Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I still don't own it please don't sue me!
In a small village just outside of London hidden in a storage cupboard under a set of stairs. a young raven-haired boy, who looked no older than six, was fitfully attempting to sleep. He was trying not to shift too much due to the pain he was experiencing. Earlier that day he had somehow ended up on top of the roof of the primary school roof. The headmaster being one of the boy's uncle's friends from the uncle's school days called said uncle and informed him that the boy was climbing the school's rain pipes. The uncle was furious and punched the boy in the kidneys, stomach, whipped the boy with a metal studded belt and forbade the boy any food for a week. The uncle did not hit the boy's face to hide the evidence of the blatant abuse. The boy still had no clue how he got on the roof and told the uncle so but he just kept hitting him and calling him a freak. The boy kept wishing as he tried to sleep with all his injuries that he could just be normal so his relatives would love him.
Suddenly a bright ball of light shot through the back wall of the house and into the cupboard. The ball of bright light hovered over the young boy. The boy being in so much pain didn't have the strength to shield his eyes from the light. The light hovered there for a moment then slowly lowered into the boy's chest right above his heart. The boy was not scared thinking that he was going to see his parents in heaven. The boy passed out once the light fully entered his body.
The boy awoke in a weird place that looked like a train station he had been shown in class the previous year. On the other side of the platform was a taller man with his back to the boy. The boy observed the man he had almost shoulder length raven hair. Was wearing some sort of robe that was white and seemed to be muttering to himself. The boy could just make out the words despite the man being on the other side of the platform. They were the only two there and it was otherwise silent.
"Perfect, just bloody perfect, obviously Moros and Janus were full of shite and it was a trap. Of course, I would end up back at King's Cross. So where is the old Goat Fucker to berate me for getting myself killed again?" the man was saying.
In a small voice the boy spoke, "Um excuse me sir?".
The man whipped around and staired at the small boy at the other end of the platform. He then froze in shock. There at the other side of the platform was a younger version of the man. The boy still trying to figure things out asked again.
"Sir could you tell me where I am, please?" the boy asked.
This broke the man out of his shock and he cautiously moved toward the younger version of himself. "Hello there young man." He stated in a calm voice and continued even knowing the answer to one of his next questions. "Who might you be? And If I could trouble you for what today's date is please."
"Um, I'm Harry sir, Harry Potter and the date um 4 May sir." Harry said.
"4 May of what year please?" the man asked.
"Oh 1988 sir." Harry replied.
"Damn, overshot by three years. Hermione's going to be pissed." The man muttered. "Right." He said nodding to himself. "Nothing for it now the deed is done moving on." He turned his attention to Harry and smiled a genuine smile. "Hello young Harry Potter, where you are is well, I'm… hunh I guess it could be called a mindscape. But I thought I would come up with a better one then here." He stated running his hand through his hair. In doing so the faded scar on his forehead became visible to Harry and said boy gasped. This brought the man's attention back to Harry. "What is it, Harry?"
"You have a scar like mine." Harry said.
"Oh! Well yes, yes I do why do you think that is?" the man asked.
Harry at first waned to say that it was because the man was his father then the logic that he had hidden away due to his cousin being an idiot took over. Harry's eyes began to widen, "Because you-your me."
"Very good Harry. Yes, I am you an older version of you from the future." Older Harry said.
"But why are you here?" Young Harry asked.
"That is a very long and painful story, fear not I will tell it but… did you say that it is 4 May 1988?" Older Harry asked in alarm.
"Yes. Why?" younger Harry asked.
"Morning or evening?" Older Harry asked hoping he said morning.
"Evening." Younger Harry answered.
"Shite I am sorry if I had arrived this morning, I could have saved you a lot of pain." Older Harry said in regret.
"Why is that?" The boy asked confused.
*sigh* "Harry what I am going to tell you may seem shocking but know it is the truth first you are what some of the more simple-minded people call a wizard. You have the ability to manipulate some form of energy to affect the world around you. I don't know what it is called other than magic but it has too many rules to be anything but some form of energy. Second, I know how you got onto that roof earlier today. It is a form of transportation called apparition, you basically teleported yourself there to get away from Dudley and his gang of thugs." Older Harry said.
