Another Time

I don’t own a thing.

88888888888888

It was a week before seventh year when Harry and his friends were called back to Hogwarts to meet with Dumbledore. A lot had happened during their 6th year, one being the defeat of Voldemort at the end of the year. It had taken all five of them to defeat him, Harry was the one to actually defeat the bastard, but the other four kept him safe from the rest of the deatheaters. Another thing was having saved Sirius from the veil a week before Harry’s 16th birthday. Harry hadn’t been there as he was still at his aunt and uncles, but he was thrilled when Sirius came to take him away from them after his name was cleared.

He remembered how he felt when he saw Sirius and Remus standing at his door and the looks on their faces when they saw the bruises that covered his face. He had never seen Sirius so mad, after the two had hexed his uncle they called the aurors and had the Dursleys arrested. They had a quiet court hearing and now his “family” was in Azkaban and he was living with his godfather and Remus, who was now engaged to Sirius. They had been the ones to throw him his first birthday party and to hold him after his awful nightmares. He really did see the two of them as his parents now.

He then remembered when Draco Malfoy showed up on their front stoop. It turned out Voldemort had killed his mother and since his father was in Azkaban his mother had signed custody of him over to Sirius. When they had asked Malfoy why she had done that he told them how he had told her he didn’t want to follow the Dark Lord. His mother had always been a good mother and just wanted him to be happy, so signed custody over to her favorite family member on the side of the light.

He and Draco hadn’t gotten along right away, and didn’t start until one night during a full moon when Harry had a nightmare about one of Vernon’s beating and Remus and Sirius were not there to take care of him after. Imagine his surprise when he was woken and held by Draco. He still didn’t know how Draco had done it, but somehow he had convinced Harry to tell him about the dream and later on the abuse. Their relationship changed from there and now Harry saw Draco as a big brother. He had been the one to help set Draco up with Ginny when he found out the blond liked her.

It had been Harry, Draco, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione who had defeated the dark lord. The five became inseparable, except when they were off snogging each other. Ron and Hermione were now dating and so were Ginny and Draco. Harry was the only single one of the group because he was too afraid to date anyone incase Voldemort decided to use them to get to him.

Another thing that only a select few knew about him was that he was gay. He had figured that one out after the disaster with Cho, and had told his friends and guardians. He was attracted to someone, but knew that person had no feelings for him.

8888888888888888888888

Draco looked over at Harry and couldn’t help but wonder at what his friend had lived through. He saw Harry, as the little brother he had always wanted, but knew Harry was probably older than all of them mentally. He sometimes forgot just how powerful Harry was. He didn’t look like something to fear only standing 5ft 6in and was smaller than the other four in the group (Draco was 6ft 1in, Ron was 6ft 3in, Ginny and Hermione were 5ft 8in.) He looked like he was 15 not 17 and Draco blamed the Dursleys for that. He had often offered to brew a potion to make Harry grow but was shocked to find out that Harry had used them when he moved in with Sirius and Remus and was as tall as he would ever get as the potions didn’t work on him anymore. Draco also noticed that Harry didn’t seem to be bothered all that much by his size.

Another thing that shocked him was how quiet and shy Harry was when not defending his friends. He wasn’t one to stick up for himself, but didn’t allow anyone to hurt his friends or who he considered family. He noticed that of the two they lived with Harry was more like Remus and Draco himself was more like Sirius, until it came time to pull a prank, that was when Harry was in his element working out the kinks to the plan. Harry really was smart, but Draco knew he held back so as not to overshadow Hermione. He also knew that Harry hated being in the spot light so often tried to be mediocre at things to not attract attention.

Harry had also been taking lessons from Madam Pomfrey for the last year. With the war going on Harry had thought it best if he knew how to heal and the nurse agreed. He had taken the exam to be a healer, passed, and would be able to get a job in any hospital when they graduated.

88888888888888888

Everyone was pulled from their thoughts when Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry looked around and was surprised to see who all was in the office, there were Molly and Arthur Weasley, Remus and Sirius, the Grangers, Snape, and Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore looked at the five students and said, “I know you are all wondering why I brought you here. Well twenty years ago I remember five students arriving at Hogwarts a week before classes started. I am sure Remus, Sirius, and Severus remember them as well as they were good friends with the students.”

