SURPRISE! Did I scare you? sorry, but here is a extra little something for being so awesome, if you read A Common Ground, then you'll know I also wrote a chapter for that too, and you'll have another two, next week! but that's all. Please go and check out A Common Ground and the prequel to this very book, How Time Began, click on my page and you'll find it in my works. Click that little star in the corner to leave a little love and if you want to be extra sweet , leave a comment here...always - Morgan x
He rolled back from his desk , blowing out a deep breathe. The paper work was all but staggering and his brain felt like it might implode. He raised his hands, taking off his glasses and rubbed his face, especially his exhausted eyes. He poured himself a small glass of fire-whiskey from a decanter behind his desk. He sat back up in chair, only to nearly leap put of his skin as Time sat across from him in the opposite chair.
"Blimey, you could've gave me a bloody heart attack" He said, putting back on his glasses, seeing her much clearer and placing down his half spilt drink.
"How the mighty have fallen" She mused, ignoring his last statement. He deadpanned and leaned back in his chair. "Harry Potter, the boy that lived twice only to become the man who wasted away behind a desk" She added, reaching for the glass in his hand and took away from him.
"Hey, wait a minute now-" She downed his drink before he could stop. "What do you want Time?" He sighed, frowning.
"Why are you here, not in the field, you loved being out there" She said with a smile. Clearly none of his questions for her will be answered. Harry groaned by the reminder.
"Not my bloody choice now was it?" He crossed his arms.
"Yes, actually it was, you could've went out in the field, fought the law with your bare hands, your were born for it and yet here you are..getting drunk at noon" She raised the glass and placed it back on the table. With a short pause falling between them, she added "Explain"
"Ginny is having another little one and she's worried I'm gonna end up like I was when James was born, so wrapped up in my cases than to come home and see my child walk for the first time" He retorted. Sighing he twirled the wand between his fingers.
"Does she know, how you feel really?" She wondered.
"Stop reading my mind Time, you know how much it bugs me" He raised his chin "No, she doesn't know how I really feel"
"Your dying behind that desk Harry, you need to tell her that you love being out the field, that of course your family comes first but doing what you love is very important to, believe me when I say that getting a job that is not exactly fun for the rest of your , how ever long, life is worse than death itself" She ended bitterly.
"You alright?" He leaned forward on her desk.
"Probably" She shrugged. "Now back to you, Harry you've been a position where duty comes before everything and yes what you are doing for your family is noble, but sometimes you have to be a little selfish" She stated, reaching for his hand on the desk. He leered at her.
"That's rich coming from the most selfless person I know, when is the last time you've done something for yourself?" He wondered, taking grip of her hand, but felt how it loosened and her eyes cloud over.
"Yesterday actually, I saw him again" She said with a sad smile, gazing down at the desk.
"When?" Harry asked curious.
"1976, summer"
"When he came to visit you in Scotland" Harry finished for her. Hr smile grew a little and she looked up at him.
"Exactly"
"You need to explain that to me, how does it work with you going back in time , where your younger-self was" He said, wondering if his point came across . "If that makes sense"
She laughed lightly.
"It does, unlike the time turner, I do see the pass self, I become it actually, I've seen the moments so many times, lived them over in a sense, that I can't change a thing, they just repeat, it's almost like falling asleep and waking up in a dream that's a memory, Draco knows what I mean" She smirked. Harry scrunched his eyebrows, "Long story, the point is I relive them perfectly, I never changed a single second of my life"
"Must be tempting though" He wondered, unlocking their hands and pouring them both a glass of whiskey. "To have all that power and not wield it"
"It's my elder wand, let's put it that way" She answered, taking the glass from him. He laughed slightly at that. "I visited Hermione in hospital" She added.
"You see her?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Oh she's precious" Time coohed, thinking about the infant. "You know, I hope this doesn't come across as creepy, but I've seen all of you as infants, every single one, I held Draco in my arms and Pansy, bumped into Molly at Hogsmede and saw Ron in a pram, Ginny again the following year, when I went undercover in the muggle world, I met Hermione and I baby sat for Zabini's once, I stayed with Luna while her dad went to St-Mungo's to visit her mother. Now to see the third generation" She smiled fondly. "Like a blur of pure strange joy"
"I'll drink to that" Harry said and they clinked glasses. "You said you met all of us, did you meet me?"
"Of course I did, you forget my main job from Dumbledore was protect those important in the future and I wasn't going to let you out of my sight"
"My guardian angel" He winked.
"I don't know about that, but I did give you seats on a bus ride" She took a drink of her whiskey.
"A bus ride?" He puzzled.
"The Dursley's car had broken down, you took the bus to Nursery for about a month, but I met you on Dudley's birthday I believe your were headed for out for dinner, no baby sitter would watch you and they just had to bring you along" She mused.
"Poor things, how ever did they cope?" He answered sarcastically. "I remember the bus rides, but I don't remember meeting you " He frowned.
"That's because I oblivated the memory from you" She answered sadly.
"Why?" He frowned. "Did something happen when we met?"
