Title: Time Warp: Year One
Author: Laen
Chapter: (5) So Close, Yet So Far
Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts, and has a talk with Remus... then there's the Quidditch match...
Disclaimer: All characters below belong to Joanne K. Rowling; the idea of Harry going back in time came from Back to the Future.
Author's Note: I hope you guys like this chapter... and please, REVIEW!
"Listen Potter, I don't know what the bloody hell you're up to, but you're going back to Hogwarts—now! I don't understand you anyways, why would you want to be with these—muggles?" Snape asked as he spat the last word out, glancing at the Dursleys.
"They're my family." Harry hissed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't care—are you mad or something? Running off to Azkaban? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is you—?"
"Of course I know how dangerous that is Snape!" Harry growled.
"You're going back to Hogwarts now—get your stuff."
"I'll talk to Dumbledore about the match, then I'll owl you and—"
"Now Potter!"
"—we can arrange stuff later. Accio!"
All of the belongings Harry had planned on bring back to Hogwarts suddenly came zooming towards him, and landed in a pile next to him. Harry quickly stuff most of it into his backpack, and ignored Snape's glaring when the Potions Master noticed the MP3 CD Player and his CDs.
"Muggle technology isn't allowed inside the school Potter—it's against the law." Severus Snape stated as Harry shrugged.
"What's your point?" He asked as he zipped up his sports bag, and picked it up.
"Hope to see you soon—bye!" Harry smiled as Snape pulled a quill out, and he placed a finger on it.
The next thing he felt was a nauseous tug at his nose, and he felt himself land onto the ground. He slipped on the ice, and fell, but not before he got a glance of where he had returned to.
The glance told him all he needed to know... he was back at Hogwarts.
"Harry, I need to know why you think Peter Pettigrew was the man who betrayed your parents, and not Sirius Black." Lupin said as he approached the eleven year old Gryffindor.
"I have a feeling... don't ask why... but I just believe that Sirius is innocent." Harry answered.
"No proof—no evidence—and you believe he's innocent?" Lupin asked in disbelief.
"I'm not asking you to believe me. I just think he's innocent."
"And Harry—I need to ask you about something—how do you know—about me? And that potion! Why don't you want me to tell Dumbledore? And why did you say Snape would be the one who would figure it out the summer you went into your third year?"
"Please—don't ask... I won't be able to answer anything—not until after my third year is over." Harry whispered.
"Fine... but you understand, time flies. I'll be back in two years Harry, and I'll be asking you the exact same questions. Except this time, I'll be demanding an answer."
Harry nodded to show that he understood what the werewolf was talking about.
"I'll see you around then. Ron's probably wondering where I am." Harry muttered as he turned to walk away.
"Good-bye Harry." Remus replied as Harry continued to walk...
"Harry, what are you doing with that muggle thing?" Ron asked as he looked over Harry's shoulder.
"Trying to make it work... run on magic, instead of batteries." Harry muttered as he skimmed through a page in the book, then looked at the CD player.
"You know, Hermione's coming back in a few days—you could always ask her to help you." Ron said as Harry shook his head.
"Nah, it's okay."
He continued to fiddle around with the machinery.
Hermione Granger had returned to Hogwarts shortly before the new term started, and continued to badger the two first year boys to help her in the search for Nicolas Flamel. Ron came close to telling Hermione who he was several times, and it took Harry three silencing charms to shut him up. Apparently, the red head was good at throwing silencing charms off.
Harry hadn't bothered to go look for the mirror of Erised during the winter break, and didn't bother mentioning it to Ron or Hermione at all, but he did, owl Dumbledore and request that the headmaster to use the mirror to protect the stone.
Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, was now working the team harder now, even the rain couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasley twins complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Harry was on Wood's side. Like he was supposed to.
The young Gryffindor had talked to the headmaster about inviting his cousin, aunt, and uncle to one of the games, and when the headmaster agreed, he was more then just delighted.
He had been so happy about the news, he didn't even hear George and Fred complain about Snape referring the next Quidditch game. When he did though, he groaned in disbelief.
"That bugger." He muttered as he stepped through the common room door.
Inside, was Neville, hopping around the room with both his feet attacked. He had been attacked by Malfoy with the Leg-Locker Curse.
"Oh man..." Harry sighed as he waved his wand, and performed the counter-curse before Hermione could do a thing.
"Here Neville, have a chocolate frog." He offered as he pulled out a Chocolate frog out of his pocket, and handed it to the first year Gryffindor.
"You're worth twelve of Malfoy, remember that... and the next time he tries to attack you, just point your wand at him and yell stupefy." Harry said as Neville smiled slightly.
"Thanks, Harry... I'll keep that in mind. What does the spell do? Stun him?" Neville asked as Harry nodded with a large grin on his face.
"Yup. If you plan to attack him, attack him when there's loads of people around. If you're going to lose house points, you lose it with pride."
Neville's face broke out into a large smile, and Harry chuckled slightly.
"Well, I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"
As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.
