'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 Eleven
Sporting Harry
1011: September
It felt kind of strange to Harry, sleeping in the dorms. He usually slept in the private quarters of the castle, which were a good five minutes walk away from the Gryffindor dorms, but Harry was usually a fair bit faster, making his way around the castle. For one thing, Harry knew the castle as well as all the founders put together, if not more.
After all, when they had founded the school, the castle had already been there. Actually, it had been a wedding present from Merlin to Godric and Rowena. They hadn't exactly gone around, looking for all the secret passages, though they had added a few things, and changed it slightly.
Since they were adults, they weren't as interested in the castle, and when Harry had come, he'd been a curious child. Cecil and Róisín knew a fair bit of the castle, but to them it was normal, never seen as something to explore and find passages in.
It was just home, like to Hermione, her house was just home, and she'd never found it particularly interesting. Or even Lilly and Louise, they had a fairly large old house which would probably have a secret passage or two, or Greg, whose modern house was ridiculously large, with many areas that he'd never bothered to look in.
So, upon waking up late the next morning, not being used to waking up so early, and having five minutes to eat breakfast, Harry noted that everyone else was asleep too.
Seeing Norman di Mildura and the bed next to him, he totally skipped on him, instead placing a sleeping charm on him that would wear off in an hour, give or take a few minutes. He then stumbled over to Josef's bed, and shook him awake. "Come on, we have to get to the hall in a minute if we wish to eat breakfast. And we have Father first thing, so you might want your energy."
"What about Norman?" asked Josef pointedly.
"I see not the point in waking him. He is a rather annoying person whom believes he owns the world, thus he would not care for it."
Josef looked hesitant, but realising that he was talking to the son of his head of house, he nodded.
"What of the girls?"
"There only be Roswyn and that other girl, Guinevere fa Rayne was her name was it not?"
"I think that be so," said Josef.
"I shall go wake them." Harry made his way up the stairs, and Josef tried to follow him, but was beaten down. Harry knocked on the door of the dorm, and when no sound came, he opened the door, and shook Roswyn and Guinevere awake. "Come on, it happens to be that we have four minutes left in which to eat our breakfast!" Harry exclaimed.
"Four minutes!" Guinevere cried. "But how will it be that I get dressed so swiftly?"
"Don simply your underwear and robes!" Harry yelled running back down to the common room. "You need not bother with all your petticoats and other such nonsense!"
About a minute later, Roswyn and Guinevere appeared, their robes slightly skewed. Harry flicked his hand discreetly, neatening them slightly. "Come on!" he yelled, running ahead. They were hot on his trail. He led them through a web of intricate passages, and a less than a minute later, they were in the great hall.
Harry looked up at the high table as he rushed in, and saw his mother and father smiling at him. He quickly piled some eggs and bacon on his plate, motioning for the others to do the same.
He had his last forkful of bacon halfway to his mouth, when he felt a tugging on his leg. "Harry!" it was Cecil.
"Hi Cecil," he said breathlessly, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.
"Waddabout me?"
"Yes, you too, Róisín. Look, I am really sorry, but it happens to be that I have to go to class now. How about after I shall take you and we can play with the Unicorns?" Harry gabbled quickly, shoving a spoon of fruit loops down his throat and trying to catch his breath at the name time.
"Okay Harry." Said Cecil, and grabbed Róisín's hand, and they made their way back up to the staff table. Guinevere, who was sitting on Roswyn's right, who was on Harry's right, cooed. "Oh, they are so adorable. It is that I have not seen such tiny people for what is such a long time!"
"Yeah, yeah. Come on." He unconsciously looked at his wrist, before realising that he wasn't wearing a watch, and got up from the table. His father had left the staff table a few seconds earlier.
"We shall be late if we do not see fit to hurry!" Harry grumbled. Old English was so much more complicated, and made the sentences twice as long.
"I have not yet collected my equipment from the other rooms!" Guinevere cried out.
Harry forced a smile. This Guinevere person was going to have to learn to get ready earlier.
