It was a resolute Harry that woke up on Tuesday.
He was going to tell Albus Dumbledore he was a time traveller. As soon as he found him, he was going to tell him.
Noticing the bed in front of him was empty, he got up and headed to the Gryffindor's bathroom.
As he opened the door, he noticed Albus Dumbledore was still inside.
"Sorry," he mumbled as he closed the door.
"No, no! I'm almost done!"
From the other side of the door, he heard a hiss.
"Well, I think. Sorry, could you please pass me my wand?" Harry headed to the prefect's bed as he heard, "It should be in the top drawer, if I remember correctly."
Wand secured, Harry went to grab his, knocked and waited for the Prefect to open the door. Having no answer, he took a breath and opened the door.
There was something surreal in watching Albus Dumbledore shaving. In fact, of all the things Harry has had to endure ever since his time travel accident, that was perhaps the queerest thing he had so far witnessed.
The wizard hissed in pain when the razor cut the skin.
Finally noticing the numerous cuts via the mirror, Harry handed him the wand. "You could use the shaving charm, you know?"
"I wanted to try my luck," he told him before carefully posing the straight razor as if it was cursed. "I should have known better." Seeing his wand, his face softened. "Well, hello you," he greeted the wand like one would an old lover. He then delicately took the wand which began emitting white sparks and he happily began waving it for a few seconds. He finally pointed it at his face whose cuts immediately healed. "Let's see now..."
The boy made a few complicated wand movements and the remaining hairs disappeared.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Did you… use the vanishing charm on your hairs?"
Last time somebody had done that, Seamus had lost his mouth and it had taken all his dormmates' collective efforts to fix him.
"In restrospect, I probably shouldn't have done that," Dumbledore murmured. He hurriedly moved his wand several times and sighed in relief. "I admit I was worried for a few seconds but everything is fine." He finally at Harry and smiled. "Good morning, Harry."
"Morning. Are you done with the bathroom?"
"Yes, yes." He took carefully took his straight razor and toothbrush. "Bathroom is yours," he said as he left the room and softly closed the door behind him.
Harry sighed and tiredly ran a hand through his hair.
"Hang in there, Harry," he whispered. "It's almost over."
The DA coin had to work. And he knew there was no way Professor Dumbledore wouldn't go to the Department of Mysteries if he knew his friends were in danger. All he had to do was warn the younger Albus Dumbledore and everything would be alright.
As he started washing himself, Harry began wondering what was going to happen when he was finally home.
At minimum, he would finally have some well-deserved holidays. Harry didn't even think he would mind going back to the Dursleys at this point. He supposed he would also have to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Harry had no idea how the conversation was going to be, but he supposed it would be rather strange to know he had seen the old man when he was young.
Harry snickered at the thought of Ron's face when he would tell him he had seen Albus Dumbledore shaving.
He even sucked at it, he thought as he checked his own face in the mirror and absent-mindedly casted the shaving charm with his holly wand.
His morning ablutions finished, Harry dressed and left the bathroom. He had just taken his schoolbag when he heard a scream.
"What are you doing?" a voice screeched in the direction of the Common Room.
"What can I say?" he heard Dumbledore's voice jovially answering as he walked in the direction of the voice. "You are so cute!"
"I am not cute!"
"Of course, of course, my most sincere apologies, Abe, sorry, Aberforth."
As Harry entered the Common Room, he saw the younger Dumbledore massaging his cheeks and taking a step away from his brother.
"A rebel such as you, you are anything but cute."
Aberforth took another step back. Suspiciously, he asked, "What have you done now?" Seeing his brother's low chuckles, he paled. "W-Well, stay away from me until you're back to normal because I won't take any part in your madness!"
"Is everything alright?" Harry asked as the Third Year started running away.
"Quite, quite." Seeing the look on his face, his eyes twinkled. "Everything is quite alright, Harry. Now, which classes are we supposed to attend again?"
Harry frowned and, after summoning his bag, checked the timetable. "Potions and Transfiguration." Seeing the man's smile, he shook his head in amusement. "We've got to eat first though."
