Harry Potter and The Past

Harry Potter and The Past: Chapter 3

Snape was a very observant person, so he realized right away what Harry was hinting at, that he didn't want anyone to know of his attempted suicide. Snape shot a look to Harry, then directed it at Ginny, asking about her. Harry answered by looking at the scars, then looking to her, indicating that she already knew.

The others watched this exchange, not understanding. Then it hit Ginny, and she understood. She knew that Snape had seen Harry around the age of seven. Apparently Snape had seen the healing wrists then, but it had probably been wiped from his memory by accidental magic. The reason he was remembering now was that accidental magic wasn't as strong as magic that was cast on purpose. The other two figured that out, but still couldn't understand what else was going on between them. Then Snape said, "Harry, I think it's important that they know everything. But I won't tell them, I'll leave that up to you. Am I right that you haven't told anyone other than Miss Weasley, soon to be Mrs. Potter judging by the way you two carry on, about that occurrence?" Harry nodded. Snape shrugged, then said, "It's up to you."

The other three grownups looked back and forth, not understanding what was going on. So, they just went back to their original plan. Madame Pomfrey said, "Harry, there's a potion we would like you to take, and a spell we'd like to cast on you. Do you agree to this?"

"No, because I can tell you what happened in the past, by myself. And I'll tell what state of mind I'm in, totally in love," he answered, kissing Ginny. They looked suspiciously at Snape, who just shrugged, obviously miffed. Harry came to his rescue, "No, he didn't tell me anything. Maybe you just shouldn't put all of your thoughts out there, for anyone to read at their pleasure."

Suddenly Professor Trelawney came in the door. "I felt I was needed here. Harry, you must tell them, or it could have dire consequences. I already know what is going on. If you don't tell them, I'll have to. I tried to do the same after Voldemort killed my master, whom I loved, and who loved me back. If he had lived I might be a better seer, and I would be much happier. I just see very important things that influence the future, dividing it into two paths, that are totally different. If you don't tell them, you'll end up trying it again towards the end of the war. Then you will succeed, and that will leave the world defenceless against the Dark Lord. If you tell them, you will still attempt it in the end, but you will be saved, and be able to destroy evil for a while. You-Know-Who will certainly not be the last. Evil will always be in the hearts of humans. It can never be vanquished completely. There is no one that is totally pure, but we can fight for the light. Everyone can be corrupted, given enough time. Anyone can be brainwashed. With some it just takes longer. You-Know-Who has a lot of practice in that area, almost as the people that did the Spanish Inquisition. Remember, they were the people that tortured people, until they confessed to something they usually didn't do, just to end the pain. Then they were killed."

Harry had memories of killing the wizard who had put the pope at that time under the imperious curse. The Muggles didn't know, but many of the people that were killed back then were wizards. Grindelwald had used the same technique with Hitler. At the end Hitler had started to get free from the imperious curse, but was killed first. That was why there was a rumour about Hitler having a split personality. Napoleon was the same story, and at the end the wizard had killed him, after he had lost his usefulness. Many of the Muggles who had killed so many people hadn't been in control of their actions. Latter the Muggles found signs that they had died from lead poisoning. However, they didn't know that they had gotten the lead in their system after they had committed the cruel deeds. It one of the ways to calm the Muggles, so that they didn't panic.

Recently, however, more Muggles were doing terrible things, and without wizards backing them up. One of the things that they did on their own were those religious wars. The English wizards were disgusted with how the English muggles treated Ireland, Scotland and Wales. But they did give the Irish, Scottish and Welsh wizards their freedom. Since the wizards of Ireland, Scotland and Wales didn't feel like building their own wizarding school, they went to Hogwarts. All the wizards had helped the Irish as well as they could during the great famine. Through the conjuration of food they saved many lives, even though the famine still stole the lives of so many.

Trelawney continued her speech, "There is no solid good, nor evil. There is only our perspective of it. I am certain that you-know-who believes that he is doing right, even if we don't agree. Does this make him believe anything different though? No, he still believes that what he is doing is right. And it's just as right, as it is wrong."

