Chapter Two:

Comparing the Lines

Once Harry was revived-and that took quite a while-the large group went to Dumbledore's office again. After getting several different armchairs, they all sat down and began to compare the different timelines. "I suppose that our lines differ starting at the Halloween of 1981. Is that correct?"

"That's my best guess too," Hermione said.

"There was a prophecy," Harry said solemnly, "Describing the one who will eventually defeat Voldemort. Sybil Trelanwy said it, to you, Professor Dumbledore. It can apply to two different people; me or Neville." All of his friends from his timeline gasped.

"That prophecy is common knowledge here," Dumbledore supplied, noticing the confused look on Harry's face, "Now, on Halloween, Voldemort attacked both the Potters and the Longbottoms. Neither was out, but at an Order meeting. He sliced both of their necks, killing them both."

"Well, in our time, Voldemort went after the Potters first. He killed both Lily and James, then tried to kill Harry," Hermione said, "But, because of his mother's love protection, the curse rebounded, and hit Voldemort, causing him to flee his body. The only mark Harry got was a lightning bolt shaped scar." Harry lifted his bangs to show his scar.

"What happened to us?" Alice asked fearfully, "Are we dead too?"

"Worse," Neville said in a dead tone, "A few days after You-Know-Who was gone, his remaining Death Eaters sought out revenge. As some of the top Aurors, you were tortured into insanity, and are now lying in St. Mungo's, without a clue. I live with Gran."

"Who did it?" Frank asked, his eyes full of anger.

"Bellatrix Lestrange." Sirius' face darkened and gained a look of pure hatred.

"Then who does Harry live with?" Remus asked, trying to lighten the subject.

"The Dursleys," Ron spat, "Lily's sister Petunia, her husband Vernon and son Dudley."

"Thank God," Lily said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"I'm happy Harry's with Petunia. She's an angel, and loves all our kids. None of them would dare to hurt any of them," Lily said.

Ginny snorted, "There's another difference between our worlds. The Dursleys hate anything abnormal, and magic is at the top of the list, only followed by you and Harry. He lived in a cupboard until he found out about Hogwarts, which was thanks to Hagrid on his eleventh birthday."

"Not Petunia! I mean, I would have never guessed-"

"Back to the story," Hermione said, "Now, no one, other than Lily, James, and Sirius knew that Wormtail was the Potter's Secret Keeper. Sirius cornered the rat on a muggle street, and Wormtail blasted the street, killing twelve muggles. That was right after he blamed Sirius, and right before he cut off his finger then transformed into a rat Obviously, Sirius was blamed and was given a life's sentence in Azkaban."

"A-Azkaban?" Sirius croaked, his face white, "I never, ever, have or betrayed Lily and James. I mean-I'd rather die-die before I do that-" He trailed off.

"We know, but that doesn't come in until later. Did anything big happen between then and our first year at Hogwarts? Nothing did in ours," Hermione asked.

"No, why don't you tell us about your first year, and we can compare them," Dumbledore said.

"Okay, Harry and Ron met on the train, and were best friends immediately. I met them there too, but they didn't like me; I was a bossy, show-off, know-it-all," Hermione said, smirking slightly.

"You still are," Ron muttered, earning two punches in the shoulder, compliments of Hermione and Ginny.

"Anyway, that Halloween, I corrected Ron in Charms, and he said some really mean things to me afterwards. I hid in the bathroom for the rest of the day. At supper, our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, let a mountain troll into the dungeons. It headed up to the bathroom I was in. Harry noticed I was still gone, and that was when his 'saving people thing' started," Hermione said.

Harry cut her off with a simple, "Hey! You didn't regret it!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued, "Harry distracted it, while Ron used the Levitation Charm, which we were doing in class, to knock it out with it's own club. So, without Harry, what happened?"

"Well, you and Ron were best friends since the train, and Draco Malfoy was being mean to you in my class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, so you hid in the bathroom that Halloween," Lily said, "Ron was trying to coax you out when the troll attacked. No one knew about it until I came across your bodies and the troll in the bathroom, covered in blood." She shuddered at the mere mention.

Ron was white and Hermione was shaking, but muttering, "Of course, we should have guessed it."

Ginny took over, "What about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Nicholas Flamel has it in one of the high-security Gringotts vaults," Dumbledore said, "How do you know about it?"

"Well, we nearly got our heads bitten off by a giant three-headed dog named Fluffy, almost died from a Devil's Snare, played Seeker with a million attacking, flying keys, were part of a giant chess game, tried not to swallow poison, and Harry fought against You-Know-Who's face on the back of Quirrell's head," Ron said as if it was an everyday occurrence.

