Albus Dumbledore was startled by the sudden appearance of a wizard seemingly his age in his private chambers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He gripped his wand tightly and held it in front of him protectively. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" he asked curiously as he eyed the stranger in front of him.
A chuckle escaped the man before he answered calmly, "The correct question should have been what time are you from?"
"Time," Albus repeated curiously as he tried to place the wizard in his mind. He was unable to do so.
The stranger held up his wand so Albus could see it well. It was his wand, the Elder Wand. "I liberated this wand from the student that disarms you the night you die," he said softly. "From your subtle lessons, I come into pocession of all three Hallows and become the Master of Death."
"You have all three," Albus said with a glint in his eyes.
The stranger sighed deeply at the look. "The Resurrection Stone will not bring Arianna back," the stranger said sadly. "It causes her great pain and you wouldn't want her to experience that. She is happy in the afterlife with your parents."
Albus sat down in the nearest chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He had longed to find the Resurrection Stone so he could communicate with his sister once more but he didn't want to cause her more pain. Her young life had been riddled with it as it was. "We must have been close in the future if you know such details," Albus said.
The stranger nodded his head. "I saw you as a Grandfather of sorts," the stranger said. "You were the only reason Magical Britain survives the second rising of Tim Riddle."
"The second?" gasped Albus in horror. "We haven't stopped him the first time."
"Halloween of 1981 he will attack James and Lily Potter because of a prophecy," the stranger said. "Their son will survive the killing curse because of Lily's sacrifice and vanish him temporarily."
"You are their son," he asked as the pieces started to click together.
The stranger nodded his head. "My life after that is where things go wrong," he said. "My parents sacrifice is necessary to power the blood wards you will erect; however, you place me with my magic hating aunt and her family. I am not meant to be raised by them."
"Who should you be with?" Albus asked curiously.
Harry smiled slightly at him and grinned. "I was always meant to be raised by Minerva McGonagall."
"Minerva," the Headmaster said in suprise.
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "While Lily might have given birth to me, I don't recall her. I hear her screams in my nightmares from that night but I can't remember anything else. Minerva was the one who filled that void for me. Course, she did it in her no nonsense way and sharp verbal remarks when I displeased her."
"You mentioned blood wards?" Albus said, his mind racing to solve the puzzle. "Minerva isn't related to James nor Lily that I am aware of."
"She's not," admitted Harry. "My mother has an uncle she is close to. The man is a muggle farmer and will be killed in a Death Eater attack this weekend if it isn't stopped."
"You want me to save him?" Albus asked suprised. Harry simply nodded his head. "What does this uncle have to do with Minerva?"
"They were childhood sweethearts," Harry said with a smirk. "Soulmates actually but she ran from him because she feared living like her mother had. Did you know Isobel McGonagall put her wand away when she married her husband?"
"Minerva told me that once," Albus admitted. "I didn't realize she had a childhood sweetheart though."
"Dougal McGregor was meant to be with Minerva," Harry said. "Surely you noticed the difference in her when she left Hogwarts once she graduated and then returned to teach?"
"I thought it had been what she had seen at the Magical Law Enforcement Department," admitted Albus wearily.
"She closed her emotions off," Harry informed him. "She refuses to marry another while the man is alive. She yearns for him but her need to use her magic freely is greater."
"So I save this Dougal fellow and then place you with him when the time comes?"
"Not exactly," Harry answered with a mischievous smile. "You save him, hide him in another town and then insist Minerva marry him to gain muggle and magical custody of me. She will never get past her handling of the situation in her youth to reconcile with Dougal. You must force her hand. I will never be who I need to be without her."
"It gets that bad?" Albus asked pained by the mere thought.
Harry nodded sadly. "We lost too many on both sides. Minerva is the key. She's the mother figure that I need to end things quicker. She will push me, build my confidence, love me like I need her to."
Albus looked at the stranger for a moment or two before nodding his head slowly. "Then she will be the mother you get," Albus said, determination showing on his facial features. "I will work on a way to convince her of that."
Harry smiled happily at that. "Thank you Albus," he said gratefully. He reach into his robes and pulled out a piece of parchment. He looked at it for a moment or two before meeting Albus' eyes. "I have debated on giving this to you. I know meddling with time can have ill effects but I feel it is a necessity. This is a list of all of Voldemort's Horcuxes and their locations." He ignored Albus' gasp of horror and continued. "You mustn't go after them until after he attacks my family. That will give you ten years to get rid of them."
Albus accepted the parchment and cringed when he saw the list. His eyes widened at the last one. "You're a Horcrux?" he gasped in suprise.
"An accidental one," Harry admitted. "Gringotts has a cleansing ritual and will assist you if you end Binns teaching career and for a bit of gold. I must be the last Horcrux cleansed."
"I shall do what it takes," Albus promised, resolution showing on his face.
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "I have no doubt," Harry said as he slowly faded from view.
Albus sighed heavily and let his mind wonder on how he would save Dougal McGregor and hide him until Halloween 1981. He would find a way to do so, apparently the future of Magical Britain depended on it.