Author's Warning: There is a plot twist in this chapter – one that is likely to anger some of you. However, please don't get me wrong. That particular character is my absolute favourite – but since I already have a Dark!Harry… *evil grin*
I have added an AU warning due to this twist.
Chapter Two – Conversations in Two Times
August 30th, 1942
The Hogwarts of fifty years ago looked exactly like its future self. That was Harry's very first thought after falling onto the soft, green lawn near the Black Lake. Snape landed next to him, and their trunks followed with two thumps.
The tree they were under had orange and red leaves, which meant it was autumn. Harry guessed Snape and he were supposed to begin a new school year in the roles of a Professor and a student, respectively. Plus, Harry would more than likely end up in the same year as Tom Riddle.
Without a word, the two time-travellers started walking towards the Hogwarts castle, in the reddish light of the evening sun.
The Entrance Hall was exactly like Harry remembered from the nineteen-nineties. The four enormous hourglasses measuring the House Points were all empty, which more or less verified Harry's initial guess of it being late August.
There seemed to be no one in the castle, though considering it was summer that was to be expected. Nevertheless, the emptiness made Hogwarts feel less homey.
Upon reaching the stone gargoyle that lacked the bits of moss it would have on it in fifty years, Snape and Harry found the statue was not blocking the entrance to the Head's chambers, so the two were able to access the familiar rotating staircase.
"I wonder what Dippet's office looks like," Harry mused. "There'll be no Fawkes there, that's for sure."
"Armando Dippet was – is very fond of dried flowers," Snape said. "He is said to have had an impressive collection of them."
"Well, better that than disgustingly cute kittens…" Harry shuddered as he remembered Umbridge's office. Perhaps the toad-woman had been attempting to make up for her own ugliness by decorating her room with such sweet little balls of fur.
The door of the Headmaster's office had some carvings on it, ones shaped like various kinds of flowers. It seemed Dippet's fondness was not limited to dried flowers.
Before either of the wizards had the chance to knock, a deep voice told them to enter. Harry vaguely recognized Dippet's voice from the memory of Tom Riddle's he'd visited in his second year.
"Good evening," said Dippet once his visitors had entered. "You must be the two Albus mentioned. Please, take a seat."
After the two had sat down, Dippet continued, "Messrs Snape and Evans, I presume?"
Snape nodded curtly, but Harry felt confused. Evans? Wasn't that his mother's maiden name?
"Very well, welcome to 1942. We have everything planned. You, Mr. Snape, will be joining the Hogwarts staff as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor – and you, Mr. Evans, will be Sorted and placed in fifth year. Does that sound acceptable to you?"
"Yes, Headmaster," Snape replied, and Harry was sure the man was delighted to finally get the Defence post. Hopefully the infamous jinx on the job did not exist in this time.
"Fifth year sounds perfect, sir," Harry said truthfully. He had left in the middle of his fifth year, after all, so it was only appropriate he be placed in that year.
"Let us get the Sorting out of the way then, Mr. Evans." Dippet took down the Sorting Hat, which was considerably less weary than fifty years later, and handed it to Harry. With a sudden rush of excitement, the teen placed the Hat onto his head.
"Curious…very curious. You seem familiar, child, though I am certain we have never met before," the Hat thought to Harry. "Your mind, it intrigues me…there is plenty of courage, yet also a considerable amount of cunning. You are intelligent, and very ambitious. To top it off, you also possess a great sense of loyalty. You have self-preservation, yet you often subdue its voice."
Let me guess; I'd do well in Slytherin.
"Exactly – and that is why I'm going to put you in SLYTHERIN!"
Harry removed the Hat, noticing Snape's surprised expression. Dippet was beaming. "Excellent! Slytherin is my old House, and it is always good to see new students Sorted there."
Dippet was a Slytherin? Who would have thought? The man resembled Dumbledore a great deal, so Harry had supposed Dippet had been in Gryffindor during his school years. Then again, that had been a rather stupid assumption…judging the Headmaster by his appearance.
"Now, I shall summon a House-elf to take you to your new quarters and common room. Lonky!"
With a soft pop, a House-elf with enormous eyes and floppy ears appeared in the office. It was wearing a tea towel similar to those Harry had seen Dobby and Winky wear.
"Master Headmaster sir called Lonky," the elf squeaked.
