A/N: Schools out!! Thank goodness! Now that my free time has tripled, you will be getting more updates. Thank you for being patient with me! :)
“Happy Birthday Gina!”
Blake woke up to the chatter in the kitchen between his grandmother and cousin. He grudgingly got himself off the couch. He had gotten almost no sleep last night.
“Good morning, Blake,” Ginny said cheerfully, putting a long stack of pancakes on the serving plate. She noticed the bags under his eyes. “Did you get any sleep?”
“I had a rough night,” Blake said, slumping down on the chair nearest the pancakes.
“Maybe you should take a nap and meet us in Diagon Alley later,” Ginny suggested, placing the syrup bottle on the table.
“I’ll be fine,” Blake reassured her. He stuck his fork into the pile of pancakes and put five on his plate. “Is Will awake yet?”
“Yeah, I woke him up,” Gina said. Blake nodded. Will was probably getting Harry ready already. Did he already send the-
There was a tapping at the window. Tawny was sitting on the windowsill with a letter tied to her leg.
“Tawny’s back!” Gina got up, opened the window, and untied the letter from Tawny’s leg. Tawny flew to Gina’s room as Gina opened the letter.
Blake watched Gina read the letter, or pretend to. He remembered how she was against the plan they discussed last night.
“Bringing Harry out in plain sight when we’re trying to keep him hidden is just stupid!”
“But nobody will recognize him,” Will had gently reminded her. “Not after we give him the potion.”
“But what if Grandpa doesn’t have a pre-made potion?” Gina asked.
“Then I’ll make it myself.”
Blake realized that he had been holding his fork in front of his mouth and hastily stuffed pancakes in his mouth.
“It’s from Danny,” Gina said, using the name they came up with last night. “He’s going to be in Diagon Alley at 11 am. Maybe we could get together with him while we’re there.”
“Sounds good,” Ginny replied, putting even more pancakes on the table.
Blake smiled. So far, so good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You think you can remember all of that?” Will asked, uncorking the potion vial.
“Yeah,” Harry answered. “I wait ten minutes after you leave, then use Floo Powder to get to Diagon Alley, and meet you guys casually at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor.”
“Right,” Will said. He glanced uneasily at the potion vial. There was no stalling now. He handed the vial to Harry. “Let’s just hope your appearance is altered enough.”
“Can’t I just drink it again if I look the same?” Harry asked.
Will shook his head. “Drinking too much will kill you, and I don’t want to find out the hard way how much is needed to kill you. One chance is all we get.”
Harry felt a lot less confidence in their plan. He had always been uneasy about drinking potions, but this one was experimental. He had no idea who brewed this potion, if it was done right, or what the side effects could be. Will’s nervous face certainly didn’t reassure him. He was tempted to call the whole thing off. Then again, the thought of another day in this house wasn’t tempting, and he longed to see even a trace of his familiar life. He took a deep breath and took a sip of the potion.
It felt like thick water and the strong taste made Harry shudder, although he couldn’t quite name the taste. His whole body began to tingle as if he had lost circulation. His vision blurred, and he felt a sharp pain on his arm. Finally, the tingling feeling went away. Harry’s vision was still blurry, and he realized he didn’t need the glasses anymore. He took them off and looked at Will. “Well?”
Will’s mouth hung open. “Wow. It definitely worked.”
Curious, Harry turned to the mirror. His hazel eyes widened. He was one inch taller, and his nose had grown longer. His hair was no longer untidy or jet black, but deep red hair that laid elegantly on his head. He was completely unrecognizable.
“Harry…” Will stared at Harry’s right arm. “What’s that?”
Harry looked down, and almost screamed. The serpent tattoo he had seen in the Pensieve had appeared on his arm, faded but definitely present. Ever since that night Harry had wondered why the scar wasn’t visible if he was indeed in his future self’s body, and he had no idea why it suddenly showed now.
“Why did that show up?” Will said, a note of fear in his voice. “Is that a side-effect?”
“I don’t know,” Harry felt a lump in his throat, “but we have to find a way to hide it. This is bound to draw attention.”
“A Vanishing Spell wouldn’t work. I don’t think you could make a scar vanish without taking your arm with it,” Will thought aloud. “It’s too hot for a long-sleeve shirt…maybe Gina could put some make-up on it.”
“That should work.” Harry just wanted the snake to disappear. He couldn’t take his eyes off the fangs…
Will ran off to get Gina, and after a few minutes both ran into the room. “What’s going on?” She looked at Harry. “Very nice. The potion worked great.” She noticed the scar and gasped. “How on earth did you get that?”
Harry didn’t answer. “Do you have some make-up I could put on it?” Gina nodded and ran off, returning with a bottle of thick skin-colored cream. Harry gave her a questing look.
“It’s Midgen’s Covering Cream. Just rub it on your arm, and the scar will be invisible for around five hours. This should work.” Gina squeezed the bottle until a pile of cream about the size of a quarter rested on her right hand. She took Harry’s right arm and rubbed the cream over the scar, and as she massaged the cream into his arm the scar faded away until it was completely gone. “There. You’re all set.”
Harry smiled. “Thanks.”
Gina turned to Will. “Come on. We’re going to open my gifts in the family room before we leave. Bye Danny.” Gina winked and left the room, followed by Will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After opening all of her presents (a lucky emerald on a necklace from her grandparents, a moving animal figuring that changes into different animals each day from Blake, and a book that will create a whole story based on a written one-page summary from Will), the group headed to Diagon Alley.
