Echoes of Time (Harry Potter)

September 1, 1944

Friday Morning

"So, what do you suppose you'll be doing this first day back at Hogwarts?" Marcus asked from his spot beside him.

Harry shrugged and shot a furtive glance to Elaine - who was deep in conversation with Slughorn - before he turned to answer his friend, or as most others called him, the 'Potter boy'. That'd always be weird to think.

"I don't know, don't really have a plan," Harry said with a second shrug given. "What about you, already have everything planned out?"

"Somewhat. I'll probably end up spending time with Veronica and the rest of our friends, prank a few people, go flying and the like. I won't be studying much, not this year. Don't really see the reason to, considering we don't have any tests," Marcus grinned when he finished and threw a crinkled up piece of parchment towards the end of the table where another one of his friends, Canyon, was seated.

"Don't want a leg up for our final year?" Harry asked as he leaned backwards, not wanting to get hit in the event that Canyon missed Marcus with the aforementioned piece of parchment.

Marcus scoffed and shook his head, his eyes still towards the opposite end of the table. "Couldn't care, really. I'll be on the Wizengamot like you, once my father steps down so long as my brother continues parading around and staying far away from the rest of us. If he cleans his act up, then I'll probably take over the business since he'd be too busy as the new head of the family - either way, Hogwarts isn't all that meaningful to me."

"Will be when you get married," Veronica quipped from across the table, the Weasley girl paying the two of them attention only long enough to say that before she dove back into conversation with a girl Harry couldn't recall the name of.

"Veronica's not changed a bit, has she?" Harry asked when Marcus shook his head.

"Nope," Marcus said, his eyes finally leaving Canyon to look at Elaine. "She hasn't either though, but you probably know that. Always been good with her words, she has, but Merlin only knows how much of what she says is meant by her."

Harry couldn't help but agree with Marcus' words, but he wouldn't show that to the boy nor anybody who was paying the two of them extra attention. He wasn't foolish enough to think Elaine meant one-hundred per cent of what she said to him; Pureblood nepotism was a dislike of hers, she'd said time and time again, yet she used it without any hint of that dislike leaking into her interactions. Beyond that, she was more anti-Muggle than anti-Muggleborn… Harry wasn't going back on his word to trust and stay near her, he only wished to know the truth if ever she would speak it.

"Elaine's gotten better," Harry finally said, gaining Marcus' attention so much so that the boy turned his back on the rest of the table.

"How so, mate, how so?" Marcus questioned, an intensity in his voice and actions as he leaned closer to Harry.

"You'll have to see this year, won't you?" Harry grinned, earning himself an annoyed huff from his unknowing ancestor.

"That's about the worst thing you could've said," Marcus said petulantly as that earlier piece of parchment bounced harmlessly off the back of his head. "I'll be terrified now, until I know what you mean."

Harry laughed and patted Marcus on the shoulder, the boy's stature having grown slightly over the summer. "No need to be terrified or nervous around her, in fact, I doubt she'll pay the lot of you any attention come the start of Hogwarts."

Marcus raised his brows at that, but he didn't say anything more. It was likely that he didn't believe Harry, and if that were the case, the latter boy couldn't really blame him. Elaine and Marcus had never gotten along, though Marcus wasn't any better considering how often he thought Elaine was up to something; the number of times he'd followed after her or otherwise attempted to get her into trouble wouldn't ever be forgotten by the Slytherin girl.

"Huh," Marcus said once he opened up the slip of parchment.

"Alright?" Harry asked, his thinking now done for the moment as he looked at the interested face of Marcus.

"Yeah, yeah. Just found out that we have a couple new Professors, or rather, people who'll be helping them - Robin Dunbar and Daphne Oleander," Marcus watched Harry's face and had to notice the lack of surprise very quickly, based on his follow-up accusation. "You knew."

"I knew," Harry agreed with a grin and shrug.

Marcus narrowed his eyes and Veronica now joined their conversation completely, the other girl she'd been speaking with now talking to a boy across the table from her.

"How'd you know? Go on then," Veronica demanded, her high-pitched voice and small stature making her demand far from threatening.

"I heard from a friend," Harry said. "What about you two?"

"Heard from a friend," Marcus said with a look towards Sarah, the Goldhorn girl seated beside Canyon. "I bet that we know something you don't."

"Go on," Harry prompted with a roll of his eyes at the competitive streak in Marcus.

"The-" Marcus was barely halfway through the first word when Veronica cut him off.

"They wouldn't hire anybody who hadn't graduated from last year's batch or was otherwise in Hogsmeade," Veronica said quickly, a devious smile on her face as she looked between Harry and Marcus. "Nobody knows why that was a condition, but it meant that they had to hire people who fit within those qualifications. You can probably imagine there weren't many people who cared to apply."

