'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 Nine

Journeying Harry

September: 1991

Hermione bounced around in excitement. "Harry, it's so stimulating!"

Harry looked at her and shook his head, sighing. "Hermione, please, speak like a normal 11 year old. Wouldn't want to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves, would we?"

"But Harry! You already draw attention to yourself anyway, I mean, you know half the spells that we learn anyway, and you're famous!"

Harry grinned lightly. Hermione could be so funny sometimes. Hermione had been his friend since he was six, they'd always know more about each other than any of the other kids they met. At the moment, they were in the Granger's car, driving to the Hogwarts Express. Harry had noted to himself that carpets were outlawed, and that they had a train instead. He wondered idly if it were in the same place as before, before realising that it was, he knew that already, because the ticket was for Kings Cross Station, which was built over the old meeting point.

Harry was jolted out of his thoughts by Hermione's enthusiasm. "Harry, test me on my spells!"

"Mione, you won't need them yet I don't think…"

She pouted, insisting. "Just test me."

Harry was left with no choice. "Fixing Charm."

"Reparo. Move your wand in a clockwise motion, then flick slightly." Harry nodded, and took off his glasses. He tapped them hard on the trunk beside him, and they broke.

Hermione retrieved her wand. "Reparo!" The shards of glass returned to their original positions, and Harry smiled at Hermione proudly. "Great! Mione, you're going to be just great!"

"Yep! I know! I'm always just great, though, aren't I Harry?"

"Yep." Harry and Hermione both knew that the only reason that they were doing this was to keep their minds off Lilly, Louise and Greg. They didn't feel as bad, since Lilly and Louise were going to a boarding school in France, and Greg was going to one in Scotland, but it was still pretty horrible to have to lie to your best friends, and leave them behind. Sandy, Pan, Chris, Trent and Dean weren't so much a problem because they weren't as close.

"Hermione, why can't we come too," Em and Liz wailed, seeing her perform another spell.

Hermione smiled at them. "Maybe you will one day. Maybe." She repeated, and Liz screwed up her face, half crawling onto Harry's lap.

"But I want to go now!"

"Sorry, Ivanna Elizabeth. Not today."

They were nearly at the station. "Now, Hermione, do you remember the cover story?"

"Yes. When you were five you disappeared for a few months, then you reappeared in my neighbourhood, and you couldn't remember at all what happened to you. You could, however, remember what whoever kidnapped you told you about magic. You have been living with your long lost Uncle Marvin, who was your mother's second cousin, twice removed," she recited. Then, "But I still don't see why you won't tell the truth."

"You'll understand at Christmas," the car stopped, just as they finished their conversation.

Hermione just sighed.

They got out of the car, and Harry dragged his trunk off the back seat, tipping Hermione's over to her side. "Grab that," he said, quietly and discreetly summoning over some luggage trolleys. In no time at all, both Harry and Hermione had their belongings placed onto the trolleys and were ready to leave.

Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes, and looked over at Hermione. She was not at all tired, rather the opposite. She was as excited as it was possible to be, or maybe more, due to the fact that Harry had given her a red cordial just before they left, and some red frogs in the car. She was one of those people who got hyper incredibly easily on red stuff, and usually avoided it, but in her excitement, and later hyperness, she had totally forgotten to check what colour the food that Harry was feeding her was.

So Hermione was bouncing around like a hyper ferret, and Harry was looking at the platforms in interest. Checking their ticket, he realised that there was no platform 9 ¾.

"Bye Mr Granger, bye Mrs Granger," he said to them. Liz jumped up and hugged him tightly, and Em grabbed his legs. "Bye Ivanna Elizabeth, bye Syrinx Emily."

They then moved to attack Hermione.

"Bye Harry, bye Hermione, love you and see you at Christmas!"

"Bye Mum, bye Dad, Em and Liz! Love you all!"

