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!
After the trial was over, Harry resolved to concentrate on his studies and on the research of the Floo powder for the time being. 'Maybe I should also continue my lessons about wandless magic with great grandfather,' he thought. One morning at breakfast, Harry was pushing his food around the plate, deep in thoughts, and nearly choked, startled, when Severus addressed him from behind.
"Harry, do you have time to meet me in the Room of Requirement after breakfast?" the boy queried, quirking an eyebrow.
"Of course," Harry replied in surprise, smiling at his best friend. "Sorry Lily, I'll be in the common room later on, so that we can do our homework together."
"Don't worry about Lily," James spoke up, smirking, causing everyone to laugh. "I'll take care of her for you."
Harry did not notice the dirty look that Severus cast in James' direction; only Lily saw his expression and grinned inwardly.
Severus and Harry met in the Room of Requirement turned private potions lab, and Severus told Harry, "I've run a lot of tests, and I think we need two more ingredients, which we require help with. One is unicorn's horn and the other house-elf hair. Do you have an idea, whom we could ask about these two? Would your great grandfather be able to help us?"
Harry let out a long sigh, before he replied, pensively, "Maybe we can ask Hagrid for unicorn's horn. He knows about me anyway, so it'll be easy to ask him. With the house-elf hair, my great grandfather will surely be able to help us. Considering that all the house-elves at Hogwarts are bonded to him, he'll manage to provide some hair for us. Shall we go and ask both of them right away?" he finally suggested.
Severus agreed, and they decided to see the headmaster first.
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After spending twenty minutes on guessing the password for the gargoyle, which was set back to 'lemon drops,' they entered the headmaster's office, exchanging an exasperated glance when Dumbledore offered them a lemon drop.
"No thank you, great grandfather," Harry politely declined.
"Professor, I don't need a lemon drop, thank you, but we'd appreciate your help in the following matter," Severus began to explain. "For the time travel Floo powder, I'd like to try house-elf hair, but it has to be freely given. Do you know any elf whom we could ask for it, sir?"
Dumbledore smiled fondly at the two boys. "That shouldn't be a problem. Let's ask Twinkle first. Twinkle!"
"Yes Master Albus, what can Twinkle do for you and Mr. Pane and Mr. Snape?" the small elf queried, popping up in front of the headmaster.
"Twinkle, Severus and Harry are trying to invent a potion, which is very important for Harry. However, this potion requires house-elf hair, which is freely given. Do you believe any of our elves would be willing…?"
Twinkle did not wait for the professor to finish his question. A huge smile spread over his small face, and he beamed with joy. "Yes Master Albus, Mr. Snape, Mr. Pane, Twinkle would be honoured to give his hair for your potion, no problem. Twinkle can make his hair as long as it is needed."
Seeing that Harry and Severus sighed in apparent relief, the headmaster smiled at his personal house-elf. "Twinkle, that's very reassuring. Thank you so much. Severus, would you like to have some hair immediately? If so, how much do you need?"
"I'd appreciate it very much," Severus replied, gratefully. "Thanks a lot, Twinkle. For the moment, only a little bit would suffice, since we're only trying out a potion. In the case that this really works, we're going to need quite a lot I'm afraid though."
"Thanks a lot, Twinkle," Harry interrupted his friend. "So this problem is solved. Another thing which we need is unicorn horn. Great granddad, do you think Hagrid could help us with that?"
Dumbledore nodded, proudly smiling at his great grandson. "If anyone is able to get unicorn horn for you, it'll be Hagrid," he replied, pleasantly. "And I can imagine that he'd do anything for you, considering that he owes you his freedom."
Harry vehemently shook his head and contradicted, "No sir, he doesn't owe me anything. But we'll go and ask him. Thanks a lot for your help."
"You're always welcome, my boys. May I assume that you're progressing successfully with your potion?" the Headmaster queried gently, causing Harry to groan.
Severus cast his friend a questioning glance, before he replied, "Yes Professor, it might take us a few more weeks, but we'll probably be able to invent the powder."
"We?" Harry blurted out in exasperation. "You! I'm not doing anything. Great granddad, I'm sorry, but I'm too much of a dunderhead at Potions, and I can't do anything about it. Severus is doing the whole work alone. I'm only reading book after book without the slightest success."
"No," Severus contradicted firmly. "That's not true. Who insisted that we should go and visit a basilisk in order for me to get ingredient? Who took me here to get the house-elf hair? And who's going to accompany me to Hagrid to ask for the unicorn horn? You."
"That's easy. Everyone could do these things," Harry replied dully, causing Severus to let out a snort.
"Of course, Harry. How many students have already made friends with a basilisk?" he sneered.
"All right, my boys, calm down," Dumbledore said, gently. "Each one of you is good at doing your parts, Harry is good at Defence and Transfiguration, and Severus is brilliant at Potions. However, you need to consider that if you work together like you've been doing so far during the whole school year, you'll be fantastic at almost everything. It's not important which of you is doing which part of the deal; the main point is that the two of you together are able to do extraordinary work. Don't you ever forget that." With that the headmaster dismissed the two boys, who hurried down to Hagrid's hut, knowing that they still had a bit of time until lunch.
