A/N: Sorry for my rather long absence (no, I'm not dead, though apparently before I uploaded the last chapter, a lot of you thought I was). I've recently working on completing a couple of other stories. One has been finished and the other is mostly done, so I'll have more time to focus on this story (that's a good thing). This chapter involves a time skip, which I dislike doing on a whole, but sometimes you have no choice. I really hope that the information introduced is clear and easy to follow. If not, please let me know. Now, enjoy!

The next few weeks went by fast for Harry, though there were times when it felt agonizingly slow. He was slowly but surely adjusting to life with parents and siblings, and no matter how strange it felt initially, he found that it was everything he'd ever hoped for. Even when James and Sirius teased him mercilessly about Ginny (and rest assured, they did tease the hell out of him), he just sat back and looked at them and smiled widely. Usually it spooked his father and godfather enough so that they would eventually leave off. Remus seemed to find this extremely amusing for some reason.

James did recall himself enough to sit Harry down and speak to his son seriously about not becoming too involved with anyone too soon. It was an awkward conversation at best, because Harry found it difficult to explain the attraction he felt for Ginny. Yes, she was a beautiful and extremely powerful witch, and yes, she was confident, articulate, and strong, even if she did have a temper to rival Lily's, and yes, she was the only one who remembered the old world. But what he liked even more about her was how she always understood, and that a whole conversation could happen between them without either of them saying a word. How could he explain that? And yet... after he finished babbling, James just looked at him for a long time and seemed to understand. After that, he stopped teasing his son.

Harry spent a good portion of each day scanning the many newspapers that his parents received, but there was no mention of Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters, or anything even remotely suspicious. No one was ever accused of being behind the attack on Diagon Alley, and eventually, the media dropped the subject in favour of more interesting topics. Because of this, Harry came to understand that the Ministry of Magic was every bit as inept in this world as it had been in the last, but then again, that failed to surprise him. He had never planned to depend on Fudge for anything.

Aside from that, his life had been – dare he suggest it – pretty peaceful, and it was about three weeks after the incident at Hogwarts, as the adults in his life had taken to calling it, when Lily first broached the subject of his birthday. Harry, who had been in the middle of eating a particularly delicious lunch, glanced up at her in surprise. He'd never really put much forethought into his birthday, as the only celebration he had was usually comprised of sitting in Dudley's old bedroom and receiving letters and gifts from his friends by owl. The concept of a party was almost completely foreign, though he supposed that he must have had one when he was too young to remember.

"My birthday?" he echoed blankly. "Yeah, I guess it's only a couple of days away. Why?"

"I'd like to throw you a party," Lily said with obvious surprise, cleaning the dishes in the sink with a twitch of her wand. "I thought we could hold it here, and invite some of your friends. Ginny, of course, and Hermione and Draco... Ron and Fred and George Weasley, and some of the children that will be your classmates when you get to Hogwarts. Neville Longbottom, the Patil twins, Amelia Bones' niece Susan... It would do you good to meet them ahead of time. It will make starting at Hogwarts less of an adjustment."

"If you want to," Harry said, lowering his spoon into his bowl of soup. He had the feeling that this was going to be another 'everyone stares at Harry' type of things, which didn't exactly make him want to jump for joy. "It might be nice to see some people my own age."

"Excellent," said his mother, her eyes sparkling. "The last party I planned for you was so long ago, Harry... what would you like to do? We can do anything."

Anything? Harry was stumped. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've never really had one before."

Lily's jaw tightened. She hadn't forgotten Harry's comment about growing up with her sister, and ever since then, whenever he said something that didn't sound right, she attributed it to the life of a young wizard with Petunia Dursley. It made her want nothing more than to track the woman down and introduce her to the business end of a wand combined with a few curses, but she controlled herself.

"Why don't we surprise you, then?" she said, trying to act as though her hands weren't shaking with rage. "I'm sure we can up with something that will be fun."

The Floo alarm sounded, interrupting whatever answer Harry was going to give. The two of them glanced up at the ceiling expectantly, and moments later when Lia called his name, Harry quickly finished the rest of his soup and hurried out of the kitchen. He was hoping it was Ginny, but wasn't completely shocked to see Hermione's face floating in the flames. The excited expression on her face made his stomach clench with hope. For so long, she and Draco had come up empty on the concept of time travel, even though they'd been researching at every spare moment. Had they finally found something?

"Hello Hermione," he greeted, trying to act casual for Lia's benefit. His sister was curled up in one of the library's chairs. She had clearly been reading a book, but now she was glaring outright at the top of the fireplace. Harry tried not to notice that the book she was holding was titled, 101 Ways to Silence Even the Loudest Alarm.

