A/N: Thank you for the reviews/favs/follows! This is the last chapter before the trio time travel.

Chapter 3 - Plan: Save Lives and End Dark Lord (SLEDL)

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent dozens of hours discussing the plan.

Hermione asked Harry in several different ways on several different days: "Are you sure that you need both Ron and I to come along? I know how much your dad's cloak means to you, and you could keep it we stayed here…."

Harry interrupted with absolute certainty. "I can't imagine my life without you. Even if I befriended your younger selves, you wouldn't be you. And I wouldn't ask one of you to come without the other." It put heavy gratitude on Hermione and Ron's faces.

Their first planning sessions covered their goals, which mostly boiled down to preventing death and destruction. Getting answers from Lily-as-Snape also rated high on their lists.

The trio discussed going back to their very early years to maximize the changes they could make, but they were brought down by the knowledge that the more they changed, the harder the future would be to predict. Also, being very young would limit their autonomy and power. So they were resolved to go back no earlier than their first year of Hogwarts.

"First year is probably too early, too," Hermione reasoned. "I don't think our acting will be up to starting as first years. We know too much, and there will be a lot of attention on us as everyone tries to get to know us."

Ron added, "If we act suspicious of Quirrell instead of Snape, it could end poorly for us. He could do more to you than curse your broom, Harry."

"More importantly, we don't know how to kill a wraith. Trapping Quirrell with Voldemort could work, although that wouldn't be very safe long-term…"

Harry pointed out, "We could kill him after he gets a body, so fourth year."

Hermione bit the edge of her nail. "But if that goes wrong, he has a full body. And that would only give us a year to get all of the horcruxes while attending school and not attracting attention."

Ron asked, "Do we think he checked on the horcruxes before he got his body back?"

Harry shifted with a sudden realization. "No idea on that, but he might be able to make horcruxes as a wraith. I saw that scene over the summer before fourth year from Nagini's point of view."

"That's awful, mate," Ron grimaced.

Hermione said, "We know he didn't find the locket basin until late. I bet the diadem is fair game too. The diary would already be destroyed if we went back after second year."

Alarmed, Ron said, "I'd rather not let Ginny get her hands on the diary if we can help it."

Hermione hesitated, then said, "I think that's also when Dumbledore learned about the horcruxes. If we don't want him to be aware of them, then we need to prevent the events of that year."

"I definitely don't want him suspecting that I have a piece of the dark lord in me. I'd rather take another AK," he joked.

Hermione looked concerned. "Do we think that will work again?"

Harry tipped back his chair, stalling. He was willing to do it again, but knew that his friends would reject that out of hand. "Maybe Lily-as-Snape knows more about how I survived the first one? We can research that once we travel back and build up my relationship with her." Harry wouldn't make eye contact with the other two just then. He was desperate to talk to his mother but also incredibly afraid of rejection and a hundred other negative emotions.

"Before we lose access to the Black family library, I want us to also come up with a plan to imprison Voldemort, corporeal or not." Hermione shot Harry a glare. "We're not going to send you off to your death for the good of the wizarding world a second time without knowing for sure you'll survive it."

Harry nodded.

"I mean it." Hermione's tone implied that she knew Harry's agreement was superficial at best.

"We know." Ron moved the conversation along. "If we go back before Ginny gets the diary, we can destroy it with fiendfyre before the year begins. Anything else we could achieve in a new second year?"

Hermione said, "Lockhart's attempted obliviation of you two makes me nervous. I don't think he's our responsibility, but we could watch out for him."

Ron agreed. "You should probably kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets again. We don't know if Riddle ever went back for her later to use as a weapon. That would also give us a chance to grab some basilisk venom for later."

Harry sighed. "I think I'll have to set an elf ward to prevent Dobby from coming to Privet Drive. His presence all year doesn't do either of us any favors," Harry shuddered. "Hopefully I can still think of a way to free him from the Malfoys."

The trio continued to talk through finer details amicably. The conversation heated up when they realized that Scabbers would still be around.

Harry said, "Explain to me again, Hermione. Why can't we just kill him?"

