doing anything else.
HP
When they explained to their co-founders what Nicholas had told them, Rowena let out a long sigh. "Oh right, my visions are not exactly separated between your original timeline, the new one and the one which you are only going to create from today onwards, so there is not much that I can contribute to the discussion," she said in a grave voice. "I feel, however, that I have to agree with Nicholas," she added, smiling.
"We're glad to have you here though and to hear that you're going to remain not only in this time but also at Hogwarts," Helga spoke up in a soft voice.
"It's good to have you here," Godric added, grinning. "Hogwarts will be very happy, too, and I believe that as the last founders of her who are alive, you should also be her owners. Go and talk to her when you have time."
"Before you do anything else," Rowena spoke again in a soft voice, "by the way, you should go and see your account manager at Gringotts, when you have a few minutes to spare. Apart from checking on your accounts, you should consider changing your names to Evans for everyone at Hogwarts to recognise you as two of the founders of Hogwarts."
When Harry and Hermione stared at the ancient witch in surprise, she informed them, "the two time-travellers among the founders of Hogwarts, of whom the whole school knows that they will eventually return to Hogwarts, are Harry and Hermione Evans. Just speak with your account manager, and he will be able to help you with everything. If it's still necessary to cast some charms, I'll be here to advise you at any time."
"Would you like to go to Gringotts now, talk to Hogwarts now, work on our room or rather go to see Nicholas first?" Harry addressed his wife, pointing out that it was already beyond lunchtime.
Hermione let out a deep sigh, before she replied, "Let's go and see Nicholas first. I want to get over with it and begin our new lives as soon as possible. The next step should be to go to Gringotts."
HP
Just like Nicholas had introduced them to several Unspeakables in their original time, he introduced them to Ra and Croaker and told them parts of their story.
"You should keep to yourself who you are and where you come from except for Ra and Croaker," Nicholas emphasized. "They're the only people who may know everything."
"Yes sir," Hermione replied, obediently, before she added, "From tomorrow onwards, we're going to be Harry and Hermione Evans by the way. Our co-founders advised us to change our names."
"Of course," Ra blurted out, wide-eyed. "Harry and Hermione Evans, two of the six founders of Hogwarts. Still, you will be Merlin and Morgana here in the Unspeakables' office."
"What about our parents, sir?" Harry enquired. "Will we be allowed to tell them the truth? We also need to inform our younger selves about the apprenticeship in the future."
"If they will be chosen as the apprentices at all," Nicholas cautioned them. "Anyway, Morgana and Merlin will work for the Unspeakables, however, before they will replace me as the Head Unspeakable, they will reside and most likely teach at Hogwarts," Nicholas explained. Turning back to them, he enquired, "Whom do you know at the school from your original time?"
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance.
"My adoptive father is only going to be a first-year," Harry replied, letting out a deep sigh. "My real parents as well, but we haven't known them before anyway," he added, slowly.
"Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore," Hermione supplied, giving Nicholas a questioning look.
"Do you trust them?" Nicholas enquired.
"Professor McGonagall yes, the headmaster no," Harry was the first to reply, and Hermione nodded her consent.
"I agree," Nicholas said and suggested, "Why don't you ask Professor McGonagall to swear a witch's oath to keep your secret? Then you may tell her everything, considering that you should have someone at Hogwarts, whom you can trust. Apart from certain portraits and the castle herself," he added as an afterthought.
"We will do that," Hermione replied in a firm voice, confirming with a glance at Harry that he shared her opinion.
"Excuse me, Nicholas," Harry said, pensively, "I have a question." Seeing their mentor give him a reassuring nod, he asked, "Do you perhaps know who our account manager at Gringotts is?"
"Yes, I know that, "Nicholas replied, smiling. "It's Buckbean, and he is a very high-ranking goblin in spite of being quite young; however, he is very gentle for a goblin. I know him well, because he is working for the Unspeakables. He will assist you as much as possible."
"Will he be able to help us with the change of name?" Hermione enquired.
"He will," Nicholas reassured them, smiling.
"Excuse me, sir," Hermione then asked, hesitantly, "will you please tell us what we did wrong and need to remedy now?"
Nicholas let out a deep sigh. "I have only seen some memories that my older self showed me and know what he told me," he replied, seemingly hesitating. "It was not pretty to say the least. Apparently, Severus Snape, Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew were in Evans house and were best friends just like Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black and Frank Longbottom from Gryffindor. I hope I got all the names right here," he added, shaking his head in apparent annoyance. "Anyway, one evening, Severus Snape went to check what Remus Lupin was doing during the night of the full moon. Let me just say, he was bitten, and his friend, Peter Pettigrew, took revenge on him by luring Sirius Black and Frank Longbottom into a trap that killed them. I'm sorry. That's all that I know about it. My older self told me that you had a cure for lycanthropy and could heal Mr. Lupin, as soon as he came to Hogwarts, and that you should keep an eye on your parents and their friends."
