Chapter Six

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“ I'm just going to give you the summarised version,” Harry told everyone, “ Because to tell you everything that has happened to us would take a long time. When I've finished, you can ask me some questions if you like, and if you want to ask us any specific details about things we would like to keep private, I ask that you speak to us alone later.”

Harry waited while everyone nodded their acceptance. He was preparing to give them a brief summary, as there were a lot of things they wanted to keep under wraps. If they wanted to discuss the things he was going to miss out, they would have to wait and ask later. There were things he was only prepared to answer in front of certain people.

“ Alright, some of you know a little of what has happened, and others know a lot. There are people, though, who know nothing at all. For the benefit of those, I will explain things that others may already know about. I ask those that know already to bear with me.”

Taking a deep breath, Harry prepared himself and began his speech.

“ The story starts on my fifteenth birthday. Hermione gifted me with a small amulet on a chain that she had found in a shop in Sofia, Bulgaria,” Harry said, holding up the amulet for everyone to see, “ She thought it would be the perfect present for me, as it is decorated with several animals and a symbol. In the centre is a lion, much like the Gryffindor emblem, surrounded by a phoenix in flight, a winged horse, a unicorn and a lightning bolt. It wasn't until a few hours ago that I realised the significance of these symbols. That, however, will be discussed later.”

Many of the people in the room were sending each other confused glances, not seeing the relevance of this information. Harry flashed them a smile that reassured them that he did have a point, and was about to make it.

“ I thought nothing more of the amulet until I went to Diagon Alley to buy my school supplies, the same trip upon which I captured Peter Pettigrew. I saw a book about amulets in a bookshop, and decided to buy it in case mine was mentioned in there.”

Harry looked closely at everyone to see if they had picked up on how he had phrased the sentence. He did not want to say that the book shop was in Knockturn Alley, so he conveniently said `a bookshop' instead of `the bookshop', which would have implied Flourish and Blotts.

“ Earlier today, I was reading the book on the train when I found a description of it, claiming that by saying a spell it would bring great personal wealth. We decided to try it. I must stress, though, that Hermione was against the idea. We sat on our trunks in the middle of the compartment and said the words to the spell,” Harry placed the amulet of Dumbledore's desk, “ Which were `Tempus Vehere'. As many of you will know, this means `time travel' in Latin.”

Harry smirked slightly at the gasps he heard, and looked intently at the shocked faces. Some looked more surprised than others, especially the Muggles. Harry was pleased to note, though, that Hermione's parents seemed to understand the concept better than he had expected. With Hermione's intelligence, though, it wasn't that surprising. She must have gotten her brains from somewhere. Once the frantic whispering trailed off, Harry continued with his explanation.

“ Needless to say, we were most surprised when we found ourselves on the Hogwarts grounds. The sensation was similar to a portkey, so we thought we had simply been moved geographically, and we were rather shocked when we got to the castle to find four people waiting for us. We soon discovered that they were speaking Anglo-Saxon. After a quick translation charm, courtesy of Hermione, we were introduced to Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff.”

Everyone gaped at the four after this little revelation. Those who had known, such as Remus, Dumbledore and Sev, sat in amused silence as Sirius fell of his chair and Percy fainted. Molly looked about ready to cry, and most of the teachers looked as if they wanted to start asking questions about the Hogwarts founders. After enervating Percy with a wave of his hand, causing more stares, Harry carried on.

“ We were taken to Lord Gryffindor's office, where Lady Ravenclaw performed a knowledge sharing spell. We now have all the knowledge of the founders in our heads. Ancient magics, old customs and dead languages. We took our OWLs and NEWTs at the end of that year and got perfect scores in every subject. While we were there, we were taught invisibility, wandless magic, the animagus transformation, sword fighting, archery, martial arts and duelling, among other things. We were there to see the fall of Slytherin, and the end of the dark times.”

Harry gave everyone a moment for this to sink in before moving on to the next year.