"If we're relying on the Triwizard Tournament to give us a chance at killing Voldemort for good, we can't alter his or Barty Crouch Jr's actions."

Harry sunk under an invisible weight. "I honestly don't know if I can do that tournament again."

"Ulg," Ron voiced.

Hermione frowned. "The advantage of repeating the Tournament is that we know what's going to happen." After some thought, she added, "I suppose we could bait some other sort of confrontation ourselves. That would allow us to deal with Junior and Wormtail early."

Harry and Ron were both immediately on board with this plan, especially if they could get the tournament canceled entirely. Harry didn't think that was out of their reach, given how instrumental Barty Crouch Sr. was to it. Harry thought, He can't run a death tournament at a school if he's in Azkaban for the Imperious curse he placed on his son for 10 years.

Hermione was still less sure about messing with the tournament. "If we fail to capture either Crouch or Wormtail, we need to be really careful. We would need to make sure they don't suspect that we're time-travelers that we know about horcruxes. Or Snape's true identity. Who knows what those pieces of information could change in the wrong hands?"

Ron offered to direct Wormtail's capture. "I can get Bill to perform the animagus reversal spell on Scabbers right when we go back. Then mum and dad can help turn him over. Even if he escapes from the Ministry after that, it won't be as easy for him to spy on us. Bill might set up some anti-animagus wards if we ask."

"And with that plan, there's a chance that Sirius could be freed." Harry pointed out with too much enthusiasm.

"There's chance, yes," Hermione agreed carefully. "We can work on freeing him, or… motivating him to escape later if that doesn't work out."

Harry reluctantly agreed. "As much as I wish things were different, I can admit that Sirius' freedom is not a priority. We won't have much influence with the ministry. We don't want to make ourselves targets."

Ron grimaced. "Do you think you'll be okay going back to the Dursleys, Harry?"

Harry looked up at the ceiling of the kitchen where all of their most important plotting took place. Harry willed his face to not show how upset the thought of returning to his aunt and uncle's care made him. "I'll have to be okay, I reckon."

The trio finalized the details of their plan over the next two weeks.

Since they were going to relive their second year of Hogwarts on, they would have limited mobility and limited magic when away from Hogwarts. They knew that they would have to stick primarily to their major goals: destroying all of the horcruxes, defeating Voldemort, and saving lives.

But they also would have their whole lives after Voldemort. Initially, Harry was reluctant to plan for that, but Hermione made a good argument, "What's the point of fixing everything if you're not going to enjoy it?"

Ron expressed interest in doing better on schoolwork. Harry knew he considered leaving his ministry job to help George run the joke shop, but Ron couldn't help make new products or fix mishaps caused by improper use. If they achieved their goals, Fred would live and George wouldn't need Ron's help. But, Harry and Hermione were quick to encourage Ron.

Harry pointed out, "Even if you don't work at WWW, you can invent, or research, or teach."

Hermione nodded decisively, "I could see you as an academic wizard, if you find a domain that excites you. Tactical defense, maybe?"

Ron's eyes widened at that.

Hermione wanted to broaden her social circle. "I treasure you two, really I do. But I need more friends." She wanted to connect more with her dormmates and other muggleborn students.

Harry wondered if Hermione also intended to work on her relationship with her parents, which was substantially damaged by Hermione's secrecy about Hogwarts. Later, her use of memory charms had separated them for good. Harry wasn't about to ask, though. He had his own parent to figure out.

Harry flipped through a wide variety of moods and tones in his imaginary conversations with his mother that they could have when he went back. Harry wanted answers to all of the questions that plagued him since Percy told him about Snape's 1981 death.

At times, he wanted to yell at Lily-masquarading-as-Snape. How could she have abandoned him to her sister's hateful care? Most of what Harry knew for certain about his parents was from legal documents and similarly dry bits and pieces of paper. She didn't even tell him much about Snape, the role she played, until the pensieve memories in his seventh year. The secrecy rankled.

Other times, Harry hoped for another chance at a family. When Harry toppled Lily's plan to stay away from him, could she offer him a home with her? Would she act more like his parent?