"Hey Harry," said Hermione cheerfully. "Could you come through to Malfoy Manor? Draco and I need to speak to you about something."

Harry's hand froze in the act of reaching for the Floo powder and he turned slowly, aware of Lia's and Hermione's gazes on him. "You want me to come to Malfoy Manor?" he asked, just to be certain. Go into the lair of the enemy? Be at the mercy of Lucius and Narcissa? He was beginning to get used to the idea of trusting Draco Malfoy, but he'd never trust his parents. "Why don't you guys just come here?"

"We'll have more privacy here," Hermione said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "We want to show you something that can't go beyond the wards of the manor. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied, stomach squirming uncomfortably. But surely if Hermione, a muggleborn witch, was there, it would be alright for him as well? It wasn't like he was the Boy-Who-Lived in this world, after all. Harry took a deep breath and picked up a glossy handful of glittering powder. "Back up, I'm coming through," he instructed. "Lia, let Mum know where I've gone, would you?" He fought back the urge to add a warning about what to do if he didn't return in a set amount of time, knowing that it would only upset Hermione.

Lia nodded without looking up. "Sure."

Hermione disappeared and Harry stepped up to the fireplace. He took a deep breath and tossed the Floo powder into the fireplace, then took a step forward and called out the name of his destination. The fire snapped him up and flung him into the pathways, through a spidery set of wards, and spit him out on the other side. His foot caught the edge of the grid and he tripped, landing hard on his hands and knees. A pair of polished boots and gray slacks appeared in front of his face, and he glanced up to see Draco standing in front of him, a hand stretched out to help Harry stand.

"You needn't kneel, Harry," Draco said, looking amused.

"I hate traveling by Floo," Harry muttered in response, gripping the blond's hand and allowing Draco to pull him to his feet. "What is it with wizarding transportation that makes it so awful?"

"I'm told Apparition is far easier," Hermione told him, eyes sympathetic but mouth twitching with what was undeniably an amused smile. "Side-along can be difficult, but allowing your own magic to transport you through the current is not as hard on the body. In fact – "

"In fact, we need to get moving," interrupted Ginny. She'd come around the corner while Hermione was getting ready to go into full lecture mode. Harry's eyes lit up when he spotted her. "I'm sorry, Mione, but I don't know how long it will be before Mum notices I'm gone. Ever since she found out about me and Harry, she's been even more focused on keeping me at home. She seems to think he's a bit of a troublemaker," she added, grinning.

Harry huffed and reached out an arm, drawing her to him. He ducked his head and caught the slightest hint of vanilla and honey, a soothing combination. "A month in this world and my reputation already precedes me," he muttered.

Ginny laughed. "She was right, you can't deny that," she teased.

Draco rolled his eyes at their playful banter and walked back towards one of the tables, where there were numerous books spread out. Hermione stayed where she was and watched her friends with a warm smile. Already, she could tell that Ginny had been good for Harry, and vice versa. He wasn't as tense as he had been before, and she seemed to take strength from his presence. The two of them were still wary about acting like a couple in front of anyone else, but Hermione and Draco seemed to be the exception to that, and Hermione liked that.

"I hate to break up the love fest, but shall we get started?" Draco asked, looking up at them. He held up a book. "As you said, Ginevra, we haven't got much time, and there's a lot of theory here to work through."

Once the four of them were seated around the table, Hermione stood up and cleared her throat. "As you know, we've been researching how any of this would be possible. We believe that we might have found a somewhat reasonable, though far-fetched, explanation. Still, this is magic we're talking about, and that means anything is possible. So, have either of you ever heard of aetas arenae?"

"Uh, no," Harry said, glancing at Ginny. She shrugged.

"Loosely translated, it means 'sands of time'," Hermione explained, clearly having expected this reaction. "I was researching into the use of Time Turners and discovered quite a bit of information about them that's not normally public knowledge. For example, I discovered that the actual Time Turner itself is not inherently magical. It's the sand inside that actually transports you through time. This sand – aetas arenae – is housed inside of a Time Turner because it is believed to be unstable; it's dangerous for witches and wizards to handle without the proper qualifications, including a potion that will make you impervious to the effects for a certain amount of time. A few specks of aetas arenae is enough to send the average witch or wizard back in time several years."

Harry frowned. "How can that be?" he asked. "I used a Time Turner once. It took several turns to take us back even a few hours."

