Chapter Text
Harry lays there on the dusty floor of the Headmaster’s office, contemplating everything he had just seen in the pensieve. He is a Horcrux. He was never meant to live. He stood and made his way over to the desk. He knew what he had to do.
He looked at Dumbledore’s portrait. “I tried your way, sir. Everyone fucking dies.” He spat. “It’s time we try my way.” He looked at Snape's new portrait. “I’m going to fix this sir. Hopefully.” He grabbed a scroll of blank parchment and picked up a quill to get started on a letter.
Hey there. It’s me. Harry Fucking Potter. Crazy, I know right? I’m writing this in the year 1998. I plan on using a TimeTurner to deliver this. The war is not looking too hot right now, and I’m bloody desperate. (Understatement of the fucking century.)
Voldemort made 7 Horcruxes. (I know right! What a fucking lunatic!) If I send this to the right time, he will only have made 6. (Still a lunatic!) If you ALL (Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Siri, Remus, Mum, and Dad) work together and destroy the 6 Horcruxes before he makes the final one, then he’ll be human. Kill the bastard… pretty please :)
- A diary- Lucius Malfoy- what a git!- has possession of this. He sends it to school with the youngest Weasley child in 1992, by planting it on her in Diagon Alley. The diary possesses her and she unwillingly reopens the Chamber of Secrets.
- Slytherin Locket- The Black Family elf- Kreacher- has it. Regulus Black tasked him with destroying it. Kreacher was unsuccessful. Promise him you will destroy the locket to honor Master Regulus, tell him he can watch. It will make him very happy. Be nice to him! (Regulus tried doing the right thing, remember that Sirius.)
- Marvolo Gaunt’s ring. (There is a curse on this ring! Do not put it on! I’m talking to you Dumbledore!) It is hidden in the remains of the Gaunt Family Shack, in the woods outside of Little Hangleton.
- Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem. Hidden inside the Room of Requirement aka the Come and Go room. Located on the 7th floor in the left corridor, opposite a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. Walk past the tapestry 3 times thinking of the ‘Room of Hidden Things’.
- Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup. Located in the Lestrange Vault. DO NOT touch anything other than the cup in that vault. Good luck :) Breaking into Gringotts is bloody HARD! How hard are you laughing right now, Padfoot?
- Voldemort’s familiar Nagini… erm… good luck :) Haven’t quite been able to get close enough to her yet, so I’ve no idea how that will go for you.
- If the date is past October 31st 1981, then I am a Horcrux. I’d like to live… so if you could find a way to destroy the horcrux in me without killing me, I’d appreciate it, if not I understand.
I listed the Horcruxes in the order they were created. Each Horcrux is weaker than the last. From mine and Hermione’s (my muggle-born friend, she’s a bloody genius) research, with each creation of a Horcrux, it split Tom’s soul in half. That means I have the least amount of Tom inside of me. Ew. That sounded different in my head. Is Voldy a fuckin’ perve? Excuse me while I vomit…
Horcruxes can be destroyed by Fiendfyre or Basilisk Venom. There is a Basilisk in the chamber by the way, did I leave that out earlier? Oops. The entrance to the Chamber is located at the sink with a snake-engraved tap in the second-floor girls’ lavatory (Myrtle’s bathroom). You might just have to blow it up if you don’t have a parselmouth on hand. If you kill the basilisk with a goblin-made weapon, that weapon will also be able to destroy Horcruxes.
Narcissa Malfoy may be able to offer some insight on the Horcruxes in Lucius’ and Bellatrix’s possession. Convince her to make an unbreakable vow, then show her this letter. Specifically this part;
Mrs. Malfoy, in June of ‘96, your husband fails a task set to him by Voldemort. As punishment, he marks your son as a death eater. He threatens to have you and your husband killed if Draco does not comply. He then tasks Draco with a mission he knows he will fail- killing someone- to further punish you and Mr Malfoy. I saw Draco fall apart in the bathroom. He didn’t want to become a death eater. I don’t know you very well, but I know you must not want this life for your son. Just as you did not want this life for your kid cousin Regulus. Please, I beg you. Do not let history repeat itself. I don’t much like your son, but he doesn’t deserve to be condemned to such a life.
