Chapter 6 is here! I always choose which story I am going to update by feel and this one was just calling to me again. I hope you enjoy the latest chapter. Some things are explained, others won't be explained until later in the story. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 6

Harry and Theo walked into the Great Hall like usual the next morning, chatting quietly as they walked through the entryway. Both eyes were immediately drawn to the Gryffindor table, which was in an uproar the likes of which Harry had rarely seen before. Green eyes widened in surprise as Harry took in every Gryffindor's head, all of which were now shaved completely bald. There wasn't a strand of hair among them.

Harry rushed over to Charlus, gripping the older teens arm and ignoring the looks from his friends.

"Charlus! Are you OK?" Harry asked in concern.

Charlus merely rubbed his hand over his head ruefully.

"Completely fine, Harry. Someone just thought it would be funny to 'shave' everyone's heads last night. They've also cast some kind of spell to stop us magically growing the hair back. Honestly, I'm mostly just impressed" he finished with a chuckle.

Harry let out a relieved sigh and laughed himself.

"It is a clever piece of magic" the younger teen agreed.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you Potter?" One of Charlus' friends asked, fixing Harry with a penetrating stare.

"Nothing" Harry said honestly. The other teen just stared at him for a moment before nodding and looking away.

"I'm glad you're OK, if a little uglier" Harry said with a grin as he turned back toward the Slytherin table, laughing at the indignant squawk that sounded behind him.

He plopped down at the Slytherin table, a smile still lighting his face.

"Your brother, OK?" Theo asked and Harry felt his chest warm at the question.

"Yeah, he's fine. Just lamenting the loss of his amazing Potter hair" Harry said with a chuckle and a glance up at his own wild locks.

"It certainly is a mess" a voice said from across the table, before a hand reached out and ran through his hair. "Maybe you could let me cut it sometime?" Harry jerked back violently at the very suggestion, staring in horror at Josephine, who still had her hand stretched out toward him.

"You stay away from my hair" Harry said seriously, causing everyone around them to chuckle.

"What? You don't want the same haircut as the Gryffindors?" Theo asked innocently and Harry cast a suspicious gaze around the table of Slytherins, who all looked as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.

Before he could even begin to question just who exactly had pranked the Gryffindor's, Harry was distracted by the arrival of the morning post and a large screech owl that landed in front of him. Conscious of the many sets of eyes on him after yesterday, Harry didn't hesitate to reach forward and untie the letter, letting the owl fly free once more.

He carefully opened the letter, dread settling in his stomach at the familiar spindly writing.

Dear Mr Potter,

I was wondering if you might like to come for a spot of tea on Saturday afternoon? Please let me know by return owl at your earliest convenience.

I make a point of meeting with all new students to ensure that they are settling in well.

I look forward to getting to know you better, Harry.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry's face went carefully blank as his fears were confirmed. He felt a shudder trying to work its way through his body, but he fought it down. No doubt Dumbledore was sitting at the staff table and watching his reaction. He would give him nothing. The absolutely last thing he needed was to draw the interest of Dumbledore, but it seems it was already too late for that. The meddling old coot, who had dictated so much of Harry's life was already interested it seemed. No doubt the case of a mystery Potter turning up and being sorted into Slytherin had caught the interest of a lot of people.

He let out a sigh of dismay as he pushed his half-eaten plate of food away, instead turning his head slightly like he was talking to Theo, hiding the fact he was lost in thought. He wasn't sure what the best thing to do here was? Meet with Dumbledore and no doubt stoke his suspicions, whatever they were. Perhaps he could talk to Dippet and ask him to make his excuses to Dumbledore, though that would probably seem just as suspicious to the transfiguration teacher. He could of course just come up with some excuse about being busy. Act calm and oblivious and explain that unfortunately Saturday just didn't work for him. Yes, that would do. He breathed a little sigh of relief having come up with a plan. Decided, he reached down into his bag and pulled out some ink, parchment and a quill and quickly jotted down a note to Professor Dumbledore, explaining that he was busy all weekend. He stuck the note in his pocket to post the next time he was passing by the owlery, mentally reminding himself to pretend that he didn't know where it already was and ask for directions. He was secretly grateful that he didn't have transfiguration that day.

