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SIYE Time:15:26 on 29th March 2024
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Erasing The Future
By Moxterminator

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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-HBP
Characters:All, Harry/Ginny
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Fluff, General, Humor, Romance, Tragedy
Warnings: Extreme Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Violence
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 545
Summary: Harry goes back in time to redo his Hogwarts years after losing the war, his family, and his wife, Ginny Potter, to Voldemort. Changes need to be made, but can all changes be good? Years 1-4
Hitcount: Story Total: 396289; Chapter Total: 3351
Awards: View Trophy Room






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Disclaimer: I do Not Own Harry Potter

Chapter Sixty

The Dark Mark

“Think of the money we could have won,” Fred moaned quietly to his brother from behind Harry and Ginny.

“And the money you could have lost if you were wrong!” Ginny hissed back.

“Plus you would have to share some of that money with Ron, since you got the idea of the bet from him,” Harry reminded him.

“We wouldn’t have to do that, would we?” George asked.

“It was Ron that gave you the idea of that bet,” Ginny explained. “I think it would be fair if he had gotten some of the money!”

They slowly made their way down the stairs, Harry double checking his pockets for his wand just in case something strange was going on, but thankfully his wand was in his pocket. No Crouch in the top box, and his wand was perfectly safe.

Regarding the after match events, there was nothing too much Harry could do, although Dumbledore had suggested extra security for the game, being respected as he was in the wizard community, and was listened to. That should handle Lucius Malfoy and his drunken antics later on that evening, if the Ministry wasn’t too idiotic to not to listen to Dumbledore… oh wait. Harry shook his head and just hoped that nothing too serious would happen tonight. Heck, with no Dark Mark to scare them away, Malfoy Senior and his goonies might just get arrested and sent to Azkaban.

When they got to the bottom of the steps, they slowly made their way through the crowd, who was chatting excitedly about the match just gone. Certain Ireland supporters were singing loudly as they tramped through the woods back to the camp site.

They got back to their tent just after midnight, and it was agreed upon that they could have a cup of hot chocolate before bed. That cup lasted another hour since discussion about the match became rather heated. Percy got in an argument with Charlie about clobbing and when Sirius and Jo joined in the conversation things got out of hand. It was only half an hour later that Mr. Weasley suggested enough was enough and they all slowly made it to their own rooms and tents and happily settled down for a night’s sleep, all apart from Harry and Ginny.

Thirty minutes after the others had gone to sleep Harry got out of his bed and went into the living room, settled down on the couch with another two drinks of hot chocolate and waited. Soon enough, he was proven that he knew his wife well, when she walked through the flap of the tent and came over to the couch and sat down next to Harry who promptly offered her the spare cup of hot chocolate.

“Can’t sleep, then,” Harry stated as she took a sip from her drink.

“Knowing what’s about to happen, not really,” Ginny said after her sip. “I mean maybe it won’t happen. Dumbledore knows, and has warned the Ministry.”

“Yes, but it’s the Ministry, you and I both know how rubbish they are,” Harry replied.

“You going to help?” Ginny asked him quietly.

“I could, but then there will be too many questions, knowing wandless magic is one thing, knowing how to use it to take out Death Eaters? Even if they are drunk, that would be too much hassle and bring too much attention,” Harry answered. “No, the Roberts family wasn’t hurt, there’s no Crouch in the top box, no one to steal my wand, no one to cast the Dark Mark. Maybe Malfoy and his friends will get captured this time. And Dumbledore is sure to have taken precautions just in case.”

“True,” Ginny agreed. “Plus it’s not like it’s your fault.”

“But I could stop it,” Harry muttered. “If I tried harder.”

“But then that would risk bringing attention to you,” Ginny countered. “We don’t want that.”

“I think it’s a little too late for that,” Harry said. “Not that I regret it but I think it’s common knowledge how good I am at magic.”

“I’m not so sure,” Ginny said sipping her hot chocolate.

“How do you mean?” Harry asked her.

“Sure everyone at school knows,” Ginny stated. “But how many people out of school will believe it or think that their kids are exaggerating?”

“Snape won’t,” Harry reminded her.

“True, but we don’t know if Snape is with Voldemort, or if he is with Crouch, or holed up in his home waiting and hoping for news from Voldemort.” Ginny replied. “If he didn’t find Voldemort, then why risk the surprise advantage? I know it’s hard, knowing you could help, but the advantage of keeping your magic on the quiet and away from Voldemort’s ears is worth it. Otherwise removing those memories from Crouch and Pettigrew would have been useless.”

“I suppose what you are saying has merit,” Harry said.

