Chapter 1

The Boy Who Lived felt haunted. Stuck. Regardless of how happy the world seemed to be. He was a misfit, eyes sunken and shivering.

It had only been barely a year since Voldemort had been defeated. Though the victory brought great relief throughout the wizarding world, there was still a lingering sorrow across the grounds of Hogwarts. So many people had died putting their trust in him and he was still here. Living. Breathing… While others had crossed beyond and left behind lovers, family, children… How he wished he could trade his life for them all. How he wished he knew what he knew now back then.

Harry dug his hands deeper into his pockets as he watched the slow rebuilding of the school grounds from his seat on the bridge. Well... it wasn't necessarily slow since magic could do all kinds of extraordinary things but it was certainly getting a new remodeling. Something McGonnegal had said was 'Well deserved.'

He, Ron and Hermione had been called to visit along with a few other students and staff for a small commemorative event. There was to be a ceremony in honor of the trio for their bravery and loyalty to the safety of Hogwarts and wizard kind alike, recognised with a plaque embedded in the school walls.

Harry had embraced being the hero. Made it his destiny, his entire life. Now he was… just Harry. As small as the boy who used to live in the cupboard under the stairs. Reporters flocked about, flashing cameras and penning interviews. They were making a ruckus on the very ground where Voldemort had finally fallen.

He didn't quite understand it but the world was moving without him.

Despite Ginny's comfort, Harry felt trapped... alone. Hermione would have his head for thinking thoughts like that but he shamelessly wished for more than this.

As he waited for a lanky reporter to ready his camera, Harry heard a conversation over his shoulder. Two wizards, a man and a woman, were speaking low about a person in France named Gringal. More whispers met his ear and he was taken aback by the words 'time travel'.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned his attention to the camera man and smiled. Once the picture was taken, Harry quickly crossed the stone path over to where Ron and Hermione were huddled. "Guys," he breathed, pushing them lightly by the shoulders to get them away from the reporters. "You'd never guess what I just heard. A man from Germany named Gringal just accomplished long reach time travel. I know it sounds impossible but I think we should check it out." So what if it was slightly impulsive?

Harry watched as Hermione's face changed from surprise to calm control. "Harry," she started slowly, clearly. "You know what time travel can do and how it can unravel the destinies of everyone around you. We took a risk with the Time Turner but-" Her expressionless demeanor cracked. "We have won. What is done is done."

Ron licked his lips. "Look, this last year has not been easy. For any of us. Do you want to relive all that? See them die again?"

"That's the point," Harry continued, "We could keep everyone from dying in the first place. What if we told Dumbledore what we know and what comes from the future? That we knew about all the horcruxes? What if I told Snape that I knew he had my mother's wand and that he doesn't have to pretend anymore?" He looked between his best friend's faces. "Come on, we have the chance to save them knowing all of Voldemort's secrets."

"Or it could save no one," Hermione interrupted firmly, crossing her arms.

Harry realized that saving one person would alter all of Voldemort's plans. Whether for good or worse, he was positive they could handle it. He wanted to see what a life with his godfather was like... How a simple 'thank you' could change the cold, harsh demeanor of his former potions master.

He turned to Ron. "I was thinking we could go to the end of the Triwizard tournament to save Cedric. Give him the chance to live again." It was the first murder he witnessed by the dark lord's hand and that day still haunted him. "Come on, Hermione. What do we have to lose?"

"How 'bout a future?" She shook her head as if she was baffled she had to explain this at all. "What if instead of Cedric dying it's you instead? We change one thing and the whole timeline is unraveled. We may not have a happy ending-"

"That's impossible," Harry interrupted. "We know what makes Voldemort powerful. He'd have already split his soul. There's no way we can lose."

"Wait, wait," Ron shook his head. "Look, what if we did go back. What happens to our other selves?"

"I suspect the moment we change something they are erased," Hermione explained. "I can't pretend to know everything-"

"Though you would try," Ron nudged her playfully.

Hermione produced a small smile. "Regardless, there are too many factors to consider all consequences."

Harry took a deep breath. "Then humor me. Let's at least talk to this Gringal and we can access the information again from there."

His friends were silent for a moment but Hermione reluctantly nodded. "Fine… But he only gets ten minutes."

The elation filled him almost immediately. "Ten minutes," he agreed. It took all his discipline not to jump with giddy excitement and instead, told the other two to wait a moment while he obtained the information they would need for their adventure. It was a strange feeling, intoxicating even, to be excited over something after all they had been through. This had been the best news he had heard for months.

Once he had returned from speaking to the two wizards from earlier, he passed on Gringal's limited information to his two friends who in turn aided him in finding and confirming the inventor's current location.

The wizard Gringal Hazworth lived just outside the German city of Berlin, away from prying muggle eyes in a rather large house with broken window covers and an overgrown lawn. The trio stood just outside the faded front gate, looking over at the gloomy establishment with strange tall trees.

Ron spoke first. "Doesn't look like anyone much lives here does it?"

Harry felt a bite of disappointment. "Can't say I'm entirely convinced either." A breeze rattled a loose window covering. "Well we don't know if we don't try."

