Harry was lying on Blake’s bed when the doorbell rang the next day. The visit he had both looked forward to and dreaded was finally here. He sighed, but didn’t get up. He knew that the plan was for Ginny to bring Ron and Hermione to him.
He never thought he would be this nervous to see his two best friends. But, Harry thought, they aren’t the Ron and Hermione I remember. They’re going to be fifty years older. They might as well be complete strangers. He wondered what they would look like, and what they would act like. And it would be really weird to see them act all cuddly around each other, or do they still bicker with each other?
And what was he supposed to call them? He remembered back to last night. Harry wasn’t sure what to call Ginny. Now that she was much older than him, should he call her Mrs. Weasley? Then he remembered that she was technically Mrs. Potter now, and that sounded very weird in Harry’s mind. Ginny sensed his dilemma, and told him to just call her Ginny, which Harry was grateful for. Maybe he should just do the same thing for Ron and Hermione too.
Harry listened to the voices in the kitchen. It sounded like Gina had just opened her present from her aunt and uncle. He listened more carefully.
“Where did Harry get to?” Harry recognized Ron’s voice, even though he sounded much older. “Is he still sick with that Mono, no Mola, whatever it is? He’s been out for a long time.”
“This isn’t life-threatening, is it?” an older woman asked.
“No, Hermione, it’s not life-threatening….” Ginny trailed off.
“Oh, that makes me feel loads better,” Ron said sarcastically. “Are you ever going to tell us how he’s doing?”
Harry didn’t hear anything else beyond this. Ginny lowered her voice considerably, and Harry couldn’t tell what she was saying. Then, he heard Hermione’s startled gasp and the break of china. Hermione started talking frantically, Ron tried to comfort her, while Ginny repaired the china cup, and as a result Harry couldn’t understand anything going on in the next room.
Finally, the chatter died down, and Harry heard Ron say something that sounded like, “Where is he?” He heard chairs slide on the floor, and several footsteps behind the door. Harry sat up as the doorknob turned. The door swung open.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gasped at the same time. Harry couldn’t believe how old they looked, yet how much he recognized them. Ron was still very gangly, maybe more than he used to be. He looked skinnier, and he had a small scar just above his left eyebrow. His freckles were still there, but he had wrinkles, and his hair was thinning. Hermione, on the other hand, had her still-bushy hair in a messy bun. Her face was also wrinkled, although less so than Ron’s. Both she and Ron were now wearing glasses.
“Harry?” Ron walked up to him and sat down. “Wow, you’re just as I remember you. You don’t look a day older than sixteen.”
“Fascinating,” Hermione said, looking Harry over. “He’s literally sixteen again, but he doesn’t have his lightning bolt scar.” She looked at his forehead. She then looked at his right forearm, and noticed the snake scar. The cream had faded overnight. “He still has all the scars of his old self. Very interesting.” Harry stared at her. “I mean, well it is terrible, but I’ve never seen something like this before. I’m guessing you probably don’t remember anything past 16, do you?”
Harry nodded, amazed that she guessed right. Then again, this was Hermione.
Hermione turned to look at Ginny. “How did this happen?”
Ginny looked at Blake, who blushed red. “I tried to cast a Youthful Charm, but it didn’t work out like it should have.”
“Really?” Hermione had that glint in her eye Harry remembered too well. “Wow. Do you remember what incantation you used?”
“Yeah,” Blake said nervously.
“Blake, do you realize you’ve just created a spell that could people alive forever?”
Blake looked stunned. “No….”
“This spell could keep you somebody immortal, couldn’t it? And since they have no memory of their past lives, they would be able to start life over.” Hermione was looking very excited.
“Hermione, don’t you think that’s a little unnatural?” Ron said.
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on telling people about it.” Hermione was talking very fast. “It would be terrible. Everybody would overuse it, and very few people would ever die of old age, not to mention the population problems that could cause, but still…it’s a very fascinating concept.”
“Hermione, why don’t we focus on changing Harry back,” Ron suggested, amused.