“It has a lot more than that,” Ginny told him before taking another sip of hot chocolate.

BOOM!

All of a sudden a huge explosion was heard from the other side of the campground followed by screams.

BOOM!

Another explosion echoed in their tent and Mr. Weasley came rushing out of his bedroom fully clothed. Sirius and Jo almost seconds later came through the tent flap with Hermione.

“Thank god you’re in here, Ginny!” Jo said eyeing Ginny on the couch.

“We need to leave,” Sirius said to the group as Ginny’s brothers and Neville and joined them in the lounge. “Now!”

They all left the tent and Harry saw the mayhem that was a cheering crowd not a few hours ago. Tents were on fire, and a large crowd was working slowly across the field and towards the woods. In the middle of the large crowd were the unmistakable Mr, Roberts and his Muggle family.

“Get to the woods and hide,” Mr. Weasley told his younger children. “We’ll help the Ministry, go.”

“Protect them, Harry,” Sirius said taking his wand out and striding towards the group. “We’ll come find you when it’s over.”

Harry turned and grabbed Ginny’s hand as he led his friends into the woods and away from the hooded group. As they reached the tree line Harry stuck his hand in his pocket and retrieved his wand, thankfully still there. After all, there was no Crouch to steal it this time.

“Stick together!” Harry shouted to the others.

“You know bloody wandless magic and are more powerful than all of us,” Fred said from behind him. “We’re not leaving your effing side.”

The woods themselves were dark and misty, the lanterns that had previously lit the way to the stadium were no longer lit.

“Lumos,” Hermione said from behind Harry.

“Good thinking,” Harry said before waving his wand and a giant ball of light appeared above them illuminating the woods around them. “It will follow us wherever we go.”

“Neat trick,” Fred muttered.

They continued forward, Harry making sure that Ginny’s hand was grasped tightly in his. He wasn’t going to lose her with Death Eaters on the loose. He had seen her captured two years in a row; he wasn’t going to let that happen again.

Figures ran through the edge of his magical light, while people tried to go deeper into the woods to hide from the Death Eaters.

“Wait, I’ve got to stop,” Ron said leaning against a tree.

“Come on, Ron, the further in we go the better,” Hermione said. “We don’t want to be anywhere near here if they come this way.”

“I have a stitch in my side,” Ron said bending over.

“Then get fit!” Ginny said exasperated.

“Not everyone goes out for morning runs every day!” Ron argued back.

“And whose fault is that.” Ginny said letting go of Harry’s hand and stepping over to Ron. She bent down and put a hand underneath his arm. “I know this isn’t good but we’ve got to keep moving.”

“Well I don’t particularly see anything wrong with this clearing,” Fred said eying where they were. “It’s away from the campsite. It’s easy to see each other.”

“Maybe, but still it’s close enough for them to find her,” came a drawl from the left.

Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy leaning against a tree, smiling. He seemed to be out having a leisurely stroll rather than hiding from Death Eaters.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hermione asked him.

“Well, if you think they can’t tell the difference between witch and Muggle…” Malfoy drawled.

“Hermione is a witch,” Ginny said heatedly.

“Maybe but her parents, Mudblood is just as bad, maybe worse,” Malfoy said quietly. “They can tell the difference you know, not sure how, but they can tell. They’ll spot you out in a crowd easily.”

“Piss off,” Ron said to him.

“Language, Weasley,” Malfoy said. “You’re setting a bad sample for your little sister.”

“Maybe I should show you just how little I am,” Ginny said uncoupling her hand from Harry’s and drawing her wand.

“You’re funny, Weaslette,” Malfoy said standing away from the tree. “I suppose you were told to run away and hide, very Gryffindorish, I must say.”

“You have no idea,” Harry smirked.

“What is that meant to mean?” Malfoy asked him.

“Come on, we should leave,” Hermione said tugging Harry’s arm.

“Why should we?” Harry asked her.

“Yeah stick around,” Malfoy said laughing. “Maybe I’ll get to see your knickers too, Granger.”

Ginny stepped forward raising her wand.

“Careful,” Malfoy said. “You wouldn’t want to explain why you attacked an unarmed person would you?”

“Come on, let’s go,” Hermione said, tugging on Ginny’s arm and Ginny reluctantly turned around and they started to walk away.

“What colour knickers you got on, Granger? Red… Black…?”

Ginny didn’t even stop walking away, she just flicked her left wrist behind her and the orange colour of the Bat Bogey Curse streamed towards Malfoy and they then heard a shout has the curse hit and Malfoy’s bogeys started to attack him.

