"You said that we could save more than one life."
Sirius watched silently as the boy he ran into not even a second ago disappear before he could even blink.
“Well that was weird, wasn’t it?” James spoke.
The boy had been in between them. James moved from his spot to stand shoulder to shoulder with Sirius.
Nodding at his friends’ words, Sirius tried to pay the interaction no mind.
Well, he did try too at least.The poor boy looked horrified to even be near Sirius. Those green eyes reflected confusion and horror. There was that incessant thought running through his head: Was it because it was Sirius he was looking at, or something else entirely?
His thoughts lingered on his parents.
And even on-
“Come on, let’s go find Moony and Wormtail.” James said, putting his arm around Sirius’ shoulders.
“Oh, how smooth James!” Sirius laughed, finding himself distracted by his oldest friend. He spared one more glance in the direction the strange boy had ran towards, and still saw his green eyes in his mind.
James easily distracted him as he talked about a new prank to pull on Snape, and Sirius found himself forgetting all about the boy in the end.
---
Harry felt the sweat building up on his forehead as he searched the shop for Hermione. Seeing Sirius so young and oblivious, it really shook him up. Not even a day had passed since he had last seen the Sirius that was of his time. Something sad was lingering in the Sirius he knew, but there was still that bravery that shown through his exterior. This Sirius did not seem to be carrying a burden on his shoulders just yet. There was no guilt in his heart.
Hermione was standing in the back of the store, talking idly to the man behind the counter. Their voices got louder as Harry slowly approached. He quickly wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans and tried to will his heart to stop racing.
The conversation flowed in his ears, but he was only half listening, far too concerned with the predicament that they were in.
“-Listen kid, I can’t just get you an appointment with Dumbledore.” The old man lamented.
Hermione squared her shoulders, glaring at the man. “I don’t care what you can’t do, tell him it’s urgent!”
Harry barely spared the man a glimpse before he gripped the girls' arm and pulled her away from the counter - and out of the store altogether. Pushing past more eager kids, Harry pulled them outside and onto the bustling streets. He noticed all of the new and older kids, all with hands full of new books, robes, and even pets. Once the boy finally stopped walking, Hermione tried to wiggle out of his tight grip, throwing out a loud huff.
“Harry! I was getting somewhere-”
“I saw Sirius Black, Hermione!” He cut her off sharply.
Harry turned back to face her once they made it a good distance away from the bookstore. People were still pushing all around the place, so the two tried to make it towards an emptier path.
Hermione stared at him in disbelief, halting his movements and making him look her in the eyes.
There was a frown on her face, one that he had seen more in the past day than he had in the past two years.
“Well why didn’t you ask for help?” She said, looking at Harry in confusion.
Running a frustrated hand through his hair, Harry turned away from his friend.
“No ‘mione, I saw Sirius Black, but one that looked about fifteen years younger than when we last saw him!” The boy whisper-yelled.
Hermione gasped in turn and pulled him closer to one of the darker pathways.
“What do you mean Harry?” She said, holding onto his forearm.
Harry felt it wasn't very smart to talk about this in the open, despite everyone around them being of magic. Scanning the area, He spared his friend another glance and tried to quiet his voice even more than he already had.
“I mean, we may have ended up going a bit too far back in time?” The answer sounded more like a question in his ears. Hermione glared at him and smacked his arm.
“Be serious here!” She spat.
Whispering an apology, Harry rubbed at his-now sore- arm. After a moment of brief silence, he looked around once more and sighed heavily.
“I mean, we traveled back to when my parents were student's at Hogwarts.”
Hermione’s mouth opened like she was going to speak, but she quietly sighed and looked to the floor. Disappointment clouded her gaze, making it hard for her to think about anything besides the fact that they were screwed. There was no denying the absolute disastrous situation the two had found themselves in now.
Harry felt himself look around again, this time trying to find any Hagrid sized adults. He wished that his old friend was somewhere to help right now. Even if he couldn't help, at least an adult could be there to make him feel better.
