Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, you would have read this already. And it'd be finished. Since this isn't the case... you get the picture.
"How could this happen? I mean, really, when did this sort of thing become a natural occurrence? There used to be rules- laws!- to magic, and now, strangers from the future and dragons- Dragons of all things!- have just taken to popping willy-nilly past centuries old wards! What should I expect next, the King of the Leprechauns himself, come to whisk me away?" McGonagall's nostrils flared as she took in the four teenagers standing on the opposite side of Dumbledore's desk.
As Harry blanched and Snape smirked at him slightly, the Headmaster attempted to soothe the harried Gryffindor witch, saying, "Calm yourself, my dear Professor, I highly doubt another such extraordinary event will happen." He paused, hand outstretched towards his candy dish as he considered. "Though, of course, as we know not what precipitated any of these events, I suppose it would not be entirely honest of me to assure everyone otherwise." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth. "Alas, that is the nature of life, and even magic, I suppose. One never knows with any great degree of certainty what will happen today, tomorrow, or even yesterday." As he smiled serenely, Ron nudged Hermione slightly.
"What exactly is in those muggle candies?" He whispered fiercely. She smacked him lightly and shook her head.
"Not the time," she hissed.
Ron scowled, but turned his attention back to the Professors. The Headmaster and Gryffindor Head of House had dismissed the rest of the school to their respective quarters, bringing the three time travelers and Snape to the Headmaster's Office for a good old-fashioned talk in private. He snorted, taking in all of the portraits doing their best not to appear as obviously interested as they were. Yeah, very private. He shook his head.
"So where do you fit into all of this, Mr. Snape?" The Scottish witch's voice was terse, obviously irritated by her employer's blasé nature. Her gaze was sharper than a hawk's as she pinned the de-aged form of Severus Snape with an intense glare.
Unfortunately she did not as yet know that he had had years to inure himself to her. But she was about to.
Snape smirked slightly before stepping forward, robes swirling as in days not yet gone by.
"Minerva," his voice was silky smooth as he ignored her gasp of indignation. "I have to admit, when this green eyed devil popped into place here and proceeded to join Slytherin, I was positively enraged. A Potter, this particular Potter, throwing to the wayside all of my hard work. I've spent the last two years, a grown man in a child's body, working tirelessly to ensure that all remains as it once was. And for good reason, I believed. As hellish as my life may have been, what with dealing with incompetent idiots in the dungeons and keeping this fool child alive," he gestured at Harry, who snorted, "I at least died reasonably assured in the assumption that the end result was a far more tolerable conclusion than might otherwise occur, should I change the course of history." He paced slightly, even as McGonagall moved slowly into a chair conveniently placed behind her, jaw dropped in slowly dawning realization. "Of course, the loss, I've been informed, was almost unimaginable, much as I rather expected, but at least it was not that which we have worked so hard against. Voldemort lost! Struck dead by his own puffed up self-importance. But then, Harry here arrived, and cast all of my efforts out the window, showing me another way. Maybe things won't turn out better, after all. But maybe it doesn't really hurt to try." He paused in front of his seat again and looked at Harry, a disgruntled look upon his face. "Remind me to be kinder to the Longbottom boy this time around, provided I'm given the chance. I owe him something of a debt, taking care of that wretched beast responsible for my demise." His eyes glittered darkly for a moment and when he spoke, there was a nasty sort of glee in his voice, "Of course, I plan to deal preemptively with the beast this time." His fingers flexed momentarily as if they were eager to begin as soon as possible. He stilled and smiled suddenly at the shocked Professors. "I must admit, I quite look forward to seeing all of those House and Quidditch trophies make their way to my office again."
It took a few hours after that, hours spent in tedious questions and relentless theorizing. Professor McGonagall was having more difficulty wrapping her mind around a teenage Severus Snape who remembered years of being her colleague, than she was with any of the other issues. The Headmaster was mostly amused by the whole thing, years having seemed to drop from him after this most tangible proof of a mostly positive victory. Indeed, after the stress of the previous years, dealing with time-travelers who had information on how best to defeat his enemy, why, this was almost as good as a vacation. Hermione was just confused. Ron was hungry.
