Chapter Four
It was a relatively dull few weeks for Harry.
His classes didn't intellectually stimulate him as he had long since moved passed even the N.E.W.T level of education.
As such he usually just puts in the bare amount of effort to prevent any of the Professor's from taking issue with him.
The sole exception being Professor Flitwick.
The man knows exactly how advanced Harry is ever since he joined the ARA himself.
And as such he acts accordingly by giving Harry Mastery Level assignments.
Something Harry has taken a great interest in especially as it was under Flitwick his Mother was studying for her own Mastery before she died.
Due to that Harry had a desire to complete the Mastery on her behalf.
A sentiment that left Flitwick a little choked up.
Then there is Defence Lesson's with Snape.
Harry is working towards giving the man a mental break down.
At almost every lesson Harry would do his dead level best to mentally harass the man.
He did this by testing a hypothesis on how the Dementor's are able to make people relive their worst memories.
An ability known for even circumventing Occlumency.
Of course to accomplish this was no easy feet.
First Harry had to capture one of the loathsome beasts.
Which involved Harry breaking into the Ministry again.
He made his way to what was the court room he had to appear in during his first Fifth year.
And as with most court rooms they have at least one Dementor there in case someone is sentenced for the Kiss.
Of course that day the Ministry were confused and horrified.
They got the distinct impression they had a rogue Dementor on their hands.
But what was really odd was that nobody had any recollection of it going missing.
And they wouldn't Harry stole the beast between hearings while the Wizengamot were on a break.
He then snuck out through the secret passageways he learned of when he became a Master Auror.
These were placed nobody in their right mind would think to look.
As only those relatively high up in the Ministry or of high standing frequent those passageways.
Harry then took the Dementor the previously abandoned Malfoy Manor.
There Harry decided to prank them by putting the place under a Fidelius.
He used a Muggle as the Secret Keeper.
Had the man write down the secret on some parchment and Obliviated the man.
When he contacted Sirius to tell him what he had done. The man child howled with laughter.
He was in his study doing what ever work he has to do whenever Harry isn't around.
He had a new frame produced for Portrait James and Lilly and thus they were there in the room with him.
"By joe, the boy's finally topped us!" Sirius bellowed proudly.
"Harry my son, you have no idea how proud I am" Portrait James said.
"This will be a prank that goes down in history" Sirius beamed through the mirror.
"Men" was Portrait Lilly's reaction.
She was however more bothered about the research Harry was undertaking.
It all sounded very interesting to her.
Harry smiled as he began debating with the Portrait of his Mother ignoring as Sirius, and Portrait James called them both nerds. A Muggle phrase they had learned from his Mother.
Harry had the Dementor safely locked up in the Malfoy Dungeons.
And after hijacking the ward stone he was able to place a Patronus inspired ward Hermione of the first timeline invented when she returned to Hogwarts for her final year.
Thus the Dementor was stuck and any attempt at breaching the ward caused it unbelievable agony.
Thanks to that it soon turned pretty docile and allowed Harry to continue on with his research.
He examined it magical signature and used Arithmancy to find the root of it's abilities.
Then came the hard work of finding out if the Arithmancy was capable of being applied to a human magic user.
Unfortunately Harry soon realised the Arithmancy required was just too complicated.
And thus was simply too difficult to figure out by man.
Harry however was never one to give up.
"If my mind can't crack it directly I'll come at it from a different angle" Harry thought to himself.
And he soon developed a work around.
He took a Muggle calculator and began charming it to high heaven.
He used charms from a number sources.
There were some from Slytherin's Library.
Some from the restricted Section of Hogwarts Library.
Some from the Library housed in his trunk.
And some from the Black family Library.
Combining those charms however was also a challenge.
It took Harry several attempts before he could make each charm work together instead of conflicting with the other charms.
He soon discovered that he needed to add Ancient Runes to stabilise and anchor the charms.
When Harry was done he had created the very first Arithmancy calculator.
To say Harry was proud would be an understatement.
It took several branches of magic to achieve but he had done what many had thought to be impossible.
This was something he remembered the Hermione of the other timeline complaining about wishing was a reality.
