Chapter 3: Why Is It Always Me?

"But the Weaslette could very well have gotten there first. They did spend and awful lot of time in broom closets."

As he covered his face with his hands, for the first time in his life, Harry Potter regretted the times he and Ginny had together. As part of him acknowledged that Ginny's eyes were rolling back in her head, the rest of him got lost in the nostalgia that had been threatening to take him over for the last twenty minutes or so. As he watched her start to tip over, he thought back on his fist love. They had been young, innocent, and facing a dreadful war, and had found a way to make some happiness for themselves. It had been beautiful, it had been sweet, yes, and it had been a little fumbling and awkward, but it was something Harry would never have traded or given up. Harry and Ginny had taught each other so much during those weeks, and even more in the months after the war ended, they had learned, they had healed, and they had grown together. They had discovered they were better friends than lovers and had gone separate ways. Wiser, stronger, and better people for their time together. Ginny had eventually found her true love with Oliver Wood, as they played on the English National Quidditch Team, and Harry had found Daphne. They were happy. Never once did any of her brothers look at him the way Ron and the twins (Oh, merlin, Fred was alive! What a kick in the balls seeing him was!) were looking at him now.

And Hermione. Dear, sweet, loyal, kind, caring, and yes, extremely sexy, Hermione. He and Ginny may have fooled around a bit in those three short weeks in sixth year, but it was Hermione who had 'made him a man' as Ron was apt to say. After Ron had succumbed to the locket in that damned tent and left Harry and Hermione on their own, times had been dark. They had truly believed that their lives were measured now in days or weeks, and hopelessness had started to take hold. At first, they had just shared a bed at night to keep warm. Then, they had held each other to try and remember that there was still warmth and love in the world. Then, being teenagers, alone in a tent in the woods, and believing they had nothing left to lose, had decided not to die virgins.

The nights didn't get cold again until Ron came back.

Those desperate months had never bothered them. They found a way to bring light to the darkness surrounding them, and even had joy back in their lives. When Ron returned, Harry and Hermione had very easily transitioned back into a platonic relationship. They had done what they needed to survive a dark period in their lives and enjoyed it immensely. No regrets, and the few times it had come up between them, they could laugh about it nowadays. She had enjoyed a brief relationship with Ron, and he had gone back to Ginny. No regrets, until this moment, as he watched a humiliated flush cover the face of the best and dearest friend. Fifteen-year-old Hermione would not understand what they had been through, and here was that jackass Malfoy blabbing out things he didn't need to. Future information should be handled with extreme care…

Fucking Merlin, I'm in the fucking past. The thought cut through Harry's subconscious rambling like a steak knife through butter. After some time to sit and think rationally about the situation, Harry would freely admit that he was currently suffering from shock. How could he not be? When one moment you are in your sister-in-law's house, a twenty-five-year-old man, and the next you are picking yourself up off of the floor and in your scrawny, malnourished, and weak fourteen-year-old body, going into shock should be expected. At the least.

Until about twenty minutes or so ago, Harry and Daphne Potter, and Draco and Astoria Malfoy had been adults. Fully grown and making the world a better place and all that noise. They had won a war, for Godric's sake, and life was good. Harry had been happily married for just over a year, and his first child was on the way! One little touch on one of Malfoy's stupid toys later, and Harry found himself, his wife, her sister, and brother-in-law all back in Hogwarts in 1994, regretting his past sexual exploits, that wouldn't even start to happen for over three years yet. Bloody hell, he was still staring after Cho Chang at this time!

The thud of Ginny hitting the ground finally shook Harry from his mental ramblings. Shaking his head free of the memories, Harry ignored the glares of the Weasley boys, and walked over to help his now thirteen-year-old former lover off the ground. Somedays, you should just stay in the fucking bed, he thought to himself.

"Don't listen to Malfoy, Ginny, there is a reasonable explanation for all of this." Harry said to the girl as he helped her to her feet. Ginny just stared at him with wide eyes and full Weasley blush. Harry mentally thanked Mother Magic that there wasn't a butter dish nearby.

