Fixing the Past
2) Retrieval

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own any of the characters or the world.


30 July 1998

"THERE HAS TO BE A BLOODY WAY!"

George groaned. Harry has been shouting at Sharpfoot the goblin for nearly two hours now. He seemed to be oblivious to the dirty glances the other goblins shot at him.

Harry paced back and forth. He showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

George was starting to regret introducing that Identification Scroll to Harry. He should have known that it caused one to go mad.

Then he stopped. George looked into Harry's green eyes and winced immediately. Those eyes were lit up. Harry had a plan.

"Death." He said.

"Sorry, I don't think I heard that right."

"Death." Harry repeated.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?"

George's eyes widened. He did not expect this turn in events. "What about them?"

Harry's face became ever more frightening for the normal adult as he grinned with madness.

"I use them to fix everything."

An eyebrow was raised. "How?"

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

Once George had quite literally dragged Harry back into the store flat, Harry spilled everything.

"The Deathly Hallows, which are the three artifacts mentioned in the Tale of Three Brothers."

George nodded; "Right, that's a story from Beedle the Bard."

Harry continued: "The story might be thought up for entertaining purposes, but the artifacts are quite real."

Harry looked into George's eyes, but they were just dull. George clearly did not understand. Harry sighed. "The Elder Wand exists, the Resurrection Stone exists, and the Invisibility Cloak exists—"

"Wait, so you're saying your cloak is from the story?"

"The very same. Dumbledore won the Elder Wand from Grindelwald, and I own it as of now."

George paled when he heard this. To think the person in front of him has the Unbeatable Wand. However his face regained some of its color when he thought about the Resurrection Stone. Yes, that can't be true. Nothing can bring back the dead. Harry smirked. As if he knew what George was thinking, he said: "I found the Stone. I left it in the Forbidden Forest though."

George could not believe what he was hearing. "So you're saying these Deathly Hallows are the three objects in the Tale of Three Brothers, and that you have found them."

Harry nodded eagerly. "And uniting the three artifacts will make the you the Master of Death." And as a side note, "Gives you godly abilities, if I'm correct."

George has always been a strong-willed person. Every time Severus Snape had taunted him and Fred, he had laughed his way out. Every time there was a challenge, they could pull through it. They refused to show weakness. They used to pride themselves to being "Quite self-controlled."

However, that mentality did not break through as George fainted, perhaps the first time in his life.

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

31 July 1998

Harry felt a bit guilty.

Back to after the Battle of Hogwarts ended, he had decided to never touch the Elder Wand ever again.

But here he was, wielding said wand, with the Invisibility Cloak neatly folded in his bag.

He hadn't wanted to disturb Dumbledore's tomb for the second time in a gap of about a year, but after figuring out what said wizard had done to Harry's life, he did not hold any regrets.

George was meeting him today. They were to enter Hogwarts through the Shrieking Shack. Apparently the legend of the Shrieking Shack had never gone away. Although more people now knew it was only Remus Lupin "haunting" the Shack in the 1970s, the Shack was still roped off.

George met Harry outside of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Hogsmeade Branch (it had opened earlier this month). To not raise suspicion about their activities, George was there under the excuse that he was checking on business, and Harry was just celebrating his birthday with George.

They approached the Shrieking Shack.

"I never would have thought I would get a chance to look in this place..." George said, looking around.

Harry looked at him in surprise. "You've never been here?"

George coughed and tried to hide his answer. However, it was in vain. "Too scared," Harry heard.

Harry snorted and dragged him through a hidden entrance. George shuddered involuntarily and once fully in, started widely looking around. Harry pulled one of the rotting floorboards, revealing a dark passage.

George was amazed at this discovery. "There's a secret passage to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, always been here."

"WICKED!"

George and Harry quickly walked through the passage and emerged at the foot of the Whomping Willow. Harry told George to crawl out and prod a certain spot of the tree.

As soon as George had prodded that spot, the tree stopped it's thrashing. They slipped past Hagrid's hut, and into the forest they went.

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

George had never been in the Forbidden Forest before. Yes, there was Dumbledore mostly targeting him and Fred at the Sorting, but they've only ventured into the edge. The fact that Harry was leading him into somewhere much deeper was exciting.

The deeper they went, the darker it got. The pair hiked through winding hills and rocks before they stopped at a clearing with a gigantic hole in the ground.

George immediately paled. This was the lair of the infamous Acromantula, Aragog. He had overheard Ron talking about it many times during the summer before fifth year, but he had always dismissed it as a way to get some attention. But clearly, he was not lying. His long strides became short and cautious. He had seen acromantulas at the Battle of Hogwarts. They weren't too friendly to them then.

To his relief, Harry put out his hand to stop George. "I dropped it somewhere along those trees. It's black and it's definitely not a rock, though it could be mistaken as one."

The Resurrection Stone, he thought. How Harry had got his hands onto this fabled artifact, he never and will never know. But Harry had mentioned it was the last thing he needed to fix everything.

Hopefully, they found the Stone soon, because he did not want to stay here for too long. To George's luck, the miniscule Stone was right there, shining. His eyes widened. It had not been a lie.

As he looked around, he realized that Harry was gone. Presumbly to find the Stone, but he was alone.

He had heard the rumors, and the story itself. Three turns, and the dead would reappear. Was it true? George let curiosity take over him as he flipped the Stone three times and waited.

He did not need to wait long. 6 ghostly shadows appeared in front, bright but at the same time dim. He could feel their powerful presence, but he only recognized four of them.

His dead uncles, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, said to be the pranksters of their day. They looked exactly like George, except with brown hair instead of red. But he looked around and was disappointed. Fred was not among these six shades. Where was he?

"Well, well, well. Isn't it little George." Someone said behind him.

George's eyes widened, as he recognized Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. What were they doing here?

He looked closer and another surprise was added to his list; James Potter.

To his credit, he did look like Harry, but older. In fact, if he didn't look older he would have started weeping right there and then.

The Jokesters of Hogwarts were standing in front of him, waiting for a response.

George stood there thinking about what he was going to say when the air grew cold, and the last thing he heard before he shut his eyes was the memory of Fred's last laugh.


A/N

Hello there!
I was so surprised to see such a large following already! Thanks for your support.

Please review! I could really use the feedback!

This is mostly just a leisure activity, and I'll try writing regularly. However, it's not going to be inconsistent. One chapter per month is a rough estimate.

See you at the new chapter! Keep those reviews coming.