Assuming that the Witches and Wizards of this day and age used the same place as before, he led Hermione over to Platform 10. "I think we go here, I'm not sure, but I think." He told her. They both leaned against the platform, and with a slight pop, fell through. Harry looked up, and realised that they were on the wrong platform. "Mione, this is the old platform," he said, tugging her sleeve. She was staring in awe at the carpet.

The platform was totally deserted, apart from a few rats, who had made the carpet their home, and were eating crumbs from the floor. Harry could see the scorch marks on the grass, signifying that a battle had taken place here. Most of the marks were stupefys, but there were some more sinister patches. "Hermione!"

She jumped back slightly at his barking cry. "What?"

"Stop staring at the carpet. I have no idea how we got here, I thought this had been closed off years ago, but that carpet is illegal, and we need to get to the Hogwarts Express," he told her harshly

Hermione nodded, and they both went back through the barrier. Harry looked at his ticket once again. 9 ¾. "Okay, Nee, we are going to try again. This time, go to platform 9."

They both walked over casually, and leaned against the barrier. Immediately they reappeared on the other side, and looking around, they were relieved to see that there were many other people there, and that a gleaming red steam train sat on its rails, the words HOGWARTS EXPRESS printed neatly across the carriages. Standing there staring was not the most intelligent thing they'd ever done, however, as they were bowled over by a redhead appearing through the barrier, still running, who knocked them and their things over. "Watch where you're going, why don't you!" Hermione snarled at the person as she started to repack her trunk.

They moved out of the way, and in quick succession, five other redheads appeared. "Ickle Aldykinns crashed into someone, naughty, naughty," a cheeky looking boy said. Another boy appeared at his side, looking exactly the same.

"Ickle Aldykinns seems to have lost his manners. Aldykinns, help the poor people that you crashed into."

A plump looking woman who appeared to be their mother spoke. "Now, Fred and George, you leave Ald alone." She turned to Harry and Hermione. "I'm ever so sorry!" she said, drawing her wand. "Pack!" their things did as told, and the lid closed after them. "I'm Molly Weasley. These are my sons, Fred and George, Perce, and Ald. This is my daughter Gina."

"Hi," said Harry. "I'm Harry, and this is Hermione."

"Are you first years?" asked Mrs Weasley kindly.

Harry and Hermione nodded. "So is Ald!"

The boy who had crashed into the flushed a bright red. "Mum, just…" he trailed off, not really finishing what he was saying, but Harry understood. This woman seemed a bit pushy, and the way she was acting was as if she wanted to choose Ald's friends, and make sure that she liked them.

Harry pretended not to notice this, and seeing Hermione about to say something, he signed, 'pretend you didn't notice.'

Hermione nodded in return, and Harry smiled at Ald. "So, how about we get onto the train?"

Hermione nodded, and they started to walk away. When they noticed that Ald wasn't following, Harry stopped. "Ald, are you coming?"

Ald looked surprised for a moment, before he ran after them, dragging his trunk.

Eventually he caught up with them, and Harry pulled out his wand, and waved it. "Wingardium Leviosa," he muttered at their trunks, and they floated into the air. The trio walked up and down the train, looking for an empty compartment. Eventually they found one.

Harry directed their trunks inside, and they all sat down. "Is that hard?"

Harry looked around in confusion. "What?"

"Making it float," Ald nodded his head in the direction of the trunk. He looked over at it, before turning back to Ald.

Harry shook his head, "Nah," he said. "Easy peasy!"

Ald's twin brothers appeared in the compartment. "Hi Ald, Mum told us to tell you that you have something on your nose, and we're going down to the middle of the train. Lee Jordan has a giant tarantula."

Ald appeared to be a slight annoyed, and rubbed at his nose, succeeding only in making it pink and spreading the black mark further.

Harry perked up at the sound of tarantula. "Can I come too? I had a pet tarantula when I was 5."

Fred and George looked delighted. "Okay, that'll be really cool!"

Harry nodded, and turned to Hermione. "Nee, I'm going to look at the tarantula, coming?"

"Nah. I'll stay and talk to Ald."