"WOW! You mean just like Nightcrawler?" the young boy asked excitedly.
"Yes, just like Nightcrawler. But you have the ability to do so much more than most X-Men could. You can use a form of Telekinesis, Transmogrification, Telepathy, Empathic, spectral projection and pre-cognitive abilities. Those are the abilities in general that you possess. You are one of the strongest among our kind and that was before my arrival." Older Harry explained.
"Why would your arrival make a difference?" Harry asked.
"Because of the way that I used to Time Travel I could not send my body back in time but I could send my mind, knowledge and sprit back in time. Now with our kind our energy or magic is a part of our spirit so all of my magic also traveled back with me and is now a part of you." Older Harry said.
"Wait but what happens to you?" Harry asked.
"Harry you are me and I am you what happens is our souls merge and you gain my memories and some of my personality that I developed over the last seventeen years. We ae one in the same just at different stages of our life. You won't become an adult just because we merged, however you will gain a lot of knowledge and magical strength. Now I said I would explain what made me decide to take the drastic measure of traveling back in time to reset this world…" Older Harry then broke down the reasons for coming back in time.
"Ok so what do we do now?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm not sure, maybe give me a hug?" Older Harry said confused.
"Okay." Harry said and did so. There was a flash of white and when it faded only younger Harry was there with is arms in the hugging position. He thought 'I guess that worked' looking around then realizing that he knew everything that the older version of himself knew.
What the two Harry's did not know was at the same time that the flash happened in their minds, Harry's body began to glow and pulsate. The merging of the magic of the two very powerful Harry's was optimizing their body.
The next morning an anorexialy thin woman with an extra-long neck and very equine features padded down the stairs of her home heading toward the kitchen. When she reached the locked supply cupboard under the stairs, she unlocked it and rapped on the door quite hard despite her size.
"Up boy, get up and start the breakfast, and be quick about it and don't you dare burn the bacon." The woman hissed.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Came the automatic sleepy response.
Inside the cupboard Harry sat up stretched and yawned. Then he stopped and noticed that there was no pain left from the beating he got the previous night. He moved his back a bit and then ran his hand through his hair. This action always elicited a twinge from his scar which he normally ignored. Today however there was no twinge so Harry touched the scar to find it not there. He would be truly shocked when he was given his allotted restroom time once he completed cooking the breakfast for the walrus and baby whale.
Harry did as asked and cooked the breakfast and began the clean up of the cooking utensils then got his single slice of dry toast and tepid water. Then was given 15 minutes to use the loo and shower with cold water then would have to begin his morning chores then school then home for more chores. Today however that would change as he was planning to leave this shithole and never return. Harry waved his hand over himself using a wandless Scourgify to clean himself and cast a spell looking for any magical items in the house. He discovered two trunks and a few other items and quickly shrunk them down and pocketed them then headed out to school sure in the knowledge that Dumb-nuts could would be none the wiser at his doing a runner. The merger of the two Harrys would have destroyed the tracking charms and blood-based trackers as his magic would have overloaded the devices that the MOG had in his office and if memory served this was an ICW meeting week that was always held the first full week of May each year.
Harry had an uneventful day at school and once it let out, he headed toward his home as Dudley and Peris were picked up by Piers' mom on Tuesdays. As Harry turned into an alley, he made sure he was not followed and then apparated away.
At the same time that the two Harrys met in a very nice house in the Oxforshire village of Crawley an eight-year-old girl was dreaming of owing the largest bookstore in the world. When suddenly a light flashed and a woman appeared with her back to the young girl sitting in an oversized armchair with one of her favorite books Pride and Prodigious. The woman had wavy locks like her mother but the colour of her father. She was not concerned as this was her store so she decided to greet the woman.
"Hello welcome to Hermione's Books the largest bookstore in the world can I help you find anything?" the young girl said.