If mum and dad don’t survive the war… Please don’t send me to live with Aunt Petunia. The Dursleys hate everything about magic, including me (especially me). They knock me around quite a bit, Uncle Vernon and Dudley mainly.
Best of luck to you all!
I know messing about with time travel is risky, but like I said before, I’m desperate.
Yours truly,
Harry James Potter
Hopefully the date this sends is sometime around early 1981, if not… I fucked up. Wouldn’t be the first time… probably not the last either.
Harry pointed his wand at the letter and duplicated it until there were 6 copies of the same letter, then put personal notes on each one, then rolled them into scrolls. When that was done, he nodded to himself, then grabbed all of the scrolls and his invisibility cloak up and left to see Professor McGonagall and get his hands on the TimeTurner that he knows she’s hiding somewhere in this castle.
“Potter! Oh Merlin, I thought-” She held her hand to her chest and gripped his shoulder with her other hand. “We all thought you’d gone into the forest.”
“Professor. I was just coming to look for you.” He grinned. Of course he’d run into her just outside the headmaster's office. “We need to talk. Somewhere private. No portraits.”
She nodded. “My office. Follow me.” As soon as they made it to her office, they both worked in tandem to ward it with privacy spells to hell and back. “What is this about?”
“I have a plan. It’s risky. But if it works, a lot of lives will be saved.” She gestured for him to continue. “Voldemort made a series of Horcruxes.” She sucked in a breath. “I’ve written letters to a number of people that can be trusted about these horcruxes so that they may all be destroyed before he returned. All I need is the TimeTurner.”
“Even if I agree to this cock and bull plan of yours, Potter, what makes you think I have one? I was under the impression that they were all destroyed at the ministry 2 years ago.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Fine.” She conceded. “But messing with time travel is risky, Potter.”
“I know. That’s why I have my cloak. I won’t be seen. And you’ll be in the loop too. You won’t be left out of this Horcrux business again. Please, professor. I think this might be the only other way, apart from me going to that forest and sacrificing myself.”
She stared at him for a long time, until finally she walked around to her desk and pulled it from her drawer. “Be smart, Potter.”
Harry stared at the TimeTurner as she dropped it into his hand. “You mean I could have just broken into your office? It was in your top drawer ?”
She patted his cheek. “It’s adorable that you think yourself capable of breaking into my office.”
Harry snorted and put the TimeTurner around his neck and threw his cloak on. “Thank you.”
~~~
He looked around McGonagall’s-now- empty office and after a quick look around saw a calendar. It was May of 1981. He placed two letters on her desk. One addressed to her and the other addressed to Dumbledore. He doesn’t fancy trying to sneak into the Headmaster’s office unnoticed. He quietly stepped out of her office and made his way to one of the passageways that lead to Hogsmeade.
---
He apparated to Spinner’s End and shoved Snape’s scroll in an open window.
---
He apparated outside his parent’s home in Godric’s Hollow. He looked through all the windows on the ground floor and found them all in the kitchen eating a meal together. He then apparated directly in the upstairs study and left their shared scroll on the desk. After a bit of quiet snooping, he found the address of Sirius’ and Remus’ shared flat.
---
He apparated outside their flat. “If I’d have known they lived together, I would have just let them share a bloody letter.” He muttered, before quietly entering their flat. Does no one know how to lock a bloody door? You blokes are living in muggle London! He shook his head and placed both scrolls on a desk with a picture of them. Upon closer examination of the picture, his jaw dropped. “They’re dating?!” He squeaked. “I knew it. I bloody knew it.”
When he heard the sound of the front door opening, he apparated back to Hogsmeade. He went behind the Hog’s Head. “Here goes nothing.” Then he returned to 1998.
May 23rd 1981…
Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk, examining the invisibility cloak that James let him borrow, when Minerva’s head appeared in his floo. “Albus. Step through. My office has been breached, and there are two mysterious letters on my desk.”
He frowned and put away the cloak, then stepped through the floo, into Minerva’s office. True to her word, there were two letter scrolls on her desk. One addressed to him and one addressed to her. “Do you recognize the hand writing?”