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"Oh Harry, Severus, it might be difficult to get unicorn horn, because I can't really communicate with the unicorns, and I'm not sure if they'll understand what I want from them," Hagrid said pensively, once Severus had explained the reason for their spontaneous visit.
However, Harry had an idea. "Severus, Hagrid, do you believe that a stag would be able to communicate with a unicorn?" he asked, hesitantly.
Severus only shrugged helplessly, while Hagrid remained thoughtful for a moment. Finally, he replied, "I don't know, but it might be possible. Are you thinking of James Potter, or why does it have to be a stag?"
"Yes, I thought of James. I can ask him at lunch," Harry said, eagerly, before he glanced at his wrist watch and jumped up, startled. "Oh no, we're late. Severus, lunch already began fifteen minutes ago. What am I going to do?"
"Oh Harry, take it easy, you won't starve," Hagrid tried to calm the suddenly hyperventilating boy. "What's wrong with him?" he questioned Severus in surprise.
Severus sighed, explaining, "If he skips a meal, he has to show up in the hospital wing to get a potion and a check-up by Pomfrey, and he hates it, because she often finds a reason to keep him overnight."
"Severus, let's go; Hagrid, sorry, we have to go. I'll ask James and come back later. Bye," Harry shouted and transformed into his phoenix form, glad that Severus immediately grabbed his back feathers.
An instant later, the boys entered the Great Hall and Harry strode to the Gryffindor table, unaware of the upset looks that followed him to his seat. Harry just managed to eat two bites, before all the plates were cleared from the tables. 'Well, I can always get something in the kitchen later on,' he mused.
"James, wait a moment, please. I have to ask you something," he turned to his father as his friends made their way out of the Great Hall.
Lily interrupted him in apparent confusion. "Harry, what happened? You were really late for lunch."
"It's all right, Lily. We just went to see Hagrid and forgot about time; that's why we were a bit late," Harry explained, sighing.
"On time you call that?" Sirius blurted out, laughing. "Is that why McGonagall and Pomfrey gave you these murderous looks?"
"Did they?" Harry asked horrified, quickly changing the topic. "Anyway, James, I need to ask you something." Seeing that the other boy looked at him, curiously, he continued, "Do you think you'll be able to talk to unicorns when you're in your Animagus form?"
James smirked in surprise. "What kind of question is that? Why should I try to communicate with unicorns?"
Harry sighed. "Because I need unicorn horn for a very important potion, which Severus and I are just researching," he explained, impatiently.
"We asked Hagrid if he could retrieve it for us, but he said that he wasn't able to communicate with them. So Harry had the idea that maybe you could help us by trying to speak with the unicorns as Prongs," Severus joined the conversation.
"I don't know if it'll work, but I can try of course," James replied, astonished. "Shall we go to Hagrid, so that he can take us to meet a unicorn right away?"
"That would be great, James, thank you so much," Harry said gratefully, causing Severus to nod his agreement.
Harry was just about to leave the Great Hall together with his friends, when a strict voice addressed him from behind. "Mr. Pane!"
Harry groaned, closing his eyes in exasperation.
"What do you think you are doing? Do you really believe arriving in the Great Hall two minutes before the end of lunch saves you from having missed a meal?" his great grandmother's stern voice penetrated his ear, causing Harry to avert his eyes to the floor.
"Sorry, Great Granny, but Severus and I had to visit Hagrid, because we needed his help with a potions ingredient, and we somehow lost track of time. I flashed us here, but we were still late; I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to miss lunch." Harry's voice could barely be heard. "May we go now, Professor?" he added in annoyance.
McGonagall sighed. "Yes Harry, you may go, but I want you to meet me at the hospital wing at half past nine tonight for your nutrient potion."
Harry groaned, grudgingly nodding in defeat.
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"All right James, Severus, let's go. Lily, Sirius, Remus, are you coming too?" Harry invited his friends, hurriedly leaving the Great Hall.
In the end, all of the Marauders accompanied Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest to search for a unicorn. It took them an hour's walk, but finally, they found a herd of unicorns. Hagrid instructed them to stay away and quietly sit down somewhere.
James transformed into Prongs and followed Severus and Hagrid, who carefully walked ahead in a slow pace, so as not to startle the animals in order to try to talk to one of them. The unicorns knew that Hagrid was a friend, so they did not run away and even remained where they were, listening to the stag's talking. After James had translated everything that Severus told him, the unicorns agreed to give them quite an amount of unicorn horn, much more than they needed for the potion.
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Back in the castle, Severus excitedly pulled Harry into to the potions classroom.
"Harry, I think we're nearly getting there. I'm already relatively sure what ingredients we need; however, we must do a few experiments, because I don't know the necessary amounts of each of the ingredients. Today, we'll brew five different potions at the same time, each of them with slightly different quantities. Can you help me?"
"Of course, you'll just have to tell me what to do," Harry replied, smiling.
They immediately set to work. Harry diligently prepared the ingredients, while Severus was busily taking notes on each step of each potion. Afterwards, Severus compared his notes and started five new potions right away, again taking notes on all of them. Only when he was done with the last step, he looked up, contentedly.
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Later in the evening, when Harry was peacefully asleep in his dormitory, he woke up hearing something talking in Parseltongue, coming from the floor next to his bed. He looked down, startled.
tbc...
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