It was then you saw the look of recognition cross all their faces and then Snape looked directly at Harry with an unreadable expression on his face.

“At the time the students left Hogwarts herself covered for them and made the remaining students forget what the people looked like, but not what they meant to them.” Here Dumbledore looked at Snape with a knowing expression on his face. “I am sure you know who those five students are. I have found a way to send you and to bring you back when it is time to return, which I have shared with my past self. You will be there for one year and may tell anyone about your past as Hogwarts will make every one forget what the future will hold for them, in fact I encourage you to be honest with the friends and lovers you may find. All we need is permission for your parents or guardians.”

All the adults gave their permission and the students were thrilled to be going. When everything was ready Dumbledore held out a portkey, which the students touched, and with that they were gone.

888888888888888888

James Potter and his best friend Sirius Black were sitting out by the lake at Hogwarts a week before classes were to start. James’s parents had to speak to Dumbledore about something having to do with the order of the phoenix and refused to leave him and Sirius at the manor alone because the last time they did that the two almost burned it down.

James was startled out of his musings when he heard a loud crash and voices coming from near by.

“I remember now why I dislike portkeys so much.” Said a young man with black hair down past his shoulders. James thought he was about fifteen, but he could be wrong. He watched as the young man stood from the pile of bodies and held out his hand to a blond boy and pulled him to his feet.

“Thank Merlin you got your eyes fixed last year Harry as I don’t think your glasses would have made it through this trip.” Said a girl with Brown hair who had just been pulled to her feet by the black haired boy while the blond pulled a girl with red hair to her feet. He then watched as the two boys pulled another boy with red hair to his feet.

“So we’re here, but what do we do now? Dumbledore never told us what to do when we got here.” Said the red haired girl. James then noticed how the blond had wrapped an arm around her while the red haired boy wrapped an arm around the brown haired girl.

It looked like the black haired boy, Harry, was going to say something, but was stopped by a commotion coming from the path leading to Hogsmede.

“Is any one there. You got to help me.” James began to worry as he recognized the voice of Remus Lupin, another one of his friends. He looked at Sirius and saw the panic in his eyes at hearing his boyfriend calling for help. He looked over at the five new kids and saw they were all looking at each other before Harry took off running with the other four at his heals, for someone so small the kid sure was fast, the other four were not able to keep up.

He and Sirius took off after them and when they reached Remus what they saw shocked them. Remus was holding another one of their friends who looked like he had been beaten and was just barely holding onto life. The friend he was holding was one no one would have ever expected, as they had been friends in secret. Peter, another one of their friends, didn’t even know of the friendship as the person was a spy for Dumbledore and to keep him safe they all acted like they hated each other.

See the person Remus was carrying was none other than Severus Snape. James, Sirius, and Remus had been enemies of Severus’s since first year, but all that changed when James found Severus in one of the corridors crying one evening. He suddenly felt bad for his enemy and had decided to comfort him. It was then Severus told James how he had been tricked into taking the dark mark by Lucius Malfoy. Apparently Malfoy had told Severus that there was someone who could help Severus’s family out of the financial problems they were having and all Severus had to do was go meet this person. When they had gotten to where they were supposed to go many deatheaters and ambushed them and had held him down while Voldemort branded him. Voldemort had wanted Severus in his ranks when he found out how gifted he was when it came to potions. After the mark was on his arm the dark lord had said a spell to demonstrate the pain he could inflict on the young man should he disobey him and had Lucius take him back to Hogwarts after a round of Crucio.

After Severus had told him his story James talked him into going to Dumbledore where he agreed to become a spy and accepted Dumbledore’s offer to train him. The two had been friends after that, but hid the friendship well until the day Sirius and Remus caught them studying together in an abandoned classroom while trying to find a place to snog. The two explained the situation after Sirius had stopped yelling and soon the four built a friendship that only Dumbledore and James and Remus’s parents knew about.

James turned his attention to Remus as he began talking again.

“He just flooed to my house like this and collapsed. I decided to floo to Hogsmede and bring him to Hogwarts because St. Mungos is so busy with the war.” James had been really glad they had given the addressed of were they were staying to Severus now.

“We got to get him to the Hospital wing now. He is barely breathing anymore.” Said Sirius, you could tell he was worried by the tone of his voice.

