While the older Harry was finishing explaining himself to the Weasleys, younger Harry was laying on his bed in the smallest bedroom of Privet Drive No. 4. He was waiting for today's meagre food "ration".

While Harry has spent longer periods with restricted food in the cupboard just last year, he always could sneak out at night to swipe something more to eat. Right now, the door sported several intimidating locks, so leaving wasn't an option. Thus, on his fifth day of starvation, he was seriously doubting if he'll even make it to Hogwarts before keeling over. He idly thought that if he ever DID made it back there, he'd have to start eating more in case this ever happened again; at least then he'd have reserves to rely on.

As he was imagining himself returning as fat as Dudley the next year just to survive his holiday break, suddenly, a loud popping noise erupted from the middle of his room and Harry saw someone's legs out the corner of his eye.

Hedwig squawked and Harry was on his feet in an instant, just to abruptly sit back down on the bed when he noticed the face of the person who decided to invade his "private" space.

As Older Harry started apparating into the room, he silently cursed himself. What the heck was he doing? He was rushing into action, headfirst, like a thoughtless Gryffindor, once again. Didn't Hermione warn him repeatedly not to meet your younger self during time travel? And besides, how could he possibly explain himself to himself?

However, the nagging feeling something could be wrong could not be squelched and he just had to check and make sure. It wouldn't do to travel back in time just to discover his younger self has died or something. And besides, if that happened, wouldn't he drop dead or disappear, as well?

As he landed in the room which he reluctantly called home during the summers, he winced at the sound his apparation made. He could do it more quietly, but that required more focus. In his barely formed resolve to check on himself, the jump was made quite carelessly and thus, quite loudly. The sound startled the boy laying on the bed and his owl, and he jumped up and onto his feet immediately. Their gazes locked, one worried and surprised, the other concerned. After a second, the younger boy had to sit down. Older Harry used this moment of confusion to inspect his other self.

Merlin, he was tiny back then. Ron seemed absolutely miniscule right now, but he was at least a few inches taller than himself. Harry was sure he could still easily pass as a relatively small first year. He silently cursed his caretakers as he took in the boy's apparent weight; he remembered this was the worst summer food-wise and it certainly showed. But then, Older Harry released a breath he didn't know he was holding; his other self wasn't beaten into a pulp or anything like that. He just had to get him out of here and hand over to Molly. A plan of action already started forming. Yes. Maybe this would all work out after all. While it was quite weird to look at himself from the third person, as it were, he didn't feel some inexplicable urge to attack or other things Hermione seemed to suggest might happen were this ever to occur.

Younger Harry looked scared and shocked at first, but now was clearly starting to get confused, probably since the "invader" seemed to relax after looking at him. Seeing his twelve-year-old self wasn't about to start the conversation, he did it instead.

"Er... hi." - he began, articulate as ever, just to be interrupted.

"Who are you and how did you get into my room?" - squeaked out his other self, after clearly gathering up all his bravery. "And why do you look like-" - he didn't get to finish that question, as the duo heard a sound as if an elephant was trying to run up the staircase leading up to the first storey. They both correctly assessed said elephant to likely be Uncle Vernon, which was promptly confirmed when said individual started cursing out loud as he tried to figure out which key went to which of the locks placed on the door. It seemed that Older Harry's "graceful" entrance has perhaps been heard downstairs. And in the entire neighbourhood.

Once again congratulating himself on his apparently immeasurable stupidity, Older Harry started pulling out his wand, just to be stopped by his younger self's pleading voice.

"No! You can't, please! I've already got a warning earlier this summer and if you use magic around here, they'll expel me!" - he almost shouted and it was clear the boy was panicked. Older Harry didn't blame him, seeing how he knew exactly how they both got that warning, so he put his best reassuring smile on (well, one he thought it was reassuring, anyway) and said, "Don't worry. It doesn't work like that. I promise."

He actually didn't know that, as no one ever explained how precisely the trace worked, but was fairly sure of it. After all, the Order of the Phoenix were free to use magic around his house all they wanted when they came here, and he knew the ministry wasn't alerted then since Moody would likely not allow such a blatant security hole. Besides, he didn't really plan on using magic, anyway. Uncle Vernon was a big brute, but the second he got faced with equal opposition, he became quite cowardly.

Younger Harry didn't seem especially convinced and was probably about to protest and tell him all the details of Dobby's little cake incident, when the door finally swung open, knocking over yesterday's can of soup that stood next to the cat flap it was delivered through, revealing the puce-coloured face of their walrus uncle. He looked like he was gathering enough air in his lungs to spew some of the usual verbal diarrhoea, likely containing an overabundance of the word "freak" and variations thereof at absurdly loud volume. However, that was when he noticed the older person in the room.

