'This is a LOTE'
A Tale of Two Times
Snatched through time at birth, Harry becomes a time Traveller. He discovers this at five when he meets his real parents, and goes to Hogwarts prepared... but he hadn't realised Voldemort had a spy in Hogwarts and was trying to steal a dangerous artefact.
Chapter Three
Learning Harry
June: 1005
Rowena, Salazar, and Helga were watching Harry and Godric as they talked. They flew around on their brooms for a bit, before Harry dismounted from his broom, and ran to Godric, complaining, it appeared.
Rowena laughed lightly, but saw Godric grab Harry's hand as if to take him somewhere. She abruptly got up from the table and started walking outside. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright white light and she shielded her face.
Godric and Harry were grinning in the middle of the white light, clutching boxes that she was sure she hadn't seen before.
Harry looked extremely tired, and put down his box, and fell to the floor, sucking his thumb. His eyes fluttered closed and he looked like he was sleeping. "GODRIC ROLAND OCTAVIAN GRYFFINDOR!" she shouted furiously at her husband, as she walked out to the pitch, Salazar and Helga in trail.
Harry woke up and looked around. Seeing that his mother was angry, he hid behind his father's legs, head peeking out the side. Helga laughed at his antics lightly, before walking over to him, and bundling him up in her arms. Needless to say, he mumbled a bit before falling fast asleep.
Rowena didn't notice any of this, and was walking over to Godric, looking very dangerous. Godric gulped. "Where did you take my son?" her voice was quiet, but sliced away all of Godric's bravery.
"Um… we – err – went to the f-fut-f-future," he told her, hesitantly.
Rowena's eyes blazed. "Godric. I am disappointed in you. You promised me that you wouldn't to anything to endanger him, yet you take him to the future, which you know nothing about. And all for what reason, Godric, it had better be good," she told him angrily, her voice laced with disappointment.
"Sorry," he said weakly, and held up the broom box.
"A broom. You went to the future to get a broom?" she asked, incredulously.
Godric looked sheepish, looking down at his feet.
"Godric, look at me. Godric, love, you did wrong, didn't you. You endangered our son just so you could get a broom. You realise you're not even going to be able to use these brooms, don't you?"
Godric's jaw dropped. "But – Rowena! I–"
She silenced him, putting her finger to his lips. "Sweetheart, you can't. People would wonder where it came from, and they would want ones like it. It would go too fast in games, and it would endanger our son's secret. Remember, no-one can know he came from the future, because the future still has to happen."
Godric looked downcast. "I got some money from Harry's vault. I suppose that I can't use that, either?" he asked.
Rowena looked at him, and held out her hand, expecting a few Knuts. When he handed her a bag full of Galleons, she gasped. "Godric, this is a fortune!"
"The value of money has gone down in the future. Will you believe that these brooms cost more than it cost to build Hogwarts, and hire staff for a year?"
"These brooms were more than 5 galleons?" she asked, her jaw dropping.
Godric looked at her and shrugged. "We could afford it easily! The vault had expanded to twice the size of the Great Hall, and it was filled with galleons!" he told her excitedly.
Now, not many people knew it, but Rowena had a talent for impressions, and right now did a perfect one of a fish. So perfect, in fact, that Godric would have laughed if not for the seriousness of the situation.
Then, without warning, she fainted. Godric was blessed with quick reactions luckily, and caught her with a simple levitating spell, then caught her in his arms. Looking around for Harry, he started to panic. He hadn't noticed Helga take his son. Salazar was still there, and when he saw Godric's panicked expression he calmed him.
"Helga took the boy," he sneered. "Put him to bed in his room. Rowena told us where it was before." They started to walk to the rooms.
"But she can't get into his room." Godric told him, looking pale. "We charmed it so only people with either mine or Rowena's blood could get in there, to keep Merlin out."
"Honestly, Godric! You should know that you can't keep Merlin out of anything. You can't even keep me out of anything." Salazar smirked at him.
Godric smiled at him, as if he knew something that Salazar didn't. "But Sal, I didn't do the spell, nor did Rowena. Harry did it."
