Chapter 31: Rose-Tinted Glasses - February 1994

On the emotional high of the Lions Don't Sleep Tonight Sleepover, the trio met up to begin the process of becoming animagi by charming a mandrake leaf to the roofs of their mouths. Ron had found a particularly good charm that wouldn't affect their ability to talk, though eating and drinking would still require care.

Hermione had gotten the leaves by sneaking away to purchase them during the first Hogsmeade outing in February. It had been easy, but she pretended to be stressed. She also had abstained from using Polyjuice or other identity obfuscation since this was their less-secret secret. They had wanted to see if anyone figured out what they were doing with less than a fourth of their usual sorts of precautions.

Harry made a final campaign for inviting a wider circle of people to become animagi with them, but Ron and Hermione held firm.

Hermione said, "I know you want to include Luna, and she's great. I even think she has the skill for it. But it's still dangerous for people our age." (Meaning thirteen-year-olds, not the twenty-somethings they actually were mentally.)

Ron added, "Also, telling others would defeat some of the goals, like having the element of surprise."

Harry grumbled until Hermione pointed out that it was nice to have something for just the three of them that wasn't strictly plan-related.

She then went over their next steps. "I'll start brewing the potion part tomorrow in an unused classroom."

Ron asked, "When's the soonest we could finish the transformation?"

"A month from today and a day, but it depends on when the next lightning storm is."

Harry had a dazed look as he asked, "I wonder what my form will be. Is it supposed to match your patronus? I suppose being a deer like my dad would be nice, if not extremely useful."

"I wouldn't mind being a dog," Ron said. "But a snake or lion would be cool, too."

Hermione had given this a lot of thought. She'd like to be something majestic, but would be happy with anything useful. "I could probably make peace with being an otter, but I'd really prefer something better suited to stealth."

Harry had been pleasantly surprised when George Weasley started writing him last summer. But then, Harry had agonized over the precise wording of both sides of their correspondence.

In the past timeline, Harry had never talked to just George until after Fred's death, which had deeply affected his twin.

George was a bit more cautious and serious than Fred, who was usually the first to start talking of the pair. Off the quidditch pitch where the two were indistinguishable to Harry's eye, George was calmer and had a more interesting pattern of freckles.

At the beginning of the school year, Harry had privately expected George to start ignoring him. The boredom of summer had been replaced by the excitement of hundreds of other students. Harry didn't think he could measure up.

Instead, the more serious redhead started sitting by Harry whenever he was at the Gryffindor table. Luna usually took Harry's right, and George was on his left. Fred sat across from George. A variety of students took the other seats.

On a cold February morning, Ron sat across from Harry, with Ginny next to him. The dark haired boy was almost completely surrounded by redheads, he observed with amusement.

Ron told Harry about Care of Magical Creatures, "Don't get me wrong. I'm happy that you're doing what's best for you. But Malfoy and Parkinson are awful! I'm now stuck working with both of them! Every class, just about!"

Harry buttered a piece of toast. "I don't think they're that bad, honestly."

Ginny agreed. "Malfoy's funny, even when he's mean."

Harry lit up. "I think the same about Parkinson!" He turned to Ron. "Ignore the vitriol, and the snobbery, and the expressions on their faces, and you might as well be talking to me."

"Pretend they're different people. Got it," Ron said sarcastically. "None of you are any help. I'm going to find Hermione."

Ginny and Luna took that as their cue to head off to their own classes.

Harry turned to George. "I guess I should probably get going, too."

"Wait." He pulled out a single, orange rose.

Harry felt a flurry of emotions: confusion, alarm, excitement.

"Er, ah. Happy Valentine's Day." George handed it to him.

"Thornless," Harry noted.

"I know you said you're not looking for anything, and I respect that. But I'd still be flattered if you'd be my Valentine. Platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between." George gave a sweet smile that melted Harry a little.

"Thank you," Harry said with sincerity.

Harry's good mood was dampened significantly when he told Ron about the rose.

"Of course he has a crush on you. So does half the school. You're very… crushable."

Harry was taken aback. He shook his head in disagreement.

"Look, I know you like to think that you're so normal. And you are, compared to the fantasies some people have in their head about you. But you are well above average, in many, many ways."

"Er, thanks I guess."

Ron stared at Harry. "You don't have a normal life." He might have been alluding to the time travel, or their plot to secretly kill Voldemort.

"Maybe not-normal things happen to me. Can't I be normal underneath all of that?"

The redhead was adamant. "You're not. You'll see it if you think about it — I know that you value the truth higher than anyone else I know. You're the Chosen One." Ron only mouthed the last part, but Harry got the message.

Yet he didn't understand. In the other timeline, Harry thought of himself as the Chosen One once he learned about the prophecy ruling his life. He certainly had the burdens of the title.

