Changing the Past by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: I had to re-submit this chapter, but I've fixed some things, and I think it should be approved this time...sorry to make you wait!
The next Hogsmeade weekend took place December 14, the Saturday before the last week of school before the Christmas holiday. Harry awoke on that Saturday feeling very apprehensive. He dressed into his clothes, then put on two layers of clothing, finally throwing his cloak on. He grabbed his wand from the bedside table and walked out of Gryffindor Tower, headed for the Great Hall for a quick breakfast.
When he arrived, he saw Ron and Hermione talking at the far end of the table. When he approached them, he noticed they were dressed very lightly, only wearing sweatshirts and no robes. “Why aren’t you guys dressed warmly for Hogsmeade?” Harry asked.
“Hogsmeade?” Hermione asked curiously.
“We can’t go to Hogsmeade, mate,” Ron told him.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked, confused.
“You don’t have a permission slip, Harry,” Hermione said. “Remember? You need a signed slip of paper from a parent or guardian to get in.”
“Oh!” Harry exclaimed. He had forgotten.
“That puts a damper on your big date, then, doesn’t it, mate?” Ron said, smirking.
Harry slapped a hand to his forehead. “What am I going to do?” he moaned. Just then, Lily walked into the hall, wearing her robes, a wool hat and mittens. Spotting Harry, she walked over to him.
“Hi, Harry!” she said breathlessly. “Hi, Ron and Hermione,” she said, a little less enthusiastically, but smiling to the two nevertheless. “So...you ready for Hogsmeade?”
“Yeah, almost,” Harry replied. An idea had just popped into his head. “I just need to get something, first.” He grabbed a piece of toast from the table, munching on it as he ran back up to the dormitories.
In the dormitories, Harry carefully walked over to James’ bed, whose occupant was still snoring. He quietly opened his future father’s trunk and rummaged through it, finally finding it: James’ permission slip, signed by his father (Harry’s grandfather). Taking it, Harry laid it out carefully, pulling out his wand. “Clonora,” he muttered, and the piece of parchment glowed for a moment, and then, suddenly, two identical slips laid on the trunk in front of him. Harry took the newly-created one, and put it in his pocket. He then put the original back where he’d found it, then slipped back out of the dormitory.
He met Lily in the Entrance Hall, admittedly looking very cute standing there, rubbing her hands together to keep her fingers warm from the chill emanating from the open front doors. “Okay, I’m ready,” Harry said, and Lily turned to smile at him.
“Let’s go,” she said, and they slipped their arms through each other’s and walked out the front doors. Filch was waiting for them, collecting permission slips from students. Lily handed her slip over to the caretaker, who examined it, then gave Lily permission to go ahead. Lily waited as Harry stepped up to Filch.
Harry removed his glasses, pretending to clean them, as he handed over his slip. As long as Filch didn’t notice his glasses or green eyes, he would be fine. Filch examined the parchment, then after waiting with baited breath, Harry saw Filch look up and say, “Go on then, Potter, and try not to cause too much trouble with your friends today, eh?”
“No, sir,” Harry said, then quickly walked over to Lily, putting his glasses back on. The worst was over...now for the date. “Shall we find a carriage?” he said, taking Lily’s arm again.
“Okay,” Lily giggled, and then stepped into the nearest carriage. It took Harry a full two minutes to realize that the carriages appeared to be pulling themselves again. He could no longer see the thestrals. As Lily chatted away to Harry about something-or-other, Harry couldn’t help but wonder, can I not see them because I’ve saved their lives? Or is it because I haven’t seen them die yet?
No matter the reason, the thought was pushed from Harry’s mind as they entered Hogsmeade. Harry realized that the small town had been slightly dilapidated in his time, but here, in 1976, it was like new. The windows on all the shops were dirt-free, the cobblestone roads were clean, and the paint on the buildings all shone brilliantly, having not yet faded. It would be like visiting a brand-new Hogsmeade.