"Of course," he swiftly answered as they both left the Common Room. "I wonder if there is going to be chanting flakes," he started musing as they left Gryffindor Tower.
Harry frowned, "Chanting flakes."
"Cereals that sing when you pour milk on them," came the swift answer. "Depending on how you do it, the song changes." After taking a look at what was on Gryffindor's table, he let a soft sigh. "I suppose I can't have everything," he said as he sat next to Harry. Taking a look at the teachers' table, he took a thoughtful pause.
Harry followed his look and saw Phineas Nigellus Black in deep conversation with Professor Cassini, Hogwarts' Astronomy Professor. A few times, it seemed like the witch was raising her eyebrows at whatever the wizard was whispering to her.
"Is something wrong?"
The prefect didn't answer.
"But that doesn't make sense!" Cassiopea Cassini exclaimed after breakfast, stunned at what she was seeing in the Headmaster's office where all curtains have been pulled. "That's just impossible!"
"Surprisingly, I have reached the same conclusion myself." Phineas Nigellus Black remarked. "Still, I had hoped you could give me something new to consider. That was highly optimistic of me I know, but still I had hoped..."
She spluttered. "W-Well… What can I say to that?" She pointed at the ceiling of the Headmaster's office where they could see in the darkness of the room a starry sky. "That's just not… That's just impossible!"
"And yet, that is what was recorded by the Department of Mysteries," the Headmaster said as he pensively looked at the replica of the sky in his office. "No matter how impossible it seems to be, this is what the sky on the 1st of September was like."
She mutely shook her head. "That's just not possible," she whispered. "And I-I would have noticed if-"
"Everything was back to normal a few minutes later," he précised. "And it was only the next day that this anomaly was found. Unless you were looking at the proper moment, you couldn't have seen it."
The Headmaster waved his wand and a time stamp appeared on the moon. "It happened shortly before the Welcoming Feast," he declared. "There was no way you couldn't have missed it. We were lucky really the artifacts in the Department of Mysteries recorded this, in fact. We have been asked to shed a new light on the subject. As you are our current Astronomy Professor, I ask you: what do you think that means?"
She gaped. "W-Well-" she spluttered. "Are we- Are we sure this is not some joke or that the recordings haven't been tampered?"
"Positive. Moreover, I've just received an owl informing me this incident has happened again early this morning before sunrise. I have not received their recording but they assure me the sky was not that different from this one," he pointed his wand at the ceiling.
"Stars don't move!" she exclaimed. "Not like that!" She raised an accusing finger at the stars out of place which started twinkling as if to mock her. "It's all out of place! They're not where they're supposed to be! The pleiades, the dog constellation, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. What on earth are they doing?"
Professor Black pensively looked at Sirius. "What indeed."
While Professor Prince was teaching the class about the various moonstone's properties, Harry started considering how he was going to explain the wizard on his right he was a time traveler.
Step one involved cornering the wizard after class and insuring nobody would be listening to their conversation. Not an easy feat for there always seemed to be somebody trying to grab his attention.
So far, his only obvious option was to play the card of the poor lost new student who did not want anybody to know he had problems with class.
Step two involved proving he was a time traveller. After all, if some bloke came to him telling him he was from the future, Harry knew he would think the boy was barmy. That time traveller would need to give him evidence he was the real deal.
Question was: what could he use to prove he shouldn't go to St Mungot?
First he had considered giving him some basic knowledge from the future but he had then realized he knew nothing about the late nineteeth century. Any relevant information he had would not be confirmed before decades. Harry had then considered using knowledge he got from the future about Albus Dumbledore himself.
Harry drew a question mark on the margin of the parchment and stole a look at the wizard inscrutably looking at the Potion Master while the quill wrote the lesson on its own. Feeling the wizard looking at him, Dumbledore turned his head and smiled.
Harry promptly looked away and wrote the third use of the moonstone, followed immediately by the fourth. He then posed the quill and pretended he was listening to the Potion Master.
Problem was, he didn't know what he could use as leverage.
Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster, former Transfiguration Professor and Gryffindor Head of House. Order of Merlin, First class for the defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald and his discovery relative to the twelve uses of dragon blood. Known for his fondness for chamber music and ten-pin bowling.
