The Changed Timeline
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! Time travel!
Harry was finally released from the hospital wing on Sunday evening right before curfew. Together with his great grandparents, he had decided to try finishing Voldemort off the same way as he had already done in the future. Concerning the timing, Madam Pomfrey had advised them to wait at least a week, so that there would only be a week left before the beginning of the holidays. Severus had chosen the spying option, mainly because he had already done so in Harry's future, but of course he hoped that Harry would be able to finish the Dark Lord off, before he would have to take the Dark Mark.
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The Marauders made a huge fuss when Harry returned to the dormitory, since they had not been able to see him after the Quidditch game the week before. While he had been in the hospital wing, only Severus and Lily had been allowed to visit him.
"Harry! Did the dragon finally let you go?" Sirius asked, cheerily.
"Thank Merlin," Harry replied in relief. "I don't even want to think about how much I missed and how much I'll have to study to catch up during the next two weeks. We're going to have tests during the last week before the holidays, is that right?" he asked, feeling completely annoyed.
"Yes, Harry, there will be the mid-term tests, but I don't think any teacher will ask you for last week's homework. McGonagall told me that all teachers have instructions from Madam Pomfrey not to make you do anything strenuous before the holidays," Remus explained, calmly, causing Harry to roll his eyes in exasperation.
Shaking his head in annoyance, Harry efficiently changed the topic by enquiring, "By the way, did we actually win the crazy Quidditch match last weekend?"
"Of course we won," James and Sirius shouted simultaneously, grinning broadly at Harry.
"That's good; then it was worth spending a week with the dragon," Harry said, climbing into his bed. "Good night everyone," he mumbled and lay down, letting out a tired yawn.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sirius shouted, and James added, "Don't even think about going to sleep right now."
"Why not?" Harry asked, indignantly. "I'm tired."
"You know, Harry," Remus began to explain, stepping over to Harry's bed, "when we won the Quidditch match, you were in such a bad condition that no one felt like having a party. So, we postponed it to the evening of your return. While we're talking here, the others are already preparing everything, and the party is going to begin as soon as curfew starts, which is in two minutes."
"We're going to have a Quidditch party right now?" Harry looked at his friends in disbelief, trying to look enthusiastic, while his mind screamed, 'Oh no, I just want to get some sleep.'
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On the way down to the common room, Harry noticed that the whole room was decorated and a huge banner covered the wall.
'Gryffindor 350 - Slytherin 70'
He had to try hard to hold back the tears that were welling up in the back of his eyes. 'That's too good to be true,' he thought, feeling incredibly happy.
"Harry," Lily shouted excitedly, pulling him into a bear hug. "I'm so glad to have you back."
Harry smirked, hesitantly hugging his mother back. "Believe me I'm even happier to finally have escaped from the dragon. It's so good to be here again."
Frank Longbottom, Gryffindor seventh year and Head boy, raised his glass. "Dear Gryffindors, welcome to our Quidditch victory party. Thanks to the Marauders and the Hogwarts house-elves, we're having butterbeer and many delicacies tonight. Cheers."
James leaned over to Harry and whispered, "We've tried out your secret passage to Hogsmeade. It works. That's why we're having butterbeer."
Harry could not help chuckling at the information.
The Gryffindors had a lot of fun, and during the next few hours, the party became quite loud. Harry was nearly asleep on a comfortable seat in front of the fireplace when the portrait hole opened and a very annoyed McGonagall entered the common room, asking in a dangerously quiet voice, "What do you think you're doing here? It's two o'clock in the morning."
James and Lily hurried over to the angered professor. "We're sorry, Professor, but we had to celebrate our victory over Slytherin; you surely understand that, don't you?" James said, beaming at the teacher.
"And Professor, we had to postpone our party, because we didn't want to hold it without Harry, and he was only released from the hospital wing tonight. You know that we normally wouldn't do such a thing, but in this case it was necessary," Lily added, giving her head of house a pleading glance.
"Now look, Professor, it's not our fault that the hospital dragon didn't release him earlier but on a Sunday evening just before curfew," Sirius jumped into the conversation.
McGonagall had to try hard not to laugh. Of course, she appreciated her grandchild and great grandson to be happy with their friends, but this was going too far. "All right; this time I'll let it slip, but I don't want to see a party here at two o'clock on a Monday morning ever again. Go to bed immediately, and I tell you now, if only one of you misses so much as breakfast tomorrow morning, you will all be in detention for the rest of the week," she threatened, before she wished everyone a good night and left.
