11Chapter 2: The Jaunt through Time
The Jaunt in Time
After a particular exhausting journey through the odd portal, Harry and Hermione felt themselves getting dumped somewhere. Hermione could hear Harry groaning. Maybe due to rough landing. 'Mine was soft,' Hermione thought, 'But that maybe because I landed upon Harry. And Harry never agrees with magical transportation, other than brooms.'
They looked around to find themselves in the same place in the Forest of Dean, but the things were very different. The Portal had disappeared, same with Ron's broken corpse and the stone jaguar. The forest also seemed younger.
They discussed about it, and both agreed there was a chance of time related anomaly seeing a Time turner was involved. Add in powers of the hallows and phoenix feather, there was no saying where or when they would be if it was indeed time travel.
The most troubling thing in that case was the absence of their wands. Hermione's had been taken away by Ron and Harry's was absorbed inside the portal. In fact, the only things they had were their clothes and some 250 Galleons and a few Knuts and Sickles, Harry had upon his person.
"Hermione, let's be sure if we have really travelled through time. And then get the wands for us," Harry proposed.
Hermione agreed and they apparated to an isolated apparation point in Diagon Alley. Harry exchanged a sickle for the newspaper, and their theory was confirmed. The date read 23rd January 1980.
'FenrirGreyback terrorizes Britain! Suspected to be working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The Ministry puts a bounty of 25000 Galleons on his head after the monster murders a prominentmember of society.' - Samantha Vance.
To read more about Fenrir Greyback, see page 5.
To read about, Morris Shafique, see page 7.
"Shit!" Harry cursed, knowing they did travel back in time.
"Harry! Language!" Hermione scolded. Noticing the expression on Harry's face she asked, "What are you thinking Harry?"
"Sigh! My p-parents. They are still alive," Harry continued noticing the frown on Hermione's face, "I-I know that you said that bad things happen to those who mess with time, b-but I couldn't just do nothing."
Hermione bit her lip and looked at Harry, "I don't think that it works like that. For us to not change the timeline, we would have to be in complete Quarantine and that is just impossible. And the moment we interact with the people present in past, we will risk the timeline branching itself to maintain the reality we really belonged to. This means the timeline, we came from will not be changed, only we will be missing from it after that moment we were absorbed by the portal and Ron already dead. Unfortunately, that seems inevitable. Adding to the fact our future selves will have no knowledge of our true identity, they will not risk losing themselves and I would go so far as to say that it isn't an actual threat of time travel, but rather a rumour spread by Department of Mysteries to discourage the civilians from doing it."
Harry looked at Hermione, his eyes wide as saucers "Y-You mean...we c-can-"
Hermione squeezed Harry's hand tightly, "Yes Harry, we can save them."
The next moment, Harry's lips were onto hers and she got to experience the best snog of her life, which continued for minutes, attracting strange looks, awws and some wolf-whistles from the crowd surrounding them. When they separated, Hermione's face was red but had a contained-dazed look on it, whereas Harry's had a goofy grin on it.
"Let's go get our wands," Hermione said.
"To Olivander's it is," Harry said as he prepared to march Hermione there. He stopped when he felt Hermione trying to resist and looked at her, "What happened?"
"We couldn't get it from Olivander's. Our future selves will be needing those." Hermione explained.
"Ahh! I nearly forgot. Well, I know they have a shop in Knockturn Alley. I saw it when I accidentally flooed there, in my second year." Harry said and they started their journey to the Zyphadore Wand shop, in Knockturn Alley.
They didn't see another young couple, the young man who had messy brown hair and caramel-coloured eyes, and the woman who had crimson hair and emerald eyes, passing them.
"Woah! That was some show, wasn't it?" 19 years old James Potter asked his newlywed wife.
"Yes, that was something," Lily Potter agreed with her husband and then blushed a bit, "Well I may have some news for you that would want to make you treat me like that."
James looked at his wife intently and kissed her as passionately as Harry kissed Hermione a few minutes ago. After separating for the sake of breathing, caramel eyes peered into emeralds as James spoke, "My love, while I await the news, I want you to know that I don't need any incentive to show my passion and love towards you." Lily just blushed prettily at his declaration.
Their moment was interrupted by a voice, "Ugh! I am going to be sick seeing you all lovey-dovey." The voice let out a yelp after being hit with a stinging hex.