“Right,” Hermione sat down on the bed on the other side of Harry. “Oh, Harry, this must be very weird for you.”
Before Harry could answer, an eagle owl started tapping on the window, except for it didn’t have a letter tied to its leg. Ron stood up to let the bird in. The owl jumped up and stuck out its leg. The group noticed a frayed piece of twine stuck to the owl’s leg. Ron took it off, and the owl, satisfied that it had done its job, flew out the open window. Ron held the twine in front of him, bemused. “The letter must have fallen off on the way here. I wonder why the owl didn’t notice it lost the letter.”
Gina shrugged. “Maybe it’s a younger owl, just trained.”
“Hope the letter wasn’t important,” Will said.
Hermione nodded. “Well, now we need to find somebody to change Harry back to normal.”
“You can’t do it?” Harry said, disappointed.
Hermione shook her head. “Definitely not. I’ve studied it, of course, but I’m not advanced enough to change you back.” She paused. “But I think I might know somebody who is…and he wouldn’t tell anyone…and he owes me a favor….” Before she could finish her thought, she left the room, muttering under her breath.
“We might as well help out, too,” Ginny said. “How about we go to the den and look at some of the books there.”
Ginny left the room, followed by Gina, Will, and Blake. Ron stood up to leave, but Harry spoke up. “Ron? Could I have a minute?”
“Sure.” Ron sat across from Harry on Will’s bed.
Harry took a deep breath. If he couldn’t ask Ron, his best friend, about this, then he couldn’t ask anyone. “What’s the story about this scar?” He held out his arm.
Ron shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, the thing is, you never really liked to talk about it…do you know how you got it?” Harry nodded. “Good, that makes it easier. What did you want to know about it?”
“Well, earlier this week, after I used a potion to disguise my appearance, it just showed up, and I have no idea why.”
Ron nodded. “Yeah, you-I mean future you-put a charm on it to keep it hidden, so you didn’t have to worry about it. You would just put the charm on once a week. But when you used the potion to disguise yourself, the potion kind of nullified the charm, and it showed up again.”
“Why do I try to hide the scar, though?” Harry asked, confused. “It doesn’t have a side-effect, does it?”
Ron shook his head. “You thought so at first, but you had it checked before you left Hogwarts, and it didn’t do anything. But everyone would stare at it when they caught sight of it. It attracted unwanted whispering, and nosy questions, and on top of that, you didn’t like the constant reminder of that night in your seventh year. It was a lot more noticeable than your lightning-bolt scar ever was. You got sick of it and found a charm to hide it.”
Harry thought about this. It was a relief that the scar was just that, a scar. However, there was still something he wondered about. “When Hermione tried to publish a biography of me, why wouldn’t I let her?”
Ron smiled sadly. “I remember that. You were angry at Hermione for putting so many personal things down, and then planning on publishing it.” He looked at Harry straight in the eye. “Your future self doesn’t talk about anything in school fifth year and above. I think you just try and block it out. Your life has gotten a whole lot better since then, but those memories still hurt.”
That worried Harry, if possible, even more than the scar ever did. He never got over it? Fifty years later, and he still won’t even think about it? Was it really that bad?
Something in his face must have showed how he felt, because Ron backpedaled. “But, you know, that’s completely natural. Nobody blames you for that. Heck, even I’m not fond of those days, for the most part.”
“For the most part?”
Ron laughed. “Come on, you didn’t expect your last two years at Hogwarts to be doom and gloom, did you? You were Head Boy in your seventh year.”
“I was?” Harry smiled. “Even though I wasn’t a prefect?”
“Yup. Malfoy was furious.” They both laughed. Then they heard the doorbell ring.
Ginny walked over to the door. She opened it, and felt an unpleasant lurch in her stomach.
Draco Malfoy was standing there, along with the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Blaise Zabini.
“Hello, Mrs. Potter,” Malfoy said with a sneer. “Is Mr. Potter home?”
A/N: The story is almost over! There should be either one or two chapters left in the story.