A/N: First of all, I forgot to mention this story takes place around the
end of the third book. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I wasn't sure
what the response to this one would be. It is not as thought out as my
other one and seems to be writing itself. It is also a little more
complicated and harder to explain. I hope I cleared up some of the
questions. Don't worry..more things will be cleared up in the following
chapter. Also thank you for to everyone who gave me info on how to send
this different. I forgot all about HTML ..I will just have to look up those
codes. Don't I have to use HTML codes to do that? Anyway..I hope you enjoy.
Response to reviews at the end!
Oh before I forget: I don't own them!! Never have and to my immense displeasure never will (
Harry silently followed Professor Snape along the corridor up to the Headmaster's office. As they walked, he noticed that something felt different to him. Even though he traveled these halls everyday, he was unable to put his finger on what it was. Something just felt off. The closer they got to their destination, the more the feeling intensified. Harry began to feel panicky and wasn't sure what to do. He unconsciously started wiping his sweaty palms on his robe trying to get rid of the results of his nervousness.
'What is wrong with me? I like the Headmaster! Why am I suddenly afraid?' Harry desperately thought to himself. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized that Snape had come to a stop. For a second time in one night, he ran right into the older wizard. Surprisingly it only earned him a glare rather then the scathing comments he was expecting. Snape acting out of character only heightened Harry's sense of unease.
In just a matter of seconds the two were standing at the office door. Instead of knocking, Snape paused and kept glancing between the door and to Harry. He wasn't sure how the older wizard was going to take the news. Snape did know that once they went through this door, life as he knew it was going to change. He had a sneaky suspicion that the return of Harry Potter was going to have some serious ramifications to his own life. Severus looked down one more time at the boy and noticed him fidgeting. He knew that if he did not hurry up and open the door the child would start asking questions that he wasn't prepared to answer so with a deep breath to steady himself he finally knocked.
"Come in Severus" a soft amused voice could be heard to say. "I know if someone is knocking at this hour it must be you, do come in child" he finished as he watched Professor Snape enter. He was just bringing a cup of tea to his mouth for a sip when he caught sight of who was standing behind the potion master. The cup slipped unnoticed to the floor splashing tea all over the Headmaster's bright purple robe. The hot scalding liquid shocked the wizard and brought him out of his daze. "Harry?"
'This is ridiculous' Harry thought to himself "What is wrong with them?" He accidentally muttered out loud instead of silently like he planned. His cheeks reddened and he could feel the heat from his blush of embarrassment creeping up the back of his neck. "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to be rude. I.." Harry said in a rush trying to apologize.
"It's quite alright Harry. Please sit down." Albus stated somewhat nervously, waving his two guests into chairs across from him. "Now please before I begin, tell me the last thing you remember." He asked the anxious looking child in front of him. His question served two purposes. The first was to satisfy his curiosity as to what actually happened and the second was that it gave him enough time to collect his thoughts. He knew that Harry was going to have a difficult time with everything that was going to be discussed tonight and he wanted to make sure he thought through his explanation so that he could tell him as gently as possible.
"Well, the last thing I remember is Hermione and I grabbing on to the time turner to go and rescue Sirius by.." Harry trailed off as he remembered just who he was admitting this in front of. His face paled and he couldn't keep from staring at Professor Snape in panic. 'How could I be so stupid!' he mentally berated himself. Harry remembered that to Professor Snape, Sirius was a murderer and an old hated enemy. The memory of the wild look his professor had when he came to the shrieking shack and saw Sirius and the undisguised hatred he had seen in those eyes flashed through this mind. Harry desperately tried to think of something to say to try and fix the damage he had done with his confession but he couldn't get his mouth to work.
Dumbledore was only half listening to the explanation while the other half of his mind was working through what he wanted to say so it took him a moment to realize that Harry quit mid sentence and looked so pale and panicked that he was concerned the boy would pass out. He quickly went around his desk and knelt by Harry's chair while placing his hand on his shoulder for support. "Relax Harry. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. I have already told Professor Snape what happened with Sirius and he knows he was innocent." Once he felt the small body under his hand quit trembling he continued. "Harry what I have to say is going to be difficult. Why don't we move to the sofa and get more comfortable." With a strength belying his age, Albus helped lift Harry to his feet who then unsteadily made his way over to the sofa.
