Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
...
Albus looked at the parchment that sat on his desk, silently congratulating the snide way in which this situation had come about. It seemed as if somebody in the Ministry had not been happy with the recent events that had gone on in the school and instead of taking the issue up with him personally, had gone through the board of governers. A relatively straightforward plan, that had worked, but lacked any sort of real cunning or guile to it.
The Hogwarts Headmaster had to admit that the previous two years had undoubtedly produced unbelievable spectacles on behalf of the students. That wasn't to say that it was all linked to Potter Club directly. Without question though, they were the catalyst that had created the changes within the hallowed halls. The animosity between the houses was at an all time low and several new clubs had sprung forth, bringing together students of different ages and different backgrounds to celebrate and compete in unexpected ways. Frankly, he couldn't be more happy with the way that Hogwarts was currently operating.
Therein lied the problem however. While he was pleased to see the students taking an initiative and doing their best to change the school system for the better, others would see this as trouble stepping forward. The smallest changes in the mindsets of those who would one day help shape and govern the acts of Witches and Wizards alike could be seen as an unsettling change that could have drastic consequences. Or, as Albus so simply believed, this was merely the propaganda being used to help fuel the agenda of those behind the scenes.
He had to admit that the Wizarding World moved at a much steadier pace than the world around it, choosing to remain deeply rooted in traditions and beliefs set about centuries prior, if not longer. Change was a terrifying thing to those who wished to see the world stay the same as it was and how it had been for such a long period of time.
The door to his office opened wide as the Vice Principal entered, a scowl across her face. Albus noticed the crumpled up parchment clenched within her fist and he could only assume that she had been informed of the same information that he had. "Albus, tell me there is something you can do about this," stated Minerva as she stopped mere feet away from his desk.
Albus couldn't help but smile. "Of course there is," he said reassuringly. "It would not be easy however and would require pulling in some favors that I would rather save for another time, but yes, I could have this fixed before the beginning of the school year."
"Albus," started Minerva sternly, her gaze sharpening at the Headmaster. "I know that look in your eye. What are you planning to do?"
"Why my dear Professor McGonagall, I have no idea what it is..."
"Albus!"
Dumbledore couldn't help the light chuckle that came out before he stroked at his beard. "Very well Minerva. I'll let you know that I have no intention of doing anything to stop this."
"And your reasoning?" asked Minerva as she crossed her arms over her chest, tapping at her elbow with a hint of annoyance.
"The reason is that the people behind this is trying to prevent change from happening. You and I are not the ones who will bring change to the world, or at least the change that is trying to be halted at the source. Therefore, it only makes sense that we allow the two factions to come to blows. Whether the whims of the Ministry come out victorious or if the new generation can overcome such heavy odds and walk out on top is difficult to predict. It is safe to say though that change is coming and it may very well start in these halls in the months to come. What change is brought forward though, well, for once I'm content to be a bystander and see just what the outcome may be."
...
Harry knew that there was only a handful of days before the start of term was to begin and he had put off this meeting for far too long. He had been in communications with the woman who he was set to meet and had done so on a day where he knew that they wouldn't be disturbed. As a result, when he knocked upon the door of the Lovegood residence he knew that it wouldn't be Luna or Xenophilius who would answer, after all, they would be at Diagon Alley getting their gear for Luna's second year.
No, the person who would answer would be Luna's mother, the woman whom he had seemingly saved. The main issue was that he had prevented her death before he had come back in time. How this had happened, well Harry hoped to find out.
The door opened before him and Harry found himself looked at Pandora Lovegood and it was clear to see where Luna would one day get her beauty from. Pandora seemed to be the spitting image of Luna, only aged by twenty odd years if not slightly more.
"Harry Potter," said Pandora in a dreamy voice, "As I live and breath."
Harry couldn't help but blink several times over at Pandora's first choice of words. His confusion however caused the older woman to giggle momentarily before breaking out into laughter. "I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself," she apologized before stepping out of the way of the doorframe, inviting Harry in.
"I was going to say, your choice of words had me momentarily thrown off guard," said Harry as he stepped inside. "It is good to finally meet you in person Pandora."