Of course, with all the positive parts of the “new” town, there were also setbacks. Harry noticed that several shops were not yet in operation. For instance, Zonko’s Joke Shop was still “Madame Yvette’s Fortune-Telling Shop” and “Madam Puddifoot’s” was still just an empty lot, which, for some reason, made Harry’s stomach lurch.
“Where should we go first?” Lily said, shivering in the cold breeze.
“Dunno,” Harry muttered. He didn’t want to sound stupid by naming a shop that may not exist yet.
“How about The Three Broomsticks?” Lily offered.
“That sounds great,” Harry said, thankful that the shop was still there. They walked down High Street and entered the small shop, which was, thankfully, not yet packed with people. Harry and Lily had been among the first students to arrive in Hogsmeade, after all. They found a table, sitting across from each other.
“I’ll get us some drinks,” Harry said, and he got up and walked up to the bar. “Excuse me,” he said, then stopped short: the bartender, an older woman, turned to look at him. “Where’s Madam Rosmerta?” he asked without thinking.
“Rosmerta?” the woman asked, confused. “You mean one of my waitresses?” She gestured to the younger woman, who was walking amongst the tables, taking orders. Obviously, she had not yet taking over the business of the shop.
“Never mind,” Harry said quickly. “Two butterbeers, please.” When he had received his drinks, he sat down across from Lily again, handing her the second drink.
“Thanks,” Lily said, and took a long sip of hers. Harry did likewise, looking around at the shop as he did. It was very different from what it would become in twenty years; the decorations he was so used to had disappeared, and the walls were still a plain white, lacking the moving wallpaper that Harry had watched countless times during his Hogsmeade visit.
When he looked back at Lily, he noticed she was staring at his scar. His face grew red as he realized the question that would be surely popping up soon. “That’s an interesting scar, Harry,” she muttered to herself. “How did you get it?”
Harry sighed. Once again, he was faced with the opportunity to tell her the truth. But, once again, he held back. If she finds out she’s my mother in the future, she would never want to date me... But Harry decided to at least give her half of the truth. “You know my parents were killed, right?” he asked her, and she nodding slowly. “Well, actually, it wasn’t an accident. They were murdered.”
Lily gasped. “That’s horrible!” she whispered. “You must’ve been horrified!”
“I was only one year old,” Harry said, “so I didn’t know them very well, you know? But I never really got to know them.”
“Who murdered them?” Lily asked, leaning in closer to Harry.
Harry started to reply with “Voldemort”, but realized it would be unwise to draw attention to himself by saying his name, since he wasn’t the Boy Who Lived in 1976. “You-Know-Who,” he said grimly.
Lily was wide-eyed. “Why was Voldemort after them?”
Harry sighed. “He wasn’t after my parents. He was after me.”
“Why?” Lily asked. She was silently shaking from the already-terrible tale.
“Dunno,” Harry lied. “I think he thought I would grow to become a really powerful wizard or something, because of “ because of my scar.”
“So you already had the scar?” Lily asked, now slightly confused.
Harry was thinking fast. “Yeah, I was born with it,” he lied. “I guess it was a sign of power and destiny or something, and it scared Voldemort, so he went after me. He came to my house and “ murdered my dad first.” Lily watched him with a frightened expression. Harry continued: “Then “ my mum stood in front of me, and Vol...You-Know-Who...told her to get out of the way, and she refused. So he killed her.”
“Then what happened?” Lily asked.
Harry was now thinking fast again. He couldn’t tell her the truth, because if she knew he had survived a Killing Curse, she would be suspicious that he wasn’t famous, and why Voldemort was still at large if he’d been hit with a Killing Curse. “Erm...I don’t really know all the details,” Harry said, “but I heard that Ministry officials arrived, and Voldemort ran away.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lily breathed, and Harry was relieved that she had bought it. She reached forward and took Harry’s hand, stroking his palm with her thumb. Harry nodded sullenly.