Dumbledore positioned the boy so that he was leaning against him and would be able to benefit from the comfort he was offering. He then looked up and noticed that Snape was still pacing in front of his desk. "Severus, please join us." He stated indicating the large, comfortable sitting chair directly across from him. With a wave of his hand the chair moved close enough so that their knees touched. Albus could sense the agitation in the tense body of the potion master and wanted to offer what support he could. He had learned long ago, that while the younger wizard shied away from large gestures such as hugs he seemed to delight in small shows of affection. Just sitting close or a gentle hand on the shoulder was usually all that was needed.
"Now, I have a lot to tell you. I know some of it will be confusing, and most difficult to handle, but I ask that you try to keep your questions to a minimum until I finish. As hard as it is for you to hear it will be equally as difficult for me to say. But if at anytime it becomes overwhelming and you need me to stop, I want you to let me know" Albus said in a kind but serious voice.
Harry searched Professor Dumbledore's eyes. The haunted look and the serious tone were beginning to make him even more nervous then he was to begin with. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders determined to be strong and listen to what had to be said.
After seeing the shaky nod of acceptance, Dumbledore began "First I need to explain something so that you can have a better understanding of things. A time turner, like you and Hermione used is based on an ancient magic. What the device does is to help a witch or wizard open up and step from one time to another, whether it is to go to the past or to the future. You leave the present through a sort of 'door' and pass through a void, or something similar to a hallway. Just like a hallway, the void isn't a designation in of itself but just serves as an area that leads to more doors or again for this case the past or the future.
"Voldemort must have become aware of this concept during his time here at Hogwarts and studied the ancient magic behind the device. I can only assume that before his demise he had also learned how to separate his consciousness and magic from his body for short periods of time. Now, in Godric Hollow, when the curse rebounded off of you and right before it hit Voldemort, he must have had enough time to separate and open the 'door' of the present and slip through. Since the void does not exist in time he would have been able to survive without a body but was probably too weakened to open another 'door' to either the past or the future so he was stuck.
"With everything that has happened I can only guess that during his time at Hogwarts while he was studying the intricacies of time, one of the first things he must have figured out was how to make a door and charmed his diary to serve this purpose. When Ms. Weasley opened the diary, she allowed Voldemort out. Since his body was destroyed he was only able to return as his past self Tom Riddle. When you drove the basilik fang through the book it started to deteriorate and it pulled Tom back through, once again imprisoning him. Somehow when you used the time turner, he had enough energy to curse you and slip through the opening you had opened."
"But if that's true then how did Voldemort become apart of Professor Quirell during my first year?" Harry questioned.
"Ah yes, I had forgotten about that. I can only guess that while Professor Quirell was abroad he got his hands on a time turner. With his extensive study of DADA, it possible that he had figured out the possibilities of Voldemort's survival in the void and intentionally tried to release him. It is the only thing that makes sense. Voldemort would not have been strong enough to take over Professor's Quirell even the little that he had without the younger wizard wanting the Dark Lord to do so. Unfortunately, all of this can only be supposition on my part. There is no way to truly know what happened." Dumbledore said with a sigh.
Harry shook his head "You know almost everything Professor. I bet your guess comes closer to the truth then anybody else could ever get."
Albus just smiled at Harry. "You have just shown me the faith you have in me that Fawkes must have sensed in you last year when she flew down to the Chamber of Secrets. Thank you Harry." He said with a gentle pat to the boy's hand and then continued with his story.
"Since Ms. Granger did not sense or see another presence, I can only assume that Voldemort took over the body of some small animal or insect. Because of his weakened state he would not have been able to take over the body of a person, which was very fortunate for Hermione."
