Chapter 4 - Halloween (II)

It was 2004. Or better said, it was the last night of 2004. In a few minutes, it would be a new year, 2005.

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!"

"Cheers!"

Nearly fifty people raised their glasses in the air and toasted. It was the New Year party and most of the partygoers were players from Puddlemore United and other members of the club. Everyone was in very high spirits as they indulged in alcohol to their heart's content and the dancing floor was crowded. They were having a blast.

"Easy there with the Firewhisky, Potter, you won't get to see to the New Year fireworks at this rate!" came a loud shout from the stage in front of the dancing floor.

A tall and well-built brown-haired man in his early 30s had come up on the stage and shooed away the singers that the team had hired for that occasion. He was none other than Oliver Wood, the Keeper on the starting team of Puddlemore United. It was Oliver Wood that introduced Harry Potter to the world of Quidditch, in the Gryffindor team, and then to his first professional team too.

With the music stopping, the dancing couples also stopped and turned to look at the person in question: a 24-year-old Harry Potter was sitting at a table and nursing a glass of Firewhisky all alone. He was of an average height and a bit thin - which worked well for his position as a seeker - but nobody would dare underestimate him, the Vanquisher of Voldemort. In fact, he was the centre of attention wherever he went.

"Before we all get piss drunk I want to say a few words: Puddlemore United rocks!"

A chorus of cheers and whistles came from the crowd.

"We have won the championship for five years in a row! Let's do it again next year!"

Another roaring cheer came from the people below.

"We are a great team... ...but none of this would have been possible without Harry Potter, the Undefeated Seeker! Therefore, let's give a round of applause for Harry!"

Everyone clapped and cheered loudly but he seemed not happy enough with their enthusiasm.

"Come on, people, a little more appreciation here! Make some noise!" he yelled and moved his hands animatedly.

The crowd erupted into even louder cheers and many started laughing. Oliver Wood was rather infamous for his fanaticism when it came to Quidditch. To him, Harry Potter was a hero more because of the role he had in Puddelmore United winning five championships and England winning the World Cup rather than his feat of killing the Dark Lord.

But when Oliver Wood tried to speak some more, he was thrown off the stage courtesy to a kick in the butt.

"Aye, aye, we all know Puddlemore is the best. We all know that Potter is great and all that too. But we're here to drink not listen to your drunken speeches, Wood!" the captain of the team's voice rang loudly after he kicked the Keeper off the stage, eliciting laughter from the other people.

The band members resumed their positions on the stage and started to perform again, much to Harry's relief. It was not that he was a big fan of the loud music blasting in his ears but he would rather not interact too much with other people that night. He was there just to get himself drunk.

'Maybe I shouldn't have come to this party.' he thought with a grimace. 'Everyone is at the Burrow now, celebrating... they've all settled down, married, and even made some children. I'm the only one still living like a vagabond.'

That thought made him sigh. His relationship with Ginny had not worked. Soon after the war, the two of them were hired by two opposing Quidditch teams. Now, Harry was playing for Puddlemore United while Ginny was playing for Holyhead Harpies. They lived in different parts of the country with their respective teams. The distance and the lack of quality time spent together as a couple had been a big factor that led to them breaking up but Harry could also not deny that besides their passion for Quidditch, the two of them had very different personalities. There was no bad blood between the two of them, it was a decision that they had made together.

'Ron and Hermione are married, Ginny is now engaged to Dean, Bill and Fleur have a child... heck, George got married, and even that ponce, Percy, has found someone too.'

This time around, all the Weasleys had gathered together for the New Year at the Burrow. Even Charlie had taken some time off and returned from Romania. Naturally, Harry had been invited as well but he knew better than to take them up for it.

'Feeling lonely among friends would be even worse than feeling lonely among strangers.' he thought with a mental chuckle.

After he and Ginny broke up, Harry and the Weasleys slowly started to drift apart. It was just not pleasant for him to go at the Burrow and have dinner with them while his ex-lover sat at the table, right next to him. The looks that the rest of the family were throwing at them were not comfortable either. As years passed by, his visits to the Weasleys became rarer, until Ginny and Dean announced their engagement - a moment from which his visits came to a full stop.

