A/N: New chapter! This one is a bit shorter than usual, but I was happy with where it ended and wanted to update it sooner rather than later. If all goes according to plan, I should have another chapter out soon! Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last one!
This chapter will once again focus on 1993 (don't worry, 1997 will be making another appearance next chapter!). This is actually one of the first scenes I thought of when planning this story, so I hope you all enjoy it! Now, on with the story...
1993
For the second day in a row, Harry let himself sleep in.
It wasn't particularly that he wanted to hide away in his dorm all day. No, he was quite excited to see if he could sneak out and spend more time with Sirius today. Even the idea of talking to Remus again was appealing, and he probably had some schoolwork he had to do. The idea of dealing with his time travel situation…well, that was worth hiding away in bed. But even that wasn't the real reason that Harry slept in.
Harry slept in, because for the first time in months, he could. He was no longer on the run, no longer hunting for horcruxes. His friends were safe, his godfather was alive, and he could actually get a good night's sleep without worrying that he would be attacked by death eaters at any moment.
Harry knew that the danger was still out there. He knew he would have to face it, and to figure out this whole ludicrous time travel situation. But for now, just this morning, he would revel in the comfort of his bed, and the sense of safety that settled over him like a warm blanket.
When Harry eventually dragged himself out of his dormitory, he was surprised to see that the common room was mostly empty. Empty except for Ron, that was. Harry's best mate sat in a corner of the room, looking contemplatively at a chessboard. He seemed unaware of Harry's presence, and occasionally told a piece to move. Harry knew this behavior well; Ron often played himself in chess when he needed space to think something out.
"Where is everyone?" Harry asked, approaching Ron.
Ron gave a start, sending a few of his chess pieces tumbling off the board. "Oh. Hullo, Harry. I think a lot of them are outside. Weather cleared up nicely after that quidditch match."
Harry frowned, looking down at Ron's chessboard. They had kept a chess board in the corner of the tent, and as the horcrux hunt wore on, Ron had spent more and more time hunched over it by himself. Harry didn't remember seeing much of that behavior in his friend before fifth year, though, and he didn't like seeing Ron withdrawing into himself so soon.
"Mind if I join?" he asked.
Ron raised an eyebrow but didn't protest. Harry sat down in the squishy armchair across the board and started helping Ron reset the pieces.
"Have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked him, as he set a grumbly bishop back on it's square.
"She's in the library."
"Well I could've guessed that," Harry said with a chuckle.
Ron nodded. "She's researching your…situation, I think."
Harry noted how Ron specifically avoided mentioning what the situation was, and he didn't push the point. He just hoped that Ron would come around soon, because he wasn't a fan of the distance that Ron was putting between them.
They played in mostly silence for a few minutes, nudging pieces across the board without making much eye contact. Harry had been playing chess against Ron for years, and it heartened him to see his thirteen-year-old friend already playing with his favorite techniques and strategies. Ron didn't quite cream him, but Harry was far from victory by the time the game ended.
"Congratulations," Harry remarked as Ron's pieces all yelled "checkmate!" in unison.
Ron looked up at him then, and his expression was surprisingly cross. "Thanks, mate," he grumbled.
Harry frowned. "What's the sarcasm for?"
"You obviously let me win."
Harry stared at Ron for a solid minute, confused. Let him win? When had Harry ever even had a chance of beating Ron?
"I didn't let you win," he said. "You beat me every single time."
Ron hesitated before grumbling, almost indecipherably, "Well you're older now. So of course you'd be better than me."
Harry couldn't help it; he laughed.
Ron gave him an affronted look.
"Ron," Harry said, leaning forward with an incredulous look. "I have never beat you in chess. You're the best player I've ever met. It doesn't matter what age you are."
"I'm thirteen, Harry. You're…older."
"You beat McGonagall's game when we were eleven!"
The tips of Ron's ears went red. He stared down at the board for a few moments, first just to avoid looking at Harry. But then his brow creased and his mouth formed a frown as he studied the pieces.
"You came closer to beating me than you normally do," he observed after a moment.
Harry shrugged. "I've had an extra four years to play against you. But I've still never beat you."
Ron looked up at him, a strange look in his eyes. "Really?"
