Turn Back Time

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Rating: PG-13 for now, may change later. Will be slash later in the story: HP/?, JP/LE
 
Spoilers: Books 1-5. Do not read unless you have FINISHED The Order of the Phoenix.
 
Disclaimer: I don\'t own anything except the plot. All Harry Pottradtrade; characters and settings are the sole intellectual property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros. and various others who all aren\'t connected to me in any way. No money is being made with this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
 
 
 
Chapter 2: Reunion
 
 
 
 
Harry was walking up the stairs to his bedroom after another uneventful dinner in the company of his relatives. Aunt Petunia had been telling her husband a the the gossip she had overheard that day, regarding the dreadful behaviour of the new couple that had moved into the neighbourhood. Uncle Vernon on the other hand, had been discussing the GCSE exam results that Dudley would be receiving sometime soon. Harry seemed to be the only one at the table who noticed the way Dudley was squirming and trying changing the subject. He mused that the exams had not gone quso wso well for Dudley, although Harry suspected that Uncle Vernon would blame everyone except his son for that. All in all, Harry would have preferred not to have sat down to dinner that evening but he made a deal with Remus and he respected the older man too much to recant on it.
 
As he walked into his room, Harry immediately noticed that Hedwig was waiting on his bed with a letter attached to her leg. After he untied the letter, Hedwig gave a grateful hoot and flew into her cage for a short rest. Skimming the short note from Remus, Harry discovered that he was to be picked up and transported to Headquarters sometime in the near future. The note specified that he pack all unnecessary items however, Remus apologised regarding the lack of details. \'I\'m sorry Harry, but it\'s not safe to write how or when I\'ll come to pick you up in case Voldemort manages to intercept the owl\'. \"Well that\'s helpful to know\" muttered Harry sarcastically to Hedwig, who just stared back at him. Throwing several items into his trunk that had been scattered around his room, Harry sat down on his bed and distracted himself of thoughts about Sirius and Grimmauld Place by reading \'Quidditch: The English Lions\'. \'Tomorrow\', thought Harry, \'I\'ll get ready for it tomorrow. Will have to tell the Dursleys as well, bet they can\'t wait to get rid of me\'.
 
**********
 
One afternoon, several days later, Harry was found reading one his Duelling books he had bought earlier that summer. Although DADA was his best subject by far, Harry actually had little practice in duelling with others. Of course, that small list did include one of the most feared Dark Lords, Voldemort, as well as a few of his Death Eaters. Harry however, felt that his duelling technique could do with a lot of improving, especially after seeing the Headmaster and Voldemort duel in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Harry had realised over the course of the summer that Transfiguration and Charms had their place in duelling, not just DADA. With that in mind, Harry had resolved to practice hard in those areas so that he was not so helpless, not if, but when he was to face Voldemort again. Harry would not find himself in such a situation where he depended on someone else to defend both him and themselves just because he did not know how to duel.
 
The screams of Aunt Petunia shattered the quiet of number 4 Privet Drive. Fearing that Death Eaters had breached the protection on the house, Harry rushed down the stairs wand in hand, only to find Remus and Moody in the hallway.
 
\"Hey Remus, Moody. Am I leaving?\" asked Harry, ignoring his Aunt, who had turned rather pale at the sight of the three wands.
 
\"Yes Potter. Where\'s your trunk? You\'re all packed right?\" Moody replied.
 
\"Ummm, yes. Wait a minute though, how do I know you are who you say you are?\" remembered Harry, casting a suspicious look at the two wizards.
 
\"Good thinking Harry. I\'m Moony. Your Patronus, which I taught you, is Prongs, and your Firebolt was bought by Padfoot for your Christmas present in your Third year\" praised Remus with a smile.
 
\"Okay! Just wait a minute while I throw the last lot in\", yelled Harry as he ran back up the stairs into his bedroom. Throwing the book he had been reading along with some clothes he had not packed into his trunk, he glanced over the room and checked under the bed for any forgotten items. Everything was in his trunk, a present from Moody, including his beloved Firebolt, and so he grabbed the trunk\'s handle in one hand and Hedwig\'s cage in the other and made his way back downstairs to the two waiting wizards.
 
Moody took hold of the trunk and cage and walked back out of the open door, presumably to however Harry was being transported to Order Huartuarters. Harry said a quick goodbye to Aunt Petunia, to which she merely glared back at him before Remus placed a hand on his shoulder and led him out of the house, for another year at least. \"Lovely reception. I hope she doesn\'t treat all her guests in that manner\" Remus mused, a wicked glint in his eyes. \"I\'d have thought she\'d be used to it by now. Oh well. How are you doing Harry?\" he asked as the two wizards approached a black car. \"Ministry car\" the older mnswenswered to Harry\'s questioning look.
 