After all Arithmancy was her and this timelines favourite subject.
"I should probably give her the calculator when I'm done" Harry thought.
And with the calculator it didn't take long to work out the Arithmetic equation he was stuck on.
He then used that as the basis for the new Curse he was creating.
A Curse that replicated the Dementor's abilities.
Harry also examined the Arithmetic formula behind the Unforgiveables too with his Calculator.
As they were Unblockable by any shield he figured that would be a good thing to add to his Curse.
He soon found the part of the formula each Unforgivable shared and implemented that into his own creation.
And thus in the secret of the abandoned Malfoy Manor Harry James Potter.
The-Boy-Who-Lived.
The Chosen One.
The last person anyone would have expected this of.
Had managed to create a Fourth Unforgiveable.
A Curse that makes one relive their worst Memories.
In his mind this was the ultimate Dark Magic.
And just to balance it out he created it's complete antiphase's.
A Charm made to make a person relive their most happiest of memories.
One that he tried on the captured Dementor just for the hell of it.
Harry was shocked by what happened next.
The Dementor shrieked in agony.
And began to twist and contort on it's self.
Then there was a large snap and the seemingly un-killable creature that was the cause of so many people nightmares, that until this day the best one could do was repel them.
That very same creature became an immobile husk with no signs of activity or life what's so ever.
It was like the Dementor received the Dementor's kiss.
"Ironic" Harry thought with a shrug
All in all it took Harry almost three Months of extended and prolonged Time Turner usage.
But it was worth it.
And the test on the Curse he created on Snape went off without a hitch.
The man began flinching at every sound. Looking around every corner.
A quick Leglimency told Harry he was haunted by a mental recreation of Harry's Mother.
She constantly berated him for calling her a Mudblood before turning into a cold dead corpse while blaming him for her fate.
Harry was pleased with his result even if the curse used a tonne of magical energy to power it.
But he was evidentially not as pleased as Hermione was with the calculator.
Her response was not what Harry expected it to be.
He simply expected some praise and have that be it.
What he wasn't expecting was for The Hermione Granger.
Prefect Extraordinaire to drag him into the first broom closet she could find.
Who knew that Hermione found intelligence so sexy.
"I think I will have to let that side of me out to play more often" said a very mussed and tussled looking Harry Potter.
"Thank Merlin basic healing charms work on Hickeys" Harry thought to himself.
Not all was great however after Harry's world changing discoveries.
For one Dumbledore has taken to following Harry around.
Something that Harry supposed he also did with Riddle back in the day.
Unfortunately for Dumbledore Harry unlike Riddle was able to evade him using the cloak and Animagus combination.
And while a young Tom Riddle felt pressure being under Dumbledore's constant gaze,
Harry embraced it.
The harder Dumbledore tried to track Harry the more it interested him.
"It doesn't help you keep sending him those notes" Daphne said at the latest group meeting.
Thanks to Dumbledore being so distracted by Harry the rest of the group is able to operate pretty much without suspicion.
And as such they often meet up in the Room Of Requirement.
"How else will he learn to up his game if I don't mock his efforts" Harry replied.
"He's getting far too concerned about you as of late" Padma said making Harry shrug his shoulders.
"How are things with you anyways?" Harry asked which earned him a similar shrug from the Indian girl.
"Okay I suppose. But things with Parvati are still bad" she said sadly.
"No improvement huh" Harry said in a commiserating tone.
"She believes everything that fraud Trelawney says" she said through gritted teeth.
Harry nodded remembering just how she and Lavender were in the previous timeline.
"Doesn't help she spends all her time around Weasley since he and Lavender became a thing either" she said with rolled eyes.
"Honestly I'm not sure what she see's in him" Padma said.
"None of us are" Susan replies from her section of the study table.
"I'd have her tested for Love potions" Harry said earning a gasp from the others.
"What? You know that's how she got her husband Arthur right. Stupid bints brags about it too" Harry said with contempt.
Hermione and Luna who know of the other timeline also know just how Harry and Hermione were also ensnared by those Love Potion's.
