Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Harry Potter knew he was dreaming. The world around him was all white and grey, and it wasn't like clouds either. Just there in a weird way. At least it wasn't nightmarish the way his dreams sometimes were. He walked along a path that he couldn't see. There was something up ahead that called to him, and even though he was wary of it, he continued to move forward.
It was kind of like a compulsion, but it was one he could ignore. Maybe. And it didn't feel harmful or threatening.
Two people came into view. They looked kind of like Hermione and Ron, only way older. And look at Ron's belly sticking out! Hermione had wrinkles on her face, and while her hair was pulled back, he could see it was streaked with gray. Ron's hair was still very red, but his face was also very round.
"What happened to you?" Harry blurted out, horrified.
Hermione laughed, seemingly unconcerned about her age or what he'd said. "We got old. It happens."
"Speak for yourself, Hermione!" Ron said, knocking lightly into her shoulder.
Harry forced a laugh. And waited. This was a very strange dream. That he knew it was a dream was even stranger. But he was getting more and more used to weird things happening to him.
"We have a lot to tell you," Hermione started. "There's so much you need to know and don't yet."
"Well, of course, he doesn't know yet." Ron laughed, but the smile didn't get to his eyes. "We haven't told him yet."
Something about the way he said that surprised Harry. "What?" he asked more tentatively.
"First Ginny -- "
"We talked about this, Ron," Hermione said, glaring at him. "Ginny is not first. The Horcruxes are first."
"No. We'll get to that, too. But Ginny is my sister. I can't leave her to suffer." He looked first at Hermione and then at Harry. "She needs help. As soon as possible. My parents don't realize how badly she was damaged by the diary and Riddle in her first year. None of us in this time understand that he hurt her mind."
For a second, it looked like Hermione might argue again, but instead, she sighed. "All right, Ginny gets worse through the years and eventually can't hide it anymore."
"What happens?" Harry asked. "Does she go mad?"
"Yes," Ron said. "And she messes up a lot of people's lives. Your's and mine. But most of all, she nearly destroys our world and everyone in it."
"But as bad as she is, she is not as bad as Dumbledore," Hermione said. "He set everything into motion and then let it play out no matter what the cost."
Harry was shocked by the anger in her voice. It was like she hated the headmaster. "What are you talking about? How can you say that? Dumbledore is a great wizard."
"Let's finish with Ginny first," Ron insisted. "You need to convince my parents to get her help right now."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Harry nodded towards the door that wasn't there. If it had been, it would have been locked. "I'm stuck here all summer."
"That's another thing, your relatives." Hermione looked sad when she should have looked angry. "They don't hate you."
"Oh, yes, they do." Harry shook his head. How would she know anyway? She'd never met them. And she certainly didn't understand what they'd done to him over the years.
"Not really," Ron said with a sigh. "They were made to hate you by Dumbledore."
"What? That's not true. You're wrong." He knew the headmaster would never do something like that. He just wouldn't. He was a great man.
Ron ran a hand over his face. "Dumbledore is not the great wizard you think he is, Harry. My family supported him, and it was to our downfall and your detriment."
"Ron's right, but we need to move on," Hermione said. "We have a lot to cover. Let's do it in order. Back to Ginny. You need to convince Ron's parents to get her help."
"Even though they'll say they can't afford it," Ron said. "They need to do it. Bill might be able to help. And Charlie. You should probably get in touch with Bill first."
"Bill?" Harry tried to remember which one of Ron's brothers he was. There were too many to remember all of their names without meeting them.
"My oldest brother."
"The one you went to see last summer?" Harry asked.
Ron nodded. "He works for Gringotts. But he's coming home for World Cup. And you should meet him then."
"Wait," Hermione interrupted. "Maybe he should contact him before that. So, Bill's not blindsided."
Ron shrugged. "I don't know. It couldn't hurt to drop him an owl to let him know you want to talk to him."
"Because that will go over so well," Harry muttered.
"You can probably contact him through Gringotts." Hermione pulled her wand out. "Remember that."
Something seemed to move through him. "What did you just do?" Harry wasn't crazy about anyone pointing a wand at him. Even Hermione.
"You'll remember about Ginny," she said. "Next up is your Horcrux."
"My what?"
"Voldemort left a piece of his soul in your scar. It connects you both," Ron said, looking a bit sick.
Harry felt sick, too, so they were even. "What is a Horcrux? And how is it even possible for it to be connected to him?"
"It's the darkest, most awful magic possible. It takes the murder of an innocent to break off a piece of your soul," Hermione said.