\"I\'ve been better, but I\'m not about to fall apart on you just yet! I\'ve been reading up on duelling techniques and obviously reading the letters you wrote\" he answered as he got into the car. \"Thank you for that, I feel much better about how my dad and Sirius behaved at school. It\'s more obvious now that Snape\'s a biased git, I doI do admit they weren\'t very nice at times either\".
 
\"Wotcher Harry. You alright back there?\" asked Tonks, turning in her seat and grinning at Harry. He noticed that she had spiky purple hair today and wished that she could have shocked his Aunt Petunia by entering the Dursleys house again.
\"Fine thanks Tonks. How are you?\" he replied as Remus sat down in the seat next to himand closed the car door.
 
\"Great, can\'t wait to get you back to Headquarters. You\'re lucky that I\'m driving you there. Better me than Mad-Eye here, you\'d end up s som somewhere on the M5 I bet\" she shouted as she started the car.
 
\"Remember Tonks, I may be older than you, but it means I know more curses than you\" growled Moody from his seat in the front of the car. Laughter filled the small space as Tonks started driving to London.
 
**********
 
The four reached 12 Grimmald Place sometime in the early evening. Tonks and Moody drove off to return the car while Remus and Harry went to enter the secret Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius\' old family home. As Harry stood on the pavement, watching the house appear from nowhere, his thts hts drifted back to last summer. The days he and the Weasleys spent cleaning the house, Sirius\' dislike of being confined there, secret Order meetings, Mrs Black\'s portrait and the house-elf, Kreature.
 
Harry felt his temper rising as he remembered the house-elf\'s betrayal and how it led to Sirius\' death. Harry\'s eyes narrowed and his grip on Hedwig\'s cage became tighter. He jumped he he felt Remus\' hand on his back, giving him a gentle nudge in the direction of the house. However, his anger lessened as the apprehension in him grew with every step he took towards the house.
 
He was looking forward to seeing Ron and Hermione again, of course he was. Nevertheless, at the same time, he didn\'t want to answer their questions. He knew they\'d notice the weight loss, his quieter moods, that he preferred to spend more time alone, and he knew that they wouldn\'t understand why. That they couldn\'t help him this time, unlike with their many adventures in the past. How could they, when he didn\'t fully understand? The hurt, the grief was still as strong. The worry, increasing each day, of what Voldemort would do, who would die next. They were still teenagers, but then again so was he. Yet he was not. He had a mission, a purpose, one thrust on him by the Prophesy, by Voldemort. It was a circle, Harry realised. Voldemort and Harry were there when it began, and they would be there when it ended.
 
Without realising, Remus, Harry, and his trunk were in a bedroom that Harry did not recognise. Setting Hedwig\'s cage ontop of his trunk Harry apologised to Remus. \"Sorry, I was lost in thought\" he said. Looking around Harry asked, \"I don\'t recognise this room? Aren\'t I sharing with Ron again? He is here I assume?\"
 
The werewolf smiled, understanding on his tired face and gestured for the younger man to sit down on the bed. Remus moved a chair away from the desk in the corner of the room and sat down opposite Harry. \"I thought you\'d prefer your own room, what with everything that’s going on in your life. I guessed Ron might not appreciate your dreams, and I don\'t think that you would want him to know too much about them either\" he replied. Seeing Harry blush, he quickly carried on. \"You\'ll have a bit more privacy basically. My room is just a couple of doors down if you need me\".
 
With a small smile, Harry thanked Remus. \"Who else is at Headquarter then? Apart from you and me?\"
 
\"Well, Molly and Arthur are staying here until you lot go back to Hogwarts. Ron and Ginny obviously, Hermione arrived a few days ago. Bill and Charlie have been around, oh and I\'m sure you\'ll be seeing the Fred and George about\" answered Remus, pausing for thought before he carried on. \"Tonks and Moody are around a fair amount. I think that at least one of us will be here most of the time. Ah yes, Neville Longbottom will be staying here as well. Dumbledore sending someone to collect him in a day or two, although I\'m not entirely sure why. Everyone else will be just passing through or here for meetings\".
 