"Reasonable, eh Potter?" Fred Weasley asked.

"You must have a different definition of reasonable than we do, Potter." George Weasley growled.

"How could you shag my sister, Harry, I'm supposed to be your best friend!" Ron Weasley exclaimed in a voice full of hurt. Harry sighed and rubbed his nose where his glasses sat. Trying desperately to remember how good a man Ron grew into being, and not remember how childish his jealously issues were ten years ago.

No, not ten years ago, today. His jealously issues were today. Again. Fuck, Harry's head hurt.

"Ginny is only thirteen, Harry," Fred continued on, interrupting Harry's internal musing. "How could you think it would be okay to…"

"Merlin, Fred, Harry has never touched me! He barely even looks at me!" Ginny had shaken off her shock and embarrassment and was firing up that famous Weasley temper of her. "Are you really going to sit there and listen to that prat Malfoy spit lies about me?" Ginny shrugged off Harry's supporting hand on her arm, placed her own hands on her hips and stared down her three brothers. "Is that really how little you think of me? Of Harry?" The twins had the decency to look ashamed, but Ron still looked furious.

"How could you take advantage of Ginny's crush on you! Every other girl in the school wanting you isn't enough for Harry bloody Potter, is it? You have to take my little sister as well? When is enough enough, Potter?" His jealousy of Harry had been building in him for three years now, and it was finally coming to the surface, just like it had ten years ago.

Fuck, thought Harry, not ten years ago, today, it happened today! Fucking time travel! Looking back at his best male friend, Harry took a deep breath, then addressed him. "Ron, you need to calm down. There is a little more going on here than you think, and it is not what it seems." Harry held up his hands in a supplicating gesture.

"Not what it seems like? It never is with you, is it? Tell me straight, Harry, look me in my eyes and tell me you didn't shag my sister?" It seemed the entire group was holding their breath waiting on Harry's answer. Harry vaguely was aware of Daphne coming up behind him and resting her hand on the small of his back in support. Astoria was still glaring daggers at Draco. Draco was silently laughing his bum off. Hermione was still blushing and holding a hand over her mouth as her mind worked through a thousand different scenarios of what was happening. The twins were still looking abashed under Ginny's withering glare, and Seamus looked like a four-year-old who was just told there would be three extra Christmas days this year.

Harry was never much of a liar. He just did not have it in him, and even at this time in life, Ron knew that. "Not yet, Ron." Harry said with a deep sigh and braced himself for the coming explosion. It never came, as with a quick flick of her wand, Ginny petrified her brother, and snapped her head around to Harry.

"What do you mean, 'not yet'?" She asked him with narrowed eyes. "Do you have some plan for me?" Even Ginny wasn't sure if her voice was suspicious or hopeful.

"He means it hasn't happened yet, but will sometime in the future, don't you Harry?" It was Hermione who answered Ginny. She, unsurprisingly, had put all the puzzle pieces together before everyone else. "You aren't our Harry, are you?" She asked Harry directly.

"He's the man the boy you know will grow into." It was Daphne answering this time. The background muttering was picking up in volume as more students began to put the pieces together. Harry watched as the truth dawned on Ginny and the twins, and even Ron's anger started to fade as a look of wonder and confusion entered his eyes. I guess there was never really a chance of keeping this all to ourselves, Harry thought to himself.

As he was about to explain more, he noticed another group walking up to them. Turning, he saw the approach of Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, and hobbling behind them on his peg leg, Mad-Eye Moody. For a brief second, Harry thought on the fates of the people walking up to him. McGonagall and Flitwick who would lead Hogwarts into a very bright and prosperous future after the war, reclaiming the greatness of education the school held in the past. Dumbledore, killed by Snape to spare him a worse death. Snape, killed by Nagini as an afterthought to Tom. Moody, killed in a foolish plan to extract Harry from Privet Dr, and before that impersonated by…

Merlin's balls, that's not Moody! The thought crashed into Harry's awareness like a freight train. Instantly, the reflection of the past left him, and the possibilities of the future spread out in front of him. Cedric doesn't have to die, no one does! I can save them all, and it starts right here! Harry felt his body, even this untrained and under-developed teenage body, shift into combat mode. Harry's magic flowed through his body, reacting to his shifting mindset, it pulsed and flared, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room as Harry's eyes locked onto the eyes of Barty Crouch Jr. Harry felt his wand slide into his hand, vibrating with the surge of magic coming off of Harry as his Auror instincts took over.