Hermione shook her head then, seeming to be at a loss for words.
“Well, what do we do now?” she whispered, still not looking up from the floor. Harry placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Finally looking up, Harry nodded his head and tried his best to grin.
“Well, I sort of have an idea…”
---
“Your best plan was to have us go to school?”
Hermione deadpanned, glancing at the robe-shop.
“Do you have a better plan?” Harry snarked.
The girl just sighed and pushed open the door. Harry followed closely behind, getting hit with a wave of dejavu. In the middle of the room they were greeted by a nice looking lady. When she turned, she spotted the two and smiled brightly.
“Hello dears! I assume you two are here for new robes?” The woman said cheerfully.
Hermione nodded and began to talk to the woman about measurements and what semester they were starting.
‘Starting over again,’ Harry supposed.
Staring out the window, the boy tried to come up with another course of action. Their best bet was to find Professor Dumbledore and convince him to help them. Dumbledore was a commanding man, and if anyone was capable of helping, it was him and him alone.
The problem though; finding where he was.
The solution Harry supposed, was to break back into a school that they just left.
The door to the shop chimed once again, breaking him out of whatever trance he was in. Hermione was getting measured and fitted a couple steps away from him. glancing back at the door, Harry noticed a boy around his age standing awkwardly. Said boy had a somewhat permanent looking scowl on his face, and at the same time he looked proud and a little too confident in himself.
Harry had never seen a boy so young seem so cocky.
Well, except for one.
“Uh, hello there.” Harry spoke.
The boy turned a fraction to look at him. There seemed to be a mix of confusion and disgust on his face now. Harry just shook his head and looked away.
Perhaps it was the way he looked. He and Hermione tried their best to look presentable, but with all of the cuts from being thrown around by a tree and attack by dementors, what else could you really do to make yourself look good?
It's Not worth his time anyway to make friends.
Not when he’s not supposed to know these people.
Hermione came back after a while and waited for him to get his fitting done. The two then continued to hound the nice lady until she agreed to make the robes right away, and the woman agreed to have them done in a couple of hours.
Now, operation: steal robes.
---
With new robes that they definitely paid for, the two walked back through Diagon alley.
Harry felt his nerves start to peak slightly. If kids were still walking around now, that means the new semester doesn’t start for a least another day.
“What are we going to tell everyone, when they ask who we are?” Harry asked, filling the silence. Hermione kept her gaze straight as they walked.
“There’s not much we can say. We have to find Dumbledore or someone else who can help us in the meantime.” She spoke quickly.
Hermione struggled to keep calm. Harry could tell from the way her brows creased and the hard frown she had on her face. Part of him felt responsible for this mess by distracting her with all of his curiosity about the necklace.
“I’m sorry for getting us in this mess.” Harry spoke, trying to convey his seriousness.
Hermione glanced at him and shook her head quickly.
“Don’t apologize,” She commented, grabbing his hand. “At least we are stuck in this together, right?”
“Together.” Harry smiled.
---
After walking for a bit, the two decided to find a room to stay at in the exact same place Harry was at only a couple months earlier.
or well, later?
After collapsing on the beds, Hermione let out a sigh and shifted up once again.
“Did you really see Sirius Black?” She asked incredulously.
Harry nodded and sat up to stare at his friend.
“I did,” He sighed, “..and he looked to be around our age.”
Silence filled the air for a moment. Hermione looked deep in thought, and Harry let her sort through her thoughts. In the meantime, he took in the room. It looked cleaner than it did when he first was here, despite it being a different room. There was still a familiarity too it, and Harry realized that a lot of things from this point forward were going to feel familiar and new at the same time.
“Well, did he say anything?” Hermione said eventually. Harry shook his head to clear the thoughts stuck up there. Looking back at his friend, he quickly grabbed his glasses off his face and started to wipe them.
