Harry Potter sat up sharply in his sleep before wincing when his head collided with the lowest beam of the cupboard beneath the stairs. Memories of everything that had happened before he woke up replayed themselves in his mind and he blinked his eyes several times before gazing around as he thought about it. He could remember everything, everything that would happen in the future, and he could remember Dumbledore’s spirit’s words.

            “Fate has given you both a second chance,” Dumbledore’s spirit had said. “You two must work together if you two are to change the future. Let old grudges die and change the future. I have my utmost confidence in you two, Severus, Harry. I know that you two can do this.”

            And then he had disappeared and Harry and his unlikely and somewhat reluctant new ally, Severus Snape, were tossed through a vortex before there was nothing but darkness.

            At least, there was darkness until Harry woke up in the room that had once been his before he received his Hogwarts letter. As he was in his cupboard, Harry figured he had not yet received his Hogwarts letter.

            “Boy, get out here,” Uncle Vernon’s voice shouted opening the door to the cupboard and glaring at Harry.

            “Yes, Uncle Vernon,” Harry mumbled narrowing his eyes as he remembered the last time he saw Vernon, which was the day Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley left on the day of his seventeen birthday. He resisted the urge to grin; if things went as he thought they would go then they were getting close to the time when Hagrid would pay them a visit and Dudley would get a pig’s tail for a gift.

            Harry walked out of the cupboard before gazing around and making his way to the kitchen where his aunt immediately ordered him to begin making breakfast. He briefly glanced at the calendar and noticed it was about a week before his birthday, which was around the time the first letter came.

            And sure enough, minutes after Harry served his relatives breakfast, the owl came in with his Hogwarts letter. Harry snatched it up before stuffing it into his pockets before anyone could notice that it was there. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Dudley to get a pig’s tail for a gift; he just didn’t want to have the school go through all the trouble of sending out multiple letters as they did last time. The owl flew away after Harry took the letter because Petunia spotted it and chased it away.

            Harry slipped into his cupboard after breakfast, he was only given table scraps, and after he washed the dishes and finished cleaning the kitchen. When he was in the cupboard, he pulled out the letter and read the writing on the front.

            Harry J. Potter

            The Cupboard Beneath the Stairs

            #4 Privet Drive, Surrey

            Just like last time, Harry thought grimacing before he opened the letter and read it although he already knew of what was written on it. He also knew that if he didn’t reply then more letters would come and that would cause his aunt and uncle to take him to that lone island in the middle of the sea. While Harry entertained the idea of letting that happen just to see Dudley get a pig’s tail, he decided against it and decided he would write a reply when his aunt and uncle went to sleep.

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            Severus Snape was a bit disoriented when he woke up and when he glanced at the calendar, he could see that Dumbledore and Fate had succeeded in using old magic to send him back in time; the year was 1991. Severus also knew that the boy he had once hated for being the carbon copy of James Potter but, in the last moments of his life, looked past the resemblance to James to see his beloved Lily.

            Severus knew that Dumbledore and Fate would not have sent him and Po…Harry back in time if they did not believe they could change the future. Dumbledore believed they could put aside their old grudges in order to work together to make sure the Dark Lord did not get as powerful as he did and stop him before too many people lost their lives, including Severus’s mentor Albus Dumbledore.

            Severus shuddered as he remembered the day in the future when he took his mentor’s life in order to save him from an agonizingly slow death. He resolved to make sure that did not happen again. There was so much that Severus was going to try to do to change the future, one of those things would involve his godson Draco for one.

            Severus decided he would worry about that later. If he was correct then this would be the day that Harry would receive his first Hogwarts acceptance letter. Severus wondered if Harry would reply this time instead of waiting until Hagrid had to go down and hand-deliver the letter like last time.

            Severus got to his feet before showering, changing and walking out of his room. He knew that he would have to tread carefully when it came to his Slytherins; he could not let the children of his supposed Death Eater allies think he’s changed. He had to keep favoring them, for one, and make sure they had no reason to become suspicious of him.

            The floo flared to life and Severus turned his gaze to the floo as Albus’s head poked through the green flames. Severus has never been more than happy to see his mentor’s head although he could not get the image of Albus’s lifeless form falling from the Astronomy Tower.

            He shook his head to clear it. No point in dwelling on what might not occur, he thought as he inclined his head in greeting to Albus.

            “What brings you here this early, Albus?” he asked smoothly.

            “Staff meeting,” Albus replied. “I’ve hired a new DADA professor and we’re going to discuss some…precautions to be placed for a certain item that will be coming within our grasps soon.”

            Quirrell and the Philosopher’s Stone, Severus thought grimly. He knew he would have to come up with a way to, at the very least, prevent the rash, reckless Harry Potter and his equally as rash and reckless friends from going after the stone as they had last time. It was a good thing Harry was sent back as well for Harry knew who Quirrell was, or rather who Quirrell was currently sharing his body with.

