The following morning Harry went down to breakfast and saw all of the residents of Bones Manor sitting around the table. Sirius, Amelia, and Susan all looked to be upset. After grabbing a plate of breakfast he inquired about their feelings and they all pointed to the copy of the morning Prophet.
Harry looked down and gasped when he saw the headline. He immediately picked it up and began to read.
Peter Pettigrew: Escaped Convicted Criminal
Early yesterday Director Amelia Bones came rushing into the ministry with several aurors and a mousy grey haired man in magic dampening shackles. After a little investigation the Daily Prophet found out that the man being brought in was none other than Peter Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew, order of merlin recipient, was thought to have been killed by Sirius Black. Pettigrew had been posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin for helping the ministry to capture Sirius Black after he had turned the Potters over to Voldemort and killed 13 muggles.
We found out yesterday during the trial for Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew what actually occurred on that Halloween night so many years ago. Sirius Black convinced Lily and James Potter to make Peter the secret keeper for their fidelius charm. (see pg.2 for information on the charm) At some point after being made secret keeper Pettigrew went to Voldemort and told him where he could find the potters. Pettigrew fled Godric's Hollow unsure of what either side would do when they found out that the Potters and Voldemort were dead. Sirius Black found him a couple days later and confronted Peter in the middle of a muggle street. Peter then shot a blasting curse at a nearby gas line causing the explosion that killed the muggles. During the explosion Pettigrew cut off his finger and transfigured himself into his animagus form, a brown rat.
During the trial Sirius Black was found to be innocent of all charges and was released. Unfortunately, Peter Pettigrew never made it to Azkaban. The aurors that were stationed at the prison began an investigation as soon as the drop off time had come and gone. Several bodies were found at the apparition point located near the guard station for the Azkaban docks. Only one auror survived the attack. Auror Dawlish is currently at St. Mungos receiving treatment for a severed arm and several cuts and bruises. He had apparently been left to bleed out from his injuries.
When approached for their statements neither Minister Fudge or Undersecretary Umbridge had anything to say about Black, Pettigrew, or the safety of our community. The Daily Prophet will continue to look into what happened and what is going to happen and we will inform our readers of what we find out.
The others at the table watch Harry as he read the paper waiting to see how he would react. Harry slammed the paper down and looked around the table.
"I hoped that this would be the end of all of the problems surrounding Pettigrew and that I might actually have a year where nothing bad was going to happen."
Harry looked at Amelia and asked "has the minister said anything to you about what he plans on doing for the protection of the students at Hogwarts or the rest of the country?"
Amelia's faced darkened as she shook her head and angrily stated that the minister planned to station dementors at the school. She told everyone at the table that she had suggested some of the aurors be stationed at the school but he had adamantly refused to make that happen.
"He cant do this." Harry said angrily. He had been thinking about everything that had happened to him involving dementors in his original timeline. Sirius already knows but maybe I should tell Amelia and Susan about my future knowledge and what is going to happen. We cannot have dementors at the school again. It is too dangerous. Maybe I should threaten Fudge again. Should I tell Amelia about the letter I sent threatening fudge? Should we force a vote of no confidence. I know how to cast the Patronus Charm, should I wait and see if the train is searched and then go after fudge?
Harry was broken out of his thoughts when Amelia agreed with him. "There is nothing that I can do until something happens to force my hand. If I do I can be charged with sedition."
This statement was the decision maker for Harry. He questioningly looked at his godfather, who nodded, and looked back at the two witches in front of him. Amelia had seen the look and was looking at Harry with raised eyebrows.
"You two have to promise to keep what I am about to tell you a secret. Only Dumbledore and Sirius have been told and I am not ready or willing to have many more people know my secret. Are you willing to make this promise to me.
They both nodded and promised to make a strongly worded oath preventing them from talking about it after the conversation. Harry looked around the room and wondered what would happen once Amelia and Susan found out.
"There is a reason that I seem different than I have been over the past two years." Harry said this looking at Susan before he continued. "I have lived through all of my school years and have defeated Voldemort already. There was and will be a battle at Hogwarts during our seventh year in which all of the teachers and students, as well as, some people Dumbledore recruited fight and kill Voldemort for the last time. After the battle I went to sleep lamenting about all of the loss of life during Voldemort's second return. I was approached by Death in my sleep and was given the opportunity to have a chance to save as many of the people who died as I could. I came back shortly during my attempt to end the threat in the Chamber of Secrets. I thought that I could attempt to make changes but keep most of it the same as my original timeline but things are already changing."
Amelia and Susan looked were completely stunned at what they were hearing Harry say. Amelia was the first to say anything.
"What has already changed?"
"Pettigrew wasn't going to be caught until the end of the year and would escape when our DADA teacher confronted Sirius after my friends and I unknowingly brought Pettigrew to him in the shrieking shack on the full moon. With all of the things going on he forgot to take the Wolfsbane potion. Sirius was also never found innocent. Sirius, Hermione, and I nearly died when about a hundred dementors swarmed the lake inorder to give Sirius the Kiss. That is also the third time that I had almost been kissed by the dementors. The first time was on the express on our way to the school and the second time was during the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff quidditch match."
