Sacred is the Windswept Time

Twelve: Harry Confesses his Past to Severus and Lucius

Both boys looked up at the sound of someone entering the Slytherin Common Room, and they were faced with their friend. The boys then looked from him to the black envelopes in their hand. He had mentioned they would be receiving letters and they had, there was even a raven waiting on the mantle for the arrival of the person meant to receive its letter. Upon seeing Harry, the raven flew to the boy and dropped the envelope at the boy's feet before with a caw it flew up one of the vents meant for owls, and was gone.

Harry didn't even bend down to pick up the letter; he simply pulled out his wand and said, "Incendio!" The envelope burst into flames and Harry shook his head at the Dark Lord's arrogance. The man actually thought that no one would dare to refuse an invitation from him. Harry then turned to his friends and said, "Drop the letters or I'll burn them while you still hold them."

"Who are they from?" asked Severus.

"A madman that would see you destroyed. Now drop them. Don't you see that I'm trying to save your lives?"

Lucius narrowed his grey eyes at the boy. "How are you saving us? By telling us lies? We don't even know who you really are. Do the bloody Gryffindors?"

Harry pointed his wand, and soon the letters were engulfed in flames, both boys hurriedly dropping them. They then looked at him in surprise before he growled, "This is not the place, nor the time, but if you insist on knowing the truth, then I'll tell. Follow me!"

Harry then turned and left the common room, not even looking behind him to make sure they were following. He strode down the corridor, went up several flights of stairs, and stopped before a door, pacing before it thrice before he ventured forth and opened it, revealing a comfortable room with a fireplace, a fire lit, three four-poster beds, and three high wing back chairs, unfortunately the colors of the room were red and gold, but some things couldn't be helped as he held the door opened and Lucius and Severus stepped in, and then Harry entered and locked and warded the door behind him.

His two friends looked at him in suspicion, wondering what he was playing at before they took a seat in two of the three chairs available. They looked at him expectantly and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"If the truth is what you want then I'll give it to you. I should probably begin with who I really am. My name is not Granger, that is my friend Hermione's name, she's Hermione Jane Granger, I'm Harry James Potter," Harry said.

"Potter?" the two boys spat out together.

Harry nodded. "I'm easily mistaken for James Potter. You probably already suspected we were related. We are. I'm also related to Lily Evans. You see, after school they are going to get married, and I will be born a couple of years from now. I'm their son. Of course I was orphaned when I was a baby, but I survived the Killing Curse, which makes me one of the most famous wizards of the age. I'm the only one to ever survive it, but that was only because of my mum."

Harry went on to explain growing up with the Dursleys, discovering he was a wizard, being sorted into Gryffindor, and the next six years of his life at Hogwarts. He told them about Sirius, and about Remus. He even told them of what they would become if they joined Voldemort. Lucius was in shock when he discovered that he was the one to scar Harry's back, and Severus was thoroughly surprised that he would become a Potions professor and a spy to make amends for the many crimes he had yet to commit.

Finally when Harry finished telling them everything he sat back in his chair, exhausted. Lucius and Severus exchanged a look before Severus asked, "If what you say is true, how did you come back to this time?"

"Thyme found its way into my Sleeping Draught of Prophetic Dreams. I wouldn't be surprised if you are still cursing Neville Longbottom as we speak. You really should go easier on the bloke. He does try and really can't help himself," Harry said.

"So that explains your interest in Potions. You've been trying to get back to your own time," Lucius said.

Harry shrugged. "That was the gist of it, yeah. Dumbledore said I would more than likely have to just wait until the effects of the potion wear off, if they ever do. I may very well be stuck here for the rest of my life, but that doesn't seem so awful now."

Severus looked at the boy, no, the foolish, foolhardy Potter sitting across from him and shook his head in disbelief. "Have you any idea what damage you could do to the future if you change anything?" Severus snapped incredulously.

Harry's green eyes flashed wildly. "What could be worse than losing my parents before I ever get to know them? Or watching the lives of the friends I've made now be completely destroyed because of a stupid mistake? What is worse than living with the fact that a mad man has wanted to kill me since I was barely a year old? Sod the future. Anything I do now could only improve it!"