It's why one of the first thing's Harry ever taught them as a group was how to detect potions in your food and decipher what potion is in using some high grade potion detection Charms.
And thankfully he had too as there had been numerous attempts on some of them over the years.
Daphne was targeted by Samuel Flint.
Parvati by Theodor Nott.
Hermione by Ron Weasley starting just after the Yule Ball.
And so on.
But not once has a potion every succeeded in ensnaring a single member of their study group.
And for that they were all grateful to Harry.
He had taken them from being a bunch of naïve children and shown them the way the world really worked.
All the wonder and awe of the magic world hides beneath it a dark side.
And it was also thanks to Harry that they were able to defend themselves.
From his personal lessons over the years to the more recent ones at the ARA headquarters.
He just wished it wasn't a necessity.
But sadly Dumballs and Voldemorticia have no issue of creating child soldiers.
And thus it became a necessity that Harry's friends and allies could protect themselves from them.
It was as they were studying, a day thankfully devoted to theory work that Harry's Mirror began to vibrate.
He instantly removed it.
"What's up Sirius?" Harry asked.
"It's Voldemort. He's made his move on Azkaban" his Godfather said sadly.
Harry grit his teeth.
He knew this day was coming.
He instantly stood up.
And eyed his friends.
"You're going aren't you" Hermione stated.
Her tone tinged with worry.
Harry nodded.
She sighed in resignation.
She knew there was no talking him out of it.
Hell she wasn't even sure she should.
If those Death Eaters get out they were all in for some serious trouble.
She also grit her teeth with frustration.
Despite all her efforts she and the others were still only part of Mad Eye's intermediate group.
Sure they had come a long way in a short period of time but it wasn't enough.
That and she also knew if they did go Harry would be too focussed on keeping them safe until they could do it themselves.
The logic was sound but emotionally she didn't' want to accept that.
It took a bit of berating of her self to make her see sense.
"Just come back to me in one piece" she said.
She then held Harry and kissed him for all he was worth.
She didn't care that others were there to see it.
She needed him to know he had somewhere to come back to.
Harry separated from the kiss with that crooked grin of his.
His eyes burning with determination.
And shoulders set straight back.
"Himbo!" he called.
And in a flash of flame a dark Phoenix appeared.
Hedwig's boyfriend (who was apparently once the phoenix of Dumbledore's nephew) hovered in the air above Harry.
That it appeared almost as soon as Grindlewald died wasn't a surprise to her.
The man had obviously worked behind the scenes to make sure he left Harry with all the help he could.
That Himbo, as Harry had taken to calling him was infatuated with Hedwig also seemed to help matters along in that regard too.
Harry grasped into it's tail feathers and they flashed out of there.
Without Harry to be strong for Hermione slumped into her chair.
Tear began filling her eyes.
It was only through stubbornness that she didn't start crying.
The others of the study group quickly rallied around her.
Daphne, Tracey, Luna, and Padma were instantly telling her things would be okay.
Susan was busy soothing Neville who had this hands balled up into fists.
The Gryffindor was certainly growing into his own man.
But leaving Harry to go alone obviously didn't sit well with him.
Hell it didn't sit well with any of them.
"We have to get stronger" Hermione said.
Her chocolate eyes burning with the same determination as her love.
Everyone nodded.
Any thought of working through the theory tonight was going to be put on hold.
Instead they focussed on some of the training exercises that Mad Eye was putting them through.
Thank Merlin the Room reacted to their desires and shifted to suit their new needs.
Once they got warmed up with those exercises, Hermione also had the Room provide them with frames for Merlin and the Founders portraits to appear.
"We figured you would be needing out help tonight" came the calm measured tone of Merlin.
And thus they began learning from some of the greatest magical minds in British History.
A definite perk that comes with being part of the ARA.
Chapter Five
Harry appeared on the shore's of Azkaban.
"Thanks Himbo" Harry said earning a trill from the phoenix.
It may not be Harry's familiar.
But from the mating bond it shares with Harry's Hedwig it was the next best thing.
Harry however soon put such thoughts aside upon seeing the flames and smoke all around him.