"That we will do," Harry promised, feeling horrified by the revelations. He could not prevent tears from welling up in his eyes at the thought of losing Neville Longbottom. "Neville would never be born," he uttered, horrified. "He was our friend."
"And it's our fault, because we founded Evans house and didn't make an effort to publish the wolvescure potion," Hermione added, tonelessly.
"Don't worry," Nicholas advised them. "You'll be well able to remedy the problems.
"I hope so. All right then. Thank you for everything, Nicholas," Harry replied, giving their mentor a smile that did not reach his eyes.
"Thank you, sir," Hermione added, smiling sadly.
HP
By the time they returned to Hogwarts, they felt more depressed than they could remember having ever felt before.
"It's all right," Hermione said, reasonably. "We're going to do better now."
They neither felt in the mood to go and see Professor McGonagall nor to speak with Hogwarts, let alone make a new room for themselves or head to Gringotts. Instead, they simply enlarged Harry's bed and went to sleep, hoping that their future would turn out better than the stories they had been told that day.
HP
Harry woke up, noticing a strange weight on his left arm. He lazily opened his eyes only to realise that Hermione was cuddled into his side. 'Oh right, we spent the night together,' he recalled, somehow feeling stupid that they had been so shocked about everything that they had not even thought of enjoying their first night together. 'Oh well, from now on, we're always going to sleep together. She is my wife,' he told himself, smiling, when Fawkes trilled a soothing melody, looking down at them from his perch.
He suddenly noticed that he felt famished. 'I wonder where we can get something to eat, considering that no one knows about our presence here.' He headed into the living room and asked his friends in the parlour, who instructed him to call Lisa, who was the house-elf responsible for the founders' quarters.
"I'm surprised that there is an elf responsible for these rooms," Harry replied, only to add, "Does anyone apart from us know about our quarters?"
"No dear, these rooms belong to you and your future family and are not known to anyone else," Rowena confirmed.
"Not even the headmaster?" Harry asked, remembering a feeling of suspicion that he had held towards the old headmaster many years ago.
"Not even the headmaster," Godric assured him, before he enquired, "Would you be willing to take over the headmaster's position?"
"As the only living founders of Hogwarts, you're the owners," Salazar added, "so it would only be natural if you became the headmaster."
"From 1981 onwards, we're supposed to become the Head Unspeakables though," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "Apart from that, we're supposed to keep an eye on our parents and their friends, which would be much easier as professors and heads of our house."
Salazar let out a scoff. "Eleven years are too long to worry about it now, and you can always make Minnie-Know-it-all the headmistress if you wish to leave Hogwarts, but I rather think you should lead our school for some hundreds of years. Considering that there are two of you, you should still be able to fulfil the position as Head Unspeakables."
"Exactly," Godric confirmed; however, Harry was not really convinced.
"I'll speak with Hermione about the matter," he promised, before he called Lisa and asked for breakfast for the two of them, just when Hermione came out of his bedroom, sleepily rubbing her eyes.
"Did I miss anything important?" she enquired, lazily.
"Yes, you almost missed breakfast," Harry quipped, as he lowered himself into the seat opposite of her.
HP
Right after breakfast, they cast the language charms at themselves that made them speak fluent Gobbledegook, before they made their way to Gringotts and demanded to speak with Buckbean.
The goblin was as friendly as Nicholas had told them. He immediately agreed to assist with the name change and revealed some shocking information.
"Both of you, Harry Evans and Hermione Evans, have received the Order of Merlin first class in the year 999," he informed them, pleasantly.
"That's not possible," Hermione replied, matter-of-factly.
"We never set foot in 999," Harry added.
Buckbean gave them a toothy grin. "On 1 May, 999, you are listed as the receivers of the Order of Merlin first class for inventing a cure for lycanthropy together with Salazar Slytherin. Your vault, which is vault 4, is one of the oldest and richest vaults at Gringotts."
"Are there still descendants of the other four founders of Hogwarts?" Hermione enquired with obvious curiosity.
"Yes," Buckbean replied, smirking. "Lily Evans is the heir to Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor. She is the first witch in a long line of Squibs. Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin don't have any living descendants anymore. However, in their will, they have decided - just like the Gryffindor-Ravenclaws by the way - that the two of you should become their heirs. Therefore, vault 3 belongs to the two of you as well."
"Excuse me, Buckbean, whose are vault one and two? Merlin and the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family?" Hermione asked with apparent interest.
