Time To Fix The Mistakes: Chapter 6 - The Next Potter Generation (Part 2)

[zelda_queen]

ZeldaQueen: Howdy-do, folks! Sorry for how slow I'm going for the sucky second life of Bree, but for some reason the spork of inspiration won't impale me. So to jog my creative juices, I shall be providing you all with the angstings of Mr. Harry Jerk Sue Potter. And boy oh boy is he a bucket of fun here. That thing about Ginny at the beginning? That's getting resolved here. As is Pettigrew. Strap in.

Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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Chapter 6: The Next Potter Generation (Part 2)

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January 1, 1980

As expected, the New Year Day's celebration in Diagon Alley was bitterly cold. But Harry couldn't stay away. He bundled up extra warmly, to the point where he barely needed any disguise at all. Only wisps of his golden were visible underneath his hat and thick cloaks. None of his skin was noticeable.

ZeldaQueen: His golden what?

A similarly bundled man came out onto a platform that had been erected

ZeldaQueen: OY!

earlier this morning.

The man on the platform was Harry's grandfather, the new Minister of Magic.

ZeldaQueen: *headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk* Because of course everything goes Angsty Harry's way. Nothing like his grandfather would just refuse the damned nomination or anything

He had opted for an old form of swearing in: outdoors, in front of a general audience, with none of the trappings of office, making an oath on his magic to perform to the best of his abilities. No Minister had used the 'old form' in nearly three hundred years.

ZeldaQueen: Do you all see that? Do you see how the guy that Harry handpicked is all revolutionary and not-corrupt and just better than any of the ones Rowling used? Huh? Do you see that?

And just what is DW's obsession with "old form" and oaths and rituals and stuff like that?

There was no one else on the platform. There was no ornamentation, no decorations.

ZeldaQueen: They work fast. At my house, the Christmas stuff normally doesn't get down until early January

At the stroke of noon, Minister Potter lowered the hood of his cloak and addressed the crowd, "By my magic, I take up the duties of Minister of Magic. By my magic, I swear to perform my level best. By my magic, I forswear lying, deceit, and half truths. So mote it be."

ZeldaQueen: "Mote"??? DW, people don't talk like that in the 1980s!!!

No one said anything. The oath Harris Potter had just sworn was stronger than anyone had expected. He had just sworn off lying in all its forms while in office. Could anyone maintain that sort of oath? It seems Minister Potter had to, otherwise he'd lose his magic. He was an old man, about to turn 123, and the loss of his magic would surely kill him.

ZeldaQueen: I'm sorry, but how does that make any sense? How? According to Rowling (and I think, as canon author, she knows what she's talking about) MAGIC IS GENETIC! YOU CAN'T JUST "LOSE" IT!!! If you have to make an elaborate show over how OH-SO-TRUSTWORTHY Harry's grandfather is, why not have him do an Unbreakable Oath? At least that's canon

He'd made his service to the Ministry a life and death matter.

ZeldaQueen: Oh shut up, you smug bastard

Harry Potter didn't know whether to be terrified for his grandfather or pleased with the man's dangerous idealism.

ZeldaQueen: "Pleased with" - what the hell? IT'S HARRY'S FAULT THAT HIS GRANDFATHER IS IN THAT POSITION TO BEGIN WITH! AND HE HAD THE GALL TO HATE ON EVERYONE IN THE PAST AND POKE AND PRY TO KEEP HIS GRANDPARENTS ALIVE!!!

Seriously, what the hell? He's just passingly worried about that? Does he have so much faith in his grandfather's honesty that he's genuinely that at ease? If so, sucks for Minister Potter the next time someone asks him what he thinks of their new outfit. Canon Harry would be horrified and far more worried that he prodded someone into that position without their knowledge or consent and wound up having them put their life on the line. Heck, this version of Harry should be horrified, if only because it might screw up his Happy Potter Family plans

Harris Potter stepped off the platform and began, in a ceremonial fashion, grasping the hands of everyone who'd braved the temperature to see his inauguration. Harry got to touch his grandfather's hand for a second time ever, albeit briefly.