“That was wandlessly,” Ginny called behind her as she started to stride out of the clearing, “They can’t trace it, so don’t bother trying to tell anyone.”

“That was cool,” Neville said as the trees started to surround them again.

“Definitely better seeing it on someone other than us,” Fred agreed.

“I wish you didn’t let him rattle you up like that, Ginny,” Hermione said.

“He’s a disgusting pig and he deserved it,” Ginny snarled. “I’m almost tempted to go back and turn him into an actual pig.”

“Now that is something I would pay to see,” Harry said smiling.

“Come on, this way,” Hermione said leading the group out of the clearing and through the trees.

“We didn’t have to leave, he could have left,” Ginny muttered.

“By the way you were acting, he would have left in a body bag,” Hermione muttered.

“I just wanted him to know I can stand up for myself now!” Ginny retorted.

“I think he got the message,” Hermione responded.

“Yeah that was brill, sis!” Fred added.

“You don’t need to encourage her!” Hermione said exasperated.

“I would have thought you would be happy she can now defend herself,” Harry said.

“I am,” Hermione argued. “It’s just now is not the time to do this, if you have forgotten, we’re in the woods hiding from masked wizards attacking people!”

There was a sudden rustle of bushes up ahead. Everyone stopped and Harry drew his wand. He frowned as Winky the house elf was running through the bushes. She wasn’t tugging on anything invisible this time, but she did seem to be terrified, her abnormally large eyes even larger than usual as she tried to get away from the ruckus at the campsite.

“Hello,” Hermione said to the elf. Harry and Ginny shared a glance. Last time they heard Winky was working with Crouch Junior to poison Harry last year, was she still under Crouch Junior’s control?

“Got to get away,” Winky said in her high squeaky voice. “Bad bad wizards about, people up high, Winky doesn’t like heights. Got to get away.” she dashed through more bushes as she left them behind.

“That was weird,” Neville said confused.

“She wasn’t being dragged back,” Ginny mentioned to Harry quietly so only he could hear.

“No Crouch,” Harry whispered back. “So no Dark Mark. Hey, maybe Malfoy’s dad really will be arrested this time.”

“He deserves it,” Ginny answered him.

“What are you two whispering about?” Hermione asked them from in front.

“Nothing,” they both said together.

“God I hate your secrets!” Hermione said as she continued to lead the others through the woods.

They came across various people as they continued. A couple of Beauxbaton students which Ron made a fool of himself in front of and a group of boys which included Stan Shunpike who professed he was in line to be the next Minister of Magic. Hermione got irritated at Ron and dragged him away.

It was another five minutes before they found another clearing, but Harry immediately recognised it. It was the clearing where the Dark Mark appeared.

“Maybe we should find somewhere else…” Harry mentioned to them.

“I agree,” Ginny said obviously recognising the place as well.

“Nothing wrong here,” Hermione said looking around. “It’s quiet, maybe the riot is over? Maybe your dad will come and find us.”

“In that case we should stay still, so they can find us,” Neville said.

“Agreed.” Hermione said sitting down.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other. There shouldn’t be anything too wrong with sitting here, after all with everything changed there was no Crouch to conjure the Dark Mark. Winky not struggling saw to that. Reluctantly they sat down but kept an ear out for anything suspicious.

“What do you think will happen to those Muggles?” Hermione asked them quietly.

“They’ll be fine,” Harry assured her. “The Ministry will protect them. They’ll get them down.”

“How?” Hermione asked.

“Hopefully by either the Ministry capturing them, or when the Death Eaters get bored and leave,” Harry said.

“You don’t think they will kill them, do you?” Hermione asked.

“No,” Ginny said. “There are too many people around, they won’t be able to do that and get away.”

“It’s mad though. The entire Ministry of Magic is here yet they decide to do this,” Ron said thinking. “How did they think they could get away with it?”

“It’s called being drunk. And they’ll probably disapparate before…” But Harry didn’t manage to finish is sentence as a twig broke loudly behind him in the bushes.

“Hello?” Hermione asked loudly looking at where the sound had come from.

“MORSMORDRE!”

Harry closed his eyes in defeat, but still he could feel the vast green light from the conjured skull as it rose above the tree lines.

“What the…” Ron said before the woods around them was suddenly filled with screams. Harry re-opened his eyes as he saw the emerald lit skull float higher and higher, the serpent slithering its way out of the skulls mouth.

“We have to move…” Hermione said quickly. “Now!”

“Did you recognise the voice?” Ginny said to Harry.

“What?” Harry asked her.

“Never mind that, we need to move!!!!” Hermione shouted helping Neville off the ground.