"I, back then I was slightly weaker and it was only three years since James and Lilly's death, the wound was still raw, I let slip of information and you couldn't keep it, I just wanted to look you in those big pretty eyes and tell you some good but that was my selfish moment"
"What did you say?"
"I'll show you if you like?" She asked. He nodded. "Okay" She grabbed his hand and for a short moment Harry believed he was using a port key. The same whirling horrible motioning that portkey's give but it wasn't until he landed on his feet and then fall back on a uncomfortable chair that he realised that he did not change location but something on a larger scale.
"Would you like a sweetie Harry?"
He was about to ask Time why the hell she'd be offering him a sweetie at this moment but turning no one was there. Then his surroundings gathered. On a ugly rustic blue bus that moved unevenly and the windows covered in condensation. The smell of an old couch and dirty grass filled his nose. Out the corner of his eye, he saw people, but nearly fell off his seat when he recognised who. The Dursley's , Petunia and Vernon , younger but as horrible as ever. Dudley, peeking his eyes above his pram, all three gazing at the person in front of him. He stood , no seemed to see him. He wasn't really there. Stepping aside, he took the seat opposite of the person the Dursley were so interested in.
Lo and Behold, young and as beautiful as ever, Professor Time. Dressed in her strange attire and smiling a great smile down toward him, his young self, nothing but a tot with over-sized clothes. He couldn't believe it, but there it was , in front of him, he could reach out and grab Time's hand if he wanted. She and baby Harry were sharing a packet of sweet, comedically Haribo's. The conversation was pretty basic until Time pulled one of her 360s that he remembered back in school.
"Are you lonely?" She'd asked.
It went to hi s heart, because then he was. He legit had no one, with no body to talk to or anyone to hug him when he felt sad or hurt. He was a lone wolf for so long that when Ron and Hermione came along, it was hard for him to even conceive the idea of having friends, he didn't even know what friends actually were, never-mind to have them.
His young-self nodded.
"I'm sorry" She'd said. Her voice dropping with her heart. "Can I tell you a secret" She'd whispered. The Dursley's leaning closer to hear but came to avail.
His young-self nodded.
"One day, Harry James Potter, you will have an extraordinary life, filled with adventures and even danger. With friends of all sorts , all of which love you. You'll defeat dragons and befriend ware-wolves, meet the greatest of people. Save lives and live your to the fullest. You will be the greatest wizard that our magical world has ever known. Not for your splendid skill but for your heart , Harry, never let go of that heart, that makes you so brave and selfless. Promise me you won't " Young Harry nodded. "We love you so much, your family does-did. "She cleared her throat, eyes glittering. Harry on the other hand, eyes filled with tears and his glasses fogged. "I wish nothing but wonderfulness, till that glorious feast Harry James Potter" She reached up her hand and pressed the stop button on the bar. The bus came to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Fields at each side and nothing but dirt road for a mile or two. The driver said he'd take her closer if need be, but she refused. With a last smile to Harry, she left the bus and walked behind it. The engines kicked in again, before it moved baby-Harry grabbed his sweets and travelled to the back of the bus to see the wonderful women he'd met.
Harry followed the tiny version of himself and sat beside him on the back bench of the bus. He saw Time now 10 feet away from the bus and soon the vehicle started again and drove on. But not quick enough, because Harry watched as the beloved teacher raised her wand, tears in her eyes as she did, muttered a single word that he recognised to be 'Oblivate' His tiny version blinked his eyes a few times, slumped in the seat and turned around but Harry kept his eyes trained on the time traveller. She wiped her face, swallowing deeply and before he could process, a hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him.
That same sickly transitioning that Harry hated so much. He fell back on to his desk chair with a thump, Time sitting with her glass with a smile.
"Told you" She mused.
"You knew all along that I was going to defeat Voldermort?" He questioned. "You told me my whole future at four years old, how?"
"Because Harry, in a alternate version of that scene, I was never there, I travelled back once you defeated Voldermort and went back to see you, a baby, a child, innocent from war,I tell you all the time, I come and go a lot, alter-dimensions are really my thing" She took a sip.
"Well then" He took his glass and took a large gulp. "You gave me Haribo's"
"I'm fond of a good pun, why I suffered your dad when he was being annoying" She finished her glass and stood from her seat. "He always had the best ones, poor Remus, he got some many Were-wolf puns, bless his heart" She placed her glass on the desk.
"Where you going now?" Harry asked fixing the spectacles slipping down nose.
"I need to stop Draco and Hermione arguing" She yawned, stretching out like she's about to do a marathon.
"What are they arguing about?" Harry wondered.
"Names, but I need to go and bloody tell them the right one, Merlin knows they two will argue till their blue in the face and then end up snogging and then argue again, it's a strange but romantic relationship, give Ginny and the kids my best" She took out her wand and prepared.
"Professor" He called. She paused and looked at him. "Let me remember this please, I want to remember as much as I can about you" He finished with a smile.
"That's a promise from hence forth" She winked. "Now, St-Mungo's, goodbye my love" She sighed.
"Goodbye Professor"