“Listen carefully,” Ginny said as they all sat on one of the tables outside the ice cream parlor, “I’m going to the Ministry of Magic to get Gina’s Apparation test date arranged and get her to legally perform magic outside of school. I might be a while, so you three can go around Diagon Alley alone until I get back. Stay in Diagon Alley!” She eyed Blake. “I’ll see you three soon.” She Disapparated.
Blake rolled his eyes. “You know, I get the feeling she doesn’t trust me.”
“Don’t take it that way,” Gina said. “She’s just worried because this is the first time that you’ve been left in Diagon Alley alone when you have the ability to Apparate.” She looked around. “Look, there’s Danny!”
Blake looked up, and noticed a redhead wave at them and run to them. Blake looked at him with awe. “Harry?”
“Don’t you mean Danny?” he said with a tone that said clearly that he hadn’t forgotten about last night.
“Right,” Blake said, looking down at the table.
“So where should we go first?” Gina said, standing up.
“Let’s go to the apothecary first,” Will said, also getting up. “I’m missing an ingredient for the antidote.” They all agreed and headed down the street.
They reached the apothecary, which Harry realized hadn’t changed a bit from his last visit. Will picked up the last sack of powdered thestral hoof, and walked over to pay for it.
“Interesting choice,” the old man at the register said. “What would you need this for?”
Will ignored him, and waited as the man checked the price. “16 Sickles.”
“What?” Will said exasperatedly.
“This isn’t a common potion ingredient, kid,” the man said condescendingly.
Will dug into his pockets, and pulled some silver coins out. “I only have eleven.”
“I’ve got it,” Gina said. She handed him five silver coins of her own. The man took the money, and handed them a bag.
“Where do you want to go next?” Will asked after they left. He looked at the store right next to them. The words “Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes” were posted on a sign above the door. “How about here? You just have to see it. It’s one of the best places for pranks and gags of all kinds.” Harry nodded excitedly and they all went inside.
Harry gazed in awe at the store. The walls were lined with stacks of crates filled to the brim with pranks, and Extendable Ears hung on the ceiling. He saw a box of Skiving Snackboxes with two new flavors, Trembling Tart and Swelling Sweets, and a rack with several different Headless Hats.
Gina, Will, and Blake were already talking with a middle-aged man with the famous Weasley hair and freckles. He smiled when he saw Harry.
“Is this one of your friends?”
“Yeah,” Blake said, “this is Danny. He’s in my dormitory at Hogwarts. Danny, this is my Uncle Tyler.”
Tyler smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He turned to face Blake. “Jesse and Max are working on our next big project. We’re trying to make a special quill. The concept is that anything written by this quill will become indecipherable if read by anyone other than who wrote it. It’s great for diaries.”
“Cool,” Blake said. “Does it have a name yet?”
Tyler shook his head. “It’s too early in the process. We only started a week ago.”
Blake continued to talk while Harry looked around the shop. He found several of Fred and George’s old jokes, including Ton-Tongue Toffees, fake wands, and boxes of Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. He also found some newer stuff, including a keychain that will become invisible along with the keys, envelopes that wouldn’t open unless asked politely, and temporary tattoos that would change colors and glimmer in the dark.
“Have you four been to Quality Quidditch Supplies yet?” Tyler asked. “They have a new version of the Nimbus out. It’s pricy, but still worth seeing.”
“Thanks for the tip, Uncle Tyler,” Gina said. “I think we’ll be going now.”
“Ok. Happy birthday.” Tyler gave her a gift box filled with several different pranks. He waved as they all left the store.
The four of them stood at the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, looking at the Nimbus 5000, currently the fastest broom in the market. Harry felt a déjà vu, remembering the last time he stared fondly at a broom through this same window.
Suddenly, Harry felt the same tingling feeling throughout his body as he felt when he drank the potion, and then it vanished as soon as it came. Puzzled, Harry took his eyes off the broom to look at his hands. They looked fine, but Harry still felt uneasy. What had happened?
“Uh oh,” Will said, looking down the street. Harry followed his gaze, and his jaw dropped. He had never seen him before, but he was unmistakably Draco Malfoy, fifty years into the future. He was walking with a miniature version of himself, who looked eerily similar to the Malfoy Harry remembered.
“That’s Malfoy, isn’t it?”
“Yup,” Will said with loathing in his voice. “You know Draco, of course, and that’s his grandson, Coltin. He’s in Blake and Gina’s year.”
Coltin sneered, and Harry had another feeling of déjà vu. “Ah, the Potheads. What are you lot up to? Not buying the new broom, are you? I doubt even your precious granddaddy could get that good of a broom now.” Harry balled his hands into fists. “Of course, my grandfather is going to get me one now.”
Draco Malfoy glimpsed at Harry. “Who is this young man with you? I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.” His cold grey eyes bore into Harry.
“Daniel,” Harry said through clenched teeth.
Draco sneered. “Surely you have a last name, too?”
Harry clenched his hands so tightly his nails were digging painfully into his skin. He said the first name that came into his mind. “Evans.”
“Daniel Evans?” Coltin said. “You don’t go to Hogwarts, do you?”
“What are you doing, Malfoy?”
Harry turned and saw Ginny marching up from behind them, standing firmly in front of the four of them.
Draco smirked at Ginny. “Mrs. Potter, a pleasure. We were just on our way to Quality Quidditch Supplies.” He headed toward the store, and then turned as if just remembering something. “Oh, and do give my best wishes to Mr. Potter for a speedy recovery.”
Harry felt himself tingling again, and his vision became suddenly blurry. Then he realized what must be happening. He was changing back to his former self! The tingling stopped again, and he could see clearly again. Without thinking twice, Harry ran as fast as he could to the alley where the Floo Powder fireplaces were kept, praying that nobody had noticed, especially Malfoy.