Chapter Four: Four Years Earlier

Harry experienced the uncomfortable sensation of being sucked through a narrow rubber tube. He then found himself in front of a sign he'd seen only in a memory. It read: "Great Hangleton- 5 miles; Little Hangleton- 1 mile". Harry saw the large dilapidated manor house in the distance. There was one light on in the house. Harry, suddenly frightened, disapparated again. He reappeared in front of the house. The light that was on in the building came from the same room Voldemort had stayed in four years previously. He had seen it in one of his frighteningly realistic nightmares from his scar. He put on his Invisibility cloak, ran into the house, and stealthily climbed the stairs. He found himself in a long dark hallway. At the end of the hallway, a door was open. Light from a fireplace was pouring from the room. Harry cautiously proceeded down the hallway towards the door. He peered inside, still not wishing to make his presence known. Inside, he saw just who he had expected; Lucius Malfoy. He was crouched down on the floor in front of the fireplace, fiddling with what appeared to be the Time Turner. Harry's heart skipped a beat. Then Lucius began muttering to himself. He sounded run down, as if he had been considerably weakened. "There…. All preparations finished…. I've made the Horcrux…. I've magically set the Time Turner to go one year into the past with every turn instead of one hour…. Four turns will do it now…." Then, to Harry's horror, Lucius began turning the Time Turner in his hand. Once…. Twice…. Harry panicked. He realized that it was now or never. He'd never be able to stop him from going back in time…. So…. Just as Lucius turned it over for the third time, Harry took off his Invisibility cloak, tucked it in his robe, and threw the door open. Before Lucius even realized something was happening, Harry ran to Lucius and grabbed the chain of the Time Turner just as he turned it for the fourth time. "No!" exclaimed Lucius, who had finally realized what was happening. But it was too late. They flew back in time at blinding speed. Their eyes locked onto each other, each sending a message of eternal loathing to the other. They suddenly landed on the floor in the middle of the same room they were in, four years in the past. It was currently empty. Lucius wrenched the Time Turner out of Harry's grasp and pointed his wand at him. "Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed. As he said this, Harry spun on the spot and Disapparated. The Killing Curse missed him by less than a second.

Lucius Malfoy cursed loudly at his stupidity as Harry reappeared at Number 12, Grimmauld Place; a place that the Harry of the current time didn't know about. Harry's mind was racing. He was four years in the past with no way to get back. Harry entered the house, knowing that no one would be there except for Kreacher, who probably wouldn't even notice him. The house was filthier than he'd ever seen it. No cleaning had been done in over a decade, and no one had bothered to check on the old place. It was no wonder there were so many spiders and doxys when Harry first saw the place three years ago…. Or would it be next year now? Harry realized that this wasn't just going to be a stressful experience, it was going to be a confusing one too.

Harry sat down on the old dusty couch in the sitting room. He needed to collect his thoughts and come up with a plan for action. If it was four years in the past, then Voldemort was still alive, but not yet restored to power. And his Horcruxes were still intact too…. "That's it!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "The Horcruxes! This place hasn't been inhabited for years, so the locket Horcrux is still here!" Harry ran to the old glass case that he remembered it being in before. It was still a wreck, and the locket was still inside, right where Kreacher had put it.

Harry extracted the locket from the case and held the chicken-egg sized pendant in his palm, looking at it with disgust. He had seen Ron destroy it with the sword of Gryffindor in the Forest of Dean just last year. Its remnants were completely destroyed beyond repair, the evil piece of soul encased in it destroyed. Now it sat in his hand again, cold as ice against his skin, beating mechanically, as if it were alive. It was alive of course. A fragment of Voldemort's soul was sealed within it. Unfortunately, he had no way to destroy it. There were no basilisk fangs around, Hermione had never taught Harry how to make Fiendfyre, and Gryffindor's sword was in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. Then again, Dumbledore was alive now! He could just go to Hogwarts and tell him what happened. It was his best bet. Harry stowed the locket away in his pocket, put his Invisibility cloak back on, and disapparated, heading for Hogsmeade.

AN: Yes, I'm aware it's not much, and yes, I'm aware this took me A YEAR to write. I truly apologize. Hopefully there will be more frequent updates from now on. Chapter Five shouldn't take too long.