"I don't understand!" Harry exclaimed. "I don't remember any of this." He said while begging the older wizard with his eyes to help him make sense of things. All of a sudden Harry's eyes widened in horror "Mione!" he cried. "NO! Something has happened to her. That's why Professor Snape wouldn't tell me where she was." He stated in fear and then buried his face into the folds of Dumbledore's robe crying as if his heart where breaking.
Harry was only thirteen but he had experienced a lot in his young life. He had lost his parents at the tender age of one, was denied the love of his Godfather, sent to live with muggles who despised him and treated him more as a servant than family. Once he had arrived at Hogwarts he had battled a troll, fought Voldemort twice, went through most of the school turning their backs on him when they thought he was Slytherin's heir, and just this year had to face dementors and listen to the screams of his parents while they died to save him. On top of all that, he found out about his godfather's innocence only to have his hope of a normal life shattered due to the fact that his Godfather was on the run. Through all of this he had remained strong and never once shed a tear, but he was finally at his breaking point. The thought of losing one of his closest friends on top of all the tragedy he had already endured during his life was just too much. He broke down and let out all the years of fear and anguish that had been building up inside him.
As his cries finally slowed down he could hear the soothing words being whispered in his ear and feel the strong comforting arms holding him close. Eventually the words started to make sense and he bolted upright in surprise. Wiping the tears from his face he again locked eyes with his Headmaster "D.did you say Hermione was okay?" He asked in a small hopeful voice.
"Yes child. She was frightened when she realized that you were not there with her but knowing how important Sirius is to you, she kept her head and went ahead and completed the task of rescuing Sirius."
A huge grin broke across Harry's face "Then where is she? I want to go see her." He said in excitement and jumped up and headed for the door.
"Harry, come here child. I am not finished. There is more you need to know." He stated while opening up his arms.
Harry tensed at the look on the Headmaster's face and began to shake his head back and forth. "No, you said she was okay. I want to go see her." He demanded, all the while slowly inching toward the older wizard.
As soon as the boy was close enough, Albus grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him closer. Before Harry could protest, Dumbledore pulled him into his lap and cuddled him. The child struggled for a moment but soon relaxed into the embrace.
"I assure you Harry, your friend is fine. It was you we were worried about." Albus could feel the body go rigid in his arms and muttered a few soothing words before continuing. "It seems that when Voldemort attacked you he must have damaged the time turner you had in your hands. The combination of the curse and the damage to the time turner must have been enough to cause your first death and to send you into the future. For you it has only been a few hours but to the rest of the world it has been ten years. When we could not find you, everyone had thought that you had either been kidnapped by death eaters or you died. We had no idea that you would return to us in another time." Dumbledor stated all of this in a soft whisper to try and soften the blow.
Harry's head spun as he tried to process what he had been told. "T..ten years!" He squeaked in shock. Seconds after his exclamation the first part of what Dumbledore had said slammed into his brain leaving him feeling dizzy "What do you mean my first death!"
A/N: So did that clear up any questions?? Before answering reviews I want to give a big thanks to my beta reader. She has given me more help than I can truly thank her for. THANKS!!!
Charma1219: I am glad you liked it.
Kanashimi Sorry it was so confusing. Hope this chapter helps a little. Thanks for the info about using HTML. I am also glad you want to read more (
Bee: I am glad you find the story intriguing. Hope it doesn't disappoint you. Also, thank you about the info about using html (did everyone know this but me?)
KATY99: Sorry it was confusing..hopes this helps and glad you want to read more. Also thank you about telling me about html
Cat: You are the only one who completely pegged the story (your second guess) Good job!! Fifty points to the house of your choice! Hope this story doesn't end up disappointing you.
Life: Yes, it is perfectly all right to say you are confused. You were close just the wrong direction. Hope this helped a little.
Baroness Jumping Rain; Sidda: I am glad you liked it. Yours had to me one of the most enthusiastic reviews I have had. Hope this helps you figure out what is going on. More surprised though in following chapters. Interesting name by the way.
Istalksiriusonweekends: I just love your name hehe. You are close but no not an alternate universe. Hope you liked this chapter. Did I update soon enough?
