Back in time

by Jeanelle1910

my take on a popular challenge. Harry returns from death to change his life and that of those around him after meeting his Grim Reaper His final chance at living his life. Multiple person POV. This story s main couple is gay (HarryxNeville) but not all couples will be.

1. Back in time

Hi!

This is my take of reptilia28`s age old challenge (a Harry meets his grim reaper who sends him back with memories intact because he didn`t die the first or third time and the Reaper is annoyed). That said It`s loosely based on the various stories within the challenge that I read plus the only two points that I remember which are:

The Grim Reaper has to refer to Harry`s soul mate as "The Granger girl" or some such circumspect version of a fence post.

Harry has to return close to one of the times he previously died

Thus, ends my recollection of the list of things required to be done in this challenge.

Have fun!

And leave a review even if the review consists of "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" or "I Like" versus "Dislike

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Green light engulfed him and the last thing he saw was the smug smirk on Peter Pettigrew's face. This time, instead of an ominous version of King`s Cross where Dumbledore- the- man- who- could- not- stop- his- nose- from- poking- into- other- peoples- business- despite-having-been-dead-for-a-year, awaited him he "awoke" to a windowless room with a door on the other side which was painted in some mixture of brown and orange. It was filled with tartan upholstery chairs that, despite the clear usage of padding looked extremely uncomfortable. "You better take a seat, sonny, this might take a while!", a woman to his right said. Her hair was curly and nearly silver, her face showing the signs of age and laugh lines only those who chose to look at the bright side could boast of. Obeying, since nothing else could be done when faced with someone much older and equally dead gave you advice. The woman smiled at him, then stood up and walked toward the door at the end of the room.

Harry's mind whirled with all the unkind thoughts of a seventeen-year-old child soldier who was murdered by the one guy he stepped in front of to save his life. As if he hadn`t spent sleepless nights and many day`s regretting ever protecting Wormtail from his dues. To be honest his experiences in the wizarding world had left him disillusioned about life and while his life with the Dursleys had uniquely prepared him for all those disappointments, for someone he had saved the life of to partake in his kidnapping the then be the cause of his untimely death really was beyond the pale. He had died twice within one hour. It had to be a record of some kind. Then again, the sheer uselessness of everyone else, as if his death had removed what little fight, they had manged to accumulate had roused his old, very much natural rage again. They couldn`t even be bothered to finish the War after he died for them? It should not have been surprising, in retrospect. The wizarding world had always been fickle and somewhat of a let-down.

Time moved as the Boy- who- finally- did- die contemplated his life, his life choices and all the moments that could have been. The room emptied and filled twice before he felt someone, or something whisper his name inside his mind and a pull towards the door. Only when he reached the door and it swung inward did he realize that something felt off.

This feeling of "not quite right" intensified when the door swung shut behind him with force, he hadn`t applied, leaving him in a rather comfortable looking office. It was painted in lemon yellow, but the dark brown furniture and the one huge painting of the Himalayas offset it all.

"Why are you here?"

"Because Pettigrew killed me"

"No. I mean why. are. You dead again?"

"Well, I honestly didn`t plan on that...", but he trailed off when his eyes landed on the middle-aged woman wearing a black pencil skirt a sapphire blue blouse, her auburn hair in disarray and her brown eyes colder than the arctic.

"Of course, you did not plan it. You never plan it. And still, you keep coming here hundred years before you should die. Peacefully. In your sleep. In bed next to your soulmate, that granger girl, or some such nonsense."

Harry stared and tried to focus on the one thing that seemed the most pressing of the issues raised in this sentence. "I died, a lot?"

The woman`s glare lessened, just a bit. "Yes, Harrison James Potter, you died seven times. The first time in 1989 when Albus Dumbledore failed to take into consideration the temperatures in lower England during the night of the first of November coupled with a toddler who had successfully learned to crawl around for hours. Then at the age of eight when Dudley Dursley not only tripped but pushed you down the stairs and you broke your neck, not your arm when landing. The third time when Vernon Dursley locked you out of the house in the middle of November after you apparated on the roof of your school. The fourth time Fawkes tears came too little to late to save you from the basilisk bite. The fifth time you got badly wounded by a dragon tail and eaten alive. Your sixth death happened after you dove into a cold lake to retrieve a sword that your caring potions master left you at its bottom. And the seventh time you died by a killing course from a traitor. It was the first time that Horux in your scar actually would have come in handy"

Thankfully, the office had a visitor's chair, that wasn`t any more comfortable than those in the waiting room, but he had needed to sit down after the first half of this narration. If this was true, which he had no reason to doubt, then the proverb of the Prophecy of "one must die at the hand of the other" did not leave him effectively immortal until ended by Voldemort which made the entire "going to step in front of a killing course as willing lamb to slaughter" plotline void. "Okay.", he took a deep breath, his mind whirling.