"Shut up, mutt!" Lily muttered as she put away her wand and they continued on their way to shop.
-X-
Harry and Hermione, both soon exited the Knockturn alley, fitted with wands that were perfectly compatible with them. Harry was paired with an 11-inch Yew wand, with a Thunderbird tail feather core, which had an affinity to Transfiguration and martial magic. Hermione was chosen by a 10- and 3/4-inch wand that was made up of Aspen and had Wampus tail hair as the functioning core. The wand crafter had said that the Aspen wand always chose warriors while Wampus-related cores may either choose a warrior or a scholar, but they have to be powerful. Aside from that, Harry having his soul allied to 'Lightning', was also a reason for him getting a thunderbird-related core, while it was the same for Hermione and Wampus tail hair, as her soul was aligned to the element of 'Earth'.
They had also learnt from the Wand crafter that while Unicorn hair, Dragon heartstring and Phoenix feather are said to be superior wand cores, it wasn't because they made stronger wands, but because they had nearly no resistance to magic flow, making them suitable for even witches and wizards with weaker than average magic. The other cores have resistance, with the Horned serpent horn having the lowest to Gryffin feather core having the highest. Due to this 'resistivity' factor, the wand cores made up of superior three are best for children, whose magical cores haven't fully settled and matured, thus the recommendation for getting the first wand at Ollivander's, which is the only wand shop in Great Britain, with license to work with those three cores.
Unfortunately, they were also 200 galleons lighter as Olivander's was the only wand shop that got a subsidy from the Ministry, making wands available at low cost. The couple was now only left with 50 galleons and free changes of sickles and knuts.
"What do we do now, 'Mione?" Harry asked his lover.
Biting her lips, she answered "Let's go to Gringotts to check if you are eligible for any houses. While I doubt Potter and Black will be available, The Peverell house remains unclaimed. We know that it didn't have much money, but at least we can get a place to stay, after which we will search for jobs. Though we also have to take our OWLs and NEWTs again, seeing we don't have any records here", Hermione looked pained when she finished her sentence, "W-We may have to look for a house elf, who could help us."
Harry had to use all his willpower to not laugh at her last sentence. He calmed himself and answered, "Yeah, you are right. We will claim the Peverell House. While it only has 1000 Galleons in the Family vault, it is still better than having only 50 Galleons and being homeless. The House-elves will be an easy matter. We only have to find a house elf and ask them about knowing any free elf, willing to work for us", He then brought out the first page of the newspaper and looked at it, "As for the job, I already have an idea for it."
"Harry no!" Hermione protested, "It's very dangerous. Especially Greyback. You know he could call upon his Lycan abilities on will, despite of the full moon. The only thing he needs full moon for is to infect others with Lycanthropy."
"Hermione, you shouldn't underestimate us", Harry scolded, "We only put up the average Wizard front, to keep some normality in our life and I don't think you would have a problem with killing these scums. We had already done so when Ron abandoned us in the tent. And Greyback will be an easy target, we know everything about him. Hell, you were the one who killed him last time around."
"Of course, I don't mind. I-I... it's just dangerous", Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Harry with determination in her eyes, "Fine! But I am coming with you."
"W-What No!" Harry protested, "You can get hurt and our baby-"
"Harry, I was the one who killed Greyback last time around and I care about the baby too. So, I will not fight directly and help you to strategize, but I am not letting you fight the monster alone." Hermione said resolutely.
Harry sighed and kissed Hermione, "Very well. I know I won't be able to change your mind. And you have never led me wrong, so I will defer to your judgment."
Hermione beamed at him and kissed the corner of his lips, which to Harry felt more intimate than their regular kisses, "Look, I knew there was a reason I like you." They both burst out laughing after that and went to Gringotts.
After an hour, Harry exited the bank with a black signet ring in his hand which had a silver thestral insignia on it. Hermione's finger was also adored by a ring, with its band made up of white gold and the central piece being a sapphire, which happened to be Hermione's birthstone. The ring was one of the Peverell betrothal rings, which have numerous runes engraved on the underside of the ring, to make the bearer impervious to many dangerous elements of the Wizarding World. Harry did promise, he would replace the ring with the Lady of the House ring soon. Harry wanted to make sure that the Potters and the Grangers were involved in the wedding.
"Are you ready to see our home, love?" Harry asked as he held out the quill portkey to Hermione.