He glanced up to find Tom as well as several other nearby Slytherin's watching him shrewdly.

He thought about explaining his dislike for Dumbledore, but how could he really explain how he didn't like someone he had met only once. Time travel was hard work.

"Would anyone like to give me a tour of Hogwarts over the weekend? I still haven't had an official tour and I've been here nearly a week" Harry said with a smile that was strained around the edges.

"I would be happy to" Alphard said with a smile at the same time as Orion said, "I will, I know all the best spots."

Abraxas let out a sneer "if by all the best spots you mean the places you go with your current 'partner' then I truly doubt Harry would be interested. I will show you around Harry, I will actually take you places that will be of interest to you, like the quidditch pitch."

Harry's face lit up at the mere mention of the quidditch pitch, his mood lightening.

"Oh, yes, Abraxas, that sounds great."

Before Orion could start to protest Tom spoke up.

"We can all take him" the tall Slytherin said, indicating to their small group. "Between all of us I'm sure Harry will get a very thorough tour, though I'm not fully convinced that he needs it" he finished, a shrewd look crossing his handsome face.

Harry took a sip of his juice and did his best to look completely innocent while internally his mind was screaming, shit shit shit.

"Thank you, Tom, that sounds great" he said as calmly as he could.

Orion went back to eating his breakfast, slightly mollified that he wasn't being completely shut out.

And if Harry raced up to the owlery to post a letter as they were walking to charms later that day (after asking for directions) no one commented.

Harry rolled over, pulling his warm blankets up around his ears as he tried to fight the urge to wake up. It was Saturday morning, and he was determined to sleep in a little. He had found that he actually quite liked the Slytherin dormitories. It was quiet and dark down in the dungeons and actually a lot warmer and cosier than he would've expected. There was no wind howling through windows like in Gryffindor tower. Perhaps he could ask Draco if he could spend some nights in the Slytherin dorms when he returned to his own time. He let out a little sigh of defeat, knowing that he was too awake now to get back to sleep, but that didn't mean that he had to get out of bed anytime soon. He snuggled down and let his mind wander. Thinking of Dumbledore and mentally preparing a list of excuses to try to avoid any tea invitations he may receive in the future. He might go and visit Dippet next week if he'd still received no word on the artefact, surely it couldn't take that long to locate where the thing had gone.

He blinked blearily as his curtains were pulled open, to find Orion grinning down at him. The larger teen climbed into bed with him, Harry tensing as strong arms wrapped around him. When said arms did nothing more Harry began to relax infinitesimally, the smell of caramel helping to calm him.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked quietly, looking up at Orion, whose face was very close to his own.

"I would think it was obvious" Orion whispered.

Harry merely stared at the teen, before nodding and burrowing himself further into Orion's embrace. He let the warmth and sense of safety lull him back to sleep.

"I thought you were supposed to be getting Harry for breakfast so we could start his tour" Theo said, bemusement colouring his tone.

Orion stared back at his friend, a perplexed look on his face.

"I climbed into bed with him and… he went to sleep" Orion spoke slowly, as though his brain was struggling to comprehend just what had happened.

Theo stared at him for a moment before roaring with laughter. The dark-haired teen gasped for breath, slapping his knee as his whole body shook.

Harry startled awake at the noise, pulling his face out of Orion's neck as he looked for the source of what had woken him.

"ats g'on?" Harry asked in confusion as he became more aware of his surroundings.

Theo was laughing too hard to answer so Orion huffed, "It's time to get up, Harry."

"Oh- right."

He made to pull away from Orion's embrace, but he found himself quite stuck.

"Ah, you'll have to let me go if it's time to get up" Harry said, green eyes blinking innocently up at the other teen.