He touched the scar, and even in a dream, it hurt. "Oh, no."
"I know. And Voldemort did it six times." Hermione stopped to take a breath.
Ron picked up from her, "He embedded the soul fragments in objects. Most of them anyway, and if we're lucky, he won't be able to create the snake as the last one."
"Snake?"
"Let's not worry about that one yet. The rest are Slytherin's locket, which is in #12 Grimaud Place. That's the Black London townhouse. Kreature has it."
Before Harry could ask who or what Kreature was, Hermione went on, "The next one is Helga Hufflepuff's cup. Which is in Bellatrix Lastrange's vault at Gringotts. Riddle's mother's family ring is heavily warded and has a compulsion charm as well as a really nasty wasting curse. It's at the ruins of the Gaunt family home. Ravenclaw's diadem is in the room of requirements at Hogwarts."
"The room of what?" Harry was numb. He was never going to be able to remember all of this.
As he thought it, Hermione waved her wand and said, "Remember," again.
The magic washed over him, and he relaxed a little. Maybe he would remember.
Ron cleared his throat, and Harry looked over at him. "You're going to need to find them all and destroy them --"
"How? I'm sure it's not easy." Because nothing in his life was easy. And they had just added more complication. He couldn't even imagine how he'd deal with this.
"No, it's not. But you can use basilisk venom, which the Sword of Gryffindor absorbed when you killed the basilisk with it. So, you can use that too. The only other thing that will work is fiendfire."
"We need to move on," Hermione said. "Your lordship is next on the list."
Of course, she had a list, and that was comforting. But --
"Wait. My what? Lordship?" Harry asked. That was even more insane than Horcruxes or Dumbledore, being the cause of his aunt's hatred of him.
"The ancient and noble house of Potter," Ron said.
"I thought it was Black."
"That too. And you are heir to that through Sirius' will. And he needs to claim his Lordship. But now let's talk quickly about the Goblins and claiming your lordship's ring. Which you can do now, and you should. You need a regent and someone to act as your proxy until you come of age. Preferably someone who will teach you to manage your properties."
What are you talking about?" Harry was really confused. "I've seen the vault. There isn't that much in there."
"That's your trust vault, not your family vault."
"Why hasn't anyone told me about this?"
"You need to write a letter to the Goblins at the bank. Ask who your account manager is. Also, ask them for an accounting of your holdings and tell them that you'd like to have your ring. Also, tell them you need another ancient and noble person to be your regent. Also, ask about the will that your parents left." Hermione raised her wand again. "Remember."
"We don't have a lot of time left. And we're not sure how many times we'll be able to get back here. If at all. Let's go over the wards that are keeping your aunt and uncle angry and unhappy. They are slowly being driven insane by them."
"How do you even know that?"
"Because Dumbledore did the same thing to Snape."
"What? How did you know it was Dumbledore?"
"After Snape died --"
As much as he hated Snape, he didn't wish him dead. Well, mostly not. "Snape died? When?"
"Near the end of the war. Voldemort killed him. Despite everything he did, he really was a spy for the light." Ron looked disgusted. "He was best friends with your mum when he was a kid."
"What? No. That just could not be true." Harry could not believe that. He could not be friends with his mom. That was too horrible to consider.
"It's true," Hermione confirmed. "They had a falling out in fifth year, and your father and Sirius bullied him mercilessly. Which is why Snape hated Sirius so much. But that's for another time."
Harry just stood there and started to tremble. This was already more than he could take in at one time. Even with the spell, he was never going to remember it all.
Hermione plowed right on. "There was a new potions master after the war, and she couldn't understand why she wanted to favor Slytherins. She had no house affiliation at all."
"Yeah, she came from France," Ron said. "The wards in Snape's quarters were keyed to you specifically, but also any student who wasn't brilliant at potions or who wasn't a Slytherin."
Hermione grimaced. "And after that, we checked your aunt's old house on Privet Drive and found the wards, just like in Snape's quarters. But these were keyed just to you. The thing is, they were also in the house that Dumbledore moved the Dursleys to after you left at the beginning of seventh year."
"And Dumbledore was dead by then," Ron added.
"Wait, Dumbledore dies? When?"
"End of your sixth year." Hermione sounded impatient. "Obviously, he had a contingency plan. He must have gotten the place before he died. Every single thing that happened to you was planned in advance by Dumbledore, up to and including sending you to your death."
"I die?" Harry gasped at that and had to take a deep breath to keep from panicking. This was too much. How was he supposed to deal with this?