Hermione smiled. "That's the thing," she said excitedly. "A Time Turner is designed to be unbreakable for that very reason, Harry. It acts as a barrier to keep the carefully measured amount of aetas arenae inside in check. That's why you need so many turns to go back in time. The people I told you, the ones who tried those experiments of going back in time for several years? They were Unspeakable using special Time Turners specifically designed by the Ministry, with barriers that weren't as powerful.

"However, much of our research has led me to believe that aetas arenae by itself isn't particularly unstable. Dangerous, yes, because you have far less control in where you will end up. If one piece of sand represents a year, even a couple of extra granules would be catastrophic." She shook her head, an impressed look on her face. "If you were to somehow get your hands on aetas arenae – which would be extremely difficult, mind you, as what little there is has already been used in Time Turners – you could theoretically travel to whenever you wanted."

"But didn't you say that such extreme Time Travel kills people?" Ginny said. "This is all very interesting, but I'm not sure how it relates to Voldemort changing reality."

"Time travel can kill you when you use a Time Turner," Draco said, picking up the explanation. "I managed to get a hold of some of the more private files from the Ministry using my father's connections. Aetas arenae is so rare and thought to be so dangerous that most of the experiments performed were with Time Turners. Few people have done anything with just aetas arenae because those who did rarely returned. They likely became trapped in time, unable to return. Time travel is probably not pleasant, and I expect a few bits of sand aren't easy to hold on to."

"It's a much safer way to travel for longer times, though, because it's the Time Turner itself that makes aetas arenae unstable," Hermione concluded triumphantly, eyes gleaming. "Let's say you have a Time Turner and you use it to spin yourself back ten years. Well, what happens is that the aetas arenae inside is required to expel a ton of power. Far more than if you were say, going back ten minutes. But only a small portion of that power is getting through the barrier because it's so strong. The aetas arenae will actually build so much power that the Time Turner often ends up fracturing. It's not strong enough to handle that build up of power. Not only can people sometimes be blown off course, but that power will leech through and attack the nearest magical source... the wizard or witch using it. It literally starts erasing the person from existence, causing their body to break down in the process."

"And if the barrier is thinner, like in those special experiments they were doing?" Draco said, grimacing slightly. "It still works out to be the same principle. You could go back a few years, but anything more and the result will be identical. Aetas arenae that has become too strong and a Time Turner that can't control it. That's why the Ministry only regulates the use of Time Turners for short periods of time."

"So what you're suggesting is that Voldemort got a hold of aetas arenae?" Harry said slowly, working it all out in his mind. "And he used it to... to what? Go back in time several years?"

Draco and Hermione exchanged looks, and then Hermione nodded. "We believe so. Aetas arenae would no doubt be extraordinarily difficult to work with, but in the right conditions, I imagine it could be done," she said. "The time travel would still be very harsh on the body, and he might not live for very long, but since we don't know exactly how far he went back and you say he was an extremely powerful wizard, it's safe to assume that he could probably live long enough to make some changes."

"Like meeting his younger self and stopping Voldemort's rise to power from some unknown reason," Harry muttered, knowing that was where they were going. "But... Tom Riddle is so much younger in this time. There are some things that just don't add up."

"We don't have all of the answers, Harry," Hermione said gently. "Unfortunately, this is as far as we have gotten. It's the best that we've come up with."

"It's way more than we had before," Ginny spoke up. "This is excellent. I'd never heard of aetas arenae but I'm sure it's the sort of thing that one of the Death Eaters could have procured on the black market."

"So... is it reversible?" asked Harry finally before Hermione could respond. It was the question that had been hanging over his head since this began. Would his parents and Sirius be taken from him again? Would he have to go back to that old world? He gazed anxiously at his friends, but no one said anything for a long moment. Once again, Hermione and Draco looked at each other, communicating silently. Ginny, watching them, bit her lip and reached out to place her hand on top of Harry's. Absently he twined their fingers together, holding on tightly.

"We're not sure, Harry," Draco said at last, breaking the silence. "But even if we could pinpoint the exact moment when Lord Voldemort choose to change reality – which is impossible – there is no way to know exactly what he changed, and the smallest detail could have worldwide repercussions. We could change reality again, but we can't make it what it was before, and to attempt to do so could destroy the wizarding world as we know it." He took a deep breath. "You're stuck this way."

A/N: Hands up – was anyone expecting that? That's right, this isn't going to be one of those "Harry goes back to the 'real world'" stories (come on, did you really think I could take Sirius and his parents away? I can be mean, but that's just downright cruel). This is for keeps! Please review!