Disclaimer: I do not own or make money of Harry Potter or and associated characters, I do however lose money…Never bet against a hippogriff no matter what the odds.
Author's Note: I apologize for my inability to spell or my lack of proper grammar. If I had someone to Beta…if anyone is interested let me know. Thanks for the reviews, and I hope I can answer any questions.
Emanuel: I do believe Harry would have been that angry, if we take into account his actions at the end of OotP, I don't think he really meant to actually say the killing curse…or try to, as the case may be. It is something that will always bug him, he is very critical of himself. Time travel is complicated, but Harry doesn't believe in saying it hasn't happened, it has. The person doesn't know they did it or will do it, but it has happened and he is unforgiving. "safe"…"save"…thanks!
Chapter 4:
Harry awoke startled his heart was racing and he was having problems with getting the nightmare out of his head. His head pounded and he tried to focus on anything besides his two best friends accusing him of ruining their life, and wishing they had never met him. Shaking his head he sat up and noticed that it was later than he expected, the two windows by the only door didn't offer much light, but it did however show that it was late morning. He looked at the bed and saw that at some point during the night Ron had managed to flip himself right and cuddle Hermione.
Grinning Harry surveyed the rest of the room spotting Lupin sitting up and brooding in front of the fire. Achingly Harry managed to stand up and stretch his legs and arms. If he was here for a while he would have to transfigure himself a bed. "Lupin?"
The haggard man turned to the young boy and offered him a small smile. "How'd you sleep?"
Harry shrugged and sat down beside him. "Fine, are you ok?"
"Of course, I was just going over the various protection spells I would need to place on the shack. I'm not as powerful as Dumbledore, but I can still do a few things. Still I want to limit the amount of magic I use here, no need to draw attention to ourselves."
Harry nodded; he wasn't worried too much about it. Hermione, Ron, and he could perform the spells without worry, and besides he did not intend for them to stay but maybe a few days. There was Horcrux to chase down amongst other things.
"Well Harry stand up so I can get a good look at James and Lilly's boy." Remus grinned and took in the boy in front of him. His raven hair was as messy an untamable as James, but his emerald eyes were all Lily. "You have your mother's eyes you know."
Harry grinned, everyone who knew him told him that, but he never got tired of it. He knew much more about his father, and everyone always said how alike they where, so he enjoyed having at least this connection to his mum. "I know."
Lupin continued to study the small child, thinking he looked much smaller than most eleven year olds. He looked at his forehead and noted the famous lighting bolt scar, which Harry rubbed in embarrassment. Remus than noticed the Slytherin robes the boy was still wearing, and frowned despite himself. Despite the trio's reason for Harry being put in that house, Lupin found it hard to believe that the sorting hat would let Harry choose his house, and he also couldn't help but to take into account the few dark spells he knew the trio had used. It was something he intended to discuss with Dumbledore when he got an opportunity. Harry had noticed Lupin's discomfort and slipped out of the Slytherin robes. "If it makes you feel better, I was a Gryffindor my first time around." He tried to smile sheepishly at his parent's old friend.
Remus offered him a slight smile. "Just be glad James isn't here he never like Slytherin's! You mum was always fine with the other houses, but James and Sirius had distaste for that particular house."
"I know." Harry's head fell in shame. He didn't know if it mattered where ever his parents are now, but he liked to think they knew he was truly a Gryffindor.
Placing his hand on the boy's shoulder reassuringly, Remus looked at the boy's crestfallen face. "I'm sure he's proud of you regardless Harry, they both are." The dark haired boy nodded, and Remus sighed, he was never really good with kids. He was to straight forward for his own good sometimes, and he often felled to always see someone as a kid and not an adult. Still the three people with him are all adults despite them having the appearance of mere children.
Ron and Hermione had awoken toward the end of the conversation and were pretending they had not been holding each other all night. Ron slipped out of bed yawning loudly, followed by Hermione who managed to look somewhat embarrassed at listening in to the private conversation.
"So what's for breakfast?"
