Advent's Calendar 2023 - Fate's Fairy Tale
by teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU! Partly OOC, time travel, soul bonds
This will be a daily page story with small chapters like my previous Advent's Calendar stories.
Harry stared at the black curtain in shock. "Sirius! Noooo!"
The idea of killing Bellatrix Lestrange flashed through his mind; however, he dismissed it, deciding that the whereabouts of his godfather was more important than his revenge on the evil bitch. He dashed after Sirius behind the black curtain only to realise that it might have been a mistake to do so.
As the world around him turned black, he was unaware that Ginny Weasley was running into the veil after him, followed closely by two other witches who were determined to protect them all.
HP
By the time his mind returned to awareness, Harry found himself on platform nine and three quarters. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the red steam engine of the Hogwarts Express. 'What am I doing here?' he thought, incredulously. Looking to his left, his eyes widened in shock upon recognising Sirius. His godfather seemed to be an eleven year old boy. Next to him was his Hogwarts suitcase, and he looked ready for his first trip to Hogwarts. He glanced down at his own, equally young body, only to jump in surprise, when he realised that Ginny, Hermione and Luna were standing on his other side.
'What the… Did they come after Sirius and me?' he thought in shock, not even surprised at the young age of his best friends. The thought, 'Only Ron is missing,' crossed his mind.
Before he could question his friends let alone their situation, a woman dressed in dark blue robes with a pattern of large pink and magenta flowers appeared in front of them, causing him to stumble a step back in shock. She was tall and had long blonde hair.
"Sirius Black, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ginevra Weasley and Luna Lovegood," she addressed them in a firm voice. "Apparently, you were not aware that you stepped through the veil in the Death Chamber of the Ministry of Magic in your previous time?"
"My cousin Bella…" Sirius began to explain, when the woman cut him off.
"I know what happened. It was not your fault, but the other four foolishly followed you."
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Harry asked, wondering if he was stuck in some strange dream. "We're not dead, are we?"
The woman let out a small scoff, before she began to explain in a soft but firm voice. "I am Fate. No one else would have been able to save you from Death. But now, I want something in return for saving your lives. I want you to fix some things, which went wrong in your previous timeline."
Harry nodded in understanding, noticing that the other four nodded as well.
"We're going to properly end the first war once and for all," Luna promised, causing the others to stare at her in confusion.
Harry glanced around the platform, only to realise that something was really wrong. None of his former classmates seemed to be there, neither among the first-years nor among the older students. 'We must be in the past or the future,' he realised. 'Luna seems to know somehow.' "Excuse me, Fate, but what year did you send us to?"
Fate chuckled. "It's the year, in which Sirius is a first year. 1971."
"What?" Sirius glared at the woman. "Don't tell me I have to go back to my horrible parents during the summer."
"Sorry, Fate, but we're not even born in this time. My parents don't even know about me." Ginny sounded annoyed, as she stared at Fate, questioningly.
"Same here," Luna said, pleasantly.
"Neither do mine, and how am I supposed to explain this to them? They're muggles. I didn't even bring my school books," Hermione realised in apparent devastation.
"My parents don't even know each other," Harry pointed out in horror. "What are we supposed to do during the summers?"
Fate chuckled again. "To assist you in your endeavour, I have taken the liberty of magically bonding the souls of Harry and Ginevra, as you were previously in a relationship. Harry and Ginevra, you are married. As a married couple, you are automatically emancipated in the magical world and will be able to become the magical guardians of Hermione and Luna."
"Excuse me, Fate, but what does it mean that their souls are bonded?" Hermione looked at the woman with apparent interest.
"Their soul bond will transcend a normal marriage. They will be able to communicate through telepathy, sense each other's moods, know when the other is in danger and be able to apparate to each other at any time. There will be other effects, but I will leave them for Harry and Ginevra to discover in time."
'Does it really work?' Ginny suddenly thought to Harry, startling him.
'Apparently,' he thought back, before narrowing his eyes as he looked back at Fate. "Has anyone, by any chance, paid our Hogwarts fees?"
Fate nodded. "Sirius will simply replace himself. For the other four, your Hogwarts fees have been paid for all seven years. As for the summers, why don't you work at Hogwarts as student assistants or invent something you know about from the future, such as a cure for lycanthropy…"
"There was no cure for lycanthropy," Sirius all but growled.
"Then invent one on the basis of the Wolfsbane potion. I am sure Severus Snape will be willing to help you. It would get you the Order of Merlin first class, which comes with a lot of money to rent an apartment for the summer months."
Sirius grinned. "I've got a better idea. We could just occupy one of the Black summer houses and cast the Fidelius charm around it to keep it from the rest of the Blacks."
Fate smirked. "Good luck with that. I will leave now. Enjoy your time and improve the timeline. Don't make history repeat itself. The Hogwarts Express will leave in ten minutes by the way."
"Couldn't you at least give us a few minutes in private to get used to the situation and discuss the matter amongst ourselves?" Harry interrupted her, feeling very upset.
"Would you prefer if I'd left you to Death?" Fate glared at him, challengingly. "He would have been happy to take you all. Oh, and before I forget… Apart from Sirius, none of you will be born in this new time to prevent a paradox. There will only be one of you in the future."
"Err… Fate?" Harry asked; however, the lady had already vanished from the spot. He turned to the others. "We don't have any clothes, let alone school books or anything. What are we going to do?"
"We'll have to ask someone for help, but we shouldn't tell anyone else about our issue," Sirius decided, pointing to the suitcase at his feet. "Until you can get something to wear, I can share my clothes, at least with Harry." He smirked at the girls.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "There is always Transfiguration," she pointed out, causing Sirius to chuckle.
'There's nothing funny about that,' Harry thought, feeling extremely annoyed at the situation, before a sudden thought crossed his mind. 'I'll get to know my parents.'
"Whom should we ask?" Hermione appeared thoughtful. "Professor McGonagall?"
Harry let out a deep sigh. "As much as I detested him during this school year and don't really trust him, because he kept keeping things from me, I think that Dumbledore would be the best."
The engine of the Hogwarts Express let out a loud whistle announcing that the train was about to leave.
"Let's get on the train quickly!" Ginny shouted, running to the nearest door.
tbc tomorrow...
Please be so kind and let me know what you think about this chapter and the five friends' situation. Are there any characters or events that you would like to be included into this story?Please let me know. Thank you!