Twenty-seven-year-old Auror Harry Potter was sitting at his desk in the Auror Department and was writing his latest report of the capture of Rabastan Lestrange. They had finally found one of the last Death Eaters remaining since the day Voldemort died. Thinking about what to write, reports had never been his thing, he scratched the back of his head. Harry Potter had changed in the last nine years, nearly nothing reminded of the scrawny young man with the round glasses who had saved the world of Voldemort.
Harry Potter had grown quite a bit after the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders. Years of playing Quidditch and the training and work as an Auror had left him with a lean, muscular body and here and there some extra scars. The only things that hadn't changed were his round glasses and the emerald green eyes; his hair was now nearly shoulder length but still messy as always. They wouldn't even stay in the bun or ponytail he had to wear on the job. When people asked, he said he simply liked his hair this way, but only his close friends knew that this was one way to honour his godfather and father; it was messy like the one of his father and long like the hair of Sirius.
When he finished his report, he'd let his eyes wander around his cubical. Photos of his friends and family were pinned to the walls. There were Ron and Hermione at their wedding and then when their daughter Rose was born, of course, there was a big Weasley family picture with all children and grandchildren and him. There was a photo of Ginny of her first match with the Holyhead Harpies; back then, they had still been a couple, the two of them had ended their relationship a few months after the picture had been taken. They just drifted apart but were still friends; a month ago she had married Dean Thomas, there was also a picture of that wedding. Next to them, one could watch his beloved nine-year-old godson Teddy Lupin grow up, as there were many pictures of him, at least one for each year.
Harry was happy with his life the way it was now. A few years after defeating Voldemort, people, of course, still recognised him, but primarily things had quiet down for him. With the Aurors, he wasn't the Boy Who Lived or the Chosen One; he was simply Harry Potter and excellent young Auror nobody cared about more than necessary. And he didn't want it to be any other way, even though he would like to find a woman to settle down with; after Ginny, he only had a few relationships, but none of them lasted long.
"Hey Harry!" the young Auror was pulled out of his thoughts by his friend and fellow Auror Neville Longbottom.
"Hi Neville, what can I do for you?" he asked and pushed his glasses further up while giving his friend a small smile.
"Not much; Severin asked me to tell you to meet him in the Department of Mysteries. He wants you to help him with something." the blonde man answered while Harry raised one eyebrow in slight confusion. Harry knew Paul Severin; he was one of the most experienced Unspeakables, and Harry had helped him on his researches once or twice. Severin was highly interested in the Limbo Harry had been in when he had 'died'.
"Me? Really?" he asked, not entirely able to conceal his confusion.
"As far as I know, no other Harry Potter is working in the Ministry," Neville replied, and Harry stood up without answering.
"Okay, but you'll have to give my report to Williamson," he said and handed the report to Neville, who tipped a finger to his head before leaving.
"And tell him I won't rewrite it!" he called after his friend, who raised his hand to show him he had heard what he said.
"Will do," Neville said over his shoulder before disappearing into the crowd of people on the other end of the corridor while Harry left for the elevators.
As he arrived in the Department of Mysteries, he walked to the Entrance Chamber. Harry still remembered the night he fell for Voldemort's trap; he was almost sure that he would see the scared but determined faces of his friends if he turned around. Finally, the doors had stopped spinning.
"Time Chamber," Harry said out loud, and a door to his left opened; he walked towards it and inside the room. It still looked like the last time he had been in there, except there were no Death Eaters, and there wasn't a single Time Turner left.
"Severin?" Harry asked aloud but got no answer. Where was that old bloke? Because he had forgotten where Severin's office was, he turned to try out one of the doors he now knew to lead to the offices of the people working here. Harry was about to open one door when he noticed a new door on the other side of the room.
It sure as hell hadn't been there before, has it? Somehow Harry felt drawn towards the door and walked closer. It was like something behind this door was calling him, luring him inside with the promise of finding something his heart longed for. A small voice in his head that sounded a lot like Hermione, as well as his Auror instincts, told him to get his arse out of there, but the infamous Potter curiosity was too strong. It was almost like Harry was in a trance; even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to withhold himself.
'This could be your end, you know that? In this damn Department, everything could kill you one way or another! You can't leave everyone behind!' Harry thought as he raised his hand to open the door. Then another thought crossed his mind, and the voice of his old mentor echoed through his head.
'After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.' with that, Harry opened the door, instantly he was pulled inside into pure light, and while he heard the door close behind him, he had already lost his consciousness.
When Harry regained his consciousness, he laid flat on his face on a cold stone floor.
"Merlin's beard it worked, it really worked!" a male voice said, and Harry quickly jumped up and pulled out his wand. In front of him stood an elderly wizard, who raised his hands, showing him he was unarmed and smiled even though a wand was pointed to his face.
"Who are you, and what do you mean?" Harry asked. Now that he was free of the enchantment of that cursed door, he was able to think clearly, what the hell had he done?
"My name is Albert Chronos, Unspeakable in the Chamber of Time, in which we are at the moment but not like you know Harry Potter. It's August 20 1977." the wizard said, and for a split second, Harry was so shocked that he lowered his wand for a moment but then raised his once more.
"You're lying. What the hell have you done to me?" Harry demanded of him, his voice cold and angry. What the hell was going on? Where was Severin? What had that old bugger done?
"I'm not lying, here," he slowly pulled out a newspaper, so Harry could watch his movements and see that he wasn't going to draw a wand. "See for yourself." Harry's eyes darted down for a second so that he could see the date on the paper, which turned out to be the Daily Prophet. August 20 1977.
"That's no proof for what you say. Anyone could fake this." Harry answered with his wand still raised.
"Turn around; we still have the Time-Turners," Chronos answered and pointed towards his left. A short turn of Harry's head told him the wizard was right; there were was the shelf of Time-Turners he watched being destroyed beyond repair.