Harry nodded at her final comment, he definitely imagined it was a very short list and one that likely had all sorts of issues.

"I wonder why," Harry said aloud.

Veronica made a half-hearted gesture that meant the same whilst Marcus shrugged with that same uncaring attitude about him. It seemed neither of them cared all that much, and based on what Harry could see, they didn't know all that much about the invasion that may or may not be planned to hit Southern England.

"Harry, lad," Slughorn said, getting his attention

He blinked a few times and turned towards the man. "Yes, Professor?"

That began a very long, drawn out conversation that would soon involve no shortage of his peers at the table. Most of what was discussed was the epitome of mundane, with mentions of people who made a potion, started a successful business or otherwise did something that brought their children to the table of one Horace Slughorn .

Harry didn't care much for it, not when he already knew a majority of those seated with him in the prestigious club of Slughorn's favourites. He met Ashley Hawke and Joseph - who preferred Joe - Demagio, finally. The pair of them were known to him, at least partially so thanks to their shared dorm rooms, but last year had been too busy for him to properly get to know the pair. Perhaps it was hindered by himself too, considering how nervous he'd been.

It bugged him, the amount of caution he'd used those first few months when he looked back on it, but he still partially stood by it. Merlin, he didn't know if all the Slytherins he'd been bunked with were evil or part of Elaine's Death-Eaters already. He didn't know if she'd even formed the group yet, but with how often he'd showered near them, he could say none of them were marked.

Abraxas' arm had been close when the boy had walked in rubbing it once, but it turned out Elaine simply had a vicious, violent streak in her… who would've thought?

September 1, 1944

Friday Evening

"We're home, finally," Elaine commented as the pair walked through the halls of Hogwarts for the first time in a good few months.

"We are," Harry agreed before he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her with a sense of awkwardness.

They'd shared the compartment with the rest of their group as they had last year aboard the train, but this time towards the end of the ride, all were ordered out whilst she changed… save for him. It was awkward thanks to the knowing looks he'd been given by Aster and Reinhard, doubly so when the door was closed and Elaine undressed brazenly before him; it didn't matter that he'd seen her in that bath months ago, the memories it created were very distracting.

"Is everything fine, Harry?" Elaine asked with a cocked head and smug, knowing smile on her face.

He turned back to face her and nodded a couple of times. "Yeah, everything's fine - what're we doing?"

"We're walking to our common room, where we'll meet with the others and enjoy the first evening together that we've had for quite some time. Are you sure you're quite alright?" Elaine moved closer to him, her body squished up against his as her voice sounded off right next to his ear. "You seem nervous, shy maybe."

"I'm good. We could've walked back with the lot of them too," Harry said as he looked out one of the many stained glass windows they'd passed on their way to the stairs.

"Yes, we could have walked to the common room with Aster and Reinhard, with Corene and Emilene, but why should we?" Elaine questioned, her tone making her question sound far from something he was meant to answer. "Couples deserve exclusive time together, and we're exercising that right currently. How else would we kiss and share affections with one another lest it be under the watchful eyes of too many people?"

Harry sighed, rolled his eyes, and wrapped his left arm around Elaine's shoulders. That action pulled the girl tighter against him and in response to it, he heard a very relaxed sigh leave her lips. Elaine's body, usually always tense or waiting for something, partially relaxed against him too - he could feel as much.

"I do so love how shy you are with others around us," She cooed as the pair began to make their descent.

With how uncaring she seemed with those of equal or lesser status when compared to them were near, he bet she did. It was only his 'shyness' as she called it, or etiquette as he did, that the pair of them weren't snogging in the halls of Hogwarts.

She'd like that far, far too much.

September 1, 1944

Friday Late Evening

"Weird to be back, innit?" Aster asked not a second after Harry had fallen into the chair beside him.

"A bit," Harry said as he let his neck fall back onto the top of the couch. "Hogwarts is definitely more relaxing and informational than home. Helps that it lets me keep my eyes on troublemakers," Harry's final few words were directed at Aster first, then Reinhard.

"I'm second?" Reinhard asked with a groan of disbelief.

Elaine made a comment from her spot right beside Harry despite her conversation with Corene and Emilene, the latter girl now raised to her number two whilst Corene was her number one thanks to the graduation of Daphne.

"Aster's entirely too chaotic whilst you're more directable and predictable," Elaine said before he delved back into whatever it was that she was speaking with the two girls about; grades came up, Harry heard, and so did tales that he hadn't heard before.

"Harry, mate, mind if I steal you away for a few?" Aster asked with a hint of urgency in his tone.

"Sure," He shrugged as he stood up from his seat and raised a hand to Elaine.

Harry hoped his message was easily understood; don't follow me, I'll be back shortly. If it wasn't, then it was very likely that Elaine would be after him should more than five minutes pass. He didn't understand her extreme level of possessiveness, especially when considering her allowance of Walburga in pursuing him.

