Dislaimer
I don't own the Harry Potter franchise or things would have been a lot different and wouldn't be writing FanFic.
Back To The Beginning With You.
Chapter 3 – Explanations and back to the past
"So now you know of your deaths any Questions?" Barnibus asked.
Harry and Astoria both sat and thought for a moment. Astoria looks to Harry and says "You first."
"I have 3 Questions and one statement...Are you Grim Reapers?" He asked his first and gets two nods.
"Do we get a do-over from our last death?" He asked his second.
"The answer is Yes and No, but wait until Astoria has her questions answered." Gabriella replies.
"Ok I don't need a third question but, I might as well ask...What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?" He asks with a smirk.
Barnibus smirks back and says "Forty-two."
Harry then throws back is head laughing. Gabriella tinkles her laugh and Barnibus chuckles heartily. Astoria looks at them all like they are crazy.
Harry then turns to her and says "Don't worry, it's a muggle pop-culture joke. they got my Kansas joke earlier and I was just trying to lighten the mood. Your turn for a question." He then reaches over and squeezes her hand in a friendly manner. Astoria gets a warm feeling in her chest and smiles. Looking at Harry she can see he has felt the same. Embrazened by this she realises there is a obvious question there.
"Whilest I'm sort of glad Harry is here with me, I have two questions. Why are we having our meeting together?" she asks.
"Well, there are two reasons for this, you are both going to be sent back in time to a point further than your original births, this will give you ample time and to 'fly under the radar' so to speak to finish Harry here's mission from Albus Dumbledore. Harry will brief you on this later on. Secondly, and please stay calm. You both are infact soul mates. When and where we send you back will actually guarantee you end up together." said Barnabas.
"Wow" said Harry and Astoria at the same time, then looked to each other and laughed.
Harry then turned to Astoria and said "To be honest, I don't know what it was but when I saw Daphne in queue for the sorting in first year, something clicked but was also missing. I obviously missed your sorting so didn't see you and as we are in different years, we seem to have not crossed paths before."
"I will be honest with you too Harry, I felt something when I first saw you but put it down to a crush maybe, but through the years it seemed to get stronger. I never approached you due to the fact even if we started something, my family would have either extorted you for my hand or would have ended the relationship for us." Astoria replied sadly.
Gabriella then interrupted them, " Well, no need to worry about that now." She then turned to Barnabas and asked "Shall we brief them on when they are going back and who they will be?"
Barnabas seemed to think for a little while then said "Not yet, we need to go over what abilities they will have when they get there first." then turned to Harry and Astoria. "You will retain you metamorphic powers as they are family traits from the Black family. Harry yours in you previous life manifested from your Great (5 times over) Grandmother Cordelia Black. Astoria, you get your powers from your Great (7 times over) Grandmother Lyra Black. Each married into your lines and had lay dormant until you. Also, due to you rare blood Harry from the Basilisk Venom and Phoenix Tears, we will carry this over to you in your new life. Don't worry about the how's and why's, it just will. Now with this blood we will be able to work out a Animagus like transformation for the pair of you that will be exact for the both of you. All you will need is a vial of blood of the animal you wish to change into. This can also work for Magical Beasts too. I would advise either a Phoenix or Nemean Lion as these Beast are either self replicating from their burning day or invulnerable from physical and most magical attack. This will give you protection in your form. You will also be given the knowledge of how to become an Animagus so you can register your forms and be incognito when using your other form. You will also both be master Occlumens as you will need to keep the knowledge of you past live secret as we are sending you back with your memories."
Astoria looked go smacked and Harry had mouth wide open as if his jaw had disengaged. "How does my blood a vial of blood from an animal make us sort of Animagi?" Harry asked, having looked into this before and never heard of this.
"What you need to do," Said Gabriella, "is inject approximately 10floz of the animals blood into yourself. then you wait about a month and the first change will be instinctive you will also feel it coming so you will have about 10-15 minutes to get to a safe place out of view. Then when Astoria wishes to use this method, you will need to drain approx 50floz and transfuse it in a drip. Astoria, do not worry, Harry has knowledge of this equipment. this probably best done before puberty starts as then your animal will grow with you."
Harry nodded about the knowledge of medical equipment needed for this. "I can transfigure this stuff, we'll do it first week of school for you 'Tori." Harry said. "I'll do it as soon as I can get my hands on the blood we decide on. How will we be together when we go back?"
Barnabas smiled, "You will be going back to the year Astoria's Father was born. He was also a twin but his older sister was stillborn. Astoria, this will be your new identity. Your parents (Grandparents at the moment) will be given a mental nudge to name you Astoria. Harry, you will be born to your Father's uncle Charlus Potter and his Wife Dorea Potter neé Black. Charlus was the older of himself and Fleamont, your current Grandfather so you will be infact Heir of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter. Their child of the same age as Astoria's Father was miscarried in Dorea's 3rd month and left her unfortunately barren so Charlus had to name James as his Heir. Now as to being together, these 2 children where infact bound to be married in a Marriage Contract as both sets of parents where in the same faction in the wizengamot. The neutral faction. The death of his unborn son and his wife's loss of ability to produce an heir, he passed on his seat to his brother (who then aligned with the light faction) and they packed up and became medical aid workers. they died of dragon pox 3 years later. Now this will not happen as you are going back and stopping this. As you will be contracted to marry, you will be raised together as first friends, then you would be pushed to be more romantic together. Now the year you go to Hogwarts will be the same year Thomas Riddle applies for the Defence Against The Dark Arts job and was declined. He then threw a strop and unveiled himself as a Dark Lord."
