Chapter Text
Harry didn't know what he was doing.
Breaking into the Ministry of Magic unnoticed when you're The Boy Who Lived isn't an easy task. Even though breaking into the Ministry was probably easier than it should be, given the amount of sensitive information housed there. Hermione would be horrified if she found out. Not that he's planning on letting her find out. Whatever the Prophet might say, he was not an idiot.
Well. Considering the reason he was at the Ministry this time, maybe he was.
*
The idea had first occurred to him two weeks ago when they held the ceremony commemorating all those who had died in the war against Voldemort. Unveiling the statue, having to listen as people spoke, and having to speak himself about all those who died...It was like watching them fall all over again.
Coupled with the steady stream of funerals he had attended, Harry was at his limit. It didn’t seem fair that after all the suffering and pain of the war, of battles won and lost, that none of those people could be around to witness it.
It wasn’t fair.
It was then Harry decided he needed to change it.
There were so many people who didn't deserve to die in this war. Remus, Tonks, Fred, Colin, Mad-Eye, and countless others. Friends. Family. They were gone, and everyone said there was nothing they could do to change it.
Unless…
So Harry came up with a plan involving complicated potions, breaking into high security areas, and various other illegal actions. If anyone suspected anything, they looked the other way.
There was bound to be a perk to being The Chosen One at some point.
The complicated potions had to be the hardest part, because he was shit at Potions, he couldn't ask Hermione. She'd either tell him everything wrong with his plan or want her and Ron to come with him.
He couldn't let her do that.
With this plan... Harry wasn't coming back. He couldn't do that to them. Ron and Hermione had a future here, in this time, in this reality. Harry couldn't take that away from them. Ron was an Auror, Hermione on her way to being the youngest Department Head in centuries.
He just couldn't ask this of them. That is why he came to the Ministry when he was sure they were off work, so he wouldn't run into them.
"Harry!"
Apparently not sure enough.
Turning slowly, so as not to make the potions vials in his pocket clink, Harry forced a smile on his face.
"Ron! Hermione! Fancy seeing you here. I thought you got off early on Fridays?" Harry glanced quickly between his two best friends, taking in the fact that they were not at all fooled by the smile. Or his question.
"What are you doing here, Harry?" Hermione asked, not beating around the bush.
"I um..." Harry glanced at Ron for help, but Ron looked just as suspicious as Hermione. "I, uh, had a meeting with the Minister! Yes, I have a meeting with Kingsley. He wanted to chat about…dementors or something. The letter wasn’t quite clear, actually.” Harry ran his hand through his hair nervously, and Hermione’s eyes zeroed in on the gesture.
Her suspicion grew. "Then why are you skulking around the Experimental Potions department? The Minister's office is two floors away." She exchanged a concerned look with Ron. "Harry, what is going on? You've been holed up in Grimmauld for two weeks, ever since the ceremony. We've been really worried about you."
Harry looked to the floor and shuffled his feet, attempting to come up with an adequate excuse. "Well-"
“And don’t even think of lying, because you’re a rotten liar and I will hex you.”
He looked up, slightly offended. “Oi. I’m a fantastic liar.”
Ron grinned. “Not to us you’re not, mate.”
Harry sighed in defeat. She would know if he was lying, and wasn't bluffing about hexing him.
"Okay. I was researching the potion Voldemort used to give himself a body-"
"Harry."
"Fine. I was stealing a de-aging potion. Happy?" Harry looked from Hermione, who looked even more concerned, and more than a little angry, to Ron, who looked like he was about to laugh or cry.
It was laugh.
Ron clutched his stomach as he exploded into laughter, bent double and nearly crying. "Sorry, it is just so ridiculous.” Ron wiped tears from his eyes and straightened. “Why would you want to de-age yourself? You were an awkward kid, Harry. No offence, but it's true."
Harry just kind of looked at him till his laughter subsided. There really was no use lying to either of them, and he felt slightly relieved as he said, "I'm going back in time."
Any trace of laughter vanished from Ron's face. He stared back at Harry, his blue eyes full of concern. "Uh, alright. Then what, mate?"