"What about your, well whatever it is, with Black if you are brought back to the future?" Lucius pointed out, and Harry's entire expression crumbled, but Lucius continued on. "How would you be able to face him if what you say is true and he is your godfather? As I recall it is not polite society nor is it moral for a man to fuck his godson."

"Then I guess I'll just have to get over Sirius and look toward your son, then. He always seemed like a ponce as well as a complete git," Harry shot back viciously at Lucius.

Lucius' eyes widened, and flashed dangerously before he snarled, "You will do no such thing Granger! Really, as though a Malfoy would be attracted to another boy. And one with such horrid hair, let alone a... a... Potter! Please. But do tell me, what does he look like?"

Harry rolled his eyes and then smirked. "Like his mother of course..."

"And who might she be?" Lucius persisted, but Harry simply bit back a laugh and shook his head.

"Enough of this triviality," Severus snapped. "What's important is what's already been done. By your just being here, the future has been altered Harry. If you were to go back to the future now you probably wouldn't recognize it. And what about the friends you left behind?"

"I can't think of that now. I'm going to be here for a long time, and the prophecy is going to come to pass. It's going to be in this time. I will either defeat Voldemort in this time, or be given the chance a second time when I'm a year old."

"Dammit! You really were a bloody Gryffindor! So reckless with a bloody hero complex!" Severus snarled.

Lucius stood up and looked at Severus, before stepping in front of Harry, wary of what Severus was capable of doing in an angered state. "He may very well have saved our lives, or at the very least our souls! I don't want to become my father, and what would Remus think if you became a monster? It wouldn't matter that you try to make amends, you still made that first mistake!"

Severus' eyes widened as it finally occurred to him that his future had already been altered. "Bloody hell! You saved me, Potter. You saved me from betraying Remus for what he was. If I'd seen what he became before I was ready... Oh Gods... And they... He would mate for life, so without me, he would never have anyone else... Would he?"

Harry stood and looked over Lucius' shoulder, his green eyes locking with Severus' sable ones. "So do you blame me for changing the past? Do you blame me for saving you and Lucius from yourselves? You know, I didn't ask to come back here, and meet my parents, or Sirius, or Remus. I never dreamed that I would come back to the past and meet you and Lucius and see people, boys really, who are just as human as me. Once I knew you, I couldn't let either of you be destroyed by mistakes. I care too much for you. You're my friends."

"No one can blame you, and just what in the bloody hell is Remus? This hasn't anything to do with your sudden obsession with becoming an animagus, does it, Sev?" Lucius asked in curiosity.

Severus bent his head before muttering something.

Lucius' eyes widened and he bellowed, "He's a what?!"

"Werewolf!" Severus snapped as he looked up meeting his friend's grey eyes.

"Bloody hell! And that would mean that Black, Potter, and Pettigrew are animagi?" Lucius said, jumping to the correct conclusion.

Harry nodded. "Well, done, Luci. Sirius is a large black dog. My dad is a stag, and Pettigrew is a little rat. He is the reason my parents are killed. He was my parents secret keeper and he betrayed them to Voldemort."

"The rat that you cast the memory charm on when you were talking to Dumbledore in the hospital wing..." Severus said, knowledge dawning on him.

Harry nodded, and the three friends continued to talk throughout the night, until they grew so tired that they each picked a bed and fell into sleep, welcoming the comforting blanket of unconsciousness...

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"Xavier, what has happened to my most anticipated guests? Granger has not appeared in the Graveyard, and your son, and Snape have yet to arrive. The portkey would have brought them three hours ago! Their invitations were sent as per my instructions?" the voice fell from Harry's mouth, before he realized that it wasn't his mouth and he was once again inside Tom Riddle's mind.

Xavier's eyes flashed in anger before he caught himself and said, "Of course your invitations were sent out as instructed. The others arrived, though I have no idea what happened to my son and the other two."

"Bring me Pettigrew," Tom snapped, and then with a second thought pointed his wand, and said, "Crucio."