"Dumbledore again," he said slowly, trying to remember the words he had used when he went through this the first time.
"He was the first once I ever—" Harry paused, and he placed a look of shock onto his face, and gasped.
"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! Read this Hermione!" Harry said as he handed the card to her.
"Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel! Stay here! I'll be right back!" Hermione said as she jumped to her feet, and headed towards the girl's dorm.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Ron asked as Harry nodded.
Hermione appeared a few seconds later, with an enormous old book in her arms.
"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" asked Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.
At last she found what she was looking for.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him as Harry smiled in amusement.
"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!:
"Wicked." Harry said before Ron could ask what it was.
"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker Immortal. There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicolas Flamel,. The noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle—who's six hundred and fifty-eight years old, in case you're wondering." Hermione read out loud as both Harry and Ron nodded.
"So that's what Fluffy's hiding." Harry said, although he knew it was the truth.
"No wonder Snape's after it!" Ron said as Harry nudged him.
"Snape's not after it, it's Quirrell."
"Harry, you said it was Quirrell who was hexing your broomstick last time—why do you think that Quirrell is the one—"
"Hermione, Harry has his reasons... maybe he'll tell you in a few years, maybe not. But life with it alright?" Ron cut in rudely
"Hmp." Hermione muttered as she turned to ignore Ron.
Harry sighed and yawned in disbelief at their immaturity.
Like Remus Lupin has said to Harry earlier on a few weeks back, time did fly by... and before Harry knew it, it was the day of the Quidditch match.
Ron and Hermione had both wished him good luck, and he went into the change room to get ready for the game. After getting into his uniform, he decided to tune out on all the noise around him, and calm himself down.
He knew for a fact that his uncle, aunt and cousin were in the stands, getting ready to cheer him on, but what he was trying to decide, was if he should catch the snitch five minutes into the game, or if he should wait for a while, let the game continue, then catch it.
He didn't have time to decide, for Lee Jordan began to introduce the players. He mounted his broom, and flew out into the stadium.
Back in the stands, Neville had gotten himself into an argument with Malfoy and his two thugs. Ron was watching the game intensively, and didn't bother to listen to a word the Slytherins were saying... Dudley and the Dursley, who were sitting only a few seats away on the other hand, couldn't help but hear.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team? It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents," Dudley got ready to rise to his feet in defence of his cousin, but his parents held him down, "then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money—you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."
Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.
"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he stammered.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game said, "You tell him, Neville."
"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."
"I'm warning you, Malfoy—one more word—"
"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly. "Harry—!"
Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked towards the ground like a bullet.
"You're in luck, Weasley. Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.
Ron snapped. But then, so did Dudley. Harry's aunt and uncle barely had a chance to grab Dudley, as the eleven year old muggle lunged towards Malfoy.
Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on trop of him, wrestling him to the ground. And Dudley was pounding away at Crabbe and Goyle, who were trying to help. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help Ron attack Malfoy.
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping on to her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape—she didn't even notice Ron and Neville kicking away at Malfoy, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Dudley, Crabbe, and Goyle.
Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches—next second, Harry had pulled out of his dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.
The stands erupted in such a loud cheer, Hermione had to scream to be heard by Ron, Neville and Dudley.
"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor are in the lead!"
Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground. He couldn't believe it. He'd done it—the game was over; it had barely lasted five minutes. As Gryffindors came spilling on to the pitch, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped—then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's worried face.
"Harry—you need to come to the hospital wing—your cousin's been injured."
"Dudley! Dudley!" Harry shouted as he ran into the hospital wing panting.
He saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Neville each lying down on a bed unconscious, and noticed that his aunt and uncle were standing at a bed, and the person lying on the bed, was none other then his cousin.
"Dudley!" Harry exclaimed as he approached the last of his family.
"Harry." Uncle Vernon acknowledged as he stared at his son, who was lying on the bed with a black eye.
"Is he alright?" Harry asked.
"Just knocked out." Madam Pomfrey stated as Harry sighed in relief.
"Professor Dumbledore—you didn't have to scare me like that—I thought Malfoy had hexed him or something. What happened to Malfoy anyways?" Harry asked as he turned towards the Slytherins plus Neville.
"Got into a fight—Dudley joined in, they were insulting your friends—and you. The blonde boy—Malfoy—he said something about Lily." Aunt Petunia said as Harry's face turned pale.
"If he wasn't already knocked unconscious, I'd break his face." Harry growled angrily.
"Mr Potter! I don't need anymore patients as it is!" Madam Pomfrey snapped as Harry smiled sheepishly for a moment.
"So, did you like the game?" Harry questioned.
"That was a heck of a dive boy—I mean—Harry. Way to go." Uncle Vernon said as Harry smiled.
"You should've seen what your friend—that red head—Ron I think, did to that blonde guy." Dudley's voice rang out through the hospital wing.
Harry turned to see his cousin grinning back at him.
"Dudley!" Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon both said as they hugged their son.
"Mum... dad... we're in public." Dudley muttered embarrassingly as Harry chuckled.