"Okay, see ya,"

Harry got up, hurriedly shoving his wand in his pocket. He followed the twins down the train, and they emerged into a compartment that was chock with people. In the centre of the throng, was a black boy with dreadlocks and a shoebox. Inside the shoebox, Harry could hear clicking.

'… worse than sitting in that store all hours. Now the only difference is I get less food.'

Harry scanned the area with his eyes, and seeing no-one watching him in particular, he clicked under his breath. 'Well met, I know what you mean. Do you know anyone called Arathla?'

'Arathla… yes. That would be one of my mother's cousin's friends. She has passed recently. Who asks?'

'I am one of the humans. I am a time Traveller, of Tribe Gryffindor, known to the spiders as Harry of Tribe Potter.'

'Of course… the only human to ever learn our language in the same method as we do.'

Harry grinned. 'That's me. Thank you for the news about Arathla. Pass my regards to her family if you ever see them, will you?'

'Of course, goodbye, Harrison of Tribe Gryffindor, known as Harry of Tribe Potter.'

Having gotten what he came for, Harry said thanks to the twins and left.

At around half past twelve, a woman with a food trolley came around, selling things. Harry jumped up immediately, and Hermione jumped up beside him. "Harry, can I borrow some change? I left my lunch at home, it was honey and no butter." If there was one thing that Hermione hated, it was honey without butter, because the bread soaked it all up, and made it stiff and crunchy.

"Sure," Harry agreed, and put his hand into his money pouch, pulling out a few sickles. "I think I have some other stuff that we can eat in my trunk," Hermione nodded, and they both made their way to the trolley.

Though Harry had had wizarding sweets before, in the past of course, he and Merlin hadn't really delved that far into the modern wizarding world, they had sure changed over the years, and Harry was disappointed when he couldn't find the Baboon Bites, his favourites. For four Rhunnins he could get a whole kilo. They were small, animated baboons made completely from a soft white thing similar to marshmallow, but more moist, and dusted with pink sugar that stained your fingers cerise.

Harry instead grabbed some Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, and Chocolate Frogs, which all looked relatively safe compared to some of the things on the cart, Cockroach Clusters, for example.

Hermione instead decided that she wanted to stuff herself with pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes. 'They will be much more substantial as lunch, Harry. I'm sure you'll be sick if you don't eat anything proper.'

Harry just shook his head. Flashing quickly to the kitchens in the past, he managed to get the house elves to give him a roast with a warming charm on it. Licking his lips, he flashed to the future, and placed it in the bottom of his trunk, about 10 hours before they left. Harry had not yet looked in the containers that had been in the bottom of his trunk when he had awoken, knowing that he'd figure it out later. Then he opened his trunk, pulling out the roast. "Uncle Marvin put a warming charm on it," he explained, and she nodded and licked her lips. Harry put the food on trays and offered some to Ald.

Ald looked reluctant, but Harry handed him the plate and left him with no choice, not that he minded. The three ate their way progressively through the sweets, Ald telling them about his family as they went. Harry was grinning in amusement, because Ald still hadn't seemed to notice that he was talking to the 'great' Harry Potter.

"And look, Fred and George told me a spell to make Scabbers yellow!" he exclaimed.

"Lets see,"

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,
Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow,"

Scabbers twitched his whiskers. Harry laughed. "Ald, that's not how it works. Here, I have an idea. I'll turn him yellow, and you can tell Fred and George that the spell worked.

"Macula Yellow!" he said, and pointed his wand at Scabbers. Scabbers turned bright yellow.

"Cool!" exclaimed Ald.

Harry nodded. "It was in a charms book that I found a while back," he said offhandedly. "So, what house do you want to be in?"

"Gryffindor," he replied immediately. "All my brothers are in Gryffindor, and so were my mum and dad. Imagine if I was put in Slytherin! I think I'd leave. And Hufflepuff're a lot of duffers." Harry glared at him. It was all so much more personal for him. "But Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad," he added as an afterthought.

Harry nodded. "My mum and dad were Gryffindors, but I think I'll be sorted into Ravenclaw."