Dippet smiled at the small creature. "Please escort these two gentlemen to their rooms. Mr. Snape is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Mr. Evans has just been Sorted into Slytherin."
"Yes, Master Headmaster sir." The elf turned to Harry and Snape. "If sirs would follows Lonky, he wills takes sirs to sirs' rooms."
The two time-travellers bid Dippet goodnight, and followed the House-elf out of the office.
Both Slytherins would have found their way even without Lonky – to both the Defence Professor's quarters and the Slytherin common room.
Harry had visited the office during three different teachers' tenures, and he had been in the Slytherin common room, Polyjuiced as Goyle.
Snape had visited the office at least once; when he'd brought Lupin a goblet of Wolfsbane Potion. He had also been a student in Hogwarts, and it was likely he had been in the room during those seven years. As for the common room – he had been in Slytherin, and later became the Head of that House.
"Keep in mind you have supposedly never been to Hogwarts before, Mr. Po – Evans," Snape reminded Harry in a low voice when they reached his new quarters. "We must not attract too much attention."
"I know, and it won't be easy, pretending not to know where everything is," Harry replied in an equally low voice.
"This be Mr. Snape sir's quarters," Lonky said, having stopped in front of the door that led to the office. Without a word, Snape swept past the elf, disappearing into the room and closing the door behind him.
Ten minutes later, Harry and the House-elf reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and Lonky told the young wizard the current password, which was 'Basilisk'.
The room was completely different from its future counterpart. The only similarity was the Slytherins colours, green and silver, in which the common room was done.
Gone was the cave-like appearance, replaced by coziness. The stone walls were covered with tapestries and paintings, so that the gray stone was barely visible. There was also a large noticeboard, though nothing was posted on it.
A total of three fireplaces sat by the walls, each of them lit with a merrily crackling fire.
There were thick carpets on the floor, and several torches hung on the walls. Luxurious-looking armchairs and sofas were scattered around the room, along with small tables and straight-backed, wooden chairs.
The dormitories were in two corridors; boys' one and girls' one. The fifth year boys' dorm was the furthest from the common room, and it took Harry a while to get there.
Inside, there were six four-poster beds. Harry spotted his trunk – which had apparently been brought by a House-elf during the discussion in Dippet's office – at the foot of the bed furthest from the door. Wondering whom he would be sharing the dorm room with, Harry made his way to his new bed.
Dippet had said it was 1942…
The Chamber of Secrets!
Harry recalled Riddle's diary, and how he'd seen part of the events of June 13, 1943. Myrtle had got killed by the Basilisk's gaze, and Riddle had framed Hagrid for opening the Chamber. Harry was sure he'd seen a Prefect's badge on Riddle's robe, so the boy had been at least a fifth-year.
Would it be possible to prevent Hagrid's expulsion? Probably not – if Riddle got caught, he would simply become Lord Voldemort sooner than in the original timeline.
But…
What if Riddle never opened the Chamber in the first place? Hagrid would not be expelled, and Myrtle would not get killed.
Yes, that sounded like the best alternative.
There was only one problem: making sure Riddle would not release Slytherin's Basilisk.
Perhaps I can come up with something…and if not, I could try talking to the monster myself.
May 11th, 1996
"Harry's been gone for hours; I'm starting to get worried," Hermione said, her expression one of concern. "Come on, Ron, let's go and see if he's still in that meeting with Dumbledore."
Ron, who was working on a particularly tricky Potions essay, due the following day, was more than happy to leave the common room.
"What d'you reckon Dumbledore wanted to see Harry about, 'Mione?" the redhead asked as the two approached the Headmaster's office.
"I don't know, Ron," she replied, "but I would think it has something to do with You-Know-Who."
"Yeah, probably. Must be important since it's taking so long."
To Ron and Hermione's surprise, the Headmaster appeared from behind the guardian gargoyle just as Ron finished his sentence.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, what brings you here tonight?" Dumbledore asked merrily.
"We were wondering what was taking Harry so long, sir," Hermione replied, a bit taken aback by Dumbledore's obvious cheerfulness. "He said he was going to go see you, and that was hours ago."
"Ah. I am afraid Mr. Potter is away on a rather…lengthy journey, and won't be returning for a long time."
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "Where is he?"