Once he, Aster and Reinhard - obviously - were a good dozen or two feet away from the trio of girls, Aster asked him a question that had to be on the Rosier boy's mind. "Elaine joined us in banter… did you do something to her?"

Harry shook his head as a chuckle escaped him. "Nah mate, I didn't do anything to her."

Reinhard hunched over and narrowed his eyes as his looked into Harry's. "Nothing?"

"Nope," Harry said again as he blinked and looked between the two of them. "You both good?"

"Elaine doesn't usually get involved in our 'stupid' conversations," Aster said. "Corene doesn't either, and Daphne would usually hex us if it bothered her too much. I don't know, we don't know what it is that you've done, but she's gotten more personable. Say, do you think you could do the same thing with Corene?"

Reinhard elbowed Aster. "You dolt, obviously he can't. Elaine," Reinhard paused and his voice fell into a whisper, "Elaine probably needed a snog a day or something, that has to be why she's so peaceful now - we both see how often she pulls you off to some corner mate," Reinhard's last remark was at Harry with a wide smile that spread across the bigger boy's chubby cheeks.

Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed a sleeve from each of them as he began leading them back towards the trio of girls. "You guys are idiots," he said with nothing more coming out.

Still, his mind thought once he settled back into his chair, they're not entirely wrong… Elaine's different than she initially was. Most of the world is. What did I do?"

He hoped the answer to his question wasn't anything too horrible, moreover, he hoped the causes couldn't be linked back to him and him alone. There wouldn't be any forgiving himself if hundreds, thousands or even simply a dozen were killed because of him.

"Harry Peverell," Ashley Hawke, or Ash as the boy was nicknamed, said when he entered the room with Aster and Reinhard a few steps behind him.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, stopping just a few feet in to pause and look at Ash.

Joe was beside him too, with a bored, nearly annoyed expression on his face. If the rumour about Ash loving arguments was true, he figured one was about to happen based on the expression the latter boy wore.

"Wanted to ask you something, if you have some free time on your hands," Ash said to him, the lanky boy Joe behind him letting his head fall back as his eyes closed.

"Sure mate," Harry said. He had the time, and more than that, he was genuinely curious about the two. They hadn't spoken with him all that much last year, but here they were now, speaking with him without a sense of hesitation or any other feeling of reservation.

Harry wasn't sure if Elaine had something to do with it, or if the two were more confident around him. Whatever it was, he'd be glad to have two new blokes as friends considering how many witches were close to him; the latter was fine and all, but sometimes he needed more than Aster and Reinhard beside him. He was sure that'd prove truer still if the year went as Elaine suspected it would.

"Wonderful," Ash said with a grin and beckoning towards the couch across from him. Once Harry seated himself with his two friends on either side, Ash continued. "Vampires, Veela, Werewolves and the rest of 'em. Where do you sit on their rights?"

Aster groaned and threw his head back just as Joe had.

"This again?" Reinhard asked as he crossed his large arms. "I thought we were past all this talk of politics and other useless shite."

"Woah now, no need to get hostile big guy," Ash said with raised hands as he grinned at Harry. "You know I like to debate, and with what I'm hoping to do post-Hogwarts, this is the perfect time to practise. Harry, my new friend, why don't you go ahead and lead off?"

Harry shook his head. "I've never met a Veela, Vampire or Werewolf. Barely know all that much about them either, so I don't know what I could really contribute."

Ash's face fell a bit, but he smiled again with a renewed sense of happiness about him. "That's not a problem, we could just as easily switch to something else - witches. You're dating our friend Elaine, the Queen as she's called by Abraxas or the h- other stuff she's called by Potter and his ilk. Why don't you tell us what it's like dating a strong, aggressive and very powerful witch?"

Joe huffed. "You can't debate or argue with him when it comes to dating, mate. You've never had a girlfriend."

"Ouch," Reinhard said quickly, before Ash could respond.

Aster laughed loudly, so much so that Ash's eyes narrowed in on him in particular. "You haven't dated anybody either, Rosier… not unless your sister counts."

"His sister's pretty good-looking," Harry commented as he elbowed Aster once, the narrow-eyed boy turning his attention from Ash to Harry now. "I'm on your side, mate. Just saying your sister's beautiful is all."

"You know, I can see why Abraxas doesn't spend much time with you lot," Joe said as he looked at Harry and the other two.

Harry furrowed his brows and looked between Joe and Ash. "Abraxas doesn't spend much time with you two either though," he said.

"Well yeah," Ash said as if it was obvious. "He doesn't like us anymore than he likes the three of you. Probably would've been better for him if he was a witch with how often he hangs around Elaine, Corene and the rest of them."

"I don't suppose it'd have anything to do with all of you being entirely too loud and free-speaking," Another boy, Dane, if Harry remembered correctly, said as he passed the five of them by with two of his friends.