Even if she offered more, Harry didn't know if he could accept a closer connection with Lily, given all that had happened between them. Why had Lily-as-Snape sent Harry to his death? Could he ever trust her?

Since they were going back in time so far, Hermione advised a wait-and-see approach. "She was very suspicious of you, and watched you very closely. She might be able to figure out the time travel if you act substantially different during your second year than your first. That might interfere with our plans."

Harry grumbled, "Direct is bad. Got it."

"You might even learn more that you can trust this way. She never revealed her identity to you before, even when she died. If you can use what she does as well as what she says together, you'll probably get the clearest picture. Even if the same things happen, you'll have an adult's perspective. I can't imagine that you won't get answers. Be patient."

Ron reminded him, "You also brought up getting her opinion on why you surived Voldemort's first attack. I would stay focused on that."

Hermione turned to Ron. "You can't expect Harry to not ask all of the personal questions spilling out of him for months."

Ron shot back, "Harry can ask whatever he wants. I'm just clarifying a main objective. We all," He gestured around, "can get sidetracked."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Okay, then."

The trio broke apart for the night.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione summoned Death and Time to complete their bargain. Harry was glad that they didn't have to hunt down the Elder Wand bits or the stone to complete this exchange. Bringing the cloak was merely symbolic, particularly since the objects were actually disappearing from the past.

After they exchanged greetings, Time said, "Let us begin." Harry's father's cloak vanished from the table and was replaced by three objects.

"What's this?" Harry held up a pile of lightweight, silky fabric reminiscent of the invisibility cloak. A delicate gold ring and a pair of gold wire-frame glasses sat nearby.

Time explained, sounding almost gleeful. "I put the new power in the scarf. Take it off when you want to be noticed by people who aren't specifically looking for you. This power won't affect the holders of the other two objects I'm about to distribute. No one but the holders can see these objects either."

Harry snarked, "This style isn't quite as timeless as the cloak of invisibility." Harry put the loop of fabric around his neck somewhat reluctantly. The fact that others aren't be able to see it is a plus.

Hermione picked up the ring. It was set with a very small stone that granted the power to talk to the recently deceased.

"You probably have about 15 minutes to use it, though it depends on the wind and how busy Death is." Death agreed with Time's slightly concerning explanation.

Hermione slid the ring slowly onto her right ring finger, then immediately confirmed that she could remove it again.

Bewildered, Ron picked up the remaining item. "I guess I wear glasses now?"

In uncanny resemblance to Hermione, Time said exasperatedly, "They're invisible to others, Ronald."

Ron accepted the glasses, which were gold wire and squarish. Harry's lip quivvered but he didn't laugh.

Time explained, "These let you sense magic a little earlier than typical, much like the wand this replaces."

A now-bespeckled Ron asked. "What happens here, after we leave?"

Time answered, "What others experience here will go into nonbeing."

"Poofff," another voice added.

"There is only one timeline. At least in my domain," Time added as an afterthought.

As though they hadn't just opened a big can of philosophical worms, Time quickly switched topics: the final terms and conditions. The new objects were transferrable, but not replaceable. The scarf, ring, and glasses could all be used at once, but that would not grant extra-special powers. The items couldn't be subsumed in a ritual. No additional magics could be attached to the objects. No magical amplification would be possible. Time could take the objects back if they "got too boring", but Time wouldn't take them from Harry, Ron, or Hermione specifically.

Death was then warned off creating magical items that invoked Time ("Stay in your lane, you berk."). Death muttered something about Fate and Time, which reminded Harry.

Harry questioned, "Fate? Do you know… Am I still, like, destined to defeat Voldemort after we go back?"

"Good question..."

Another voice (Fate?) spoke, "You may or may not fulfill any particular prophecy that exists, as has always been the case."

"However, we're taking all of your little trio's divination abilities. More fun this way!"

A less-gleeful voice said, "Hmm… most won't be able to divine accurately about your present or future. That might cause some trouble for you."

"Can't tell you about that, though. Secret. Okay, bye!"