This caused the woman to spin and stare with a look of shock on her face at the greeting. What caught the young girl off guard was this woman looked just like her mother but for her eyes and the hair colour, those were like her daddy.
"Who are you? Are you related to me somehow? You look like my mummy." The girl asked.
"WOW! It worked! Wait where am I… oh I remember this place my dream from when I was… HARRY JAMES POTTER I AM GOING TO SO KICK YOUR SKINNY ARSE!" The woman screeched. Then seemed to take a few deep breaths then focused again then looked up to the shocked little girl. "Hello there Hermione sorry about that outburst I was not expecting to find myself here of all places."
"You should watch your language." Said Hermione by way of a reply.
The older woman chucked and said, "Yes I should I don't usually curse as I do not like it but I was just so shocked and upset at a friend of mine that it slipped out."
"Oh well then okay who are you?" Hermione asked.
"That young one is a very loaded question the short answer is I am a future version of you." Now identified older Hermione answered.
"Holy cricket are you really…Wait what about paradoxes? Wont you blow up the planet by just being here? This is bad you have to leave now don't tell me anything. (She stuck her fingers in her ears and squeezed her eyes shut) lalalalalalalala…" Younger Hermione said.
Older Hermione walked over to the younger version and gently pulled her fingers from her ears and said, "It is safe to look at me and listen to me Hermione the process that we used to come back overwrite the original time line without side effects. So, no paradoxes."
"Are you sure I mean all the books and scientists say that this would happen?" The young girl said in a small voice.
"Oh, sweety I am going to teach you a very valuable lesson despite our reliance on the printed word one thing we need to know was taught by the person who found a way for me to come back; Books are written by people and people are inherently flawed therefore anything written needs to be verified through observation and experimentation." The older woman said.
"Oh" said the girl with a defeated air about her.
"Hey now none of that reading is still a good source of information just take the 'factual' books with a grain of salt and verify, verify, verify. Also remember authority figures are susceptible to the same flaws as everyone else. That last part is very important in the future." The woman said.
"Thank you but what happens now?" the girl asked.
"That is the easy part and I am going to be a bit flippant on this. Your mission should you choose to accept it is to accept a merger with me and go on to live a better life than I did when I was you." The Older version said cheekily.
Chuckling at using a quote from one of her favorite tele programs, "I accept so what now?" Looking up to the woman with curiosity.
"Now you give me a hug and we will merge, from what I understand this process will take a few hours to complete so I hope you aren't too… are you asleep for the evening?" she started to explain.
"Yes, I was asleep but will I stay that way?" the girl asked.
"Oh, good yes this will probably take the rest of the night so…"she said leaving the option open to the girl.
No longer hesitating young Hermione rushed forward and enveloped the older version of herself in what Harry termed a Hermi-hug. Then the light flared and the dream world faded away.
Over the course of the night the pair of children would undergo a lot of changes. Both kids were already quite powerful and with the addition of the adult cores of the future versions of themselves they would become exponentially more powerful. Harry even more so as the older version had performed the ritual a few times in the past not realizing that he was increasing he was in effect doubling his core with each attempt. Hermione would be livid as the memories would unfold revealing the life that her older self had lived and would swear to listen to Harry in the future.
As the now merged Hermione was waking to her mother calling her to get up in her usual teasing tone, "Ok Doodlebug it is morning and the sun is up so if you want to be able to get any reading done before school you need to get out of bed and start on your day." Helen Granger said.
"Grumble, Grumble, Grum…" Hermione started and then shot upright in bed remembering the dream and then the memories started to come back to her now awake mind. Then without pause she burst into tears for what her older self went through. This startled her mother who quickly ran to her now distraught daughter and pulled her into her arms.
"Hermione what is wrong what happened?" Helen asked. All she got was incoherent mumbling as the girl buried herself into her mother's arms. Richard Granger was walking past his daughter's door and looked on the scene.
"What is wrong with my Janie girl?" Richard asked.
"I'm not sure I was just waking her up and got the usual grumble then she just sat bolt upright and burst into tears." Helen replied.