Hermione nodded. "I'm a Muggleborn, and I think I'll be in Ravenclaw," she told Ald.

As they discussed further the attributes of all the houses, and why or why not they'd want to be in them, when the compartment door slid open, and a pale blonde boy with a pointed face appeared in the doorway, with two others who looked like they were bodyguards. "Is it true?" he asked. "They've been saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment."

Harry was confused as to how that fact had gotten out, as only he and Hermione knew who he was, but just nodded slightly anyway. "That's me."

Ald looked absolutely flabbergasted. "You're Harry Potter?"

The pale boy sneered. "You don't even know when you're talking to one of the most famous people in our world? Who are you anyway?"

Ald's ears turned red at the tips.

"Ald Weasley. What about you?"

"Oh, right." He turned back to Harry. "I'm Dray. Dray Malfoy."

Ald concealed his laughter in a cough. "Think my name's funny, do you, Weasley? Yours isn't much better."

Harry didn't listen to the rest of what Dray was saying, instead, he blinked at Dray. "Sit down," he invited.

Dray looked taken aback, he had been in the middle of arguing with Ald, and here was Harry, out of the blue telling him to sit down. Shrugging to himself internally, he obliged.

Ald looked like he was about to protest, but Harry quickly signed to Hermione. 'Shut him up. Know thine enemy.'

Hermione gave a slight nod of her head in reply, the degree of inclination being so small that only the trained eye could detect. She turned to Ald, and began talking about families.

Ald had quite a bit to talk about in that respect, so with him distracted, Harry could talk freely with Dray, with only one restriction.

"Get rid of your goons."

Dray was momentarily confused, but nervously refused. Harry leaned forward, and whispered in his ear. "Are you stupid? Get rid of your goons. There isn't enough room in the compartment, for one, and I can tell that you don't really want them. He sighed dramatically. "You should really be a little more subtle."

Dray's eyes widened slightly. "Crabbe, Goyle, get out."

The brainless bodyguards walked out, and wandered around aimlessly outside the compartment. Harry chuckled lightly. "So Dray, what house do you think you'll be in?"

"Slytherin." He replied immediately.

"What house do you want to be in?"

"What do you mean? You just asked me that"

"No, I asked what house you think you'll be in. It's totally different from what you think you'll be in. For example, I think I'll be in Ravenclaw, though I would like to be in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

"You still want to be in Ravenclaw," he pointed out.

"That's beside the point. What house do you want to be in?"

He flushed as if extremely embarrassed to be admitting it, before he whispered as if it were the most revered secret in the world. "Well, Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad I suppose…" Which, if you knew him well, it was saying something.

When, at the end of the train ride, they got out of their compartment, they realised that Crabbe and Goyle were still wandering aimlessly around the train, and were currently trying to open a window, but weren't getting far, as they were too dumb to work out that you had to squeeze the clip to open it.

Harry, Hermione, Ald and Dray laughed, and then, realising that they'd agreed on something, Ald and Dray turned to glare at each other, before they turned away. They still hadn't resolved their differences, but Harry was confident that they'd soon be the best of friends.

The four got in a boat together, and Harry, feeling that the boat was moving too slowly, even with magic, he gave a slight flick of his hand, and they went zooming forward, much to the mystification of that gamekeeper, a large burly man called Hagrid.

Scrambling out of the boats and onto the pebbled ground, they made their way to the castle in a disorganised group, tripping over each other more than once. They reached the door that Harry remembered walking through what was only a day ago to him, but 1000 years to everyone else, and Hagrid knocked on it loudly. It was immediately opened by a prim looking woman, and, judging by the horrible sound it made when pulled open, the door had not been replaced. Harry smiled affectionately, and looked around. The rest of the class, the teacher and Hagrid included, had covered their ears with their hands. When the screech had finally come to pass, they removed their hands, and one boy asked the teacher. "Excuse me, but why don't you replace the door?"

"The Traveller said to do it next year," was the only answer, and Harry's grin widened if possible.