"Okay. But since I can`t remember all those deaths I assume that there is no alternate option to send me back with my memories intact? Presumably because I would then change the timestream and screw up all those rules time travel seems to be governed by?!"

The glare of his Grim Reaper had softened into an unholy gleam coupled with a sort of proud smile. "I knew you had a brain!"

"Uh. Thanks, I guess?"

"And you would be right, if there hadn`t been so much screw up in your timeline that Fate has agreed to allow this last chance to have the effect she wants. Defeating Voldemort never was the biggest of your achievements, after all!"

That caused Harry to blink twice before he dragged his hand through his hair.

"Basically I, being Fate`s bitch, have now the blessing of the Lady herself to screw around?"

"Well, not particularly. You have the blessing to retain your memory of the past 17 years and this conversation. If you use this brain of yours, which I do strongly suggest you keep doing, you will be able to change things. On the other hand, it will become apparent that some things need to happen. But, to sweeten the Deal you can pick when you return, and we will remove the Horux."

"But this being my last chance I assume the positive "Survive a Avada free card" isn`t all that much of a positive side effect?"

"That and Fate, as you said, is a bitch and this option was only granted because you own all three Hallows and Death likes you. He knows you will do the proper thing with the hallows this time."

There was silence as Harry worked through the things said, the things left unsaid and the options now available. There was no way he would return as an eight-year-old and he doubted he could pass as twelve-year-old, regardless of his how little people knew him. Also, The Heir of Slytherin disaster would actually make dealing "out of character" with the school turning on him again plausible. "To recap. I died Seven times, I can pick a time of return with my memories intact and Tommy boy no longer able to access my mind and soul mates are a thing?"

Her smile was crooked this time and he nearly wanted to raise an eyebrow, if he had the genetics to master that particular art of derision, when she whipped out a wand from literally nowhere and began casting privacy charms and wards that would have made Alastor Moody proud. "To be honest, the idea of every single person and being on the earth being blessed with one single perfect match has rubbed me the wrong way for decades. It`s not that there are no soul mates it`s more about how Love and Fate keep harping on about it when it`s statistically impossible to have solely one during eternity in all universes. No. All of us get about a handful of soul mates and depending on where we walk in life meeting at least two of them is assured. That does not mean that you have to kiss said soul mate and initiate the bond." A shudder went through the room just as the woman finished speaking and all the security dropped before a slim figure entered and bellowed for them to "get a move on" before vanishing again. It was a testament to how well his life had prepared him to take literal shit in stride that Harry didn`t even flinch. Instead, he waited for the woman who had just shattered several of his life`s secrets, dreams, hopes and all the barriers built around some of his darker thoughts while she furiously cast charms to check if her shields had been broken before her superiors got wind of them being there in the first place.

Then she began to pull out several folders and opened the third one, handing it over to Harry with a self-inking quill. Looking down he read through it and began to fill out the form that yes, he had been informed of his deaths, that he understood what that meant and also that he had been advised that there would not be an eight chance of return. The next time he died he`d be dead as a doornail. Then he filled out the form about the memory retaining and when he would like to be returned to before he singed it all with his full name, which he would have been more startled at had he not been aware that "Harry" probably wasn`t his full first name. Not with Neville Francis, Ronald Bilious, Draconis Lucius and all the other double named "true bred" kids his year. There was some sort of pureblood tradition in play, but he had honestly never had the time to check.

Fortunately, he was about to return into a fourteen-year-old body and knew what was awaiting him, his need to survive could actually be put on the back burner. He no longer needed to feel like an outcast in both worlds with Ron and Hermione acting as vocal wall between him and literally everyone else. He liked both of them, despite their faults, but he knew that their faults were why hardly anyone ever spoke to him. But seven years ago, and even earlier than that he had been so grateful. So happy. So delirious that he had actual friends that he`d been content. Especially since one of those friends came with a boisterous family. It wasn`t like he could have won the award for well-adjusted teenager, but for once in his life there was no larger-than-life worry consuming all of his thoughts. No Hunger or Fear that it was just a dream and he`d wake up in "his" cupboard again. And that fear had persistent because at the end of the day he wound up at Privet Drive again to be beaten and starved causing his energy levels to stretch thin with all the other stuff he had to worry about when Hunger and Pain weren`t consuming it all.