Hermione was watching him. The space between her brows was creased, and Harry thought she looked just like she did when they first met, All serious and proud.
Harry nodded once more and adjusted his glasses.
“He bumped into me and he apologized. Someone called his name and that’s when i realized who I was staring at.”
The words felt hard to form. There was a thought in the back of his head, like saying the words quietly still allowed him to convince himself that what he saw wasn’t actually the truth. The dread of realizing this meant one thing;
His parents were here, and alive.
This thought scared him more than anything else he had faced thus far. The only wish he’d ever had in life was to meet and be with his parents, but the thought of it actually happening made him feel almost sick to his stomach.
In the blink of an eye, Hermione was up and walking her way towards the bed Harry was currently sitting on. She quietly sat next to Harry, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Harry knew that she knew what he was thinking, and she knew why this was so conflicting for the him.
The two stayed silent for the rest of the night, but Hermione still tried to let Harry know that she was there for him.
That was all she could really do, wasn’t it?
---
The next day the two found themselves in platform 9 3/4. With nothing but stolen robes and barely half formed identities, they boarded the train in search of some help. Hermione led them to an empty train cart towards the back of the train. When harry sat, she practically slammed the door shut. Taking her own seat, the two stared out the window and waited for the train to start moving.
It was quiet for a long time. About an hour into the ride, the door slid open and a tall and lanky looking boy stared in question at the two.
“Uh, sorry. Do you mind if I…sit?” The boy asked quietly.
Hermione nodded and moved to sit on the bench next to Harry. The boy took the seat she had occupied before. He looked to the floor for a moment before giving the two an apologetic smile.
“I’m uh, sorry.. For barging in, I mean,” He spoke.
Harry smiled back at the boy and held his hand out, offering a friendly shake. “Don’t worry about it, mate.”
The action reminded him of Ron, and Harry waited until the boy shook his hand before falling back against the wall. Sparing a glance at Hermione, he could tell that there were cogs turning inside of her head.
‘She really was too smart for her own good,’ Harry thought laughably.
After another bought of silence, said girl turned back to the boy, throwing a narrowed look in his direction.
“What is your name?” She asked cautiously.
The boy tried to hide his discomfort by looking out of the window. Harry thought he reminded him of Neville, all shy and quiet.
Turning back to the two, the boy smiled again and looked at his shoes.
“Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you.”
That’s when Harry felt his heart stop for a second time.
The cart went silent. Harry knew Hermione was having the same revelation that he was having. Honestly, he doesn’t know why he didn’t realize who this was sooner. The more he studied the boy, the more he could tell that this was indeed his Professor. The scars on his face were still there, somehow more noticeable. His hair was a sandy-brownish color, and he wore a giant sweater.
There was an innocence in his eyes that didn’t exist in the eyes of his older self. Harry felt sorry for Professor Lupin, for having to face the consequence of actions that had nothing to do with him. Harry could relate to that sediment.
Don’t get him wrong though. There was still that admiration present in his thoughts of the Professor, no matter how old he was. After all, this was the same man who taught him how to defend himself against dementors.
Except it wasn’t the same man, not anymore.
This Remus had barely lived and yet has been through something harry never has and probably never will. There was a shyness to him that seemed almost foreign to the image of his Professor in his head.
Hermione gripped his arm and continued a tight conversation with a now very young Remus.
“-friends were arguing, I did not want to get involved.” The boy offered an explanation of sorts for his absence with his group.
“Oh, well, feel free to stay with us then.” Hermione smiled politely.
‘This is just great.’ She thought Silently.
---
The three sat in the train cart together for the whole ride to Hogwarts. When the train stopped, Hermione sent a silent goodbye to Remus and gripped Harry’s arm, dragging him off the train. There was an abundance of Hogwarts students, but none that Harry had known. There was no Ron, Neville, or even Seamus and Dean in the crowd.
The travel to actually enter the school was annoying and beautiful as always, but eventually they made it to the gates. Pushing past people, Harry finally slipped inside the entrance to the greatest school in the magical world. Hermione was close behind, watching their backs.
