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!
"Oh my, you're asking questions Mr. Potter, Pane or whatever. Oh yes, I'd sort you into Merlin House – it was specially founded for people like you," Sopho replied in apparent annoyance.
"All right, Harry, let's go and take a look at Merlin House," Dumbledore suggested. "You may sit on my shoulder if you want. Fawkes, are you coming along?"
#Of course, I want to speak to the phoenix portrait as well,# Fawkes trilled, seemingly happy.
#Thank you, Granddad. Sorry, but there's one more thing I'd like to ask you. As no one should see me this morning, could you please cast a notice-me-not charm on me please?#
Dumbledore chuckled, as he complied. "Why would that be my boy?"
#Pomfrey wanted Granny to come and transfigure me back in order to feed me potions and I decided to flash away, because I want to transform back as soon as I can and not be transfigured back by someone else,# Harry admitted, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"But don't you think Poppy's potions would help you to feel better?" Dumbledore queried, not really expecting a response. "Maybe one of these days you'll be awarded the Order of Merlin for getting yourself into trouble," he added, smirking. "Well, let's go then."
Together with Fawkes, they visited the phoenix – who told them that his name was Tori – and inspected Merlin House. Dumbledore looked around with interest.
Finally, he spoke up, thoughtfuly, "I have to talk to Minerva first and then to the other colleagues in order to get their approval. Afterwards, the issue must be discussed in front of the Board of Governors, which won't be a problem, because with the death of the Death Eaters all troublemakers are gone. After everything is approved, we can make plans on how to revive the house from the next school year onwards." He pensively stroked his beard before continuing, "I suppose that now, as I'm aware of the house, a lot of information about it can be found in the library; The books were probably charmed in the same way as the Sorting Hat to not tell or show anything about Merlin House unless the headmaster knew of it. So if you're interested, you could go and research a little about the house of our ancestors," he suggested to the boy.
#Of course, Granddad, I'd love to do some research about it# Harry replied, eagerly. #Do you think I could be re-sorted?# 'Maybe Sev could be sorted into Merlin as well, so that we could be together. Mum would probably end up there anyway together with me,' he thought, excitedly, before recalling that Dumbledore had said something about the next school year. 'Oh no, by then I'll be out of Hogwarts anyway. Maybe for the last two years in the future then though,' he consoled himself.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Let's wait and see," he replied, before his expression became sterner. "But first of all we have to consider how to get you out of the trouble you're obviously in. What should we do?"
#I'll just flash back into my room and rest for a while, and hopefully I'll be able to transform back later. Pomfrey is going to kill me anyway, so it doesn't really matter# Harry replied, fluffing his feathers in annoyance. #My only problem is that I can't talk to anyone except for you, Lily and Fawkes.#
"Lily is able to understand you?" the headmaster queried in apparent surprise.
#Yes, she does, definitely,# Harry confirmed.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Harry looked at Fawkes, terrified, trilled something that Dumbledore couldn't catch so fast, and in a flash of ice he was gone.
HP
McGonagall and Pomfrey stepped into the office. Inwardly groaning, Dumbledore greeted them, "Good morning. I hope the ladies are well on this fine morning. Care for a lemon drop?"
#You need two with a strong calming and obliviating potion in it I suppose,# Fawkes trilled, chuckling.
"Albus, don't play the innocent with us," McGonagall reprimanded him in a no-nonsense voice. "You know everything that's going on in this castle, don't you?"
"Ah, but no, my dear Minerva, I'm afraid not. What can I do for you?" her husband asked, feigning innocence.
"Have you by any chance met your grandson this morning?" McGonagall queried, giving him a sharp look.
"I have not met Harry – why?" Dumbledore enquired, popping a lemon drop into his mouth.
Poppy cast him a murderous look and asked, "Albus, have you perhaps met Harry in his phoenix form?"
Albus sighed, inwardly groaning. "Ah, Icicle I have met," he admitted, pleasantly sucking on his lemon drop.
"Albus!" his wife shouted, glaring at him.
"Why Minerva, in fact, Icicle came to talk to Fawkes this morning," Dumbledore replied, feigning surprise at her outburst.
Minerva and Poppy let out a collective sigh of annoyance, before the Scottish lioness wanted to know, "And where please might your grandson have gone afterwards, seeing that he's not here anymore?"
"He said something, but I didn't understand; Fawkes did you by chance understand, what Harry said before he flashed away?" he asked, gently petting the phoenix' head.
#He said 'f… off, I don't want to be found today.' I'll tell you the rest after they're gone# Fawkes promised, seemingly amused.