"Well," Professor Dumbledore said finally, interrupting McGonagall and Hermione as they debated the possible ramifications to continuing as Harry had suggested, and the wary conversational two-step Ron was engaging in with Severus, watched by an increasingly amused Harry. "It seems the only thing to do now, is to have you two sorted."
Ron was eying the Hat distrustfully.
"No offense," he said, tone implying the exact opposite, "but Harry was a Gryffindor with us, back in our time. I don't much fancy prancing around in green." He tugged on a lock of fiery red hair. "Doesn't really match, y'know?"
Hermione had a calculating look on her face.
"I don't know," she said slowly, before looking at him. "It would be rather interesting to attend Hogwarts under a different perspective-"
"We're twenty years in the past!" Ron burst out, staring at her incredulously. "How much more bloody perspective do you need?"
Hermione scowled at him.
"It's never a bad idea to take advantage of impossible situations." She stated primly. "And besides, Harry was sorted in front of everyone. It would seem odd if we didn't do the same." She sniffed and turned away.
It was Ron's turn to scowl, mostly because he knew he'd been beaten.
"Well," he brightened, "Weasley's have been Gryffindors for generations now. A little time travel won't change that, eh?" He grinned, nudging Harry in the ribs good-naturedly.
Breakfast, the next day:
What's this? Another one, not content with having been sorted once, eh? Ron frowned. What? That's not why he was here. No, no, of course not, the Hat continued, ignoring his current visitor in light of his recent irritation. I suppose you're going to be like your little friend just now and try to convince me I don't know the best place for you. Ron blinked once in dawning horror. He'd wondered why Hermione'd spent so long under the Hat, only to end up in Gryffindor all over again. Come to think of it, she hadn't looked best pleased either. Visions of green snakes danced bleakly in his head. He felt faintly nauseous. At least he'd be with Harry, he supposed. Oh, no you don't! I didn't give in to her, I didn't, I'm not going to do so for you. Slytherin, eh? Ron thought that perhaps this would end all right. Want to stick by your buddy? What admirable loyalty. The Hat cackled silently, mulling over its options. Ron felt a sense of foreboding. Well, in that case, the only place for you is HUFFLEPUFF!
Ron fainted.
I am such an awful person, I know. :( If you go to my profile, you'll have a bit of an idea why, but I'm not here to make excuses. I just wanted to get a little bit of something up before y'all give up on me entirely. And I realise this is horribly short and unfulfilling, but I needed it as a bit of a natural segue into the rest of the fic. Truthfully, I was rather lost on how to continue, and then my Sister began harassing me and playing on my already huge amount of guilt so I made her talk to me until I found my way again. Of course, it took me a bit to find my voice again, so I have quite a bit scrapped because it simply didn't fit the feel of this particular fic, but by writing through it anyways, I managed to get where I wanted to be. I hope, and I say this lightly, to have a longer, more eventful chapter up within the week.
I want to say a very enthusiastic and sincere thank you to everybody who has alerted/favorited/reviewed! Y'all are the reason I feel guilty all the time! And please don't feel bad, that's a good thing :) Otherwise, I might be lazier... *shame* So, a specific call out to the awesomeness that is these people:
*Harry. Potter. Is. BOSS.* Sheankelor * andru71 * TiannaMVA * bookaddict19 * sassybratx96 * aannnd GinHanelle!
Also, I am apparently horrible about responding personally to reviews, but I'd like to be better about it. If you want more than just a thank-you here, let me know :) Also, I don't have any particular aversion to PMing, so feel free. If I somehow don't get back to you, don't feel bad, it's never my intention to offend anyone. :D Love y'all! I'm gonna go back to writing now! ;)