ZeldaQueen: And then a reaper showed up and killed him. The end

He walked away from the crowd as everyone else went to Floo into the Ministry. The banquet had been set up in the Atrium.

Harry hoped he'd done the right thing pushing his grandfather into office.

ZeldaQueen: Um, no it isn't. Anyone with a modicum of decency could have told you that

It had seemed the thing to do.

ZeldaQueen: Yes, shoving one's "dearly beloved" and elderly relatives into highly stressful and no doubt difficult jobs against their wills is just the thing to do

But Harris Potter seemed determined to ensure he died in office, probably from some minor lie he'd tell…which would strip his magic and his life from him. Brave but foolish, the epitome of Gryffindor.

ZeldaQueen: Erm, no. Gryffindors are brave, but not any more foolish than people in other houses. Are you going off of what the portrait told Harry in the fifth book? Because if so, I'd imagine that Harry would ignore that as bias.

And you've got a lot of nerve going on about him being foolish when IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S THERE TO BEGIN WITH! Jesus, you yourself said that he probably wanted to live in retirement!

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February 12, 1980

Harry scowled as he apparated to the scene of a crime. Three wizards who had testified last week before the Truth Commission had been killed. Their bodies had been found just inside the Forbidden Forest, nearest to Hogsmeade.

Three people all connected together because of the Truth Commission; it wasn't a coincidence. Something was brewing.

ZeldaQueen: So three people are testifying and no doubt giving secret information of some sort about the Death Eaters, or at least giving some sort of aid and they show up dead, all while Death Eaters are almost certainly still wandering the countryside.

Um...yes Harry, I do think somethings going on.

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes…" Harry whispered Shakespeare's words to himself. The squib from the line of Hathaway witches had been brilliant – and yet another thing Harry hadn't learned of in Binns' 'History' class. If it wasn't goblin, troll, or giant, it didn't matter to the man.

ZeldaQueen: So...you're implying that Shakespeare was a squib? Is that really necessary? Ignoring the fact that I doubt Harry is the sort to just recite Shakespeare, that sort of thing is a personal peeve of mine, making writers and philosophers and the like turn out to actually be magicians or aliens. I mean, are ordinary people really incapable of coming up with fantastic stuff?

And yes DW, go ahead and bash on Binns who was more or less treated as a source of boredom in canon. You know, considering how it was firmly established that most people didn't give a damn about goblins, trolls, or giants, one would actually think that him teaching primarily about them would be progressive.

Also, wasn't Hathaway actually the wife of Shakespeare? I'm just saying...

Harry was concerned that he had no idea – no timeline – to try to understand what was happening. Since Harry had killed Voldemort all his future knowledge had become worthless.

ZeldaQueen: Something's not going right for Angsty Harry! Hooray! *throws confetti*

What this killing meant, Harry had no idea.

ZeldaQueen: That you're an angst-brat who should have left the past well alone? Way to not screw up the future, by the way. There are now at least three more people who won't be fulfilling whatever purpose they would have in the original timeline

He saw the Aurors trying to collect spell residue and identify what had happened and when. They'd already been here for hours and they seemed to be completely baffled. Harry had only heard of it because of the listening charms he'd set up outside the entrance to the Ministry. Frustrated Aurors could reveal a lot without intending to.

ZeldaQueen: Does Harry ever not spy on everything at just the right moment to conveniently forward the plot? I'm just wondering

Harry walked around disillusioned trying to spot anything probative.

After thirty minutes, he gave it up as a bad job. There wasn't anything in the woods to be found.

Dead wizards, tied to the Commission, but two of them had supported the Dark, a third had been a Ministry official who'd been an Auror in 1970 before he moved to a desk. They had nothing obvious in common. Aside from their testimony. /p>

ZeldaQueen: MY GOD YOU'RE AN IDIOT! HARRY OUGHT TO KNOW THAT DEATH EATERS KILL TRAITORS! OR KILL PEOPLE THEY HAVE GRUDGES AGAINST, PEOPLE LIKE AURORS! OR PEOPLE WHO THEY JUST DON'T LIKE!