Joe shrugged and answered for the group. "That could be it, but at least we're not as boring as you lot, huh?"

None of the three other boys said anything, they didn't so much as look back at Harry and the four housemates he was spending his time with either. They simply moved on and out of the room, turning towards the common room once they did so.

"That was eventful," Ash quipped, rubbing his hands together and refocusing his attention on Harry. "Suppose if you don't want to talk about witches, we could talk about something else - futures, namely yours. What'll you be doing once you finish Hogwarts?"

Reinhard groaned with the other two boys not too far behind him. It seemed as if they all knew that was coming, and none of them were happy that it'd arrived.

Nearly an hour later when that conversation was over, Harry could understand why. Anything, anything could be turned into a debate or argument of sorts. Ash, Ashley, whatever he preferred, certainly belonged in politics or the like.

September 10, 1944

Sunday Morning

"Good morning, Harry," Corene said when he approached her and Elaine.

"My love," Elaine said with a smile on her face as she patted her thighs.

No, thank you, Harry thought to himself before he took the open seat between the pair of them.

"Good morning Corene, Elaine," Harry said as he stifled a yawn. "How're you two up so early? I remember seeing you out here when I went up to sleep and here you two still are, talking without a hint of sleep about you."

"We haven't slept," Corene said plainly, her dark eyes staring unblinkingly at him.

Elaine nodded, drawing his attention to her. "Corene's correct, we've not yet slept. There were matters that needed overseeing, one's that I dared not leave unattended any longer than was necessary," She rolled her neck and stretched her lithe body. "It's a good thing there are potions that keep you feeling energized and fatigue the farthest thing from your mind. There's still a good deal for the two of us to discuss - three, if you'd like to join us."

Corene and Elaine were both staring at him with the same unblinking mannerisms; where Corene was without any hint of emotion aside from that slight upward curve of her lips, Elaine was intense, her tongue moving about her lips like a snake. Neither was entirely comforting so early in the morning, and he didn't doubt that declining their offer would mean future ones wouldn't be asked.

"Sure," Harry said as he leaned further back into the seat. "What were you talking about prior to my getting here, then?"

"Corene, if you would," Elaine said with a gesture towards the shorter girl - Harry could never get over how similar those two looked.

"We were discussing Yaxley's most recent sighting in Belgium. Rumours follow him like a cloud from one of those infernal Muggle flying contraptions, and while normally that is very good for those like myself, too many make the task of deciphering the truth difficult, " Corene sounded displeased, though knowing her, it was likely something she felt towards herself more than anything else. "Elaine and I prior to your arrival were discussing which amongst the dozens upon dozens were most likely to contain a sliver of truth. It wouldn't be surprising if most did, nor would it be surprising if it was him fabricating them in the first place."

"Why would he be doing that unless he means to return to Britain?" Harry asked when he sensed there was a pause in the Carrow girl's speaking.

Corene's very small smile grew just a tiny bit bigger. "We're of the opinion that Yaxley will be returning to England - specifically England - prior to Grindelwalds invasion should it be launched. This could all be posturing for a small team to come in and achieve whatever it is he wants, though that's unlikely with how much he's pulled his forces inwards. Regardless, Cliff Yaxley will be returning to his homeland at least once more."

"We were discussing a rumour that he was attempting to contact his distant relatives in Northern Ireland before you arrived," Elaine finally said once Corene was finished.

"It's unlikely," Corene spoke up. "All contact in relation to his family, however distant that relation is, will be monitored heavily by the Ministry. I wouldn't doubt it if his third cousins and possibly even fourth were under some type of surveillance."

Elaine nodded. "Corene and I do believe that Yaxley's more likely to reach out to those he felt closest to. You wouldn't happen to know who those boys are, would you?"

"Aster and Reinhard," Harry said slowly, shaking his head after a second had passed. "Neither of them would respond to him. He's burned those bridges, you saw as much when you revealed that he was alive and with Grindelwald."

"You're right, wonderfully right," Elaine said with a large smile as one of her ever-cold hands sought out his closer one.

Corene spoke up then. "Those two were only two thirds of those he would contact. Think, Harry, who else did he spend a great deal of time around? Did he not warn you in regards to getting close to us when we met all those months ago in Diagon Alley?"

Harry cocked his head at Corene. He hadn't thought she, nor anybody else, had heard that. Moreover, he wasn't sure why she'd mention that now whilst Elaine was beside them.

"You think he'll contact me in hopes that I'll let him stay with me," He said, looking between the two girls.

"Peverell Manor is hidden away in a forest, with no owls able to find it and no record of its location," Corene said, her voice as if she were reading off a list. "In every way, your home would be ideal for hiding away."

Elaine laughed and poked Harry in the side. "It was perfect for that, you're proof of that. