SUMMARY

After spending half his life trying to rid the world of Voldemort, Harry Potter finally succeeds. However, the price has been high. Too high. Unfortunately, when Harry risks his life to go back and 'do things right', something goes wrong.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank…

S'TarKan – It was his story that gave me the idea for this story's starting point. Also, if you want to know what kind of Harry Potter my main character is (they've had similar experiences, losses etc), or just want to read a good Harry Potter fanfic, then read 'Harry Potter & the Nightmares of Futures Past'.

The creators of QUANTUM LEAP and SLIDERS – Anyone who's seen either of these shows might recognise elements of both shows central ideas in this story. The situation my Harry gets himself into was indeed partially inspired by the central features of both of these shows.

This website – For providing a forum where people like me can write stuff that people will actually get to see.

J.K. Rowling – They are her characters after all.

CHAPTER SEVEN – Familiar Surroundings.

When Harry's vision returned, he found himself standing in the dim light of an early moon. Now where…? He stopped in mid thought, realising that the sound he was hearing was water. He turned his head slightly and saw the lake glistening in the moonlight. I've been here before, he thought. Suddenly, it dawned on him. No way… he thought as he spun around and saw the outline of the mighty walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

The second he saw the castle, Harry broke into a run. It's really here! Hogwarts is here and it's still standing! The school's still here and everyone'll still be alive… He stopped suddenly, just short of the main doors as he realised that bursting into Hogwarts in the middle of the night was the worst possible move he could make at this point, even if there wasn't the possibility of there being another him inside. Besides, even though he knew where he was, he had no way of knowing when he was. He looked at his watch, which had again somehow synchronised itself to this reality's time zone. The watch showed that it was just before midnight and, when Harry held down the 'date' button, told him that it was early December, though Harry had guessed that it was winter from the frost on the ground. Unfortunately, the 'date' function on his watch didn't state the year. Great! For all I know, I haven't even been born yet. I could end up bumping into the Marauders or even Riddle. Deciding to play it safe, Harry cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself before entering the castle.

God, it's just like I remember it, he thought as he wandered through the corridors. The suits of armour are the same, the portraits are the same, the carpets are the same, everything's the same…

"Who goes there?" yelled a voice that almost made Harry jump.

Same ghosts… thought Harry as he watched Peeves the Poltergeist floating down the corridor ahead of him.

"I may not see you, but I know you are there, stranger," Peeves cackled. "What I want to know is, who stalks these halls at night, not wishing to be seen? Be you ghostie or ghoulie, or perhaps you be wee student beastie, out of bed and looking for trouble?"

"Drop dead Peeves," muttered Harry out loud.

Peeves grinned at the unseen voice. "Already have."

"Encore!" Harry growled as he walked straight past Peeves, leaving the Poltergeist to do whatever he wanted to do in response. A loud clatter behind him told Harry that Peeves had opted for mindless vandalism, as he always did.

Harry quickly decided to make his way towards the Gryffindor common room, hoping that he might recognise someone and thus work out when he was. Unfortunately, when Harry finally reached the entrance to the common room, he realised that there was one profound obstacle. He approached the portrait of the Fat Lady carefully, trying not to make a sound that might wake her. He paused slightly. Bloody hell, Harry! Are you a wizard or not? He took his wand out of his jacket pocket. "Silencio," he muttered, casting a Silencing Charm on himself. Well, I can't be seen and I can't be heard, so all I have to worry about now is bumping into someone, though I doubt there's much danger of that if I can't even get in. He looked at the sleeping portrait with frustration, wishing he could just walk through the wall like a ghost. He probably could have easily forced his way through the portrait hole, but doing that would cause more problems than it would solve. Now what? Harry thought irritably.

All of a sudden, the portrait hole swung open.

"Wh… who… who's that?" exclaimed a startled Fat Lady. "Who's there?"

"It's just me," said a very familiar voice.

"Minerva," said the Fat Lady. "Oh thank goodness. I thought you were a student."

Harry watched, unseen, as Professor McGonagall stepped out of the portrait hole and addressed the portrait. "Don't worry. The common room's empty now. I've just sent Potter and his friends up to their beds and…"

Potter? thought Harry. But which one does she mean? Is she talking about me? I mean, she looks the same as she did when I was at Hogwarts, but then again, that doesn't necessarily mean this is my era. After all, she could still be talking about my Dad…

As Harry thought this, he realised that the portrait hole was still open. This's probably the only chance I'm gonna get. Quickly but carefully, Harry sprang up past the Deputy Headmistress and through the portrait hole.