Daphne felt it first, of course. Over the last three years of their relationship, their magic had grown very accustomed to each other. Bonding in marriage had strengthened that bond to the point they could almost act as one, it sometimes seemed. Without any hesitation, Daphne stepped to Harry's side, her magic flaring and mixing with his, her wand sliding into her hand. Mere heartbeats behind her, Astoria and Draco picked up on the vibe, and slipped into a battle stance as well, coming to stand just behind the Potters.

Caught off-guard and left speechless by the power coming from young Harry, the four professors and one Deatheater in disguise came to a halt. Eyes wide at the sight before them, they simple stared at the four apparent students who looked prepared for a war. Dumbledore, Flitwick, and McGonagall noticed that Harry's eyes, blazing with a power the boy should not have, locked on to Moody's.

"Hello, Barty. Fancy seeing you here." Harry Potter said in a voice that could freeze molten lava. Before they could even contemplate what that meant, Moody snapped his wand at the boy and bellowed: "Avada Kedavra!" As the sickly green beam of light shot out of his wand and towards Harry, Dumbledore felt that his heart might just stop. So shocked and caught off guard was he, that he couldn't even raise his want or attempt to react. He was vaguely aware that his other three colleagues were in the same predicament as he was.

Just as Albus was sure he was about to see the life extinguished from Harry's eyes, the boy, with a positively lazy flick of his wand, conjured a stone slab in front of the curse. On impact, the slab exploded into shrapnel, which Miss Greengrass very casually vanished with an artful flourish of her wand. They both looked almost bored with the action. Moody stood in utter shock. "Cover me, love?" Harry asked the girl with a slight smirk on his face that heightened the resemblance to his father, James Potter. With a look over his shoulder he addressed the other two apparent time travelers. "Tori, Malfoy, keep the rest of the children safe." Receiving two acknowledging nods from Mr. Malfoy and the younger Miss Greengrass, Harry than refocused his attention on Moody, just as the man began firing curses.

"Potter! I don't know how you've done this, but The Dark Lord will figure it out when I hand your cold body over to him!" Alastor Moody, or at least the man Albus believed was him, snarled out his challenge while continuing to fire a mixture of dark jinxes and hexes at the four teens. Bone-breakers, cutters, and nasty organ-liquefying curses blazed out of his wand at a frightening pace. Frightening for the experienced fighter and Mage that Albus Dumbledore was, but not for these four children, apparently. Harry swatted spells aside with a negligence that bordered on arrogant. What he didn't deflect, Miss Greengrass shielded with little effort. The spells that made it past the pair, were taken care of by Mr. Malfoy and the younger Miss Greengrass. All in all, a situation that should have been a disaster for the remaining students and staff in the great hall was turning into a clinic on taking down an aggressive wizard.

"I can keep this up all day, Barty," Harry said almost casually, again making Albus wonder why he kept calling the man Barty, "how much longer can you keep attacking?"

"This isn't a classroom anymore, boy!" Alastor spat back at him. "You have no idea who you are playing with! When I bring you before him, The Dark Lord will reward me above all!" Albus was shocked to realize that Alastor had gone dark, surely, he must be under the imperious curse. Albus finally managed to raise his wand only to find it was no longer responding to him! In nearly fifty years, the Elder Wand had never failed him, until now. What in the name of Godric is going on! Albus desperately thought to himself, this day is full of surprises, and I'm growing tired of it! Albus looked to his right and saw that Minerva, Severus, and Filius were herding the remaining students in the Great Hall to the relative safety of the main doors. Though, it appeared unnecessary, as Mr. Malfoy and the younger Miss Greengrass were doing quite an excellent job of protecting the students from stray spells. Seeing as he was the only one not involved in the safety of the students, or the fight itself, Albus began searching his many voluminous pockets for his original wand.