"Now do you have any further questions?" Gabriella asked.
Harry and Astoria where shocked, this was madness but would be fun until Hogwarts. Harry was also thinking he would grow up with proper parents and be taught about his family and the magical world from a very young age.
"Just one, will we remember our lives from the beginning?" asked Astoria.
"No, you will be the same soul and have the same mannerisms so nobody will be confused as there will be no change of personality. You will remember from your first kiss, this will happen at age 9 when Harry is talked into playing wedding with you and your current father Cyrus. He will be best man and Harry is the Groom. Harry, a side job for you is to continue your friendship with Cyrus when you get your memories and that friendship will keep him from becoming as he was." Barnabas said.
"Now to send you back we have set it up so that the trigger is also the same as the action for remembering your previous lives. We will now leave you to discuss a few things. However you need to kiss before the hours is up." Gabriella said then produced a hourglass and was about to turn it when Harry asked. "Sorry, I forgot, will I still be a Parcelmouth? Can you extend the power to Astoria so we can talk privately with no one able understand us?"
Barnabas looked slightly embarrassed, "I knew I missed something, yes we can do this for you."
"Ok, now the time starts now. Kiss before the hour is up and you will be sent to the time we have told you about." Gabriella then placed the hourglass on the table. Barnabas and Gabriella then picked up their scythes and exited through the door behind their desk.
Harry and Astoria looked at eachother and blushed. Harry then rubs the back of his neck with his left hand and says, "Well, I guess we are in this together. I know we don't know eachother very well but we will eventually, this is the beginning of our journey and we will just have to learn on the go."
Astoria chuckled and said "Harry, do you know what happens when soulmates kiss?"
Harry shrugs not having a clue, this isn't something he had looked up.
"Harry, when soulmates kiss, they not only connect on a spiritual level but also see all of the others' memories. People believe this is to make them more compatible to start their lives together. They are also, in a way, married by magic but not on paper. I have to ask, do we keep this a secret or do we ratify it with the ministry?" Astoria explained.
Harry thought about it then said "If we can talk Cyrus into it, keep it a secret until 3rd year. People would wonder why we had kissed before then. If not, we just come clean."
"I can see your thinking behind that, keep it secret, keep it safe, so to speak. Well, the only other thing we need to discuss is the animal we will used for the blood ritual for to turn into. I like the idea of a Nemean Lion as I was nearly a Griffindor too. I chickened out to be honest, my family would not have been happy, I ended up in Ravenclaw. What do you think?" Astoria said, becoming more emboldened the more she spoke.
"Nemean Lion it is, I know the process to become an Animagus and have actually started, I will become a Eagle but when I see it in my mindscape it is always during a storm." Harry admitted.
"I started too while at I was bored at home this year. I saw in my mindscape that I will become a Hawk. So we will have a flying and a ground form if we go with Nemean Lion." Admitted Astoria.
"How do I get hold of the blood of one though?" Harry asked.
"Harry, Dorea Potter is the inventor of 3 very well known potions, the sleekeasy potion which is a product for sale and probably brings in a lot of money for the Potters, she invented a Spattergroit cure which heals it in 4 Months and helped Belby develop the wolfsbane potion in its early stages before her death. Belby credited her in his thesis for the potion when he submitted it for review. the sleekeasy potion contains 1ml of Nemean Lion Blood, I am sure she keeps a stock of it." Astoria informed him.
"Right, the day after we get back, I will try to get hold of some. At the moment I can do a little Wandless magic, I will see if I can, if not I'll have to find another way but I think we had best do it as soon as possible. Are there any other perks we'll get from our bonding?" Harry told her, then asked.
"Some have reported telepathy and empathy with their bonded but it differs to the pair. They also have been either constant or stoppable too, it is all in a book called 'A Magical Bond', we have a copy in our library." Astoria explained.
"And you read this because?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"I was 10 and I hoped I would meet my price charming, I might as well tell you now, you'll know soon anyway." She said looking at the hourglass.
"Tori, come here." Harry said opening his arms for a hug. Astoria flew in and cuddled into him. "Tori, you are safe, your parents won't be the same people as they are. Your sister may be a bitch again but Cyrus may not even marry you mother, who knows. But I do know this, we are in together through thick and thin, through darkness and light, and we will win." Harry said with conviction. Then he looked down to her, raised a hand to place a finger under her chin and made eye contact with her again and said "Now I know it will be strange being children again but shall we get to our destination?" He then lowered his face to hers and tenderly kissed her.
And so Harry and Astoria kissed and they glowed a silver light, and the world changed around them.
"Wow." they heard from behind them and a sudden rush of memories flooded them both. Memories of eachother lives flashed first, then their shared memories of their new childhoods as they continued to kiss.
They broke apart and looked to the speaker to see a blonde haired boy of about 9 stood behind Harry.
Harry said to him "Cyrus, can you keep this secret mate?" and gave him a crooked smile.