Chapter Seven
Harry, Ron, and Ginny apparated onto the step of Grimmauld Place. Harry had not been sure if Ginny and Ron would know where the building was but was told that it had been used as Order of the Phoenix headquarters in their world also. Once on the stairs Harry handed Ron and Ginny his invisibility cloak. They were not to be seen in the house – they were sure Snape would not take Harry to see Dumbledore's portrait if he knew there were others besides Harry.
When he was satisfied that both Ginny and Ron were completely invisible, Harry opened the door to the house in which Sirius had been held captive for so many years and in which he, Ron, and Hermione had taken refuge from the Death Eaters. Harry moved into the entrance hall to allow entrance to the two girls under the cloak.
It seemed to Harry that the house was empty, but it was seven-thirty in the morning; perhaps most of the household were sleeping. Harry did not want to call out for Snape, afraid he might wake those that were still in bed. Instead, Harry walked as quietly as possible towards the kitchen, avoiding the umbrella stand that Tonks had so often knocked over. He felt Ron and Ginny walking behind him as loudly as they dared; it was obvious that they knew about Mrs. Black's portrait and did not want to awaken it.
When Harry entered the kitchen he found both Snape and Malfoy – his father and brother – sitting at the table eating pancakes and each reading a copy of The Daily Prophet. Behind him he felt the two under the invisibility cloak stop abruptly; Harry highly suspected the Ginny had stopped in her tracks when she had seen Draco.
At the sound of footsteps, Draco looked up from his paper. When he saw Harry he smiled.
"Harry! Were you already at work? Or have you been walking around the neighborhood?"
Harry was taken aback at the light-heartedness in Draco's voice; he did not know that Draco could speak so kindly to anyone. This new world kept throwing surprises at him.
"Er – I've been walking around the neighborhood. Dad, are you ready to go?" Harry said, anxious to get into Hogwarts and talk to Dumbledore's portrait.
After his conversation with Ginny earlier that morning, Harry now saw that it was imperative that he fix the world he had destroyed so thoroughly – not for his sake, but Ginny's. Whether or not he changed the world back to be with her, he was resolved that whatever he did he would create a world in which she would be allowed to marry the man that she loved.
"Yes. I'm done. Draco, tell your mother that Harry and I are going to Hogwarts and that I will be home for lunch," Snape said, putting down the paper and standing up.
Snape walked past Harry, barely missing the two Weasleys who stood hidden under the invisibility cloak. Harry waved goodbye to Draco and walked out of the kitchen, deliberately bumping into Ginny to get across the point that she could not stay staring at Draco. As he entered the hallway Harry felt the cloak billowing behind him – Ginny had gotten the message and had motioned to Ron to follow Harry. When he stopped in the entrance hall in which a dummy of Dumbledore had once appeared to frighten away Severus Snape, Harry found this world's Snape standing with his black traveling cloak looking, still, like a bat ready to take flight.
"I will let you into my office and then I have to go to the Ministry," Snape said in his usual drawl.
"That's fine. Thanks for letting me into your office, Dad," Harry said in a tone of voice he had no idea he could use in the presence of Snape.
"It's no problem. I can certainly allow my favorite son into my office," Snape said and turned into the darkness that was apparition.
Harry turned around to where he knew Ginny and Ron were standing cloaked and asked,
"Will you be able to apparate under the cloak?" Harry knew that in his world Ron would be able to do it; he was well-practiced at the task from their Horcrux journey.
"Yes," Ron whispered back. "Neville, Hermione, and I did it many times on our Horcrux search."
"Okay, then," Harry said, turned on the spot, and entered the crushing feeling that was associated with apparition.
When he was able to breathe again, Harry saw that he was outside the gates of Hogwarts. Harry stood where he had appeared and just stared at the castle. It had been a long time since he had last seen the school and he had not realized just how much he missed it until now. Harry was awakened from his reverie when he felt a bump on his arm: Ginny and Ron had walked into him to tell him to get moving; Snape was holding open the gates for him.