Laughing at the two, Remus stood up and looked through a chest in the corner of the room. "I charmed my self a small ice cooler, but I still don't have much. Let's see…I have some cheese and some rolls…hmm…I'm afraid that's all I have." He frowned at the lack of nutrition for the children, but he really couldn't help it. He had no money and could not keep a job considering his little problem with the moon. Occasionally he performed odd jobs for some of his closer friends and distance relatives for a few sickles here and there, but had not had much in ways of money for awhile. "You'll have to eat on the floor, I don't really have a table, but there are a few glasses over on that shelf and plenty of water to drink."
They smiled at the Lupin's efforts; none of them intended to show him how disappointed they were at the lack of a proper breakfast. Harry made a note to himself to get an opportunity to talk to Hermione and Ron alone so they could find a way for him to sneak of to Gringotts Wizarding Bank sometime today. He had to get there before the Aurors figured out he was the one who traveled through time, otherwise he would be unable to touch the money. That money was crucial for there plan at finding the Horcrux and he also intended on paying Lupin back for all his help.
Hermione cast a warming spell on the rolls and passed out the cheese. She bit her tongue at going on a tirade about the Ministry and their ill treatment of half-breeds among other things. In the past she wouldn't have been able to not make a few comments about the prejudice of the Wizarding world, but she was older now and did not want to embarrass her host.
Although Ron was disappointed in the lack of food, he was just happy to eat. His stomach was rumbling and he missed the large feast at Hogwarts as well as his mum's home cooking. His rumbling stomach however didn't care what he ate as long as it was soon. Eagerly he tucked into the food, grinning sheepishly at the others and their expressions.
After they finished their meager breakfast, Lupin went over the various charms and spells they would need to properly protect the shack. "I'll begin the process of setting up some anti-aspiration wards as well as an anti-portkey, but it will take some time and some powerful magic. I'll have to take it slow; I'm not as powerful as Dumbledore."
Hermione started to say she could help when Harry shot her a look so she promptly shut her mouth.
"While you work on that, we'll try to transfigure a table and another bed." Harry gave his two best friends a wink and crossed the room with them, leaving Lupin to make his way outside to set up a perimeter himself.
"Harry we could have helped him." Hermione stated. "The full moon is in a couple days and you can see his energy is already low."
"I know Hermione, but we have other things to tend to." Harry crossed his arms and stared at his two friends. Hermione finally sat down on the bed and waited for Harry to tell them what was so important. "I need to get to Gringotts today, once they figure out we are who came back through time, my vault will be untouchable."
"They may already know Harry, you can't risk it." She stated matter-of-factly.
"Don't think I don't know that, but we will never be able to survive without my money from the vault. We need to have enough for the search for horcrux and obviously we need food."
At this Ron decided to join in the conversation. "Harry's right Hermione, you can't expect us to live off of old cheese and rolls. Besides I doubt the Aurors have even figured out we are involved yet and even in the wizarding world it takes time to put hold on vaults."
Hermione and Harry blinked at Ron's reasoning, when had the youngest Weasley boy been the voice of reason.
"Er…right…so I need you two to distract Lupin so I can sneak off."
"How are you going to get to Gringotts? I'm sure Lupin has the anti-apperate ward up already and you don't have a license yet." Hermione pointed out.
Harry smirked and pointed to his trunk. "Believe it or not, but Malfoy and his father are useful for something, after Lucius found out that Draco befriended me he sent us two Nimbus 2000 in order to get me on his side. I haven't unshrunk it yet it's still in my trunk."
"Bloody hell Harry, how do you always manage to get such brilliant gifts?" Ron stated as he began rifling through Harry's trunk. Spotting the miniature looking broom, he pulled it out and enlarged it. 'I think it will work, but how far are we away from Diagon Alley anyhow?"