Snape was the first one to understand what she was talking about, and strangely, it all made sense. He had once believed that he was doing what was right. He had afterwards changed his mind, but he had always fought for what he believed in. He had always believed that he was fighting for the side that was good, even while working for Voldemort.

Harry did what she told him to do, and he held up his wrists for the others to see the scars on them. Sirius gasped, "Harry, when you do that?"

"When I was about seven."

"Why?"

"Why not? I didn't have anything to live for. I had lost hope. I didn't know that the wizarding world existed. I didn't know that anyone cared about me. I thought that I was better off dead."

"How could this happen in the future again?"

"Through many factors. I could lose someone very close to me. I could defeat Voldemort, and after being depressed for a while, think that I had fulfilled my purpose in life and try to end it. It could also be something that I won't know about until then. Only time can tell."

The memories passed through Harry's brain: the satisfying pain that seemed to wash away all his worries, the blissful darkness that took over his eyesight. And then the terrible waking, the waking to find that he was still alive, and that he had failed to even kill himself. He had wanted nothing more at that moment then to die.

He shook off the memories. Now he had a girlfriend: he didn't want to lose her, or force her to live without him.

Ginny looked at her love with worry. He didn't seem to be really himself that day. She reasoned that he must be having troubles with all the memories that were resurfacing. He had never wanted anyone else to know about his problems at home, he had just wanted not to have them any longer.

Trelawney looked over at Harry, knowing what would happen, and also knowing that he would never get over it. She knew that he would often try to commit suicide, because of this and other things. In the end, when Ginny died, he would succeed. But then he would be pulled straight into the next life, and then he would learn about his past lifetimes after he had joined the side that was often deemed evil. She didn't know if he would then return to the side that he was on now.

Harry was getting annoyed, and just wanted to get out. Then he got a mischievous glint in his eyes, as he remembered a secret passage that was built into the bed he was on at the moment. He whispered the password, and it looked to the others as if he just suddenly disappeared. Harry and Ginny were going through the passage that connected this room to his ex-private quarters. You see, he had never liked the hospital, and had secretly built this passage to get away in the middle of the night. He had been in the hospital wing so much, that the bed had been officially called his. They never put him in any other bed, and they never found out how he always escaped. He smiled ruefully; some things never changed, he still didn't like being in the hospital wing.

Ginny realized how Godric, now Harry, had always escaped the hospital wing. She couldn't believe that she hadn't figured it out herself. He had always had a tendency to get in and out of the wing a little too quickly. They soon arrived in Godric and Rowena's bedroom, then left it to go to their dorms. When they arrived there they found that they had the entire tower to themselves, because the others had already left. Their friends had left a note that said 'goodbye'. They didn't have the slightest idea about what had happened to him since he had woken up that morning.

Lavender was a bit of an outsider in their group, and she often hung around with Parvati. She understood it, and let it be. She was often to be found snuggling with Ron, when he wasn't otherwise preoccupied. They both had come to a silent agreement, 'We will always be there for each other if needed, and we will spend all our free time with each other.' They loved each other, but they both knew that Ron had a bigger role to play in the war than she did. All she could do would be to hope and pray for his well-being.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were cuddling. For the moment, when they were like this, they could just forget the war. They could just forget everything except the love and passion they felt for each other.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched from the shadows by a certain rat with a silver paw. Peter was thinking about how he could balance the life debt owned to him. He was beginning to wish he had never joined the dark lord. He had had such wonderful friends, and had given them up to save his pitiful life. What was his life worth now? He was just scum that was swept away with the morning trash. He might as well just transform here and now, turn himself into the ministry, and end his existence. He would tell them of The Dark Lord's plans first, and help them in any way he could, before he was destroyed. He didn't even think that he deserved what he had now. He was a worthless fool, who had accomplished nothing in his life, other then pain, death and destruction. He was just another one of those who had been too afraid of their master to betray him. Where was that Gryffindor title he had had? He had been in Gryffindor, and he had better start earning himself the title. It was time to turn himself in, no matter the cost. He transformed himself again.

