The stars were going out, and at this point, had been for quite some time. It'd been a month since the phenomenon started, and to say that they'd exhausted every avenue available to them would not be an understatement. The situation grew more and more dire with each passing day, and unfortunately, they were no closer to finding a solution.

And it wasn't like they could just pass it off to anyone else to solve either. The muggles literally couldn't notice anything wrong with how the universe was going dark. Their lack of magic meant that querying them about it resulted in responses like 'it's always been that way' and 'stars? What stars?'. Very frustrating, to say the least.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the Wizarding World, Harry's mother, Lily Evans Potter, the Minister of Magic, had released a statement that they were looking into the mystery. In the end, it fell to Harry, his harem, and his mum to solve this problem. After all, they were the only ones who likely could, given they knew the whole story.

"Look, it's clear that Delphini did something with time."

Standing there in the Minister of Magic's office with his arms crossed over his chest, Harry nods his agreement with Hermione's words. So does almost everyone else in the room. There's Lily, his mum, sitting behind her desk. Then there's the rest of his harem. Hermione, of course. Fleur and Gabrielle, as well, tied to him by life debt. Ginny and Luna, who were just a pair of enthusiastic lovers. And finally, his mother's secretaries, Susan Bones and Tiffany Umbridge.

The latter was one Harry still had mixed feelings about, given his interactions with her relative, but in the end, Tiffany had proven she was nothing like Dolores… by getting down on her knees and wrapping those pretty lips of hers around his cock as she bobbed her pretty blonde head up and down his member. Yes, Harry could forgive quite a lot, under those circumstances.

In fact, he had forgiven a lot more… after all, he was currently receiving head right now. Not from Tiffany, mind you, but from one of the two witches in the room who were effectively stripped of their rights as human beings and turned into little more than sex pets and fuck toys for their crimes against Harry and his family.

Before him, kneeling on the floor and gagging and gurgling her way up and down his cock, is Bellatrix Lestrange. Her mind broken, she willingly and dutifully sucks Harry's member like there's no tomorrow, the crazed witch repurposed into something more useful after Voldemort's defeat. After all, it would be such a shame to just kill her, when punishing her for what she'd done to Sirius was so, SO much sweeter.

Meanwhile, her sister Narcissa Malfoy is in a similar state under the Minister's Desk, currently eating out his mum. As Lily sits there at her desk, the former Lady Malfoy's tongue is going to town on her pussy, the Pureblood-turned-pet getting a taste of her own medicine, and some richly deserved comeuppance.

Those are the only two witches in the room who don't nod in agreement with Hermione's words, mostly because they're too broken to even register anything but the sexual acts they're currently performing on their Master and Mistress.

Seeing she has everyone's intention; Hermione crosses her arms under her substantial chest and taps a foot for a long moment.

"… I think it's clear that your cousin Dudley wasn't the objective, but rather, the test subject. She used him to thumb her nose at you, before moving on to her REAL plan."

It made sense. After all, Dudley was… Dudley. What could he possibly do? What could he achieve? Gripping down harshly on Bellatrix's hair, treating her none too gently, Harry ignores the older witch's choking and instead focuses on the matter at hand, his brow furrowing as he asks the obvious.

"What can we do? We've tried everything at this point… right?"

Indeed, it felt like they'd tried everything. The last month had been an internal frenzy to attempt to figure out how to stop the stars from going out. They'd at least figured out the WHAT and the WHY. Time itself was being messed with. Their timeline… it was being pruned, bit by bit. Slowly enough for them to recognize what was going on, but too fast for them to stop it… or so it seemed.

Had Hermione figured something out? Everyone in the office is staring at her curiously, hopefully even. After all, none of them want the timeline to end… it's where they live, to be fair.

Feeling their eyes on her, Hermione straightens up and smiles, holding her head high.

"Not… everything. There are some things we haven't played with, out of fear that it would make things worse. But as I'm sure you know; it can't GET much worse than this. It's time to explore… other options."

Ginny groans and palms her forehead.

"Spit it out, Hermione! What do you have in mind?!"