And then he ended up with friends who could not even comprehend a smidgen of his life nor imagine it. Hermione might have been bullied but she`d had all adults in her life cherishing her and protecting her when the Adults in his life were largely the sole cause of his suffering. Ron was loved by his family but felt inferior and really bad about himself because the big family also meant that he could not get anything that he wanted when it cost money. And Ron tended to want all the shiny things that cost money.

"Are you ready?"

The question called him back into the office and he smiled crookedly at his Grim Reaper.

"As Ready as I can be" And then his world went dark.

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The first thing he noticed was the noise. Incandescent snoring. Then came the smell. Weeks old unwashed socks. It had to be the Gryffindor boy's dorm. Since he was in a four-poster bed, he was fairly certain that he was back days before the first task- he had been unable to sleep the entire three nights leading up to it and had spent them wandering the common room with the result that he`d fallen asleep on couches, the first time around.

It took some time before his mind caught up with the fact that he was in his bed in the Gryffindor dorms. And when it did a brilliant smile lit up the gaunt face of fourteen-year-old Harry Potter and unwilling fourth champion. Because this was the year before they all started dying. Grinning like a loon he sat up, surveying the scene. Ron had drawn his curtains, something that had become a habit this year what with him being so very angry that Harry was hogging all the attention again. Fighting the urge to sneer at the curtains he looked at the sleeping and snoring forms of Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas before his eyes came to rest on a still chubby Neville Longbottom.

The sun was slowly rising, if what he saw outside was any indication and so Harry Potter did the one thing he needed to do before storming off to the owlery. "Dobby?"

The elf popped into existence next to him and stopped in the middle of "Master Harry Potter s-" when the young teen hugged him. "Dobby, I know you like working at Hogwarts. But would you be willing to be my elf instead?"

Dobby, the house elf had been beaten most of his life. He had been used as target and he had then become an unhinged elf when his master was about to endanger the entire next generation of human wizards, but most of all the one blessed by Fate who got rid of the Dark One. So, he went against the bonds and betrayed his master with the result that he had been slowly dying ever since. Hogwarts was good for him but to stay alive for more than the next decade he had to find a wizard willing to bond with him. And while he had held hope he would never have asked for what he needed the most, devoting his life to Harry Potter without acknowledgement of said devotion had basically been his plan ever since that fateful day two years ago. Now that the one he wanted to be bound to was hugging him, unbelievable as it was, and asking the question he had so wanted to hear Dobby could do nothing but nod his head, repeatedly. And when Harry Potter choked a half laughed "Then welcome to my family" he suddenly knew that he had followed the plan up to dying for his chosen Master three years in the future and being buried by an inconsolable Harry Potter.

"Master Harry." It was all he needed to say, all he wanted to say, all he could say, and the teen merely hugged him tighter before leaning back, tears still in those emerald eyes.

"Can you answer me some questions?"

"Of course, Master Harry."

"Can you wear a uniform or is the pillowcase culturally appropriate?"

Blinking his large eyes at the teen, Dobby saw the images of his master's mind and snapped his fingers, instead of wringing the pillowcase. He now wore a black tunic and the socks his master had gifted him on his ears.

It caused the tears in these eyes to vanish and instead a grin was on his master's face.

"Lovely. Now can you tell me what exactly it is you can do? Can you, for example, apperate me around? Or feel where I am?"

"Dobby cans transport Master Harry but Master Harry needs to be outside of powerful wards. And Dobby can feel Master Harry wherever he is."

Harry blinked and his grin grew before he hugged the little elf again. "Then I thank you for everything you have done and will do for me. One last question. Can you access my Vault and act as a go between to Gringotts?"

Unused to so much positive body contact Dobby focused on the question, it would not do to bawl his eyes out at the kindness shown to him. His Master needed him, and the bond was already healing the damage his betrayal and lack of bond had caused to his body and magic.

"Dobby cans do both, Master Harry."

"Okay, Dobby. Can you go to Gringotts and make an appointment for me...", the teen paused and cast the tempus charm which informed him that he had returned on Friday the fifth of November. Next weekend would be the first task. "For tomorrow?"