The curse struck the man and the force behind the curse brought the proud and evil aristocrat to his knees, and when Tom finally relented on the curse the man trembled as he got to his feet. Riddle smirked at him, his once blue eyes glowing red as he said, "Now, Malfoy, see that I am never disappointed again."

Xavier Malfoy shakily got to his feet, quickly leaving the room and his master behind in search of Pettigrew, before Riddle, no, Lord Voldemort truly grew angry.

Tom Riddle, no Lord Voldemort, watched as Malfoy left from his sight and a mad smile twisted his lips. His thoughts spinning in a whirl as Harry picked up on them. Malfoy's son was in league with Granger. Somehow Granger had anticipated his move and kept them from joining his Death Eaters. Malfoy's son would pay. He would never wed Narcissa Black. She would be a necessary sacrifice to the cause... Reginald Black would understand, but if he didn't he could join his daughter... Harry felt as though he were drowning in the dark thoughts of the madman that would kill his parents in the future.

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Harry clutched at his throat as his eyes flew opened and he struggled to take air into his lungs. The rich red bed curtains around his four-poster were yanked open, but instead of being faced with Ron and Neville, as he'd expected, Lucius and Severus stared down at him, Lucius trying to shake him, and Severus pulling at his hands, to get them away from his throat, neither of them sure of what was going on.

Whatever had been constricting Harry's throat began to ease, and he sucked in huge torrents of air to fill his aching, burning lungs. His wild green eyes looked from Severus to Lucius and then he grabbed Lucius by the boy's shoulders, as the boy had nothing on except his trousers and said, "Narcissa is in danger. We have to get to her now. We must hurry. When Pettigrew gets back he will try to kill her!"

"What?" Lucius gasped. "But why?"

"To punish you," Harry wheezed and took in a few more breaths. "We weren't at the initiation ceremony. It was tonight. I destroyed the letters, our portkeys. There isn't time. We have to get to Gryffindor Tower now!"

Without further question, the boy's took up their wands and left the Room of Requirement where they'd previously slept. They followed Harry up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and there they met an obstacle. The woman looked huffily at the scantily dressed boys, Lucius in nothing more than his trousers and socks, Severus in his Oxford shirt, which was only half buttoned, and in his trousers and socks, and Harry in his trousers, his shirt unbuttoned and his feet bare.

Harry paced back and forth for a moment, wracking his brain over the password, before something struck him. His father was Head Boy; so maybe this week it was his turn to choose a password. Harry took a deep breath, hoping that luck was once again on his side before he said, "Slytherin house prats."

The fat lady's eyes widened, but since he had said the password she swung open for the three boys and they quickly entered. Lucius looked at the two sets of stairs, one leading to the boys' dormitories, the other leading to the girls', and tried to take the left one to the girls' dorms, when the steps rudely deposited him back to the floor.

Lucius swore, and Severus rolled his eyes as Harry used a levitation charm on himself and bypassed the stairs all together. The other two boys followed his example and soon they were on the floor of the Gryffindor girls' dormitories. Harry remembered where the seventh year girls' dorms were in his time, as he'd been up there a couple of times and Hermione had given him the tour, only because she was certain that he wasn't a threat to a girl's reputation.

Harry took them to the door at the far end of the corridor and holding his breath opened it. He looked in, and seeing one of the bed curtains opened and recognizing the girl as a seventh year realized that he'd made the right choice. The other three beds had their curtains drawn, but that didn't hinder Lucius as he entered the dorm without a second thought and began to pull open the bed curtains. It was the second four-poster that he came to that belonged to Narcissa Black. Not caring about anything else he pulled the sleeping girl into his arms, startling her awake. As her eyes flew open and she realized that she was being held against a warm, firm, bare chest, she nearly screamed, but upon looking up her blue eyes met worried grey and instead of feeling fear, she felt warmth and safety. She let out the breath that had been building for a scream slowly and looked questioningly at the Slytherin boy, her betrothed, holding her. She wondered if he knew that she'd received a letter from her father about her being engaged to him.