“We don’t have to talk about it, though,” Harry said. “We should have a good time, and forget about this.”
“You’re right,” Lily agreed. They finished their butterbeers, chatting about different things, from Quidditch teams (Harry was interested in the standings of different teams before they became bad or good, based on the team) to classes (Lily blushed when Harry complimented her on her superb Charms skills, and Lily then told Harry how wonderful he was at Defense Against the Dark Arts). After they had finished their butterbeers, they walked outside, ready to browse different shops and determined to have a good time.
And a good time they had. Harry wondered when he’d ever had so much fun. They walked down High Street, laughing and talking as though they’d known each other from birth, and they browsed different shops, buying sweets and laughing at different items on sale. They ate lunch at a small café, buying a large sandwich and eating half of it, throwing away the rest just because they could. Finally, after several hours of fun, it had grown dark, and students were beginning to load into the carriages to head back up to the castle.
“We should probably head back soon,” Harry commented, not altogether happy that their date was drawing to a close.
“Yeah,” Lily said. “Why don’t we look through one more shop before we go?”
So they walked into a small shop called Magical Monster Menagerie, which sold various things relating to magical beasts. There was no one else in the shop, and Harry wondered whether Lily actually wanted to shop in there. After all, neither of them were taking Care of Magical Creatures...
“Lily?” Harry asked weakly, and she turned to face him. Harry couldn’t believe just how great she looked, with her cheeks and nose tinged red from the cold, and her hat tilted slightly to the side now.
“Listen, Harry...” Lily was fighting for the right words, Harry noticed, and was glad to see she was nervous, too. “Thanks for all this. I had a great time.”
“Me, too,” Harry said, throat dry, and he felt himself moving forward towards her, feet moving of their own accord.
“I’m sorry about your parents, though,” Lily said, and she was walking towards him, too.
“Don’t worry about it.” Harry was now a foot or two from Lily.
“We should do this again sometime,” Lily said. Their noses were inches apart, and they both knew what would happen next.
“Sure...” Harry closed his eyes, his heart pumping a thousand miles an hour. Then their lips met, and Harry was thrown into a whirlwind of different thoughts, and yet, all of them were pushed to the back of his mind. Suddenly, though, it all ended: Harry opened his eyes slowly to see that Lily had taken a few steps back, and was frowning at him.
“Who’s Ginny?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked, confused.
“Just then, when we were kissing,” Lily huffed, putting her hands on her lips. “You said ‘Ginny’. Who is she?”
Harry was confused. Why had he said ‘Ginny’?”
“I might have said it subconsciously,” he offered, which obviously wasn’t the right thing to say.
“So you were thinking of another girl while you kissed me?” she shrieked. “Or did you just mutter the name of some random girl that doesn’t exist?”
“She exists!” Harry said, and regretted it immediately.
“Harry Potter, how can you do this to me?” Lily yelled. “You’re seeing another girl behind my back?”
“No!” Harry exclaimed, stomach dropping with dread. “I just...she’s just my friend...”
Lily shook her head and sighed heavily. “I’ll see you later, Harry,” she muttered, sprinting from the store. Harry saw little water droplets fall from her face as she ran, landing on the hardwood floor as she ran for a carriage. Harry ran out after her, just in time to see her get in a carriage by herself, and being carted back up to the castle.
Harry angrily kicked the side of the shop, then hopping up and down on one foot, holding his toe. Why does this always seem to happen? he wondered, watching Lily go. Dejected, he trudged up to another carriage to go back up to the carriage, all the fun he’d had in the past few hours wiped out by one simple, yet complex, kiss.
Author’s Note: Well, I hope you liked this chapter, even if you strongly dislike Harry/Lily shipping...personally, I think it is a good ship, and my reason for this is hidden in this chapter...shouldn’t be too hard to find. Either way, it is explained further in Chapter 16...thanks for reading, and please review!