"Hermione luv what is the matter?" Richard asked with concern.
"I-I-I, Oh daddy it was just awful…" Hermione started and then burst into renewed tears. So, Richard also took her into his arms and it became a family hug trying to calm and comfort the youngest member.
"Come on sweety you can tell us what happened, what caused this?" Helen asked trying to coax the problem out of her clearly upset daughter. After a few hiccups and a few deep breaths, the torrent of tears became a trickle and moved to light sobs. "There now little one are you calm enough to tell us what happened now?"
"I-I…" What could she tell her parents? How could she explain what her older self had gone through? She has always been open and honest with her parents and the older version of her self had been no exception; so… "I, well that is to say…"
"Janie girl, what is it?" Richard asked.
"Daddy, Mummy, I had a visitor last night in my dreams." Hermione started.
"Oh, do I need to get out my shotgun for this visitor?" Richard quipped.
"Richard!" Helen scolded. Richard looked mock chagrined, and Hermione gave a watery giggle at her father's scolding.
"Oh, my girls torment me soo." Richard said in an overly dramatic sigh.
"No, I… I was visited by an older version of myself." She replied.
"Oh, good did she give you the scores to the Blues matches for this year?" Richard asked hopefully.
"Daddy this is serious! Besides they get relegated this season and run the table next year in division II and stay in division I from then on till at least 2005 as that is when she came from. I'll remind you once again I am a Red Devils fan. She just remembered you being all moody about the relegation and then super excited about the run next year." Hermione stated with finality about footy.
Richard for his part looked shocked then chuckled "sure Janie girl" ruffling her flyaway hair.
This small interaction got Helen's attention as that was information that the girl in front of her would surely know just to rub her father's face in the fact his favorite team would be relegated for years regardless if they clawed their way back to division I. "Hermione." Helen began cautiously, "what happened to cause your older self to take the drastic measure to create a paradox and come back in time?"
Richard turned to look at his wife in shocked confusion, Hermione however gave a small sad smile to her brilliant mother, "A lot Mummy, some wonderous, some mysterious, some good, a whole lot of terrifying, and one heart breaking."
"Oh, Doodlebug please tell us. NO wait you can't! Paradoxes." Helen all but shrieked.
"No mummy the method used overwrites the time line completely no paradoxes. Think of it as a reset button but being able to retain all the information gained before the reset." Hermione replied.
"Oh, thank heaven for that then please tell us luv." Helen asked.
And with that understanding Hermione explained the next almost two decades to her bewildered parents and a slightly depressed father who knew that his beloved Chelsea would be relegated at the end of this season.
"Okay so what is the plan then?" Helen asked.
"That will have to wait till Harry arrives…" then she muttered under her breath, "and I give him a right rollicking."
"Okay so… Oh sugar look at the time Hermione your late to school!" Helen said in panic
"Mummy it is fine just call me off today say I am sick, since it is Wednesday and you two don't have to go into the surgery today. Let's just stay home and we'll get a room ready for Harry." Hermione said.
"Wait you want some strange boy to come stay with us?" Richard said.
"Daddy he is not some strange boy he is… will be? Um… you know what he is my best friend and will be for the rest of my life so yes I want an abused and mistreated boy to come live with us." Hermione stated with finality.
"Right well then let's get you up and ready for the day and then we can clean up the guest room for now and then we can get one of the spare rooms set up once Harry gets here. That will allow him to help choose what he wants in his room." Helen agreed upon hearing he was abused.
The family of three despite the slight grumbling from Richard got to work for the day doing some slight tidying up for the arrival of their guest.
It was several hours later the three were sitting down to a soothing cupa when a crack, like a small lawn mower backfiring, was heard coming from the back of the house. Hermione knew that sound of someone Appariting in and she was scared for just a moment when there was a knock on the back door. She relaxed as Death Eaters don't knock. She then glanced to the clock in the kitchen and saw that the school day had just ended. She jumped up and ran to the door nearly knocking her father down in her haste to get to the door first. She yanked the door open and with only a flash of who was at the door and a battle cry of "HARRY!" she flung herself into the arms of her best friend and began to sob. Older Harry being use to this behavior had expected the impact and had braced for it he clutched tight to the now sobbing girl. He also knew what was coming once she calmed a bit he really didn't have to wait long. With a punch to his arm with enough force to almost knock him off his feet Hermione started in on him, "You prat! We still have three years till Hogwarts! I thought you knew what you were doing?"