"Exactly," Buckbean confirmed. "Albus Dumbledore is the last descendant of Merlin at this time. Unfortunately, he does not have any heirs."
"What is going to happen with a vault if there is no descendant?" Hermione asked, eagerly.
"Usually, people make a will," Buckbean explained, patiently. "If no one claims access to a vault within ten years after the last heir's death, the goblins check the vault and distribute the content within the magical world, against a proper fee of course."
'We don't want that to happen with Merlin's vault,' Harry thought, making a mental note to ask Merlin if he would be able and willing to make Hermione his ultimate heiress in case his family was going to die out. 'As soon as we've really got settled into this time, we should go and visit Merlin and Morgana as well as our co-founders and Ceridwen anyway,' he thought, smiling at the idea of a pleasant trip in their near future.
HP
After a quiet lunch in muggle London, Harry and Hermione returned to Hogwarts and headed to Professor McGonagall's office.
The older witch, who was twenty years younger than she had been from what they remembered from their old time, looked at them in surprise.
"Hello Professor McGonagall," Hermione greeted her in a soft voice. "We're Unspeakables Merlin and Morgana, and we would like to speak with you for a moment."
"Of course," the Gryffindor head replied and motioned them into her office. "Please take a seat and tell me what I can do for you," she said, before she called Malcolm, whom Harry remembered from before as her personal house elf. An instant later, Malcolm served tea and the professor's favourite ginger naps to them.
"Professor," Hermione once again spoke up, smiling at the older witch. "Would you perhaps be willing to swear us a witch's oath to keep our secrets to yourself?"
"We can assure you that we have done nothing criminal or such," Harry supplied, noticing the professor's hesitance.
McGonagall finally nodded. "Very well then," she said and swore her oath on her magic.
Harry and Hermione slowly removed their Unspeakable features that made everyone unable to recognise them in spite of the fact that they were not wearing hoods.
"You will not know us," Harry began to speak, "however, we know you well from a time in the future, when you will be our professor." Realising that the professor eyed them in apparent suspicion, he explained, "We are time travellers. To properly introduce ourselves, we are Hermione and Harry Evans."
The professor let out a huge gasp at the mentioning of their names.
"You're two of the founders of Hogwarts?" she enquired, seemingly doubtful. "Do you have anything to prove this?"
Harry and Hermione smiled upon suddenly hearing Godric's voice. When they looked around, they noticed a portrait of their friend guarding a door that led to what they assumed to be the professor's private quarters.
"They are Harry and Hermione Evans, our co-founders and time travellers," Godric confirmed. "Please hear them out, Minnie, considering that they have decided to confide in you of all people."
"That is quite an honour," Minerva muttered to herself, before she properly greeted them. "Welcome to our time then, Professors Evans."
"Please just call us Hermione and Harry," Harry quickly replied, "as you were our godmother in our old time. We're not professors yet anyway."
"Please call me Minerva then," the professor instructed them, and the two nodded gratefully, as they had been used to calling her by her given name in private.
They spent the following two hours telling the professor everything from their old timeline over the apprenticeship and their mistakes up to their advisor's instruction to oversee their parents' schooling. They even showed her the occasional memory of their old timeline.
"As unbelievable as this story is, it must be true, considering that Godric confirms it," Minerva finally said, shaking her head in apparent disbelief. "I am happy to have you here and get to know you though. Let me just ask one thing. Did I understand it correctly that you must keep an eye on your parents and their friends to prevent some of them from killing each other?"
When Harry and Hermione confirmed, she enquired, "Have you already decided how to achieve this? What subjects would you be able to teach, which certainly would be the most efficient way to keep an eye on certain students?"
"Minnie, Harry, Mione," Godric suddenly spoke up from his portrait. "Please come to the founders' quarters to involve our colleagues into the planning."
HP
At the same time, Albus Dumbledore was peacefully sitting in his office, enjoying one of his favourite lemon drops with ginger flavour, while he gently petted his feline companion's fur. "Mellow," he said to the marmalade cat, "Christmas is in three days' time. I wished someone would give me a pair of woollen socks for Christmas."
Mellow merely let out a purr at his soft touch.
All of a sudden, Godric Gryffindor, who occupied one of the portraits of the former headmasters of the school, spoke up.
"Albus Dumbledore," he addressed him in a firm voice, "the other founders and I thank you for all your commitment to Hogwarts in the past and we ask you now to resign from your position, vacate your private quarters and this office and leave the school by tonight."
Albus gasped in surprise and swallowed his lemon drop and immediately started to choke.
Seeing this, Mellow took fright, leapt into the air and scratched across the surface of the portrait with her sharp claws.
tbc...
A huge thanks to the kind reviewers, who are still interested in this story. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter and what you expect from the new future.
Next chapter: "Meddling".