HP one shots

Escaping the Paradox // Snarry

Summary:

After Harry is thrown back in time to 1971, he has several choices to make.
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Prologue

"Peterson, what do we have? Morgan sent me out to help," said Harry, crouching down beside him. The air had that moist dirt smell of rain. They were just beyond the wards of a run-down cabin in the Forest of Dean.

Milt Peterson shot him a grateful look. "We got a hostage situation. We think they're attempting a blood ritual to activate the device they nicked from that Dark Arts relic dealer."

Harry's stomach tightened. "Fuck. It's some kind of time device, isn't it?"

"As far as we've been able to figure out from the few scrolls we've found on it. We're not positive about what it does, but we're pretty sure it could transport a lot of people if they trigger it in a crowded place."

It started to drizzle and Peterson looked up at the sky in disgust. "I doubt we can use a rain-away spell right now."

"Probably not," Harry agreed. "Too likely to be detected. I've heard that the device needs a lot of Dark Magic to get it going."

"More than those idiots have, that's for sure. And that's the reason they need the hostage and the Dark ritual. We need to think about moving in on them." Peterson looked up at the sky again. "Aside from everything else, I have a date tonight."

Harry laughed. "Me, too."

"Hardly counts if you're engaged to the witch."

"Don't let Ginny hear you say that. She's expecting dinner out tonight." Harry smiled and patted his pocket. "We're going to look for a house tomorrow."

"Well done." Peterson grinned. "Finally set a date, have you?"

"Next summer." It started to rain harder and Harry looked back at the cabin. "We'd better get to it or we'll both be keeping our ladies waiting. Where are Johnson and Pickering?"

"Around the other side of the cabin, just beyond the wards. They want to try and take down the wards."

"It's not like they can do that and not alert them that we're on the way." Harry wasn't sure he could do it and he was stronger than all of them. Probably put together. "Maybe I can press a Stunning Spell through the wards."

Peterson nodded. "You should try --"

A scream rent the air.

"Fuck." Harry raised his wand. "Stupefy!" He pressed his power into the spell and towards the cabin. The whole thing was engulfed in light and the wards fell. "Let's go!"

He and Peterson ran for the cabin, and Johnson and Pickering came from the other side. Pickering got there first and kicked in the door. A witch was lying on the floor, a knife through her chest. Two wizards were lying beside her. The device was sitting on the table, smoking.

As Harry came through the door, his wand raised, the device exploded outward with a high pitched sound; a beam of blue light shot straight out. It hit Harry mid-chest and he didn't have a second to open his mouth to scream before the world went black.

*****
Part 1 - First Year

When Harry came to, he lay still, trying to assess the situation. There was a slight breeze blowing and it was warmer than it had been in the forest. He was lying on the ground, outside, rather than in the cabin.

"Are you all right?" an eerily familiar voice asked.

Harry opened his eyes, and then closed them again. Oh, sweet Merlin. Albus Dumbledore stood above him, but not the Dumbledore he'd known at school or even the one from his time in King's Cross. This one was visibly younger -- though how someone that old could look slightly younger, Harry wasn't sure.