As he was doing this, the fight continued. Alastor fired off a chain of four bone-breaker hexes mixed with three explosive curses. Harry sidestepped the first two, shielded or let Daphne deflect the next five. Draco and Astoria were picking off what made it past the two of them. "Have you had enough fun yet, love?" Daphne asked her husband.

"Just trying to wear him down a little, lessens the chance of him taking a hostage or escaping." It was standard procedure for the Auror department, and Harry did have a standard to maintain as the head of it. He negligently swatted aside and organ expelling jinx.

"You realize you could end this at any time, don't you?" Daphne sounded genuinely curious. If there was one thing her Harry had in spades, it was power. Love and stamina too, she thought with a wicked little smirk. Daphne sent a Reducto to be shielded by Astoria while Draco covered a group of fleeing Hufflepuffs.

Harry dodged another cutting curse. "Of course, but I can't really ensure the safety of the children if I do that." There was a collective snort of disbelief from the surrounding students still in earshot at being called children by, in their eyes, a fellow child. "I could blast this bastard into bits right now, but that's a lot of power to contain." Daphne shielded another bone-breaker.

"I will not be insulted by you boy! CRUCIO!" Alastor had been steadily losing his composure during the Potter's exchange, and finally lost control of his temper. He sent the unforgivable at the Greengrass chit, however, hoping to distract the Potter brat and give him an opening to disable him by any means. He had a special portkey made by his master that would cut straight through even the massive wards around Hogwarts. He only had to keep the boy alive and grab ahold. His condition didn't matter.

While Daphne's eyes widened at the unexpectedly cast curse, Harry once again almost lazily conjured a stone wall to intercept the torture curse. The wall shattered when impacted by the red jet of light, and Daphne was quick to banish the pieces right back at Alastor. Barely managing to avoid the debris, and actually catching one decent sized piece in his left arm, Barty lost all composure as he was spun around by the impact. Putting as much power into a Reducto as he could, he unleashed it just behind the elder Greengrass, and to the side of the other Greengrass and Malfoy. Caught off guard by the curse as it was not aimed at them, the curse flew past both Potter and Greengrass and blew a hole into the flooring and managed to knock all four of the teens off their feet. In his rage, Barty failed to realize that his Polyjuice potion was wearing off as well as forgetting his mission. He leveled his wand at the falling boy-who-lived and fired his final curse of the night.

"AVADA-"

"STUPIFY!"

Dumbledore had finally managed to locate his original wand in one of his many pockets. His bellowed jinx slammed into the imposter as he changed back into his true form, cutting off the killing curse before it could be finished. 'Alastor' was blown into the air by the power of Dumbledore and crashed into the Gryffindor table, falling in a limp heap. Albus watched in horrified fascination as the man's features solidified into that of a dead man: Barty Crouch Jr. He looked back up to the boy who was helping his wife back to her feet. This confirmed it, young Harry was gone, and in his place was the man he would grow into.

Daphne cradled her belly out of habit as Harry helped her to her feet. "Are you okay, love?" Her husband asked her.

"Yes, darling, we are fine." She replied, fondly cupping his cheek with her hand, and giving him a brilliant smile. "You've given me harder bumps in the bedroom." She quite enjoyed the blush that flamed to life on Harry's face.

"We're fine too, Potter, thanks for asking." Malfoy snarked as he pulled Astoria to her feet.

"Hush, Draco, you know Harry is completely smitten with Daphne. I'm all yours to fret about."

"Good job protecting all the kids, you guys. Thanks." Harry gave Draco a rare smile of gratitude.

Draco reluctantly smiled back. "Anytime, Potter. We are family, after all." With that, the four time travelers surveyed the damage around them. For the amount of deadly and high-powered spells that Barty had been flinging at them, the damage was remarkably light. Scorch marks, a flew blast craters, and some general debris were all that there was. Amazingly, no students had been caught by errant spell work. The Malfoys had done their job well.