"And then what? Ronald Weasley, what is wrong with you?" Hermione practically shrieked.
Both boys winced. "Um, guys, can we maybe take this somewhere more private?" Harry asked, glancing cautiously around the corridor as people strolled casually by, all of them trying not to seem like they were looking at the Trio, but unsuccessful in their endeavors.
Hermione looked at him, her eyes full of fire, before grabbing both their arms and dragging them a floor up to the Department For The Regulation And Control Of Magical Creatures, where her office was located.
Well. It was an office in the loosest sense of the word. It was a cubicle. A rather small cubicle at that.
She bodily threw Ron and Harry in, following after them and throwing up privacy wards.
“Jeez Hermione, and you never even played Quidditch.” Ron said, rubbing his arm.
Hermione ignored him. "What do you mean, you're going back in time?" She demanded.
"Well, generally, when someone says they are going back in time, that is exactly what they mean." Harry leaned against the flimsy wall of the cubicle and crossed his arms, preparing to defend himself.
"And when were you going to tell us?"
Harry and Hermione looked over at Ron, who had sat backwards in Hermione's swivel chair with his chin propped on his arms.
"What? It's a fair question." Ron looked between the other two, and Hermione turned back to Harry, the question clear on her face.
"I wasn't. I didn't want to ruin your lives because I can’t let things go." Harry dropped his arms and looked anywhere but at the two people in front of him.
"Oh, Harry. You could never ruin our lives." Hermione threw herself at Harry and wrapped her arms around him, Ron following a moment after.
Harry snorted. “Hermione, I don’t know if you remember the last seven years-”
She leaned back so she could glare at him, effectively cutting him off. “Harry Potter if you think for even one second either of us would have wanted you to do any of that alone, you have another thing coming.”
He shrugged and she pulled him back into the hug.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just figured you'd want to stay here. Get on with your life. Not waste it fighting the same dark wizard over again." Harry mumbled into Hermione's shoulder. “I should've told you both as soon as I thought of it."
"You're damn right you should have. Now, why do you need a de-aging potion to travel in time?" Ron asked, releasing them both and moving back to the chair.
"Well, I was planning on going back around their fifth year, and so I'd need to be a few years younger to be able to fit in with them. I certainly wouldn't trust an eighteen year old trying to be my friend when we were fifteen." Harry explained.
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks. "What do you mean by their fifth year, Harry? Don't you mean ours?" Hermione looked confused, while Ron had a look of dawning realization.
"Mate, no. You can't be serious." Harry looked at his best friend and smiled for the first time in what seemed like years.
“As a hippogriff.”
"I don’t understand.”
Harry and Ron looked to Hermione, who was standing there with her brows furrowed.
Ron cleared his throat. “He wants to go back to when his parents were in school.”
She gasped. "No, Harry! That is over twenty years! There is no way you'd be able to find something to send you back that far!"
"Listen to Hermione, mate. She studied these things." Ron nodded in agreement with his own words, making Hermione roll her eyes.
"Honestly, Ronald." She shook her head. "Harry-"
"Look Hermione, I know it is dangerous, I actually did do my research," He threw a pointed look at Ron which was ignored. "I know it is likely to get me killed, but what hasn't been?” He threw up his arms, and said, “Things have been trying to kill me since I was one year old. You can't honestly expect that just because Voldemort is gone means I am going to be completely safe. He still has followers out there who will not rest until I am six feet under."
Harry jumped up to sit on Hermione's desk, and fiddled with his wand. “The chance to save all those who died for me …I didn’t know what I was doing the first time around. This time, I’ll know what I need to do and I can end it before anyone has to get hurt.” He looked down. “And I’ll have my family back. I won’t be alone.”
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione once again launched herself at Harry. "You aren't alone. Ron and I, the other Weasleys, Andromeda and Teddy, we are your family. We wouldn't let anything happen to you."
"I know, 'Mione. You guys are my family. In everything but blood." He furrowed his brows as a skeptical look came over his face. "Okay, maybe a little in blood. We have bled together a lot." Ron laughed and joined the hug.