All Harry knew about the wizard was what was written on his chocolate frog card. In hindsight, that was nothing, and Harry knew very little about the boy he used to be or the man he would become. A brilliant wizard like him, anybody could tell him he was going to be famous, or great, or teach Transfiguration at Hogwarts down the road. It hardly was information from the future, it was merely common knowledge or an educated guess here.
Maybe the chamber music thing could work, but Harry would hardly be impressed at anybody telling him he liked flying.
"Knut for your thoughts," the man on his right whispered in his ear.
Harry sighed. "It's nothing."
He still had until of the end of the day to find something, he supposed.
When during lunch the auburn-haired kept pensively looking at the teachers' table where the Headmaster and Professor Cassini were still in deep discussion, Harry asked again if something was wrong.
Eyes still on the teachers' table, Dumbledore answered, "They are conversing about something rather troubling." He took a thoughtful pause. "I suppose I will have to ask Phineas what he knows about it."
"Troubling."
The wizard blinked, turned his head in his direction and smiled. "No need to worry, Harry. It is just about Astronomy. Now, what do we have again?" He retrieved his wand and with a little swish the bag that was at his feet jumped on his lap, opened itself and two sheets of pachment floated at eye-level
That was so far the laziest thing the wizard had done this day and the wizard hadn't stopped using his wand for even the most trifliest thing.
After checking the timetable on his right, he glanced at the parchment on the left. "Ah yes," he mused. "I had compltely forgotten about that."
Harry frowned and tried to read what was written on it. It seemed like list of ingredients for a potion.
He absent-mindedly started caressing his jaw and suddenly blinked. After closing his eyes for a second, he sighed. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense. At least I know what I need to do tonight,"
Harry stilled. "Wait what? Y-You can't!"
That just wasn't possible. Couldn't the wizard just stay still for one bloody day? Okay, he might have been stalling after the duelling incident but, seriously, would he have to curse him behind his back and tie him to a chair to finally tell him what he needed to say?
Dumbledore's lips curled. "I am afraid that I must, Harry," he softly told him. "Still, this is the very last thing I am planning to do."
"What is it anyway?"
"That," he said as with a swish of his wand the notes went back to the satchel, "is some rough ideas I had about a potion I wanted to present for an international potion competition. Some rough draft of a reverse forgetfullness potion." He paused and shook his head. "We should focus on more important things however and hurry for our next lesson, would you not agree, Harry?"
"I didn't know you liked Care of Magical Creatures that much," Harry commented during their Care of Magical Creatures' class.
Dumbledore tickled his Niffler's belly. "Wondrous creatures, are they not? Although, I recommand hiding the teaspoons if you are having a tea party with one of them."
Harry amusedly shook his head. "A friend had hidden some leprechain gold in the earth for our lesson," Harry commented. "We all had a Niffler and had to find the most gold before the end of the lesson."
The auburn-haired smiled in the direction of the magical creature. "Your friend must be an excellent teacher then. Still, I am afraid there will no treasure hunt today."
He supposed he should have known better, Harry mused. He couldn't stop a smile when the other wizard delicately posed the Niffler on the ground. The creature looked left and right in an attempt to find something valuable and finally walked in Harry's direction when he handed him some food.
After all, Harry couldn't help thinking, it was the same man who had a goddamn phoenix in his office.
Harry stilled as the Niffler grabbed his wrist and started eating.
Maybe he didn't actually know Albus Dumbledore, but he knew that he would one day have a phoenix he would call Fawkes and would literally call a secret group whose goal was to defeat Voldemort the Order of the Phoenix. He was probably overreaching, but he doubted he was wrong about Albus Dumbledore having some strange fascination with these magical creatures.
Now, if he could find a way to be alone with him after Charms...
The Niffler suddenly hugged him but the red-haired tutted and grabbed the creature. "Now, that is not very nice," he softly admonished it. "Why don't you give back what you have stolen, hmh?"
The Niffler looked away but the wizard kept looking at it. The Niffler glanced at him and reluctantly handed him a fat gold coin he got from the pouch on his belly.
