Harry Potter and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
Summary: On the journey to find the remaining horcruxes, Harry and Luna are separated from the rest of the group when they come across a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. What happens next no one could have predicted, Harry is thrown into another world. One where his parents aren't dead, one where Sirius and Dumbledore are still alive, one where he wasn't the boy-who-lived.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, places, creatures, spells etc. that you may recognise.
AN: This is my first real fic which isn't centred around a specific ship so I'll see how this goes (: This fic won't contain any Harry/Luna, I hate that ship, sorry. This fic isn't beta-d so if you notice any mistakes please tell me. I'm not really that good at the grammar side of things.
Chapter One - The Journey Begins.
Harry was alone in Ron's room at The Burrow. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a mixture of dusty pinks and burnt oranges. It was really quite pretty, but he didn't have enough time to properly admire the view. He had to finish packing, ready to leave as soon as the moon came up, under the cover of nightfall. It was time. Time for him to start his search for the remaining horcruxes. He had always said that he would return to the Dursley's one last time for the protection that it gave him before going to The Burrow for Bill and Fleur's wedding and he had done that now. He swallowed. He had to go alone. He knew that Ron and Hermione had promised to stay with him until the end, and he knew that they would if he let them but he couldn't do that to them. They had their own lives, they could grow old together if they stayed here where it was safer instead of following him to almost certain death.
There was a knock on the door and before he could hide his nearly packed trunk, Ginny entered.
She stood still in shock for a moment, staring at his trunk, before realisation sunk in. "You're leaving aren't you?"
He nodded. Trying not to look at her because he knew the hurt that he would see, scratched into her facial features.
"You weren't going to tell anyone were you?" she said sadly, "I'd have thought you would have at least told Ron and Hermione. You three have something special, a friendship like no other. You've always managed to sort out your fallings out. Are you just going to leave that all behind?"
"I have to. If I told them I was leaving they'd follow me. You know they would. I can't let them do that, they'll be following me to their death! I can't let anymore people die because of me, especially not my best friends."
"Harry, this is a war, people are going to die and you have to accept that because that's something you can't change. I think they'll be safer with you because I know that you'd rather die than have anyone harm them."
She was right. He'd do anything for Ron and Hermione, and if it came to the choice between him and them he'd happily lay down his life so they could go on. However, this was something he had to do alone. It was between him and Voldemort.
"I have to go alone."
"No." She corrected. "You have to fight You-Know-Who alone, you don't have to find him on your own. Sure you are the only one that can actually defeat him but it's not safe for you to find him alone. Not even you can defeat all the Death Eaters that stand in your way."
"I still haven't changed my mind."
"Fine. I can see I'm not going to talk any sense into you now that you are in one of your moods. Harry this is not a fairy tale, you may be the hero but you can't do it on your own like they do in books."
With that she stormed out of the room, red hair flowing behind her, slamming the door as she exited. He was surprised that she had bothered to come and see him in the first place to be honest. She had spent most of his stay trying to avoid him, which was to be expected in a way as he had recently finished their relationship. At the time she had taken it well but he guessed that it must have sunk in now, and she was feeling hurt. He couldn't understand why. She must have known that it couldn't last, it was wonderful while it did, but he had things he had to do and he'd only be putting her in danger if they stayed together.
At least the bruise had healed on his jaw from where Ron had punched him upon finding out that he had dumped Ginny. He had apologised afterwards, while explaining that it was the duty of the older brother to punch the guy that 'broke his sisters heart', best friend or not. Personally Harry thought that Ron was exaggerating about the whole broken heart thing. They'd never even said they loved each other. Of course Harry loved her, but he realised now that that love was one that a brother had for his little sister, and he thought that she felt the same way.
He looked at his watch in the dimming light. Almost time to go, he just needed to add a few more items to his trunk before he shrunk it and put it in his pocket. He purposely left his wand and invisibility cloak on the bed, he had to carry them for easy access.
When he was ready he crept out of the room, shutting the door behind him quietly before carefully treading down the stairs, making sure not to alert any of the Weasley's of his wanderings. He wondered where Ron was, before chuckling to himself. Ron and Hermione were probably busy somewhere else.
He reached up to open the front door when he was stopped by a loud cough from behind him which soundly strangely like…
"Hermione." He turned round to face his best friend who was standing next to his other best friend, Ron.
"I suppose you weren't going to mention that you were going to disappear in the middle of the night?" she glared, "it's a good thing we suspected you would do something like this so we were prepared." She indicated two trunks behind them.
"I knew you'd come with me if I told you." Harry sighed.
"Of course we would!" Ron spoke up.
"I can't let you do that though, it makes you an even bigger target for Death Eaters -- you'll be killed!"
"We are already big targets anyway. I'm a muggleborn, he wants us all dead and Ron's a Weasley, a blood traitor! You think that by keeping us here you are protecting us? We're not safe anyway, we might as well come with you, I can't bear the thought of leaving you alone on this mission you are on."
"You're not going to take no for an answer are you?" Harry sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
"No, we're not." Ron said.
"Think about it Harry, none of us are much good on our own. We each have different strengths, together we'll be able to find the remaining horcruxes and then you can defeat him for good! Ron's a good strategist, the best chess player I've ever met, I can do lots of research to find a way to destroy the horcruxes -- they could kill you if you don't do it properly and Harry… you are the best at defence. You are a great dueller!"
"And I'm not half bad either." Came a voice from the top of the stairs. "If they are going with you, so am I."
"Like hell you are!" Ron spluttered, "if you think for one moment that I am letting my baby sister put herself in danger you must be really stupid!"
