Thank you to my wonderful new beta Chrissysmiles for your help with improving this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter and I am not making any money of of this story.
Chapter 1 - Changing The Future
It is a clear crisp early morning of November 1st 1981 on a quiet street in Surrey, where three people stand gazing down at an infant wrapped in a blue blanket.
“You don’t mean to leave him here with these people?” Professor Minerva McGonagall asked. ”You can’t , I’ve been watching them all day. You couldn’t find two people who are less like us. And they’ve got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street screaming for sweets. They are the worse kind of Muggles possible. You can’t leave Harry here.”
“I would listen to her if I were you Professor Dumbledore.” a voice from the shadows said.
The three turn towards the voice.
“And why is that?” Professor Dumbledore enquired to the voice.
“Because he will have a horrible life in that house, sir. Nothing but pain and misery.” The stranger replied with sadness in his voice.
“And how is it you know this?” questioned the professor.
The stranger steps out of the shadows into the light so that the two professors and Hagrid could see him more clearly. Before them stood a young man who is the spitting image of James Potter except for his eyes, which are a brilliant shade of emerald. He appears to be about 12 years of age but sounds much older than he looks. He walks up to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall lifting up his bangs to show his forehead to the professors, uncovering a lightning bolt scar over the young man’s right eye. Identical to the one on the infant in Dumbledore’s arms.
“I know, sir, because I am Harry James Potter. I am here to try and convince you not to leave me here. You see the blood wards may protect me from Voldemort and his Death Eaters but they will not protect me from the people inside this house.” older Harry explained.
“Harry, how old are you and why would you need protection from the people inside this house?” Professor McGonagall asked speaking up for the first time since hearing the young man speak.
“Hello, Professor McGonagall,” Harry replied bowing his head respectfully. “l am 17 years old, and in my final year at Hogwarts. If you don’t mind I would like to discuss the subject in a more private location please.” said Harry “May we adjourn to your office please Professor Dumbledore. I ask that you listen to what I have to say and if you still think it is the best place to leave me, then you could always bring me back here later.” Harry looks over to the Professor hopefully.
“Very well my dear boy. Can you Apparate to Hogwarts on your own?”
“Yes, sir”
“Very well then, Hagrid I will see you back at the school and thank you for your assistance. Minerva and Harry, we will meet at the gates of Hogwarts.” With this said Professor Dumbledore Apparates with baby Harry still held tightly in his arms.
Once they all appear at the gate they make their way up to Professor Dumbledore’s office.
At the gargoyle that guards the entrance to the Headmaster’s office Harry asks if he may try to guess the current password. Professor Dumbledore steps aside to allow him to try with a small smile.
Harry looks at Professor Dumbledore with a smirk then turns to the gargoyle and says, “Chocolate Frogs.” The gargoyle shifts aside and the spiral stairs starts to travel upwards.
“I am impressed Harry. How did you know the password?” enquired Dumbledore.
“Well, sir I cheated a bit,” Harry answered with a smirk. “You told me what the password was before I left to come back to the past.”
Both Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall laughed.
Professor Dumbledore bids them to sit while he puts baby Harry on the couch, after checking to make sure his nappy didn’t need changing, Then he puts up cushioned barriers around the baby so that he wouldn’t fall off the couch and be hurt.
“Professor, before we begin may I make a request?” questioned Harry.
“Sure, my boy. What is it?”
“I would like Professor Snape to be present during my explanation, please. He is a big part of the reason I came back to the past.”
“Of course, Harry if that is what you wish, I will summon him right now to my office.” Dumbledore commented while getting up from his chair to go to the fireplace.
“Wait, sir,”
Dumbledore looked back at Harry with a questioning look on his face.
“I would wait about another minute so you won’t disturb him while he is brewing a potion for the hospital wing. You know how unpleasant he gets when he is interrupted.”
McGonagall snorts beside Harry. “You certainly know Severus well, Harry,” she commented.
Harry just shrugged and smiled.
Dumbledore throws some Floo powder into the flames and summons the Potions Master to his office. A second later Severus comes through the flames into the office.
“Headmaster, what can I do for you? I have many things to get done and so little time.” stated Snape. He looked haggard and ill kept. He wasn’t going to mention to them that his plans were to drown his sorrows in a bottle of firewhiskey. He couldn’t believe his Lily was gone, his only friend killed by the Dark Lord. He had tried his best to save her and her family but he failed.
“First of all Severus can you tell me if you just finished brewing a potion for the hospital wing just before I called you?” asked Dumbledore curiously.
“As a matter of fact Albus, I had just finished bottling the potion when you called,” answered Snape puzzled. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious Severus, just curious,” Dumbledore answered with a chuckle. “Severus I asked you to come here because our guest here requested your presence during his explanation, Let me brief you on what happened earlier. As you know I was going to drop young Harry Potter off at his Aunt’s home.” With a nod from Severus, Albus goes on with his story. “While Minerva and I were talking a young man came out of the shadows and asked if he could have a moment of our time to explain some things to try to change my mind about leaving little Harry at his Aunt’s home.”