"Very good," he praised the creature as he gave Harry the fake galleon. He then tickled the Niffler and handed him more food.
Harry cursed and hurriedly put the DA coin back in his pocket.
It turned out Harry didn't have to tie Dumbledore to a chair.
"It's been a week since you've been here, has it not?" he asked him after Charms. "I hope it hadn't been too difficult for you. How are you faring, Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "It's been..." He grimaced, trying to find the correct word. "It's been a busy week," he settled.
So much had happened Harry sometimes had trouble believing it had only been a week. From that strange hypnosis séance where Voldemort had jumped on him to that duel against Dumbledore and Phineas Nigellus Black, so much had happened to him, leaving him with with so many questions and very little answers.
His only consolation was that he finally had the beginning of a plan to leave this blasted century.
The auburn-haired nodded. "You made quite an entrance here, so I suppose that is not really surprising." His lips curled. "And you will outdo yourself."
Harry abruptly turned his head.
"No doubt about it," Dumbledore added after a couple of seconds. Seeing Harry looking at him, he smiled. "Some people are just like that."
"Like what?"
But the wizard didn't answer him and he didn't say anything else until the two of them were facing the Fat Lady.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked them.
Dumbledore turned to him and expectantly looked at him.
Harry sighed. "Tempora mutantur." The Fat Lady nodded. "I know the password, you know?" he told him once the door opened.
But the wizard just smiled. "I wonder… Do you know what that means, Harry?"
Harry frowned. "Something about time, right?"
"Quite so. Tempora mutantur means 'times change'." Harry raised his eyebrows at that. "It is only part of an adage 'Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis' meaning quite literally 'Times change, and we change in them'."
Harry scoffed at that.
Dumbledore searched his pockets and retrieved a copper fobwatch. "It looks like we still have some time before dinner." Glancing at him, he asked, "I know this must have been the furthest thing from your mind but have you done your homework?"
Harry blankly looked at him and he amusedly shook his head.
"I suppose I should help then. There is quite a lot of difference between what is expected of you and what you are used to. Do you want me to find a place for the two of us to revise in peace?"
"Y-Yes! Yes, of course." He tried not to grin at the realization that this was the opening he had been looking for an entire week.
Dumbledore bemusedly smiled when it became obvious the first thing Harry had to tackle down was Divination. "Chiromancy!" He raised an eyebrow and lowly chuckled. "How convenient," he commented before extending his right hand. "Well then, I suppose I mustn't disappoint and ask you to tell me my future."
Harry slowly glanced at the hand.
He knew Albus Dumbledore didn't believe in Divination but maybe he would believe in time travel and this could be the ice breaker.
He pretended to look at the life line. "You will have a long life. A very long life. Like… we're talking a hundred years here."
Dumbledore's lips twiched. "Really." Harry nodded and he lowly chuckled. "A long life is not the guarantee of a happy life unfortunately so what else can you tell me?"
Harry frowned. "And… You will have a succesful life." The auburn-haired made a dubitative face but Harry didn't see it. "You will have many titles and… and a chocolate frog card. You will also be reveared by many and feared by dark wizards. Also you will teach at Hogwarts."
"Am I a good teacher?" he asked.
"The best."
His lips twiched again. "You are too kind, Harry." He then pointed one line on his open palm. "What about this line now?"
Harry frowned. "Well..." He took the hand in his and tried to figure out which line it was supposed be be. The heart line probably.
Meaning Dumbledore wanted him to talk about his love life.
He snorted at the idea. What was he supposed to say about that?
"I'm afraid you will be a bachelor," he said, eyes fixed on the palm.
When Harry looked at him, the wizard had raised his head and closed his eyes. "I see," he hummed. "Well then, I suppose I should ask you a few questions relative to chiromancy now."
Harry blinked. "You didn't take divination."
He nodded in acknowledgement. "I am but an amateur, that is true. My knowledge is severely lacking but I like to think I know the basics. Now, which hand is to be used for chiromancy?"
Harry frowned and tried to remember.
Your hand was a testament of who you were. You are what you do, it is your actions that define you. The dominant hand reflected what you had done and for this reason showed the past. The non-dominant hand in the other hand was the paths not yet taken, in other words, the future.
