It was the 9th of September 1996, shortly after dinner at Hogwarts. Albus, Minerva, Poppy and Remus were sitting in the Headmaster's office, waiting for the fireplace to flare. With a knock on the door, Lily and Severus arrived.

“No sign yet?” Severus asked and Dumbledore shook his head.

“Do you think he’ll be well enough that he can stay in his own room in our quarters?” Lily asked worriedly and glanced over to the others. Pomfrey reluctantly said,

“I don’t know, but I can imagine that he doesn’t feel well at all. He was ill when he left in the past, and I don’t know how many minutes or even hours this floo travel will take, maybe he isn’t even conscious.”

Suddenly the fireplace flared green, and a boy was thrown out of the fireplace. He collapsed on the floor and vomited. Lily immediately scourgified the vomit, while Poppy waved her wand over him a few times, until she glanced at Lily and said,

“I’m sorry Lily, but you cannot take him with you, I have to take him; he is only half conscious and seems to be very ill.”

“Poppy, maybe we should all stay in the Hospital Wing for the night, because someone has to stay with him for the whole night anyway; so maybe we could take turns?” Dumbledore suggested. Pomfrey agreed immediately.

“That’s a good idea; let’s go, so that I’ll be able to help him.” Poppy guided them to a second section of the Hospital Wing, which was rarely used and therefore empty but contained six beds, where she put Harry on a bed. Suddenly he started to convulse and his body seemed to change; his face was stretching and his hair becoming smoother and longer; the whole change only took a few minutes, but he seemed to be in terrible pain. Everyone stared at him as if they were frozen. He suddenly looked very different; he still had the features of James and Lily, but these were completed by a new, different look. Poppy glanced at Severus, “Can you please help me to get two potions into him, the fever reducer and a pain reliever?”

“Of course Poppy,” Severus said and used two fingers to open Harry’s mouth and massaged his throat in order to get the potion down that Poppy was pouring into his mouth. Lily sat next to Harry on the edge of his bed and carefully stroked his flushed face.

“Hello Harry, my dear. I am so glad to have you back. Come on, open your eyes my child, I know you can do that. Come on Harry, we are all here and want to see your eyes.”

cocoCOCOcoco

Harry’s mind was very clouded. He was feeling sick and in pain and feverish, but suddenly the pain went away, and he felt cooler and much better, and then something penetrated his ear. This voice, he knew it, and he knew he loved it – yes! It was his Mom’s voice. She was here! He was getting excited, his breathing became faster, and … he opened his eyes… and shut them immediately. It was too bright.

“He’s awake! Maybe he heard me. Harry, wake up my son, it’s me, mom.”

“Its probably too bright, and the light hurts his eyes,” Severus said and extinguished the light with his wand.

“Alright now Harry, try again,” he said, and Harry mumbled,

“Severus.”

“Yes Harry, come again, try to open your eyes,” and Harry obliged. He blinked and glanced at the people around his bed.

“Wow, mom and Severus, Remus, Poppy, Granny and Granddad. Wow, you look older than – he looked at his watch – 4 hours ago.” Everyone laughed.

“No wonder Harry, for us 18 years have passed during your 4 hours!” his grandmother said happily. Harry glanced at his family and said,

“Um… I have his Runespoor’s egg in my robes Hagrid gave me; could someone take it to Hagrid and ask him to look after it please, until I am well enough?” Everyone laughed at his worries, and Severus assured him, he would take the egg to Hagrid in the morning. Poppy bent down to Harry and asked,

“Now Harry, tell me how you feel. Do you need any other potions? If not I suggest that you take a dreamless sleep potion and get a good night sleep until the morning.”

“I feel dizzy and a little queasy.”

“Alright Harry, I will give you two potions, and then you’ll sleep for the night, and everything we can take care of tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Do I have classes tomorrow?”

“No Harry. For at least a week definitely not!” Poppy said while she helped him to sit up a little to drink two potions. Then she tucked him in and motioned the others to the other beds. They took shifts to sit on the edge of Harry’s bed, but he was in such a deep sleep, he didn’t even stir once during the night.

cocoCOCOcoco

When he woke up in the morning, he was back to his old room, the one where he had stayed in the past during his 7th year. ‘Was it only a dream? Am I still in the past? But I thought I had come back to the future’ he thought, before he noticed someone sitting at his bedside. It was…

“Amelia Bones?” he asked confused.

“Yes Harry, it’s me. How are you? At breakfast Remus told me everything about your journey, and as I just have a free period, I thought maybe you would like some company.”

“Sorry, Amelia…um… may I still call you Amelia?”

“Of course Harry.”

“I’m a bit confused. What are you doing at Hogwarts? I mean… in my old future… , before I went back to the past, you were working at the ministry and were just about to become Minister of Magic.” Amelia laughed.