            “I still do not think this is a wise idea, Headmaster,” he said remembering that he was one of the first ones who voiced his objections at keeping such a dangerous object in such close proximities to the students.

            “It’ll be safer here,” Albus said calmly.

            Depends on your definition of safer. “I will be over in a few minutes,” Severus said out loud.

            Albus nodded before his head disappeared and Severus closed his eyes briefly as he recalled the future. The Carrows having control over the discipline of the students, Severus forced to acknowledge and agree with the Carrows actions, that all happened only because Albus had been tempted by Guant’s Ring and put it on.

            That is the first horcrux I am going to destroy, Severus decided firmly. He pursed his lips together in thought as he thought about the other horcruxes. The only one he knew the location of was Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and that’s only because he had seen it when he placed the fake sword of Godric Gryffindor in Bellatrix’s Vault. He would have to find some way to get into Bellatrix’s Vault to get that horcrux.

            Harry, he knew, would know the location of the remaining horcruxes.

            Nagini wasn’t yet a horcrux but Severus decided that he would take out the queen cobra anyway just in case. Severus told himself firmly that it was not because Nagini was the reason he nearly died before he could give Harry the information he needed to win the war.

            Thinking of Harry, Severus grimaced. The biggest problem with the horcruxes that I see would be getting rid of the horcrux in Harry, he thought.

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            Harry slipped out of his cupboard before immediately grabbing a pen and a piece of paper before he slowly began writing his reply. He realized that he didn’t have the slightest clue of how to send the letter back but he supposed when the next letter arrived, he could just give it to that owl. He decided to add an annotation just to be on the safe side.

            To Whom It May Concern,

            I would very much like to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but I am afraid I do not have a way to get the supplies that are listed. And my aunt and uncle will not take me to get these supplies since they don’t know where to get them.

            Harry paused, eyes narrowing as he thought about what else to add. He knew that there were some things he would have to get while in Diagon Alley and one of those necessities would be Hedwig, his beloved snowy owl that was killed in the Battle Over Little Whinging. He wondered if he should suggest someone come to escort him to Diagon Alley as he knew it was likely they would send Hagrid.

            I was wondering if it’d be all right if someone could come and help me. I don’t know how else to get my supplies.

            Thank you.

            Harry J. Potter

            Harry examined the letter again to make sure it didn’t sound too mature for an almost eleven year old; while he was in an almost eleven year old body, his mind was of someone much older due to the memories of what would come in the future. He only hoped that he could stop the future he lived through from ever happening.

            Harry decided that there was some things he would have to take care of in order to stop the future he lives in from coming to past. The horcruxes was one of the main concerns Harry had. He knew that Salazar Slytherin’s locket was in Grimmauld’s Place, which he couldn’t access until he could somehow prove that Sirius was innocent, Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem was located in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts so that would be an easy one to find. Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup would be a bit harder to get due to its location in Bellatrix’s Vualt.  Tom Riddle’s Journal would also be a hard one to find since Harry was positive it was at Malfoy Manor. There was also Nagini although Harry wasn’t sure of how to get rid of the queen cobra. There was the ring that had cursed Dumbledore’s arm and Harry had no idea of where that was located. And the last one, the hardest one to get rid of in Harry’s opinion, was the horcrux within himself.

            I suppose I could just die again like I did in the future but I’m not sure if it would work like it did last time, he thought folding the letter and sticking it in an envelope he found in Aunt Petunia’s drawers. He wrote Hogwarts on it before hiding it within his pockets and slipping back into his cupboard.

            The following day, the next letter came and Harry quickly took the letter before handing his reply to the owl and gesturing for it to get out of the house before Petunia or Vernon spotted it. The owl chirped in reply before spreading its wings and flying through the open window with Harry’s reply letter clasped in its talons.

            Harry sighed with relief before examining the second letter until Dudley walked into the room and spotted the letter.

            “The freak got a letter,” he called grabbing the letter out of Harry’s hands before dashing back to Vernon and handing him the letter. He and Petunia immediately read the address and their eyes immediately filled with the panic that had been there when they received the first letter.

            “That’s mine,” Harry said.

            “It was addressed to you by mistake,” Vernon growled tossing the letter into the flames of the fireplace.

            Harry remained silent.

            “Clean the yard and the living room,” Petunia ordered.

            “Yes Aunt Petunia,” Harry said before he walked out of the house all the while thinking about how he managed to stop his aunt and uncle from destroying the first letter he received. He figured the only reason he managed that was because he hid it, unlike last time when he just stared at it in surprise. As he started to clean the yard, he found himself hoping Dumbledore was right to send him and Snape to the past to change the future.