“ Exactly a year to the day since we arrived, we used the amulet once again. The amulet is irritating like that. It must be used on the same day of the year, between a certain time, otherwise it won't work. It also continues to bring you forward towards your own time in three or four stages. The next place we went, as some people will remember, was 1943. There we made friends, helped to fight in the war against Grindelwald, and were captured for several months by the enemy. I witnessed the deaths of my great grandparents in a Muggle air raid in London, and helped my grandfather Eustace to overcome his grief somewhat. The four of us were also responsible for the friendship between my grandparents. While there, we saw Professor Dumbledore destroy Grindelwald, I battled with a young Tom Riddle, and the Order of the Phoenix was founded. The next stage was 1975, where we met the Marauders, played some pranks, and generally pissed Voldemort off. That was the most fun year we had, I think, apart from the battles of course.”

With a wave of his hand, Harry conjured a glass of water and took a few sips while everyone digested the information they had been given. After a moment, he looked at everyone and smiled.

“ Any questions?”

Everyone immediately raised their hands. Harry suppressed a smirk and gestured for Arthur to start.

“ Were you there when Percy died?”

Almost everyone looked at him strangely at this question, sending glances in the direction of the former Head Boy, who was looking at his father as if the man had grown an extra head.

“ Father, I'm not dead.”

“ I know you're not, son,” Arthur said with a sad smile, “ But Percy is.”

Harry decided to interject before people started questioning Arthur's sanity.

“ Mr. Weasley, I wasn't there when the event happened, but I was there straight after it. I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do, any of us could do. She was dead when we got there. She was a good friend to us, you know, and we would never let anything happen to her. We were outside at the time, trying to keep Grindelwald's followers out. Mr. Weasley, she gave her life to save others, and if she hadn't, many would have been killed in the Great Hall.”

Arthur bowed his head for a moment before turning to the curious looking Weasleys.

“ Percy was my sister. Her full name was Persephone, but we called her Percy for short. She went to Hogwarts in the 1940s, and was killed in 1943 when Dark wizards attacked the school. Harry sang at her funeral, that much I remember.”

“ Why did you never mention her?” Fred asked.

“ Because it was too painful. She went off to school and I never saw her alive again. We were very close, and I was devastated when she died. It's just nice to have other people around who knew her.”

After a moment of contemplative silence, Harry stood up and cleared his throat.

“ I think we should split up, now. If you have any questions, it would be best of you asked us individually.”

Everyone nodded, the teachers heading for Dumbledore, who obviously could give them many of the answers they were looking for. The Weasleys gathered around Ron and Ginny, and Hermione's parents went to ask for clarification. Harry went over to a corner where Remus and Sirius were waiting for him. He gave his godfather a sheepish look before looking at the ground. He felt a pressure under his chin and allowed Sirius to tip his head back. The pair looked at each other for a moment as tears started to trail down the younger man's cheeks.

“ Siri, I'm sorry,” he whispered.

“ You have nothing to be sorry about, Harry,” the older man whispered back.

“ I do. I shouldn't have humiliated you like that. Or caused you so much pain. I love you, Siri, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a real family, and I hurt you so badly. I was angry, and I took it out on you. You were only a child. You shouldn't have had to go through that,” Harry sobbed. Sirius pulled his godson into his arms and hugged him tightly.

“ Don't think about it, Harry. It's in the past, forget about it.”

“ Not for me! For me, it was only a few weeks ago!”

“ Harry, listen to me. You were angry at me. You had a right to be. I did something deeply, deeply stupid, and you punished me accordingly. I admit, I wasn't thinking when I sent Snape after Remus, but the guilt I felt afterwards, after I realised what I had done, what could have happened, was enormous. You know how you feel about Cedric Diggory? Well, it's the same sort of thing. You feel guilty for something you didn't do, but thought you could have prevented. I feel guilty about what I did, and what could have happened. We can't dwell on `could have beens'. I forgive you, for what you did. It was more than justified. I've paid for my crimes in Azkaban, I want to forget the past and concentrate on the future now. Do you think you can do that too?”

Harry looked deep into Sirius' eyes and saw only pain and honesty. His godfather was sorry, and Harry knew it.

“ We make a right pair, don't we,” he said with a sniffle.

“ We do that, Kid, we do that.”

After a while, Harry realised that time was getting on, and that the Hogwarts Express would be arriving in the not too distant future. He still had to tell everyone his opinions on what the amulet markings meant, and that would take a little explaining. Standing next to Dumbledore he cleared his throat a couple of times and waited for a response.