The fabled prison was littered with damage and debris.
The distinct lack of the cold dread told Harry the Dementors had already sided with Voldemort.
He then shifted into his raven form and rushed onwards.
The scene he arrived at was one of Mad Eye duelling Voldemort.
He was obviously trying to hold back the Dark Lord.
Mad Eye was a an impressive duellist.
One that by Grindlewalds standards would be classed as better than good.
But the gap between him and Voldemort was still there.
That tells you just how difficult bridging that gap was.
Harry then spots a single misstep by Mad Eye.
A mistake Voldemort also acknowledged and took advantage of.
A jet of sickly green magic was sent the famed Auror's way disguised with another similarly coloured spell.
Mad Eye barely defends from the first but it was clear he was too far out of position to handle the Killing Curse.
That's when Harry stepped in.
He shifted into human form and flicked Grindlwalds wand into his hand from his holster.
Harry decided on using the wand that belonged to Grindlewald, as he didn't fancy dealing with the connection between brother wands at this moment.
It would after all be far too inconvenient.
And would tip Voldemort off of something that Harry could use against him in the future.
And that was simply bad strategy in Harry's opinion.
Fortunately he had won the allegiance of Grindlewalds wand over their many duels against one another.
And with it he conjured a slab of marble to act as a shield.
His spell work was so fast that it took both Mad Eye, and Voldemort by surprise.
Mad Eye taking advantage of the situation banished the marble debris at Voldemort.
But that was only able to buy the Auror enough time to get his baring's.
"Took you long enough" Mad Eye commented.
Harry nodded.
"What's the situation?" Harry asked as his eyes stayed matched on Voldemort.
"A bunch of Werewolves got past while I was fighting tall bald and ugly over there" Mad eye said with a growl.
"Most of the guards are either dead or will be howling on the next full moon" he added.
"Sirius and the others have gone on ahead but they are vastly outnumbered" Moody groused.
Harry nodded.
His situational awareness that was forged during his own career as a Master Auror told him there wasn't much he could do about them now.
Instead he had to prioritise.
"I'll take care of Tom Bombadil over there. keep casualties on out side to a minimum and stop as many Death Munchers from being released as possible" Harry said handing out his orders.
The fact Mad Eye followed them was a testament to the respect he held for Harry.
Voldemort seemed to find the whole situation hilarious.
"Taking orders from a boy. How the mighty have fallen" he insulted.
Harry smiled.
"You will soon see exactly why Mad Eye follows my lead Tom" Harry replied calmly as though he was simply out for a stroll.
"That is not my name!" Roared Voldemort.
"Too easy" Harry thought as he and the dark lord began exchanging spells.
Jets and flashes of various colours of light flew thick and fast.
Voldemort was his usual blunt self.
Only going for the power moves hoping to bludgeon his foes.
Harry however was a whole other beast.
He dodged dipped ducked and dodged like he had eye's in the back of his head.
The rare spell that he couldn't evade he batted away effortlessly.
And then he went on the counter attack.
Like Grindlewald before him Harry was a conductor.
He moved with a fluid grace that seemed completely at odds with being on the battlefield.
His spells as always ran the gamut of Dark to Light.
Harry never understood why people limit their magical abilities when there was a whole spectrum.
Sure some lean more heavily to one side than the other. But that doesn't exclude it from ones use.
Well unless you have performed such acts that Light magic refuses to obey you any longer in it's semi sentient nature.
Usually by the time it gets to that point however you know you messed up.
Or at least Harry thought you should.
And with every second of their confrontation Voldemort grew more and more incensed.
"How can this brat be standing toe to toe with my might?" He thought to himself.
"Must be that blasted Prophecy" he surmised.
Harry took advantage of that moment of distraction.
He layered his spell several charms, and curses deep.
As such Voldemort didn't even see it coming.
But the roar of "Pessimus Memoria!" came from Harry.
Voldemort sneered.
"This is obviously some made up spell" he thought.
After all if he the great Voldemort never heard of it then it can't have existed.
That it seemed almost invisible but the slight frosting and drop in temperature also aided in Voldemort dismissing it.