She shook her head. “It resembles James’ to an extent. But James didn’t write these. His ‘L’s are different.” She looked at Albus. “I’ve cast every detection spell I know, Albus.”
“Do you mind if I-?” She waved him off and nodded. Once the letters were deemed safe to touch, they both unrolled the letter addressed to them.
---
Severus stared at the scroll on the floor of his kitchen. It looked as if it had been thrown in through the window. After glaring at it for a moment Fawkes flew in through the very same window with a soda can and a note. He really needs to start keeping that thing shut.
The can is a portkey to my office. Activation word is Reunion. Come immediately. Bring the letter.
---
“Okay, I’ve finally gotten him to bed.” Lily said with a huff, leaning against the doorframe of the study. “What’re you looking at?” James looked up from the roll of letter scroll that sat on his desk. “What’s going on?” He pointed at the letter.
Just about as soon as she grabbed the scroll, Fawkes flew in through the window with an ugly trinket of a parrot and a note tied to his leg. “The parrot (his name is Alfred) is a portkey to my office. Activation word is Reunion. Come immediately. Bring your letter.” James read.
Lily groaned. She just got him to bed. “I’ll go get Harry.”
---
“Sirius. Come here.” Remus said. “Someone left us letters.”
Before either of them could open theirs, Fawkes was scratching at their window, and shrieking. Remus opened it. He came with a note and a broken watch tied to his leg. Remus read the note and grabbed the watch. “It’s a portkey, grab on.” He said, picking up the letters. Sirius frowned, but obliged. “Reunion.”
---
“What a lovely reunion !” Every adult in the room glared at Albus. He ignored them and set up a bassinet for the crying toddler. “There you are, Lily. He seems a bit fussy.”
“Probably has something to do with the fact that one minute he was sleeping, and the next he was being sucked through a portkey .” She placed him in the bassinet and sang to him, until he fell back asleep. She stared at Severus. “Hi.”
“Muffliato. ”
“What the bloody hell did you just do, Snape?! Ow- Lily! Ow!”
Severus raised an eyebrow. “Muffling charm, Black. I’d rather not wake the child. Merlin knows you’re incapable of keeping your voice down.” He turned to Lily. “Hello. Shall we?”
“I- erm… yes.” She said, spinning to face Albus and Minerva.
“Shall we compare letters?” Minerva suggested. “It appears there are added notes on everyone’s.”
They each laid down their letters on the desk. “It looks like they're all the same letter.” Remus said, then they all began to read.
“Wait- stop.” Lily said. “I’m not reading anymore of this, until I have proof that my son has written this in 17 years.” She glared at Sirius. “If it’s true, and you encouraged his language, I will kick your arse. Understood?” The man gulped and looked away.
Albus pointed his wand at Phineas Nigellus Black’s portrait. “My sincerest apologies Phineas.” A silencing bubble surrounded the portrait, then a tapestry appeared, covering it.
Then he turned his wand to the letter and cast a series of spells, then a hologram-like image was in the center of the room. It was of a boy, not much younger than them- excluding Albus and Minerva- who looked damn near identical to James, down to the glasses, but he had vibrant green eyes, and his lips quirked into half-smiles while he wrote… just like Lily. The boy had tears running down his face, he had random spots of dried blood across his body. Bags under his eyes. He looked exhausted. Lily stepped closer and looked at the desk, there was a calendar. May 1998.
“Merlin.” James breathed out.
Lily nodded at Albus. “Calendar says it’s May of ‘98.” She walked over to the actual desk, after the spell was canceled and picked up her letter. “O-okay. Let’s do this.”
After everyone read the letters, there was a tense silence. “What the fuck ?!” Sirius exclaimed, picking up a random trinket off Albus’ desk and chucking at the wall. Remus grabbed his wrist and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Reg… oh Reg.” He gasped. “What the fuck?”
Lily squeezed his shoulder and worriedly looked at Severus, who was white as a ghost. “Albus, what’s written on the bottom of your letter?”
“ Headmaster, You’ve done a lot for me. But you’ve also kept a lot from me. Please remember that you can’t always protect people by leaving them in the dark. Also, please stop being so bloody cryptic all the time. It’s infuriating. But despite that, I want you to know that you were probably my greatest role model, sir. ” He read.