Hermione chewed on her bottom lip as she recalled the coordinates from last night. "Not bad, maybe forty miles, Harry could get there and back in about a half hour, he could wear the invisibility cloak until he got there and I can put glamour on him. The goblins at Gringotts will see right through it but most wizards won't think twice about it, the only problem is his size, you can't exactly appear older." She had come around on the excursion; she needed a few things herself from Diagon Alley, some books on Animagus and a few potion ingredients among other things. Harry could pick it up while he is there. All three of them had began working on their Animagus form in the last year, but never managed to perfected it, so they needed to start again and the book had valuable information in it. "Hold still Harry." Performing a strong glamour charm, Hermione pointed her wand at Harry's face. "The scars still there, but it's not so much a lightening bolt, more of a line so it will work. While you're there I need you to pick up a few items, some books and potions." Scribbling on a spare piece of parchment out of Harry's trunk, Hermione made her list out.
Harry grinned, expect Hermione to want books. He should have mentioned Flourish & Botts Bookstore first, would have saved him some time.
"Don't forget food." Ron pointed out. "Maybe a case of Pumpkin Juice or Butterbeer as well." He added thoughtfully. Harry and Hermione laughed and finished preparing for the trip.
"I'll tell Professor Lupin that you have a headache and are sleeping in the bed. That's easy enough too accomplished with a charmed robe. The two of you are not close in the past so I doubt he'll bother you to try to comfort you." Hermione pointed to Harry's school robe and charmed it to take on a form of a person, she than positioned in the bed tuning the opening of the hood toward the wall. "You should slip on the cloak now and go; Professor Lupin will be coming back in soon."
"Thanks guys, I'll be back as soon as possible." He pulled the cloak over himself and the broom, and flew throw the door Ron was holding open. The wind caressed his face despite the cloak and he felt the freedom the flying brought. Following the directions Hermione made he turned his broom west and took of toward London and the Leaky Cauldron. The Nimbus wasn't as fast as his Firebolt, but it still moved much faster than and Muggle car would when it comes to traffic. Harry resisted the urge to play a bit with the broom, not wanting to have the cloak fall off. His mind drifted over the last week, nothing appeared to be going according to plan, but at least Sirius had an opportunity for freedom. If nothing else changed, clearing his godfathers name would make it all worth it.
Noticing an owl flying beside him, Harry looked it over. It was obviously carrying a letter and must be capable of seeing through the invisibility cloak. Pulling his broom up he hovered, and the bird promptly landed on the broom and held out its leg. The eagle owl was obviously Draco's, its black feathers shining against the sun. Thinking that if anyone was to look up and see a perched owl on nothing it would look suspicious he took the quickly took the letter and tucked it in his robe. The owl nipped at him and waited for a treat. Searching through his robes he managed to find some of Hedwig's owl treats. The eagle owl took them eagerly than took off, much to Harry's relieve.
Resisting the urge to read to letter, Harry took off on his broom again spotting London in the distance. Lowering his broom he flew closer to the ground wanting to fly through the buildings easier. It wasn't long before he spotted The Leaky Cauldron and landed in an alleyway and dismounted. Shrinking the broom and tucking it in his pocket, he pulled the invisibility cloak back over him and waited for someone to open the door so he could sneak in.
It wasn't long before a smarmy looking wizard stepped out, allowing Harry to slip in. Harry made his way through the back avoiding the various people, and into Diagon Alley. Moving through people was much harder in the bigger crowds of the busy streets. Still Harry had a lot of experience with the invisibility cloak and safely made it to Gringotts. Stealing behind a pillar, Harry removed his cloak and approached the accounts goblin.
"I need to retrieve some money from my vault."
"Do you have a key?" The uninterested Goblin looked over at the small boy.
Harry handed the troll the key and waited for another to retrieve him. Inevitably he made it to his vault, and looked over the piles of sickles, knuts, and galleons. Hermione had told him a rough estimate of the amount he would need to remove as well as how much he should convert to pounds. The trio had estimated that it could take up to two years to retrieve and destroy all of the horcrux, and considering that this may be the last opportunity to come into his vault, he wasn't sure how he could keep that many galleons with him. Wizarding money is much heavier than Muggle money and even if he shrunk it all it would still take up a massive amount of space.