"You shall just have to do without, or borrow someone else's. You shall only be needing but a quill and roll of parchment to day." He told her, and shunned them into a secret passage.
They arrived about two seconds before Godric did, sliding into their seats as he walked through the door.
"Welcome to Defence Against the Darkest of Arts. It is I who will be your professor in this subject, and I am fully expecting that you shall all work hard, doing what is the best that you can do with your ability. This would be because Defence Against the Darkest of Arts is a very important subject." Godric began.
Harry had heard this speech many times, often he sat in the back of the class while his father conducted the lessons.
"First, I shalt call the roll, as to determine whom is absent."
He called out name after name. "di Mildura, Norman."
No answer. Harry started to snicker under his breath. "Norman di Mildura?" Still no answer.
"Does it happen that anybody know where upon Norman di Mildura could be found?"
Harry, by now, was laughing quietly, but Godric caught his eye. "Harry, would it be that you have any idea?"
"I tried to wake him this morning, Father, but he would not wake."
"Are you sure that is what was what happed?"
Harry didn't answer. "I shall be talking to you after class, Harry." Harry rolled his eyes, but agreed, looking slightly sheepish.
"So what be it that really happened, Harrison?" Roswyn asked.
"Tis that I put a sleeping charm upon him, and please, Harrison is too formal. Only Mother calls me that, and even then, it befall only when she's angry. It is for you to call me Harry."
Roswyn snickered. "di Mildura deserved it. When will it happen that he shall wake up?"
Harry thought for a moment. "About now, I think."
Sure enough, he was correct. Ten minutes later, a puffing, red faced di Mildura arrived outside the door. "Sorry that it be that I was late sir. I believe that I must have slept in."
"Indeed…" said Godric, catching Harry's eye. Harry spluttered out in laughter again. "I shall let you off this time, but next time I shall not be so lenient, is there anything of that which is not understood by yourself?"
"No, sir," di Mildura sat down in his seat, his cheeks very red, and got out his books and his wand. To make things worse, he didn't know any of the wand movements, and hadn't even looked at his diagrams, as they didn't have set books since not everyone could read.
Harry, on the other hand, was excelling. He had no trouble with the spell, completing it easily, only having trouble with the wand. He wasn't really used to using his wand, and he didn't find it as comfortable as wandless magic, but they had decided that Harry's talents would remain a secret, for now, at least.
Eventually, the lesson ended, and Harry told Roswyn to go ahead, and that he'd catch her up. Of course, being the stubborn person that she was, she decided to wait outside the door.
"Harry," said Godric in a warning tone, slipping back into 'normal' speech. "What did you do to Norman?"
"He deserved it dad. He's almost as bad as Vernon, Petunia and Dudley were," catching his father's incredulous gaze, he looked down. "Fine, not quite that horrible. But he still is bad, dad, you have to admit it."
"Harry, you still didn't tell me what you did."
"I put a timed sleeping charm on him."
Godric put his head in his hands. "You used your wand, I hope?" he asked, looking up at Harry in exasperation.
"What do you take me for? I'm not entirely stupid, Josef might have been watching!"
"And he didn't speak up why?"
Harry shrugged. "Never told him not to. But I think it might have been more that he thought I just didn't wake him."
"Did it occur to you that he might be afraid of you?"
Harry's eyes widened. "Afraid of me"
"Yes."
"Well… no?"
"Is that supposed to be a question?" Godric asked rhetorically, and sighed. "I know detention and losing points won't do you any good, so I'm going to punish you differently."
Harry's stomach churned at the thought. "What?"
"No magic for the week except when absolutely necessary."
"WHAT! Dad, come on, it was just a harmless prank."
"And I'm a headless hippogriff. Harry, you embarrassed him on his first day of classes."
Harry sighed and looked at his feet feeling slightly guilty. "Can we at least shorten the punishment?" he asked, resigned to his fate. Actually, he wasn't that worried, and Godric seemed to notice. After all, it was hardly like Godric could stop him.
Godric looked thoughtful. "Actually, I think I have the perfect punishment!"