"I know you are my family. But... I just need the people who made me. Who were robbed of the chance to raise me. My parents. Sirius. Remus. I have the chance to know them, and I’m going to take it." Harry pulled back to look at Hermione's tear stained face and Ron's somber one. "You understand, don't you?"
"'Course, mate. That's why we're coming with you." Ron said, and Hermione nodded vigorously.
"No. Absolutely not." Harry looked between his two best friends and recognized the determination there. They were not going to give up. But he had to try, for their sake. “You have lives here, and entire families. Hermione, you just found your parents again. Ron, your parents-”
“They would have my hide if they ever found out I just let you do this on your own.” Ron interrupted. “Face it, Harry. We’re coming with you.”
Harry sighed. "Fine. But that means we have to get more potion."
Ron grinned and Hermione tightened her arms around him.
"Of course. We'll never leave you, Harry."
*
As it turned out, breaking into the experimental potions department of the Ministry twice in one day is not a smart idea. They were very much on guard.
Good thing they were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the saviors of the Wizarding World. Otherwise people might've thought they were up to something.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"I told you we should've come under the cloak." Harry muttered to Hermione right before he was surrounded.
Even though everyone knew Ron and Hermione had a key part in taking down Voldemort, most people still flocked Harry first since he was the one who cast the actual spell that killed him. (Which wasn’t even true, he only disarmed him, but the world believed what the world believed.)
Unfortunately, they had planned for this, and Ron and Hermione were able to slip away unnoticed.
"So, Harry." A woman crowded in front of him and fluttered her eyelashes, smiling in a way he assumed was supposed to be seductive. He vaguely recognized her as being a few years ahead of him at Hogwarts. A Ravenclaw, maybe? "I was thinking, at the start of the summer, you had this really long hair. And you looked incredibly hot."
Harry was taken aback. "What?"
"I think you should grow it out again." The woman giggled and nodded. The people on either side of her nodded their support, and Harry felt more trapped now than he had been when chased by Death Eaters.
"Yeah, Harry," Ron said as he and Hermione walked back up to him, Hermione slipping something into her pocket. "You should grow it out again." Ron snickered and Hermione managed a small smile.
Rolling his eyes, Harry turned back to the girl.
"Sure. Why not? I’ll grow my hair out, just for you." He looked the woman straight in the eye and said the words with the straightest face he could muster. The woman’s cheeks reddened, and she squeaked. Harry smiled. "Alright. See you around then."
The three of them all turned on their heels and walked out of the experimental potions department. Once they were out, they headed straight for the lifts.
"So... Department of Mysteries?" Hermione asked hesitantly. They both looked to Harry, and the decision felt very…final.
He took a deep breath. "Department of Mysteries."
Hermione nodded and jammed the button for level nine and the golden grills clanged shut.
As the lift descended, Harry couldn't help but remember the last time he had been down in the Department of Mysteries and everything that transpired from that night. One of the worst nights of his life.
Sirius. The Prophecy. Death Eaters. Sirius. Bellatrix. Voldemort. Dumbledore. Sirius. Prophecy. Bright lights flashed before his eyes, and a man's barking laugh echoed through his mind.
"Is that the best you can do?"
"Sirius!"
"Crucio!"
"You have to mean it, Potter!"
"He's not lying, Bella."
"Let me out."
"You have no idea what I'm going through!"
"Harry."
Ron's voice cut through the cacophony of voices running through his head.
"You alright?" He asked, and Harry nodded. Ron tossed his arm around his shoulders. "Good. Because we're here."
The grills slid open with a crash, and the trio stepped out.
An Unspeakable was stepping through the door at the far end of the hall, and she looked at them strangely. She opened her mouth to question them when suddenly she seemed to recognize them. Her eyes widened and she ducked her head, scurrying past them into the lift.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks while Hermione rolled her eyes and strode forward, towards the large black door at the end of the hall.
"Ready?" Hermione glanced between the boys, her gaze lingering on Harry a second longer as they nodded. "Right." She reached out and turned the handle, pulling the door open and stepping inside, Ron and Harry following closely behind.
The room was dark, the same way it was three years before. Harry pushed down the memories this room brought to the surface, and pulled the door shut behind him. The torches lit around them, illuminating the doors lining the walls of the circular room.