Harry had felt so in-control when he returned into this timeline. He had documentation; dates, activities, and ideas for stopping the Death Eaters.

Now…now, Harry had nothing. He was an acrobat working without a net. No one knew the risks he was taking; Harry knew nothing of what his actions might cause to happen.

ZeldaQueen: I have no sympathy at all for you, you little weasel. None, whatsoever. I think I can speak for most of the viewers when I say that it was clear that this was going to happen from chapter one

But something had just started. These three deaths were some kind of sign.

ZeldaQueen: Room for Rent

What they meant, Harry didn't know. But he felt afraid. He knew it was the beginning of something unpleasant.

ZeldaQueen: THIS IS STUPID! UTTER, UTTER IDIOCY! HOW CAN THE AUTHOR TRY TO MAKE HARRY ABLE TO EFFORTLESSLY KIDNAP AND MANIPULATE AND MURDER AND YET THINKS HE COULDN'T FIGURE THIS OUT AT ALL???

On a less rant-ish note, you just found three bodies, Harry. No freaking duh "something unpleasant" is going on!

Had Voldemort's reign been a mere nuisance compared to whatever was about to happen? Harry hoped he hadn't changed time just to unleash something even worse than Voldemort.

ZeldaQueen: Okay, was I reading between the lines in the books or something? Because I thought Rowling made it damned clear that ordinary Death Eaters were really murderous even without Voldemort and people who were testifying against them were easy prey.

You know, I stand by my theory that DW doesn't understand how dangerous and evil the Death Eaters were

Somehow he knew that Fate still hated him.

ZeldaQueen: As do I

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March 3, 1980

Ronald Weasley was born on March 1, 1980. According to what Harry observed, the boy was as loud and hungry as an infant as he would be later in life.

ZeldaQueen: Gratuitous Ron-bashing, AHOY!

Harry was lurking around the Burrow to commit an act of premeditated murder. The first and only time he'd killed in such a manner.

ZeldaQueen: Okay folks, this is kind of nasty. Well, it's pretty darned nasty. I'll rant at the end

Harry Potter was going to kill Ginevra Weasley before the girl was ever born.

ZeldaQueen: Now that's an interesting, if morbid trick

That was why he was lurking…lurking and waiting. He'd caught sight to Molly Weasley earlier in the day. The woman had given birth two days earlier and she was back up cooking and cleaning. Of course, with a brood the size she had, she couldn't let things slip too long.

ZeldaQueen: So he's sneaking around, spying on the Weasleys, and doesn't feel the slightest bit of sorrow or nostalgia or any sort of memories to all of the good and happy times he's had there? No fond reminiscing of his vacations there? No thoughts on how grateful he was to Mrs. Weasley for taking care of him? No confusion or sadness over how Ginny flipped her lid when she started out as a sweet, innocent girl?

Bull, I say!

At eleven fourteen in the morning he'd had an opportunity to kill Ginny, but Molly had moved from the window.

ZeldaQueen: At the risk of sparking a pro-life/choice debate here, I don't think you can kill anything that hasn't even been conceived yet

So he'd remained…waiting.

ZeldaQueen: I know it's beyond hope, but I still desperately wish that one of the Weasleys would spot Harry peeping in their window and chase him away

He saw Charlie tending after the twins. Percy was off reading a too-thick book. Bill must have been at Hogwarts already, a first year perhaps?

Arthur Weasley returned to the outer edge of the wards just after five o'clock. Harry tagged the man with the infertility curse as soon as he had a clear shot.

ZeldaQueen: I'm sorry, what was that?

Hold it in...wait for the end to rant...

He spent another thirty minutes waiting before he was able to slake his desire for vengeance. Molly left the house for a few moments. She was apparently trying to pluck some fresh herbs for the dinner she was preparing.