Sal: Hmmm webpage you say. I will have to play around and try that. Thanks! I am glad you liked the story. Your guess was close but no not an alternate universe.but you were right, he did think that Harry was dead. Hope you like this chapter.
Sevter: Glad you liked it. Hehe I know the feeling about being too lazy to sigh in grins I often feel the same way!
Oh before I forget: I don't own them!! Never have and to my immense displeasure never will (
Harry silently followed Professor Snape along the corridor up to the Headmaster's office. As they walked, he noticed that something felt different to him. Even though he traveled these halls everyday, he was unable to put his finger on what it was. Something just felt off. The closer they got to their destination, the more the feeling intensified. Harry began to feel panicky and wasn't sure what to do. He unconsciously started wiping his sweaty palms on his robe trying to get rid of the results of his nervousness.
'What is wrong with me? I like the Headmaster! Why am I suddenly afraid?' Harry desperately thought to himself. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized that Snape had come to a stop. For a second time in one night, he ran right into the older wizard. Surprisingly it only earned him a glare rather then the scathing comments he was expecting. Snape acting out of character only heightened Harry's sense of unease.
In just a matter of seconds the two were standing at the office door. Instead of knocking, Snape paused and kept glancing between the door and to Harry. He wasn't sure how the older wizard was going to take the news. Snape did know that once they went through this door, life as he knew it was going to change. He had a sneaky suspicion that the return of Harry Potter was going to have some serious ramifications to his own life. Severus looked down one more time at the boy and noticed him fidgeting. He knew that if he did not hurry up and open the door the child would start asking questions that he wasn't prepared to answer so with a deep breath to steady himself he finally knocked.
"Come in Severus" a soft amused voice could be heard to say. "I know if someone is knocking at this hour it must be you, do come in child" he finished as he watched Professor Snape enter. He was just bringing a cup of tea to his mouth for a sip when he caught sight of who was standing behind the potion master. The cup slipped unnoticed to the floor splashing tea all over the Headmaster's bright purple robe. The hot scalding liquid shocked the wizard and brought him out of his daze. "Harry?"
'This is ridiculous' Harry thought to himself "What is wrong with them?" He accidentally muttered out loud instead of silently like he planned. His cheeks reddened and he could feel the heat from his blush of embarrassment creeping up the back of his neck. "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to be rude. I.." Harry said in a rush trying to apologize.
"It's quite alright Harry. Please sit down." Albus stated somewhat nervously, waving his two guests into chairs across from him. "Now please before I begin, tell me the last thing you remember." He asked the anxious looking child in front of him. His question served two purposes. The first was to satisfy his curiosity as to what actually happened and the second was that it gave him enough time to collect his thoughts. He knew that Harry was going to have a difficult time with everything that was going to be discussed tonight and he wanted to make sure he thought through his explanation so that he could tell him as gently as possible.
"Well, the last thing I remember is Hermione and I grabbing on to the time turner to go and rescue Sirius by.." Harry trailed off as he remembered just who he was admitting this in front of. His face paled and he couldn't keep from staring at Professor Snape in panic. 'How could I be so stupid!' he mentally berated himself. Harry remembered that to Professor Snape, Sirius was a murderer and an old hated enemy. The memory of the wild look his professor had when he came to the shrieking shack and saw Sirius and the undisguised hatred he had seen in those eyes flashed through this mind. Harry desperately tried to think of something to say to try and fix the damage he had done with his confession but he couldn't get his mouth to work.
Dumbledore was only half listening to the explanation while the other half of his mind was working through what he wanted to say so it took him a moment to realize that Harry quit mid sentence and looked so pale and panicked that he was concerned the boy would pass out. He quickly went around his desk and knelt by Harry's chair while placing his hand on his shoulder for support. "Relax Harry. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. I have already told Professor Snape what happened with Sirius and he knows he was innocent." Once he felt the small body under his hand quit trembling he continued. "Harry what I have to say is going to be difficult. Why don't we move to the sofa and get more comfortable." With a strength belying his age, Albus helped lift Harry to his feet who then unsteadily made his way over to the sofa.