"Wh... Who are you?! What are you doing in my house?!" - he bellowed, but looked startled and his face lost almost all colour as he noticed the piece of wood the stranger bore in his hand. Harry quickly composed himself and tried to appear carefree and calm.

"A friend of Harry's. I've come to take him away for the rest of the summer." His younger self looked like the pure definition of confusion. Before his counterpart could ruin his story, he kneeled in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes and whispered.

"Look, I know you're confused, but trust me. We'll go to the Weasleys and I'll explain everything". He smiled slightly when he noticed Younger Harry's gaze wander over to his forehead and saw a small gasp and widening of the eyes. He almost snorted at the irony of Harry Potter staring at Harry Potter's scar, before he continued, louder this time.

"So your things are in your cupboard?" This seemingly innocent statement was just supposed to further along the thoughts that were already forming inside the twelve-year olds' head. After all, no one was supposed to know about "his" cupboard. After a second or so, he saw himself nod hesitantly. Success!

"Is the cupboard locked?" Another nod. He knew this already, but appearances should be kept. Adult Harry got up and walked over to his uncle.

"Well then, Mr. Dursley, I'll require the key to said cupboard, we'll take his trunk and be on our way." He smiled. The man still seemed stunned by the sudden appearance of a fully qualified wizard in his house and didn't even protest when Harry reached his hand towards the bundle of keys he was holding. Then, Harry motioned to his younger self.

"Well, grab your owl and come, then." - he said, put the wand back into his sleeve and started to head down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Young Harry was weighing his options, still not quite sure he could trust... himself? One look at his uncle, however, who was slowly returning from his stupor back to being furious made up his mind. If he didn't leave right now, he'd probably skin him alive. So, he quickly picked up his owl's cage and bolted from the room that contained nothing else worthwhile downstairs. There, his older lookalike was already in the process of unlocking the cupboard. That was when Aunt Petunia rolled onto the scene. It seemed Dudley was out of the house.

"Ah, Mrs. Dursley, it's lovely to see you. I'll be taking your nephew for the rest of the summer." She seemed to be about as stunned as Vernon at first, but composed herself much quicker.

"Who are you? You're clearly related to him, so why isn't he staying with you?" she spat. That was when the sound of an elephant trudging down the stairs was heard and uncle Vernon, who finally regained his favourite skin tone, appeared.

"Yeah, precisely! We were told he had no other relatives to go to! Why do we have to take care of the freak if another freak like you could be doing the job?" It appeared that Vernon took note of the polite, pleasant tone that was used so far and decided that the trespasser was someone he could easily bully into submission, wizard or not. Older Harry was just taking out the trunk out of the cupboard, but he stopped, looked thoughtful for a second and addressed both Dursleys. He had an idea.

"There were circumstances that prevented me from doing so. Perhaps now the situation is, ah, rectified..." - there he looked at Younger Harry - "...but for now I can only promise he won't be returning for the rest of the summer." He really wanted to tell his younger self right then and there that he never had to return here again, but he didn't want to instil false hope. There were several factors that could prevent that from happening.

Older Harry finished taking everything out of the cupboard, including the Nimbus 2000, (which he briefly looked at with sadness, remembering its' final fate in his own timeline, before stuffing it into the trunk), shut the door and threw the keys back to Vernon, who almost failed catching them.

"We don't want him here! He ruined a wonderful business opportunity just last week his freakishness!" - he roared - "He didn't even get punished in any way! And that lousy warning just made things worse!"

Adult Harry's gaze suddenly turned steel and Younger Harry was impressed - that was the sort of glare Snape gave to unruly dunderheads. Vernon recoiled back, when he saw him twitching his hand toward the wand again.

"Oh, indeed? So locking him in from outside and feeding through a cat flap was just an experiment, not his punishment, then?"

"Lies! All lies! That boy always tells made up stories to get out of trouble!" shrieked Aunt Petunia, but the time-traveller just smiled.

"Ah, is that why his door took a full minute to open and there was a can of soup next to the flap, then?" Petunia looked like she swallowed a truck-full of lemons and before the conflict could escalate further, he regained his pleasant look and turned to his younger self.

"Well, I think we shall excuse ourselves. Come on, Harry." He grabbed the trunk by its' handle and opened the door. He motioned him to go out. He was about to step out, when an idea hit him. This wouldn't be strictly necessary, but if his younger self had to return here, it'd make his life a bit easier next time." Ah, Mr. Dursley? Grunt. "You should know that while it was initially thought it was Harry doing magic in here, further investigation revealed that not to be the case. So... it truly wasn't his fault at all."