"Cheer up, mate, what's with you? It's the New Year!" one of his teammates said and patted him on the shoulder. But he did not wait for an answer. He quickly left, making a beeline toward a girl that was throwing suggestive looks at Harry's table. Harry chuckled at his teammate's eagerness to hook up with someone.

Out of habit, he looked at his wristwatch. The limb indicating the minutes coincidentally moved at that moment on 12. It was a new year.

At 12 o'clock exactly, out of nowhere, an intense pain almost made him black out. It was as if someone had suddenly split his forehead open with an axe.

He stood up on wobbly feet, both due to his drunkenness and because of the terrible headache. The loud music, the semi-darkness, and the flickering disco lights made it so nobody noticed his strange behaviour.

The moment he exited the main hall, he collapsed on the corridor outside, on his knees, with both of his hands pressing hard on his forehead. He did not understand why did his scar suddenly start to hurt that badly. He had not felt any pain from it ever since Voldemort died at Hogwarts, 6 years before.

His sight blurred and a vision appeared in his mind.

A large group of people dressed in black robes and wearing skull masks surrounded an oddly-shaped house. It was the Burrow.

"Kill them all!" a cold voice ordered.

At that command, the over 40 skull-masked people raised their wands and aimed at the house. As one, over 40 fire bolts burst forth.

With all the mental strength and willpower he could muster, Harry shook himself out of the vision. His head was pounding and his heart was beating as if to burst out of his chest.

"This can't be!" he said in disbelief and fear.

Momentarily, he could not understand how was it possible that he had seen that vision. The only reasonable explanation was that Voldemort was no longer dead. That the Dark Lord had returned.

'But Dumbledore said he was supposed to be dead for good!' he thought in despair.

The similarity between this vision and what happened in his fifth year was not lost to him. Voldemort had once lured him to the Ministry of Magic by showing him images of Sirius, captured and suffering at his hands. He knew that it could be a trap but there was also a chance that it was legitimate, like when he had saved Mr Weasley's life after Nagini's attack.

He climbed up to his feet with difficulty by supporting himself against the wall. Grabbing his wand, he closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to Apparate to the Burrow. But all he managed to do was to twirl in place, lose his balance, and fall on the floor. He was too drunk to Apparate, he could not concentrate.

He did not give up. He tried again and this time he succeeded.

With a loud pop, he Apparated at the edge of the lake close to the Burrow. It was midnight and there were no lamposts anywhere around. But it was not dark... ...the demolished Burrow was in flames. Above the ruined house, a green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth was shining brightly. It was the Dark Mark.

Six years after his defeat, Voldemort came back to life and Harry had been too late to save the Weasleys from his wrath. Ron and Hermione, Arthur and Molly, Ginny and Dean, George and Angelina, Charlie, Percy and his wife, and Bill, Fleur, and their child - they were all dead.

⁂ Back to the present ⁂

Harry woke up with a start.

"Bugger."

He sat up and wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his pyjama top. He had not had a nightmare for more than a decade. After the Weasleys' deaths in 2005, he had seriously studied Occlumency to learn how to protect his mind from Voldemort. Furthermore, after more than 15 years, he had come to terms with what happened. He had stopped blaming himself and moved on.

'Bloody puberty.'

Although his mind was that of a grown-up, his body was still that of an 11-year-old boy. His previously fool-proof Occlumency did not work quite as well as it used to before due to his body's hormones. The substances secreted by one's body would influence their brain, their thought process, their dreams, and so on. Adding to that the fact that he had been paying close attention to Hermione the entire day to make sure she would not get killed by the troll, it had led to his mental defence slipping up.

Standing up, he took off his sweaty pyjamas and put on some day clothes, his jacket, a hat, and a pair of leather gloves. He went to his trunk and tapped with the tip of his wand two times on one lock and four times on the other one before casting a mental Unlocking Charm. Then, he grabbed his Nimbus 2000 from inside.