He took a few steps forward into the common room as McGonagall bid the Fat Lady good night and closed the portrait hole. Well, he thought as he regarded the empty common room, I never thought I'd ever see this room again. Then again, I never thought I'd see Hogwarts again in one piece. He looked at his watch again – quarter past midnight. Well, I could go into one of the dorms and find out which Potter McGonagall was talking about, but waking everyone up in the middle of the night might not be the best way to introduce myself to this reality, he thought, picturing the whole of Gryffindor gaping at him while all the teachers had their wands trained on him, just like the wedding party in the first reality. He walked up to one of the sofas. Maybe I should try and get some sleep. I mean, I'm probably not gonna get many chances in the near future…

He slumped down onto one of the sofas and closed his eyes. Within minutes, he was asleep for the first time since his 'journey' had begun.

XxXxXxXxXx

"Wake up!" Harry heard a voice shout as a pillow flew past his head. "We've got Potions first and you know how Snape is if any of us are late!"

Harry rolled over and rolled his eyes. Nice try Blaise, he thought – today was Saturday, after all. "Blaze," Harry mumbled. "One day, I swear you're gonna try that on someone with a lot less patience than me, and on that day, you'll find out exactly what those beds in the Hospital Wing are like to sleep on."

"You've already told us," grinned Blaise. He turned to the others. "C'mon guys, help me out here."

"How about saying 'please'?" said Cuthbert Garrett sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he said this.

"What about that jinx I read about?" interjected Roger Appleby "You know, the one involving the ice cold water."

Spencer Westwood sighed. "Harry. I've just looked at Rodge's alarm clock and we now have just over ten minutes left if we want any breakfast."

Harry, realising that he was feeling quite hungry, sat up and looked at his watch. "Excellent point, Spence," he grinned. "Even though you were lying about the time, that's still the best reason for getting up I've heard so far,

"Better than freezing cold water?" said Roger.

"Oh, shut up, Appleby," muttered Cuthbert as he finished dressing himself in his usual robes before leaving the dormitory.

"Merlin, no wonder he gets on so well with Malfoy and co," sighed Harry as he got out of his bed.

"Bloody pureblood fanatic bastards," muttered Spencer as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

"Guys," interrupted Roger. "It's okay…"

"Rodge," said Blaise. "They're wrong. We all know that. You don't have to defend them, especially after what they've said about you."

Roger shook his head. "I don't care what they believe. It doesn't make any difference whether they like me or not. I'm Muggle-born and there's nothing I can do about what they think."

"That doesn't mean you should let them get away with being pureblood fanatic bastards," said Spencer.

There was a long, awkward silence.

"Well, I don't know 'bout the rest of you," said Harry suddenly as he pulled a sweater over his head and put on his glasses. "But I fancy some breakfast."

"Excellent idea, Hal," grinned Spencer.

Blaise nodded in agreement. "Well, we'd better get down there now then, before all the good food's gone."

With that, the four friends left the dormitory and headed for the Great Hall.

XxXxXxXxX

"Oh my god!" Hermione sobbed when the three of them arrived at the scene of the latest Death Eater attack

"No!" gasped Ron.

Harry regarded the scene with sheer horror but said nothing – words couldn't adequately express his feelings as he and his friends started searching the rubble of what had once been Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardy, looking for survivors.

Not long after they had split up, Harry had found the body of Neville Longbottom, the look on his face still determined and defiant. Nearby, her stomach reduced to a messy pulp, was the corpse of the woman who had killed Harry's godfather and tortured Neville's parents into insanity. Harry couldn't help but grin when he saw what Neville had obviously done to Bellatrix LeStrange. "Good for you, Nev'," he muttered, hoping that Neville had known he had finally avenged his parents before he died. Suddenly, he heard a soft moan from the rubble nearby. Harry rushed over, trying to find the survivor.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed when he found his best friend's sister, half buried in the rubble.

"Harry?" she whispered when she heard Harry's voice. She tried to move but winced as the pain overwhelmed her.

"No, don't try to move," Harry said, trying to sound calm and in control of the situation. "Guys!" he yelled. "Over here!"

He was about to start trying to dig her out of the rubble when she reached out and grabbed his arm. "Harry," she gasped as she struggled to breathe. "I'm sorry. We… we did the best we could, but… there was just… too many…"

"It's okay," whispered Harry, the tears welling in his eyes. "You did great."

