Chapter Three

"Do you remember the rules?" Percy asked Harry as he lay on the kitchen table. His body was wrapped in a cloth that had been dipped and soaked in a potion. He looked like a mummy.

Harry nodded as best he could, "I Can only change what I went back to change, nothing else. If I change the future too early I won't know the events that will put Voldemort in power. I can't try to save the others if it means letting Voldemort come to power because we'll all die anyways. I can't tell them who I really am, or give them hints on actions they should take that would be different from the past."

Remus nodded, "Good. And…when the future has changed, you and the 17 year old Harry should switch places again, when everything is put right-"

"I'm not looking forward to 17 year old Harry in his body-" Charlie commented. "He hasn't lived Harry' s life yet. He's going to be so hard to handle."

Harry smiled, thinking of the task that the others were going to have to do. "Well, you have the note I wrote, don't you? He should be able to recognize his own handwriting."

"I hope so," Molly looked down at Harry. It was odd the way he was wrapped up.

"Alright…you ready, then?" Luna asked, and held her hands out to the others around the table.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm as ready as I'm going to get," Harry admitted. He was scared. He was going back to save his friends, and the life he had once known. He didn't want to fail again.

The people around the table took hands, bowed their heads and closed their eyes. It was going to take so much magic to do this, and their full concentration on the magic was dire. There were no words being said. Harry looked around, a bit confused at what they were doing. It wasn't until a whirlwind portal opened up that he realized anything was being done. He felt himself being sucked in…and when he looked around he realized he was watching himself, and the others. They acted as if they hadn't even noticed the giant hole in space and time in their kitchen. Then he found himself surrounded by darkness. He tried to rub his eyes, but he had no hand! "It didn't work-" he thought. "I'm stuck here in…limbo-"

"Harry?" he heard a voice very far away, and tried to move in it's direction. "HARRY!"

"Eh, what?" he opened his eyes slowly. The light was offensive, and so was the voice that was calling him.

"What are you doing, then?" his Aunt Petunia asked him. "Come on! Dudley will be home any moment and you need to be downstairs to greet him!"

"Uh…yeah…okay…" Harry answered. He looked around the room. He took in the smell and stood up. It was very plain, but it was plainly a wizard's room. Hedwig was clicking in her cage. He looked around and smiled. It was his last summer at the Dursley's. After this summer he joined the Order and became an Auror. It was his last year in Hogwarts. He smiled broadly. He was going to have another chance. He ran downstairs, and had a very cheerful expression on his face.

"What are you so happy for, then?" Vernon asked him, his scruffy mustache moving as he talked.

"Just glad my cousin is coming home, is all," Harry answered with a smug smile on his face.

"Very well then," Vernon answered, but it was clear in his voice that he didn't believe him a bit.

Harry lived at the Dursley's for another day before he went to Grimmauld Place. He was so nervous his entire trip there. He wondered how he would feel when he saw Hermione and Ron again. He had a feeling he might seem a bit overwhelming to them. He hadn't seen them in 10 years, and they were going to be just as he remembered them. He walked down the street, carrying the heavy trunk behind him. He came to the familiar empty lot, and walked up the walk. When he made it to the end Grimmauld Place materialized before his eyes. He rang the doorbell, and waited as patiently as he could.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley smiled at him. She looked so much younger than she had just a little while ago. Her hair was still its beautiful red color, and the years of stress were not visible in her face. Harry found though that the most drastic difference in her was that there was no pain in her eyes. He smiled at her.

"Hullo Mrs. Weasley," he said in between gasping breaths as she hugged him tightly. "It's so good to have you here, dear."

Harry stepped into the entrance hall, and examined the house. The dusty surroundings made him smile, because he knew what he would find inside. "Where are Ron and Hermione?" he asked Mrs. Weasley.

"They are in the kitchen, dear-" she took out her wand and waved it at his trunk. "I'll take these upstairs for you." She reached for Hedwig's cage, and Harry handed it to her.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," he called as she made her way up the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight he smiled widely and sprinted into the kitchen. "Ron! Hermione!"

Hermione turned around and away from the open book in front of her. "Harry!" she stood up and gave him a hug. "How has your summer been?"

"Great! It's the last summer I'm obligated to live at the Dursley's," he commented with a grin on his face. He felt like jumping up and down and hugging them both tightly, but they would have thought that he was mad.

Ron stood up and greeted his friend with a strong handshake that turned into a few slaps on the back. "Nice to see ya, mate."

The door swung open and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks walked casually into the kitchen. "Molly said you were here Harry. Did you have a nice trip?"

Harry nodded his head and looked at the pair. They too had much less pain in their eyes. He couldn't help but feel much older than those in the room.

"Molly's cooking a great dinner tonight, Harry," Tonks informed him. "In honor of you birthday."

Remus gave Tonks an inauspicious glance, "Nice way to ruin Harry's surprise, then."

"Oops…it was supposed to be a surprise?" she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry Harry."

Harry smiled, because Tonks really hadn't ruined it, he already knew. "It's quite alright, Tonks," he assured her.

"I've got your present upstairs, but you've got to wait until tonight," Hermione told him as she slammed her book shut.

Molly came into the kitchen with a mothering look on her face, "Out. Out, the lot of you out. I've got to have the kitchen to prepare dinner."

"But mom, I'm thirsty-" Ron's voice would have sounded whiney if it were lower.

Molly rolled here eyes and conjured up a glass of water, "Here, now off you go." She shooed them out of the kitchen, and then turned around to start working.