Sal laughed, loudly. "Ah, Godric, that's the best joke I've ever heard," he said.
By now they had arrived at Godric and Rowena's quarters.
They entered the room, and saw Helga sitting on their bed, Harry still fast asleep in her arms. "I couldn't get in," she told Godric.
The latter immediately turned and stuck his tongue out at Salazar, before placing his hand on the door. It opened, immediately. He gestured for her to go in, while he put Rowena on the bed before reviving her.
"You fainted," he told her, and she remembered what had happened.
"Harry?" she asked.
"Helga's putting him to bed," Rowena jumped up off the bed, and immediately he followed her, not before nodding to Slytherin to do the same.
They entered the room. Since Rowena had first conjured the room, it had changed drastically.
The room's carpet was a rich Ravenclaw blue. The lowest third of the room's walls had been painted gold, while the top half was the same blue as the carpet. The furnishings were elven oak, which had countless magical properties, many of which weren't known. There was a four-poster bed, bedside tables, a desk, an armchair, and a cupboard. The bed sheets were golden; a pattern of lions, eagles, and phoenixes decorated it in a jacquard weave.
The armchair upholstery appeared to be of the same material, as did the heavy curtains that were draped over the large window. At the foot of the bed there was a trunk, which had a place to stick your thumb for entry. At the moment, the lid was lying on the ground and various toys littered the floor.
It was extremely homely, yet spoke of style, taste, and money.
Helga placed Harry in the bed, and stepped away. Rowena stepped forward, tucking him in. "Goodnight, sweetie," she said, before kissing him on the forehead, and standing back.
Godric smiled wryly, before Rowena ushered them all out of the room, in order for her 'precious baby' to get some sleep.
Then she got out her wand and conjured up a table and chairs. "Godric, you can't take him to the future anymore. You can see how much it tires him," she stated simply. "And if he is always tired, he'll never get a proper education."
Godric groaned inwardly. "I know. I already agreed to teach him."
"So did Helga and Sal. So, what do you want to teach him?" she addressed the congregation.
"I'll teach him Occlumency and Legilimency." Helga offered kindly.
"Well, I'll teach him to use Parseltongue magic and politics," Salazar informed them, almost grudgingly. No one said anything, instead agreed, after all, who was going to teach him Parseltongue otherwise?
"I'll teach him fencing and jousting." Godric's father was a knight, and had taught him these things in hope that he wouldn't end up like his uncle, Roland Gryffindor, from whom he had inherited his second name. Roland had ignored his studies, and when he went to become a page so that he could become a knight, he was refused because of his legendary stupidity and laziness. Godric had been given lessons every day since he turned three, by his father when he was there, then a housekeeper, until he turned thirteen, and he too became a knight.
"I can teach him Divination and Runes." Rowena said. As a level two true Seer, she was more than qualified to teach Divination. And as the most learned of the four, she would be appropriate to teach him the more common type of writing for the time.
Godric stroked his chin in thought. "Well, that seems to cover everything that a child should know before beginning school. Apart, of course, from archery, which is more for women, Staff Fighting and Dagger Throwing, which I believe I can teach him after he's proficient enough in fencing and jousting."
Rowena frowned at him. "Well, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Care of Magical and Mundane Creatures, Charms, the Dark Arts, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Latin, and History of Magic are all school taught subjects which one only requires a basic understanding of before they begin. Harry will surely learn that much by just being around us, but what about Basic Magical Theory and Duelling and English and Maths, not to mention his other abilities?"
Godric placed a comforting hand on her back. "Hush, dearest. We shall find a solution for this. Surely, we'll be able to track down someone willing?"
"For BMT and Duelling maybe. But what of the others?"
Godric waved a hand airily. "English and Maths is easy also, we'll just send him to take lessons with Princess Jaylynn, m'dear. I am old friends with Gareth, he'll surely consent to that. He has been complaining of late that he knows no-one whom he can trust who has children Jaylynn's age for her to play with."