"The first time," Ron added. "Unfortunately, Ginny arranged the second one."
"Ron --"
He cleared his throat. "When we removed the wards on your aunt's place, it drove both your aunt and uncle mad. They wouldn't have treated a dog the way they were forced to treat you over the years. Dudley was hospitalized for a long time but was eventually able to leave the hospital and go on with his life. But your aunt committed suicide. Your uncle never left the hospital."
Harry was reeling. "What can I do to fix that?"
"At this point, it's already been more than ten years. You can mitigate the wards with runes, which will probably help Dudley the most. We talked to some mind healers, but we were told there isn't much that can be done for your aunt and uncle. The realization of what they did to you was just too much for them and likely would be at this point, too."
"Why?" Harry asked. "Why would he do that?"
Hermione sighed. "Partly because he wanted to control you. How much did you love Dumbledore because he rescued you from a horrible situation? There is a word for that. It's called grooming?"
Harry just looked at her. He didn't know what that meant and was pretty sure he didn't want to know.
"It means he was setting you up to follow him because you see him as a great person. Someone who had rescued you from a horrible situation."
"You said partly?" Because he could not cope with what she had just told him. And it rang too true to him. Before tonight, that was exactly how he saw Dumbledore. "What was the other part?"
Ron looked at him and then looked at Hermione. "Dumbledore doesn't like muggles or muggle-borns. He's as bad as some purebloods. Only he hides it better than most of them."
"I can't believe this," Harry finally said.
"And, of course," Ron said. "There's more. He never does anything to fix the situation with Sirius, and it ends badly for Sirius."
"No. He has to help Sirius! He promised he would."
"Think about it, Harry. Instead of using his power as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot to demand that Sirius get a trial, he has you and the younger me rescue Sirius and make him a fugitive. He didn't want Sirius to have contact with you. Sirius is your rightful guardian." Hermione sighed again. "We're getting ahead of ourselves again. We need to finish the situation with the wards."
The back and forth of the topics were making Harry dizzy. He just nodded. "Okay. How do I do that? Fix the wards?" Because he was sick to his stomach at the thought that this had happened. "And what about Snape? And what about Sirius?"
Hermione pulled a piece of paper and a wand out of her purse. "This wand will help you with the runes for your aunt's house. It's untraceable because it doesn't exist in this timeline."
He wasn't going to question her on that. He took the paper and the wand. "Where do I put them? How?"
"You can put them on the foundation, which would be best, or anywhere they won't be seen. It's easier than it should be." She explained, and it sounded pretty easy. "It won't make your relatives like you so much as neutralize the other ward. And it ensures they won't be able to think about what they did to you. Their anger will ease away. It's the best we could come up with. Dudley will have a chance at being a better person without realizing why."
Harry was going to object, but Hermione held her hand up. "What happened to them wasn't their fault."
That stopped Harry for a second. And he thought about it. If this was all Dumbledore's doing, then she had a point. Even if he didn't like it that much. "What about Sirius?"
"You need to get in touch with Amelia Bones. She is the head Auror right now. She is honest and you must convince her to quietly start looking at what happened."
"How will I do all of this. I'm just--"
"One person? You're going to need to find people to help you. My brother Bill is one of them. Sirius can also help. Madam Bones is another person. But my parents will not be an option until after you talk to Bill." Ron looked right at him. "You can't let Dumbledore know what you're doing. And whatever you do, don't trust him. He does not have your best interests at heart or anyone else's for that matter."
"Ron, we're running out of time," Hermione said. "You can't trust Professor Lupin, either. He is very loyal to Dumbledore."
"If you can get the wards on Snape's quarters and possibly his house fixed. He'd be another resource for you. And once he's not mad at you anymore, he can teach you occlumency, among other things."
"It's time," Hermione said.
"We haven't even gotten to the Tri-Wizard tournament."
Hermione looked at Harry. "You're going to be entered in the tournament next school term, even though you're underage and not trained. But what they don't tell you is that the person who entered you is the one who made the contract. They made the contract, and they will lose their magic. Not you. Dumbledore and the others will try to force you to compete. The pressure will be huge. Resist it. You don't have to compete. Remember that."
They both started to back away.
"Wait," Harry said. "You can't just leave this with me."
Hermione gave him a second parchment. "This has some information. We'll try to come back to you. But if we can't, you'll need to step up and deal with this. This is your life Dumbledore has been trying to manipulate."
"Next time," Hermione promised as she and Ron disappeared.