The next morning Harry and Hermione woke up feeling refreshed. Hermione was bursting with questions for Harry, as she had not gotten to ask him anything the night before. Madam Pomfrey had made sure they were going straight to sleep. Once again she was stopped by the healer when Madam Pomfrey came in with trays of food floating in behind her.
"Eat up!" She told them then started to check on Ron. "He should be waking up today."
Harry and Hermione sighed with relief. After finishing breakfast Madam Pomfrey let them leave. Harry could tell Hermione was ready to pelt him with questions, but he managed to convince her to wait until Ron woke up, so he wouldn't have to explain twice. So, as Hermione ran off to the library, probably to look up the blue mist mystery, Harry went to Gryffindor tower to meet Sirius.
As Harry approached the Fat Lady, he saw a black dog sitting patiently, waiting for him. The Fat Lady keep shooting the dog ugly looks, she didn't want his matted dirty fur to spread to her clean portrait.
"Padfoot!" Harry called for the dog and waved him over.
"You're not supposed to have dogs, honey." The Fat Lady informed him.
"I know he's just visiting, don't worry," Harry reassured the portrait.
Together the boy and dog walked to the Headmaster's office. As they approached the gargoyle, Harry realized he did not know the password.
"Er, chocolate frogs?" Harry guessed, the gargoyle sighed in disappointment. "Pumpkin pasties, cauldron cake, fizzing whizzbees…" he listed every wizarding candies, then switched to muggle candy "…mars bars, jelly baby—"
At that it opened.
"Really? Jelly Baby?' Harry asked, the gargoyle stared at him, the Headmaster is crazy, it told him. At least that's what Harry read from the look. "Right, then, thanks."
Harry and Padfoot climbed up the spiral stairs. Before Harry could even knock, he heard Dumbledore telling him to come in. He always wondered about that, did Hogwarts tell the Headmaster when someone was here?
"Harry! …and Sirius?" Dumbledore said looking at the dog in expectation, and as soon as Harry closed the door Sirius changed back to a man.
"Headmaster," Sirius greeted. "Harry told me to meet him today."
Both looked at Harry, waiting for him to explain himself.
"Right, er, not sure where to start." Harry said, he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact he actually went back in time. "Actually first can you get Professor Snape to come here, he should hear this too."
"Snivellus?" Sirius asked. "Why?"
"Merlin, how old are you Sirius?" Harry sighed he knew this would be difficult.
"I'll call him right now," said Dumbledore. The Headmaster then walked over to his fire place and shouted the professors name. A minute later Severus Snape stepped out of the fire, a sneer appeared on his face when he saw the other two occupants of the office.
"Yes, Headmaster?" the Slytherin asked.
"Harry here requested your presence."
Severus raised an eye brow at the youngest Gryffindor.
"Right, well, I need to explain some things but, again, I don't know where to start," Harry said.
"From the beginning, my boy, I find, is always a good way to start." Dumbledore suggested.
"The beginning, okay," Harry took a breath, "You cannot interrupt me until I am finished okay? We might as well get comfortable."
Sirius and Severus both looked to the Headmaster, and he nodded gesturing for them to sit, while he went to his comfy chair behind the desk.
"The beginning I suppose is back before I was born—don't interrupt." Harry scolded Sirius who was about to speak. "There was a prophecy claiming that there would be a boy who could defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort. Of course it eventually got back to Voldemort, but he only knew half of it. A boy who would be born at the end of July to parents who defied him thrice. There were two couples who fit this description the Potters and the Longbottoms…" Severus looked very uncomfortable at where this topic was going. "… both couples went into hiding. Voldemort decided to go after the Potters first, and we all know what happened there. I lived because of my mother's love.
"Voldemort then wasn't heard of until 1991, when he tried to get the Philosopher's Stone. I stopped him then, and the next year when he came back in the form of a diary possessing Ginny Weasley. My third year I did not meet him, but in my fourth year he came back."
"Wait—your fourth year?" Sirius asked, interrupting.
"Yes, my fourth year. He put my name into the Triwizard Tournament and at the last task he placed a portkey for me to take. Unfortunately, Cedric and I both grabbed the portkey and on arriving to a grave yard Cedric was killed by Peter Pettigrew."