"Really?" Ginny breathed heavily.

Harry nodded as a tear began to trickle down his cheek. "Yeah. They're all gone now," he said, trying to smile for Ginny's sake. "They all ran away."

Ginny tried to laugh but spluttered slightly as she began to taste her own blood.

"Ginny!" said Harry as he held her in his arms. "Just hold on."

"Harry! Where are you?" he heard Ron's voice yelling in the near distance.

"Over here!" Harry yelled back as he pointed his wand in the air and sent out a bright red light to indicate their position.

"Harry," wheezed Ginny, "I…"

"No!" whispered Harry as he felt her grip on his arm weakening. "Please…"

"I… love…" she managed say as she let go of Harry's arm.

"No! Ginny, please…" Harry pleaded.

But it was too late – Ginevra Molly Weasley was gone, and nothing Harry could do would ever bring her back.

As he cradled the now lifeless body of the one he loved, Harry James Potter began to weep.

XxXxXxXxX

Harry awoke from his troubled sleep and found himself lying on the floor. "Must've fallen off the sofa…" he muttered to himself as he slowly got to his feet. Realising that his Disillusionment Charm, and possibly his Silencing Charm, had most likely worn off, he re-cast them. Safe once again in the knowledge that no one would see or hear him, Harry glanced around the common room, which was bathed in the light of the morning sun. He looked at his watch – twenty-five past eight in the morning. Must be the weekend, Harry reckoned as he saw that the common room was empty. Had it been a weekday, people would have been up already. I suppose that's a good thing, Harry thought. If there're no classes, then I'm more likely to see someone I know and figure out when I am.

Harry sat down and waited for the Gryffindor students of this reality to start getting up. He didn't have to wait long as students of all ages started to emerge from their dorms. As he watched, Harry saw a few faces he recognised. Okay, I'm sure I just saw Lavender Brown & Parvati Patil going through the portrait hole just now and I definitely saw Dean Thomas & Seamus Finnigan coming out of our old dorm, so I think it's safe to say there's another me somewhere…

Harry soon noticed a girl with brown, bushy hair making her way across the common room towards the staircase to what was no doubt the dorm this reality's Harry shared with Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus. Hermione, thought Harry as he stood up and watched her shout something up the staircase.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming!" he heard an irritated voice yell back as he approached Hermione carefully.

Harry watched as a young Ron Weasley emerged from the dormitory, closely followed by a boy with scruffy brown hair and a large, jagged scar on his forehead, just visible under his fringe. Harry looked at the boy suspiciously. Hold on. That's not me, is it? He took a few steps closer to the three. That's not me! Harry concluded when he got a closer look. His hair's lighter than mine, his face is rounder, his eyes are brown instead of green and he's not wearing glasses. Plus, his scar is different…

"Well? What're we waiting for?" said the boy cheerfully. "Are we going for breakfast or not?"

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "I'm with Michael. Are we going or not?"

Hermione shook her head and muttered something under her breath as the three of them started walking towards the portrait hole, leaving Harry standing there, very confused.

Michael? thought Harry as he began to follow them. What the hell…?

-

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Thought I'd better say a few things…

Differences between TLT & NoFP Harrys – Just thought I'd better say that, although their experiences are very similar (Same deaths, plan to go back in time etc), they aren't the same character and there are some differences. For example, my Harry was/is immune to the Avada Kedavra whereas NoFP Harry wasn't. My Harry getting to Ginny just in time for her to die is another such difference, though I do refer to NoFP for parts of my Harry's backstory.

Junky – Not including the ones we've seen so far, I have written down at least 19 possible ideas for alternate realities. Some of them are the sort that have been seen before (Abused Harry, The Marauders Era, Harry in Azkaban etc) while others aren't so generic, I hope. Either way, I don't think anyone has to worry about me running out of any ideas any time soon.

S'TarKan – Concerning Harry blurting something out. Listen to what Michael says in the next chapter when he talks about Harry visiting him in the Hospital Wing (Mentioned in the last chapter). That isn't the only time something like that has happened, as I'll probably explain if I do the spin-off.

Lady FoxFire – I agree that it might be hard to tell at times which Harry is which, but I do try to make it clear in any way I can. The best example I can give of this is the nickname 'Hal' in this reality.

Next chapter's nearly done and'll hopefully be up soon.