Harry groaned in despair. "What is it?"
"Well, Cecil and Róisín need their lessons seen to and you're the one with the perfect means to do so."
"I don't think Mum will agree." Harry said quickly. His was one punishment he didn't want.
"I think that she will. I'll discuss it with her tonight. You may leave now."
Harry exited the classroom. "What was the punishment that you managed to procure?" asked Roswyn.
"Cecil and Róisín are to be given lessons at my hand."
"That will surely be found to be a bother." She said irritably.
Harry screwed up his nose in agreement, wishing that the people of this time were a bit less placid and would say 'bugger' or 'damn' once in a while.
Later that day, Harry and Roswyn relaxed in the Gryffindor common room, chatting about nonsensical things. Harry opened his eyes blearily and cast his eyes around the room trying to keep himself awake. It was only 5 o'clock! It was then that he spotted it.
"Roswyn," he said pointing at it. "Would it be that you would like to attempt it with me?"
"Is my name is Roswyn Quidditch, sister of Darius Quidditch, renowned beater of the English Quidditch Team, or not?" she demanded. "When is it to be?"
"I believe that it will be at the weeks end."
"Great!" Harry and Roswyn waited impatiently for the weekend, and on Saturday morning at 10.00am, they made their way to the Quidditch pitch, brooms in hand.
"Alright! Those who be trying out for the position of chaser, you are to line up here! Those who be trying out for the position of seeker, you are to line up here!"
Roswyn moved into the line of potential chasers, while Harry joined the line of seekers.
There were only about five people trying for seeker. Both Harry and Norman di Mildura were lined up, with di Mildura sneering at Harry. "I would think it would be best that you would save your pride should it be that you drop out now, Gryffindor."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Nah," he drawled, slipping into a less formal language, before realising his mistake, and regaining his formal manner. "It shall be that you who be the one who would be wise were you to drop out. It happens to be that I've practically been raised on brooms."
"And be it that I was not?" di Mildura shot back indignantly.
Harry choked back a laugh at the obvious lie. "I had previously thought that it happens that we have already established the solid fact that you would be Muggleborn? Why, you asked me for assistance concerning your training in Quidditch. It appears that you have procured the help of another, then, di Mildura?"
A few of the people who had been listening sniggered as di Mildura's face coloured. He mumbled something that Harry couldn't hear, before turning around and looked at the ground, which had become extremely interesting.
The captain was Bartholomew Paulson, though he much preferred the nickname of Tolly, but there wasn't much he could do about his surname, after all, his older brother had chosen it at sixteen. Unless he was made famous for something, or someone of a higher status than his brother renamed him, he was stuck with it. And it wasn't as if he was Paul's son. His mother had be widowed and remarried before having him. A scandal at the time.
"Seekers. It will be as is specified in the following words: I shalt release twenty snitches, all of which are spelled that that they will keep within the pitch. It will be that you shall sit down where we are now for a period of five minutes, and then you are to go after the snitches. The people with the most snitches and what are the most skilful tactics will go through this process again, until we have a clear winner. Is this clear to all?"
They nodded in unison, most of them looking slightly panicked. Harry simply yawned.
The captain gave them all the same brooms so that they were on even footing, released the snitches, and five minutes later, signalled for them to go. Harry immediately flew up to the top of the field and began circling. Realising that the others were copying him, he groaned. He thought for a moment, before 'spotting' a snitch, and racing down to the ground as fast as the rickety old broom could take him. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he pulled out of the dive, and flew up the pitch toward the goal posts, and snatched up a glinting golden snitch. Looking back, Harry nearly laughed. All four of the other seekers had fallen straight into his trap, and were on the ground a little worse for wear, having flown straight into it.
Handing the snitch to the stunned captain, Harry sped after another snitch.
By the time all the snitches had been caught, Harry had ten of them, two had three, one had four, but di Mildura had none. In fact, di Mildura was having trouble even staying on his broom.
"Okay, Gryffindor, you get the actual position, and la Corte, you get reserve. You guys were by far the best." Tolly told them.
