Changing the Past by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: Here's Ch. 20!
Once Harry had gotten over his initial anger at Ron and Hermione, he was terrified of what he’d done. What if something horrible happened, and he had to go back? What if he got homesick, and he had no way of seeing his friends again? He started to doubt himself over his decision, and he worried about it for days.
However, he had accomplished what he’d always wanted to do. He’d avenged James, Lily, Sirius and Dumbledore by eliminating their murderers (or in his parents’ case, the reason they’d died), and now he got to spend time with them indefinitely, and as kids, no less. James and Lily got along better with him now that he’d wiped their memories of the bad things that happened between them, and he basically filled in for Peter as the fourth Marauder.
An added bonus was his relationship with Lily. As expected, she wanted nothing to do with him romantically now that she knew the truth, but they might as well have been dating, for all the time they spent together. Lily listened eagerly to Harry’s descriptions of the future, from the new types of brooms that had been released to the new shops in Hogsmeade. He was now doing what he’d told James he had been doing while dating her...spending some mother-son time with Lily.
Harry had a wonderful thought one day as he, James, Remus and Sirius talked about Quidditch. Ron had once shown him a list of the past winners of the Quidditch World Cup (taking place every fourth year), and since he knew them by memory, he could make a fortune betting on the team that wins. He could even bet before the season ever started, and almost anyone would take it, thinking him crazy...especially in 1978, in another year and a half, when lowly Israel scraped the win from Austria.
All these new opportunities that had opened up for him were changing his mind about his decision to burn the piece of leather. No Voldemort...no people staring at him unabashedly in the hallways...and, of course, James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius. He even planned to go with James, Sirius and Remus to explore the castle, and he planned on showing them the undiscovered passageway to the Three Broomsticks that hadn’t been mapped yet on the Marauder’s Map.
Speaking of the Marauder’s Map...Sirius made the other three boys laugh when he transfigured the Map so, instead of reading Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, it read, Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Prongs Jr.. Harry had never had this much fun with Ron and Hermione, because Hermione preferred to study all the time and Ron was too conservative to break rules constantly.
The only problem was Dumbledore’s reaction. When Harry told him that he planned to stay in the past forever, Dumbledore was “immensely disappointed” in him to put it in his terms, especially when he learned that Harry had no way of returning to the future anyway. Thus, he was forced to enroll Harry officially into Hogwarts, and Harry threatened to tell the whole wizarding world his secret if he refused.
Meanwhile, Harry created a completely new alias for himself. He became Harry Orpheus Potter, orphaned to Gregory and Fiona Potter, Muggles. Thus, he was able to become an actual person in the past, and not just a “ghost” with no identity as before. After talking with James on the matter, and writing a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Potter (Harry’s grandparents), Harry managed to convince them to let him stay at their mansion over the summer.
“It’s no trouble, really,” James explained once they’d received the news. “I knew they’d let you. I mean, it’s an eight-bedroom house, and there’s only three people living there now. Besides, Dad makes a hundred thousand Galleons a year working as an Unspeakable, in the Department of Mysteries, so for just one summer, they won’t mind feeding you.”
“Your dad’s an Unspeakable?” Harry asked, surprised. “I never knew that!”
“Ever wonder where your great fortune from your parents came from?” James said, smirking. “From my dad. They have to pay him a lot so he won’t talk about what goes on in there. He won’t even talk about it with me or Mum...man, would I like to know what goes on in there!”
“I know!” Harry said excitedly. “I went there, in my fifth year, back in 1996.” He then proceeded to tell James of all the things he’d seen or heard about in the Department of Mysteries, such as the brains in the tank, the Time-Turners, the planets, the circular room, the Hall of Prophecies, and of course, the veil.
“What do you suppose the veil does?” James asked excitedly.
“Apparently it kills you,” Harry said glumly. “It’s what killed Sirius.” That shut James up about the Department of Mysteries for a while.
It was a bit odd for Harry, not having his great fortune from the future anymore, but it was almost refreshing at the same time. He was excited to be getting out of Hogwarts in another year and a half, and he would be able to make his own way in the world. He could pursue his dream of becoming an Auror “ and at the perfect time, too, as the Ministry was hiring more trainees than ever in light of the recent events at Hogwarts “ and make his own money. He’d never liked the idea of having so much money without working for it, anyway.
As those happy days went by, and the days rolled into weeks, and the weeks into two months, and Harry found himself at the beginning of spring, over a month since he last saw Ron and Hermione, he wondered if his two former best friends would have a change of heart. "Surely," he told himself, "if I’d caused any trouble in the future, they’d come and force me to come back, so I can’t have done anything wrong yet! Maybe they realized this is all for the better!" But even still, that fact nagged at the back of his mind for quite some time.
Without all the trouble with Voldemort on his mind, Harry was able to appreciate the little things he hadn’t had time for before. He noted just how beautiful the grounds looked, with the flowers starting to poke up from under the nearly-melted snow, and leaves beginning to grow on the trees (even the Whomping Willow, much to its displeasure). He also noticed all the work the staff did to make the castle itself presentable...spring decorations and such. Although he didn’t share these newfound discoveries with anyone, he enjoyed them nevertheless.
Then, one sleepy Saturday morning, Harry awoke to find students crowding around the notice board. “What’s going on?” Harry asked Lily, walking up behind her as they both tried to read the new bulletin that had been posted.
Lily squinted her eyes. “Looks like it’s a Hogsmeade weekend announcement,” she said. “It’s on the last weekend of the month.”
“Want to go?” Harry asked. “You know...just to hang out?”
“Sure!” Lily said, smiling.