Dobby smiled and with a pop was gone mere moments after Harry had finished asking. Then he remembered something unpleasant and added it to his mental list of things to do before he got up, picked up the best set of clothes and the best set of casual robes he owned and glared at his trunk in disdain. Adding a wardrobe to that mental list he grabbed the satchel he used for school stuff, checked if all the necessary supplies were inside, grabbed his wand which gave angry sparks and left. Apparently, the holly wand hadn`t chosen Harry Potter at all. If this wasn`t his chance to save them all, to finally enjoy life and to finally spend time on things previously neglected he`d feel annoyed. But having just gained a faithful house elf and hugged the stuffing out of said house elf while on the way to do the same with his best friend in the world, which ironically enough wasn`t human either, he could not bring himself to spend energy on such minor issues.

It would keep him busy and ensure that he wouldn`t screw up the major things he needed to happen. There was no way Peter Pettigrew made it out of this graveyard alive.

Feeling healthier than he ever had in his entire life made him nearly skip towards the owlery where his beloved Hedwig swooped down to preen his hair. "Hello, beautiful. You really are the only one who hasn`t given up on my hair." Hedwig crooned and returned her preening, causing him to laugh as he petted her.

"You are the most beautiful owl I know and the most intelligent one too!" he added completely ignoring the glares from several owls of various directions as Hedwig crooned in pride, puffing her chest before ruffling her feathers and poking his ear affectionately. "I might need to send a letter soon but how about you come down to breakfast for beacon?" A screech that was Hedwig's version of happiness shown by the little tap dance she made down his shoulder and arm caused him to laugh in joy for the first time in years as he launched his hand up and Hedwig flew out the window.

Still smiling he left the owlery for the Great Hall, completely ignoring the glares, stares and confused glances thrown his way.

Thankfully only some older years were in the Great Hall, or he might have had to answer Hermione nagging him because he was smiling. Especially since he wasn`t sure he`d be able to just bear it. Instead, he prepared himself a plate and began feeding Hedwig who had swooped in as soon as he was finished. And if anyone noticed how beautiful Harry Potter looked as he lovingly fed his owl with a content smile on his face and his eyes alight with joy for the first time in weeks then no one felt the need to comment on it. Slowly the Hall began to fill up and soon Hermione sat down opposite him. "Honestly, Harry, you could just talk it out with Ron!" Harry blinked at the girl. She looked frazzled but it was her exasperated expression that made him blink again. "Talk it out? Like those three times I tried, even begging Ron to listen?"

"Well, yes. But you didn`t try all that hard, did you?"

His hand automatically began to caress Hedwig who cuddled into the touch, purring since she had already been fed and could feel the turmoil in her wizard's heart. It was only then that Hermione noticed the owl and startled when she looked back up to meet cool emerald eyes.

"Basically, I have to be the one to grovel before Ronald Bilious because I am the rational one in this relationship, and he won`t ever budge without a major external wakeup call?"

"Precisely!"

"Why would you even want that seeing as all he ever does is insult your habits by which you define yourself?"

Now Hermione was the one who blinked at him, startled at this line of questioning and shocked at where this was coming from.

"I am trying to help you!"

"No, Hermione. You are trying to guilt trip me into another shouting match with Ron for which you will place the blame on me again. I am sorry to tell you that Ron isn`t actually my problem at the moment. Surviving the first task is. And you can`t argue that he`d be helpful because I doubt the first task will be a giant chess set or an eating competition."

With that he rose, Hedwig easily flying up to take her seat on his shoulder and both left the Great Hall, leaving a dazed Hermione Granger behind.

The Weasley Twins, who had entered mere moments before exchanged glances before they rose, each stuffing a bunch of toasts in a napkin, and followed the Boy-Who-Lived outside. Harry stood in the courtyard, looking at the white speck that was Hedwig as she flew away with the note he had written to Sirius and Lupin.

"What is going on with..."

"...our favourite Champion?"

"Prince of the chaos"

"Unbeatable, harmony seeking Lion…"

"Who would never publicy roar…."

"at the anyone much less the only person who stood by him"

"First, Hermione isn`t the only person to stand by me. Unless I counted my allies. Second, she keeps pestering me to make Ron see sense. Despite the fact that this isn`t the first time he is a prat, and she should be wanting to help me learn all I can."

The Twins exchanged another glance and George handed him one of his toasts.

"Thanks, George."

That caused the Twins to freeze and stare at him before they suddenly grabbed him and spun him around.

"Who is Fred?"

Another spin

"Who is George?"

They kept that up for several minutes growing increasingly shocked when he kept identifying them right. Apparently, it was the first time they realised that he had always been able to tell them apart.

"So..."

"the saviour wants to be locked in a library?"

"Think we can do that?"

"And get away with it? I think we could, ugly brother"

"Of course, we could, much uglier brother mine"

"Or you could meet me at Moaning Myrtles bathroom tonight and I`ll lock you into the Chamber of Secrets."

Somehow that caused the Twins to grab him and haul him back into the castle and towards his Potions classroom before depositing him in front of the door twenty minutes before classes began. His laughter followed them and was heard by many.

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It was nine p.m. when the trio met again in front of the bathroom. Harry merely grinned at them before he entered, greeted the petulant ghost, and hissed at the sink. Internally he was fairly certain that he would be hard pressed to speak to a snake ever again but telling something to open seemed to have been one of the few words of parseltounge he had committed to memory. It made him feel very happy that all traces of the Horux were gone and it was the first sign of proof besides the slowly healing curse scar on his forehead. At least he had hoped what he was seeing was some form of healing a not just sheer imagination on his part. To their credit neither Twin so much as twitched upon hearing the hiss, nor did they flinch when the stones began to grind and revealed the entrance. They did, however, watch as Harry turned his wand pointing at them to cast impervious charms before he did the same on his own clothes and shoes and jumped into the hole. Exchanging a glance, they shrugged and followed the mad teen down into the rabbit hole. It soon became evident why the spells had been necessary, though but it didn`t lessen the excitement of the ride.

They landed in a heap on the floor, on the part of it that had been cushioned. Usually, they would be doing their duo speech to gloss over the fact that having to untangle themselves from each other was awkward, but they let Harry help them up instead. Looking around, casting Lumos as they did so. No one spoke about their rather unusual behaviour, but they did exchange silent glances with Harry and each other before the younger boy merely smiled and took the lead.

"Is that..."

"...shed skin?"

"Would you like to have it?"

"Harry…", Fred began but was interrupted by the teen just looking at him, giving him his full attention. No one had ever given him his full attention, or either of them for that matter. Oh, they had been yelled at, punished but no one had looked in either of their eyes for longer than two seconds mainly because that would require addressing them properly and not even their mother could tell them apart.

Watching his Twin grow silent George just looked from Fred to Harry before he removed their only and badly beaten moleskin bag and floated the skin into it. That got him a satisfied nod from their young friend and soon they were moving through the tunnel again. Fred began casting at the caved in part mere moments before George joined him and together, they cleared most of the debris away without causing any further collapse. A second shed skin, this one longer and fresher, was added to their bag before they came upon a huge round door with several serpents biting into some form of seal in the middle. Harry hissed again and the serpents coiled, releasing the ring and since they were the door bolts it clicked and swung open. "Welcome to the chamber of secrets", the Boy-Who-Lived said as he stepped over the threshold and into a corridor with snake statues to either side of them. The smell of old water and mould increased with every step, as did the smell of old blood and something sweet that probably was the beginning of decay. They knew, they had experimented with dead things long enough. But if one considered that the animal was rotting here for over a year the stench was surprisingly bearable. And then they saw the beast and stopped in their tracks.

It was huge. Like similar in length to the Hogwarts express only twice as big and less gleaming red. The green tinged light in the Chamber only added a sense of foreboding when combined with the corpse of the king of the serpents, regardless of the fact that it no longer had eyes and was unmoving. A little bit of comedy was added when they noticed the trunks and tables set up around said corpse and the ladder that held two house elves in lab coats.

"Hey Winky, Dobby. Is there something to be aware of before I drain the poison sacks?" He had added Winky, the elf, to his family several hours after Dobby, fully aware that she was the only one capable of recognising who the imposter was and the most likely candidate to throw a wrench in his plans. He might have come back, but he could not rely on his knowledge of the future. Not with his brand of luck thrown into the mix.

"Master needs to put on gloves, googles and a coat. Wes put the needles and vials there!", the little female elf replied and returned to her work cutting the skin off the snake as Dobby removed the decayed parts. "This is the Basilisk?"

Fred felt faint and grateful that George had still some words in him. The shed skin had not prepared them for this.