However, di Mildura didn't quite agree. "You are in most probability, putting Gryffindor on the team only be the cause that his father is the head of house! It is not likely that he has any talent!"
"Oh, pur-lease!" la Corte said patronisingly. "You would do well to stop being such a sore loser! Gryffindor as it stands caught half of what we know as snitches, and that he has great tactics! I see that you have what we may call a problem with him, and if that be the case, it does not mean by default that every one of us does. And anyways," he sniggered. "It wasn't as if it were you who caught any, so if it be that anyone of us can be said to have no talent, it is surely you!"
Paulson broke it up before a fight started. "Okay, come on. Di Mildura, if you want to try out for chaser, feel free to join the line, same goes for the others that didn't make the team."
They all moved over to the line of chasers, which was extremely long, compared to what the seekers line had been. Nearly every Gryffindor in the school had come, well, maybe not, but there were twenty students trying out.
The captain sighed, his wavy chocolate brown hair ruffled by the wind. "At least we need a full team of actuals and reserves."
Harry watched the chaser tryouts. They consisted of having teams of three, playing with the Quaffle and trying to score goals. Each person played in a team with every possible combination of people, so that the captain could see how well people worked with each other. Eventually, they had chosen two teams. Roswyn and her cousins Fiona and Frederick Parry, who were both 16, were in the actual position, while three students tat the others didn't know made the reserve team.
"Well done, Ros" he congratulated the brown eyed girl.
"Ros?" she asked curiously, twisting a long strand of chestnut hair around her finger.
"Roswyn is a name that, in similarity to all these complicated sentences, takes too long to say," he informed her bluntly.
"Right then." she replied. She was picking up some of Harry's less formal language.
Then they headed off to Hogsmeade.
Sibley Fasset and Norman di Mildura did everything within their power to annoy the hell out of them, before Roswyn got the better of them by practically calling Sibley's mother a slut. Sibley's ice chip eyes flashed in anger, and Harry turned to gape in shock at Roswyn. "Apologise. That was low, and we have standards," he said coolly.
Roswyn shook her head. She was stubborn as hell.
Harry, sick of it, pointed his wand at her. "Apologise."
Roswyn huffed. "I am truly sorry for insulting you and your mother, Sibley," she said the standard apology with false calm. Sibley flicked her hair behind her petite ears.
"And that is the way that it should be," she said, accepting the apology in the traditional manner, before flouncing off with Norman at her side.
After their tiring day in Hogsmeade, Roswyn literally dropped into the chair, collapsing from exhaustion. Harry followed her example, closing his eyes, planning to have a little nap.
"Hazza! Harry! Daddy said you have to take us to the Unicorns for Care of Magic Creatures lesson!" Róisín tugged on his leg. "Hazza! Come on, Harry!"
Harry blearily opened his eyes. "Cecil! Róisín! Can't I just sl- sl –sleeeeeeeeeep?" he yawned loudly.
"Unicorns!" Cecil persisted. Harry blinked a few times, and relented. "Hold on, Cec."
"Now! Unicorns now!"
"Five minutes ago!" Róisín shouted. "I wanna see the Unicorns five minutes ago!"
Harry yawned again. "Right, five minutes ago, got it."
Harry hardly even realised that Roswyn was watching them. "How are you going to see the Unicorns five minutes ago?" she asked.
Harry's eyes widened, as Cecil replied. "Doan be silly! You gots to know how to go back five minutes." Harry gave Cecil a pointed glare, and flapped his hand in his and Róisín's direction, effectively silencing him.
"You know what, Ros? I think I'll just take them to see the unicorns. Bye!" he said quickly, and rushed them out of the common room.
Once they were away from anyone else, courtesy of a few secret passages, Harry wrapped them in a time capsule, and pulled them back about 100 years, before the castle was inhabited. "What do you think you were doing, Cecil?"
"What?" he asked innocently, blinking up at Harry through wide eyes.
Harry ground his teeth. "You know you're not supposed to talk about time travel."