The Dursleys both looked startled before Vernon bellowed "Well, who the bloody hell could it be, then?!"

Older Harry smirked. "I truly have no idea. Perhaps someone else in your family is also magical? After all, Mrs. Dursley's sister was a witch. Maybe she wanted that cake served so much it just happened." Petunia's eye started twitching and Harry knew it was time to bolt. "Either way, farewell." He pushed the door closed and immediately heard panicked whispering behind it, which make him chuckle. He walked toward his younger self.

"Let Hedwig out. I'm sure she'll enjoy a wing-stretcher and she'll know where we end up. Here." He held out a small key to the padlock on the cage. "Nicked this off that key-chain." Young Harry quickly grabbed the key, and as soon as he unlocked the door to the cage, Hedwig flew away, not even awaiting any instructions. "Let's go then," said Older Harry and gently steered his younger self in the same direction Dumbledore led him before his sixth year. He chanced a look at the boy and was sure he was exploding with curiosity. He waited for when said curiosity would win against the hesitancy to speak out, and knowing himself pretty well, he figured it wouldn't take more than ten steps. It took eight in the end.

"Er." - started the twelve year old and seeing an encouraging nod continued - "Uh, are you, er, me?" The eighteen year old chuckled at the bluntness of the question. He would prefer to answer everything at the Burrow, away from giraffe-necked gossip gatherers of Privet Drive, but he knew this question must be eating his younger self from inside. Still, to prevent a rush of questions right here, he decided to stretch out his answer to that one a bit. Less chance of anyone figuring out what they were talking about, as well.

- "Well, what do you think?"

- "You could just be tricking me. I'm sure there's some way to change how one looks magically" said his younger self, narrowed his gaze and slowed his steps a little. "But you did know about the cupboard and that it wasn't me who did magic a couple days ago..." He bit his lip. Then, his eyes widened and he stopped.

"Wait, did you just suggest Aunt Petunia is magical? That wasn't her! It was a house-elf!" his voice got raised a little, and Older Harry had to shush him before looking around, but he didn't think anyone heard.

"Look, I know. I only said that so that if you have to return here after all, you won't get any more flak from them for that." Young Harry looked terrified and the time-traveller knew what he was about to say.

"No, instead they'll be convinced I somehow passed on the "disease" to them." His response was a snort.

"Relax, I know exactly how they operate. I lived with them for long enough. They'll be so scared by the mere suggestion, they'll actually just convince themselves the whole thing didn't happen and never mention it again. I guarantee it."

Young Harry looked thoughtful and finally conceded the point. "So, uh, that answers my first question then? You really are me?" Older Harry nodded and they resumed walking.

"As for how it this is possible, you'll have to wait until we are at the Weasley's." In response to that the smaller boy frowned before he eventually blurted out, "Er... is time travel possible with magic?" The time-traveller sighed.

- "That obvious, then, huh?",

- "Well, what else it could be?",

- "...A few things, actually, believe it or not. But you hit the nail on the head the first time."

While the time traveller had a feeling convincing his younger self went far too easy, he was glad he managed it. He'd just have to be taught to be more vigilant later. They walked for a while in silence when Young Harry decided to ask his next question.

- "Er, how far do the Weasleys live? How are we getting there? Not by walking, right?",

- "'Course not. Getting by foot to Devon would be rather tiring.",

- "So, then?",

- "We'll apparate. We just have to get somewhere where no one will see us.",

- "Apparate?"

Older Harry suppressed a sigh. It was easy to forget how ignorant he was back then.

- "Think of it like teleportation." - Young Harry suddenly looked intrigued - "It's not the most pleasant way to travel, but certainly the quickest and most convenient."

- "But I can't do magic...",

- "Even if you could, it's normally taught in sixth year, so I rather doubt you'd be able to pull it off right now. Even if you did end up on that school chimney once." - he winked and then chuckled at his younger selves' look of realization on his face. Learning something in Hogwarts that he could connect with a piece of accidental magic he did when young were always his favourite moments.

"Anyhow, no, I'll just take you along. That's called side-apparation." Conveniently, they just arrived at the secluded area Harry intended to serve as the apparition point. He steered his younger self towards it and spoke once again.

"Grab my hand tightly and don't let go. As I said, it's not the most pleasant feeling, but it'll pass quickly. You may feel nauseous after, though. Lots of people vomit on their first try, though I doubt you had enough food to do so. Just warning you, though." His younger self nodded and a crack later the two Harry Potters left Surrey.