“And who is this young man, Albus and what does he have to do with this situation?” asks Severus curiously.
Future Harry stands up from the chair he was sitting in beside McGonagall turns towards Snape and replies, “Hello Professor Snape, That would be me, sir and I am very much involved in this situation.”
Looking at the young man for the first time Snape narrows his eyes with a sneer on his face. Standing in front of him seems to be his arch nemesis, James Potter but wait that is impossible because Potter along with his best friend Lily were murdered just hours ago by the Dark Lord. “How is this possible? James Potter was killed just hours ago, so how is it he is standing here in your office Albus very much alive?” asked a very confused Severus Snape.
Harry answers the question before Dumbledore can. “There is a perfectly good reason how it is possible, Professor, because I am not James Potter. I know I look a lot like him as I have been told so ever since I was eleven years old and entered Hogwarts but if you look at my eyes you will know that I am not James.”
Snape looked at the strangers eyes and was shocked to see his Lily’s eyes. They were the same shape and shade of green as her eyes were or had been. Who was this person anyways? With a raised eyebrow Snape asked suspiciously, “Then who exactly are you?”
Harry walks over to baby Harry and gently brushes his hair aside so that the lightning bolt could be seen and then turns towards Snape and moves aside the hair on his own forehead so that the lightning bolt scar can be seen clearly.
“I am not James Potter, sir, I am his son, Harry. So you see I have everything to do with this situation. I have come from the future to see if I can change certain events in the past to make the future better for all concerned. One of those events is to convince Professor Dumbledore not to leave me at my Aunt’s home. ”
Professor Snape looks from the older version of Harry to the younger version that was sleeping on the couch several times.
“Indeed Mr. Potter and why should Albus not leave your younger self at your Aunt’s?” asked Snape.
“I also would like to know the answer to that question.” put in Dumbledore.
“As would I,” McGonagall injected.
“If everyone would have a seat please I will explain to you my reasons for trying to convince Professor Dumbledore that I would be better off with someone else and who would be a better guardian for me. Professor could you get your Pensieve out please I would like to use it to prove my point of view.”
“Of course Harry.” Dumbledore gets up and goes over to a cabinet and gets out a beautiful bowl that is encrusted with jewels and ancient writing. “Here you go my boy.”
“Thank you, sir. I am about to tell you about my life with the Dursleys. It was not a pleasant time but one of hardship, pain and humiliation. You see they never wanted me and hated me for who I was. My aunt hated my Mum with a passion because she was a witch therefore she was different. Isn’t that correct Professor Snape?”
“That is true. Lily was always so upset because Petunia had made certain comments about her being a freak and not normal,” replies Snape with a far off expression.
“Over the years that hate festered and grew. After you left me on their doorstep that November morning her hate of my Mom was transferred to me. I know that you hoped they would accept me into their family and love me like a son but they did not. To them I was a freak and should be treated as such. They never loved me at all. They got the idea that maybe if they beat the freakiness out of me then I would be “normal” like them but it never worked. Merlin forbid I should do accidental magic. For doing something I couldn’t help I was punished and punished severely. I will save the details for when you venture into the Pensieve.”
McGonagall gasps at this with a hand over her mouth.
“You may have noticed my size.” With three nods he continues. “Well I know I am small for my age. As I told Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall I am 17 years old but I look a lot younger. Madame Pomfrey has informed me that this is because of malnutrition when I was growing up. You see my relatives didn’t think I deserved to be fed regularly. Food was for “normal” people not freaks. I was lucky if I received a meal once a day and the majority of the time it was a slice or two of moldy bread and cheese that had gone hard.
McGonagall gasped again and looked as if she would like to hunt down the Dursleys and do them bodily harm. She reached out and grasped Harry’s hand in comfort. Looking at Dumbledore Harry saw a look of sadness and remorse in his brilliant eyes, gone is the twinkle he is famous for. The look on Snape’s face is the same as always but for anyone who knows him his eyes say it all. They are narrowed and he too looked as if he wished to hunt down the Dursleys and do some experiments on them that would cause them the most pain.
With tears in his eyes Harry looked up at his professors, and then goes over to the Pensieve. He pulls out his wand and points it to his temple. As the wand is pulled away, a stream of silver follows. Harry puts it into the Pensieve and repeats the process several times. He looked up at the professors. “I have put in the memories I believe to be the most appropriate to this situation. You may ask any questions you wish when you have emerged from the memories.”
“You are not joining us?” asked McGonagall.
Harry shakes his head stating, “Someone has to keep an eye on little Harry and I have lived the memories so I don’t need to see them again.”
With that the three disappear into the Pensieve. Harry sits and watches his younger self sleep and wonders what he was dreaming of and wishing he could still sleep that soundly. The professors emerged half an hour later McGonagall and Dumbledore both have tears running down their cheeks and Snape has the same expression as always but his eyes have a far off look to them as if he was remembering his own childhood with his father.
Once they calm down Harry asks, “Any questions?”