A Silencing Charm made sure that the hinges of the window would not squeak. After throwing one last look at his dormmates and seeing that they were all asleep, he mounted his broom and flew out through the window. Once he was out, one simple swish of his wand made the window close after him.

⁂

It was the night of Halloween, past midnight. The air was chilly and humid, not exactly the best conditions for flight. But he did not mind the cold because it reinvigorated him and cleared up his muddled head.

He breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, in bliss, as he circled slowly around the grand castle. He absolutely loved flying. Not even three Wizarding Wars had managed to curb his passion for flying.

'Can't wait for the next year. Can't wait to grow up.'

He chuckled at that thought because it sounded exactly like what an 11-year-old boy would say. But he truly wanted to be just a bit older, to be allowed to play Quidditch again. To not have to sneak out in the middle of the night to fly on his broom.

First-year students were not allowed to own a broom at Hogwarts and they could only fly during the classes taught by Madam Hooch. It was a reasonable rule, set to prevent any accidents from happening because many first years still had difficulties with controlling their magic. Nonetheless, Harry had bought a Nimbus 2000 and smuggled it into the school secretly. Not even his dormmates were aware of it.

As he flew above the Hogwarts grounds, he noticed a group of seven people walking towards the castle. Four of them were having their wands raised above their heads, illuminating the way with the Lumos Charm active on the tips of their wands.

Protected by the darkness of the night and due to the height at which he was flying, Harry was not worried about them noticing him but he still cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, just in case.

When he flew closer, he recognized the identity of the seven people. The four that were leading the way with their wands were wearing trench coats and had an air of vigilance about them.

'Aurors? What are they doing here in the middle of the night...are they here for the troll?'

When his eyes moved towards the other 3 people, he was surprised. Even in the pale light of the wands, Lucius Malfoy's long platinum blond hair was unmistakable. The middle-aged woman walking next to him was easy to recognize too: it was his wife, Narcissa Malfoy. As for the last one, it was a short and plump man, wearing a bright green bowler hat. Despite that more than 20 years had passed since Harry had last seen Cornelius Fudge, he had not forgotten him and how much damage and death his cowardice and hunger for political power had caused in Great Britain back in his fifth year of school.

'Why are they all here?' he could not help asking himself again. 'There's no way that the Minister of Magic himself and the haughty Malfoys would come to Hogwarts with a team of Aurors in tow, in the middle of the night, for no reason... Did someone actually die?'

Given the situation - a troll was on the loose in a school of children - it was not a far fetched thought, especially since he knew that in his past life Hermione would have been killed by the troll if it had not been for him and Ron.

But when he asked himself who died this time around, his eyes fell on the blonde woman next to Lucius Malfoy.

'If it had been a random student, Narcissa would have had no reason to tag along in her high heels, through the mud, in the middle of the night. Blimey! Did Draco die?'

He almost burst into laughter, out of sheer surprise at the unexpected situations that kept popping up.

'First, it was Snape. Now, it's probably Draco.'

When the seven people arrived in front of the gates of Hogwarts, a chill went down Harry's back. It was his sixth sense, an aptitude for sensing magic, a skill that he had acquired and honed over the course of three wizarding wars in his past life. His instincts had been refined to the point that they were as sharp as those of a wild beast.

'Someone just cast a spell. Dark magic.'

Although he had not seen any flashes of light, he was sure of it. Not all spells created visual effects when cast; furthermore, as Dumbledore had once told him, magic always left traces. Especially Dark Magic. After spending his life fighting against an immortal Dark Lord, it had become a requirement for him to understand and sense Dark Magic just as well as his enemies, if only to know how to combat against it if nothing else.

It was when one of the Aurors knocked with his fist loudly against the gates that Lucius Malfoy raised his wand at the back of Minister Fudge, for no reason.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Hearing the chant, the four Aurors instantly turned around in a panic... ...only to watch in horror how Cornelius Fudge collapsed on the ground lifelessly, with a flash of green light. If the Aurors had been calm enough to look at Lucius Malfoy, they would have seen that there was a small smile on his face - something completely unnatural given that he had been furious until then, due to the death of his son.