Their adopted little brother turned back to them, smiling bashfully. "This is Salazar's Basilisk. And I thought I needed it`s aid in this little discussion. Because, you see, I love and respect you but cannot wonder at why you think that doing little to no schoolwork and failing most of your classes will help you open up a successful business later in life. So, instead of telling you how much you disappoint your mother. I thought I`d tell you that, if you stop terrifying eleven-year-olds and instead focus on really good school wide or house wide pranks while getting your grades up to where I know they could be, I`d let you keep some of these parts and whatever you find inside the chamber. I am even willing to throw in an adoption into the House of Potter and a starting fund for said business as well as the opportunity to earn a bit more money on the side. And since I might not survive the tournament, I thought it best to do this little chat before the first task." He was getting somewhere but since the Twins were not only uncharacteristically silent but also solemn, he was not which of his words had struck a chord, or which of them hadn`t. To be honest, even as seventeen-year-old in a fourteen-year-old body his social awareness wasn`t up to scratch, but he would spend this last Chance working on it.

What he didn`t expect was to be engulfed in a three-way hug and feel hot tears on either of his shoulders. He had honestly expected a fight, some swear words, some added coping mechanism and an hour of pouting while casting explosive spells on the various statues and walls of the Chamber. Hugging them back gently he waited it out and hoped that his approach would allow the two to heal. Because Fred and George Weasley could be so much more than the inventors of Peruvian Darkness Powder, Shield Hats, and a pair of Twins, never identified as either or the other by family even after one of them died. Molly literally had to guess who of the two were left standing. Fred, which was who had survived even though his lack of reaction to "George?" had made everyone assume this was the twin who was left, had never spoken another word as far as Harry knew, and since this had played out shortly before he went to confront Voldemort again, he could only guess at the life the young man who had lost literally the only person he trusted and loved on earth that day.

"Blood adoption into the Potter family?"

"Who would brew the potion?"

"You would, George. I am really pants at potions"

That got them laughing and he got hugged tighter. This time it was like two people clinging to their lifeline.

It took another twenty minutes before the hugging ended and the twins moved away to start blasting the walls. No one commented on the fact that this was more physical affection than either of the trio had ever been used to. As the Twins began to deconstruct the Chamber Harry slipped into the protective gear, picked up a huge needle and with the help of a point me spell inserted it into the poison sack of the Basilisk. Snakes, as far as he knew, had two of them, and since they were soft matter, the flesh would probably decay within the next few months leaving the poison free to speed the disintegration of the dead creature along. That and the fact that he had no intention of relying on Severus Snape and Ron Weasley to get his hands on Godric's Gryffindors Basilisk venom imbued sword. He was already going to jump in a deep, dank, cold lake in February this year and did not care to repeat the performance in two years from now. And going up to the headmasters office and explain why he needed the sword now when he should neither know of Horuxes nor about the prophecy seemed like a bad idea. He was working as carefully and fast as he could, fearing that the flesh gave way before he had collected the poison and also aware that there were two of those sacks to empty. It got a tiny bit harder when the Twins redoubled their effort after realizing that the statue could get opened. It was a good thing that they never thought to ask him for a hissed password, mainly because he was fairly certain that he could not hiss "Open in the name of Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four" even remotely convincingly.

That was why, when he heard the mechanism work after the Twins had basically removed the foundation, he stopped his work and ran toward them when he heard hissing. "Close your eyes! do not move!" It was a testament to how much the duo trusted him that they obeyed as two miniature basilisks descended down the tongue of Slytherin hissing for food and their mummy. "Fuck.", muttering he moved in between the snakes and the Twins, trusting that basilisk worked similar to ducks and that the little ones impregnated on the first thing to move within their eyesight instead of just attack mindlessly. Hoping really hard that he wasn`t going to get bitten, since even baby basilisks were bound to be poisonous, he conjured four middle sized rabbits and hissed "here". It wasn`t parseltounge, but it gained their attention. As the basilisk devoured the rabbits Harry moved back into the Twins. "Either of you good at conjuring sturdy glass terrains?" Transfiguration really never had been his forte. Fred put one arm around him as George raised his wand and began chanting in rapid succession. The animals were already upon their second rabbit when they were encased in a terrarium with stones and airholes and even a small water supply. Then Fred moved and cast the charms necessary to make the entire thing light weight, unbreakable and put a blanket over it as to ensure that no one got stunned or killed by meeting the baby snakes' eyes.

"Can I assume that you couldn`t just talk to them?"