His friends looked slightly bored while the others were staring at Harry, horrified. "Now to second year," Ginny said, "I got a diary that talked back to me, and eventually the memory of Tom Riddle possessed me to use a giant basilisk to petrify all the muggle-borns."

"Oh Ginny!" Molly cried, engulfing Ginny in another hug, "That must have been what happened here too!"

"Anyway," Ginny said, pulling away, "At the end of the year, I was taken to the Chamber, after leaving my death message. With the help of a petrified Hermione, Harry and Ron found out where the Chamber was. It caved in, however, and split them up. Harry found me and fought against the memory of Tom Riddle and the Basilisk. The Sorting Hat and Fawkes helped him though. In the end, he ruined the diary, and I was saved. Then Fawkes took us all back up to Dumbledore's office."

"Harry got into the Chamber?" Sirius asked interestedly, glancing at his fellow Marauders, "Will you show us how?"

"I can, but you can't go without me," Harry said with a small smirk.

"Why?"

"Because, it is Salazar Slytherin's chamber, and he had a special talent that you used to get in there. The only wizards alive with that talent are me and Voldemort. I'm a parseltongue." Harry looked very grim at the thought.

"How did you become one?" Dumbledore asked.

"When Voldemort attacked me when I was a baby, he transferred some of his powers into me. The ability to talk to snakes is one."

"What happened to me?" Ginny asked, "Because I'm dead."

"Well, I'm guessing the same thing, but you were taken into the Chamber the next Halloween. We've never seen you since," Arthur said solemnly.

"So, in our third year," Hermione continued, "Sirius escaped from Azkaban." Sirius was grinning madly. "But everyone thought that he was guilty and wanted to murder Harry."

"Lovely," Sirius said, losing his grin and grimacing.

"Anyway, Remus was our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and because there were dementors all over the place, looking for Sirius, Remus taught him how to produce a patronus," Hermione said.

"Why not everyone?" Remus asked, "Was I a really unfair teacher?"

"No, the best we've had. Well, that's not too hard to beat, so I guess it doesn't really count," Ron said.

"Harry asked for private lessons," Hermione supplied, "Because the dementors affected him really badly. They make you relive your worst memories, and Harry's was Lily and James being murdered. Every time he encounters a dementor, he hears Voldemort murdering you. He fainted quite often too."

"Now, at the end of the year, Sirius in his animagus form takes me and my rat to the Shrieking Shack, via the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione come to save me, and Harry tries to kill Sirius. With the help of Remus, we find out that Sirius was innocent, and my rat did it. It's really disgusting, actually, Peter Pettigrew made a better pet rat then he did a human or a friend," Ron said, thinking, "Anyway, the four of us, plus Professor Dumbledore, all learned the truth. I couldn't do anything, but Harry and Hermione save him from the dementors twice, with the help of a time turner."

"Er-well-sorry, I guess," Sirius said slightly sheepishly.

"That's okay, because you got him an owl," Ginny said, "Pigwidgeon."

James snorted, "What kind of name is Pigwidgeon?"

"I named him," Ginny growled, causing James to step back. Lily, Sirius, and Remus laughed. "And, it means small, which this owl is."

"Apparently, he used to be adorable, but he's psycho, with way too much energy. He looks like a brown, fluffy tennis ball, and bounces like one too," Ron said, laughing.

"So, was I innocent?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Nope, Wormtail escaped," Harry said.

"Plus, our minister is a git, and he didn't believe us. You went down south, but returned in the early fall, because someone entered Harry into the Tri-wizard Tournament," Ron said.

"Interesting, what were the tasks?" Dumbledore asked. Everyone looked confused.

"A maze with every foul creature known, saving someone from the merpeople in an hour, and getting an egg from a dragon," Harry sighed.

"That's suicidal!" Charlie exclaimed, "I know, because I've worked with those mothers!"

"It was supposed to be," Ron said dully, "And after the maze, no one knew that the cup was a port-key. It sent Harry and the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, to a graveyard. That git, Wormtail, killed Diggory, and took some of Harry's blood and made him watch Voldemort get reborn."

Some people gasped, while others lost all the colour in their faces. Dumbledore, asked, "And Harry survived?"

"Yeah, after dueling with him first," Ron said.

"What happened the next year?" Lily asked.

"Nothing short of terrible," Hermione said, "Our newest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was terrible. A real-"

An icy cold laugh interrupted her. It was coming from Harry's mouth. Anyone who was close to him leapt away. The laughter died in a minute. Then, Harry said, "He knows where we are. He's coming."