"Looks like things haven't changed much." Ron said dryly.
"Which means...." Hermione trailed off as the room started to spin, the torches blurring blue lines around them. Harry looked at his friends to see that Ron had gone pale, and Hermione's eyes had gone wide. He knew they were feeling the same panic at being back in this space as he was. The site of what was one of their first actual battles against Death Eaters.
Harry reached over and grabbed Hermione and Ron's hands and squeezed. They both looked over at him, and he smiled reassuringly.
"I wouldn't hold it against you if you don't want to come. I can do this by myself." Harry looked at Ron, then Hermione. "Honestly. I’ll be okay.”
Ron rolled his eyes. "Fuck that, Harry. We're coming with you."
"Ronald! Language!" Hermione's scandalized tone brought them all back to Hogwarts, sitting in the Library, asking Hermione to do their homework. Ron and Harry shared a nostalgic look before Hermione sighed.
"He's right though, Harry. We'd never let you do something like this on your own. Not if we have the choice of going with you." She squeezed his hand back. “Which I would think would be evident by literally the whole of the last seven years, but you know.” Hermione shrugged and smiled.
"If you’re sure." He sighed, before grinning at the pair of them. "Let's get this over with then. Wands out."
They both pulled their wands while Harry strode to a door at random and cautiously pulled it open. A slight breeze rippled out of the open door, coming from the arch in the center of the room. Harry stared, transfixed as voices flooded his head.
"Lily! Take Harry and go!"
"Not Harry! Please, take me instead!"
"Bring my body back, to my family."
"You'll have to do better than that!"
"Severus..."
"She won't be in the middle of the fighting..."
"Where's Remus?"
"You're joking Perce! I don't think I've heard you joke since..."
"You've been so brave."
"Until the very end."
"We're part of you. Invisible to anyone else."
The door slammed shut, and the room was spinning again. Harry hadn't realized he was crying, till his hand came away from his face wet. Ron and Hermione stood before him, similar tear tracks down their faces. Hermione had been the one to close the door while Ron and Harry were rooted to the spot by the echoing voices.
"Are you two okay?" She asked, her voice shaky.
"No, 'Mione. I'm not bloody well okay. I just heard everyone I've ever loved who died's last words. Who would be okay after that?" Ron sat down hard on the floor, and buried his face in his hands.
"I mean, I've been worse, but I'm not okay." Harry sat next to Ron, and leaned against the wall when it slowed to a stop. "I thought that if I never came in contact with dementors again, I would never have to hear them. That the voices would stay buried in my mind. Apparently, the universe is out to get me."
"I heard them too. But seeing you two there and the pain on your faces…I would do anything to make it go away.” She looked down at her hands. “If everything works today, no one will ever have said those words. We can save all of them." Hermione crouched down in front of them, trying to look into their eyes.
"But that won't stop me from remembering it, Hermione." Ron's voice came out muffled from behind his hands. "I'll still hear him, see his face, every time I go to sleep. I'll still remember Mum crying every night. Still remember Percy not even coming out of his room for the funeral. Remember George. All alone..." His shoulders shook, and sobs wracked his body.
Harry put his arm around his shoulders, and Hermione put hers around his waist, both of them holding him till his sobs subsided.
Hermione took a deep breath. "We can always wipe your me-"
"NO!” Ron lifted his head in shock and looked at her with red rimmed eyes. “Hermione, can you hear yourself? As much as it hurts to remember, it would hurt even more to forget. Because then I wouldn't know why." Ron's voice broke.
"If you don't want to go, I'll understa-"
"I may not want to forget their deaths, but I still want to see them again, Harry, so don't give me that. You've heard worse things than me, though mate. Why aren’t you freaking out?" Ron and Hermione both stared at him in concern.
"Sort of used to it, aren't I? It's not really the first time I've heard their voices. Not even the first time today." Harry looked away from the pity in Hermione's eyes, and stood up. "There is no use dwelling on it, and the longer we stay, the higher the risk of getting caught. We should move."
"Harry..." Hermione tried to reach for his hand, but he moved toward another door.