\"Neville\'s coming here?\" mused Harry. \"I guess the Headmaster thought he might be more of a target now, especially with … \" he trailed off lost in thought regarding the Prophesy and how it could easily have been Neville, the Boy-Who-Lived. How different would Harry\'s life have been? His parents would have been alive and happy, and Sirius wouldn\'t have been sent to Azkaban, he wouldn\'t have had that deadened look in his eyes, he wouldn\'t have died. Then again, his parents could have been like the Longbottoms in St Mungo\'s, driven mad. \'No\', Harry thought determinedly, \'not what ifs, not now\'. Harry looked at the older man; the grey in his hair and tiredness in his face indicating the full moon would be coming soon. He wondered how a man who had gone through so much, the monthly transformations, the loss of his friends … no his family, how Remus could still give so much. Still fight, to hope for something better. If Remus could, Harry would try, but he could not help wonder if he would succeed, if he could carry on like Remus had.
 
Remus sat silently in his chair, watching, as Harry became lost in his thoughts again. He noted the messy black hair framing Harry\'s pale face and those green eyes, usually bright with laughter or curiosity, but now filled with pain, hidden behind glasses that had been broken once too many times. At least the clothes he now wore were the correct size, although hanging slightly loose on his thin body. Even so, Remus noticed that Harry had indeed grown taller, though he wasn\'t as tall as James had been in his Sixth year at school. knewknew that bringing Harry back to Sirius\' family home would bring back memories for the younger man, but hoped that Harry wonot not live in the past, that he could heal. Even so, Remus worried that no one would be able to help Harry, that the only ones who could heal his heart and soul were dead.
 
Harry was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Remus coughing, who then gave him an encouraging smile and handed him an envelope. He realised it contained his delayed OWL results. Taking the envelope with a trembling hand, he opened it and took out the parchment. Reading his results, Harry was filled with a mixture of excitement, disappointment, shock, and disbelief. Remus, who had watched the emotions flit across Harry\'s face shouted \"Harry! Harry, how did you do? Did you pass? Is there anything wrong?\"
 
Harry started to hand the parchment over to his one-time DADA Professor still feeling numb, but with small shivers running up his spine. He blinked twice and quickly snatched back the parchment before Remus could take it and stared at the results again, as if to imprint them onto his brain. With a small curl to his lips, he passed the parchment over to the worrying werewolf, who scanned the results, ignoring the Examination Board remarks.
 


OWL Results for Mr Harry James Potter:


Astronomy EE
Care of Magical Creatures O
Charms O
Defence Against the Dark Arts O
Divination P
Herbology O
History of Magic A
Potions EE
Transfiguration EE
 
Harry saw that Remus had read the results and raised eyes shining with happiness to meet his own. A huge grin split his face before Remus grabbed Harry into a one armed hug, png hng him off the bed. \"Congratulations\" he shouted, \"They\'re fantastic results! What do you think?\"
 
\"I can\'t-, I-, I passed Potions, and Charms! I stuffed up in the practical exam so why, I can\'t believe it, I mean, I PASSED Potions. What is going on? I failed Divination, but that was a joke anyway, and of course DADA, I knew I aced that. You should have seen Umbridge\'s face. Oh, and Hagrid will be so pleased. I don\'t believe it; it\'s like … WOW! Remus! I passed!\" Harry vaguely recognised that he was rambling and his mouth was beginning to hurt from the huge grin on his face. He couldn\'t stop his body shaking from excitement but he passed! It took a few minutes for Harry to calm down further, but he knew that for the rest of the evening a large smile would grace his lips as he remembered his results. Sobering slightly, he recalled his Potions grade. \"I can\'t believe I actuapasspassed Potions\" he told Remus, \"but I can\'t take NEWT level Potions. Snape won\'t let anyone without an Outstanding to take the subject. Professor McGonagall told me that I need it to become an Auror, so it looks like that\'s out of the question now\".
 
Remus just smiled at Harry and told him \"Harry, don\'t worry about Professor Snape just yet\" and handed him what looked like his usual letter from Hogwarts. \"I\'m very proud at what you\'ve achieved\" he contd, hd, his eyes shining with happiness, \"and I hope you don\'t mind me saying, but I know that your parents and Sirius would have been proud of you whatever happened. They love … we love you, no matter what. Auror or no Auror\" he finished with a bittersweet smile.
 