Suddenly a series of popping sounds surrounded them and before they could shout out a warning, red lights of the Stunning Spell shot in their general direction. Harry quickly waved his wand and forced all the others down onto the ground so they wouldn’t get hit by the stunners.

“STOP, STOP,” Mr. Weasley shouted as he rushed into the clearing. “They’re my family stop!”

Harry lifted the magic he was using to keep everyone down and slowly they started to raise of the floor.

“Out of the way, Arthur!” said a cold voice and Mr, Crouch walked slowly into the clearing.

“No, don’t get out of the way,” Sirius called out angrily as he to walked into the clearing and past Mr. Crouch. “These kids are underage, and have a legal right for their parent or guardian to be by their side. I know you have a history of ignoring the law, but I won’t let you do it to my godson or his friends, Crouch.”

“Who did it? Who conjured it?” Crouch asked as he eyed the kids.

“You can’t mean to believe that one of these kids conjured it, Crouch,” Sirius laughed.

“Wait, why would we do that?” Ron asked. “Whatever that is…”

“Playing dumb?” Crouch asked.

“It is not playing, unless you are accusing me of teaching my kids the incantation,” Mr. Weasley said crossly.

“They were discovered at the scene of the crime, mere seconds after it was conjured!” Mr. Crouch said hysterically.

“Barty, they are just kids,” a woman in a yellow gown said next to him.

“Who else is there?” Crouch said, eyeing them distastefully.

“A man,” Harry said quietly getting the attention. “He was hiding in the tree line.”

“Do not lie, sir,” Crouch said but at Harry’s words the rest of the group turned their wands to the trees.

“We’re not!” Ron said hurriedly.

“Where was this person, roughly?” the witch in the dressing gown asked and Harry suddenly recognised her as Amelia Bones.

“Over there,” Hermione said shakily whilst pointing to the trees just behind Amelia. As soon as she said it, everyone turned their wands to the woods. Everyone except Crouch.

“Would you please stop threating my godson,” Sirius said in a deadly tone to Crouch, who still had his wand pointing at Harry. “Before you accidently curse him and I would need to defend him, being underaged and all.” Crouch blinked before lowering his wand.

“It’s too late,” Amelia said squinting through the trees. “They would have disapparated away right after.”

“”Maybe, maybe not,” Amos Diggory said, walking towards the tree line. “Our stuners went right through there, maybe we got lucky…”

Diggory searched and searched but after ten minutes before he returned.

“You found them?” Amiela asked as he came back.

“No, but I did find a wand!” Diggory announced lifting it up for everyone to see. Harry didn’t recognise it, but Ginny sucked in her breath.

“Is it the wand that conjured it?” Crouch asked.

“Well, let’s see,” Mr. Diggory said before waving the wand.

“Priori Incantato!” Mr. Diggory roared and a small shadow of the giant skull above them made out of smoke slithered its way out of the wand.

“I know that wand!” Ginny suddenly said out loud.

“What is this?” Crouch said rounding on her. “Is this a confession?”

“That’s Pettigrew’s!” Ginny said defiantly to Crouch.

“Peter Pettigrew?” Amelia asked her.

“I recognise it from when he kidnapped me,” Ginny said hurriedly.

“You sure there was no one there, Amos?” Amelia asked him hurriedly.

“I looked carefully,” Amos said shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Never mind, never mind. At least Pettigrew is no longer armed,” Amelia said smiling. “That’s at least good news. Arthur, Sirius, you can take the children and go, they are not needed anymore.”

Sirius led the group out of the clearing and through the woods. No one spoke as they twisted their way through the trees. Soon enough they reached the tree line and saw the camp site in front of them.

“Arthur, Sirius!” A large crowd had congregated at the edge of the campsite desperately waiting for news.

“Who was it? Who conjured it? Is anyone hurt? It’s not him, is it?”

“Of course it’s not him!” Mr. Weasley said irritably.

“Guys, guys,” Sirius said raising his hands trying to calm down the crowd. “It was definitely not Voldemort.” A couple of shrieks from the crowd came at the name but Sirius continued.

“We did find a wand at the scene of the crime, which was identified as the wand that Peter Pettigrew had stolen from Olivander’s in September last year,” Sirius explained. “Unfortunately it seems that Peter Pettigrew Disapparated before any of us could stun him. However, Pettigrew is no longer armed. The wand in question is currently in the possession of the Law Enforcement Department. The good news is that the Aurors were so quick onto the scene that Pettigrew did not manage to commit a crime, apart from the conjuring of the Dark Mark. All is safe, and I’m sure the Law Enforcement Department is doing all they can.”