He wasn't trying to push Hermione and Ron out of his problems. He actually felt better after talking to them, most of the time. Right now though, he just didn't have time to break down. He had a job to do. He had to save the people he loved.
Harry pulled open the door, and saw dancing silver lights.
"This is it."
Hermione and Ron stepped up on either side of him, and peered through the door.
"Great. Another place we almost died." Ron deadpanned, before pushing his way past Harry and into the room. "So... where are we supposed to find a Time Turner? Didn't we destroy all of them three years ago?"
"Yes, Ronald. But they do have the abilities to make more, you know." Hermione said as she started opening cabinets.
Ron rolled his eyes and mouthed her words mockingly to himself.
"Found them!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry and Ron exchanged ‘Of Course’ looks before rushing to her side.
"Wow. That is bigger than the one you had, Hermione." Harry commented.
On the shelf in front of her, Hermione found a sphere made of many interlocking gold rings, each inscribed with intricate runes. They all revolved around an hourglass in the center that was made out of a thick, almost blue glass. The sand inside of it shimmered as Hermione tilted it on the shelf. The whole thing was the size of a quaffle, and it looked heavy .
"Well, mine was used for going back short periods of time, like three hours. I think this one, maybe, goes back further. That is why it has to be so big. Otherwise it wouldn't be able to have all of the number combinations required. Years, and months, and days, and hours." Hermione said, pointing to each corresponding ring. "I don't think I can lift this myself. And besides, we'd have to all be holding it anyway. Everyone pick a side." Hermione grabbed one side, while Ron and Harry grabbed the others.
"Alright. We should drink the potion before we leave, we don't know how long we will have before someone finds us. It is still a time of war there after all." Harry said, digging in his pocket for the vial of potion. Hermione pulled out the others and handed one to Ron, popping the lid off the other one.
"All at the same time?" Ron suggested.
Harry and Hermione nodded, and lifted their vials to their lips.
"One..." Ron started.
"Two..." Hermione breathed.
Harry took a deep breath.
"Three."
They all downed the potion and gasped as heat flooded their bodies. They could feel their bodies shrinking, their hair getting longer and shaggier. Hermione and Harry could feel their clothes get baggier, while Ron's just scrunched up at his ankles, and hung over his hands.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds, leaving the trio gasping for air.
"That was..." Hermione, for once seemed at a loss for words.
"Intense?" Ron suggested.
Hermione nodded, her hands moving up to her hair, and she moaned in anguish.
Harry looked at his friends, and took in how they looked at fifteen.
They looked... young. It is hard to believe all of the things they did at that age, and younger.
Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she glanced back and forth between the boys. Ron, on the other hand, appeared to be holding back laughter.
"What?" Harry asked him. "What’s so funny?"
Ron doubled over as his laughter rang through the time room. "I-I never realized how funny you looked when we were fifteen Harry! You look like a stick figure with crazy hair. Knowing how you look now, and seeing how you looked then.” He wheezed. “It's just really funny."
"Ron, you're ridiculous." Hermione shook her head, and lifted the time turner higher. "Are we ready?"
Ron nodded, his face sobering up.
"Yeah. Set it for July thirty-first, nineteen-seventy-five. That is the summer before their fifth year." Harry looked between his two best friends. "Ready?"
"Ready." They chorused.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Hermione flipped the time turner, and it started spinning, slowly at first, but gaining speed. The space around them began to blur. Harry started to get dizzy, and he felt like he was floating. He closed his eyes, and clutched the time turner tighter. Air rushed past them and snatches of conversation blew past them as they traveled backwards through time.
As quickly as it had started, it stopped.
Their feet slammed into the ground, and they crumpled to it.
Gasping and aching, Harry pushed himself to his feet. Looking around, he barely noticed any difference. The tables were in slightly different areas, the cabinets a different style, less artifacts. If he hadn’t traveled in time before, he would be hard pressed to believe they actually went anywhere.
But he had, and was surprised there weren’t more obvious differences.
One major difference was about to make itself very obvious.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all jumped when the intruder alarm started wailing.
They knew they were there.
Harry looked at his friends.
Oh they were in big trouble.