Chapter Two
Harry neared the stone gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's quarters. He had managed to make it there without any more run-ins with students. He was especially glad that he had not encountered the school poltergeist Peeves who surely would have made a commotion. Once Harry stopped in front of the statue he realized that he did not know the password to open the door.
"I guess I'll try some passwords from my time and see what happens," Harry said to the air. "Sherbet Lemon." The statue remained resolutely stone.
"Toffee éclairs," Harry said. Still the gargoyle did not move.
"Lemon drops." Harry still stared at a statue.
"Acid pops," Harry said in a last desperate attempt to enter the headmaster's office. And to Harry's surprise, the gargoyle sprang to life revealing a long, moving staircase. Harry stepped onto the stairs and was carried slowly up to the office of Albus Dumbledore. When the staircase came to a stop in front of the doorway, Harry stepped off onto the landing and knocked on the door.
"Come in," said the familiar, though younger sounding voice from within.
Harry opened the door and walked in tentatively. He had been in Dumbledore's office many times in his own years at Hogwarts and should not have been nervous to enter, but in this place he was not known and looked too much like James Potter to want to be seen.
"James Potter?" Dumbledore asked, confused and surprised simultaneously.
"Actually, sir, my name is Harry Potter. You don't know me yet, but you will in about fifteen years. I am James's son and I came here accidentally from the future," Harry said, holding up the Time-Turner which he had found in the pocket of his jacket. He thought it better to just come out with the truth to Dumbledore; lying would not get him home quickly.
Dumbledore, whose hair was shorter and darker than it was in Harry's time, sat in his chair processing the information that Harry had just told him.
"You are from the future?"
"Yes, sir, approximately twenty-five years in the future," Harry replied.
"And that is a yearly Time-Turner?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, sir, apparently it is," Harry said.
"And why have you come to see me, Harry?"
"Because I need to get back to my own time and I don't know how to do that. I also don't know how I ended up here at Hogwarts. I wasn't here when the Time-Turner turned," said Harry seriously.
"Well, just turn the Time-Turner, which is five years a turn, towards you. And if I had to hazard a guess I would say that that is a Time-Turner that transports the wearer and anything they are touching to the place about which they were thinking," said Dumbledore.
"What? Really?! So to get back to the right place I just have to think about it?"
"Yes, of course."
"Thanks, Professor." Harry turned and headed towards the door.
"Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry turned around to face the man he knew so well and missed terribly, despite feeling betrayed by him two years ago.
"Yes?"
"I will forget that I ever saw you until the time is right."
"Yes, sir. I think that is best," Harry said, turned and left Dumbledore's office.
Harry walked through the castle which was silent and unmoving; not even a ghost was about. Harry assumed that all the students were in their common rooms and the teachers in their offices. Harry did not know where the ghosts were, but was extremely happy to have not met Peeves or Filch on his way to the grounds. Harry found the beech tree behind which he had hidden earlier that day and behind which he magicked his trunk back into existence.
"Time to go home," Harry said. He sat on his trunk and turned the Time-Turner five times towards him while thinking about the Burrow. The grounds of Hogwarts moved rapidly out of sight and turned into the Burrow. His surroundings began to slow down as Ron's room came into view and formed around him. Harry smiled that he was back in his own time at the Burrow. He carefully took off the Time-Turner and wrapped in an old pair of socks. Just as he was putting the rolled up socks into his trunk, the door opened and Ginny walked in.
"Harry Snape? How the hell did you get in here and why are you here," Ginny demanded a look of pure hatred on her face.
"Ginny, that is not funny," Harry said. "Why would you call me Harry Snape?"
"It's your name, you asshole," said Ginny curtly.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Ginny. You know very well that my name is Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter? Please!" Ginny screeched, as Harry became increasingly more disturbed. "You get out of this house immediately, Harry Snape!"
"Ginny, what's going on?" Ron said coming into the room.
"Harry Snape? Why the hell are you in my room?" said Ron, coming to an abrupt halt next to his sister as his eyes fell on Harry. Ron grabbed his wand from the table next to his bed.
"Why do you guys keep calling me Harry Snape? It isn't funny," Harry said, really disturbed now, eyeing Ron's wand warily.
"It's your name, you bastard. Now get out of my house!"
"Alright, I'm leaving," Harry said. He waved his wand to vanish his trunk, turned on the spot, and apparated out of the Burrow.
Harry reappeared on the doorstep of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Harry entered the house and was immediately attacked by a blonde girl.
"Harry!" the blonde girl exclaimed with her arms still entwined around Harry's neck.
When she pulled away to look at him, Harry realized who the girl was.
"Pansy Parkinson?"
"Of course, silly. We have so much to finalize for the wedding in two weeks," Pansy said, a smile on her face.
Before Harry could respond to what Pansy had said, Harry saw in the kitchen someone that made him almost faint. It was a woman with long, dark red hair and startlingly green, almond-shaped eyes.
"Mom?" whispered Harry.
"Yes. Your mom is cooking dinner. She's almost done. And your dad should be home any minute," Pansy said, taking Harry by the hand and leading him into the kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen, Harry saw teenager about his own age sitting at the table reading The Evening Prophet. Glancing at the wizard a second time, Harry realized that it was a red-headed Draco Malfoy. Harry's face contorted into a look of shock and surprise, but went unnoticed.
"Hello, honey. How was work today?" Lily asked her son.
"Er. Normal," said Harry, confused. He went over to where Lily was standing and gave her a huge hug. When Harry would not let go of his mother she asked,
"Is everything okay, Harry dear?"
"Everything is fine," Harry said.
"Hello," called a voice from the entrance of the house.
"In the kitchen, dear," Lily called back.
"Dinner smells great, Lily dear," said a man with black hair that parted in curtains around a pallid face.