"I won't repeat myself again. Explain to me what you did." Harry growled angrily; he was tired of all this. What was going on? He couldn't have travelled in time, it was impossible, not like this!
"I gladly will. You see, four years ago, my future colleague, Paul Severin, found a hole in time. He sent a message through which landed here. Since then, we have been in contact, improving this hole in time together, starting one of if not the biggest experiment in the history of Magic. And we succeeded! After years and years of experimenting, we were confident one would survive the time travel, so we needed a powerful test subject, and my colleague suggested you. You, the wizard who fought one of the Darkest Wizards in time, and it worked! You are here!" Chronos said, sounding like he had saved the entire world, but Harry's hand only grabbed onto his wand tighter.
"You fucking used me as a guinea pig! What if I didn't want to travel in time?" Harry shouted, "I was happy with my life, I finally had a peaceful life, and you think you have the right to send me back into a time of war?!"
"Don't you understand what we did-"
"Yes, I understand! You meddled with something no one has the right to meddle with! Every child knows not to mess with time. I know of nearly everything that is about to happen for the next thirty years!"
"Of course, that was the plan! You can't change the future completely, but you can change a few things, so there is a different and better outcome for you in the end! Maybe you can save a life or two! What about Fred Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks or Sirius Black?"
"H-how-?" Harry was barely able to speak, again seeing the dead bodies of every friend that had died in the war.
"You're not the only one who knows about what is going to happen, Severin told me, and we choose you to give you a chance of living another life, of being able to change things, not all of them, but some!"
"You're mad...you are actually insane." Harry muttered, "I don't want to do this; I will go back into my time!" Chronos smile vanished.
"I'm sorry, but you can't."
"What? Of course I can! I will turn around and-" Harry did turn around while he said that and then noticed that behind him was a pile of shattered wood that looked a lot like it could have been a door once.
"No...no," he mumbled and fell to his knees. Everything and everyone he knew, his whole life was gone; most of the people he loved hadn't even been born. "Why? Why did you do this to me? You took everything that mattered from me!" he shouted in agony. Hermione, Ron, the Weasley family, Teddy, to him they were all gone.
"We thought it was a great chance for you."
"Like hell you were! You were only thinking of your experiment, one every other human being had the respect not to mess with, but you, you, thought you could. You put yourself above everyone else playing god!" Harry shouted in rage.
"You might be right, but we won't be able to change that now. There is no turning back," Chronos stopped for a moment then continued. "If it's going to help you, you still exist in your time. It's like a copy of you was sent here, the same you, the same Harry, is back there. Nobody will ever notice anything."
"Great..." Harry mumbled sarcastically though he really was relieved to hear that. At least he didn't vanish for the others without saying goodbye.
"So how am I supposed to live in this time? In three years, there is going to be another me." Harry said, sounding resigned like he came to understand there was no going back.
"I already prepared everything. You are Harrison Potter, twenty-seven, son of Charlus and Dorea Potter. You had a normal life, went to Hogwarts, House Gryffindor, and later became an Auror, but you now left due to becoming the new DADA Professor. I already spoke with Dumbledore. He is the only one besides me who knows who you really are, though I lied to him and told him you volunteered for this time travel.
I alternated the memory of most Professors of Hogwarts and the people working in the Ministry who would have been in close contact with you. Also, the Potters won't notice anything different about you."
"How were you able to do that?" he asked, and Chronos shrugged his shoulders.
"People have always underestimated the power of the Unspeakables or don't know how powerful we really are and what we can really do." he answered.
"Anything else." Harry asked, his voice now even colder.
"If you don't want to destroy this and your time, you better don't change too much. We thought of you as a guide for your younger self." Harry stood up and faced him, then he punched Chronos in the face with all the might he had, knocking the wizard unconscious.
"Thanks for the advice, arsehole!" Harry said while moving his fingers as the punch had also been quite hurtful for him. Thanks to those two mad man he now had to do everything again, just because they thought they were above every law. Harry stared at a mirror that hung in the Chamber of Time.
Now he wasn't Harry but Harrison Potter. His eyes caught the scar on his forehead; in some years, he would have to explain why he had the exact same scar as Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. If he had to do this, he would do it right. He would not be Harry Potter. He raised his wand to his face and winced in pain when he started to cut the skin over his scar and part of his right face. When he was finished and had healed the wounds, one couldn't make out the original scar. It actually looked like he had been attacked by a werewolf or another clawed creature.
Satisfied with his work, he threw one last hate-filled look at the still unconscious Chronos, hoping to never see him again. Harry left the Chamber of Time. He only had one way to go, the only other person who knew of him and could help him, Albus Dumbledore. Harry had to admit he was a bit excited to meet his old mentor in person again. With that thought, he also left the Department of Mysteries and the Ministry. No one took notice of him as he was just another wizard.
Not even a single one of them knew, that he would save them all in the future. Again.
So this idea was stuck in my head for months, and finally, I gave in and wrote it down, even though I know I haven't finished my other story with similar content. But this time its Harry travelling in time ;)
I try to not make it just another Harry in the past story. I really hope I can do this, so please tell me what you think of this chapter and story so far. :)
If you want to know how I imagine Harry, please look at blvnk-art at Tumblr or Deviantart. Her sketches of Harry are simply amazing! That's exactly how I imagine him, but now his face is more scarred to hide his original scar.
Also, if you don't know, Chronos was the God of Time; I thought that was quite fitting for my mad Unspeakable.
I'm not entirely sure how things will go exactly. For example, with whom Harry will end up in this timeline, it's most likely going to be Minerva or an OC, definitely NOT his mother!
Please leave me a review, constructive criticism is welcomed too :)
Patti