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!
The demise party turned out completely different from the one that Harry had endured in the future. Harry curiously let his eyes wander around the Great Hall, realising that James and Sirius had, apparently with the help of Remus, Severus and Lily, managed to transform the whole Great Hall into a tropical paradise. They had transfigured a part of the large room into a lake and had replaced the huge house tables with many smaller tables, which were surrounded by comfortable looking chairs, placed on the beach. A whole forest of palm trees completed the scene. Fawkes was sitting in a palm tree, trilling happily. Dumbledore allowed Harry to sit at a table with his friends; however, he informed the boy that he would have to come over to the guests' table when he was needed.
"Dear students, Ministers and guests of Hogwarts, I'm glad to welcome you to our Voldemort demise beach party. We have many guests here tonight from several countries, but before I talk too much, I'd like to invite you to enjoy what our house-elves have prepared for you. Please enjoy your dinner, ladies and gentlemen."
When they had finished their main course, Sirius spoke up in a loud voice for everyone to hear, "Five minutes for the Animagi to play before the dessert," and the Marauders changed into their Animagus forms.
Harry looked at his friends in amazement. 'Lily and Severus have managed the transformation. That's brilliant,' he mused and quickly transformed into Icicle, joining Fawkes on his tree.
#Hi Icicle, nice of you to join me; I was a little lonely here on my palm tree,# his phoenix friend trilled, pleasantly.
#Hello Fawkes, oh my, and I had thought you enjoyed sitting above everyone, observing us from here# Harry trilled back, chuckling inwardly at the other phoenix' bored expression.
Two Ravenclaw seventh year students transformed into a cat and a lizard, and Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore joined the students in their cat and phoenix forms. Suddenly, Harry noticed that a crocodile was approaching the water. 'Probably one of the foreign ministers,' he thought, watching the animal in amazement. 'I've never seen such an Animagus. That's a really cool form.' Severus in his black snake form looked beautiful on the white sand of the beach. They had a lot of fun, before Dumbledore finally transformed back into his human form and announced, "All Animagi back for the dessert please."
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As soon as dinner was over, Minister McNeill rose from his seat, letting his eyes wander over the crowd. "Dear Professors, dear students, dear guests. Thank you very much for the invitation to this joyful party. The whole magical world is excited about the end of the war. I want to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Harry Pane, who has somehow managed to vanquish the evil that pulled us into this war for many years. Mr. Pane, can you please explain how you were able to achieve this victory?"
Harry grudgingly stood up, inwardly groaning in annoyance. "Dear Minister, dear foreign Ministers and other guests, welcome to Hogwarts. In order for you to understand how I could vanquish Voldemort, I have to tell you a little about myself. When I was just one year old, Voldemort tried to kill me after murdering my parents. He used the Avada Kedavra curse, but somehow I was lucky to survive the curse and get away with this scar." He lifted his hair to show his scar.
"Ever since then I've had a connection to Voldemort through this scar," he continued, noticing that everyone was looking at him with apparent interest. "I could often sense his feelings, especially when they were very emotional, like when he was very excited, angry or happy. Recently, I sometimes received visions of him speaking to his Death Eaters, too. That was the reason why I was able to warn Professor Dumbledore about the attack on Diagon Alley on Halloween."
The Great Hall was absolutely quiet as everyone was eagerly listening as Harry explained about his strategy that had been based on love, finishing with the words, "As you see, it was not only I, who defeated Voldemort, but it was my parents, friends, teachers, and all of you, who gave me all the love that I could summon for the task. Please don't thank me, just thank everyone here at Hogwarts. Thank you." With that he tiredly sat back on his chair.
Severus unobtrusively handed him a phial, causing Harry to cast him a questioning look. "What is it?" he whispered.
"A very strong Pepperup potion. I brewed it for you this afternoon," Severus told him, nodding contentedly when Harry obediently gulped down the potion without as much as a complaint about the awful taste.
Handing the empty phial back, Harry once again turned his attention to the minister, who was speaking again. "Representing the Ministry of Magic, I'd like to present Mr. Harry Pane with the Order of Merlin first class. Please join me for a moment, Mr. Pane."
Harry unenthusiastically stepped over to the Minister, receiving the Order of Merlin for the second time. He shook the Minister's hand, before he returned to his seat, sighing in relief. 'I hope that was all,' he thought, feeling thoroughly annoyed at the whole event.
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Several other people held speeches, but Harry tuned them out after a few minutes. 'As long as I don't have to do anything, I don't care,' he mused, unobtrusively observing his mother in amazement. Finally, Dumbledore rose to speak again.
"Now I have some smaller issues. First of all, I want to thank the students, who have provided us with such a beautiful place for our party. I'd like the responsible students to stand up for a moment."
James, Sirius, Remus, Severus and Lily rose from their seats, receiving a huge applause.
