Chapter Thirteen

Previous Chapter: "Alright," he said, pushing Harry against the wall. Hard. "No bullshit. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"

"What?" Harry gasped, wincing against the pain in his back.

"There is something that isn't right about you, Harrison. Now tell me what the fuck it is."

Harry let a slow smirk spread across his face, the same look he knew irritated the man to no end. "I could never get much past you, Mad-Eye."

Moody snarled. "I don't have the patience for mind games."

"It's a long story."

"I've got time. Talk."

And so he did.

Or at least he was about to when he was rudely interrupted by McGonagall's voice magically echoing throughout the castle.

"Everyone please report to the Great Hall immediately. Thank you."

Both Mad-Eye and Harry glanced at the ceiling as if McGonagall herself was perched above their heads before taking off for the door.

"This isn't over," Mad-Eye warned Harry, who was easily matching the Auror's long strides. Harry noted absently that both of Mad-Eye's legs were still attached; he wondered how long it would be before he lost one. "We will be talking later, Harrison."

"Looking forward to it," Harry muttered as they entered the Great Hall. Harry made a beeline for the Slytherin table, only to find a nervous looking Lelia and Lex waiting for him. "What's going on?" Harry asked immediately.

"I don't know," Lelia asked, chewing on a piece of her long hair. "But it can't be good. I've never seen the Professors look so worried."

It was true; several of the teachers were seated at the High Table, all looking very worn down. The students and guests were shooting them apprehensive looks. There were a few noticeable absences, however. Most noticeably, Dumbledore and the Minister were still not back from their meeting.

Professor McGonagall stood on a platform in front of the room, wand pointed at her throat to cast the Sonorous Charm. "Attention please," she announced and the audience fell silent. "We will be asking you all to remain inside the Hall for the time being. Heads of Houses will now be taking down names of students who are missing. If any of your fellow students are gone, please inform your Head of House right away."

Several moments later, Jabez and Becker arrived and Snape checked off that they were all present. Then the waiting began.

"What could be happening?" Becker asked, looking fearful, after only forty-five minutes of being locked in the Great Hall. "Do you think there's been another attack?" Jabez put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure everything is fine," Lex said confidently, but with a troubled look on his face as well. "Right, Zach?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly, staring intently at the Head Table. "I just don't know."

22 August 1996

Hermione knocked hesitantly on the door frame of the study in Twelve Grimmauld Place. "Headmaster?" she called. Dumbledore looked up from his parchment and motioned for the girl to come in. She closed the door behind her and tentatively took a step closer to the desk.

"Anything I can assist you with, Miss Granger?"

"Is there any word on Harry yet?" she asked, biting her lip.

Dumbledore sighed and sadly shook her head. "All we know so far is that Harry disappeared from the Leaky Cauldron at the same time the Voldemort and his inner circle vanished," he responded, being uncharacteristically blunt. "Other than that …"

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked timidly. "Wherever he is?"

"I hope so, Miss Granger. I do hope so."

"It's not fair," she cried, wiping a tear away furiously. "I didn't even get to say good-bye to him! And now I may never see-" She stopped herself. Dumbledore's heart clenched painfully as he watched the girl trying to get herself under control.

"It is all right to cry," he said simply, offering her a slightly crumpled handkerchief. "Everybody does sometimes."

"It didn't work," she said suddenly, looking imploringly at the Headmaster. "I tried to distance myself from Harry, like you said. But it didn't work right. I made a mistake; I said something I shouldn't have. And, even if … if Harry comes back, he will never forgive me for it. He hates me." She started sobbing openly, deep shudders racking her frame.

It had been one of the hardest decisions Dumbledore had made regarding Harry when he had asked Hermione and Ronald to distance themselves from the boy. But he knew that they would prove to be weaknesses in the coming months. The Dark Lord was sure to target them specifically to hurt Harry, as he had done with Sirius, and he did not want to put his students in danger like that, let alone have Harry suffer that kind of anguish again. The pair had done as he asked, though unwillingly and fighting the whole way, but they had eventually conceded, realizing that it would help Harry in the long run. Dumbledore had promised that they would be able to regain their friendship with Harry in several months, after there was no longer any suspicion that the three were still best friends.