Orion let out a soft groan before gradually pulling away and letting Harry out of the bed.

Harry took his clothes and went to the bathroom to change, leaving Theo and Orion to collect themselves.

"I actually think he doesn't find me attractive" Orion said in a disbelieving voice.

Theo wiped a few tears from his eyes before speaking. "I think it's more that he doesn't take your interest seriously, he thinks your merely joking around."

"Well, my interest is serious, very serious" Orion said indignantly.

Theo merely looked at him sceptically. "You may be serious about getting him into your bed, but not much more than that. And if that's all you're interested in I would just drop it. Harry doesn't seem like a casual relationship kinda person. And if you end up hurting him, I will not be pleased." Theo finished seriously.

Before Orion could respond, Harry came out of the bathroom fully dressed and looking much more awake.

"Let's go" Theo said, leaving Orion to his thoughts as he guided Harry to the great hall. "Everyone else is waiting for us there" he explained as they walked.

"So where should we start?" Harry asked as they excited the great hall. He had been shocked to learn that it was nearly 10am when he'd arrived in the hall, thankfully his friends had saved him some breakfast before it had all vanished. He paused for a moment, surprised to realise that he was starting to consider these Slytherins his friends. Well, some of them, of all his dorm mates he could say that he wasn't very close to Goyle and Lestrange, both being quite cold and standoffish. He had actually had more conversations with Tom than he had had with either of them. Still, they had come out with the rest of their dorm mates to show Harry around, so they couldn't be all bad.

They wandered around for hours, he was shown everything from the location to all of the other houses common rooms, the hidden entry into the kitchens, a tour of the owlery and library as well as multiple hidden passageways meant to make getting around the castle easier. He did notice that he wasn't shown the room of requirement or Slytherins chamber, not that he had really expected to be. Harry had a tough time trying to pretend that this was all new information that he was receiving, and that he hadn't already been living in the castle for the last five years. It was more tiring than he would've thought.

While they walked, they talked.

He learned that Austin had two younger brothers, both in Slytherin, while Theo had an older sister who had already left Hogwarts and was now happily married. He learned that Abraxas loved to fly, and that Malfoy manor had its own quidditch pitch (though he'd already been aware of this from Draco), Tom even shared the fact that he was an orphan and Harry nodded, wondering grimly if he had already killed his father yet. For a moment he had wanted to tell Tom that he knew how it felt, to grow up with no parents, unwanted and unloved, constantly thought of as a freak, but that admission wouldn't have really tied in well with his whole pureblood Potter persona he had developed. Instead, he had looked at Tom with warmth and understanding hoping that the other teen would realise that he wasn't alone.

"I owled my parents about what you were saying the other day about marrying within your own family" Orion said as he sidled up beside Harry as they strolled down to sit by the lake. The Black heir had been remarkably quiet today.

Harry looked positively alarmed at that.

"Oh, you shouldn't listen to anything I say" Harry said with a squeak, but Orion merely smiled at him.

"No, what you were saying made a lot of sense when I thought about it. Anyway, they have hired several researchers to look into the problem and if what you say holds any merit then I won't be marrying Walburga."

Harry felt ill at the proclamation. Sure, Walburga was horrible and would make her husband and sons miserable for the entirety of their lives, but without her Sirius and Regulus would fail to exist.

He struggled to come up with a way to fix this. "B-but don't you love Walburga? Want to build a life together?"

Orion snorted and Corvus who was walking beside them actually burst out laughing.

"No" Orion said with complete sincerity even as he rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the statement.

"Oh" Harry said, eyes flicking away. What could he really say to that?

They sprawled out in the sun; Harry smiled slightly as Abraxas settled beside him.

"So, what did you think?" The blonde asked softly. "Of Hogwarts" he continued, at Harry's questioning glance.

"It's amazing" Harry said honestly, in love with the castle as much now as he had been all those years in the future.

Abraxas's look turned soft, and Harry thought it might be the first time the blonde had looked at him with something other than disdain.