"That's all very well, Godric. But what of Metamorphmagus? And the time travelling? Or even wandless magic?"
"Wandless magic?" interrupted Helga, reminding them that they weren't alone.
"When we first saw him, he didn't know who we were, and turned invisible because he was scared of us. He doesn't have a wand." Rowena explained, before turning back to Godric as if she expected him to have all the answers.
"Well?"
Godric was saved by Salazar's interruption.
"Well, we can attempt to teach him, through word of mouth what it should be like, I see no reason not to. We'd only have to find a proper tutor once we began to get into the advanced stages, for we don't have the ability to do so ourselves."
While Godric and Helga were ready enough to agree, Rowena was not. Burying her head in her hands, he voice muffled and desperate, she spoke. "But we can't! For if we are to teach him the wrong way! The consequences would be dire, too dire! I can feel it in my very flesh, Godric!"
Godric spoke with some apprehension. "When you say you feel it in your flesh, are you speaking of your Seer abilities? Or is it merely a woman's instinct?"
Rowena tipped her face to look at them. Thick, pearly tears spilt from her emerald eye. "Both," she whispered, before slamming her lids shut, and refusing to look at any of the others congregated.
They were at a loss as to what to so. None of them knew of anyone who had the ability to teach him. "We'll work it out when we're thinking straight, love. Let's just get to bed now," Godric suggested. Rowena compliantly allowed herself to be steered from her seat after Godric had shooed the others from their quarters.
As it turned out, they worked it out the next day. Once they had collected Harry and woken him sufficiently, they trailed into the hall, Harry bouncing ahead of them, an innocent gleeful smile gracing his childish features. He stopped upon entering the hall, and frowned in confusion. Rowena peered through the door, wondering what it was that had made her son stop so suddenly. A wizened old man in oak coloured robes to match his sparkling eyes was sitting serenely at the table, dipping his large spoon into a bowl of cornflakes and bringing it to his mouth. Finding that there was nothing left in his bowl, the man clicked long thin fingers and a cornflakes packet that Harry had never seen before appeared on the table. Rowena and Godric seemed to stare at the man for the longest time, before Rowena snapped her eyes back to her son, breathing out what appeared to be a sigh of relief upon realising that he was still there. Harry looked up at them expectantly, wondering what he was supposed to do in this situation.
"Merlin Ambrosias! What did I tell you?" Rowena said to the figure, pulling Harry behind her, holding his hand tight. Assuming correctly that his mother did not want Harry to go near the old man, he wriggled free, and went over to Godric.
"Daddy, who's that man?"
"That's Merlin, son, now shush."
"Not to come. Like I care. Now, back to where we were. I can teach him. My sister is a Metamorphmagus, I can use wandless magic, and I can Travel, which is what we dub the time ability sometime in the future." At their questioning glances, he elaborated.
"My mother accidentally left her time turner around once, I ate it. My father was throwing me around in their air and spinning it, though he didn't know. That and the fact that it was faulty. I lived 1000 years in the past until I was 11."
Godric snorted. "I can just imagine you doing something stupid like that. 'Greatest Wizard of All Time Swallows Faulty Time Turner'."
Rowena glared at him, and turned to Merlin. "Name your price now, or leave."
A glint came into his eyes, and he grinned. "I knew you'd hear me out. You always were ever so polite, Rowena Alassë. Alright, aright," he paused for effect, but at their furious gazes, he finished quickly. "You give him an education in this time, and in the future."
"WHAT?" Rowena shouted, her eyes blazing with her fury.
"Calm down. Once he's controlled his time ability, he'll be able to travel through time as easy as blinking, without getting tired. As you know, Metamorphmagi usually discover their abilities when they are fully grown, but when they discover them earlier, they can control the way their body ages. So, every day, he could travel to the future at an appointed time, and when he's finished school for the day, he can just appear at exactly the same time he left," Merlin explained patiently.
"No," said Rowena simply. The other three shared a look. Rowena was extremely stubborn when she wanted to be.
"Look, dearheart, hear me out," Godric told her gently.