Harry stilled and looked at the wizard's right hand. He swore.
"You didn't give me the right hand!"
The auburn-haired lowly chuckled. "Didn't I?" He raised his right hand. "I am afraid to tell you that this is, in fact, the right hand."
Harry glared at the still chuckling wizard. "You will get kicked out of Hogwarts," he abruptly told him.
Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, something I don't know. It's finally getting exciting. Will I really?"
"Twice."
"So the first time clearly didn't work and I came back." He wisely nodded. "Is there a chance I repeat this feat?"
"I said you're going to have a long life? You will be a mad old man!" he exclaimed while Dumbledore lowly chuckled. "And all these titles I talked about? You'll lose them all because you'll be senile!"
"Ah, but do I keep the chocolate frog card?"
"And you will be on the run because the Ministry found your underground army!" he spat while the wizard's chuckles intensified. "The entire wizarding world will hunt you down because they'll think you want to take over the Ministry of Magic!"
"And I thought I was going to get bored in my old age. Although, why would I take over the Ministry of magic at the twilight of my life?"
"You're mad."
He sighed. "I suppose there is no logic to be found then. Well then, if that was your OWL examination and I was your examiner, I suppose I should give you an A. I'm sorry but you will need to work more for this Outstanding."
Harry scoffed.
"Do you want me to try my luck?" Dumbledore proposed. "I will never be a Divination Professor but I like to think I have learned a thing or two." Seeing Harry glaring at him he sighed. "I suppose not. Pity."
Harry didn't give a damn about what this Dumbledore was going to cook up. Harry had tried to show him he knew the future and all he did was laugh at him and say he'd have an A. He, the wizard from the future, barely having a passing grade in the art of telling the future.
How could that wizard even know he failed that mock OWL anyway? Unless Dumbledore was a time traveller himself, there was no way he could know.
Harry deeply inhaled and tried to remember what he actually wanted to do. "You told me you didn't believe in divination."
He closed his eyes and nodded. "I suppose I have. The art of seeing what has yet to happen, it all sounded just impossible."
Harry hesitated. "Remember I told you I travelled?" Baby steps. Baby steps.
Eyes still closed, Dumbledore softly chuckled. "You sure did. I remember I was terribly curious. I even started imagining you in different places, trying to see if you could fit there. It seems it was such a long time ago, you know?" He opened his eyes and looked at him. "But that was just last week."
Harry grimaced at the remembrance he had been stuck here for an entire week. "Well, I doubt you could figure it out. You see," he slowly began, choosing to ignore the wizard who had stopped chuckling, "I didn't… well, I didn't travel through space."
When Harry finally looked at the man in front of him, his face was utterly closed.
Harry inwardly started freaking out. Was Albus Dumbledore surprised? Shocked? Did he believe him or did he think he was mocking him?
He suddenly decided to cut the chase. "I'm a time traveller," he blurted out. "From… well I'm from the future."
Whenever Harry had tried imagining the young Dumbledore's reaction, he had often imagined him believing on the spot and asking him how he had done it with a smile on his face, and twinkling eyes begging him to reveal him what the future would be like. Sometimes, however he had imagined him making a sad and disappointed face and telling him he shouldn't mock him and be just honest with him instead of inventing unbelievable stories.
But this Dumbledore just said, "Ah."
Harry blinked at that. "I'm serious. I'm actually a time traveller." Seeing the wizard's blank face, he hurried, "I'm from the future, you've got to believe me."
Before he knew it, Harry was blurting out everything. How he was from 1996, how he had gone to the Department of Mysteries with his friends to save his godfather. How he went with a few friends only to find out it was a trap and how they got attacked. He told him about Ron being attacked by these strange brains, about that curse that struck Hermione. He told him about the room full of time-turners and how he may not remember anything afterwards but when he finally left the Ministry of Magic some witch told him he must have missed the Hogwarts Express, which was ridiculous because it wasn't the end of the year yet, you know? How he had decided to go with the flow and hope Professor Dumbledore would have an idea what to do from there.