Before he could truly get comfortable though, a house elf appeared with a pop right beside Harry.

"Headmaster be wantin to see you master Harry Potter, Sir" the house elf squeaked before disappearing again.

Harry's heart began to pound, the last time he had been called to the headmaster's office was to meet Charlus and Fleamont, what could it be this time? Could it possibly be about the artefact?

"Do you want one of us to come with you?" Abraxas asked as Harry practically leapt to his feet.

"No, thank you. I'll be fine" Harry said with a grin as he started walking quickly towards Dippet's office, missing the shared looks of the boys behind him.

He was out of breath when he burst into Headmaster Dippet's office. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Harry, take a seat" the headmaster looked grave. It was then that Harry noticed the other man standing to the side of the room. The man looked to be in his fifties with light brown hair sprinkled with grey. Seeing where his attention was now focused Dippet explained.

"This is unspeakable Andrews."

Harry's heart started to pound.

Dippet's voice turned very gentle, causing Harry to turn from the man before him and focus back on the headmaster.

"We have been in correspondence over the last few days regarding the artefact that you were able to use to time travel. Andrews is familiar with the artefact, and he has explained to me that it is exceptionally powerful, though very dangerous. You see those who use it to travel back in time never return. It is only able to travel back a large number of years and thus doing so creates a fork in the timeline. On one timeline things will continue, but on this timeline, the one we are currently on, a whole new one is formed completely separate from the future that you came from."

Harry just stared at Dippet non-plussed, what did that mean?

"What" and here Dippet let out a deep sigh. "What it means for you, unfortunately Harry, is that you won't be able to return to your future." Dippet looked sad at the proclamation. "Even if we somehow worked out how to send you that far forward in time you would be going back to a different future then the one you left behind."

"What he's trying to say, young one" the tall man from the Department of Mysterious spoke up. "Is that you cannot return to the future, the future as you know it is over, it has continued on without you. Your future now lays here."

Harry's brain felt sluggish as he tried to comprehend what he was being told.

"There's no way for me to return to the future?" He asked slowly, eyes flicking between the two men trying to detect any deceit.

"No. I am sorry" Unspeakable Andrews said. "I am here to set you up with a new identity for this time."

"A new identity for this time" Harry repeated numbly.

"Yes. After speaking with Headmaster Dippet, we thought it would make the most sense to simply make your fake identity real. You will be Harry James Potter, youngest of the Potter brothers. You haven't attended Hogwarts thus far due to ill health. I will leave you as well as your brothers to sort out the specific details you wish to tell people. Here is a record of your birth" Andrews said, "just let me know your date of birth and I will update it."

Both men stared expectantly at Harry before he managed to stutter out "ah i-it's the th-thirty first of July."

Andrews tapped the parchment with his wand before handing it over. "As well as a Gringotts record adding you to the Potter vaults."

Harry took the pieces of paper and glanced down, not taking in anything he was seeing.

"I know this is a lot, Harry. It must be very difficult for you" Dippet said kindly. "Would you like me to contact Charlus and Fleamont to be here for you?"

Harry shook his head, eyes unfocused. "No – no I'm OK. It's just a lot. I'm OK." He paused for a moment before asking desperately. "Surely, there is something else we can do, some other way for me to return to my own time?"

Dippet looked concerned. "I am afraid not. Unspeakable Andrews has worked in the department for many years and knows all there is to know of time travel. I'm sorry Harry but it is just not possible." Seeing Harry's devastated look, he continued. "I think I will still owl Fleamont and Charlus both and update them on what is happening. No doubt they will want to meet with you soon to discuss."

Harry nodded, standing up and nearly tripping over his chair as he made for the door, not even bothering to say goodbye. His magic was roiling around him in distress, as chaotic as the thoughts racing through his head. It didn't all seem quite real.