He unlatched the deteriorating gate and held it open for the other two to pass. "Any questions you think I should ask, Hermione? You are the only one who's really time traveled the most between us."

"She's the only one who's done a lot of things between the three of us," Ron mumbled, pulling out his wand cautiously.

The bushy-haired witch adjusted the bag slung over her shoulder. "Oh, I don't know. How long does it last? Has he changed the future already? Whatever we need to ask, we just need to remember to be clear and as neutral as possible. From what we've heard about him, he doesn't sound like he's… um…"

"He's off his rocker," Ron added from the front. "We gotta be prepared in case this bloke is an absolute looney. There have been so many dark wizards making a scene now that Voldemort's gone."

"Yeah," Harry sighed. "I'll practice being clear. I know my emotions are not always… adequate."

His friend's shared a humored glance with each other. "Yeah," Ron laughed. "You can say that."

Harry's shoes crunched through the overgrowth until they made it onto the front porch. Cautiously, he removed his wand and, with one last glance at the pair behind him, knocked on the door. At first there was no answer. He tried knocking again before turning the handle. The entrance way was dark, save only for a light down a hall.

Harry cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Mr. Gringal?" There was a crash from another room and a scrawny gentleman with blonde hair poked his head out from the adjacent hall. At first he was confused before enlightenment crossed his features.

"God bless, it's Harry Potter." He emerged from the hall, waving his hand to illuminate the crowded front sitting room. He gestured wildly. "Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley too! Do come inside, all of you. I'll make some tea."

Harry glanced at the other two before taking a seat gingerly on a narrow couch. It was a minute or two before Gringal emerged, holding a tray with mismatched cups and a teetering kettle. "To what do I owe the pleasure to serve you fine heroes?" He smiled broadly.

Harry cleared his throat. "Mr. Gringal, we heard that you might have created something that accomplished... time travel."

Gringal's smile wavered. "Boy, word does spread fast now doesn't it?" He put down his cup. "Look, I've read what you all did in the papers but going back in time will essentially change everything. This moment, yesterday, you will erase that for millions of people-"

"But we'd save thousands in the process," Harry interjected. "Everyone will still live happy lives and even happier could we have stopped Voldemort sooner."

Gringal flinched slightly at the name before starting again softly. "I don't have it all figured out yet. It is still very early in the testing stages- I don't know when it will take you if you tried. I can't promise it will change anything at all."

"But we'd know more."

Gringal took a deep breath. "You change time there, you will never be able to come back. I may not exist in the same mindset to create such a device again. You will be stuck." He glanced between all of them. "This isn't a time turner where the device is with you. I have only managed to bewitch an object that can accomplish going to one time. That is it. It's too soon to be safe."

Harry turned to look at his friends, hoping they felt the same way about this future as he did. "I have nothing to lose. I could always find Ginny again," he said. "We could save everyone if we play it right."

"Or we could kill different people instead," Ron turned, a worried crease in his brow. "Is it really worth the future? To be stuck?"

"Hermione?"

She took a deep breath, tracing the design on the tea cup with the tip of her finger. "We have always been together to overcome all our problems. I…" She let out a shaky breath and grabbed hold of Ron's hand. "I suppose we could try to save them. I would have my family back." She met Ron's gaze. "And you could meet them too."

Ron sighed and tightened his hold on her hand. "Alright, we can try to save them."

Harry admired his friends for a moment longer before turning back to Gringal who was looking pale at the prospect. "You know we can do it. We've done it before, we will save the world again but better."

The man shuttered, dropping the tea cup onto the floor. "Well, I guess if the future no longer matters there is no use in indulging in this pathetic earl gray." He stood from his seat and gestured for them to follow. "Come, this way."

The trio followed as Gringal hurried through his small home and out into the outgrown back lawn. He pulled out his wand and waved it above his head. The sky began to swirl, clouds pulled in and growing darker by the second. "Um, Mr. Gringal sir?" Harry tried, running to keep up now. "What exactly-?"

"I am conducting a storm!" he called over the now growing rumbling of thunder. "The spell requires raw power and an electric storm was the only way I could conjure it without using artificial wand lightening." He turned to Ron as his blonde whipped around his head. "You understand, right?"

Ron nodded frantically, not exactly sure what to say.

"Good! Come on! It's just over here."

They approached a shack at the end of the field. Its poor frame rattled as the storm raged over it, glowing from within as the wizard muttered a few incantations.

"The portal's a shack?" Hermione yelled over the wind.

"It's not just any shack!" Gringal called back. "It's a shack made from the same tree that made the elder wand. It holds the same properties of the most powerful wand in the world!"

"How could you possibly know that?" Harry asked.

"It was by chance really! Ask me when you get to the new future! It's quite a funny tale! Now go, you're going to miss it!" The trio hurried to the door, looking back at Gringal's crazed smile. "Just think really, really hard about where you want to go! I'm sixty-five percent sure that's how it works!"

"I don't remember what year it was when we were in our fourth year!" Ron admitted.

Harry couldn't either but luckily Hermonie chimed in. "Leave it to me! Clear your mind boys!" She grabbed their hands and Harry threw open the door and the trio was sucked into the glaring blue light.