At that, Albus Dumbledore couldn't stop a bitter smile. "It must have been quite a shock. Seeing me so young."
Harry couldn't stop a humourless chuckle. "Well, you are over one hundred for me. It's difficult, you know? I mean, you're not Professor Dumbledore."
"Actually-"
"Yes, you're him, I know. It's just… you're not him yet, are you?"
Maybe it was the lack of beard or these auburn hair. Or maybe it was the fact he was even younger than he, but sometimes Harry was almost convinced this Albus Dumbledore was merely a relative. Rarely but it had happened once or twice.
Most of the time, if Harry frowned and titlted his head just the correct way, he could see the old man this Dumbledore would become. It was rather easy, in fact. He had the same mannerisms and the same spark in his eyes whenever something really funny was happening and he had to remember he shouldn't show he was enjoying it and was supposed to act like a responsible adult.
And yet, Harry sometimes felt like there was something missing in these deep blue eyes. And without this something, was Professor Dumbledore really Professor Dumbledore?
Albus Dumbledore blinked at him and Harry lowly chuckled.
He was probably just overthinking this.
"I know this sound insane. And I don't… I don't have any evidence to show you but it's true."
"Listen, Harry-"
"You like phoenixes, don't you?" Seeing the man blinking, he continued, "You've got one in the future. I don't know how you've got it but his name is Faw-"
"-Fawkes."
Harry nodded. "I know it's not much but it's all I've got. So please, believe me."
"Harry-"
"Because if you don't, I freaking don't know what I'm supposed to do and-"
"Harry-"
"-and I really need your help and-"
"Harry," he said more firmly this time. "Harry, I believe you."
Harry numbly looked at him for a few seconds, unable to even comprehend what the wizard had just said.
When he finally did, something in him just broke.
"Oh, thank God."
Relief. Crushing and overwhelming relief. Relief like he had never felt in his entire life and Harry hadn't even known existed before.
It was like some enormous weight had been lifed from his shoulders. Four little words, and yet they were as important to him as the ones Hagrid had told him on his eleventh birthday.
He hadn't even realized he was crying before he felt Dumbledore's hand on his face softly drying his tears.
"S-Sorry," he chocked.
The red-haired' lips stretched into a humourless smile. "Don't be. You must have been terrified." Harry wetly chuckled. "I see that now."
Had he been scared? Harry supposed he must have been. Freaking out over bloody butterflies, privately panicking over being kicked out on Phineas Nigellus Black's whim… Looking back, Harry could hardly believe he had managed to keep going despite all this.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm so, so sorry."
"It's not-" Harry grimaced, removed his face from Dumbledore's hand and tried to dry his tears the best he could.
He wanted to say this was not his fault but he couldn't. In many ways, from where he was standing, it was his fault. Partly.
This was not Professor Dumbledore, and he knew it wasn't just because Professor Dumbledore had isolated him he got stuck in this mess. He knew all of that and yet he just couldn't let it go. For how helpful the prefect had been, a part of him couldn't help resenting him and a bigger part of him just wanted to finally face Professor Dumbledore and scream at him all he had on his heart.
When Harry opened his eyes he hadn't noticed he had closed, Dumbledore was looking away.
"I think I've got a lead for going back home."
At these words, the auburn-haired wizard turned his head in Harry's direction and just started.
And, in a very small voice, Dumbledore just said, "What?"
Harry hurriedly searched his pocket and put the DA coin between them. As Harry started explaining, the other wizard looked at the fake galleon, face inscruptable.
"The protean charm," Dumbledore started musing. "One charm connecting copies of the same artefact so that when one artefact changes, so do the others." He slowly took his fake galleon and raised it above his head. "And you think that connection may transcend time and allow you to connect with your friends."
Put like that it sounded insane but…
"It's my best shot," Harry murmured. "I know it sounds silly, and maybe it's just wishful thinking but what if?"
"Oh, do not think I am judging you," Dumbledore remarked, eyes still on the golden coin. "It's… it's actually rather clever, in fact. Desperate? Yes. Mad? It would indeed be madness to put so much faith in such a little and seemingly insignificant coin. But the most brilliant plans always have a hint of madness. Yours is rather ingenious in fact."
