Harry's mind was racing. Twenty years back, he didn't exist. None of them would be born for a few years. Then it hit Harry. His parents were still alive. Sirius was still alive. He did a quick calculation and guessed his parents would be in their 7th year, the same age as him. This was the last day before school started. In 24 hours, Harry would be close enough to see them roll by in the carriages.
"Hermione, my parents," Harry said aloud.
She looked at him with sad eyes. She knew what he was going to say. "Harry, I have no idea what you're going through, but we can't see them. We have to figure out a way to get back. This is impossible. No time turner has the ability to send a person back a year, especially twenty!"
"We have no idea what happened. There is no way we can figure out what happened without help, Hermione. We need to see Dumbledore," Harry retorted. A memory flashed in Harry's mind, of a frail, thin body falling off the Astronomy Tower. Dumbledore's body had been so broken when they got to him.
"And what do you expect to tell him?" she asked. "Hello Professor, don't mind us. We just came from the future, where you're dead and one of your students if murdering people left and right and there is only one way to stop it but we can't tell you on your orders, which you haven't made yet!"
"He might have a point, Hermione," Ron said. "You know as well as I do that if there is anyone who can get us out of here, it would be him. We can trust him to keep our secret." Ron had never been so forceful towards Hermione, and she didn't say anything for a minute.
"Fine, but we can't talk to anyone else. Most of the people we know are still in school, so we need to avoid the students once they start arriving tomorrow." She then looked to the sky. The sun was setting on the low horizon. "We should start moving."
They set off, not down the path to Honeydukes and the secret passage, but down the trail that led to Hogwarts. They didn't want to show up out of nowhere at the castle and expect the staff not to stun them senseless. Give them a chance to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter through the front gates. If they were even allowed in.
At the door, Hermione knocked twice. They waited until they heard the familiar stumblings of the caretaker, Argus Filch. "Business?" he grunted. Although they were twenty years into the past, the caretaker looked his same scruffy self. This made Harry wonder how old Filch actually was.
Hermione cleared her throat. "We are here to see Professor Dumbledore." Her voice was steady, but Harry had known Hermione long enough to detect nervousness in her voice.
Filch frowned. "I'd no idea the Headmaster was expecting guests. Right, follow me." Filch's voice sounded as if he didn't believe Hermione's story, but he opened the doors wide enough for them to enter and started off down the corridor. He didn't look over his shoulder to see if they were keeping up, but instead, took off at a faster pace.
The castle looked just how Harry remembered. The people in the portraits stood by their frames to get a good look at the visitors and Harry recognized a few witches and wizards. They were muttering to each other as they took side glances at Harry. Without the echoing footsteps of students, the castle seemed cold and empty. They walked past the Great Hall, where Harry could just make out the house elves scrubbing the long tables in preparation for the arrival of students the next day.
They arrived at the stone gargoyle and Filch grunted, "Ice mice." The gargoyle moved to reveal a spiral staircase Harry knew by heart, which would deposit them at the entrance to the headmaster's office. "Up you go," Filch said, nudging Ron forward.
As they climbed the staircase, Hermione said, "How much are we telling him?"
"Just the basics," Harry said. "We were brought to the past by a time turner while… doing business for you-"
"I almost forgot," Ron interrupted. "Did you get it?"
The locket had slipped Harry's mind as well. Their situation had seemed much more important than the horcrux they stole from Umbridge. Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out the golden locket. "It won't do us much good now," Hermione said. "There's another one, this same one, that is linked with this time's Voldemort. Still," she said, pocketing it again, "it might come in handy if we need to prove ourselves." She quieted down as they reached the oak door.
Harry reluctantly grasped the silver knob and twisted it. The door swung open noiselessly. None of them wanted to cross the threshold. They stood very still, as if the basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets had petrified them. They were about to see Albus Dumbledore, a man who had been dead for months, a man who was the key to their returning to their own time. It was still a terrifying thought, seeing Dumbledore. Up until then, they hadn't encountered anyone who was supposed to be dead. Maybe this was still a joke, they were at Hogwarts again in their own time. Seeing those half moon spectacles and blue eyes would confirm the worse.
A voice called out from the office, sending chills up Harry's back. "I promise I do not bite." It was, without a doubt, the voice of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
Harry led the way in, followed closely by Ron and Hermione, who looked just as startled as he felt. His office was just as Harry remembered. Books lined every bookshelf and strange silver devices littered all table space. On his perch, Fawkes looked just as he always had. This time, they caught him newly burned. He was considerably smaller than Harry had remembered seeing him before. His eyes raked over them for a second before he went back to cleaning his feathers. They walked up to the desk, Harry with his head lowered so he wouldn't see the person occupying the desk. When he did look up, Harry's stomach turned.
Albus Dumbledore looked younger than Harry had ever seen him, even with his encounter with Barty Crouch Jr. in the pensieve. His beard, though still pure silver, was shorter, but still long enough to hang off his face like silk. His face had a few less wrinkles, but still resembled the old wizard they'd grown to love. The only thing different about this version of Dumbledore was that his eyes no longer twinkled as he looked at Harry. They didn't show the joy and happiness Harry was used to seeing every time Dumbledore invited him to his office. This man's eyes showed tiredness and suspicion.
"I saw you all arrive at the entrance of Hogwarts, and I've been trying to decide what your business here is. You look too young to be on your own, but you carry yourselves with ones wiser beyond your years."
He had been looking at Harry, but it was Hermione who answered. "I'm not sure you'll believe our story, Professor."