With that Sirius put a hand onto Harry’s shoulder and led the group through the reporters and crowd and further along towards their tent. When they reached the tents, Sirius opened up the flap and stood aside holding it, to let everyone through.

“Oh thank god,” Charlie said from the kitchen table. He stood up and rushed over. “When no one returned from the woods, and then the mark…”

“We’re all fine,” Mr. Weasley said.

“Did you get them? Who was it?” Bill asked them.

“Peter Pettigrew,” Sirius spat.

“You caught him!” Jo asked surprisingly.

“No,” Sirius said shaking his head. “He disapparated before we could catch him.”

“What was that symbol anyway, what was so frightening about that mark?” Ron asked confused.

“I told you! It was You-Know-Who’s mark!” Hermione said quietly. “I read it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts.

“And it hasn’t been seen in thirteen years,” Mr. Weasley said.

“Since the attack on Neville’s parents,” Sirius said quietly. “The amount of devastation that is associated with that mark, no wonder people reacted the way they did. When I saw it over James and Lily’s House…”

Jo stroked Sirius’ arm and leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to comfort him from the bad memories.

“I don’t get it. It’s just a shape in the sky…” Ron said.

“Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the sky whenever they killed, or tortured,” Mr. Weasley explained. “Like Sirius said, Neville’s parents, or Harry’s… Every time. The terror it inspired.”

“Just imagine coming home, and seeing that mark over your house, knowing that inside you are going to see your loved ones dead. Your mum, your dad, your brothers or your sisters,” Mr. Weasley croaked. “Everyone’s worst fear, their very worst.”

“Well, it didn’t help tonight,” Bill said suddenly. “It scared the Death Eaters away as soon as they saw it.”

“Why did it scare them away? I thought they would welcome it?” Ron asked.

“What you saw tonight was the Death Eaters that were never caught, or were and lied about being loyal to Voldemort,” Harry said entering the conversation. “The one thing Voldemort prises above anything else in his followers is, well not loyalty, but obedience. Voldemort would expect his followers to be doing everything they can to find him and help him come back to power. They’re not. They are living their lives, peacefully, instead of finding him and helping him come back.”

“Voldemort would be enraged that they’re not helping him, and they know it,” Harry continued. “Even mad men wouldn’t go help their leader come back to power just so that they can be tortured or killed for their disobedience. Self-preservation.”

“So Pettigrew conjured the mark to scare them for not looking for Voldemort?” Hermione asked. “That doesn’t make sense; he hid for years after Voldemort’s downfall. When he escaped from Azkaban, he went after Harry, not Voldemort… Is he such a hypocrite himself?”

“Maybe,” Lupin said. “Or maybe he is looking for Voldemort, I mean he hasn’t attacked Harry since he kidnapped Ginny. Maybe it was a signal, for help?”

“No one knows,” Mr. Weasley said. “Look, we need to get to some sleep. I want to try to get an early Portkey out of here. When your mother hears of this she’ll be worried sick. We’ll get a few more hours sleep then leave.

Everyone stood up and headed off to bed, but Ginny lagged behind. Worried, Harry stayed behind too, after everyone had gone to bed, it was just Harry, Ginny and Sirius left.

“It wasn’t Pettigrew that conjured the mark,” Ginny said to Harry and Sirius.

“It wasn’t Pettigrew?” Sirius asked shocked.

“No, it wasn’t,” Ginny said. “I recognised the voice that conjured it.”

“You know who it was?” Harry asked her intrigued.

“I do, so do you,” Ginny said. “Use your Occlumency, re-visit the conjuring, and pay close attention to the voice.”

Harry did as he told, closed his eyes and used his Occlumency to revisit the woods. He listened carefully as he saw their group enter the clearing. Before he wasn’t really paying attention because he wasn’t expecting the Dark Mark this time around, but now he was. Now he waited patiently for the words that conjured one of the deadliest signs in the wizarding world. He heard the twig break, and saw himself close his eyes in exasperation, but this time he paid attention. This time he listened with all his might.

Harry opened his eyes in shock and rage. Ginny was right! He did know that voice, and it scared him. This was different, this was unfamiliar territory.

“Snape!” Harry exclaimed.

“What?” Sirius asked loudly but thankfully he didn’t grab attention of the others who had already gone to bed.

Harry looked at Ginny for confirmation. Just to double check that the voice belonged to the person he thought he did. The look on Ginny’s face was all that it took for him to know that it was true.

“Snape,” Harry repeated. “It was Snape that conjured the Dark Mark.”
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