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The following week passed fast and rather uneventfully. Harry had a lot of work to do in order to catch up, knowing that the next week would be the test week. He spent much time in the library studying together with Severus. Sometimes Lily joined them as well, although she seemed to prefer the Gryffindor common room for studying – to James' great pleasure. Fortunately, his great grandparents had cancelled their private lessons with Harry until after Christmas, and since he was neither allowed to continue his Occlumency lessons with Severus nor to play Quidditch for the time being, he had much time to study.
Harry was very careful not to use large amounts of magic at once, not only because his great grandmother reminded him to take it easy whenever she had the chance to talk to him, but also because he knew that he had to save all of his powers for the big strike, if he wanted to have a chance to succeed against Voldemort.
Dumbledore had agreed that Harry should try to attack Voldemort on Sunday morning and had instructed his great grandson to come to the hospital wing straight after breakfast, where Severus, Pomfrey, McGonagall and himself would join Harry in order to help if necessary.
However, as the week passed by, Harry became restless and worried about how to get into Tom's mind. 'Maybe I should try if the connection works at all in this time,' he mused, unable to push that thought from his mind. On Friday evening, he summoned all his courage and tried to put his scar connection into life. 'It seems to work. I'm inside Tom's mind, aren't I?' he wondered, feeling slightly confused. 'Shall I try to attack him right away?' he considered, finding the thought very tempting. However, he dismissed the idea. 'It's too important to do it improperly, and it's too dangerous for me to try it alone here in the dormitory,' he thought and exited Tom's mind before being noticed, quickly drifting off into a restless sleep.
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For Saturday, the last Hogsmeade visit before Christmas was scheduled. Harry had agreed with Lily and Severus to meet after breakfast and go to the town together. After lunch at the Three Broomsticks, they would split up for an hour to buy each other's Christmas presents. However, Harry and the Marauders had just entered the Great Hall for breakfast, already carrying their outdoor robes with them, when McGonagall stepped into their way. "Mr. Pane, Professor Dumbledore wishes to speak to you after breakfast."
"But Professor! I'm going to Hogsmeade with Lily and Severus," he protested, feeling extremely annoyed.
"I'm sorry Harry; I suppose that he doesn't want you to leave the castle today, but I'm not sure. Maybe you can tell your friends that you will meet them for lunch if you're allowed to go," his great grandmother suggested in a small voice, only for Harry to hear.
Very disappointed and upset, he made a beeline for the Slytherin table and explained to Severus what his great grandmother had told him. "Severus, please just go alone with Lily. If the meddling old coot lets me go, I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks for lunch, all right?" Harry whispered to his best friend.
Severus sighed. "He won't let you go. He probably wants to make sure that you'll be well rested and prepared for tomorrow morning. Do you need anything from Hogsmeade that I can bring for you?"
Harry smirked. "Yes please, Christmas presents for you, Lily, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius, Remus, James and the dragon."
"Of course," Severus sneered. "Take care of yourself Harry."
Lily was as disappointed as her friends, maybe even more because she could not understand the reason behind Dumbledore's decision. After accompanying his two friends to the gate, Harry grudgingly walked to Dumbledore's office, frowning at the choice of his great grandfather's password for the gargoyle, 'The power of love'. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Pomfrey were already waiting for him.
Harry, who had already been upset before, became really angry at the sight of the three adults and hissed, "What is it now? Do I only have to do the dirty work now? Am I not allowed to have even the slightest bit of fun like all the other students?"
Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, my dear boy…"
"Don't give me dear boy, Professor."
Pomfrey gripped his arm, handing him a phial. "Harry, please drink this."
"No," Harry said in a huff, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Harry, it's only a calming draught and we need you to drink it in order to not have to force-feed you," McGonagall said, calmingly.
Very reluctantly, Harry agreed, calming down immediately, all of a sudden noticing that nothing really mattered anymore. He even let his great grandfather pull himself over to his guest bedroom, where he was told to sit on the bed.
"Now Harry, I want Poppy to check on you to make sure that you're really fit and well to do your stunt tomorrow morning. What we're planning is very dangerous, and I don't want to take any risk of losing you on the way," Dumbledore said sternly.
Harry merely shrugged and just let things happen, realising, 'I can just as well let them do what they want; I can't fight three of them anyway.'