When he felt the two hidden Weasleys walk by him, Harry began to walk towards the open gates. As he passed through the wrought-iron gates of Hogwarts, Harry remembered the last time he had walked up to the castle side-by-side with Snape: he had been rescued from the Hogwarts Express by Tonks after having been paralyzed and having his nose broken by Draco Malfoy. The tension then could have been cut with a knife and there had been pure hatred radiating from Harry. The walk then had seemed to take an eternity; therefore, Harry was surprised to find himself in front of the giant wooden doors that led into the castle in less than ten minutes.
Snape pulled his wand out of his cloak and tapped the door once with it. The doors immediately swung open revealing the entrance hall. Snape walked inside and Harry let Ron and Ginny pass him before entering himself. Harry did not need to follow Snape's tracks to find the headmaster's office; having traveled the path so often in his days at school and having so recently visited it in his parents' time, his feet automatically carried him there. When he arrived in front of the stone gargoyle that guarded the office, Harry found Snape standing waiting for him; Harry had taken his time, looking around the castle to see if all was the same in this new, twisted world of his.
As soon as Harry appeared at the end of the corridor that led to the office Snape turned and said "Lily" to the statue. At the sound of the password the gargoyle came to life and jumped aside, allowing entrance to the staircase that led up to the headmaster's quarters. Snape stood aside to allow Harry access to the staircase. Harry stopped in front of the escalator-like stairs to give Ron and Ginny the chance to step onto the moving stairs.
"I must go to the Ministry, but I will see you later. When you're done, just make sure that the gargoyle reassumes its position," Snape said.
"Okay," Harry said as Snape turned around and walked down the corridor, his black cloak billowing behind him.
Harry stepped onto the staircase and was carried up to the landing where Ginny and Ron stood visibly waiting for him.
Ginny pointed at the portrait that hung directly over the headmaster's chair.
"He's sleeping."
"So? I'll wake him up," Harry said, walking over so he was standing directly in front of the desk.
"Professor? Professor Dumbledore? Please wake up, sir," Harry said to the painting.
Dumbledore made a sound like a horse and opened his eyes.
"Severus? Is that you?" Dumbledore asked, still coming out of his sleep.
"No, sir. It's Harry P – Snape."
"Mr. Snape. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Well, sir. Do you remember about twenty-five years ago a boy that looked like James Potter came to your office to ask how to get back to his own time?" Harry asked the portrait.
"Would you be that Harry Potter?" Dumbledore asked shrewdly.
"Yes, sir, I would."
"I see. But you do not look like the Harry Potter I met. You look like the Harry Snape that went to my school," Dumbledore said, piercingly blue eyes staring out at Harry from behind the half-moon spectacles he knew so well.
"Yeah. Well, that's probably because I messed up my timeline," Harry said weakly.
"Did you do something that was not supposed to happen before you came to see me?"
"I – told Snape to tell my mother that he loved her. That was never supposed to have happened," Harry said, not looking Dumbledore in the eyes.
"I see." Harry looked up at the portrait to see the blue eyes x-raying him the way they had in life.
"Can you help me fix what I did, Professor? Please?" Harry said, pleading with the portrait.
"Do you still have the Time-Turner?" asked Dumbledore.
"No. It fell out of my pocket when I got back here. I don't know where I lost it," Harry said, his heart sinking.
"Then you must find a way to shock the world back to the way it was," Dumbledore said.
"What do you mean?"
"You need to find something that will trigger the world back to the way it was," said Ginny for the first time since they had arrived.
"I can do that? I don't have to go back in time and change what I changed?" Harry asked, looking back-and-forth between Dumbledore's portrait and Ginny.
"Without the Time-Turner it is the only way to get your world back," spoke the painted former headmaster.
"Okay. So how do I find a trigger?" Harry asked, hoping against hope that Dumbledore would have the answer.
"Only you would know that," Dumbledore said in the same tone he had once told Snape that only he would know if murder would split his soul in two.
"Only I would know that? You don't know how I can trigger the change?" Harry asked, his heart sinking even further.
"I can not determine what your motive to change what happened was. Only you know that," Dumbledore said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really do need to get back to sleep."
Having spent so much time in his youth with Dumbledore, Harry recognized a dismissal. Harry gestured to Ron and Ginny and exited the office with a heavy heart.