Harry hadn't expected Dumbledore to smile. "I'm all ears."
She looked at Harry and Ron, and they nodded for her to continue. She sighed. "As we were… completing a mission, for you, someone slipped a time turner on us as we were disapparating and we came here, twenty years into the past."
Dumbledore sat back in his chair, contemplating what Hermione told him. His brow neither furrowd nor shot up. Harry, as well as on countless occasions, couldn't read the headmaster's expression. Did he believe them? Would he help him? Then Harry mentally kicked himself for ever doubting Albus Dumbledore. Minutes passed before Dumbledore said, "How am I supposed to believe your story?"
Harry's heart fell. Dumbledore didn't believe them. No sensible wizard would. If what Hermione said was true, then traveling back years was as impossible as killing off Voldemort without the horcruxes. He knew Dumbledore wanted proof that they really were from 1997, but Harry didn't know how much they should tell him. Everything, he thought. Dumbledore would be the one they could tell everything to. Harry inhaled before nodding to Hermione. "My name is Hermione Jean Granger, born in 1980. My parents are muggleborn, so they don't know about magic. They both are dentists who work in London."
Ron went next. "I'm Ron, Ron Weasley. My mum and dad are Molly and Arthur Weasley. I have five older brothers: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George. Ginny is my younger sister. We live at the Burrow."
Harry had been wondering what to say, and more importantly, how he should phrase it. When Ron finished and looked to him, he knew exactly what to say. "My name is Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, godson of Sirius Black, members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Marauders." Dumbledore raised his eyebrow when Harry spoke, but he didn't look surprised.
He chuckled, like they had just shared a private joke. "I should have known. You look so much like James. Except your eyes…" Dumbledore trailed off, but the smile never slipped off his face.
"Sir," Hermione said. "We need a way back to our time. We came here by an impossibly time turner, but I know they can't send the wearer forward through time. The users usually wait until their past selves go back in time, but, well, we don't have twenty years. Can you help us?"
Dumbledore had stopped smiling by then. He wasn't looking at Harry, Ron, or Hermione, but staring intently at the time turner around Harry's neck. Harry didn't know why he hadn't taken it off or why he felt a connection with it, but he slid the chair off his head and held it out to Dumbledore. The wizard took the device and held it up to his eyes to examine it better.
"This is a slightly different model from the ones in the Department of Mysteries. The hourglass is slimmer and the sand is black instead of white. Probably a prototype considering it's abilities." He stopped then, and looked at the three figures over his glasses. "Where exactly did you procure such an interesting device?"
Harry gulped. "Well sir, we were on business for you at the time at the Ministry of Magic. We were attacked by, by death eaters."
Dumbledore nodded, but did not look at Harry for any further explanation. "Definitely a prototype. I'll have to do some diagnostics on it. As for you three," he finally managed to look at the three of them standing awkwardly in front of his desk, "you will have to remain at Hogwarts for observation. I'll inform Madame Pomfrey of your arrival-"
"Professor!" Harry called. "You don't expect us to stay at Hogwarts, do you?"
Dumbledore looked grim as he answered Harry. "I understand your concern, but it's the only option. I can't have you away from the grounds because we are at war, as you know. You three are important to the future, our future. Hogwarts is the safest place to hold out until I can get the time turner working. You'll have to attend classes because I can't keep you three in Hogwarts without anyone seeing you, and word travels fast. I'll have you stay in the Hospital Wing instead of dorms, but I'm afraid contact with your families are inevitable."
Harry understood Dumbledore's logic, and he knew there was no way to remain anonymous to the students once term started, but he refused to believe he'd have to face the Marauders again. He thought of Lupin supporting George as they escaped the hoard of death eaters. He thought of Sirius plummeting into the veil while Bellatrix cackled with laughter. He thought of Peter scurrying away during the full moon while Lupin transformed into a werewolf. He thought of his parents' screams as Voldemort murdered them, of their ghosts saving him in the cemetery. In a matter of hours, they will be within his touch, all of them undamaged and alive. They wouldn't think of him at all because he wouldn't be born for three years. He wouldn't even be a thought yet. Dumbledore had been one thing, already too old when Harry met him six years ago. This was different. So young, so very young and ignorant of what was to come. It was unavoidable. He would see them, hear them, talk to them, and they wouldn't have the slightest idea who he really was. And, he thought, he was okay with that. He realized now, this was his chance to know them at their peak. Sirius and Lupin were broken by the time Harry came along. They had already lost three friends. Azkaban broke Sirius. Solitude broke Lupin. He would be friends with them, if only for a short period. Chances were they would forget him, but he would never forget them. Not one moment of it.
Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Dumbledore continuing. "I'll have trunks filled with robes and school supplies sent down to the Hospital Wing. I'll also inform the staff of your… situation, but I won't give away your identities." He stopped as a thought struck him. "What house were you in your own time?"
"Gryffindor." Harry said.
Dumbledore nodded, smiling, as if he knew the answer already. "Right, you'll be sorted into Gryffindor house. I'll alert Professor McGonagall of three new members of her house. And you'll need new names so as not to alert anyone here." He spoke to them all, but he was looking at Harry as he said this.
"Right," Hermione exclaimed. "These names should be close to our real ones so we don't get our names confused. I'll be Hermione Jean. Ron could be a Wesley. Harry, I guess Porter will be yours."
Ron wrinkled his nose. "Wesley-"
But Dumbledore clapped his hands together, cutting Ron's exclamation short. "Excellent. Madame Pomfrey should be expecting you in the Hospital Wing any moment now, so you'd better get a move on."