Harry throws a warning glance in the red head's direction, but at the same time, he doesn't put much heat behind it. Truth be told, he agrees with Ginny in this instance. Hermione has always been a little too wordy and a little too melodramatic. However, in the interest of keeping the peace, Harry's harem had a pecking order… and Ginny was NOT above Hermione on the list.

As such, he doesn't say a word when Hermione directs a very vitriolic glare in Ginny's direction, until finally the Weasley girl ducks her head, averts her gaze, and murmurs a 'sorry' under her breath. Only once she's put Ginny in her place does Hermione clear her throat and finally explain.

"Simple, really. We fight fire with fire. It's time for us to do what Delphini did. We have to go back in time as well."

Eyes widen all over the office at that, except for Lily Evans Potter, behind her desk. Harry can't help but notice that his mum looks unsurprised and is even nodding along. Curious now, he leans forward, which properly lodges his cock in Bellatrix's throat even further, but it's not like he gives two shits about Sirius' killer.

"Mum? What is it? What have you and Hermione been working on?"

Lily wasn't just the Minister of Magic, after all. She was also the smartest witch of her age, in the same way Hermione was the smartest of their generation. The two brilliant muggleborns had put proof to the true nature of the Pureblood Lie, of how their discrimination and spite and hateful rhetoric were all just to cling to what little power they had left.

Lily Evans and Hermione Granger were the real deal, and together they'd torn down the entire system… with Harry and a few others' help, of course. But then, Harry was happy to help. Not only was he a half-blood, and thus not truly 'pure' in the eyes of the Purebloods anyways, but he considered himself an ally to muggleborn everywhere, and especially to his mother and best friend.

Regardless, it doesn't surprise Harry one bit that Hermione and Lily have come up with something. Exchanging a glance, the two muggleborns seem to have a moment of silent communication, before Lily gives Hermione a regal nod.

"Tell them."

Straightening her back again, Hermione squares her shoulders.

"Right. Well, we don't have a spell just yet. Unfortunately, Delphini erased her tracks too damn well for us to reverse engineer whatever she did. However, what we have managed to do is modify a set of Time Turners. Effectively, we've turned them into long-range devices that will allow us to go back decades in time."

There are gasps of amazement and shock from all around the office, and Harry himself has to admit, he's impressed. That's some serious improvement on the basic Time Turner, isn't it? He wonders how they actually did it… but in the end, that's not really important, now is it? Hermione isn't done explaining yet either.

"With the Time Turners, we can create a team to go back in time and stop Delphini before she can do whatever she's done to cause the erasure of our timeline. We can set things back on track, and fix things once and for all."

Looking quite proud of herself, Hermione stands tall… right until Fleur Delacour steps in, the gorgeous veela's brow furrowed in confusion.

"But… where would we go? When would we go? It iz quite dangerous, to play with time blindly, no?"

Not only is Fleur much higher in the harem pecking order than Ginny, she's also not outright challenging Hermione's authority, but questioning her calmly. As such, the older French veela doesn't receive the same glare, as Hermione's shoulders slump and she's forced to nod, conceding the point.

"It's risky, no doubt about that. There's no telling where we need to go, or what Delphini has actually done. We need to figure that out before we go back in time, that's for sure. So, I guess… that's why you're all here. So, we can figure out where we're going, where Delphini must have gone."

Clearing her throat, Ginny pipes up, clearly looking to recoup some of her lost face from earlier.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it? The bitch had to have gone after Dumbledore, right? Think about it, without Dumbledore, Voldemort would have won the first time around!"

Gabrielle shakes her head at that, the young veela speaking up.

"Ah, but wouldn't eet make more sense for her to go after 'Arry? Or rather, for her to go after 'Arry and Aunt Lily, when they were weakest and most defenseless, at Godric Hollow?"

Silence falls briefly at that, as everyone in the room considers that possibility. Then, all at once, they're all talking over each other, each coming up with their own theory on where Delphini would have struck. Only Harry truly stays quiet, though his mother also doesn't offer any theories of her own.