Turning to the Goblin, Harry asked how he could empty the vault and still be able to carry it all. The creature looked at the boy mutely only raising an eyebrow. After a moment the Goblin approached him.
"Are you wishing to close an account?" He pointed his finger at the boy accusingly.
"Er…yes…" Harry stumbled over his words a lump rising in his throat. He didn't really want to draw attention to himself.
"In the cart than."
Harry stared dumbly at the Goblin, who was currently shutting the vault. He hadn't had an opportunity to retrieve any of his money. "But my galleons…I never got any money…"
"I deal with withdrawals not closures. You must talk to the head." The Goblin's mouth sneered annoyed at the waste of time. "In the cart."
"Ok." Harry mentally kicked himself; this was going to take much more time than he had.
Remus Lupin stole another look at the prone form on the bed. Harry had been sleeping for the last three hours without any movement and it was worrying the Marauder to no end. "Hermione?"
The young girl looked up from the chess game she and Ron were playing. Her bushy hair slid in her eyes briefly, which she promptly pushed away. "Yes Professor…I mean Mr. Lupin?"
Rolling his eyes at the "Professor" remark, Lupin took a steadying breath. He didn't know why it irritated him so much at being addressed as a professor, but assumed it had something to do with his inability to have a job, and his child hood dream of teaching at Hogwarts. "Are you sure Harry is okay?" He glanced at the bundle of blankets and robes again. "I don't have any headache remedy here, but if he is truly sick I could travel to town for some Muggle headache remedy."
Ron looked up at the graying man. "You use Muggle remedies?"
"It's much cheaper than our potions, but it is neither as effective nor fast." Lupin stated standing up. "I'm going to town and get some, as well as some food for dinner. Can I trust that you lot will be here when I return?"
"Yes sir." Hermione couldn't believe their luck, with Professor Lupin gone Harry could sneak in much easier, although she had already expected his return she wasn't worried. The brightest witch of her age was bright enough to know that Gringotts would take a while and that once Harry retrieved all the items it would be much slower coming back. She suppressed a grin at Ron's consistent glancing at the only door. He really did wear his heart on his sleeve and was worried about their other friend.
"Bloody hell Harry! Where is he?" Ron threw his arms up in frustration knocking over the chess board and causing many pieces to curse at him. "Er…sorry guys." He picked up the set and tucked it back in his trunk. "Hermione he should be back by now. What if the Aurors caught him?" He slumped onto the hard couch.
"I'm to fast for them." Harry suddenly appeared behind them with his broom.
"Harry!" Hermione hugged her friend furiously, she was much more worried than she had reasoned and relief washed over.
"Good to see you mate." Ron grinned at the-boy-who-lived.
"Oof…let go Mine…I can't breath." He sheepishly removed the arms from around his neck.
"How did you get in, I've been watching the door like a hawk." Ron stated.
Hermione scoffed at him. "Yeah he was being very inconspicuous; I kept expecting Professor Lupin to figure it out. I had to distract Ron with chess, but even that didn't work."
"Well you weren't much of a challenge and I was bored." He returned.
Jutting out her bottom lip in anger, Hermione resisted the urge to punch Ron like she did Malfoy in third year. She didn't like her keen mind being questioned. "Did you ever think I was letting you win?"
"Not for a moment." Ron crossed his arms his anger rising.
Harry Potter stepped in between his two friends; once again he was needed to mediate. "Forget about chess, we don't have long until Lupin returns and I need to show you what I got." Reaching into his robes he pulled out a few items which he quickly enlarged.
Before the trio were three large trunks and various packages as well as two new Nimbus 2000 brooms. Ron eyes grew wide and he grabbed the new broom stroking it lovingly. Harry grinned at his friend, he would never had been able to purchase the broom for Ron before, but considering that it was necessary for the Horcrux it all worked out.
"All three chests have your money?" Hermione opened one and looked at the massive amounts of shrunken trunks inside. "Harry how much money did you retrieve?" Her eyes were wide, she always known that her friend was rich, but she never imagined he had that much money.
"All of it. Also some heirlooms and a bit of Muggle money in the third chest; I closed my accounts." Harry grinned sheepishly.
