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Aether Continuum Part 1 | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Albus Dumbledore, Harry/Ginny, Other Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance Warnings: Death, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 53 Summary: Two mysterious beings that claim to be Nephalem send Harry's soul back in time to fix the mistakes of the powerful and save his world from more than just Voldemort. This is a change in the Time Travel trope where Harry originally never went to Hogwarts, where events spiraled out of control and Voldemort had risen with the Philosophers Stone and Diary Riddle forced another side to the conflict. Hitcount: Story Total: 52000; Chapter Total: 3983 Author's Notes: Here we gooooo! Chapter 3, onward to HOGWARTS! We get to meet Ginny, (huzzah) though I promise you there won't be a romantic relationship between the two for some time (awwww). I know, I know, but you have to remember, Harry is basically a 25 year old man, that just screams pedophilia. So we get a bit of flavor on Harry's backstory, with more to come next chapter, though I will mention that they were originally going to be the together but I found a perfect place to stop. ANYWAYS enough rambling from me, go read the story! And review if you feel the need. Thanks! |
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Chapter 3: Journey’s Start A little over a year had passed since Harry’s life had pushed the restart button. His health had increased, due to the special diet and fitness program that Madam Pomfrey and a few of her friends from St. Mungo’s set up. Harry’s possible mental health issues stemmed down to a migraine that lasted for the first two months, which the Hogwarts believed to be the brain acclimating to the new memories. Overall there was no permanent consequence from the ritual. Poppy did come to the conclusion that his mental age was not increasing. Due to his lifestyle being healthier than it was with the Dursleys, Harry had gained some weight. He was still small for his age, something that Poppy kept reminding him. During the past year and when the Minister for Magic didn’t require Dumbledore’s attention, he would be with Harry, helping him exercise his magical core. While at first Harry did not have a wand, his knowledge and previous prowess allowed him to bypass what many wizards were unable to do. It was once he got a wand that Harry’s first real surprise occurred. He had gone in, told the wand maker Ollivander that he wanted a 10 ¾’ wand, made of Holly and dragon heartstring as this was what his old wand was made out of that he had received before starting Ilvermorny. Yet it did not work, and instead was using a wand of 11’, Holly and phoenix feather. In particular the brother wand to Voldemorts. This, in Harry’s opinion, was disturbing and not interesting as the wand maker claimed. First, why would wands with the same core creature choose the two and second, this wand felt more comfortable for him than the one from his past life had. Dumbledore theorized the wand’s choosing was because of Harry having survived that night when the Dark Lord failed to kill him. When asked about it, the older wizard merely smiled and called it a hunch. To remove the trace that is placed on all young witches and wizards, Dumbledore had to ask for help from an old member of the Order of the Phoenix and member of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, Broderick Bode. The man in question was rather surly, seeming to only have helped by the request of the older wizard. The date was now September 1st, 1991 and Harry was walking through Kings Cross at 10:35 in the morning towards the hidden entrance between platforms 9 and 10. The day was unusually warm, enough that the dark haired boy had to remove the light jacket he had worn over his t-shirt. It was now covering the cage to his owl, Hedwig, that Hagrid had gotten for him as a birthday gift, though Harry had said he didn’t need one. Under the cage was his trunk that he was pushing along through the busy crowds that Sunday, the boy’s gaze constantly on the move in search of something or someone. He had arrived much later than he would have liked, but it would have to look that he arrived just before another wizarding family and his target had two things that made it easy. They were always late to the train and easy to spot due to the red hair they all shared. However, getting close to them wasn’t the main thing Harry worried about. It was pretending to be a young boy of eleven years of age, and while he may be used to having a younger body, there was no one to fine tune his attempts at acting as a child would. Finding a bench to sit at within view of the platform, Harry covertly watched his surroundings as he gathered himself. This was it, the chance he felt he didn’t deserve was finally coming to fruition and he was a nervous wreck. His mind filled with memories of his failures before he shook himself. Wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers, he glanced up at the clock near him and saw there was only fifteen minutes before the train left. ‘Where are they?’, he thought to himself. “-Packed with muggles, of course.” a woman’s voice reached out to him. Harry cricked his neck turning to see who used to wizarding term. There they were, the family he was looking for. Pushing his