The two witches looked questioningly at the headmaster, who translated, "He doesn't know either."
Pomfrey glared at him in apparent annoyance. "Albus, this child will cause me a heart attack," she said, angrily. "He's so irresponsible. I'm really fed up with him this time."
McGonagall nodded her consent. "Albus, I think so too. And he really shouldn't get away with it. I'm so angry that I'd like to just order him to go back to the future, but…" She swallowed hard and trailed off.
"But you'd miss him too much and want to keep him here as long as possible, right?" Dumbledore guessed, his eyes twinkling merrily.
McGonagall blushed. "I won't deny that," she admitted in a small voice, "but I really want him to see reason this time."
Dumbledore let out a deep sigh. "I'm afraid that I must contradict you," he contradicted, slowly. "This time, he didn't get himself into trouble on purpose. He flashed too many of his friends at the same time, but he only did so out of lack of knowledge about his own limits. Otherwise, he'd have flashed twice like he did before in Hogsmeade. Later on, he transformed back because he noticed that he felt better in his phoenix form, and when you threatened to have him transfigured back against his will by someone else, he saw red. I can't say that I don't understand him, and I'm sure that he's somewhere in the castle, only resting and not in any danger. He'll surely return to his room when he feels better."
"Then maybe we could agree on a punishment, like for example a week's worth of detentions in the hospital wing every evening from after dinner until curfew?" Minerva suggested, glancing at her friend, who grudgingly agreed.
"All right, Minnie. But after his next stunt it will be a month of detentions," Pomfrey replied, still seemingly angry.
HP
Harry flashed back straight in front of Merlin house and told Tori that he'd like to agree on a password.
#All right, please suggest a password then,# Tori replied, looking at him in clear expectation.
#Let's make it 'Harry's room' for the moment, all right?# Harry suggested, unsurely.
#Of course# Tori agreed and enquired, #Are you going to spend some time here today?#
#Yes, if you don't mind,# Harry confirmed, causing the phoenix to confirm that he'd love Harry's company.
Tori opened the portrait hole for the young phoenix, who flew up to the 7th year boys' dormitory. Making himself comfortable on a bed, he and slept for what seemed to be just a few hours. When he woke up it was already dark outside. 'I wonder if it's just late in the evening or early morning,' he thought. However, feeling much better than before, he tried to transform back into his human form, letting out a relieved sigh when he succeeded. Casting the tempus charm at the wall, he realised that it was half past five in the morning.
Quickly transforming back into his phoenix form, he flashed into his room, changed into his school clothes and grabbed his book bag, before he joined Fawkes on his perch in order to beg for some kind of breakfast. To his surprise, Dumbledore was already sitting at his desk, smiling when Harry arrived as Icicle.
"How are you today, my dear boy?" the headmaster enquired in his usual, gentle voice.
#Fine, Granddad, and you?# Harry trilled back.
"Are you able to transform back now?" Dumbledore enquired, giving him a sharp look.
#Yes sir,# Harry confirmed, bobbing his head up and down.
"Then how about changing back and having an early breakfast with me?" Dumbledore suggested, causing Harry to inwardly sigh in relief.
#Oh that would be just great, I'm starving# he admitted, before he flew down to the floor and transformed back quickly.
While they were eating breakfast, the headmaster told Harry how upset and concerned his grandmother and Poppy had been and that they had decided on a full week of detention for him.
"Oh, maybe I have to reconsider whether I should go back to my room today," Harry replied, groaning in annoyance.
"Ah Harry, but tell me something. Do you really want to get into even more trouble?" his great grandfather asked in a gentle but stern voice.
"No sir, especially as the full moon will be at the end of next week," Harry mumbled, sighing. 'Maybe I really should return to the future. At least McGonagall and Pomfrey have never been so over-protective in my time,' he thought.
"What does that have to do with the full moon?" Albus enquired with a surprised, but mischievous look on his face, and Harry could not prevent himself from telling his grandfather about the Marauders' fun excursions into the forest. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed their early morning conversation, however, when 6:30 passed, Harry began to fear that his great grandmother or Pomfrey were going to show up in his great grandfather's office.
Therefore, he took his leave and flashed back to his dormitory in Merlin House, where he spent the next hour reading the next chapters in his Potions and Charms books. Finally, he transformed and flashed back in front of the Potions classroom just on time for the first class to commence.
"Harry, where have you been?" his friends asked, simultaneously.
He grinned and whispered so that nobody else would be able to hear, "In Merlin House. I'm hiding from McGonagall and Pomfrey."