"Oh shut it, Ron," Ginny spat, "I'm just as good as you are, I've thought Death Eaters twice before you know and have you forgotten something that happened in my first year because I certainly haven't!"
"I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Ron, are you thick or something? I spent the year being possessed by a memory of You-Know-Who's younger self. Think about it, I know things about him that you never will. I could help you find these horcruxes because I'm the one that's most likely to know what objects would be significant for him to turn into horcruxes. Oh don't look at me like that, Harry told me about the horcruxes on the train, and I can hear your conversations too. Extendable Ears are a really great invention you know."
Harry coughed. He knew all about the famous Weasley temper and he really didn't need a fight right now, he didn't want to wake the rest of the house up, just when they were so close to leaving.
"Fine, Ginny you can come as long as we get going now."
Harry was met with a furious glare by Ron. Sometimes he was really too protective for his own good, still he supposed that was a good thing as it meant that he didn't have to worry so much about Ginny's safety as he knew Ron would protect her.
"I think we should get Neville and Luna to come along as well." Ginny started to speak again.
"No."
"Come on Harry. Think about it, they'll be really useful and they were at the Ministry too, they are good fighters and they'll stick by you. Neville's great at Herbology too, he'll be useful when it comes to identifying plants. What if you needed to make some complex potion to destroy a horcrux, Hermione will be too busy reading up on the potion she'll need someone to find the plant ingredients and you know you are crap at that. As for Luna, well she sees and knows things that most people don't notice."
"It'll take up too much time, I can't be going across the country looking for two people who probably won't want to come along anyway."
"Actually Luna lives in the village." Ron said. He had a little soft spot for the Ravenclaw -- in a non romantic way. It wouldn't be bad if she came along, sometimes she had a thing for cheering him up, like when he was in the Hospital Wing and missed the Quidditch game -- her commentary made him smile.
"And Neville's staying with her for a week or so. He mentioned something about it in one of his letters." Hermione added.
"You've been writing to Neville?" asked Ron, suspiciously. "Why?"
"As a friend you idiot." Snapped Hermione.
Harry really didn't have time for all this. He opened the door and went through it, they'd follow when they were ready. Ginny followed him leaving Ron and Hermione to their bickering.
"Come on. Luna's house is this way."
Harry was starting to feel rather uncomfortable. Luna was looking at him in that dreamy way which only she could make you feel uncomfortable by and Neville was sat there, staring with wide eyes.
"So let me get this straight. You-Know-Who split his soul into 7 pieces, making 6 horcruxes and you have to find them and destroy them so you can defeat him and save the Wizarding World?"
"That's about right." Harry said, gloomily.
"And you want me to come with you? Me?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to. You'd be so useful to have around, with your knowledge of plants and things."
"I'll come with you. Gran always said that I needed to make my parents proud and to do that I had to get somewhere and do something. She was so proud of me after I went to the Ministry with you at the end of 5th year. Imagine what she'd be like if I went along with you and you defeated You-Know-Who!"
Harry looked at Neville who was obviously excited, even though quite nervous, at the thought of coming along on a mission with the Trio, Ginny and Luna. Harry hadn't told him that it could have so easily been him that had been the chosen one and it was just really a matter of luck that stopped this from happening. Neville didn't need to know that, it would do more harm than good. No one needed this kind of weight on their shoulders, knowing that the fate of the Wizarding World depended on them.
Luna had not said a word since Harry had asked them to come along. She sat there in silence with that faraway look in her eyes, seeming to be thinking her decision through with great care.
"If I came along, would this mean that you were my friends?" she asked.
"Of course." Ron answered.
"Oh," she said with some surprise, "oh, that would be lovely. I've never had real friends before, everyone teases me even though they've stopped hiding my things now. That's why I loved the DA so much."
"We'd better get going soon. It's well past nightfall and we have a lot of ground to cover. Hopefully no one will come after us. This is something that none of the adults can help us with."
"Where are we going first?" Ginny asked.
"Godrics Hollow."
"That's where your parents are buried isn't it?"
Harry stared at Luna. How did she know that? As if she had read his thoughts, she shrugged and added, "daddy tells me lots of things that other people might not necessarily know."
It was nearing two in the morning when the six of them left Luna's house. Her father was away researching some new creature for The Quibbler so they didn't have to worry about waking him up. The moon was shining and the stars were twinkling, giving them some light so that they didn't need to draw their wands to cast lumos. Harry thought of Lupin and hoped he would be okay as full moon was drawing closer and now that Snape had run off back to Voldemort, he had no Wolfsbane potion to help with his transformation. Harry turned around to face the others.
"Who can apparate here?"
Hermione nodded, as did Ron who had recently retaken the test and passed. Ginny and Luna were too young to start learning so obviously they shook their heads along with Neville.
"I never really got the hang of it." He mumbled.
"Right, everyone who can't apparate you can partner up with someone who can. Side-along apparation is more difficult but it's really the same thing. You just need to concentrate hard and hold on tight. Remember the three D's. Hermione you can go with Neville, Ron you can take Luna and I'll take Ginny."
Harry hadn't actually passed his test yet, or even taken it as he had been too young when nearly everyone else in the year had taken theirs in Hogsmeade. He was confident though, he had managed it before. He shut his eyes tightly whilst grabbing Ginny's arm tightly, focus on the three D's and then he felt the uncomfortable feeling of his body being twisted and his eyeballs been pushed in their sockets. Soon it stopped and opened his eyes. He'd made it without splinching either of them and by the looks of things so had the rest. He looked at the sign post by the side of the road and he knew he was here.
Godrics Hollow
AN: Remember I like reviews, good or bad ;)