"Bud she was your friend!" he cried in confusion.
Harry sighed, thinking about what Roswyn had said to Sibley. "Yes, she is, but I don't think you should tell her," he decided on finally.
"Bud Harry…" he moaned.
"But nothing. You don't tell anyone."
Cecil yawned, and Róisín looked up at Harry pleadingly. Figuring that this was the best he was going to get, he sighed, and they were back in the 1011. Suddenly, Róisín spoke up. "We won't do it again, Harry," she said, and Harry smiled lightly down at her.
'I hope so, Róisín, I hope so,' he muttered in Latin.
'We will,refrain from doing it again' Róisín returned in the same language.
Harry shook his head. "Are you sure you need lessons, Róisín? I mean, you know Latin-"
"You taught me in the first place." She cut him off quickly.
Harry groaned. He should have known that would have come back to bite him. "Yes, but do you need lessons?"
"Mama said," she insisted.
Harry sighed. "Unicorns, right?"
"Yep!"
"But… I don't want to do unicorns today," he said, yawning again.
He thought for a moment. "Okay, guys, I'm going to give you are Merlin lesson."
"Yay!" Cecil shouted.
Róisín pursed her lips, and Harry shook his finger at her. "You shouldn't be so serious, Róisín."
"Well, what are we doing then?"
"Today?" Harry asked.
"Yes, today."
"Well," he said, flapping his hand, and summoning his wand. Róisín eyed it warily. He usually only used his wand for spells that were hard. She was right to be wary. The next second, before she could even try to defend herself and Cecil, Harry had shouted out "Caecus!" which was the 'Don't Look' Curse, temporarily blinding them.
He waved his hand slightly, manipulating the spell.
"Okay, guys, as you've probably guessed you've been blinded. There is, however, one thing that you can see. Now, I'm going to take you into the forest, I want you to work with each other to try and find your way out." He paused briefly, allowing his siblings to process the words.
"I have put a 'point me' spell on this twig, which you will take turns in carrying." He ran their hands over it so they could feel it. "The other will be carrying this rucksack. It has a warm blanket which you are to share, a bag of salt and vinegar crisps for you both, coz I know you love them, and a bottle of water that's never-ending." He paused for a second, bringing out two orange plastic bracelets.
"These are for your personal safety. You must not take them off. If, and only if, you are in a seriously dangerous situation, you are to take them off, but otherwise, no. Taking them off will immediately alert me that you are in danger, or the me that is in relation to you." He rummaged around in a bag bringing out matches and two stones.
"Now, these are matches, because I haven't taught you how to make fire with wandless magic yet, and these are flint stones, in case the matchbox gets wet, or lost, or something. This is your weapon. Cecil, I know dad's taught you how to use a sword, well, started to, so I'm giving you this, it's a small Elvin broadsword, and Róisín, you can have the Elvin longbow.
"They have been shrunken, but you do know how to do an engorgement charm with wandless magic, or you should, since I taught you last week. There are also two toothbrushes and toothpaste in these, you know what to do with them… what else? Oh, yeah. This is a decontaminator. Put it on any dead creature for ten seconds and say the incantation 'defaceo!', and then you will be able to eat it. I've also given you a pocket knife, be careful with it, and… that's all."
Cecil frowned. "Bud why do we need all that stuff? It's not like we going to be ages."
"Well, it depends on how long it takes you to get out of the forest."
"What are we doing it for anyway?"
"Well, you need to learn how to work well with others, especially each other. And you're blinded to make it more challenging."
"We won't always be with each other."
"Trust me, Róisín, I know what I'm doing."
Unknown Time: Unknown Month
He held both their hands, and they walked through the trees and into the forest. About an hour later, they were both well and truly exhausted. Harry called a tent and some sleeping bags to him, deciding to finish the activity in the morning. Just before he was about to fall asleep, he pointed his wand at his twin siblings. "Auctus Consisto!" then, "Tempus!"
It was 7.30. Committing it to his memory, he yawned once more, before falling into a light sleep.
Revised: January 2006