For a few seconds which seemed to last an eternity, Dumbledore kept looking at the DA coin, face inscrutable. Finally, Dumbledore posed the DA coin on the table and searched for his wand.
He put it on the coin which began emitting a golden glow.
Dumbledore slowly pocketed his wand and coughed. "I-I suppose you'll find soon enough if that trust was warranted. I-I have to warn you however that it is… highly possible nothing is going to happen. It is quite a long shot after all."
Harry sighed and pocketed his fake Galleon. "I know. But just in case, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
As Harry talked about his friends being attacked in the Department of Mysteries, the previously impassive face hardened.
"What were you all even doing in the Department of Mysteries?"
Harry opened his mouth to defend himself and suddenly hesitated. "Does it really matter?" he tried, not willing to talk about Voldemort or the Boy-Who-Lived or that prophecy apparently connecting them. "I know I fucked up but I need you to go and save my friends. It-It'll make sense in the future but you wouldn't- you wouldn't understand today."
Dumbledore looked at him and Harry suddenly felt like he was twelve and the auburn-haired one-hundred and something and that Professor Dumbledore was looking at him behind his half-moon glasses because he had just said he had 'nothing' to tell him about the Chamber of Secrets.
Except this Dumbledore didn't have glasses so he wasn't actually looking at him over his half-moon glasses.
"Very well then. Can I have a date at least?"
"R-Right, the date."
Harry tried to remember the exact date but slowly realized he wasn't sure anymore if it happened the 18th or the 19th.
"The year is 1996," he slowly began. "June 1996. And-And I don't remember exactly the date b-but it was during our OWLs. I was sitting my OWL in History that day. I don't know if that helps but-"
Dumbledore's face considerably brightened. "It does help tremendously actually. So on Tuesday the 18 th of June 1996, I am expected to go on a rescue mission." He smiled. "I suppose I can fit this in my busy timetable."
Harry sighed in relief. "Thank you." At least, his friends would be safe.
"You're welcome. Now that this matter has been tackled down, I must ask you what you are going to do now."
"I told you, I'll wait for the DA coin to-"
"Harry," he softly interrupted, "it- I know you are putting a lot of faith in this plan, but you need to understand, it isn't..." He sighed. "It is highly likely it will not work."
"It will," he stubbornly replied. Seeing the other man, he sighed. "I suppose I'll try to find another way to go back. Like, I'll look what there is on time travel in the library and from that I'll…" He dazedly blinked and remembered he wasn't Hermione and that Hermione would not somehow find just the right book to save his sorry arse this time.
God, how he missed her.
"Well, we'll see what to do then," he concluded. "I just… I'll work on the details later. First thing first, find all there is on time travel in the library."
But Dumbledore slowly shook his head. "A rather good beginning, I suppose, but there is just one little flaw in your plan. You see, Harry, you seem to be operating under the assumption that the mean to travel through time has already been discovered."
Harry's heart stopped.
"I regret to inform you it hasn't. And even if it has," Dumbledore softly continued, "it must be its very early days. In any case, it is the Department of Mysteries that will research time travel. And there is a good reason why we call those who work in this deparment 'Unspeakables'."
There had been no time-turner in the Departement of Mysteries, Harry horrifyingly remembered. So many rooms, but not a single one had anything remotely connected to time. But why would there be one? After all…
Nobody was studying time travel.
Harry shakily hid his face behind his hands. "B-But it will, right?" he shakily asked. "And-And there has to be a way!"
"Harry-"
"There has to be a way! I-I have to go back!"
"Harry-"
"You don't understand, I have to go home! I just- I can't stay here! I just can't!"
Harry suddenly imagined himself as an old man. An old man Professor Dumbledore's age talking to his friends who were still fifteen. An old man Professor Dumbledore's age who had to live through an entire century until he could just see them again.
"The DA coin will work," he firmly told him, unwilling to even think about that old dingbat his mind had just conjured. "It has to."
Dumbledore looked like he had just swallowed something very sour. "I'm just saying," he tried to keep his voice even, "that you need to think about this possibility."