"Furthermore, I'd like to introduce our new Animagi. Please come here one by one so that we can properly admire your beautiful forms."
The students walked by the teachers' and guests' table, so that the headmaster could introduce them. However, Harry decided to remain seated instead of transforming into Icicle.
When Fawkes came over and queried, #Why don't you change, Icicle?# Harry merely shook his head. He had received more than enough attention for one day.
Before the Minister could ask anything, Dumbledore added, "Let me reassure you that all of them will be properly registered as Animagi with the Ministry of Magic."
The Minister nodded affirmatively, congratulating the Animagi as they walked by.
"And last but not least, I invite all of you to come out to the grounds," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "Mr. Daedalus Diggle has promised us a beautiful fireworks display from Hogsmeade just behind the lake that we'll be able to watch from here."
Everyone followed his invitation and moved outside – from the warm, tropical paradise into the snow to watch the fireworks, which were fantastic and lasted almost an hour. Afterwards, everyone hurried back into the warmth of the Great Hall to have a hot cup of cocoa before going to bed. While the students were drinking their cocoa, Dumbledore came over to Harry.
"Harry, there will be a press conference after the students have gone to bed, and I believe that your presence will be required."
Harry groaned. "Do I really have to attend that, Professor? I am so tired; I'd really prefer to go back to bed," he asked, giving his great grandfather a pleading look.
Before Dumbledore could insist on Harry's presence, Severus spoke up. "Professor, I've already given Harry a strong Pepperup potion, which I brewed specially for him, but even that has worn off by now; Harry is not well enough to answer the journalists' questions."
Dumbledore gave Harry a sharp look. "All right then, Harry, you may go back to bed. I will talk to the journalists on your behalf. Severus, could you please take Harry to Professor McGonagall and ask her to accompany him to my guest room? Thank you my boy. Good night Harry."
"Severus, will I see you before you go home tomorrow?" Harry asked quietly, feeling very sad at the thought of spending the holidays without his best friend.
Severus cast him a small smile. "Harry, I won't go home for Christmas but will stay here with you. I convinced my parents to let me stay here over the holidays. I'll come to see you in the morning, when everyone else has left."
"All right Severus, thanks," Harry mumbled, gratefully, feeling dead on his feet.
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In the morning, Harry woke up just on time for breakfast. He lazily made his way into the headmaster's office.
"Good morning my boy. How are you on this fine morning?" the headmaster greeted him, seemingly surprised, while Fawkes let out a series happy trills.
"Fine," Harry replied, trying to hide an expression of annoyance, before he explained, hesitantly, "I'd like to attend breakfast in the Great Hall to say good bye to everyone going home today."
Dumbledore frowned. "I don't think you're supposed to go anywhere, but if you're sure you're well enough, you may go."
"Thank you Great Granddad," Harry replied, smiling.
"Harry, there is just one thing that I wanted to talk to you about. You are the only Gryffindor student staying at Hogwarts this year, and since your condition is not back to normal yet, we don't want you to stay in Gryffindor tower alone. Now, there are two possibilities for you to choose. You can either stay here in my guest room, which I don't mind at all, or you can ask Severus if he would be willing to stay in your dormitory with you. Since he is the only sixth-year Slytherin staying over Christmas, it wouldn't be a problem. Please think about it and inform either Minerva or me later."
"Thank you Professor. I will discuss it with Severus and tell you at lunchtime at the latest. Oh by the way, since you didn't let me go to Hogsmeade on Saturday, I have to go and buy my Christmas presents sometime before Christmas, early enough to send presents to my friends by owl."
Dumbledore let out a long sigh, before he slowly shook his head. "Harry, at the moment we can't do anything about it; we have to wait until Poppy deems you well enough. As I told you, you're not even supposed to leave your room. When you're allowed to go, maybe sometime during the next week, Minerva will accompany you, or as Voldemort is gone now, maybe you and Severus can go just on your own. We'll talk about it in a few days' time. Now let's go and have breakfast."
Harry sensed his friends' excitement as soon as he approached the Gryffindor table. Suddenly, James asked, "Harry, do you have any plans for the holidays? Do you want to come home with me?"
Harry couldn't believe his ears. 'I'm invited to spend Christmas with my father and grandparents,' he thought in amazement, before he remembered, "Oh no, I can't. Severus is going to stay here for Christmas, so that I won't be alone at Hogwarts. Therefore, I can't leave the castle. But thanks a lot; I really appreciate your invitation. Maybe another time?"
"Of course Harry, anytime. I'm sorry; I should have asked you earlier," James replied, apologetically.
Sirius was going home with James, too, since he wasn't welcome at his parents' house anymore and the Potters had taken him in a few years ago. Only a few students remained in front of the castle, when the carriages left for the station. It seemed that everyone wanted to enjoy safety and freedom, now that Voldemort was gone.