trolley after them, he watched as the oldest boy walked through the platform, followed closely by the twins who had aided Harry in finding Dumbledore’s office. As the woman was guiding her youngest son, Harry stopped, frozen after he had spotted the youngest Weasley. It was her, Ginny Weasley, who had been taken into the Chamber. For some reason, Harry hadn’t realized that he would be seeing her today as she wouldn’t be attending Hogwarts this year. Before he could recover, the young redhead spotted him, and shyly waved at him. ‘Better get this over with’, he thought. Stepping closer and wiping his sweating hands on his trousers, he couldn’t help but notice her hair. Not just red, but the gold and orange, it was enrapturing and he had to give himself a mental shake to stay focused. “Er.. Hi, I’m Harry.” He said while trying his best to sound and look nervous. “Ginny.” Her voice was quiet and her smile had a hint of a blush to it, something he found rather cute. The two stared each other, a few moments passed before Harry once again needed to shake himself back on track. “I er, have never been. On the platform, I mean. Do you think you could show me?” He adjusted his glasses as they had slipped down his nose from the moisture. Ginny’s mother, now watching after having sent Ron through, had a slightly amused look on her face. The young girl looked up to the older woman questioningly. “Go along, dear. I’ll be right behind.” Reaching her hand out, Ginny placed it on top of Harry’s trunk next to the cage. “Are you nervous?” Her mother’s permission seemed to have given her a bit of confidence, her voice was stronger and her face had a fierce look. Gesturing him forward, they took their first step towards the platform together. Harry watched her for a moment, deciding how best to answer her. For some reason he couldn’t quite bring himself to lie, so instead he told her the truth. “I’m more nervous about the year than getting on the train.” She looked at him with a slight frown on her face before nodding. “Where’s your family at?” Though Harry knew what she was referring to, his mind went to the people from his past life. Sirius and Remus, Hagrid and Albus, Nicolas and Grindelwald. Those six men, while each were dysfunctional on their own, together were the best family an orphan could ask for. Sirius had been in Azkaban for years, escaping to help Hagrid when he was falsely imprisoned for opening the Chamber. Remus dealt with his own inner demons surrounding his lycanthropy and hardly ever let anyone in. Albus had a very questionable past that at times clouded his judgment and forced him to give others an undeserving second chance, and sometimes being manipulative to forward his own agenda. Nicolas was a barmy six hundred year old man who thought everyone was trying to ruin his carefully grown vegetable patch. Grindelwald was a repentant dark wizard with an inferiority complex. Hagrid was probably the most normal but even he had a huge oversight on believing all magical creatures were teddy bears. Grimacing Harry answered.. “They all died.” It came out as a whisper, his eyes out of focus as his mind was preoccupied.. The girl’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth as if to apologize. “Don’t apologize, you didn’t know.” The young redhead continued to look a bit shameful but as they continued through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾ she moved her hand that was on the cart over to cover one of his. Stopping at the sight of the scarlet train, a slight smile crossed Harry’s face. Most of his family had spoken of this train, the joy and excitement they felt the first time they rode it, and the friends they had gained. As his mind reminisced, the woman from before appeared from behind them and placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, and she smiled down at Harry. “I hope you have fun at Hogwarts.” Ginny said quietly, staring longingly at the train. Harry hesitated, glancing up at her mother before responding. Even though he knew she wasn’t, he needed to act ignorant. “You aren’t going?” The young girl blushed, then looked down at her feet in embarrassment. “Ginny turns eleven next August. It will be wonderful that she’ll already have a friend when she goes.” The woman looked around real quickly. “I do wonder where my son’s have got to though.” Harry touched Ginny’s arm to get her attention, and waited until she looked up at him. “Thanks for showing me onto the platform.” He smiled softly, one which she returned, before he turned back to his trolley, leaning his light frame into the handles when he heard her call his name. “Harry, wait!” She looked very uncertain of herself. Mrs. Weasley nudged her shoulder, and when the girl looked up, the older woman nodded, leaned down and whispered into her ear. The young girl nodded and moved closer to Harry and her eyes had a blazing look to them. “Do you think… Would you write to me while you’re there?” Harry nodded and his smile widened. “Bye, Harry.” Smiling, she waved before turning to rejoin her mother, and the two moved their way through the crowd in search of their family. After they had disappeared, the young wizard continued to board the train. With some quick and quiet spellwork, he was able to lighten the weight of his trunk and with ease loaded it into an empty compartment near the back of the train. During this, his mind was