Dumbledore beamed at the redhead, seemingly oblivious to the younger wizard's worried expression and tone of voice. "He is accompanying Professor Snape on a trip to change the world. You will not be seeing either of the two until they return – in fifty years."
"Fifty years!" Hermione cried. "But that's supposed to be impossible! Why has Harry gone there, anyway? 'Changing the world', what exactly does that mean?"
"You are a clever witch, Ms. Granger, I know you will be able to figure that out," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling more than ever. "Keep in mind Harry and Severus have gone back to year 1942."
With that, the old wizard left, leaving the two Gryffindors standing next to the gargoyle.
"1942? Is that supposed to ring a bell? Because it sure as hell does not. And what's Dumbledore playing at, sending Harry and Snape, of all people, into the past?" Ron was seriously angry at the Headmaster. How dare the man do something so drastic? And how could Harry agree to anything that required him to spend unnecessary amounts of time in the greasy git's company? Oh, Sirius was going to hear about this…
"Well, every cloud has a silver lining; Snape won't be here teaching Potions anymore," Hermione said, apparently forcing herself to look on the bright side of things. "Let's get back to the common room, Ron. There's absolutely nothing we can do about the situation."
"All right…but I'm going to write to Sirius right away. The man deserves to know where his godson had gone, and that Harry won't be back in an eternity," Ron said determinedly.
"True, so true… Oh, I don't know how he'll take it, though – Sirius' temper tends to get the better of him."
Ron grinned wickedly. "I'm definitely looking forward to the confrontation between Sirius and Dumbledore!"
"Hmm…you might just have a point there…" Hermione could see it in her mind; Sirius Black versus Albus Dumbledore. It would be an interesting scene, all right.
August 30th, 1942
Severus was pacing in his new quarters, still amazed at his incredibly good luck. He had finally got the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, even if it was in the past. Here, the old coot would not have anything to hold over Severus' head, since the Dark Lord did not officially exist. Yet. Severus knew about Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort being the same wizard, thanks to Albus.
Would it be possible for Severus and the Evans boy to stop Riddle from becoming a Dark Lord? More importantly, would it be worth it? Severus had never truly disliked being a Death Eater – Dumbledore was not as skilled Legilimens and manipulator as people thought. It had been relatively easy for the Slytherin to spin a false tale of remorse for the old man. Severus had been a spy, yes, only he had been working for the Dark Lord. Dumbledore, being fond of giving others second chances, had failed to realize that, and as a result Severus had been able to spy on the Headmaster's precious Order of the Phoenix.
As for Harry Potter…Severus would have been foolish to eliminate the boy under Dumbledore's nose. Only the man's protection had kept Severus out of Azkaban, and the prison was the very last place the Slytherin wanted to end up in. Besides, Severus had wanted to see what would become of James Potter's son. Oh, it had been fun to torment the brat, especially when he had been such rubbish at Potions.
And since Severus was still alive and breathing his reasoning had obviously satisfied the Dark Lord. Yes, a couple Cruciatus Curses had been sent the Potions Master's way after he had Apparated to his Lord's side that night in the graveyard, but that was nothing unusual. The Dark Lord always used the Unforgivable when punishing his Death Eaters.
Truth be told, Severus was more than a little relieved to be able to lead a somewhat normal life in the past. He would not need to spy on anyone, for anyone, and neither would he be under constant scrutiny from Dumbledore.
Plus, he would be teaching Defence.
All in all, Severus was very pleased with his current situation.
May 11th, 1996
Albus felt like several heavy burdens had dropped from his shoulders.
He had given Tom, Severus and Harry another chance, a chance to build a new, Lighter world. All of his failures would be erased, forever, and those three whom he had failed would get to taste freedom and peace.
Tom, the exceptionally powerful boy who had grown up in an orphanage.
Severus, who had been raised in an abusive environment, and who had then chosen the wrong path.
Harry, who had never had a proper childhood, but too much on his plate.
All three of them would be freed of their chains by Albus' ingenious plan, and the old wizard himself would finally be rid of the guilt he had been carrying ever since the first rise of Lord Voldemort.
Albus could hardly wait till the changes Severus and Harry were making would start affecting the Wizarding World.
Author's Notes: Not much happened in this chapter, because there were several things that needed to be said. From now on, there will be very occassional glimpses at what is going on in the future/present. Chapter three will be a lot more interesting than this one. ;)