"No," she insisted like petulant child.
Godric pretended that he hadn't heard her. "Merlin is right, he wouldn't age anymore than usual, and he would learn so much more. You do know that he's going to have to go to the future sometimes anyway, it would be best if he was accustomed to their ways."
Rowena looked doubtful, but her resolve was beginning to dissolve. "No." Her voice sounded a little less certain.
"Rowena, love, you're smart. Surely, you don't want your son to look dumb?"
"Of course, I don't!"
"Then you'll let Merlin help him. Look, I know you don't like Merlin because of what he did to us, I don't like him either, but do you really want that to ruin our son's chances?"
Rowena looked as if she were about to regret what she was about to say. "Okay. Merlin can teach him."
Godric smiled charmingly. "But I want to go with him, when he goes to the future. Or someone to go with him."
They looked at Merlin. "I'll go with him. I can be his Uncle Marvin, who's looking after him because his parents can't at the moment," he said after a while.
Rowena looked like she was about to protest, but Merlin stopped her. "Rowena, if he gets lost there, I understand that time better than you do."
She agreed grudgingly. "You can have him for an hour every morning, noon and night."
Merlin grinned. "Thank you. Now, can I meet him?"
"Har, come here," she called, and Godric pushed him toward his mother.
"Hello, Harry."
June: 1005
Harry's first lesson with Merlin almost made Merlin wish he hadn't gotten Rowena to agree to let him teach him.
Firstly, Merlin sat Harry down at the table in front of him. The confused five-year-old looked like he was going to have a heart attack when Merlin took his spider away, and started hissing and clicking furiously.
Merlin had hurriedly replaced the spider when he hadn't been able to calm Harry.
"Okay, Harry. Today, we are going to learn about our magic, do you understand?"
"Yes, Uncle Merlin."
"There are five planes of reality. There's one-dimensional, which is a line. 1-D is nothing, really. I can't be felt.
Next is two-dimensional. 2-D can't be felt either, but when you draw a square on a piece of paper, you make something 2-D.
After that is three-dimensional. You are 3-D, because you have length, width, and height. You can feel what is 3-D.
Those are the visible plains of reality. But then there are two more. Time is one of them. Time is sometimes known as the fourth dimension. Everything exists on a wavelength of time, and everything has its place in time.
The last plane of reality is magic. Magic defies all the laws of motion, gravity, time, etc. Anything that acts like it shouldn't naturally is probably magic.
Now, Harry, all these planes of reality exist together. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, Uncle Merlin," said Harry.
"Great! Now in a moment, I am going to give you a piece of parchment and a quill. I want you to demonstrate the planes for me, do you understand?"
"Yes, Uncle Merlin," Harry said.
Merlin handed him a sheet of parchment and a pen. Harry looked at the sheet of paper. Thinking Merlin wanted him to draw a picture, because he hadn't really understood what Merlin was saying at all, and only agreed to make him happy, he started to draw stick figures of Godric, Rowena and himself.
He handed the paper to Merlin.
Merlin groaned. This approach wasn't going to work. "Okay, Harry. Let's try something different."
He closed his eyes, how would you teach him about magic… Suddenly it came to him. "Alright, Harry, I want you to think about the first time you used magic."
Harry nodded. "Now, Harry, where did that magic come from? Try and find the magic in you, now, okay?"
"Yes, Uncle Merlin," Harry closed his eyes, thinking hard. Find the magic, find the magic. He recalled the feeling of using magic, it seemed to come from his stomach, and flowed to the rest of his body.
"Have you found it yet, Harry? Can you see it?" Merlin asked him half an hour later.
"Yes, Uncle Merlin."
Merlin was beginning to wonder if the kid knew how to say anything other than 'Yes, Uncle Merlin.' "Describe it for me," he commanded.
"It's white, and it's all in a ball in my stomach, about as big as a soccer ball. It sounds like Daddy's phoenix."
Merlin chuckled. "Okay, Harry. Now, pinch a tiny bit of that magic, and bring it to your hand. Don't let it go yet, though, Harry."