weighing over if he had made the right choice in agreeing to write Ginny. He mostly wanted things to go much in the same way as before, yet things seemed to want move away from how he and Dumbledore had planned it. As he was giving Hedwig an owl treat the compartment door opened. “Well Fred, look who I found.” Harry froze. It was just his luck that they would find him this quickly. Standing in the compartment were the twins who had shown him the way to Dumbledore’s office. “Indeed George, you found our chatty friend, Mr. Nope.” The twins’ eyes glinted mischievously, but Harry just stared at them with a passive face. After a few seconds, the smiles on their faces faltered a bit and they began to look unsure of themselves. Having gained some control over the situation, Harry decided to press his advantage. “Right, it’s you guys. I never got around to thanking you two. So let’s just say I owe you one for now and you keep our first meeting a secret.” He looked back and forth between the two, his eyes piercing as he sized them up. “Assuming it still is a secret?” The two boys glanced at each other before the one on the right, Fred, he believed, spoke. “Why would it have to be a secret?” Harry continued to stare down the two boys, who began to look nervous, before sighing. Clearly these two we’re going to play dumb to try to bait him into something he didn’t want to do. With a sigh he said. “Alright, let’s get this over with. Hi, I’m Harry Potter. It’s nice to meet you, Fred and George Weasley. Yes, I have the scar on my forehead,” He lifted his bangs that covered the lightning bolt shaped scar. “No, I don’t remember what he looks like. Was there anything I missed? If not then let’s leave it, and I owe you like I said before.” Harry sat down on one of the seats, watching them out of the corner of his eye while he tried to show disinterest. Once more the twins looked at one another. “We’ll let you know if we need anything. Take care Harry!” The compartment door slammed shut behind them as Harry was finally left alone. Sighing, he reached over and opened the window for his compartment, letting the slight breeze wash over him. Outside he could see the families of students gather as they said their final goodbyes. As he sat there, he thought about how the day, as early as it was, had gone completely in another direction than he wanted. Harry knew the twins would try to talk to him, but he thought he wouldn’t have to deal with them until the train had made it to Hogwarts. “Where have you two been? Not starting trouble already?” The Weasley matriarchs voice sounded from just outside his window. The young man leaned back a bit to avoid being seen eavesdropping. “Blimey mum, we barely got onto the train.” One of the twins responded. Harry slowly leaned forward into his seat until he could see the four young red headed boys surrounding their portly mother, Ginny holding her hand at her side. “To ease your mind, we just met up with a friend we didn’t know was starting Hogwarts this year.” The other twin took up. The bespectacled boy narrowed his eyes at this, ready to slip his wand out to stop anything if needed. “Who’s that?” The youngest boy, Ron, asked skeptically as the oldest brother, the one in spec there frowned. The twins both smiled mischievously before George, who was standing next to his younger brother, wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Harry had to strain his ears to hear what he said. “Dear Ronniekins, if we told you, then we’d have to make you go into the sorting in nothing but your pants.” The black haired boy sighed in relief as Mrs. Weasley began scolding the twins. Fred took advantage of a moment when the winded woman took a breath,interrupting her in the middle of her tirade. “You know that boy that was hovering around us outside the platform?” “He said his name was Harry, and that he would owl me.” Ginny finally spoke up, though it was quiet and Harry had to strain his ears to hear her. The twins eyes bulged as they looked at their sister, and Harry had to prevent himself from laughing aloud. “Harry Potter promised to write you?” Both twins nearly shouted at her after they recovered. Harry had to be impressed due to the boys finding a way to let everyone know who he was without mentioning they’d met him before. He thought he had stayed well hidden in the train station, and them mentioning that they had seen him meant they were more observant than he had believed. Moving away from the window, Harry began to rummage through his trunk for his robes to wear once the train got closer to the school and decided it might be best to take a nap. The whistle of the train blew the final warning, the Weasley matriarch ushered her children back onto the train and wished them all a fun and safe year. As the train began to move, he leaned out the window to watch as the families passed by. Movement caught his attention and saw that Ginny was running after the train, tears streaming down her face as she waved to her brothers. Harry waved at her, and when she noticed she blushed but continued to wave back. Once the train rounded the bend and the young red head disappeared from sight, Harry sat back down and laid his head back. Hopefully his nightmares would allow him to get some rest because somehow, he just knew this day wasn’t going to get any easier. |
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