"And you as well Harry, and I thank you for not calling me Miss or Madam, such titles make me feel so old," said Pandora with a light shiver. She then crossed the room and over to the small dining table where an assortment of biscuits were stationed between two steaming cups of tea. "I imagine we must have given your owl quite a workout over the last few weeks."
"I assure you that Hedwig is more than happy for the exercise," said Harry with a smile as he joined Pandora at the table, the two of them sitting down in synchronicity.
"So tell me, how beautiful does my daughter become?" asked Pandora, leaning across the table. "Does she find herself a boyfriend who treats her kindly? Oh my! Are you dating Luna?"
"The only one of those I'm willing to answer before even considering why you're asking me questions about the future is that yes, your daughter is rather attractive at...I believe the last time I saw her was when she was sixteen?" said Harry with a hint of uncertainty.
"Such a short time frame!" gasped Pandora, raising her hand to cover her mouth.
Harry couldn't help but raise up his hands in mock protest. "Alright, could you just lay it on me because this is getting really surreal for me and I'm not quite sure what I should be believing right about now."
"Come now, you must admit that it's not every day you meet someone from the future. What's the harm in having a little fun?" asked Pandora as she lazily draped an arm on top of the tabletop. "You honestly couldn't say that you wouldn't be having some manner of fun if the situations were reversed."
"I must say that it would be tempting," said Harry as he picked up a teaspoon and started casually stirring the drink in front of him. "However I'd be certain that the person I was speaking with was indeed from the timeline that I believed them to be from."
"Yet you haven't denied it."
A wily smile spread across Harry's lips. "No, I guess I haven't."
"Are you at least old enough to drink?" asked Pandora. "Mentally that is."
"I believe so."
Pulling out her wand and giving it a light wave, Harry watched as the liquid in his cup altered in consistency before settling down. Lifting it up to his lips, Harry had a sip of his drink. He consequently couldn't help the cough that escaped as he tried to figure out what it was he had just partaken of.
"Brandy not to your liking?" asked Pandora.
"Just haven't experienced it is all," said Harry, taking another sip now having some idea of what was to be expected.
"I imagine if you only lived to eighteen then there's plenty that you've yet to experience."
"Low blow Pandora, low blow," said Harry as he put his cup down.
"So does that mean you're still a vir..."
"And I'm going to cut that talk off right there," said Harry, not really wanting to entertain Pandora's desire for gossip..
"Did nobody teach you about the owls and the hornets?"
"I'm... ninety five percent sure that that is not how the saying goes," said Harry as he reached up and took off his glasses before rubbing at his eyes. "Pandora, I was shot with the killing curse at the end of what would have been my seventh year and then I suddenly found myself being sorted into Gryffindor. When that happened, I assumed that if I let things around me play out as normal I'd be able to alter the future piece by piece to ensure a better outcome. What I didn't expect was to find out that me coming back in time had consequences outside of my control."
"Tell me then Harry," said Pandora, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What was the first thing that happened that was, let's say, out of your control?"
"Well, Pettigrew not being Ron's rat..."
"The first one you noticed, not the first one that you should have noticed," clarified Pandora.
Leaning back in his chair, Harry scratched at his chin. "I guess the first one would have been the troll in first year. Back in the original timeline, it had gone into the girl's bathroom while this time we had encountered it in the middle of a hall. So you're telling me that me having come back altered something as seemingly meaningless as that?"
"Absolutely," said Pandora with a smile.
"On a quick and utter side note before I try and regain my composure over what this actually means, you seem relatively calm about what it is I am saying right now. Shouldn't you be showing any sort of concern?" asked Harry.
"Harry, the whole reason I am alive is because you came back in time. Also having Xenophilius for a husband has made my life abnormal in the most perfect of ways. Hearing tales which should drop the jaws of many are merely a fleeting thought for me. This is why I am the perfect individual for you to converse with on this matter. Everything you say I will take in stride and I will answer what I can where I can."
"Alright," said Harry as he took a deep breath. "I'm going to assume then that you exactly know how it is that you're alive. Do you mind sharing that with me?"