"I am" Hermione nodded with conviction feeling warmth pool in her chest at Harry addressing the house as their home. She held onto the other side of the quill.
"Portus!" Harry announced and after a bit disorienting journey, Harry and Hermione found themselves in a familiar neighbourhood.
"What the hell!" Harry blurted out before he could control himself. Hermione didn't even reprimand him for cursing as usual, seeing she herself was no less shocked than him.
"H-Harry? Why are we Godric's hollow? A-And isn't the building just across ours, is the cottage where your parents live?" Hermione nailed him with questions, still not quite believing the coincidence.
"Y-Yes we are in Godric's Hollow, and I really didn't know that Zake's cottage was here. I mean I knew it was a cottage, seeing the Peverell manorin Rowan Hills was given to the Potters in dowry and now it is known as the Potter Manor, but I really didn't know Zake Peverell retired to this place after his daughter's wedding. Though it's not that surprising. Ignotus Peverell's grave does lie here in Godric Hollow's cemetery. And hell! you are right. That cottage is the place where my parents live. Look Mum is approaching us. Oh no! What do I do now?" Harry started panicking.
Hermione squeezed his hand tightly and kissed his cheek. She whispered "Calm down, love. She doesn't know that you are her son from the future. She is just showing us the courtesy of being a good neighbour by coming to greet us. Now, put a smile on your face, she is close."
Harry took a deep breath, slamming his occulmency barriers down and prepared to face his mother's past self, who had given her life to make sure he survived. He put a smile on his face and turned around, just in time to hear a melodic sound that belonged to his mother.
"Hello! Are you new here? We live just across the street, so we thought we would greet you."
"Hello miss! Thank you for receiving us. I am Harold Aries Peverell, and this is my girlfriend and fiancé Hermione Jean Granger, soon to be the Lady Peverell. We would be living in this cottage from now, so we probably would be seeing a lot of each other from now on." Harry addressed Lily after kissing the back of her hand.
Lily smiled at them and introduced herself, "Hello Lord Peverell, Miss Granger. It's nice to meet you both. I am Lady Lily Potter and I live with my husband, Lord James Charlus Potter, across the house and-"
-X-
They talked to Lily for a good amount of time. For a moment, they were surprised that Lily would be so trusting of their neighbors but seeing the sneakoscope on Lily's bracelet and Sirius in his animagus form running nearby, they understood the Potters do take the necessary protection.
They end up revealing that Hermione was One and a half months along in her pregnancy which made Lily's emerald eyes lit up with happiness as she told them that she herself found out she was pregnant, a day ago and she was also nearly two months along, which meant both Hermione and Lily would be having the babies in very close succession.
This led to entirely another mindfuck. Hermione had conceived the baby on July 7th and found out about it on September 19th, meaning the baby would have been born in March, but after their journey through time, which landed them in mid of January, and now they were due in either late July or early August, which meant there was a chance for their baby to be considered the child of Prophecy. Not that it would matter much, seeing they were determined to take care of Voldemort's problem as soon as possible.
With the help of Lily, they were able to get a house elf through one of the Potter house elves. Hispy was a sweetheart according to Hermione, who was willing to do everything to please and protect her family, especially when the family treated her so much better than her last family.
Later James and Sirius joined them in their cottage, helping the new neighbors to settle down. Between Harry, Hermione, the Potters, Hispy and the Potter house elves, Zack's cottage was made more than inhabitable for Peverells to live in.
James and Harry discussed the connection between their families, to which Harry apologetically said that he didn't know much about the house as his parents died when he was very young. It earned him sympathetic looks from everyone other than Hermione, which he waved off.
James and Lily themselves were confused. They recognized the couple from their intense snogging session in Diagon Alley, and they found them pleasant company after getting to know each other. It still didn't explain why the young couple acted so familiarly with them and their own strong urge to parent them, especially Harry, even being the same age as the couple.
They, of course, didn't know that he was their son from the future and their magic instinctively acted like a parents' to their children's, giving them the instinct to treat them like children. James even chalked it up to Lily's pregnancy, much to the amusement of Sirius.
-X-
Author's note: -The Potters do not live at the Potter Manor, because it was destroyed by Voldemort and his death eaters when James was nearly in the end of his 6th year.
The Fidelius charm wasn't on because the prophecy hadn't been made yet and Voldemort wasn't actively looking for them, so Harry and Hermione were able to see and recognize the house, where James and Lily lived.