“The boy makes a valid point. It is infuriating.” Severus commented.
Minerva rolled her eyes, then picked up her letter and flipped it to the back. “ Professor, I’ve made sure to include you in the Horcrux hunt, because when I left school to hunt these things down, you wanted to help. I wouldn’t tell you, because I was convinced that Professor Dumbledore had the right idea about keeping everyone in the dark. It could have been so much easier and I might not have almost died so many times, if I had just allowed you to help. I’m also fairly certain that there’s no way I will be able to convince you to hand over your TimeTurner if I leave you out again. Hypothetically, I could just lie and tell you I plan on keeping you in the loop… but that would be wrong. You taught me that. You’re an amazing Head of House and I respect you more than you may ever know. ”
“Minnie? Are you… crying?” James asked with a grin.
She sniffed. “No, of course not.” She turned away and dabbed at her eyes with a conjured handkerchief. “He seems to be a very sweet boy. If you don’t count his terrible language.”
Lily grabbed the letter from James’ hand. “ Mum, Dad, Do not trust Wormtail! ” She paused and looked between Sirius, Remus, and James. “Pete?” Lily questioned.
Albus frowned. “Why would he tell you not to trust him?”
“Sirius and I were talking about switching the Secret Keeper to Pete.” James said. “Everyone knows that Siri is my best-mate, practically my brother. He would be the obvious choice. No one would expect Pete to be the one entrusted.”
“You mean… Pettigrew very well may be the spy we’ve been searching for?” Minerva asked.
“I shall look into it.” Severus said with a nod.
Lily worried her lip for a moment, then went back to reading. “ P.S. I’m so glad you guys agreed on Harrison instead of Fleamont for my name. If my name would have been Fleamont (No offense dad! I’m sure he was a great man!) I probably would have done Voldy a favor and killed myself. ” She laughed and stuck her tongue out at James.
“It’s not a bad name!” He huffed.
“ I love you so much! ” She felt her eyes well up with tears. “ Oh and Mum? Snape has been protecting me from the shadows for the past seven years. His patronus is a doe. It’s 1998 and he still cares for you. So if you all survive this, would you consider forgiving him? I gotta give you credit though. You REALLY know how to hold a grudge. ”
Her head snapped up to Severus, who flushed and looked away.
“ And dad? Can you apologize to him? You guys bullied him. I’ve been bullied all my life by Dudley and his friends. It really makes you feel like shit. Plus, he’s been protecting your child!
Okay, I think I’m done now! ” She raised an eyebrow at her husband, who took a page out of Severus’ book and looked away.
“Me next.” Sirius said, softly. “ Sirius, Do not trust Wormtail! I know you don’t much like Snape, but he’s been protecting YOUR Godson. Even after you and dad relentlessly bullied him throughout your years at school. I know about the incident at the shack, by the way. You do realize you could have killed him, right? Anyways, he’s been lying to Voldyshorts face for the last 4 years to protect me. I think you can manage an apology for nearly getting him killed at 16 and bullying him for 7 years straight. I love you and miss you dearly, Pads. ”
“What is he talking about?!” Lily demanded, in which everyone looked away. “Seriously?!”
“You next, Remy!” Sirius announced.
Remus rolled his eyes. “No. Tell her what happened, Pads.”
He groaned. “You know how we told you that we would go to the shrieking shack with Remus for the full moon, so we could be there as Prongs, Pads, and Wormy during the transformation?” Lily gasped. “Snape ran into me in the corridor and asked what I was up to and where I was going. I told him we were going to have some fun at the shack… knowing he’d follow us.”
“Read the blasted letter, Lupin.” Severus grunted, before Lily could react.
He nodded. “ Remus, Do not trust Wormtail! Knock some sense into dad and Sirius, yeah? From all the stories I’ve heard from you and Siri, you were always the most reasonable. And yeah… maybe apologize to Snape too. You may not have been the one terrorizing him, but you sat by and watched it happen. There’s a reason he became such a bitter bastard. It’s not all on you guys, but I know for a fact that you lot didn’t help. I love you Remus. ”
“Can he lay off?” Sirius muttered.