In the current timeline, though, he rejected that identity. Fate or Time had practically told him that the prophecy may or may not ever have been about him.

He, Ron, and Hermione were each doing what they could to defeat Voldemort. No more, no less.

But did that mean that Harry was now normal? After some time alone to mull it over, he thought, Maybe Ron has a point.

Professor Lupin hadn't tried to talk to him since Fall. So Harry was caught off-guard when he heard a gentle voice in the corridor say, "Ah, Harry. Might I have a word with you about your last essay?"

"Sure." Harry waved goodbye to Luna and Neville who he was walking to their study session with Hermione. It hadn't even occurred to Harry how close that was to the Defense office.

Play along, he reminded himself.

Lupin started with the essay. He gave Harry some unneeded feedback about the structure and grammar of his essay. Harry knew those things, but was still trying to avoid drawing attention with a dramatic improvement in his marks.

"How are your other classes going?" Lupin asked kindly.

"Better, now that I've dropped Care. I'll be self-studying for that OWL so I can focus more on my other courses."

"Which other electives are you taking?"

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."

"Ah. Your mother and I took those as well. We were friends, you see. She and her dorm mates would let me study with them since James and Sirius… weren't quite as studious, you could say."

"Sirius mentioned you over the break, as a friend of his and my dad's."

Lupin nodded. "It's nice that you've gotten to spend time with your godfather now that his names' been cleared."

Harry was a bit uncomfortable, so he changed topics. "I haven't heard as much about my mother. What was she good at?"

"Everything. She was the best in our year. Perhaps not in marks, but definitely in smarts."

"What did Lily want to be when she finished Hogwarts?"

Lupin furrowed his brow in thought. "She was obviously happy to be a mother. She loved you very much, and was very protective of you. She wouldn't even let Sirius hold you as a baby."

"I was thinking more career-wise."

"Hm. Well, Lily had ambitions, but she was a bit secretive about them."

Interesting. Sirius said basically the same thing.

After a long measure of silence, the professor asked, "Have you seen much of Sirius Black, then?"

Harry answered, "I live with my aunt, so I see her the most. I've spent time with Sirius, though."

"Including over winter break, it sounds like."

"We met up, yes. He and my aunt get on."

Lupin shifted in his chair. "If you're talking about Petunia, I confess myself surprised. She certainly yelled at him at James and Lily's wedding."

Harry shrugged. He asked, "Are you and Sirius friends now?"

Lupin paused before saying, "I consider him a friend now, yes. Although things were complicated by… events. I… had thought the worst of him for a decade."

"Why don't you reach out to him?"

"I just might." Lupin got up, signaling the end of their meeting.

Harry thought about the conversation long after he left. In the other timeline, Lupin never spoke ill of Sirius that Harry could recall. Harry wondered if Hermione was right, and that Lupin's interactions with Harry were part of some plan of Dumbledore's.

Or perhaps Ron was on to something when he pointed out that Lily-as-Snape might prefer Lupin to Sirius. Could Snape have the werewolf's ear?

Despite finding Lupin a bit disappointing so far, Harry knew that he was the kind of fool who would keep giving the werewolf more chances to win him over.

On the last day of February, Ron spit out his pumpkin juice in total shock. In response to Hermione's quizzical look, he said, "It's nothing." But that was a total, complete lie.

Ron caught a glimpse of Dumbledore's blackened left hand as he attempted to put entirely too much marmalade on his toast. How did that happen? And why now?

Ron didn't understand how they'd changed things enough for Dumbledore to find the Gaunt Shack and the ring more than two years early.

The redhead walked around like a ghost through his morning classes, thinking through all of the players in their high-stakes game.

Dumbledore himself was a player, if not the game master. He had all kinds of sources and connections. Ron attempted to catalogue relevant ones, but came up short. He moved on.

There was Malfoy, who was absolutely up to something. But the more Ron thought about it, this seemed like the result of earlier information, not a plot.

There was Snape, who might be lurking around Riddle Manor outside of classroom hours. The trio knew that he agreed to help Wormtail resurrect Voldemort.

For the sake of working things out, Ron tested an assumption that Snape spent more time in Little Hangleton now than in the past. What would that mean? Well, Snape could learn the history of the Riddles from Voldemort or the locals. What's more, he might hear about the Riddle son who married the Gaunt daughter.

If Snape found out about Merope's marriage and her father's name, which Tom Marvolo Riddle shares, Ron could see him passing the information to Dumbledore. For all the trio knew, Snape could have passed the same information to Dumbledore in the previous timeline.

Snape could be the difference between this timeline and last, but it's hard to be sure.

And now Dumbledore is dying.