"Lucius," she whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Tears rose to his eyes and as he blinked they escaped and trailed down his cheeks. She lifted her hand to brush them away, and then looking up she noticed two other Slytherins, both scantily dressed looking upon the both of them, one of them, the one that looked like James was smiling, a look of relief on his face, while the other one, a boy with long dark hair and pale skin just stared in shock at how Lucius held the girl in his arms.

"What is going on?" she asked, but the boy that looked like James, shook his head and said, "We have to get out of here. James has his own room on the boy's side. I would say we could go to my mother's room, but she doesn't know any of this. He'll probably be in the dorm with the other seventh years, but once I wake him up he'll let us into his room. Narcissa, you're going with us. Any objections?"

Her eyes widened, wondering what exactly was going on. She looked at Lucius, and knew that she couldn't make any objections with him looking at her like he'd almost lost her, before he realized what a treasure she was.

Lucius stood up from the bed and gathered her in his arms, and then the three Slytherin boys and the Gryffindor girl, held protectively in the arms of one of the boys, quietly crept from the dormitory, then down the hall, and down the stairs, before they took the right stairwell to the boys' side. Harry went into the Seventh year boy's dorm room, and a moment later he walked out of the room with a somewhat sleepy James Potter in tow, and James led them to the door at the end of the hall.

Once they were inside James' Head Boy room, James looked at the four of them, three half-dressed Slytherins, and Narcissa Black in her light blue nightgown, being carried by Lucius Malfoy. James locked and warded the door, and Lucius carried Narcissa over to the bed and put her down gently on top of it. She looked up at him questioningly and he simply shook his head and kissed her gently on the lips before he told her that she was safe, he wouldn't leave her side, that it was best if she went to sleep.

James was just watching in shock as Lucius pulled the covers of his bed over the girl and swept her hair back from her face. Still she was having none of it, as she swatted his hand away and looked about the room.

"All right, three Slytherins have snuck into Gryffindor Tower, kidnapped me and now I'm in the Head Boy's room with them and the Head Boy, will someone kindly tell me what in all of hell is going on before I begin to throw hexes around?" she snapped and brandished her wand from the sleeve of her nightgown.

James expression echoed what Narcissa had said, as he looked at his son and the two Slytherins. "I find that I quite agree with Narcissa. So what is it, Harry?" he asked sternly, his arms crossed over his chest as his gaze met and locked with his son's.

"Well, Dad, the war has begun," Harry said with a shrug before he took a seat in one of the plump chairs by the unlit fire place. Pointing his wand at the wood in the hearth he said, "Incendio," and a fire soon crackled nicely, serving to warm and lighten up the room.

"Dad?" Narcissa questioned, as she looked at the change in James, at what Harry had said.

James seemed to have been struck a blow. The Gryffindor then looked from Lucius to Severus and then at the boy that had taken a seat in one of the four chairs in his room and lit a fire.

"You told them?" James asked.

"We are his friends. Don't you think we had a right to know?" Lucius asked, and then Severus cut in, "And he has quite a few Gryffindor qualities, no doubt your foolishness as well, considering the things he's changed. He's yours through and through, but it's nice to know he has finer qualities that make him a better man than you."

James flushed in embarrassment, but before he could reply Harry spoke.

"A muggle family was murdered earlier today, and I ruined Voldemort's plans to recruit my friends. He was particularly interested in them, and as punishment for Lucius not showing up at the initiation he was going to send Peter to kill Narcissa. You see, Narcissa's hand in marriage has been given to Lucius, and they are rather fond of each other. Besides as much as I don't like the git, he's got a role to play in Lucius' life, and Lucius will be a better father this go around, I can feel it."

"A son?" Lucius asked, finally believing what Harry had told him earlier.

Harry nodded. "But he's a few years in coming, like me."

"What's he talking about?" Narcissa asked in confusion.

James took a deep breath and then said, "Narcissa, I would like to introduce you to my son, Harry James Potter. He's seventeen years old, and he's from twenty years in the future. He's turned out well, hasn't he?"

Narcissa's mouth fell open as she looked at the boy that was almost the exact replica of James Potter and then her eyes widened as she swallowed thickly and said simply, "Oh Goddess, he has Lily's eyes."