Pomfrey waved his wand over him a few times, before she finally said, "He is completely fine, although he seems to be a little tired. I'd prefer to give him a few potions in any case."
Dumbledore nodded his agreement, and Pomfrey handed Harry two phials. One of the liquids held an orange potion, which he could recognize as Pepperup potion. He suspiciously eyed the other one. 'What might that be?' he mused but didn't really care what it was and decided to just gulp the potion down that caused him to drift off to sleep in the blink of an eye.
Harry slept until his great grandfather's voice penetrated his ear. "Harry, it's time to wake up, my boy."
He lazily opened his eyes, yawning. 'Where am I? What am I doing here?' he mused, reaching for his glasses. "Professor?" he enquired, eyeing his great grandfather in confusion.
"Harry, you're in my guest bedroom. Madam Pomfrey decided that you had to rest for a while in order to be fit tomorrow; don't you remember? Now however, it's dinner time, and we have to go down to the Great Hall. You already missed lunch today," Dumbledore explained gently.
All of a sudden, Harry remembered the earlier events, and he glared at his great grandfather, feeling very annoyed.
"Don't let yourself get so upset again; Harry, otherwise I have to force-feed you another calming draught," Dumbledore advised the boy, fondly ruffling his hair, before he motioned him to follow him to the Great Hall for dinner.
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"Harry, where have you been all day? I thought you were going to Hogsmeade with us," James asked, as soon as Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"In Dumbledore's guest bedroom; Pomfrey force fed me a sleeping draught, because they thought I needed more sleep," Harry mumbled, turning his eyes to Lily.
"What?" James queried in disbelief. "What do they think they're doing?"
"We bought lots of sweets in order to have another party tonight in the common room, because we still have butterbeer left from the party last week," Sirius informed Harry, beaming with excitement.
Harry, who so far had only played with the food on his plate, mumbled, "Sorry lads; I'm still tired and I think I'll just go back to bed."
"Are you all right, Harry?" Lily asked in apparent concern.
"Of course, I'm fine, I'm only tired," Harry replied, a small smile playing on his lips. He quickly retreated from the Great Hall, not noticing the five pairs of eyes that were watching him from the high table. He went to bed and did not even wake up, when the party became so loud that McGonagall entered the common room, throwing a temper tantrum.
"You are very irresponsible. It's not more than six days ago that I told you not to hold any more parties here without my permission. You're going to be in detention tomorrow, all of you. You'll meet in the Transfiguration classroom immediately after breakfast, and I'll have Mr. Filch come and assign each of you a task to do during the day. I'm very disappointed."
"But Professor," Lily went over to her, "what about Harry? He hasn't participated in the party tonight at all. He's been asleep since dinner."
McGonagall eyed her in surprise and finally said, "I'm going to check on him," before she headed up to the sixth-year boys' dormitory to look after her grandson. He was fast asleep. She worriedly put a hand on his forehead to check for a fever, but he seemed to be fine. Heading back through the common room, she told Lily, "Mr. Pane is exempt from detention tomorrow."
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In the morning, Harry woke up very early, feeling refreshed and awake, but his stomach grumbled. 'It's so early that I could go flying as Icicle for a while,' he mused but quickly abandoned the thought, because he did not know yet how much energy this would afford. 'I'll just go to the kitchen for an early breakfast,' he decided, quickly striding through the empty halls. When he entered the kitchen, he stopped dead in his tracks. The headmaster was sitting there drinking cocoa.
"Harry! Good morning my dear boy," his great grandfather greeted him kindly. "Would you like a cocoa as well, Harry?"
"No. I'd like to have breakfast please," Harry addressed the house-elves and told his great grandfather, "I'm very hungry, since I somehow managed to miss lunch and dinner yesterday."
"I'm very sorry, Harry, but I really thought it was necessary to let you rest for a while yesterday," Dumbledore replied, pleasantly. "How do you feel today?"
"Great. As much as I hated it yesterday, I think the sleep helped a lot," Harry admitted. "Do you think we could start immediately after our breakfast here, or do we have to wait until breakfast in the Great Hall is finished?"
"Twinkle!" Dumbledore called his personal house elf, explaining to Harry, "Twinkle is my personal house-elf. Twinkle, could you please go and wake Minerva, Severus Snape and Poppy and tell them to come to my office at six o'clock; that's in half an hour. Thank you."
"Of course, Master Albus," Twinkle replied and popped away in the blink of an eye.
tbc...
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