“Where can we find Dumbledore?” Hermione questioned, peeking behind another corner. The two had been looking around for a while, retracing the familiar - but entirely different school. From what Harry could tell, the school looked cleaner and younger in a sense. He'd reckoned that it was like seeing a young Sirius Black. Now, when he really thought about it, he reckoned that everything would be like that now.
Lucikly for the kids, Harry had remembered where the old wizards' office was located from all of the times he had been in it last year, and he guessed that the Headmaster wouldn’t be needed out here for a little while still. Right about now, Professor Mcgonagall should be introducing the new students to the magnificent school.
“Well, I know where his office is.” He commented.
Hermione glared at him like she usually did, full of friendly judgment. “And why do you know that?” She sassed.
Scratching his neck nervously, Harry cleared his throat and muttered a quiet, “It’s this way,” before briskly walking towards the statue.
‘What Hermione didn’t know wouldn’t kill her.’ He reasoned.
---
The two approached the great statue cautiously. After all, Filch could be anywhere with his intimidatingly cute cat. Harry whispered the secret code and the stairs appeared. Laughable, that the password was still the same twenty years in the past.
Leading the way inside, Harry once again met the great Phoenix. There was a small gasp behind him, and he turned to see Hermione admiring the wondrous bird.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger?”
Harry jumped at the echoing voice. Dumbledore was staring at them from up above on his make shift balcony. The wizard still had his grays, but there was significantly less wrinkles under his eyes and around his mouth.
“Hello Professor, glad to see you know who we are,” Harry voiced.
There was a silence that followed for a moment, as both kids had no idea how the Headmaster had known who they were.
“Do not fret children, I am honorable for a reason.” The old wizard spoke, a hint of a laugh in his voice.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione bumped his stomach with her elbow, shooting him a look quickly. Walking closer to the bird, she smiled politely at the Headmaster.
“Hello Professor,” She spoke sweetly, “We were wondering if you could help us?”
Dumbledore smiled back and descended the stairs, making his way to his desk and sitting down. The air around him carried an aura that had felt almost familiar once again, and Harry found himself feeling relief for the first time since they had ended up in this mess. Dumbledore stared at the two, questioningly.
“Of course child. It would appear that you both have ended up a few years to far back into the past.”
Hermione shuffled on her feet. There was a nervous energy surrounding her that Harry rarely saw. She glanced at Harry for a moment before continuing to speak.
“Well, we used a-a.. Time Turner and accidentally- ended up too far back in time?” She supplied.
The room was silent again, and the boy found himself growing impatient. Harry walked in front of the professors desk then, holding eye contact with the old wizard for as long as he could without having a nervous breakdown.
“You said we could save more than one life,” The boy began. “How can we save anyone if we are too far back?”
Dumbledore stared at the boy for a moment in silence. The old wizard had gotten good at savoring his words.
“Well, Harry-I can help you, but Time Turners are harder to come across now than when you were in 1993.” He finished.
“Does that mean we are stuck here?” Hermione voiced.
“Unfortunately,” Dumbledore spoke gently.
Harry felt himself sink slightly.
“What are we supposed to say to people then?” Hermione questioned, aggravation filling her tone.
Dumbledore quieted and looked somewhere past the two kids. The man didn’t speak for nearly a minute. Then - in an instant, he seemed to come back to himself.
“Tell them nothing. You two have always attended this school, after all.” The old man smiled and waved them off. The two turned to walk away, and when they had nearly reached the door, the wise voice wrung out again.
“I’ll make sure you have everything you need, and I’ll find another Time Turner.” Dumbledore spoke towards their backs.
“And Harry?” The old wizard called. The boy in question spun back to look at the Headmaster, his face light with a small grin and a shine in his eye.
“I did say you could save more than one life.” The powerful wizard winked, and Hermione dragged Harry out of the room once more.