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Harry and Severus spent the time until lunch in the Room of Requirement, working on one of the potions, which Severus was trying to invent with Harry's help. They still could not get the mixture precisely as Harry remembered it, but at least they were making some progress. Realising that there was still time until lunch, they proceeded to set up a holiday schedule including enough time for their assignments and much time for Potions studying.
"Now that we have so much time just for ourselves, maybe we should start working on a potion to send you back," Severus suggested, causing Harry to cast him an uncertain look.
"Severus, I'm willing to assist as much as I can, but I won't be able to help a lot; you know that I'm a total idiot at Potions." He let out a deep sigh, before he continued, "The other point is that as much as I'd like to see my friends again, I don't want to lose my friends here. Anyway, I thought I might just stay here until the end of sixth year, and then I'll go back, provided that we've found a way for me to travel to the future by then."
"Believe me, we'll manage to send you back, and you'll have changed the future in such a way that you should be able to meet all of us again as soon as you arrive in the future. At least, I'll always be there for you," Severus reassured him in a soothing voice. "I don't think you're so bad at Potions, by the way. You just didn't have a chance to acquire fundamental knowledge, but I believe that you've improved greatly since we commenced our tutoring."
A small smile played on Harry's lips as he replied, "Yes, I think I know a lot more than before, and I enjoy our Potions tutoring very much. Thank you so much, Severus. All right, we'll try. There is something else, which we need to discuss before lunch by the way." Seeing that Severus eyed him in expectance, Harry explained what Dumbledore had told him earlier.
"I don't mind staying in Gryffindor, when all the Gryffindors have gone home," Severus replied gently.
"Thank you so much," Harry said gratefully, inwardly sighing in relief. "All right then. I promised Dumbledore to inform him at lunchtime."
"That's good; then he'll probably arrange for the house-elves to take my belongings over to your dormitory," Severus replied, glancing at his wrist watch. "It's time to go to the Great Hall anyway."
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They arrived in the Great Hall just on time for lunch. The house tables were gone, and the few people remaining in the castle were all sitting at one round table in the middle of the Hall. Harry earned furious looks from his great grandmother and Madam Pomfrey along with the question, "Where have you been the whole morning?"
Knowing that Harry was again in trouble with the two over-protective witches, Severus replied innocently, "I'm sorry Professors, we've been in the Room of Requirement working on a potion. Harry didn't do anything strenuous, and we were careful to be back in time for lunch."
Harry decided to not comment on the matter; he merely cast his great grandmother an extremely annoyed glare and tried to focus on his meal.
Dumbledore managed to efficiently change the topic by showing Harry the morning's newspaper, pointing to the headline of the Daily Prophet.
"The vanquisher of Voldemort – Harry Pane – Grandson of Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall"
Harry gazed at Dumbledore. "Why did you tell them, sir?" he queried in surprise.
"Because, my dear boy, they kept asking about who your guardians were and questions like that. So in order to stop them speculating, I had to tell them something," the headmaster said matter-of-factly. "Fortunately, I had spoken to Minerva about this possibility in advance, and since Voldemort is gone now, our relationship doesn't have to remain a secret anymore."
"All right … Granny and Granddad," Harry replied, chuckling.
The first week of their holidays passed in a blink. Between breakfast and lunch, the two boys concentrated on their homework, afterwards Pomfrey insisted that Harry had to take a nap, and the rest of the afternoon and the evening was spent brewing potions.
Finally, it was Friday morning, Christmas Eve, and Harry still had not been able to visit Hogsmeade. After breakfast, he told his grandfather, "I'm sorry, Great Granddad, but I just have to go to Hogsmeade today; I have to buy Christmas presents."
"Yes, my boy, I know, but I'm afraid you'll have to ask Poppy about it," Dumbledore replied gently, causing Harry to glare at him.
"No, Granddad. I'm not going to ask," Harry contradicted in a no-nonsense voice. "Madam Pomfrey and Granny are treating me as if I were an infant. I'll flash to Hogsmeade, buy my presents and will be back, before they even notice that I'm gone. Severus, are you coming with me?"
"I'd like to accompany you," Severus readily agreed. "May I go, Professor?"
"You may, but I don't know if Harry has the permission to go," the Headmaster replied, and Harry noticed angrily that his eyes were twinkling in obvious amusement.
"I don't care," Harry said, heatedly. "Let's go, Severus, grab my tail feathers." He transformed into Icicle and flashed away, as soon as he felt that Severus held on to his feathers.
It took the two boys about an hour in Hogsmeade to gather the Christmas presents that Harry wanted to buy for his friends and family. Just when they considered returning to the castle, they noticed a well-known coldness spreading around the village and exchanged a horrified look.
tbc...
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