No matter. Harry took aim and unleashed the curse at the woman. He'd just ensured that a baby named Ginevra would never be born, never attend Hogwarts, never marry Harry Potter, and never betray Harry and his three children. It was awful. It was justice.

ZeldaQueen: Right. That's pretty much the end of Ginny in this fic, so let me unload a little here.

WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING HELL, DISOBEDIENCE WRITER?

Seriously? That? Do I need to really explain what's so screwed up with that? Do I? Well, given how many people have praised how dark and edgy this thing is and failed to comment on that particular part, I think I do. So everyone sit down and listen.

First of all, this is completely unnecessary. Harry has already acknowledged that he's changed the future enough. He'll no longer be the Boy Who Lived. He'll just be an ordinary wizarding kid. Thus, Ginny wouldn't develop her original crush on him and likely won't pursue him romantically at all.

But not only that, Ginny hasn't done anything yet!!! Perhaps she only snapped in the original timeline as some post stress thing as a result of fighting Voldemort! Or having been possessed in the second book! Who knows? The fact is, she hasn't done anything yet, hasn't even been conceived yet, very well might not have been conceived at all, and Harry still blames her for what happened. And implies that he did it to keep her from re-murdering their children. BULLSHIT!

Second of all, he curses both Molly and Arthur Weasley with infertility curses (which is pretty big overkill, unless there's supposed to be some implication that Harry suspects one of the two might cheat). There's no mention of said curses being liftable or wearing off. So thus, we get the fun little fact that not only did Harry prevent Ginny from ever being born, he put the same fate on every other child the Weasleys might have had in this timeline. So he can try to hand wave Ginny all he wants, what about the unknown number of other children? And again, I know there's the pro-life/choice thing, but that's the rub - choice. Which brings us to point three...

IT WAS NEVER HIS DECISION TO MAKE!!! He has been storming around, hating on Dumbledore and Crouch and Fudge for moving behind the scenes and taking the law into their own hands by murdering or arresting Death Eaters without a trial, yet has done exactly the same thing here. And Ginny's offense is against Harry alone, unlike the Death Eaters who have almost certainly attacked and killed many, many innocent people. All of that aside though, Harry basically assumed that the entire Weasley family and all of Ginny's friends from the original timeline would have been happier without her and glad to have her permanently erased. But was there any indication of that in canon? Not at all! In fact, Ginny seemed quite well liked! As for how all of those people felt about her after the poisoning, well we'll never know since DW saw fit to hide those people from this fic.

Fourth of all, Harry basically assumed that Ginny is completely irredeemable from birth. That from the instant she left the womb, she was destined to go crazy and cling to Harry for the sole purpose of murdering their children and stealing his money.

Fifth, I'm sure that a lot of people would say "Well Harry's crazy! It's not right, it's just from his point of view!" Alright fair enough, except for one thing - where is the "right" point of view? When someone writes from the "wrong" perspective (the viewpoint is skewed, insane, depressed, evil, or otherwise one that the author does not endorse), there is the "right" perspective (one that is sane, well-adjusted, or otherwise what the author does endorse). It is through the sane viewpoint that the author gets on his or her soapbox and perhaps convinces the skewed viewpoint the proper way to think. But we don't get that here! We don't get Ron or Hermione or Luna or Neville telling Harry how horrible he's been, we don't get anyone calling him out on any of this, and we don't get any of the folks he's "rescued" being the least bit upset that he's been screwing with their lives. No, everyone is always so much happier for what he's done, unethics be damne. So I ask everyone, what evidence is there that Harry's viewpoint is "wrong"?

Last of all, I'd like to point out that this all reminds me of a story used in the comics Runaways (spoilers, sorry). In this story, the teenage heroes travel back in time to the 1800s, where they meet a husband and wife supervillain team who were also time travelers. Said husband and wife villains had a daughter in the future, who used to be a member of the teen heroes and wound up killed. To the husband and wife, in their present, she is still very much alive and they are determined to keep it that way. Except that they are still furious that the teen heroes "allowed" her to die at all, and are very cut up to learn that in any possible future, their darling daughter would be murdered. So they bring a huge freaking bomb from the future to blow up a bunch of innocent people in the 1800s to get revenge for their daughter's possible future death, which they have the complete power to change.