Harry stared, appalled, at the man who had just entered the kitchen.
"Hello, Father," Draco said as Snape walked into the kitchen.
"Harry, say hello to your father," Lily said sternly when Harry continued to stare, open-mouthed.
As he turned his head towards the mirror on the wall and saw a reflection that was not his – longer black hair, a thinner, more pallid face, no glasses, and, most of all, no scar – Harry ran out of the kitchen past the people that were not part of his life and up the stairs. He ran into the room he had once shared with Ron and slammed the door shut.
"Please let this be a dream. Please let this be a dream. Please let this be a dream," Harry repeated, pacing. "I am going to count to five and when I open my eyes I am going to be in the Burrow in Ron's room." Harry closed his eyes. "One, two, three, four, five." Harry opened his eyes. He was still in Grimmauld Place.
Harry sat down on the bed, completely distressed. He picked up the newspaper that was lying next to him on the bed and looked at the front page. Harry's heart stopped as he saw the headline and the picture below it:
The Boy-Who-Lived to Marry Ginny Weasley
"Neville is the Boy-Who-Lived?" said Harry to himself, aghast. "And he's marrying Ginny?"
And realization dawned on him. He had told Snape to tell Lily that he loved her. That was never supposed to have happened. Lily never married James. Lily and James didn't die to save Harry. Voldemort chose instead Neville as the boy who would be a threat to him.
"I've completely messed up my timeline," Harry said in a quiet horror. "Snape is my father. Pansy is my fiancée. Malfoy is my brother. My mom is alive. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny hate me. And probably Luna and Neville too. What have I done?" And Harry cried himself to sleep with silent tears.
Harry woke up early next morning just as the sun was rising. He hoped as he opened his eyes that the previous day had all been a bad dream. But when his eyes completely focused on the room around him, Harry realized that he was not in the Burrow but Grimmauld Place. He also noticed that he had subconsciously entered Sirius's room. The thought of Sirius and not being his godson in this world pained him.
"Dammit. I really messed up things for myself. I have to get out of here and talk to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny."
Harry got out of bed. He noticed that it was very early in the morning and decided that he would leave immediately. He knew that the others would be asleep and was thankful that Pansy had chosen to either go home or sleep in a different room. Harry did not want to see or come in contact with those who were apparently his friends now, though with his mother he would have loved to have spent some quality time. Quietly, Harry opened the door of Sirius's room in which he had slept and climbed down the stairs gingerly. He was careful to not make a sound at the risk of waking Mrs. Black's portrait which would wake the others that were in the house. Harry approached the door to the outside and opened it slowly.
Once outside on the steps of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and free of the people he did not want to see, Harry understood that he needed to figure out a way to get Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to meet with him and talk with him rationally. When that happened he would have to find a way to convince them that he was their friend. And suddenly he remembered something that he had found when he was cleaning out his trunk. Harry opened his jacket and placed a hand in the inside pockets. He found his wand in one pocket and what he was looking for in the other: an old photograph of him, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny standing, arm-in-arm, in front of the Hogwarts Express and smiling. A sad smile crossed his face as he remembered having the picture taken: it was the last day of Hogwarts for the six of them even though Ginny and Luna were a year behind. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had gone back to school after defeating Voldemort and were able to graduate alongside Luna and Ginny with whom Harry had gotten back together after the Battle of Hogwarts. Even though it was a sad day because they would be leaving Hogwarts forever, they were all happy to be able to move on with their lives in a Voldemort-free world. This was perfect. It was the proof that he needed that he was their friend. Now he needed to get at least Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to meet with him. But how?
Harry walked down the steps of Grimmauld Place towards the street. He walked down the sidewalk, not really going anywhere, but not wanting to stand still. Walking around would allow him to think better how to convince his friends – or ex-friends – to meet with him.
"I need to send them an owl," Harry said to himself. "I don't have Hedwig anymore." A sadness crossed Harry's face as he thought of his late owl.
"I definitely can't go back to the Burrow. I wonder if Ron and Hermione work at the Ministry in this world," Harry said, still talking to himself.
Making the decision that he would go to the Ministry of Magic and see if Ron and Hermione worked there, Harry looked around, saw no one around, and turned into the emptiness that was apparition. A few seconds later Harry re-appeared in the crowded Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The golden fountain with the wizard, house-elf, and centaur was standing like a regal sentry in the middle of the floor. Though he passed by it every day in his own world, his real world, Harry stopped to look at the statue. It had been destroyed at the end of his fifth year during Dumbledore's battle with Voldemort; it had then been replaced by a giant, black stone statue of a witch and wizard sitting on mounds of carved humans. When Voldemort was vanquished less than a year later the original statue had been reinstalled. As he stood staring at the statue in the middle of the Atrium, witches and wizards were apparating around Harry and entering the Ministry through the fireplaces.
Harry walked through the crowd of Ministry wizards towards the front desk. Suddenly from behind him, a voice called out to him.
"Harry!" Harry turned around, startled that someone in the Ministry was calling to him. He saw a man with slicked back red hair walking towards him. Harry groaned. He did not want to talk to Draco Malfoy – or Draco Snape, as he was in this world. Nevertheless, Harry waved to Draco and waited from him to approach.
"Are you ready to go down to the office? We have the idiotic meeting with the Mudblood Granger," Draco said.
Harry, remembering that Draco was now his brother and suppressing the urge to curse him for insulting Hermione, realized that he had no choice but to go to his office with Draco. Hermione was working at the Ministry even in this new world. It was his only chance to talk to Hermione and try and convince her to agree to meet with him and bring along Ron and Ginny.
"Yeah, I am," responded Harry. And he followed Malfoy into the lift and down to the floor for the lawyers.