"Hello 'Mione good to see you too, I'm good thanks for asking!" Harry said in a snarky tone than he got tears in his eyes and snatched her up into a hug and he began to loose it. He clung to her as the pain of her loss overwhelmed him. Hermione realizing what was happening just held him and soothed him despite her own tears. Once the two were calm she led him in to the house and re-introduced him to her parents. Helen and Richard both took in the appearance of the boy in front of them and knew that they had no choice but to help this young man. Harry was dressed in overly large dungarees which had seen better days, a stained and thread bare greyish button-down shirt that was once white, taped glasses, and trainers with soo many holes in them it was a wonder they stayed on. The clincher was the reminisce of the bruises that were visible near the collar of the shirt.
"Hello Harry we are very please to meet you again for the first time." Richard said shaking the boys hand causing an eye roll from the two women and a chuckle from Harry, as Richard had shown Harry was would become Richard's favorite movie, Spaceballs.
"Of course, sir, it is a pleasure to meet my brother's, sister's, cousin's, former roommate." Harry replied.
"Oh? What does that make us?" Richard asked.
"Absolutely nothing sir." Harry answered and both men laughed.
"Oh no there are two of them." Helen said.
"It is entirely daddy's fault he was the one that introduced that retrenched movie to Harry." Hermione said.
"Did I how fortuitous. Is he a Blues fan as well?" Richard asked hopefully.
"No thank Merlin for that he is a Red Devils fan like me, that was always a lively discussion in the common room with Dean Thomas as he is a Hammer's fan seeing as he is from Stratford. The rest of them only knew about Quidditch." Hermione replied.
"What in the world is kuich?" Richard asked.
"No Daddy Q-U-I-D-D-I-T-C-H Quidditch it is the sport of the Magical society, it is played on broomsticks and uses seven players that toss a ball called the quaffle toward three hoops via the chasers, use two iron cannon balls called bludgers that are used to attack the other players by two bully club wielding people called beaters and a keeper for the main part of the team. the final position is called the seeker and this person is to locate and chase a small walnut size ball called the golden snitch. The scores are made by chasers putting the quaffle through the hoop for ten points each. The seeker when they catch the snitch earns 150 points for their team and ends the game most the time this wins the game but not always." Hermione explained, Harry was giving her an incredulous look which she noticed.
"Don't give me that look Harry James Potter remember who I was with before we came back. Quidditch, food and insecurity where the only things he knew anything about." She scolded, Harry's eyes darkened and the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees at the mention of that person. Hermione rushed to pull Harry into a hug to calm him down not wanting anything bad to happen. "I'm sorry I even mentioned him relax it won't happen this time." She reassured.
"Sorry, that is still a little raw. I apologize Mr. and Mrs. Granger I'm not sure how much you know but I will not sit back and allow anything to happen to Hermione in this or any other life." Harry said with conviction. It was then with his heightened emotions his mage sight was slightly active and had looked toward the two adults. What he saw nearly had him on the floor.
Both Helen and Richard had a subdued glow surrounding them as if you took a lamp and put an opaque piece of cloth over it. From his studies that indicated a bound magical core. Non-Magicals had a grey aura, squibs or magically disabled had a smokey aura and those who could access the full range of abilities had an aura that represented each individual in any number of colours. "Merlin's saggy ball sack."
"HARRY Language!" Hermione yelled.
"'Mione your parents…"Harry started only to be cut off by said girl.
"Yes, my parents so watch your language." She scolded.
"No Mione your parents are Magical." He continued.
"WHAT?!" came from all three Grangers.
An: sorry for the cliffy!