In other words, DW's written a version of Harry which reminds me of a pair of supervillains from a Marvel Comic.

I'll leave you all to ponder that

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May 7, 1980

The Daily Prophet carried an enormous headline. "Witness Killer Located; Witch in Throes of Dementia Arrested."

ZeldaQueen: And this sporking carries the enormous headline "Red Herring Located; Witness Murderer Still At Large And Involved In Conspiracy"

Harry devoured the article and found little of value in it. The Aurors weren't commenting on who the witch was or how she'd been identified.

ZeldaQueen: Yeah, I know the whole identity protection thing is a little jarring for an entitlement whore like you, Harry, but deal with it

The only new piece of information was that the woman was suspected of seven total killings, all of the victims had testified in front of the Commission.

"…but that means that four murders went unreported…"

Harry wasn't surprised at the realization. He was a bit dumbfounded that the Prophet hadn't even acknowledged their lax reporting of recent weeks and months.

ZeldaQueen: Why? Did he honestly think he'd go about "reforming" the paper with a few "shaming" articles?

"Nothing's changed, has it? The newspaper is still unreliable. Minister Grandfather is so bogged down cleaning out the Ministry that the present work is falling to the wayside. At least he finally sacked Dolores Umbridge and that awful Runcorn fellow. But it's too much for any one person to accomplish…"

ZeldaQueen: Dolores Umbridge actually went to Azkaban in the original timeline, for her crimes. Just saying...

It might actually be better to start over from scratch.

ZeldaQueen: That sound you all heard was my keyboard splitting in two under the force of my skull. Excuse me for my next outburst.

JESUS H. CHRIST HARRY, DON'T YOU EVER LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES??? YOU WENT AND SCREWED UP THE PAST ONCE AND YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT AGAIN? HUH?

A dangerous thought. But the longer Harry was in this timeline, the more frustrated he became. The Truth Commission was getting the truth out there, but it didn't seem to be having an effect. The dark families were still marginalized and angry. The other families still shifted in whatever direction the winds blew.

ZeldaQueen: I give up. Apparently DW's preferred version of Harry has the brains of a rock. He's utterly screwed up the timeline, possibly caused something worse than Voldemort to start up, more people are dead, and he's going to start over and do it again. And blames everyone else for this. Hooray

There was no war, but it seemed like nothing else had changed.

Harry could only do so much from the shadows…and he was unprepared to act in the light of day.

ZeldaQueen: I suppose just sitting down and not interfering anymore is out of the question?

There wasn't anything Harry could yet do, but he also wasn't satisfied just to sit back and observe.

ZeldaQueen: WHY?

He hadn't come here to improve the world only to watch it descend into chaos again.

ZeldaQueen: And three people who were alive in the original timeline are now dead. Well done on improving things

The demented witch could be the guilty party, but had she become demented naturally or with some assistance. Was she part of a large movement? Was this something…

ZeldaQueen: For God's sake, why is there always a conspiracy here? Can't there just be a crazy person who goes off and kills people?

Harry's mind twirled with questions and self-recriminations. He'd thought everything would be fine. He thought he'd settled the world down. But had he done anything of utility?

Would the peace last?

ZeldaQueen: This version of Harry is woefully untaught in the ways of human nature, isn't he?

Harry felt a bit silly feeling so silly, but he'd been looking for nefarious plots his whole like since the age of eleven.

ZeldaQueen: Um, no he didn't. The fact that he pretty much ran into traps for most of the series would indicate that he was not looking for "nefarious plots"

Good lord, DW, you can't contradict canon and then immediately after refer to canon!

Even as an Auror, he'd had to deal with three nascent dark lords trying to rally support in Britain. Thankfully none had been as intelligent, as organized, or as insane as Voldemort.