“We’ll never make it in time.” Said a frantic Remus. He knew his friend was dying in his arms.

That was when another voice came. “Quick lay him down in the grass, we can help him, or Harry can.” Said the girl with the brown hair.

Deciding to trust the strangers, as they were Severus’s only hope Remus did as they said and laid Severus down and stood back to give a small teen with black hair room. He didn’t really thing this would work as Severus needed a lot of healing and the charms were to complex for people their age. But if this boy could just give them some extra time they might be able to save their friend. He looked at James and Sirius and saw Sirius was headed to the school in dog form to get the nurse. It was then he heard the chanting of the most complex healing spells known to wizard kind and looked to see the boy had his wand pointed at Severus and a white light was coming from it.

Everyone watched in amazement as Harry did the spells and soon saw the black eyes of Severus open. It was then Harry finished the spells and stumbled almost to the point of passing out from all the energy used to save their friend. James however was quick and caught the boy and lifted him up with an arm under his knees and the other supporting his back. He was surprised to feel how light he actually was.

Severus looked at all the people standing around him, and noticed he only recognized James and Remus. He also realized he was at Hogwarts and was wondering how he got there when the memories started returning. He had been brewing a potion in the dungeons of his manor and thought his parents were gone. He had rolled up his sleeves to keep them out of the way and was so caught up in his potion that he never heard the door open or his father walk inside. He did however feel the first punch his father threw. It had shocked him, as his parents had never lifted a finger against him. He listened as his father yelled and continued to hit him and soon realized this was all happening because he became a deatheater. It lasted a long time and finally his father left him alone. He went to the nearest fireplace and flooed to the first place he could think of, Remus’s house. That was the last thing he remembered.

He was broken from his musings when he saw the blond walk over to James and said, “Here let me take him. He will be more comfortable if someone he knows has him. I know that sounds weird as he is passed out, but he can sense people auras and will be more comfortable if it is a familiar one surrounding him.” As the blond said that James handed the boy over. It was then Severus saw Sirius, the school nurse, headmaster, McGonagall, and James’s parents running toward them.

Pomfrey had immediately gone to Severus and checked him over and was surprised to find he was perfectly healthy, just a little sore. It was then she noticed the small teen in the arms of a blond boy who was passed out.

Seeing the confused look on the nurse’s face Remus said, “He head Severus, and used the most potent healing spells to do it.”

That shocked the nurse into action as she began to scan the teen.

“He has done this before, just give him some pepper up and tell him not to use so much magic the next time and he will be good to go, though will tire easily.” Said the blond and the other three just laughed. It was obvious they had been through this before.

Severus was shocked. The teen in the blond’s arms had risked his own health to save his life. Why would anyone want to do that?

The nurse agreed with the blond and listened as the headmaster told her he would take everyone to his office and she could bring the potion there. He didn’t think they were a danger, they were just children after all and the smallest of the group was unconscious after using up his magic to save another person’s life.

888888888888888888

Soon everyone was seated in Dumbledore’s office. They had just listened to Severus explain how he had been beaten by his father and were waiting for Pomfrey to bring the potion for Harry.

She was there soon enough with it and had poured it down his throat, rubbing his throat encouraging him to swallow it. Soon enough the bright green eyes opened and Severus for the first time noticed just how beautiful the smaller boy was.

Harry looked around and soon blushed when he realized he was in Draco’s lap, but didn’t move. Their friend had seen them like that many times.

“Well now that we are all conscious, would you five introduce yourselves and tell us what you are doing here?” Said Dumbledore.

“Well we are actually from the future and you were the one who sent us, but didn’t tell us why only that you remembered us arriving. You also told us that it would be ok to tell you anything about our pasts as Hogwarts was going to make you forget things that would change our futures when we return.” Said Hermione.

“Well that is good to know and explains why I received a letter from myself earlier today.” Said Dumbledore with that twinkle in his eye. “Now if you could all just tell us your names and what houses you are in I will get you set up to attend Hogwarts for the next year.”

“Hermione Granger, Gryffindor.”

“Ron Weasley, Gryffindor.”

“Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor”

“Draco Malfoy, Slytherin.”

“Harry Potter, Gryffindor.”