He put that down to the presence of one of his Dementors.
He smiled thinking the boy was acting desperate.
That was until like a sledge hammer to the chest Voldemort was knocked off his feet.
Harry dropped to his knees "wow still have some bugs to work out" Harry thought to himself.
Using his self made Unforgivable cost Harry far more magical energy to use it on Voldemort than it did on Snape.
Harry supposed that was due to the gulf in magical power between the two.
A blood curdling scream then erupted from Voldemort.
His hands rose to his head and he began rocking back and forth.
He most feared Dark Lord in recent history was descended into a blubbering mess.
Harry struggled to his feet to finish him off.
After all he is now without his Horcrux's.
The Diary, The Diadem, The Locket, The Cup, The Ring, Nagini, and the Harry himself have all been taken care of.
But just as Harry was about to raise his wand a flash of flame distracted him.
"Of course you show up now" Harry complained when he spotted Dumbledore.
Knowing he lacked the strength to fight the old man so soon after wearing himself out with his new curse he summoned Himbo.
And while Dumbledore was staring at the tearful, screaming Voldemort Harry made his escape.
Himbo flashed him into Grimmauld place.
There the rest of the ARA were already there.
Himbo having already flashing them away.
For the most part every one was alive and in one piece.
The sole exception being Remus.
He would have a few more scare's to his collection.
But the prideful look on his face told Harry he had finally gotten his revenge against Greyback.
Ted and Andromeda Tonks flitted through the combatants.
They made sure there were no lasting injuries.
And while they were all tired and exhausted.
no-one had died.
They were also proud and in a celebratory mood as they had all done some real good out there today.
More than could be said about Dumbledore's Order.
Speaking of whom it was a few hours later they learned from their spy Albeforth that Dumbledore let Voldemort go.
That instantly got the ARA jeering the old man.
Things like "What was he thinking?"
And "How anyone follows him is beyond me"
Apparently he got distracted fighting Bellatrix and it allowed some of the very small number of freed Death Eater's to escape with their master.
The old fool was too busy playing with Bellatrix that he didn't notice.
Harry snorted.
"And that's the difference between a professor and a combatant" he mused.
Chapter Six
Following the Battle of Azkaban as it was called in the Prophet things settled down into something of a cold war between sides.
Voldemorts side had gone completely silent.
No doubt due to them only escaping with a measly four people.
And the whole exercise cost them Greyback and a large number of his pack.
And that's not even considering the effect Harry's curse has had on Voldemort.
Hell even Harry doesn't know exactly what kind of effect it would have other than forcing him to relive his worst memories over and over again.
Then there was Dumbledore's side.
The man had finally been stripped of his Chief Warlock position.
"Guess letting the worst Dark Lord in recent history go when he was at your mercy will do that" Harry said as he read the Prophets' reporting of the whole situation.
Thankfully the ARA were not mentioned.
Sirius and Harry had used their position as owners of the publication to squash any information about them no matter how vague it might be.
After all they were in a war and information control is just as viable a form of warfare as any.
It was for this exact reason (well that and to stop Fudge using it for hit pieces on his political foes) that Harry and Sirius brought the publication.
Thats not to say they were inactive during the cold war.
And this moment of peace allowed to reflect on a few things.
For One thing when going over his memories of the duel against Voldemort Harry found it hilarious that he didn't send a single Killing Curse at Harry.
"Guess he really brought into that bluff about being Immortal" Harry thought.
For another Harry had another bout of inspiration.
Of such he immediately began working through the theory.
The idea of course whether his Positive Memory Charm would have any effect on Neville's parents.
He hypothesised that the nature of it would possibly undo some of the damage their minds suffered under the Cruciatus.
And with a little bit of hope may urge them to withdraw from their own minds which they had seemingly retreated to in a survival mechanism of sorts.
He ran his theory past Ted their resident Healer.
And even he thought the idea had merit.
Especially after he had Harry demonstrate the Charm on him.
The pure positive feeling that flooded him as his most positive memories flashed through his mind was one hell of a trip.
Especially as it includes all the sensory information you recalled from that time.