“He makes a valid point, Severus. I-”
“Shall I read mine?” Severus cut him off. “ Professor Snape (I’m not sure if you’re actually a professor yet?)You're a git, you know? ” He paused when Sirius and James started snickering, then smirked when Lily slapped both of them on the back of the head. “Not like as much of a git as I thought you once were, but still a git. I just wanted a chance to say that without you docking an obscene amount of points. ” He rolled his eyes. “Clever.”
“That’s my Godson! Loopholes!”
“I’ll be sure to dock points on his first day of school. Worry not, Black.” He sneered, then looked back at the letter. “Also, I know you won’t remember it, because it hasn’t happened yet… (And hopefully it won’t need to happen), but you’ve spent the last 7 years saving my life, so thank you. ”
“Now that we’ve all read our letters. I need a word with Severus.” Lily said, shooing everyone out of the room. Ignoring Albus’ claim of it being his office. “Sit.”
Severus glared at the wall, not moving. “If your goal here is forgiving me, don’t. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Lily.”
“Shut up, Sev.” She huffed, sitting down. “I forgave you for calling me that slur, years ago. I just never told you, because… I was ashamed. I was ashamed because after that, I ran into the arms of your bullies, knowing it would hurt you.” He didn’t respond. “Will you please sit down ?!”
He sighed and sat across from her. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Lily.” He repeated. “I-” He stared at the bassinet where Harry was sleeping. “I’m the reason your family has been targeted. I was the one that delivered the prophecy to The Dark Lord.”
Lily sucked in a breath. “Did you know?” She whispered. “Did you know he was going to target us? Target my baby?”
“What? No! Of course not! But-”
“But nothing, Sev. I forgive you. I forgive you for the slur. I forgive you for handing half the prophecy over. I forgive you, and you can’t do anything about it. So stop punishing yourself.” There was a long stretch of silence. “Why did you join?”
He sighed. “I was angry. And alone. I thought… I thought that I had found people that I fit in with. I was naive and stupid.”
“I miss you, Sev.” She whispered, then- all but- threw herself into his arms. He stood and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “I abandoned you. I’m so sorry.” She cried into his chest. “You’re my best friend and I miss you so much.”
“Shh.” He said, rubbing her back. “I miss you too, Lils. Merlin , I’ve missed you so much.”
“It’s really a doe? It’s been 6 years since we stopped talking… after all this time?”
He nodded, clinging to his best friend. “Always.” He whispered. “You were my first friend. It leaves an impression.”
After a moment, they separated. “Okay.” She said, wiping her eyes. “How are you handling the part about Regulus? If memory serves, you were head over heels in love with him at 15.”
He blew out a breath. “I feel like he’s a damned idiot.” He said quietly. “We were about to be married, did you know? The date was set for 2 months after he disappeared.” She squeezed his hand. “We were about to be bloody married and he didn’t tell me what he was planning.” He shook his head. “He was an absolute idiot.”
“What a tosser.” She whispered, quirking her lip. The same sentence she said, anytime Severus came to her complaining about his boyfriend in 5th year. Severus snorted. “So dear old Wally was okay with Regulus marrying a half-blood?”
“Merlin no. But The Dark Lord was , so Walburga relented.” He sighed. “Okay. I supposed we should get back to this disaster.”
Lily made her way to the door, and let everyone back in.
Once everyone filtered in, Sirius walked up to Severus. “The kid’s right.” He said. “I could have killed you. I was a thoughtless, reckless idiot that never considered the consequences for my actions. If Prongs hadn’t found out what I’d done… you’d be dead and Remus and I would both be in Azkaban right now. And I shouldn’t have targeted you in school simply because you said you wanted to be in Slytherin. It was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”
“I owe you an apology as well, Severus.” James piped up. “I’d only ever heard bad things about Slytherin, so I was quick to agree with Padfoot when it came to harassing you. It’s a shame that it took being scolded by my son to realize that.”
Remus stepped forward. “I stood by and watched them bully you. I was a coward. Too scared to stand up to my friends and you paid the price for it, Severus. I am terribly sorry.”
“I am uncomfortable.”