Harry nodded. "Hermione beat you once. Once!" he added hastily when Ron's face turned into a look of outrage. "And I think you were…distracted at the time."
"Distracted by what?" Ron asked. But then his ears went red, and Harry suddenly realized that maybe Ron's crush on Hermione had started much earlier than fifth year…
"Nothing," Harry answered shortly. "Nothing important."
Ron's ears were still red.
Without discussion, they started a new game of chess, and this time Harry tried his absolute hardest to beat Ron. He still didn't come close, of course, but Ron nodded appreciatively at some of his moves.
"You have improved," Ron said as Harry took out one of his rooks. Ron then proceeded to take out his queen.
When that game was also done, Ron stared at Harry for a long moment. Harry squirmed a bit but resolved to let Ron think through whatever he needed to say.
"It really is you," Ron said eventually.
Harry blinked. Had Ron not…had Ron not thought he was still Harry?
"It's not that," Ron clarified before Harry had even voiced his confusion. "I didn't think you were an imposter or anything. Well, not really. But you just…you were acting different. And I thought…well I thought I had lost my best mate."
Harry let that sink in for a moment.
"I'm still me, Ron," he said softly. "And four years isn't really all that long - or at least it shouldn't be. And we're still best mates in the future, too."
But he realized he wasn't being entirely honest, either. Ron let him think as he contemplated what to say next.
"But…I also understand what you mean," Harry said slowly. "We're still best mates, but you're…different, in 1997. We all are. But we're still the same people, still friends…even if it feels a little weird."
They both sat for a minute, just thinking about that.
Finally, Ron peered at Harry across the chessboard. "Are you ever going back?" he asked quietly. "Back to the future? Is the younger you ever coming back?"
Harry sighed. "I don't know, Ron. But unless Hermione finds some miracle spell, I kind of doubt it at this point."
Ron looked solemn. Then his face transformed into one resembling a scared little kid, and Harry was suddenly struck again by just how young his friend was.
"You said that people died in the future, right?" Ron asked quietly.
Harry wondered where that train of thought was going, but he just nodded wordlessly.
"Then…" started Ron queasily. "I want to help you. If you stay here, I want to help you change the future."
And Harry realized that Ron wasn't a little kid at all.
"That would be really dangerous," cautioned Harry. "More dangerous than the stuff we've done so far."
"I'm a Gryffindor, aren't I?" asked Ron with a nervous grin.
Gryffindor or not, thirteen-year-old or not, Harry realized that Ron was still the same loyal best friend he had always had.
"If I am stuck here," said Harry thoughtfully, "Then yeah, I'll probably try to save people. Fix things." It was a possibility that had been poking him in the eye almost nonstop. Even if he could go back…would he? When he could save so many lives if he stayed here? As Harry said the words, he realized that his mind was made up. He would do his best to fix things.
Harry studied Ron from across the table. It would be so easy for Harry to say that he could do it all on his own. So easy for him to tell Ron and Hermione to stay out of it, that they were too young and it was too dangerous.
But he had never run headfirst into danger alone before, and he honestly doubted he'd succeed if he tried doing this without his best friends. And Ron and Hermione had handled it before; he was sure they could handle it again.
Plus he kind of doubted that either of them would take no for an answer.
"It might be kind of weird for both of us," Harry said thoughtfully. "If you forget that I'm seventeen and I forget that you're only thirteen."
"We're still the same people though, isn't that what you said?" replied Ron. "Only four years apart. And if we both try, I think we can make it work."
Harry had no doubt about that.
For the first time since waking up in the hospital wing, Harry realized that he wasn't so scared about the future anymore. Because he still had no clue what he was going to do, now that he was trapped back in time. But he knew that his friends would stick by his side. He was no longer alone.
And he, Ron, and Hermione hadn't been defeated yet.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
Some reviewers asked how many chapters are left in this - initially this was going to cap out at about 8 or 9, but some of these shorter chapters have taken me by surprise and extended the length. That said, I am planning to write 1-2 more chapters, plus an epilogue. This story may end a little bit differently than expected, but I hope that the ending will still be a satisfying conclusion to the story! I also have some ideas for a possible sequel, so who knows? The story may continue on for much longer...
Please review if you liked the story or have any thoughts or questions! I love reading through to see what people think of this story :)