And due to one of his best memories was his wedding night with Andromeda lets just say he was in for a fun evening.
One his wife, ever the Slytherin was more than willing to take advantage of.
Augusta and Neville who had tried everything else over the years figured it couldn't hurt to try.
And so Harry used his Time Turner to sneak him and Neville out of the castle without anyone noticing.
They met up with Augusta after Harry Apparated him and Neville to Grimmauld place.
They then used to Floo to head to St Mungo's.
Harry followed Neville and Augusta as they made their way to the Janis Thickery Ward.
They walked over to the two beds that lay side by side.
Alice and Frank Longbottom were laying down staring up at the ceiling unblinking.
Harry sighed.
"You know I make no promises about this right" he said to the pair.
Neville and his gran both nodded with a pensive expression on their faces.
He made his way over first to Alice.
Out of the two she is the one who often behaves as though there are moments of recognition.
"Here goes nothing" Harry said as he pointed his wand at her.
With a whispered enchantment of "Optimum Memoria" a warm almost Patronus like glow shot from Harry's wand and entered the woman.
A ripple of magic spread across her whole body and she sat up with a gasp which shocked those present.
She was still glassy eyed but her hands rose to her head and began cupping her own cheeks.
She sat there rocking backwards and forwards for a around fifteen minutes.
And Harry was beginning to worry he had damaged her further.
That was until here eye's drifted over to Augusta and in a croaky voice, one that seemed unsure in it's use she said "Gus".
That one word made Augusta and Neville begin to spill tears that had filled their eyes during her whole process of rocking herself.
"Alice" Augusta said with emotions catching the words in her throat.
"Who...Are...They?" Alice struggled to ask.
"This is Harry, Lily and James' son" Augusta said.
"And this one here is Neville" she said.
"Hi mom" Neville said nervously.
Alice gasped "Nev...ille...You're...So...Big" she said and with shaky hands held them out for him to come hug her.
While Neville was having his reunion with his Mother Harry moved on to performing the Charm on Frank.
Unlike Alice he didn't sit up and start rocking.
He did however begin tossing and turning.
His leg kicking out from under his sheets and occasionally arched his back.
Which made popping sounds which Harry assumes come from it not being used to moving so much.
Alice was looking at her husband with worry but Augusta and Neville were explaining what Harry was doing and what was going on.
It took Frank longer to come round but he eventually did with the croaked words of "Mom" at Augusta and "Al...ice" to his wife.
He too was shocked to discover that his Neville who he could only recall as being a toddler was suddenly almost fully grown before him.
He soon put those thoughts aside however and simply enjoyed the family he had before him.
Harry smiled at them but felt he was now intruding.
He went to make a hasty retreat only to be stopped by Alice.
"I...Don't...Think so...Mr" she said.
She then made a "come here" gesture with her hand. An action Harry was more than willing to oblige in.
She then held her arms open for a hug.
Her radiant smile and the words "Come...Hug...Your...God...Mother" shocked Harry.
He had never known she was his Godmother.
But the moment those words settled into Harry's brain he was instantly willing to embrace her as such.
After all if there was anyone who knew the value of family it was Harry Potter.
All told Harry was quite please with the results when it was time to leave.
He, Neville, and Augusta left them in the care of Ted.
"We need to have some guards posted for their protection" Harry said.
Augusta nodded.
"I'll take care of it" she said firmly.
Harry saw in her eyes a woman who had just had her family returned to her.
She would fight tooth and nail to prevent it from ever being taken from her again.
And while she was planning her son and Daughter in laws protection Neville wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder.
He seemed lighter than the Neville he knew from the other timeline.
Like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulder.
He smiled wildly at Harry.
"I owe you Harry. Just say the word and I'll always have your back" He said words dripping with confidence.
"I know you will Nev" Harry said.
"Same goes for me" Harry added.
The two tussled and shoved each other one their way out of St Mungo's.
Augusta smiled warmly at them. There was no hint of the stern woman Harry was familiar with.
Instead she was for the first time appearing as a kindly Grandmother smiling indulgently as Harry and Neville were acting like normal teenage boys.