"I thought you just had the one account." Ron stated just now noticing how much money was in the trunks before him.
"I thought so too, but when I went to retrieve my money I thought it might be smart to close my account, than the Aurors could never stop me from getting it. What I didn't know was that since I was heir to the Potter fortune I was entitled to all of my family vaults." Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Actually I didn't know there was more than my vault left."
"Harry you look eleven, surely you would need to either be of age or have an adult wizard with you to get to those vaults." Hermione's head was spinning. This just didn't make sense; there was no way Gringotts would let a child leave with all that money.
"I am of age Hermione." Harry pointed out.
"You look eleven Harry and…" Hermione suddenly remembered Professor Binss' class and his constant droning on the Goblin war. "Er…they could see your soul so they knew you were seventeen." She grinned apologetically at her friend.
Harry smirked; of course Hermione would know this. He hadn't known that the head Goblin could see a person's soul, so it shocked him when he was given the various keys to the Potter fortune, almost as much as the size of the fortune. His family must be as wealthy as the Malfoys if not more so. Gringotts had asked him to reconsider removing the vast fortune, but he insisted so they shrunk down roughly one billion pounds worth of muggle money if converted. It didn't take him long to retrieve the other items they needed, including food and the brooms. With all his items shrunk and placed in his robe he had no problem finding his way back. "We can go through all of this later, I'm going to shrink it and put it in my trunk. A few concealment charms and a strong locking charm should protect it for now. As far as the food is concerned we can't exactly show up with food, Lupin would be suspicious, so I purchased some non perishables which we will be able to use later."
The other two nodded, eager to know about everything, but not wanting to give away anything to Lupin or Dumbledore about the trio's plan, the item were stored away in Harry's trunk.
"Better get into bed Harry, Lupin will be back any moment." The bushy know-it-all stated.
Harry sighed; crawling into the rickety bed he wrapped himself in the cloak and faced the wall. He didn't feel it would be too difficult to play off the headache, he certainly have had enough of him in his life. Closing his eyes he let the day's events wash over him. He had never had so many things go right for him at once before, it almost made him feel that he would be able to accomplish the mission of destroying the horcruxes. Almost, but not quite, he still had a bad feeling the started as a heavy lump in his stomach and would occasionally climb into his throat making it difficult for him to swallow. He had finally accepted his fate and the possibility that he may not survive the ultimate fight against Voldemort, even if Hermione pointed at that he would win, because it seemed unlikely there would be a prophecy on another wizard the Dark Lord killed, considering how many he has murdered thus far. Another death at his hands is hardly worth mentioning, so Harry would win. She had stated it so naturally that Harry's heart had swelled with hope for a brief moment, before he allowed doubt to creep in and take up residence. Still it was something he had accepted and he rarely let it bother him. Now his fear rested on his two best friends.
Harry Potter would never forgive himself if he lost either of his friends; the other wizard and the witch were his family. He didn't see them as siblings they were much more than that, he wasn't sure what category they resided in, having no true experience in the matter, all he really knew was that without hesitation he would lay his life down for them. Harry knew that both Ron and Hermione would do the same for him and that is what frightened him. The very idea of losing Ron and Hermione brought him anguish that he had not ever felt before. His being had ached with remorse and regret with the loss of his godfather Sirius, and Dumbledore's death had caused an empty spot in him that he didn't think was ever going to be filled, but just thinking of Ron and Hermione dying would cause his very soul to be in anguish and his heart to stop beating all together.
It was not something that he focused on often, the pain of it making it difficult for him to breath. The boy-who-lived tried to suppress the emotion that pulled the thought forward in his subconscious. It had accomplished in giving him the headache he was supposed to be faking. He also became conscious of just how tired he was and how much his body was aching from the long time he had spent on the broom today. Blocking out Ron and Hermione, who had started an interesting game of exploding snap, which he thought was rude considering his headache, although they were not aware that he had one, he shifted deeper into Lupin's ragged and coarse quilt and drifted off to sleep.