“Cool,” Harry said, walking out of the common room, headed for the Great Hall to eat breakfast. It was a rare thing, really, to be able to have a second chance at a date that went awry, although it wouldn’t really be a date this time. I love my life, Harry thought happily. The feeling wouldn’t last.
He entered the Great Hall and spotted James, Sirius and Remus sitting at a far end of the table, talking. He walked over to them and sat beside them.
“Hey, guys,” Harry said, smiling at them. “You see the message about the Hogsmeade weekend?”
“Yeah,” James said, smiling back at him. “And get this “ that Saturday is my birthday “ the 27th. We’re going to stay late at the Hog’s Head “ that new pub south of the Three Broomsticks “ and celebrate with some firewhiskey. Wanna come?”
Harry almost replied “Yes” without thinking, but held his tongue. He remembered his prior commitment with Lily, and wondered if he could do both. He figured, however, that he could spend the majority of the day with Lily, as long as he could get away at the end of the day to meet James, Sirius and Remus. “Sounds great!” he said. “I’ll be there.”
“Cool,” James said, nodding. “Wait...you’re seventeen, right?”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “Well, technically, I’m -4 years old, since I’m not born for another four years, but yeah, my seventeenth birthday was just before I was sent back in time.”
“Good, then,” James said. “You’re legal. It should be fun.”
“Yeah,” Harry said indifferently, grabbing a plate and piling it with food.
***
There was still a long while before the Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, however. The real O.W.L. and N.E.W.T exams were in May, and it was well-known in Hogwarts that around mid-March, the homework load started getting much heavier as the teachers started their six-week test prep period. Harry hardly had any time to himself as he studied hard, doing his homework for all his classes nearly four hours a day.
However, Harry started making a point of doing all of his weekend homework on Saturday, so he had all of Sunday off, and he started getting James, Sirius and Remus into the same habit, as well. Together, they played Quidditch with each other (James was the captain of the Gryffindor team as Seeker, so Harry and Remus played against him and Sirius), explored the grounds as before, and just plain hung out with each other.
The Sunday before the Hogsmeade weekend, James had the urge to hit on Lily. “I think it’s time to pay Evans a visit,” he said, smirking.
“You know it won’t work, James,” Sirius warned. “It’s never worked before. Besides, she’s probably studying right now.”
“All the better,” James said, and they headed up to the common room to find her. Harry had mixed emotions on the matter of James and Lily now...he still rather liked Lily, as she reminded him so much of Ginny, but then again, James deserved her much more than he did. He decided to appear nonchalant about the whole thing as they walked up to the redheaded girl, who was, as predicted, reading a Charms textbook over furiously.
“Wait...James?” Harry asked right before they headed over to her. He pulled the boy aside to talk to him quietly. “Have you ever considered, you know...trying to be a bit more intimate and caring when you ask her out?”
“Why?” James asked dumbly.
Harry smacked his forehead. “Maybe it never occurred to you that Lily prefers it to troublemakers?” Harry asked sarcastically.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that I’m not her type,” he said, shrugging. “It’s just who I am.”
“Well, then you’re a lost cause,” Harry replied, shaking his head. James considered the suggestion for a moment, then nodded and walked over to Lily, who looked up at him suspiciously.
“You know, you don’t really need to study Charms, Evans,” James said, shrugging. “You’re so good at them already.” Harry grinned; James was finally starting to come around.
Unfortunately, Lily either didn’t see it, or didn’t want to. “What do you want, Potter?” she asked coldly, putting the book on her lap and glaring at him.
“Nothing,” James said, holding up his hands to signal a truce. “I just wanted to talk.”
“About what?”
“Oh, you know,” James said, shrugging. “Catch up on things...after all, according to Harry, we’re supposed to end up married.”
Lily scoffed. “Just because Harry says it happens doesn’t mean it will,” she replied. “It’s not impossible to change time, you know.”
“So you’re just going to deny Harry his parents?” James asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Don’t hide behind Harry anymore, James!” Lily said, frowning. “This is about you and me, and I’m not about to date you anytime soon, much less marry you!”
James sighed. “Then what do you want from me?” he asked.
“Just go away,” Lily said, opening her book again. She didn’t talk to him again, and finally accepting defeat, James sighed and walked away from her. “Thanks for the advice,” James muttered to Harry as he walked by.
“Hey, you weren’t mad at me before!” Harry protested. “Just because I want to save you and Lily from death-”
“I wasn’t being sarcastic,” James said, turning to face Harry. “Thanks, really. I guess it just isn’t meant to be.” With that, he trudged out of the common room, obviously dejected. Sirius and Remus, torn between staying with Harry or following James, decided to console their old friend, rushing out of the portrait hole after James. Harry took a deep breath and sat next to Lily.
“So you won’t even consider dating James?” Harry asked quietly. Lily look up at him and sighed, frustrated.
“No,” she said. “Even though you say that’s what is supposed to happen in the future, I don’t have any problem with altering history to that extent, if it means never having anything to do with that scumbag.”
Harry groaned. “James is a good guy!” he persisted. “You just don’t want to see it in him, but he can actually be sensitive and ‘nice’ sometimes! You didn’t notice that he gave you a compliment earlier, did you?”
Lily stood up. “I don’t need your advice, Harry,” she said sternly. “I can take care of myself.” With that, she walked up to the girls’ dorm to read in peace. Harry sighed; this wasn’t working too well. He didn’t particularly care what happened now, but James was his friend, and he didn’t like seeing him upset. Maybe he could work things out at the Hogsmeade weekend...
And then a brilliant plan popped into his head.
Author’s Note: How do you like Harry’s new life so far? And what do you think this ‘big plan’ of his is? You can take a wild guess, or just wait until Ch. 21 to find out...thanks for reading! Please review!