Harry opened the letter from Hogwarts and took out the parchment, reading the usual letter from Professor McGonagall. His brow creased in confusion before a slack look came across his features. He started mumbling under his breath, \"I don\'t believe it! I know she said she\'d help, but how did she? Wouldn\'t he have … does he know? The greasy git is going to hate me more than ever! I can\'t believe he\'d agree, she can\'t have told him, surely?\" Scanning the rest of the parchment, he absently noted the subjects he could take and the books required before asking Remus, \"Did you know McGonagall got me into the Potions class?\"
 
\"I wasn\'t sure, no I didn\'t\" he began, \"but I bet she enjoyed doing it. I think she likes to wind up Professor Snape. Payback for when he was studying at Hogwarts I guess\" smiled Remus. \"Harry, it\'s getting late. We should grab some dinner. I\'ll wait downstairs, see what Molly made for dinner tonight\" and with that, Remus left Harry\'s room.
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After a few minutes Harry walked down the stairs to the kitchen, taking care not to wake up the portrait of Mrs Black as he passed her and found Remus putting two plates on the table. Remus had found two bottles of butterbeer and the two wizards sat down to eat. Harry had only ate just over half of his dinner and had been playing with the rest of his food when Remus suggested that he go visit his friends or go to sleep. \"It\'s your choice. Your friends will still be here tomorrow, although Hermione may shout at you!\"
 
Harry decided that he would say hello to his friends. After all, he hadn\'t seen them for over a month. Walking upto the room he had shared with Ron the previous summer he knocked once before opening the door and walking in. It was obvious that no one had told Ron or Hermione that he was arriving today because for a moment they just sat there gaping at him.
 
\"Aren\'t you going to say hello?\" he asked, smirking.
 
\"HARRY! Sweet Merlin! When did you get here? How come nobody told us? Oh Harry how are you? Did the Dursleys treat you well this summer? Did they feed you? Look at you! How did you get here?\" came from Hermione in a single breath before she grabbed him in a hug.
 
\"Harry! Ignore Hermione here, too much energy. How are you mate? It\'s been ages since we saw you!\" asked Ron.
 
Grunting quietly as Hermione impacted into him, Harry explained \"I\'m fine like I said in my letters. I\'m eating and the Dursleys ignored me most of the time, which was perfectly fine with me. I\'ve only just arrived really. Remus, Tonks and Moody picked me up and I\'ve no idea why they didn\'t say anything\".
 
The three friends spent the next hour or so talking about what had been going on in the month they had been apart. Hermione quizzed Harry on his OWL results while Ron snorted at her enthusiasm for schoolwork, even in the holidays. They both filled him in on what had been going on with the Order, which was not all that much since it seemed the members seemed to be more tight-lipped than before. Ron was discussing what this year\'s Quidditch team would be like which brought Harry\'s thought back to Sirius and he decided that he would prefer to go to sleep. Telling his friends that he was off to bed, Ron asked him \"Harry? Where\'s your trunk and stuff? Shall we bring it up to our room?\"
 
\"Well my stuff\'s already in my room\" replied Harry, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
 
\"I don\'t see it anywhere\" said a confused Ron as he checked the room.
 
\"Uh, Ron? I\'ve got my own room this time. It\'s a couple of door\'s down from Remus\' room\", said Harry.
 
Ron shot Harry a look before asking, \"Why have you got your own room? Hey! Does this mean I have this room to myself all summer? Great!\" not noticing the glare he had received from Hermione.
 
\"Sorry mate, but Remus told me Neville\'s coming here sometime soon and I guess he\'ll be sleeping in here with you\".
  evileville?\" frowned Hermione. \"Why would he be coming? I didn\'t think he knew about the Order. Why would he have to stay here I wonder\".
 
\"Actually his parents were members of the Order the first time around so I guess he knows something about it. Besides, Dumbledore will explain anything else\" Harry answered, but he privately thought that the Headmaster was taking extra precautions regarding the Prophesy as well as Neville\'s safety.
 
\"How do you know that? And when did you start calling Lupin \'Remus\'?\" questioned Ron.
 
\"It doesn\'t really matter but Moody mentioned it. Besides, Remus asked m\", \", said Harry with a wave of his hand.
 
\"I have to share with Neville?\" moaned Ron.
 
\"It won\'t be so bad Ron. You can see who snores the loudest!\" Hermione put in laughing.
 
\"Hey! I don\'t snore that badly! Besides, how do you know?\" Ron retorted, his face turning as red as his hair.
 
Leaving the other twocarrcarry on arguing, Harry said his goodbyes and left for his own room. Once there, he decided to meditate for a bit and practice his Occumancy before settling down to sleep.
 
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Thanks to JPHelen of Troy and shellava for their reviews.
 
 
I apologise in advance for any mistakes, spelling, grammatical or otherwise. It is all my fault since this is unbeta\'d. Please review (long is good!) and send any helpful comments, all will be appreciated. Any flames, however, will be, in all honesty, disregarded. Thank you for reading!
 
SStar