“Nice story, Harry, but no, I had thought about working at the ministry, but then Remus proposed to me immediately after my 7th year, and Albus offered me the position of Muggle studies professor, so I stayed at Hogwarts all the time.”

“Wow, Amelia – you are married to Remus?!” This was exciting, and his eyes were twinkling merrily. “Congratulations, Amelia. You can’t imagine how happy I am for both of you. You know, in my old future, Remus was still a werewolf and not allowed to marry or have children. This is just too great!” he beamed.

“We have two children Harry, and we are your godparents. You don’t remember anything of this time line, do you?”

“No… should I?”

“Yes and no. Poppy did a lot of research about this, so she will be able to explain better. Wait a moment, and I will get her for you.”

cocoCOCOcoco

Madam Pomfrey came and sat down next to Harry. “Good morning Harry, are you feeling well enough to listen to me for a while?” When Harry nodded, she continued,

“After you were gone 18 years ago, Albus asked me to do research about time lines and even instructed me to study psychology to be able to help you when you arrived here. You have in fact lived in two time lines. Currently, all your memories are stuck in your old timeline. However, during the last sixteen years you have also lived here in the timeline everyone else remembers. No one except from you remembers your old time line. There are only six persons who know a lot of it – Albus, Minerva, Lily, Severus, Remus and I, because Albus had put many of your memories in a pensive, and we spent two hours a day for the last six months watching your old memories. However, at the same time you were here at Hogwarts together with us, with your mother etc., spending your time in this, our timeline. Do you understand everything so far?” Harry nodded confused.

“Alright. Now, what we have to do, apart from getting you back to health, is to restore your memories of the new (if you want to call it that) time line back – you will never loose your old memories however, you will keep both memories of both timelines for your entire life. Do you understand?”

Harry grinned, “crystal clear Madam.”

“Good. It is the same thing with your health. In the old time line, your health was very poor, in the new timeline about normal. So from now on it will probably be not very good, but not too bad either, but as far as I can imagine a little worse than normal, although better than in your old timeline or in the past.” Harry groaned.

“And it’s the same with your appearance and your genes. They are different than before, but neither like in the old, nor like in the new timeline, but a mix of both of them.” Harry looked slightly confused.

“Sorry, Madam Pomfrey, I didn’t get the last point right now, but would you mind giving me a headache potion?”

“Alright Harry, we have talked enough for today anyway. Let me check on you first, because you’ll need more than just a headache potion.” She checked on him and gave him several potions before she sat down again and said, “You were ill before you came back, right?” Harry nodded. “This infection is not gone yet completely, but it seems not to be the only problem. The reason for your fever to be so high is probably that your immune system has not yet adapted to the changes your body had to undertake when you came here. I will keep you here for a few days; when you are better you may stay with your parents for a while until I can allow you to go back to your dormitory and to classes.” Harry was too tired to question anything he had been told; he turned his head and was asleep in seconds.

cocoCOCOcoco

When he woke up, his mom was sitting on the edge of his bed. He smiled happily and moved his head on her lap.

“Hi Harry, do you feel a little better today?” She glanced inquiringly at him.

“Yes mom, a lot better. Are classes already over?”

“They will be over in ten minutes, but I have a free period during the last class, so I’ve been sitting with you for a while.”

“This morning Amelia was here. She is married to Remus – you know, I just couldn’t believe it – I’m so happy for Remus.”

“I know Harry, he was a werewolf in your old time, I know. Albus made us watch all your memories. And they have two daughters; the older one is your age and also your best friend, Anna.” Harry frowned. He had heard that name before now, hadn’t he?

“Sorry, I can’t remember anything yet. Pomfrey told me, my memories of the new time line would come back soon, but so far I can’t recall anything.”

“That’s totally clear Harry. However, Poppy is the one to help you; she really researched it during the last eighteen years with the intention of helping you as much as possible. You will be okay, although it might take some time. And there will be things you’ll recognize.”

“Which house am I in?” Harry asked reluctantly.

Lily laughed. “Why, Merlin of course,” she said, “and I am your Head of House.” Harry smiled and thought, ‘should I ask about my father? I’m really angry at James and Sirius, but on the other hand I cannot go hating my father forever…’ He sighed, and Lily asked worriedly, having watched his expression turning from a laugh to a frowning sigh,

“Harry? Are you feeling sick? Or what’s wrong?” He summoned all his self confidence and asked hesitantly,

“And where is dad? Is he staying at Hogwarts too?”

“Of course, Harry, you know that, don’t you?” his mother asked back and Harry shook his head. At this moment a well-known voice came from the doorway,

“I’m here my boy.” When Harry heard the voice, he took a small glance in the direction of the door, his eyes filled with shock… and he fainted.