Dumbledore positioned the boy so that he was leaning against him and would be able to benefit from the comfort he was offering. He then looked up and noticed that Snape was still pacing in front of his desk. "Severus, please join us." He stated indicating the large, comfortable sitting chair directly across from him. With a wave of his hand the chair moved close enough so that their knees touched. Albus could sense the agitation in the tense body of the potion master and wanted to offer what support he could. He had learned long ago, that while the younger wizard shied away from large gestures such as hugs he seemed to delight in small shows of affection. Just sitting close or a gentle hand on the shoulder was usually all that was needed.
"Now, I have a lot to tell you. I know some of it will be confusing, and most difficult to handle, but I ask that you try to keep your questions to a minimum until I finish. As hard as it is for you to hear it will be equally as difficult for me to say. But if at anytime it becomes overwhelming and you need me to stop, I want you to let me know" Albus said in a kind but serious voice.
Harry searched Professor Dumbledore's eyes. The haunted look and the serious tone were beginning to make him even more nervous then he was to begin with. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders determined to be strong and listen to what had to be said.
After seeing the shaky nod of acceptance, Dumbledore began "First I need to explain something so that you can have a better understanding of things. A time turner, like you and Hermione used is based on an ancient magic. What the device does is to help a witch or wizard open up and step from one time to another, whether it is to go to the past or to the future. You leave the present through a sort of 'door' and pass through a void, or something similar to a hallway. Just like a hallway, the void isn't a designation in of itself but just serves as an area that leads to more doors or again for this case the past or the future.
"Voldemort must have become aware of this concept during his time here at Hogwarts and studied the ancient magic behind the device. I can only assume that before his demise he had also learned how to separate his consciousness and magic from his body for short periods of time. Now, in Godric Hollow, when the curse rebounded off of you and right before it hit Voldemort, he must have had enough time to separate and open the 'door' of the present and slip through. Since the void does not exist in time he would have been able to survive without a body but was probably too weakened to open another 'door' to either the past or the future so he was stuck.
"With everything that has happened I can only guess that during his time at Hogwarts while he was studying the intricacies of time, one of the first things he must have figured out was how to make a door and charmed his diary to serve this purpose. When Ms. Weasley opened the diary, she allowed Voldemort out. Since his body was destroyed he was only able to return as his past self Tom Riddle. When you drove the basilik fang through the book it started to deteriorate and it pulled Tom back through, once again imprisoning him. Somehow when you used the time turner, he had enough energy to curse you and slip through the opening you had opened."
"But if that's true then how did Voldemort become apart of Professor Quirell during my first year?" Harry questioned.
"Ah yes, I had forgotten about that. I can only guess that while Professor Quirell was abroad he got his hands on a time turner. With his extensive study of DADA, it possible that he had figured out the possibilities of Voldemort's survival in the void and intentionally tried to release him. It is the only thing that makes sense. Voldemort would not have been strong enough to take over Professor's Quirell even the little that he had without the younger wizard wanting the Dark Lord to do so. Unfortunately, all of this can only be supposition on my part. There is no way to truly know what happened." Dumbledore said with a sigh.
Harry shook his head "You know almost everything Professor. I bet your guess comes closer to the truth then anybody else could ever get."
Albus just smiled at Harry. "You have just shown me the faith you have in me that Fawkes must have sensed in you last year when she flew down to the Chamber of Secrets. Thank you Harry." He said with a gentle pat to the boy's hand and then continued with his story.
"Since Ms. Granger did not sense or see another presence, I can only assume that Voldemort took over the body of some small animal or insect. Because of his weakened state he would not have been able to take over the body of a person, which was very fortunate for Hermione."
"I don't understand!" Harry exclaimed. "I don't remember any of this." He said while begging the older wizard with his eyes to help him make sense of things. All of a sudden Harry's eyes widened in horror "Mione!" he cried. "NO! Something has happened to her. That's why Professor Snape wouldn't tell me where she was." He stated in fear and then buried his face into the folds of Dumbledore's robe crying as if his heart where breaking.