Again Amelia was stunned and this time had paled considerably. "We can definitely prepare for the first attack on the express and use that to remove the minister. If you will agree I will take you with me to Dumbledore's office and we can discuss with him a plan to protect the students and how we will proceed with Fudge's removal. Most people will think that I should be the new minister but you and I know that there is only one person that Voldemort fears and one person that could probably face him and survive at the moment."
Harry smiled. "I like what you are thinking but do you think we can convince him? I know he has refused the post in the past."
"We have future knowledge of events that are going to happen. We can used that to our advantage. We can assume things are going to change and that things may not ultimately end in the same manner but that will happen when you mess with time.
With that Amelia and Susan vowed to tell no one of Harry's return to the past and his future knowledge without his prior approval.
XXXXXXX
Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office when there was a knock at the door. He looked around the room at the portraits of the previous headmasters and at Fawkes as he said "Enter."
He watched as the head of the DMLE walked into his office with Harry Potter.
Harry admired the room as he walked in and smiled as Fawkes left his perch and flew to his shoulder. He gently rubbed the pheonix's head as he walked up to the headmaster.
"Albus, have you read this mornings paper?" Amelia questioned.
"I have. Why does this bring the two of you to my office?"
"Sir, I told Amelia what has happened to me and she said that we can use the presence of the dementors to our advantage and make the Wizarding world a safer place." Harry noticed that the twinkling in the headmaster's eyes disappeared when he mentioned the dementors.
"Harry, my boy, I fought with the minister to not allow the dementors as guards to the school but he refused to listen to me. He seems to think that there is no one better to guard the school."
Harry nodded as the headmaster finished and told him what he and Amelia had discussed around the table that morning.
"Sir, you know that I have knowledge of the future. I know how to cast the patronus charm and I know that the dementors will attack at least twice over the course of the year. I can protect the students on the train when the dementor boards and enters our compartment. We can then say that the minister used his power to force the dementors on us when there were other options that would have kept the students safe. We can then have him replaced."
"That is not a bad idea but who could we have replace him?" When Dumbledore saw the smiles on the face of the boy-who lived and the head of the DMLE he immediately knew why they were in his office bringing the matter to his attention.
"No, no, no. I have been offered the job several times and do not think that I should have that much power."
Harry and Amelia continued to smile at Dumbledore. Harry then told him that he understood that the last time Dumbledore had dreamt of having power had been when he had been friends with Grindlewald and Ariana had died but that had been many, many, years before.
Harry continued to say that Dumbledore had been headmaster, Supreme Mugwump, and Chief Warlock for a great many of those years and the power had not corrupted him. If he gave up all three of those positions to worthy candidates and focused his time on being the minister would he really be corrupted.
Harry could see the headmaster coming around to their way of thinking and thought that the would be able to replace the minister with a much better person. Harry then allowed Amelia and Dumbledore to plan out how the process could be implemented and occasionally added some suggestions to the plan. By the end of the discussion Dumbledore was on board and agreed to talk to Minerva McGonagall and inform her that she may have to be ready to take over the school.
XXXXXXX
The rest of the summer saw Harry and Susan becoming closer as friends. Naturally this meant that he also got to know Hannah better than he had before. Most of his days were spent training with Sirius and/or hanging out with Susan and Hannah.
Harry had received several letters from his friends at school, with the exception of Ron, and was beginning to wonder what Ron was thinking. He would have to ask him while they were on the express. He was beginning to think that something about Ron was preventing him from making friends outside of Gryffindor.
During one of the times that he had been hanging out in the pool with Hannah and Susan he had asked why they had never tried to approach him before. They had told him that Ron had said things to most of the other students in their year that had caused them to think that you were unapproachable and didn't want to be friends with anyone else.
Most of the school had turned on him the previous year for the appearance of being the heir of Slytherin. He could understand that the Hufflepuffs had thought that of him because of the disagreement that they had seen between him and Justin but the rest of the school. He also knew that just about everyone would turn on him next year because of the tournament and Voldemort's return. He was beginning to think that he should make friends amongst all of the houses and seriously look into changing houses. Almost the entirety of Gryffindor would turn on him over the course of the next two years.
Before he knew it the summer was over and Amelia and Sirius were taking him and Susan to the Express.
XXXXXXX
Harry and Susan arrived almost 30 minutes before the train was scheduled to depart and quickly said their goodbyes to Sirius and Amelia.
"Madam Bones, I want to sincerely thank you for allowing me and Sirius to stay with you and for your help with getting him his freedom."
She blushed slightly and told him that it was part of her job and she owed it to Sirius as he had been her partner in the Aurors before his arrest.