"Ron was the one who knocked Malfoy out?" Harry asked as Dudley nodded.
"And the other guy, Neville Longbottom? I think he knocked that short fat guy in green robes out there after he knocked me out—I managed to get the other guy out before hand though." Dudley said as Harry smiled.
"Well—Mr Dursley, I believe it is time for you to return home? Is it not? And Mr. Potter, there's a party in the Gryffindor tower for your victorious win. You'd better go celebrate." Dumbledore said as Harry nodded.
"Bye." Harry said as he waved, then turned around, and headed back to his common room.
Harry, Ron and Hermione spent the next few weeks of the school year reviewing their school work, and practically nothing else. When Ron complained about getting some rest, Harry decided to show Hermione his MP3 CD player and ask for some help on making it work on magic
The group of friends wandered over to the library, so Hermione could look for the right books. When they were there... they found more then they intended for...
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron asked.
The half giant shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He look very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.
"Jus' lookin'," he said in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively as Harry smiled at his attitude. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St—"
"Shhhh!: Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh? Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"
"See ya later, then." Said Harry.
Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?"
"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."
"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon." Harry muttered.
"But it's against out laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we've got Dragons in the back garden-anyways, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania—Harry, did this happen when you were—"
"Shhhh!" Harry hissed as he stomped onto Ron's foot angrily.
"There aren't wild dragons in Britain! Is there?" Harry asked wanting to avoid the subject Ron had brought up.
"Of course there are," said Ron as he rubbed his foot in pain. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."
"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, "Who is it?" before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warn day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," Hermione spoke up when no one else did. "What else is guarding the stone other then Fluffy?"
Hagrid frowned at her.
"I can't tell yeh tat," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all?" Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Of, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron both beamed at Hermione happily.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick---Professor McGonagall—" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah—yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
"Oh—" was all Harry could say before he bid good bye to the half giant, and headed back up to the castle with his friends at his side.
School continued to fly quickly, and although Ron and Hermione hadn't known about Hagrid's new pet, Harry had owl-ed the groundskeeper and told him to send the dragon to Charlie. The half giant didn't agree at first, but after a few long letters, he finally agreed.
Harry made a few arrangements with Dumbledore, and the headmaster somehow found a way to get the Norbert over to Charlie. The school days continued to swing by, and before Harry knew it, his scar began to hurt like mad.
"It's today! He's going to steal the stone today!" Harry gasped as and led his friends towards the third floor corridor.
"Come on, we've got to get in!" Harry said as he pulled his wand out.
He was about to mutter the unlocking spell when he heard his name being called out.
"Mr Potter! Mr Weasley! Miss Granger! What do you three think you are doing?" Professor McGonagall's voice screeched through the hallway.
"Someone's trying to steal the stone!" Ron cried out before Harry had a chance to stop him.
"How do you know—?" the Headmistress asked in shock.
"We just do—listen, someone's going to try and steal the stone, and you've got to let us stop him Professor! Dumbledore would understand!" Ron exclaimed, but shut up the moment Harry and Hermione stomped onto his feet.
"Ouch! Bloody Hell!" Ron yelled as he began to jump up and down in pain.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor Mr Weasley. Watch your language—and Mr Potter, I suggest you go out and have some fun, no one will be able to steal the stone, since it's too well protected."
"But Professor—"
"Weasley, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and fathered up the fallen books. "Go and enjoy the sunshine."
Ron groaned, and turned to leave, but Harry sighed deeply, wondering how much of the past he had already altered.
A/N: Truly, truly, truly, SORRY for not updating sooner! I've no time, and my brain's gone into overdrive, not to mention the teachers at my school are evil! I'm even more sorry to say that the chapters for this fanfic will be cut down to half of what it originally was... it's taking me way too much time to write this... but if all works out, I'll be able to finish this before the month's over, and the chapters during summer would be longer! I've no time to review the responses... and I apologize if this chapter sucked, cause in my mind, it did... flames are welcome, so are reviews, suggestions and ideas would be wonderfully and great, and simple little comments would do okay to. Anyways, just post something in the review box.
P.S.: I decided to take out the Norbert part because it's just too troublesome... not to mention I've got an English exam tomorrow...
Thanks to: Rini Sayian-jin, hphotshot3, Tombadgerlock, GShans, aaf, Silvercrystal77, Nicoletta, Nightwing 509, BurningIce22, Rain, MerlinHalliwell, Harriet Jamina Potter, TopQuark, GShans, EnterTheLion, hum, Darak, FireWulf, Sorceress Misha, hphotshot3, Schnuff, who?, Nasser Himura, Hilel, Jabba1, a6, OrionTheHunter, Wytiln fanficfan54321, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana, Rhysel Ash, lucasfsf, Madfoot Moony, Rini Sayian-jin, Mikito, MJD, Y401-F4N, knot2be, WaitingforAron, pinkishblu-1020, borne-shadow-childe, Hannanora-Potter, anataremrys, ImperialJedi, HarryPassionFan, GKX-6,