He ambled back to the Slytherin dorms, thankful that the halls were mostly empty. Several people said hello as he made his way into the Slytherin common room, but Harry ignored them. He headed straight for his dorm, falling on his bed and staring listlessly at the ceiling. The sheets of parchment in his hands fell to the ground with a whisper. He wasn't going home. That future was lost to him. A tear rolled down his cheek, quickly followed by another, he didn't bother to try and wipe them away.

He was never going to see his friends again, never sneak around the castle with Draco, go flying with Ron or fall asleep with his head in Hermione's lap. No more summers spent at The Burrow. No more hearing Remus talk about something interesting he'd read in a book. No more carefully eyeing everything he ate in case Fred or George had somehow managed to slip a prank into the food. More tears started to flow as he cursed his own stupidity. Jumping in without thinking things through, like always, he never learnt. Would they even be able to defeat Voldemort without him? He was sure Dumbledore would find a way, but still how much more difficult had things just become for them. He started crying in earnest now, his magic swirling and snapping around him.

Out by the lake Tom sat up.

"Do you feel that?" he asked seriously, causing all conversation around him to stop.

After a moment Abraxas responded, "I feel something."

"Me too" Orion agreed.

"It's someone's magic… someone powerful" Tom said softly, eyes turning sharp.

"There's something happening in the castle" Theo said, starting to stand.

Harry's magic swirled around them, broadcasting his pain to all.

Dippet raised his head from where he had been writing to Fleamont, instead calling for his house elf Hatti. "Go and get Charlus Potter and bring him to me immediately." The house elf nodded and popped away. Dippet walked to the fireplace, grabbing a pinch of floo powder and throwing it in the flames before sticking his head in and calling "Potter Manor!"

Tom hurried towards the castle, following the demand of the magic. It was calling him, practically screaming for him to hurry and he increased his pace, Abraxas, Orion, Theo, Austin and Corvus all hurrying along behind him, wands in their hands. They weren't sure what was going on, just that it was something important. When they entered the castle there were others looking around curiously, though none seemed to be as affected as Tom, who was now feeling the magic like a physical caress.

They headed for the Slytherin dorms, Tom instinctively knowing that it was Harry calling to him. When they entered the common room, they were directed to their dorms by several students, who were all staring with wide eyed fascination.

Harry didn't look up as he heard the dorm room door slam open and hurried footsteps approaching.

"Harry, what's wrong!?" Tom asked urgently, firm hands gripping his shoulders and turning him, so he was now looking at the Slytherin prefect.

"Oh, why did you have to go crazy?" Harry moaned as he stared at Tom. "I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't."

Tom shared a perplexed look with Corvus as Harry's magic swirled around them, the feeling nearly bringing Tom to his knees.

Harry's crying, if possible, got worse. His words slurred as he babbled. Tom thought he heard, snake man and leave Draco alone, but he couldn't be sure.

"It's all gone" Harry cried out, before his magic exploded out of him like a volcano, everyone in the room was knocked to the floor, unharmed but completely stunned at the show of power. Tom's whole body was thrumming, he had never felt anything like it, it was intoxicating. He struggled to right himself as he turned and saw Headmaster Dippet, Charlus and Fleamont come running into the room.

The headmaster stopped short, "oh my", he gasped. "Charlus, run and get Madam Raston and bring her here immediately."

Charlus nodded seriously before running from the room.

"Harry" Fleamont called quietly as he approached the bed, while headmaster Dippet pause to check over Tom and the other boys, who were all beginning to rise.

"He's out cold" Fleamont said, running a hand comfortingly through Harry's locks.

"No one was injured, and nothing was damaged" Dippet said. "The extreme emotional distress must have caused his magic to go haywire, an outlet for what he was feeling.

Fleamont nodded. Leaning down to scoop Harry up into his arms, frowning slightly at the small body.

"I will start heading towards the hospital wing, you stay with the others until Madam Raston arrives."

Normally Fleamont wouldn't dare give orders to the headmaster in his own school, but when it came to his own flesh and blood, even if he had only met them once, he would do anything.

Tom couldn't take his eyes off the small figure as it was carried from the room.