As Dumbledore wrapped Barty up in chains and bindings, Harry let himself listen to the background chatter as the students and teachers made their way back to the scene of the battle.

"Merlin! Potter just destroyed our defense teacher!"

"He beat him so bad he turned into another person!"

"He did not, Dean, that was Polyjuice potion wearing off."

"So, Professor Moody was never really Professor Moody?"

"Where is the real Professor then?"

"Salazar, Daphne looked hot in that fight, think I should ask her to Hogsmeade?"

"She is apparently carrying Potter's baby, so sure Zabini, if you think you can fight Potter for her…"

"Hhmm, good point, Davis. So, you want to go?"

"Sure! I don't think Daph is gonna have much time for me anymore."

"Potter must be the reincarnation of Merlin!"

"Don't be stupid, Morag! The same Potter who bumbled through every class the last three years?"

"How else do you explain being able to travel through time?"

"We don't know that for sure yet!"

"It's the only thing that makes since!"

"He might just be from another dimension."

"That's the same thing!"

"No, see there is a fundamental difference. Time travel is when…"

"Okay, okay, sorry I said anything!"

"But when, Hermione? Harry is always with us! If he ever snuck out for midnight shags, we would know about it!"

"Honestly, Ronald, if you haven't figured it out yet…"

"Just because he is Harry Bloody Potter doesn't make it okay for him to touch you, Gin-gin!"

"If Harry had ever touched me, George, trust me, you would know. He's never even looked at me like that!"

"That is true, brother mine, little Ginny would be shouting it to the heavens…"

"Did you see how the headmaster changed wands? What was that all about?"

"No clue, but it looked like his normal one stopped working?"

"Strange, that. Think it means anything important?"

"Only for the storybooks."

"I think the nargles brought them back. Even though they won in the future, the nargles obviously thought they could do a better job, and so here they are."

"… are your shoes changing colors?"

"If they are from the future, they must know who wins the league this year!"

"Arrogant little brat! Thinking he can just duel teachers in The Great Hall like that."

"You saw what he did, Severus, maybe its time for you to make the effort to get on his good side."

"Sheer luck, nothing more."

"Wake up, Severus, the boy is not James. Let it go, for Merlin's sake! He is far more like Lily, something I think you of all people should be able to appreciate!"

"Look, I'm just saying, we all know that the older Greengrass is the fittest bird at Hogwarts, but did you see the way the younger one was moving? Things were bouncing and jiggling, and even though she is only a third year, I think… OUCH! Damn it, Susan, stop hitting me! That's the third time tonight!"

"Then stop thinking and speaking with little Ernie!"

Harry shook his head with a small chuckle. Somethings would always be the same. The Hogwarts rumor mill was truly something to behold. Feeling a familiar presence behind him, Harry turned and beheld his long departed former headmaster. Albus Dumbledore had wrapped Barty Crouch Jr. in some very sturdy looking conjured ropes and was floating the former dead man behind him. "Well, Mr. Potter," he addressed Harry, "It seams you have once again brought adventure to the halls of Hogwarts."

"Not my intention, I assure you, sir. I don't go looking for trouble."

"No, it seems to find him well enough on its own." Daphne said with a loving smile at her husband.

Dumbledore looked back at Harry, the joy no longer present in his eyes. "How much trouble did he cause in your time? How long did it take me to figure it out?"

"Too long, sir, too long. Though, to be fair, it wasn't your fault. It was a tough year for both of us." The old pain, long past, was clear in Harry's eyes. Daphne reached out and laced the fingers of her hand with Harry's and gave him a supporting squeeze. "What he did this year, or would have done I suppose, would have much greater consequences." Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "now though… now I think things might be different."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with the twinkle returned to his eyes. "Well, my boy, would you care to enlighten and old man with what has transpired to bring you here?"

Harry chuckled as he wrapped an arm around his wife, "That Albus, is a long story."

A/N: Once again, thank you all so much for the reads, the reviews, and the Kudos! They mean a lot to me!