Harry wrinkled his brow in annoyance before trying again. There was still no change, as the volume of chatter in the room was drowning out his attempts. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and sent the headmaster a conspiratorial look before mentally linking up with everyone in the room.

Everybody visibly started and gripped their heads, falling into silence. When they realised they weren't being shouted at any more, they started to look around the room in confusion, trying to find out where the noise in their heads had come from. Harry and Dumbledore stood back and laughed in amusement as comprehension dawned on the faces of some people, while others still looked completely baffled. Taking pity on them, Harry stepped forwards and cleared his throat again, grinning when everyone whirled around to listen to him.

“ That's better. Thank you for your attention, finally. I'm sorry I had to resort to that, I don't like shouting in people's heads.”

At the confused looks Harry was getting, he rolled his eyes.

“ I'm a telepath.”

Harry smirked a little at the confused looks turned to awe.

“ Anyway, that's not the point. There's something I think I should bring to light, something that I only realised when we were about to come home. If you would please sit down, I will explain.”

Everyone did what he asked without question. Even Dumbledore looked at the Boy-Who-Lived in curiosity. He himself had never gotten a good look at the amulet, and so didn't know the significance of the markings it held. To have grabbed Harry's interest, though, they must have been important.

“ Alright,” Harry said, “ First, I want to tell everyone that there have been several instances on our travels that have led us to believe that we were meant to go there. In the time of the founders, we learned many skills that would help us here in the fight against Voldemort. At the time, we thought it was sheer luck that we were given such a once in a lifetime opportunity, but in recent years we have come to realise that many things would not have turned out as they have if we had not used the amulet. Our destinies are heavily entwined in time, so much so that any change would have brought everything we know crashing down around us. We have encountered several temporal paradoxes that cannot, as yet, be explained. We have also been present for many events that could have turned out very differently. For instance, I helped Gryffindor to defeat Slytherin, and stopped him from dying until the healer arrived. If I had not been there, Salazar Slytherin would have overrun the wizarding world with his consort, Lucifina, and all Muggles and Muggleborns would have suffered. There are also simpler things, such as the Hogwarts Express. It was created while we were there, by Helga Hufflepuff, as a way of dropping the students off around the country. It was especially useful for the Muggleborns and half bloods. While it was hundreds of years before the Muggles created steam engines, Lady Hufflepuff used what knowledge she had gained from us during the knowledge transference to build the train. We didn't necessarily know how it worked, but she used what we did know and modified it.”

“ Are you saying that Helga Hufflepuff built the Hogwarts Express?” Professor Sinistra asked.

“ Yes, I am. You see, from the mundane to the monumental, our lives are intricately woven into the fabric of time. This leads me to the markings on the amulet. As I said before, there is a lion in the centre, the significance of which I am not quite clear on. However, the other four are important. They are a unicorn, a phoenix, a winged horse and a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt is self explanatory,” he said, pointing to the visible scar on his head, “ And the others tie in with Ron, Ginny and Hermione's Order Marks.”

To prove his point, he gestured to his friends, and they each exposed their marks to the crowd. They gasped at they saw the symbols tattooed on the students' skin.

“ You see, Ron chose a thestral to represent his animagus form, Ginny chose a phoenix as she thought it matched her fiery personality and her hair. Hermione has a unicorn because she likes their purity. These are our Order marks, and they are all present on the amulet. That can't be a coincidence. We were meant to go back in time, we were meant to fight Slytherin, Grindelwald and Tom Riddle. Everything that has happened to us has been preparing us for the final battle. We have practiced on some of the worst evil wizards in history, now it's time to get rid of our very own Dark Lord. We don't know where the amulet came from, how old it is, or who made it. All I know is that we were meant to have it. I know it.”

Harry sat down and looked around the room at the people sitting before him. Everyone looked impressed and a little awed. The four of them had grown up over the last few years, more than they should have, but the teachers and families alike could all tell that they now had what it took to fight Voldemort. They had been given the knowledge, they had acquired the skills, and they had had the practice. If they worked as a team, they would be unstoppable.