ZeldaQueen: That's pretty much an Auror's job. Why would that be confusing or nefarious?

He wished he had someone to talk to. The life he'd picked had been so lonely, almost impossibly so. There was no one to bounce ideas off of. No one to perform 'reality checks' to ensure he was still operating in the realm of the sane.

ZeldaQueen: I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for you, you twat. You had people in the original timeline to talk things over with, people like Ron and Hermione, and you didn't give them a second thought. And now, when things are going badly, you suddenly want a shoulder to cry on. Tough

It was impossible to live like this…but inconceivable to do anything different at this point. He couldn't go back to the future. He'd already changed everything about that time. There would be no place for him there, just as there was no real place for him here.

ZeldaQueen: Again, who's fault is that?

He roughly shoved it all away. It didn't matter.

He had no get focused again. The future would unfold as it did. The thing that mattered was ensuring peace in the here and now…

There were obviously many more Death Eaters exposed this time around. What if some of the ones who hadn't been exposed were still operating? Or if the Death Eaters' unmarked supporters were retaliating in some way…or if the dark wizards who'd opposed Voldemort were now acting. There were many different groups to investigate.

ZeldaQueen: Angles which happened the first time around, I might add. Why is Harry only thinking of this now?

The leisure Harry had envisioned for himself was over.

ZeldaQueen: Again, I don't feel sorry in the slightest

There was work to be done.

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July 31, 1980

It was all worth it.

All the years of waiting, watching, and trying to nudge the world back into shape.

Harry James Potter had just been born.

ZeldaQueen: What, did Harry actually give birth to his past self?

Harry had stood outside Potter Manor when it happened. He'd heard the exclamations of joy ripple through the men-folk lounging in the backyard.

ZeldaQueen: Harry would not use a word like "men-folk"

Harry apparated away.

He had gifts for baby Harry.

ZeldaQueen: Gold, myrrh, and frankincense

Since the world had begun to fall apart again, Harry paid closer attention to those who'd never been corrupted into the Death Eaters this time around. It didn't make them innocents in Harry's book…it just didn't give them opportunities to expose what they really were.

ZeldaQueen: Okay, second disgusting bit coming up

Peter Pettigrew, still a close friend to the Potters, would betray James, Lily, and Harry given half a chance. His quiet, simmering jealousy would almost demand it.

ZeldaQueen: Pettigrew wasn't jealous, he was a freaking coward! Not much better, but the fact remains that he only turned his friends over to save his own skin! It wasn't like he was actively seeking a way to betray them!

Peter Pettigrew had to go…

ZeldaQueen: I don't think DW meant for this to be chilling in the way I'm getting it

Harry arrived at the apartment building where Peter lived when he wasn't working for Tottenhouse Greenery, a potions supply company in Wiltshire.

Harry used Muggle means to pick the door – as a halfblood who'd grown up mostly muggle, Peter maintained a Muggle identity – and walked inside. Pettigrew was snoring in a chair.

ZeldaQueen: Peter was a halfblood? What? And why would he need a Muggle identity, especially as an adult?

Harry quickly stunned the traitorous piece of filth and transfigured him into a beautiful white mouse. Since it wasn't self transfiguration, Peter wouldn't be able to reverse it. The mouse would be susceptible to the traditional life span of rodents – rather than an animagus' lengthy life span.

ZeldaQueen: This is just that horrible ferret thing all over, only it gets worse

Harry apparated to the gymnasium of the school he had attended in Little Whinging. He suspected the children of the second grade class might enjoy a new class pet.

ZeldaQueen: And of course they just happen to have an empty cage set up for a pet mouse and the teacher wouldn't wonder why there's a mouse randomly in the room and of course would decide to keep it. You know, not all schools allow class animals. My elementary school didn't, and if a mouse randomly showed up caged in my second grade room, the teacher would have most likely tried to send it somewhere else

Harry was glad to volunteer Peter Pettigrew for this duty.