"What story are you making up, Potter?" Snape asked, there was no way the boy knew any of this, or did he suddenly become a seer?
"Let me finish, Snape. There in the graveyard he resurrected himself using my blood. I managed to escape, but when I told everyone what happened, only Dumbledore believed me. Because of this Voldemort had more time to grow and plan, and it wasn't until the end of my fifth that the ministry finally saw him for themselves. In my sixth year, he sent Draco Malfoy to kill Dumbledore, what he didn't know was that Dumbledore was already dying. He died at the end of my sixth year when Death Eaters took over the castle. I didn't return for my seventh year, I with Ron and Hermione went searching for the Dark Lords horcruxes…"
"Horcruxes?" Dumbledore spoke for the first time. He wasn't sure what to believe, how did Harry know all this information? No fourth year would have any knowledge of horcruxes, much less one who grew up with muggles. Dumbledore also knew of a resurrection that used the blood of the enemy to resurrect their foe, it was very dark and not many people knew of it. He let Harry continue the story just to see where he was going but, horcruxes?
"Yes, horcruxes, he made seven of them, the diary, ring, diadem, snake, cup, locket, and….me," Harry sighed. Dumbledore was appalled, he had suspected the diary for what it was but to make seven? And one of them was Harry?
Severus was also horrified, he had heard of horcruxes, he did not know much of them, except they're one of the foulest sorts of dark magic. There was something definitely wrong with Potter, he could have never come by this knowledge on his own.
"Wait, what are horcruxes?" Sirius asked not knowing why everyone was so horrified.
"It is a way of preventing death, you cut part of your soul and put into a container." Harry explained simply, and Sirius' jaw dropped. Cutting your soul was horrible, your soul is who you are, no wonder the dark lord went mad.
"and… you're one of them?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, he accidently put part of his soul into me." Harry said.
"Accidently?" questioned Snape.
"I believe he was going to make a horcrux using my death, but when the spell backfired it killed his body. His soul already so damaged, a part of it went into me. That's why I can speak to snakes."
"How do you know all this. Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Right, if you guys would let me finish, so Hermione, Ron, and I went searching for horcruxes and we found most of them. The ring had already been dealt with by Dumbledore. We got the locket and the cup, then decided to go to Hogwarts to look for another one. There we found the diadem, but then Voldemort found out I was there. This was going to be the final battle, Neville killed the snake, and Snape told me I had to die, so I went to die…" Sirius again wanted to interrupt, but didn't, he still wasn't sure if any of this was real. "When Voldemort killed me I met Dumbledore in a sort of limbo. He told me I could go back and finish Voldy, or I could continue on to be with my parents. I was going to go back when he suggested I go back further, to another time when my soul left my body…yesterday, in fact."
"You…traveled…in time?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded. He didn't say another word, letting the three men process the information.
"You call the Dark Lord, Voldy?" Snape asked.
"Oh, yeah, since people are scared of Voldemort and no one knows his real name Tom Riddle. So, Voldy it is, makes him less scary." Harry answered.
That was pretty funny, Sirius thought. He couldn't believe his godson was capable of doing all those heroic deeds; battling Volder—no Voldy, at eleven, a basilisk at twelve, saving him at thirteen, Voldy again every year after. Then he went back in time?
"This is great!" Sirius said, grinning, "It's a huge prank on Voldy, isn't?"
"This isn't a laughing matter, mutt!" Snape scolded Sirius like he did his students. "Why would you go back in time? Sounds like you were doing fine, you got all the horcruxes. Where you too afraid to face the Dark Lord?"
"Are you calling Harry a coward?" Sirius asked angrily.
"If the wand fits…" Snape sneered.
"I wasn't doing fine," Harry answered before Sirius could say anything else. "A lot of people died. First Cedric, then…Sirius" Sirius eyes widened at that, but Harry continued on, "Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody, Ted Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Colin Creevy, Fred Weasley…even you, Professor." He looked at Snape.
Snape didn't look surprised by that. He knew the Dark Lord would be returning and he had reasoned, even hoped he wouldn't survive it.
"So you came back to save everyone." Dumbledore stated.
"Yes" Harry answered, "and I am going to do it with or without your help."