Harry and Ginny were extremely surprised when Peter transformed I front of them. He confessed that he wanted to leave his ex-master. He said that he would be happy to serve Harry, because of all that he had done to him. Harry declined his offer, however, much to Ginny's relief. She didn't want her boyfriend to have a slave, just because of something that had happened in the past. Harry asked Ginny to change into a raven and take a note to Dumbledore, asking him to come alone and bring a truth potion with him. Harry wanted to test Peter, to see if he was telling the truth. If he was, then he'd be taken in, and protected from all the others.

Dumbledore arrived shortly. He wondered what all the commotion was about, why he couldn't bring any of the others and why he should bring a truth potion. When he went in the door, however, he realized exactly what was going on. He saw Harry, Ginny and Peter Pettigrew calmly drinking tea together, and acting as if they had know each other for years. When he entered, Peter gave him his cup, to put the potion in. "If I have it alone, it gives me a stomach ache. Please be considerate, and put it in this lovely tea. I will be more then grateful. I really hate feeling ill. A house-elf friend of Harry's brought us this lovely tea. Do you want some too?"

Dumbledore was a little taken back. "Why, I'd love to. Let me put some of the potion in your cup then. But do drink most of it before I do that, because we don't want the tea to go to waste, do we now?" The others shook their heads, and thus began a small tea party up in the tower.

After Peter had finished most of his tea, the headmaster put the truth-potion it. It turned out that Peter's Gryffindor side, the side which the sorting hat had seen, had finally kicked in. He no longer wanted to do things just because he was afraid of the consequences. He wanted to set everything right again, as far as it was possible for him. He was even willing to turn himself into the ministry, to save Sirius. He had seen what Voldemort was trying to accomplish, and it was nothing but death and destruction. He started to hate himself for doing all the stuff he had done, and wanted to make things right again.. Harry said, "A coward just gives into their foe. The strongest and bravest are those who have fallen into this trap but then manage to escape and admit their faults. Snape is one of them, and now we have another. Many who call themselves brave, would beg for mercy, if it meant that they would not die. The human race's deepest instinct is to stay alive. Those who can resist that and continue fighting for what they believe in are really the strongest. There are those who have strayed down that path and come back, but they shall never forget what they did. I'm quoting from a movie series, 'Those who start down the dark path, forever it will dominate their destiny. There is no going back to the beginning, you can only do your best to prevent it from happening again."

Peter soaked up the words, realizing how true they were. He would never be able to forgive himself for what he had done, but he would try to stop it from happening again. He would be a spy. He was always one of the first to be told of Voldemort's plans. He knew everything that would happen, and it would be a shame to give up that chance to help thwart his ex-master. He would try his best to make right what he had done. He had to do everything within his power to destroy Voldemort. Then, hopefully, he would be forgiven by those he had wronged. He wanted others to forgive him. Most of all, he wanted to forgive himself, but he didn't believe that he could ever could. He suggested that he become spy, and the others agreed with him. All swore secrecy, in case anyone else was a spy, or joined the opposite side.

The days passed by. Peter warned them of all the attacks, they stopped them, and then were honoured as heroes, while the one who should be honoured as a hero was thought dead. Peter was never allowed to participate in the attacks, in case he might be seen. Besides, Voldemort didn't believe that he actually had the guts to perform the killing curse. He didn't think that Peter was brave enough to do anything to thwart him, and was also not brave enough to risk a life's imprisonment in Azkaban. Peter was rather glad of this.

Harry kept in contact with Peter. He had remembered a potion that enabled people to link minds together, and had used it with Peter. That way, Peter could be around Voldemort all the time, and thus not be suspected. He could just think towards Harry, without any sign on his face or body that he was doing so. Harry had never shared the info about this potion with anyone. Since he was the one who had discovered it, he was the only one who knew it existed. He and Salazar had already known about their past lives before they had founded Hogwarts. It was a mystery to all how they had got along well enough to create the school. They had both known that it would be important to them at some point in their future.

During the reat of the vacation, Harry and Ginny grew even closer than before. Many thought that you couldn't be any closer than they were. They were with each other during every free moment, seemed to be able to know exactly what the other was thinking, and seemed to be able to speak telepathically. The onlookers didn't realize that they actually could. Harry had himself, Peter, Ginny and Dumbledore all on the same line.