Harry looked at them with a bashful, lopsided grin and shrugged causing the Twins to exchange a glance as the raven-haired teen scratched his neck. "I might have lost that bit of Voldemort that allowed me to speak snake?"

"That is a good thing, right?"

"Oh, very good. Not really in unexpected poisonous snake encounters but it went really well all things considered."

"You mean since you understood them and knew to sprint towards us?"

"Well, I couldn`t have TOLD them to stop and pay attention so I had to get you two to move or they might have targeted you. Theory, of course but since I only ever dealt with their big version I wasn`t going to take chances with the miniatures. On the plus side we now have two live basilisks?!"

The Twins exchanged another glance and then looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

All three looked at the covered glass terrarium where no hissing was happening.

"Are you suggesting we now have basilisk baby`s to experiment on?"

"Well, since I was going to sell the meat to the goblins having future bribe... eh foodstuffs on hand plus the shed skins and the venom milking that can be done would actually ensure that we won`t need to spend any money on that joke shop of yours. You just sell the products of your test subjects."

"And where would we keep them?"

"The Room of Requirement?"

Another long blink was directed at him, and he grinned impishly. "Let`s just say there is a less ghastly place in this castle and move on?"

The Twins exchanged another glance and then looked at him in a manner that made him feel a little bit exposed and proud that they actually could catch onto the seriousness of the situation. And wasn`t that a thought that he actually had the infernal man who would have joked about that word choice alive again?

"Are there any other secrets you might want to share,"

"Bother, ours?"

"Lots. Just not right now and most of it not ever?"

The Twins merely hugged him, shrugged, and went to inspect the room behind the now unhinged mouth of Salazar Slytherin by turning the tongue into steps and climbing them. Conjuring another set of rabbits into the terrarium Harry returned to the venom collecting part of his job until he was sure that he had it all.

Over an hour passed in silence as Harry labelled the unbreakable and statis enchanted phials with "basilisk venom" in neat hand that was entirely caused by a copy spell. He really needed to work on his penmanship but for the labels he had just learned a book font spell and then a copy spell that made writing on the thin strips of parchment so much easier. The Twins emerged when he was halfway done, both looking like they had rolled in cobwebs and dust bunnies while carrying a huge oaken table between them that was loaded with four shrunken chests and what appeared to be a card box full of shrunken books.

"Can you bring it into the Come and Go Room, Dobby?"

His little friend happily discarded his lab coat and googles and snapped his fingers, causing the Twins load to vanish and both of them to land on the floor in a heap due to the sudden loss of weight. He tried but seeing them sprawled on the floor caused him to nearly drop one of the phials in an attempt to not laugh. And he still ended up laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. The Twins, who had heard him laugh that hard only after they had rescued him and ripped bars from his window watched for some time as they untangled themselves. And then the war was on.

Winky tutted at them with a small smile as she removed all the potentially lethal things from their reach and the path of stray spells as the Terror Twins hunted her master through the entire Chamber. By the fifth go around Fred`s hair was a mixture of slimy green and sun yellow, his face was partially hidden by what looked like a clown's mask and his second-hand robe and uniform had been transformed into a summer dress with peacock feathers. George was wearing a leather coat over what appeared to be a swimsuit in neon pink and had lost most of his hair while Harry was sporting antlers, had one clump foot, and was wearing a frilly abomination in puke green and pig pinks with randomized silver hearts. That the colours didn`t stick to one side of the outfit or that the silver hearts had never been cast was left unspoken as the trio started round nine.

By the time they collapsed atop each other neither of them could be positively identified as human beings and since their eyes were either turned a different colour or hidden behind a pirate patch and blindfold respectively even this way of identification was gone. They were laughing and braying about it all when a tiny little house elf, arms stemmed in her hips cleared her throat above them. "Master Harry and his Wheezes need to go to bed. Winky will remove what she cans but she suggests Master and his Wheezes don`t be doing something childish for the next 24 hours."

Looking abashed and murmuring their current version of "Yes, Winky" appeased her enough to remove all the spells she could, but some things simply were beyond her ability. "Go to bed!", she said as the trio helped each other up and cast cleaning charms, sniggering at their respective looks. "Yes, Ma`am!" they saluted and trudged off. That George`s hair was white and his eyes glowing green, Fred`s clothes stuck as neon orange tuxedo and Harry's skin violet was probably their own fault. At least it had been fun.