Harry did as he was told, "It's slippery, Uncle Merlin."
"That's because it wants to get out. Now, send it back to where it came from, and open your eyes."
Harry obliged. "That was magic energy, the only kind of energy than can be manipulated from a distance. Most witches and wizards need wands to manipulate it, because their soccer ball is more the size of a tennis ball, and the wand acts like a magnet, and brings the magic to it, and the incantation makes the wand change what kind of energy it is, understand?"
Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Can I do something with it now, Uncle Merlin?"
"Harry, this time I want you to call the magic without closing your eyes. You mightn't be able to, but try."
Harry's eyes were wide open as he tried to find the magic. "I can't see it anymore, Uncle Merlin."
"I didn't think you would." He handed Harry what looked like a stick. "This is a wand. I want you to hold onto it, and say, 'Wingardium Leviosa'. Don't worry about what's happening outside, just try and keep your eyes open and concentrate on what the magic feels like when it comes to your hand."
"Wingardium Leviosa," Harry said, causing the abandoned parchment on the table to roll over a bit. Harry didn't notice this, because he was concentrating on the feeling. It felt warm and natural, though the wand felt cold as ice in his hand.
"Okay, Harry. Do you want to try again, or do you know the feeling?"
"I know the feeling, but Uncle Merlin, the magnet felt wrong."
"Every wizard's magnet is different. Now, make that feeling of it coming to your hand, and then throw it at the parchment and try to make the magic lift it."
Harry breathed in deeply, and in about twenty minutes later, the parchment was floating above the desk for a moment, before it shuddered and fell back down.
"Well done, Harry. Well, the lesson is finished, I shall see you again tomorrow. Your mother will be waiting for you," he told Harry, before nodding at him, and disappearing, abruptly.
Merlin was right, Rowena was waiting for him.
"What did you do today, Harry?"
"Merlin told me about where magic comes from and what it is. He said it's the only kind of energy that can be mamipulitid from a distance. Then, we practice bring the magic to us without a magnet."
"What's a magnet?" asked Rowena bewildered. She knew what a magnet was, but she didn't know that people used them to bring their magic to them.
"Your wand stick. It works like a magnet by drawing your magic energy to it." Harry told her, unconcernedly.
"That sounds like fun, Harry. Today, I am going to start to teach you about divination."
"Mummy, do I have to?"
"Yes, you do, dear. I am sorry. Divination is when you use things to tell you what might happen to you in the future."
"Why don't they just travel there like me?"
"Not everyone can do that, Harry. Now, there are different types of Divination. Today, I am going to tell you about Seers."
Harry looked at his mother in a pleading manner. "I am tired!" he said, putting his head on his knees.
Rowena laughed. "Seers, Harry. Seers are people who are tuned into a different wavelength of time. I am sure that Merlin told you about the wavelengths of time?" She remembered that it had been her first lesson. Her eight-year-old brain didn't quite understand about the time dipping in and out of each other, and how everything was tied in together like knitting. If one stitch came undone, then the whole scarf of time would unravel.
"He said it, but I don't know what it means."
"I am sure he will explain it," she laughed. "Seers live in one time, but sometime time wants to have its friends over and visits other bits of time, and while it stays, it shows the seers what is happening where they come from."
She tried to make it sound simple, but judging by the bewildered expression of Harry's face, she had failed. She sighed and started again.
After one week of learning what whenever, Rowena set up a timetable for him. On weekdays, he had Merlin first thing in the morning, from seven to eight. Afterwards, he'd have an hour with Rowena, then one with Godric, before having a half hour break. After his break, he had an hour with Salazar and half an hour for lunch. He then had more time with Merlin and an hour with Helga. After that, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted, within reason. On the weekends, Merlin would drop him off at the palace, and he would spend the days playing with Jaylynn and taking lessons with her, which both he and she enjoyed immensely. Jaylynn's parents, King Gareth and Queen Elfeda, both like Harry too, and were pleased that they had been able to find a suitable companion for their daughter.
Revised: January 2006