But there was one factor the Headmaster had forgotten to take into account: Miss Ginny Weasley. Harry had befriended her this summer, almost instantly becoming as close to her as he had been to Hermione and Ronald. And Miss Weasley had proven to be more tenacious than Dumbledore had known and was not likely to abandon Harry anytime soon.

Gazing at the bawling girl in front of him, Dumbledore thought he might have made another unforgivable mistake regarding Harry Potter.

7 November 1986

Dumbledore shuffled into the Hall, looking exhausted and resigned. The quiet conversations around the room stopped and everyone turned their attention to the aging Headmaster. This is what they had all been waiting for, why they had been trapped in this room for three hours. The suspense was unbearable.

He stood tall on the platform, his solemn face already telling the crowd this was not, by any means, good news. He took a deep breath and began his address.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my grave duty to inform you that we are now aware of who is behind the attacks that have been plaguing our countries for the last couple of weeks. As some of you might be aware, the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry monitors all incidents that affect the space time continuum in order to regulate the use of time turners in the area." Puzzled murmurings met this proclamation and Harry gripped the table in front of him so tightly his knuckles turned as white as his face. Jabez shot him a questioning look. "This morning, they reported an undocumented rip in the fabric of time that occurred approximately one week ago. They determined that the origin of this occurrence was the year 1996. When we considered our knowledge of this unaccounted time-traveling hitch and the eyewitness accounts from some of the scenes of the attacks, we could only come to one conclusion." He paused, considering his next words carefully. "Lord Voldemort has returned and he has traveled back to 1985."

Sharp intakes of breath and cries met this eerie announcement.

"Due to this, we are canceling the remaining events for the Convention. You are, however, welcome to remain in Hogwarts while there is still a threat in our world.

"And I would like to remind you, that now, more than ever, the principles we came together to celebrate this week are important. We need to remain together during our troubles and stand strong against our common enemies. Together, we will triumph." With that, he left the Hall, followed close behind by the Ministers of the various countries.

Complete pandemonium was left in his wake.

Severus Snape stared in horror at the door the Headmaster had just past through, sitting in shocked silence despite the uproar that was occurring around him.

He couldn't have possible just said that. There was no way – NO WAY – that the Dark Lord was here. It can't be true. It just can't. How –

Abruptly, Snape whipped his head around to stare at his House. They were reacting to this sudden news just as bad as the rest of the Hall, despite some of them being closely affiliated with the Dark Lord. There were children openly weeping, some muttering angrily to their neighbors, some frozen in shocked terror. Except for one.

Zachary Harrison sat calmly in his chair, staring down at his hands with a blank look on his face, detached from the chaos the news had brought.

This is what he knew, Snape realized with dawning amazement. Somehow he knew the Dark Lord was behind the attacks. Looking around, he noticed Alastor Moody watching Harrison just as intently.

It's about time I got to the bottom of this. He stood up and started advancing towards the table. He stopped in his tracks, however, when Harrison swiftly stood.

I've got to get out of here, Harry thought urgently, his body starting to leave before his mind even processed that thought. He left unnoticed, everyone else too busy with their own problems to be aware of his escape.

Unwillingly, Harry's feet traced their way towards Dumbledore's office. He didn't make it that far though, when he heard voices from a nearby classroom.

"What are we going to do about the boy, Albus?" he heard Minister Bagnold ask. "He will need better protection now that …"

"I am aware of that, Millicent," Dumbledore answered calmly.

"He will certainly be targeted."

"Don't worry about him," he assured her.

"Where else would you keep something that needs to be protected?" said an unrecognizable male voice. "He should be fine here."

"You're going to bring-"

Harry brushed past the room, not wanting to hear more. His head was throbbing; Voldemort was already aware of the upheaval he was causing and it thrilled him greatly.

He wandered around the school for the next several hours, deep in thought, until he found himself back at the Hall, just in time for dinner. Entering, he noted that very few people seemed to have left Hogwarts. This didn't surprise him; Hogwarts was supposed to be one of the safest places on the continent.

Silently, Harry sidled in to his normal seat at the Slytherin table. Nobody reacted to his arrival; they were all staring up at the Head table with wonderment. Harry was puzzled until he followed their gazes.

Seated next to the Headmaster was a small boy, looking at the enchanted ceiling in giddy amazement. He had scraggly black hair and bright, innocent green eyes. Harry's heart sank the moment he laid eyes on him.

Harry Potter had come to Hogwarts.