Harry was only thirteen but he had experienced a lot in his young life. He had lost his parents at the tender age of one, was denied the love of his Godfather, sent to live with muggles who despised him and treated him more as a servant than family. Once he had arrived at Hogwarts he had battled a troll, fought Voldemort twice, went through most of the school turning their backs on him when they thought he was Slytherin's heir, and just this year had to face dementors and listen to the screams of his parents while they died to save him. On top of all that, he found out about his godfather's innocence only to have his hope of a normal life shattered due to the fact that his Godfather was on the run. Through all of this he had remained strong and never once shed a tear, but he was finally at his breaking point. The thought of losing one of his closest friends on top of all the tragedy he had already endured during his life was just too much. He broke down and let out all the years of fear and anguish that had been building up inside him.
As his cries finally slowed down he could hear the soothing words being whispered in his ear and feel the strong comforting arms holding him close. Eventually the words started to make sense and he bolted upright in surprise. Wiping the tears from his face he again locked eyes with his Headmaster "D.did you say Hermione was okay?" He asked in a small hopeful voice.
"Yes child. She was frightened when she realized that you were not there with her but knowing how important Sirius is to you, she kept her head and went ahead and completed the task of rescuing Sirius."
A huge grin broke across Harry's face "Then where is she? I want to go see her." He said in excitement and jumped up and headed for the door.
"Harry, come here child. I am not finished. There is more you need to know." He stated while opening up his arms.
Harry tensed at the look on the Headmaster's face and began to shake his head back and forth. "No, you said she was okay. I want to go see her." He demanded, all the while slowly inching toward the older wizard.
As soon as the boy was close enough, Albus grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him closer. Before Harry could protest, Dumbledore pulled him into his lap and cuddled him. The child struggled for a moment but soon relaxed into the embrace.
"I assure you Harry, your friend is fine. It was you we were worried about." Albus could feel the body go rigid in his arms and muttered a few soothing words before continuing. "It seems that when Voldemort attacked you he must have damaged the time turner you had in your hands. The combination of the curse and the damage to the time turner must have been enough to cause your first death and to send you into the future. For you it has only been a few hours but to the rest of the world it has been ten years. When we could not find you, everyone had thought that you had either been kidnapped by death eaters or you died. We had no idea that you would return to us in another time." Dumbledor stated all of this in a soft whisper to try and soften the blow.
Harry's head spun as he tried to process what he had been told. "T..ten years!" He squeaked in shock. Seconds after his exclamation the first part of what Dumbledore had said slammed into his brain leaving him feeling dizzy "What do you mean my first death!"
A/N: So did that clear up any questions?? Before answering reviews I want to give a big thanks to my beta reader. She has given me more help than I can truly thank her for. THANKS!!!
Charma1219: I am glad you liked it.
Kanashimi Sorry it was so confusing. Hope this chapter helps a little. Thanks for the info about using HTML. I am also glad you want to read more (
Bee: I am glad you find the story intriguing. Hope it doesn't disappoint you. Also, thank you about the info about using html (did everyone know this but me?)
KATY99: Sorry it was confusing..hopes this helps and glad you want to read more. Also thank you about telling me about html
Cat: You are the only one who completely pegged the story (your second guess) Good job!! Fifty points to the house of your choice! Hope this story doesn't end up disappointing you.
Life: Yes, it is perfectly all right to say you are confused. You were close just the wrong direction. Hope this helped a little.
Baroness Jumping Rain; Sidda: I am glad you liked it. Yours had to me one of the most enthusiastic reviews I have had. Hope this helps you figure out what is going on. More surprised though in following chapters. Interesting name by the way.
Istalksiriusonweekends: I just love your name hehe. You are close but no not an alternate universe. Hope you liked this chapter. Did I update soon enough?
Sal: Hmmm webpage you say. I will have to play around and try that. Thanks! I am glad you liked the story. Your guess was close but no not an alternate universe.but you were right, he did think that Harry was dead. Hope you like this chapter.
Sevter: Glad you liked it. Hehe I know the feeling about being too lazy to sigh in grins I often feel the same way!