Harry wondered about the blush but walked off with Susan to find a place for them to sit. Harry knew that Lupin was on the train and suggested that they sit near him as it would deter Malfoy from approaching them. The found a compartment next to Lupin's and sat down. They were soon joined by Neville, Hannah and Hermione. Ron found them right as the train had started moving. He sat next to Harry and immediately asked "why are you sitting with these puffs? We've never sat with anyone else before."
Hannah and Susan's expressions changed and he could tell that they were about ready to start yelling. He waved for them to let him take care of it as he turned to Ron.
"I don't know what you're problem is Ron, but I don't want to have friends that are going to put down other people. If it hadn't been for the interactions that I had with Malfoy before we were sorted I would have likely been in Slytherin. Would you have been my friend then? I saved your sister last year and had the goblins hand out portions of the proceeds from the sale of the basilisk and gave them to the victims and you. Everyone of the people in this room wrote to me over the summer except for Hannah and Susan, and they helped me to adjust to my new arrangements after I ran away from my aunt and uncle, why didn't you write to me?"
"Well, i…" Ron started.
"I am not done yet." Harry stated angrily. He noticed the looks of shock on the faces of the rest of the people in the compartment. "You continually put down the Slytherin's but there are several that have never done anything to deserve that treatment. Malfoy is usually an instigator but how many of the others have ever done anything to insult or harm us. I told you about your jealousy towards me and how I never wanted the treatment that I receive but you never said anything to me over the summer. Ginny also told me about how you reacted when I wrote to you and you need to understand that what I write to other people, including your sister is none of your business. If you cannot come to terms with this than I think you should find another place to sit and should consider finding another friend."
At this point in the conversation, Ron's face and ears were as red as his hair. He turned around and left the room. He muttered "screw you, Potter" under his breath but Ron was unaware that Harry could hear him because of his enhanced hearing from his animagus form.
When the compartment door slammed shut Harry said, "Well, I guess that is his answer. I guess he now longer wants to be friends." Harry actually found himself thinking that it might be better if they distanced themselves for a little bit. He knew that they would never be as close as they were before if they did start talking to each other again.
Neville looked at him in shock. "I can't believe you said that, Harry. What happened? That can't have been from what he said to Hannah and Susan."
"It wasn't. Over the summer I sent a letter to several..." Harry was cut off as the thing that he was hoping wouldn't happen happened. The train lurched to a sudden stop and all of the lights on the train flickered off.
"What is going on, we cant be there yet?" Hermione said.
"I don't know." Harry said as he caught a glimpse of a dementor flying past the window outside. The windows began to fog over and freeze from the sudden temperature drop and Harry stood up and yelled "EXPECTO PATRONUM" as the door opened and the dementor started to enter. He had been thinking about all of the love and friendship that he was currently feeling and had felt over the summer. As usual, a silver stag erupted from his wand and charged the dementor. He could hear someone in the next compartment screaming and saw a cloud of silver in the hallway as his stag charged. Harry knew that whoever was in the next compartment had woken up Professor Lupin.
Lupin checked on them and said that he would be back after he checked the rest of the compartments. The rest of the train ride revolved around discussions concerning the dementor. Susan and Harry also had written a letter informing Dumbledore and Director Bones of the attack.
Just like the original timeline Professor McGonagall approached Harry and Hermione to discuss their classes and to check on the health of the students. She also congratulated Harry on his patronus. He lied to her saying that Sirius had taught him over the summer after telling him about his incarceration. She informed them both that the changes had been made to their schedule.
They walked into the hall together and as McGonagall headed to the front they noticed that Dumbledore was not present. They found their seats at the Gryffindor table and noticed that Ron, Seamus, and Dean were giving them dirty looks and Neville was saving seats for them. Harry nodded toward the other dorm mates and said that he should probably talk to Professor McGonagall before heading up to the dormitories.
McGonagall informed the school that Dumbledore had to leave to take care of somethings at the ministry and that she would be taking over until he came back. She welcomed everyone back and welcomed the new first years after they had been sorted. She then waved her hands and the food appeared on the tables.
As Harry, Hermione, and Neville stood up to head to the dormitories Ron slammed past them knocking Harry over. He was gone before any of the teachers had arrived. All four of the heads came over to where Harry being helped up by Neville and Hermione.
Professor McGonagall heard Harry say "that's it, I'm done with his piss poor attitude and my treatment by the rest of them." She didn't have to wait long to find out what Harry was referring to. When he was completely up and looking at the four heads of house he told them what had happened as everyone was leaving.
Snape sneered at Harry but did not have time to say anything as Harry said "I refuse to be around people like that. I want a resorting"
Sorry for the long pause inbetween chapters. I had to deal with some extremely bad weather a little over a week ago and some extra hours at work. I should be able to return to my normal update schedule. I thought that this would be a good point to stop in the chapter. I have already decided on the house that Harry is resorted into and would like for anyone who wants to add their input in to consider the following. Would you like for others to be resorted as well or would you like for it to only be Harry? I have already decided but am willing to listen to suggestions.
Ahsoka