James and Sirius began to laugh, however, Severus asked in apparent concern, "Are you all right?"
Harry gave his friend a comforting smile, nodding reassuringly as they entered the Potions classroom. They did not have time to talk during the class, but on their way to the Charms classroom he explained to Severus where he had been and what the Sorting Hat had told them about Merlin House.
"Have you already spoken with McGonagall or Pomfrey?" Severus asked, curiously.
"No," Harry admitted, smirking. "Dumbledore told me that they assigned me detention with Madam Pomfrey for a full week though. I'm not very eager to meet them to say the least."
Sirius, who had heard Harry's words, laughed again, causing Severus to reprimand him in apparent annoyance.
"Do you think it's so funny, that Harry will be punished? He got himself into this trouble by flashing all of us to the other end of the school and back. Maybe you should actually think before showing a reaction to something."
Sirius looked slightly affronted but apologized immediately. "Severus, you're right. I'm sorry Harry, I really didn't think and I didn't mean it."
"It's okay," Harry replied, sighing. During the Charms class, he considered skipping lunch instead of undergoing the danger of capture by a dragon and a wild cat. 'They won't be able to do much to me, considering that we have to leave lunch quite early to be at Hagrid's hut on time for Care of Magical Creatures,' he mused.
He did not have much of a choice anyway, because as soon as he left the Charms classroom, Lily and Remus appeared on both sides of him and dragged him down to the Great Hall.
"As you seem to have missed all meals yesterday, now you'll have to accompany us to lunch," Remus said in a no-nonsense voice that made Harry obey without thinking.
Harry ate his lunch as fast as he could, and when James, who was sitting opposite of him, whispered, "Be careful, your Granny's coming this way and she's on the warpath," he got up immediately and left the hall without even looking left or right. He ran down to Hagrid's hut as fast as he could, sat down and waited for the others to come and the class to commence. Fortunately, he did not have Transfiguration on that day.
At dinner, he was not so lucky. He had just begun to eat, when McGonagall approached him wearing an offended expression. "Mr. Pane, after dinner you will accompany me to your room, is that clear?" he instructed him in a strict voice.
"Yes Professor" Harry replied, tiredly. As he could have guessed, the two women threw a temper tantrum, as soon as they arrived in Harry's room. Madam Pomfrey gave him his week's detention, and McGonagall added a week's grounding to it that caused a huge fight between Harry and his great grandmother about the necessity of training the Hogwarts team.
HP
At breakfast the following morning, he spoke with his friends who were nearly as upset as he was. Fortunately, McGonagall was sitting far enough from them to not hear the names Sirius was calling his head of house. Finally, he agreed with James and Sirius, who were the two Gryffindor players in the two Hogwarts teams besides Harry, that a team meeting would be held on Saturday afternoon to discuss the practice on Sunday without Harry. He was not sure if he would at least be allowed to watch and commentate the practice, but they had to be prepared in any case.
During the Transfiguration class, Harry did not even glance at his great grandmother while looking at his Transfiguration book waiting for the class to end, as Pomfrey had told him in the morning that he was not allowed to do any magic for two days, so he could not do anything during Transfiguration anyway. 'It must be the first time in my life that I prefer a Potions class to Transfiguration,' he thought, while he observed the stunned pink rabbit on Remus' desk and absentmindedly wished it to be a cute little cat in Slytherin colours.
"Oh my…" Remus blurted out, casting an amused glance at Harry.
"Very good Mr. Lupin, but maybe you have to revise your choice of colours a little," McGonagall commended him in clear annoyance.
"Oops, sorry Professor…" Remus stammered, glancing at Harry, who was looking down at his desk.
"I think that wasn't Remus' doing," Lily quickly helped her friend, frowning at Harry, who had not even noticed what he had done.
"I see," the teacher said sternly, glaring at Harry in exasperation.
HP
At dinner, Harry was only playing with his food. He dreaded the detention with Pomfrey. 'Probably she's just going to lecture me again. I wonder what I'm going to have to do,' he thought in annoyance. Never before had he had to serve detention in the hospital wing, but he had heard stories from Ron who once had spent three evenings in a row cleaning bedpans.
However, to his immense relief, it was much different than he had imagined. Pomfrey had considered very well about what she was going to let him do. She thought that they still had to test Harry's abilities to see if he really was a natural healer, but that it could not do harm to teach him several things about healing anyway. So in fact, Harry gained a whole week of Healing classes, and he enjoyed the evenings with the healer so much that he was almost disappointed when the last evening of his detention was over. Of course, he would never admit this to the healer let alone his great grandmother.
tbc...
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