Sirius and Remus, like most of the rest of the people who knew what had really happened, didn't have the slightest idea that Peter had returned to the light side. The less people that knew, the more likely it was that Peter wouldn't be found out. Harry felt a little guilty about not telling the two marauders, but knew that it was necessary. He thought that they would hate him in the future when they found out, but he knew that it wasn't time for them to know yet. It was against the way things were supposed to happen. Even if it hurt him not to tell, he couldn't.

Ginny knew that not telling the two marauders was hurting Harry, even though he tried to hide it. She tried to convince him to tell them, but he wouldn't. He kept on saying that it was for the best. But he still agonized. She couldn't stand to watch how he suffered over such a small matter. He wanted to tell, but he couldn't. She decided that it he didn't tell them, then she would. Harry was being eaten up inside by this secret. He knew that he couldn't tell, but he also couldn't not tell. He had started losing sleep over this matter, but did a spell to hide it. Ginny saw the enchantment, but she also saw how tired he was in the morning. She decided to confront him. But first she would talk to Dumbledore. She couldn't and wouldn't let him be taken away from her. She had made up her mind, and was going to go through with it. Nothing was going to stop her.

When Ginny came in and started speaking to him extremely fast, Dumbledore only understood that it had something to do with Harry. He finally got her to speak slower, and found out what was going on. If someone wanted to talk about Harry, most people listened very carefully. They wanted to stop Trelawney's prophecy from coming true. Dumbledore was shocked at what Ginny was telling him. He hadn't thought that it would put such pressure on Harry not to tell his godfather. It dawned on him that they had a father-son relationship. He had never really thought about it before. He decided to tell Harry that he could tell Sirius and Remus about Peter.

Later that day, Harry was sitting with his friends and his girlfriend. They were playing different games. Right now they were playing a Muggle game called truth or dare. It was Harry's turn, and he chose Ron, who chose truth. Harry asked, "Did you once have a crush on Hermione?"

"Yes, when I saw her at the Yule Ball last year. I got over that crush the summer after that though. Then I found out that the one I really liked was Lavender." He then kissed Lavender, who was blushing.

Then when he was about to choose someone, Remus burst in the door. He said, "Harry, the headmaster wants to see you, Sirius and I. I'm extremely curious, what about you? I hope that Padfoot didn't do any mischief..."

Harry laughed, and followed his ex-professor, not noticing that the twins had started whispering after the word Padfoot had fallen. They were wondering how Harry knew Padfoot, and if they could meet him too. They were also wondering if Harry might know the other marauders as well. Being Weasleys, they knew about Sirius being innocent, because their mother had told them during the summer. They started wondering if Harry might have a closer connection to them, than just knowing them. They didn't guess that one of them was Harry's father, and another one was Harry's Godfather.

Prongs' son was walking along Moony, while Padfoot followed as a big black dog. Lately the Slytherins had begun to annoy Harry and Co. again. (They had laid off for a while, scared of being put into Gryffindor, like had happened to Draco.) Harry decided to hold council with the twins, to think of tricks to play to avenge themselves. Those guys were going to rue the day they decided to pick on the new generation of marauders. They had asked some of the girls to join, but only Ginny had. The others weren't interested. Hermione had even tried to get them to lay off the idea. They told her that they would, but didn't mean it.

They arrived at the headmaster's office before they knew it, and had to wait until he had finished his conversation with Snape. Sirius barely refrained from turning into his normal form, just to taunt Snape. While waiting, the wildest possibilities crossed their minds about why they were there. Sirius was thinking that Dumbledore might have figured out that he was the one who played the prank on Snape. Remus was thinking that he was probably being brought into something that Sirius had done. Harry was worried that someone had died, or that Peter had been caught. Those were only some of the things that passed through their minds. Sirius was mostly thinking of pranks he had played that hadn't been solved. Remus was mostly wondering what Sirius had done this time. Harry was imagining the worst possible things that could happen, such as death, destruction, betrayal, etc. He finally sent a message to Dumbledore asking him to wrap it up. Dumbledore did, and they entered. Dumbledore spoke, "There's something I'd like to tell you, that happened during the winter vacation..."

End of Chapter 3