Harry Potter and the Cookie of 1942

Chapter 2: The Truth Comes Out

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When the two boys reached the Transfiguration classroom, Harry pulled the door slightly open and peeked in.

"Dumbledore's teaching!" Harry exclaimed.

"What happened to McGonagall?" Neville wondered.

Harry grabbed Neville's arm and hissed, "Look at Dumbledore! He's younger. His beard is auburn, like it was fifty years ago. And the students are all Gryffindors, but I don't recognize any of them. Except--" Harry broke off, staring at a boy who was sitting in the back row of the classroom. Neville could certainly understand why he would stare. The boy was enormous, and sat at a table instead of a desk like the other students. He stood out even more because of his shaggy black hair.

"Who is that?" asked Neville. "Is that..."

"It's Hagrid," said Harry with certainty. He closed the classroom door and pulled Neville a few steps further down the hallway. They sat down slowly with their backs against the wall, and stared at the opposite wall in shock. Then Harry turned to his friend and whispered urgently, "Neville, I don't know how this happened, but somehow we've gone back in time. At least fifty years, and those kids look like third years, so that means... it's 1942." Neville stared at Harry in shock. He felt like his head was spinning. They had travelled in time!

"1942! That was the year my grandad finished at Hogwarts! He was Head Boy! That means my gran's here too! She'd be a sixth year, like us! And..." Neville's eyes grew round. "That kid– Algie Fletcher! That's my uncle Algie. No wonder he looks like Dung. He's Dung's father!"

Harry nodded, and looked grim. "It's also the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened for the first time. And I know who's going to open it."

"Th-th-the first time?" stammered Neville.

"That's right. Remember in second year, when Hermione and all those muggle-borns got Petrified?" Neville nodded. "Ron and I found out it had been opened before, when Hagrid was in his third year. He was keeping some monster as a pet, and the real heir of Slytherin, who let the Basilisk out, framed Hagrid for the death of a muggle-born girl – that's why Hagrid was expelled. The attacks stopped, so no one could prove it wasn't him. The girl who was killed became a ghost – the one who haunts the girl's bathroom on the second floor."

"Moaning Myrtle?" Neville's jaw dropped.

"You've met her?"

"Just heard of her, from some of the girls." Neville blinked. "So she's alive here too!"

"Yeah," replied Harry. "And I've just remembered who Olive Hornby is. She's the girl who was teasing Myrtle before she died, and Myrtle became a ghost so she could follow Olive around and haunt her. Huh, I wonder what happened to Olive after Hogwarts– I'm sure I've seen her somewhere ..." Harry looked thoughtful, and then smirked. "I can't decide whether we should warn Myrtle so she won't die, or let her become a ghost just to annoy that little Slytherin witch."

Neville laughed, but then his eyes grew big. "Harry ... can we change things?" They stared at each other. Neville went on, "I mean, should we? How could it affect the future? You know how to get into the Chamber of Secrets, right? So can we stop whoever it is from getting in before people get hurt? Or just kill the Basilisk? Harry, I ... if I could do something to prevent my parents from getting hurt, whatever changes it makes to the future would certainly be worth it to me! Harry?" The black-haired boy was breathing heavily, staring into space. "Harry, what is it?"

Harry turned to Neville, his eyes tortured. "It's Voldemort, Neville. He's at school here right now, in sixth year. He's a prefect, and he's the Heir of Slytherin. If we could kill him, we could stop him from becoming the Dark Lord in the first place."

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Author note: Sorry it's a short chapter. The next one will have more interesting stuff.