Staring down into Bellatrix's watery eyes as she gurgles and strains on his cock, the young wizard contemplates the situation. Where would the crazy bitch's daughter have chosen to go, huh? If she had access to anywhere in the timeline, where would she have gone to do the absolute most damage possible?

With a soft grunt, Harry cums down Bellatrix's throat, causing his seed to explode out of her nostrils and the sides of her mouth. He does so without a care in the world, tossing her away like a used rag once he's finished cumming. Tucking his cock back into his trousers, Harry looks up and makes eye contact with his mother, as everyone continues to argue and theorize.

In that moment, he sees it in Lily's eyes… she's leaving this in his capable hands. She's going to let HIM make the choice of where they travel to. After all, there's no one else in the office who every single witch will listen to. Lily might be Minister of Magic… but they all know who commands the respect and adoration of each and every woman, herself included, in this room.

Straightening up and clearing his throat, Harry isn't surprised when every eye in the office immediately zeroes in on him. Looking them all over, he gives a single, decisive nod.

"We'll do it. As for where we'll go… I've made my decision."

-x-X-x-

It's a blink and you'll miss it kind of thing. Except, Dudley does blink, and he doesn't miss it. It's the start of his Third Year at Hogwarts, and once again he's watching the newest batch of Firsties entering behind Professor McGonagall for their sorting ceremony. Or rather, he's glancing up at the faculty when it happens.

Suddenly, Dudley has a splitting headache and his vision blurs for a moment. An involuntary groan leaves his lips, and he brings up a hand to grind the heel of his palm into his forehead. Fuck, that hurt…

"Hey, you alright?"

Draco's concerned tone comes from his left, since Dudley has been given the high privilege of setting on the Malfoy Scion's right. Blinking the blur out of his vision, Dudley finds the pain diminishing rapidly, thankfully. Waving off Draco's concern with a nod, Dudley focuses on breathing, even as the Malfoy Scion goes back to watching the sorting ceremony.

Dudley, meanwhile, can't quite shake the fact that something is off. His eyes, unbidden, slide back over to the Hogwarts Staff Table and the faculty sitting there. As he sweeps his gaze back and forth across them, he doesn't actually find anything wrong on his first pass. And yet, something feels strange… really strange.

It's on the second pass that Dudley finally notices it. Albus Dumbledore… is gone. However, the reason no one else is raising a fuss is that he hasn't just vanished… he's been replaced. Sitting in the former Headmaster's seat is someone else entirely… Headmistress Ariana Dumbledore.

They look nothing alike, mind you. Albus Dumbledore was an old, aged, wizened wizard who wore his century and a half of life with pride. He'd looked and acted senile, half the time. By comparison, the Headmistress was a distinguished century and a half old, and the only sign of her true age was her silver hair. Otherwise, it was quite obvious she was leaning on beauty charms just as much as every other witch in the world, keeping her looking drop-dead gorgeous, even at her age. Even if he 'remembered' the witches he knew telling him, she wasn't using any known beauty charms and it had to be her raw magical power keeping her beautiful.

Maybe it's because he himself is a time traveler, but in that moment, Dudley recognizes something has happened. Something dramatic. Someone has changed something in time, and he can now remember both an Albus Dumbledore as Headmaster, and Ariana Dumbledore as the Headmistress now. It's a little confusing, but the more time he has to process it, the less it hurts to think about.

Still, this is… odd. Not good, right? But also… not intrinsically bad? Dudley wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about this. Nor was he sure what he was supposed to do about it. In the end… what COULD he do, except keep an eye out and do his best to protect the new life he'd made for himself, in this timeline?

One thing was for sure… Dudley wasn't going to let anyone take this from him. Not if he could help it…

-x-X-x-

If you'd like to read more of my work not seen on this website, check out H entai-Foundry dot com and Questionable Questing dot com where I have over a thousand stories! I'm known as 'Cambrian' on those websites.

If you'd like to contribute to funding my writing at all, check me out on P atreon. com (slash) Cambrian

Thanks for reading!