"By all means," said Pandora, using her want to draw a golden line in the air. "Time is and always will be a constant line. The reason the use of such things as Time Turners are so strictly controlled is because of the effect they cause on the line of time. Say if somebody was to go back in time an hour..." Pandora allowed her words to drag off as she mildly tapped the golden line causing it to slightly vibrate. "As you can see, the effects are felt throughout time itself but is so minute that nothing of note has changed in the slightest. The closest real feeling somebody may get is a sense of deja vu. While people might assume the sensation with trying to recall a memory of a similar event. The truth is that it isn't a similar event but the identical event that they are experiencing, they just don't know it."
"So when I came back in time," started Harry as he looked up at the golden line. "It didn't break, snap or shatter but it did reverberate something chronic."
"And it's not as if it snaps back instantly," said Pandora as she pulled on the line a little harder before letting go. The golden line wobbled for several seconds before settling back into place. "That would have theoretically been the effect that would have occurred if a person were to go back a day or two."
"So when I went back..."
"Everybody felt it," said Pandora. "Being forced back such a long period of time would undoubtedly still be causing things that you are completely unaware of to have altered and whether you will ever know about it or not is questionable. While you are currently shaping the future, that single moment where everyone was affected will change their path by the slightest of margins. If those things simply change the way a person cooks their dinner or alters their career path, it is impossible to say. Some changes may never take effect until minutes before their passing or could have occured while still an infant. Have you ever heard of the theory that if a Lycan howls in a cave it can alter the tides of another continent?"
"Again, I'm ninety five percent certain that that is not the saying but I get what you're implying," said Harry as he once again cupped at his chin, deep in thought.
"I wouldn't get caught up in it so much," said Pandora. "Billions of things have changed ever so slightly but I can guarantee that you will be none the wise to nearly all of them. Does it truly matter if you changed what type of flower somebody prefers over another or altered the path that they walk to work?"
"What about yourself then?" asked Harry, his eyes looking directly into Pandora's. "If you know all of this then you must know how your path had altered."
"Well if you must know," started Pandora before taking a long drink. "I had the strongest urge to study Muggle Studies whilst I was at Hogwarts yet for some odd reason, I chose to put Divination down instead and I couldn't understand why I had done that. I am thankful for it though. When I contemplate creating a spell, I try to see glimpses of the likelihood of success and try to avoid any that may have disastrous effects. It was only a couple years ago when I felt you brutally collide with the timeline did I truly understand why such a simple choice I had made decades prior suddenly made sense."
"Then you whisked up a spell to identify who had caused such a disturbance in the timeline," said Harry, piecing the puzzle together. "Because while you chose to study something different at Hogwarts it didn't change who you were and what you wished to do with your life."
"Perhaps, or perhaps you have another idea as to what happened," said Pandora.
"I'm stumped enough by everything that you've told me," said Harry. "Trying to add my own theories to the mix would only cause more chaos."
"On that, I can agree," said Pandora as she downed the remainder of her drink. "Now, I fell it is best that you be on your way and try not to think too hard on this. If you try to consider every little thing that could have possibly changed you are going to fry out your brain."
"I'll try, but you know it's going to be impossible for me to not think about it all."
"I'm aware Harry but still, try your best to just be a child. Not everybody gets the chance to live out their childhood a second time."
Harry let out a weak smile. "I'll try Pandora."
"And if you choose to date my daughter I don't mind about the mental age gap..."
"Oh would you look at the time, I must be going now. Goodbye."
...
The cup of Helga Hufflepuff remained in place where it had laid for over a decade, the priceless artifact having not moved a single inch since it had been put there all those years prior. Despite the time, not a single speck of dust coated it's exterior and it looked as priceless as it had all those years prior when it had been given to Voldemort's Death Eater. Said Death Eater had sworn to protect it and protect it they had done so.
Now however, the magic starting to ebb and flo from it was starting to call out to them and they couldn't help but feel that the reason it was gifted to them in the first place was drawing near. They had never expected such a gift from their lord but they had sworn they would do what was required if the time ever came.
The time most certainly felt that it had come.
Thus, for the first time in years, the cup of Helga Hufflepuff was lifted from it's resting place. Walden Macnair carefully held the item in his hands, wondering just what would now be required of him. After all, if he had been given this precious gift to be used when he felt necessary. Now most certainly felt like that time.
...
Hope you enjoyed.