“Was it always like that for you there, Harry?” asks McGonagall
“Most of the time yes it was. There were the rare times they left me alone but they were very rare.” answers Harry.
“Did you not tell anyone about the way they treated you?” asked Dumbledore with tears in his eyes.
“I did once in primary school but the investigator was a relative of one of the neighbours so nothing came from it.” answered Harry.
“What about when you got to Hogwarts? Surely you informed one of the teachers or even myself?” asked Albus.
“I figured with the way I looked and acted at the start of first year someone would have said something but they didn’t so I thought no one cared and besides Uncle Vernon threatened my life if I told anyone about what had happened in their house. I also came to you Professor Dumbledore after the first year and asked you if I could stay at the school for the summer but you informed me that no students were allowed to stay at the school during the summer and that I had to go back to my aunt and uncles as it was the safest place for me to be. So I figured you knew and just didn’t care what happened to me and that the rest of the staff would be the same so I didn’t say anything to anyone else.” replied Harry with a bit of anger in his voice.
“Albus you are not leaving little Harry there, I forbid it,” stated McGonagall with a determined look on her face.
“I agree with Minerva, Albus. I may have hated James Potter but Harry is also Lily’s son and he deserves better treatment than that. I could never let a child stay in a situation like that ever.” said Snape.
Albus Dumbledore looked like his world was about to collapse. “My dear boy all I can say is that I am truly sorry that my future self let you down so much and to let you know that I concur with both professors. Young Harry will not be going there ever.” Dumbledore replied determinedly. He then looked at older Harry and stated, “Harry I am truly sorry for all the pain that you suffered while at your Aunt’s. I can only say that I didn’t know. I believed with all my heart that your Aunt would have accepted you and loved you as a son but I see from your memories that I was wrong. The question now is what are we going to do with young Harry?”
“Well I have an idea if you would listen to it.” Harry tentively answered.
“What is it Harry?” asked McGonagall.
“Let me tell you a bit more of my history in my time line. As you seen in the pensieve my life was far from ideal. I didn’t think my life would be changed until I would be old enough to leave the Dursleys behind. But my life changed at the beginning of my sixth year, it was you Professor Snape that changed it. There was an event that caused you to look deeper into my life with my relatives and it changed my life for the better.”
“And what was this event that changed your life, Mr Potter?” enquires Snape.
To answer this question Harry stands up and removes his robes and proceeds to roll up the sleeves of his shirt. Covering both forearms from wrist to elbow were a multitude of small scars. “They are all self inflicted,” stated Harry. “I had been cutting myself for years with no one the wiser not even Madame Pomfrey. Everyone always figured the scars were from one adventure or another never looking at them closely to see that some of them were recent scars. I got away with it until one evening I was in the astronomy tower, where I went to cut. This evening was different because I was so depressed that I didn’t know what I was doing and for the first time I cut myself too deeply. I was bleeding a lot and fast, I didn’t know what to do. I was fortunate that Professor Snape came up to the tower in search of students making out. He found me and rushed me to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey stopped the bleeding and healed the wounds. Due to blood lose, I was out for a few days and when I woke up my life changed radically.” Harry paused in his story to see the reactions of his three professors. They were all shocked to say the least.
“When I woke up the three of you were at my bedside wanting me to explain my actions but I couldn’t I was too embarrassed not only because of the cutting but also about the way my relatives treated me. I believed it was my fault they treated me like a freak. I was watched closely after that and wasn’t allowed to be alone for very long plus I had to report to Professor Snape once a week to be inspected for new wounds and to talk about anything I wished to discuss. I can tell you that I didn’t take kindly to that at all but I was given a choice, I either showed up for these appointments or I lose the right to play Quidditch. I love playing Quidditch so I went to each and every appointment. After awhile I started to open up and told Professor Snape all about the way I was treated at the Dursleys. Once I had told him everything there was to tell, Professor Snape talked to the both of you and it was decided that I was to be taken out of my Aunt’s house as soon as possible as they were not suitable guardians. It was Professor Snape that offered to take me in as his spying days were over.” At this point Harry looks over at Professor Snape and smiles apologetically. “Anyways to make a long story short, Professor Snape filed the papers to become my guardian and was granted. We became close and in private I was allowed to call you Uncle Severus, but Merlin forbid I should forget and call him that anywhere but our quarters. Do you know how many times he has threatened to chop me up for potion ingredients?” Harry jokes with a smirk.
Snape just raised an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on this. Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled merrily and McGonagall was grinning widely.
“I propose that Uncle Severus become my guardian.” Seeing the surprised looks on all the professor’s faces Harry continued, “Oh I know he can’t do it on his own and I am not asking him to do so, I freely admit I am a hyper child and need a lot of supervision. So I suggest getting two wizards to help him raise me. That way I would have three guardians or for a better word I would have three godfathers.” Harry grins at this thought.
“And who do you suggest these other two wizards are that will help me raise you, Mr. Potter?” questioned Snape.
Harry looks right into Snape’s eyes and replied, “Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.”
Snape jumped up from his chair, furious. “Absolutely not!”
Chapter 1 Changing The Future