"Well, if it doesn't work, I'll find another way!" he stubbornly replied. He crossed his arms and glared at Dumbledore. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Look, I really need to go home. I know it doesn't make sense to you but it is important. I have to go back home."
For a second, the wizard seemed like he wanted to speak, his blue eyes seemingling trying to tell him something important.
But then Dumbledore closed his eyes and softly breathed. "I understand. Do you..." His lips streched in a humourless smile. "I know that I am just some lowly Hogwarts student at the present moment to you-" He raised a hand before Harry could protest "-nonetheless I suppose I can attempt to find a way to help you if you so need."
Harry opened his mouth but no word immediately came.
Truth be told, he had never once thought Dumbledore wouldn't help him and had actually counted on him to find a way out. But now that he was thinking about it, he was basically asking some boy his age he's just met to succeed in doing the impossible.
And why should that boy actually help him? It was not as if they were friends, Harry was nothing to him. He was just some weird new student to him. He was not Hogwarts Headmaster or even the old and wise wizard in his time who seemed to have been watching over him for quite some time, this Albus Dumbledore here had no responsibility to him.
But it is Albus Dumbledore , a treachous voice in his head whispered. Of course he's supposed to help you.
"T-Thank you. I don't..." Harry tried to smile but only managed a grimace. "I know I'm asking a lot from you, but I… I actually need a hand there. In case you haven't noticed." He tried a laugh. "Who knows? Maybe we're just worrying for nothing I'll be gone tomorrow."
But even if his plan didn't work, at least he knew now he wasn't on his own and Harry found it easier to breathe.
When Albus opened his eyes it was to face an all too familiar ceiling.
He sighed and closed his eyes. "Dammit."
"He's awake!" He heard Virginia exclaiming and Albus could stop a wince at the loud voice.
"Step aside," the matron's voice ordered the witch and before he knew it her wand was over his face. "You're lucky Miss Selwyn found you right after the explosion, Mister Dumbledore. You could have died."
He raised an eyebrow at that information. "An explosion."
"Why do you think we do not allow children to brew potions unsupervised?" she exclaimed. "Brewing potions in the dungeons in the middle of the night, what madness drove you to do that?"
Albus grimaced but didn't answer. She wouldn't understand anyway.
When Albus had decided to repair the new student's pen knife, his work on his reverse forgetfulness potion had to be put on hold. He had tremendously enjoyed fixing that pen knife but that had put him behind schedule when it came to his potion. Meaning he had been brewing outside his regular schedule to compensate.
"Any idea what caused the explosion?" he asked.
"MISTER DUMBLEDORE!"
He supposed it didn't matter anymore, he lamented. If he had previously been on a tight schedule, he now had hit the deadline. There was no way he could rebrew his potion, or create another one from scratch and send it on time.
It was with great difficulty that he left his bed. "Can I go to class, madam?"
The matron's face reddened in rage but she reluctantly nodded. Still, she hissed, "One day you will kill yourself if you continue thinking you know better than everybody else. Or worse, somebody else will die."
He pleastantly smiled at her. "Duly noted, madam. Now, I shall not bother you more than I already have. I am sure many other students need your care more than I do."
When he and Virginia finally left, he sighed and summoned his schoolbag. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life."
"You really should listen to her," the other prefect told him. "I thought… I really thought you were dead for a moment."
"I'm sorry I scared you," he softly told her. "That was never my intention, believe me." Before Virginia could guilttrip him even further, he headed to the dungeons. "Still, after my incident, it seems rather ironic that I am heading for the dungeons to brew even more potientially fatal potions."
But instead of scoffing at him, the girl just frowned. "Why would you even go back there?"
Albus blinked. "Because we have potions." Seeing her slowly shaking her head, he sighed. "What day is it then?"
"Wednesday," she answered and Albus sighed again.
If there was one thing Albus hated more than waking up in the infirmary after a potion or a spell gone wrong, it was waking up in the infirmary after a potion or a spell gone wrong and realizing he had lost some part of his memories. It seemed in this instance that Tuesday had been entirely erased.
Hopefully, he hadn't forgotten anything too important.