However, after witnessing the leader of the government being killed under their eyes, who could blame them? When Lucius started chanting again, the Aurors had come back to their senses.

"Avada Ke-"

A disturbing sound of bones being crushed to bits was heard and blood and pieces of flesh splattered everywhere as an Auror's Reductor Curse blasted Lucius Malfoy's head into a gory paste. Then, Narcissa Malfoy's shriek of terror shattered the silence of the night.

⁂

Sensing the spike of Dark Magic from behind the group of seven people and then seeing Lucius Malfoy casting the Killing Curse on the unsuspecting Minister, Harry was shocked. Regardless, he quickly got a hold of himself and zoomed away on his broomstick, back to the Ravenclaw Tower. Dumbledore was undoubtedly going to be there in a matter of minutes. He did not want to risk being found anywhere close to the crime scene.

Even 20 minutes after he returned to his dorm and lied in his bed, Harry could not fall asleep.

'What reason did Malfoy have to kill Fudge? Weren't they best friends? And why do it in the open, and in front of four Aurors no less? That's completely unlike him!'

Lucius Malfoy was not like his immature son, brash and impulsive, nor was he wearing his heart on his sleeve. Lucius Malfoy was a very slippery and cunning man, he had proved it through his actions. He had managed to crawl his way up from almost being thrown for life in Azkaban to becoming the Minister's most trusted advisor and one of the Governors of Hogwarts too. A man of his intelligence would never assassinate the Minister of Magic with so many witnesses around.

'That spike of Dark Magic that I sensed just a few moments before Malfoy cast Avada Kedavra - Merlin, it was the Imperius Curse! It had to be! It's the only way Malfoy's actions make any sense.'

Reaching that conclusion, Harry could not reign in a guffaw.

'How ironic.' he thought and giggled.

Ten years ago, Lucius Malfoy had avoided Azkaban by claiming that he had been Imperiused. Tonight, he was actually put under the Imperius Curse for real and forced to kill the Minister of Magic. He also got his head blown up by the Aurors. Harry giggled some more at that thought.

After a while, his face scrunched up in a small frown.

'First, it was Snape. Tonight, it was Draco, Fudge, and Lucius. If I didn't know any better I'd say someone is cleaning up the trash... ...it's certainly something I would do if this was my world and I travelled back in time.' he thought carelessly.

But this was not his world. It was an alternate world, another dimension. Too many things were different and Harry did not know which parts of his knowledge of the future still applied and which were false. People that had been Death Eaters in his past could very well be innocent in this life. That was the case for Peter Pettigrew of this world: over here, he had never betrayed the Potters. He was just an average guy with an honest job. He was working in the Diagon Alley, in the Magical Menagerie shop, selling pets.

Because of all these differences and the fact that he was not the Chosen One that the prophecy spoke of, Harry had vowed to himself that he would not get involved with Voldemort or anything related to him in this life. It was his chance to live a regular life, without killing, without being in the middle of the war. Now that he had gotten a second chance at life, with no burdens to carry, he was going make full use of it. He was going to enjoy his life.

'Am I, perhaps, not the only one?'

He snorted at his own question.

'Yeah, no way! Haha! As if that could be possible. Me being here is a miracle in itself, what are the chances that there's another one like me?'

But his derision immediately stopped when the face of a 14 year-old-girl came at the front of his mind. It was an abnormally good-looking French girl that should have had no business studying at Hogwarts, in Great Britain, a country that was not very welcoming towards her kind. A girl who, in his memory, disliked Hogwarts and often complained about the cold, the weather, the food, and basically everything that was not Beauxbatons.

His eyes widened.

'Bloody hell.'

AN: The timeline of Harry Potter's past life:

1995: Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort's first resurrection.

1998: Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort dies by his own Killing Curse. (canon up until this moment)

2002: Harry wins the Quidditch World Cup with England.

2004: Voldemort's second resurrection. The Weasleys are assassinated. (the start of the second war Harry participated in)