Harry stalked invisible through the empty school. He arrived at the correct classroom and noted by the placard next to the door that the same woman was teaching in the room as had taught him and Dudley.

The cage he remembered from when he'd been in school was still there. It had two mice already inside it, along with an automatic feeder and watering mechanism. It really was a nice contraption. Peter should love his new home.

ZeldaQueen: YES, I'M SURE HE'LL JUST BE SO GRATEFUL THAT HE WAS KIDNAPPED AND TRANSFORMED AGAINST HIS WILL AND SHOVED IN A CAGE WITH TWO OTHER MICE AND CONDEMNED TO A LIFESPAN OF SEVERAL YEARS, ASSUMING THAT PEOPLE DON'T FORGET TO FEED AND WATER HIM!!!

Harry placed the mouse-Pettigrew into the cage. Then he added some magical enhancements to the device. He made the entire cage impervious to breakage. He also sealed the door to the device for as long as the mouse-Pettigrew was still alive.

He enervated the small beast as he was halfway across the room. He could hear frantic squeaking… Pettigrew had already understood something of his fate. He would never betray anyone this time around…Harry wouldn't permit any threats to his younger self.

Not even from the 'good friend' Peter Pettigrew. May Merlin favor him and end his life soon.

ZeldaQueen: That's...I honestly don't know what to say to all of this. This is disgusting. Peter has done nothing in this timeline and there is no evidence whatsoever that he will do anything. He's just been kidnapped and locked up in a strange body and will die shortly. No chance to come to grips, no chance to say goodbyes to anyone nothing. Does Harry really think that his father would have been alright with that, even with the whole future traitor thing? Doesn't he recall "My father wouldn't have wanted his two best friends to become murderers".

DW, imagine that you're just sitting in your house, taking a nap, when someone breaks in, turns you into a small animal, brings you to a strange location, and leaves you locked in a cage. There's no explanation, no chance to defend yourself, just poof and you're gone. Note too nice, is it?

Harry apparated away as soon as he closed the classroom door.

He should have felt somewhat guilty for what he'd done…but he felt nothing. The longer he stayed in this timeline the colder he became. First the infertility curses; then the dispatching of Pettigrew.

Who knew? Perhaps Harry would kill the non-Death Eater Severus Snape just to round out his revenge – and to ensure the horrible twisted mind never interacted with Harry Potter in any way.

ZeldaQueen: DW, you're not in the least convincing me that Harry thinks he's in the wrong here. He just jumped from thinking "You know, this might just be screwed up" to "I think I'll murder some guy who wasn't even bad in the first time line, just because he didn't tell me every little detail". There's not even any reasoning or evidence to sufficiently back up why Harry would go so insane. He held up through the deaths of his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Colin, Lupin, Tonks, and Dobby and indirectly killed Voldemort and still seemed quite sane. Why would the deaths of his children lead to all of this?

Harry returned to the White Estate and walked up the stairs to the third floor. He had a blood ritual to conduct. It was meant to grant newborn babies protection in their first few years. It was powerful magic. Not as powerful as willing sacrificial magic, but powerful still.

ZeldaQueen: Again I ask, what is DW's obsession with blood magic?

Harry had worked out that he could use his own blood to protect the newborn Harry.

It was Harry's second gift on the day of his birth. Something this important deserved some powerful gifts.

ZeldaQueen: Because he's Just That Important

Harry began the letting of his blood and the chanting the old language with a look of extreme happiness on his face.

ZeldaQueen: So he's only happy when he's fulfilling his sense of entitlement while cutting himself. Interesting...

The timeline had changed – and not changed. Voldemort was dead; Harry Potter was alive and unscarred. James and Lily would survive. Harris Potter was the Minister of Magic.

Things were different.

ZeldaQueen: I'm sorry, what was that rubbish about not changing the timeline too much? I think I missed that...

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Onward to: Chapter 7: Unintended Consequences (Part 1)

Back to: Chapter 6: The Next Potter Generation (Part 1)

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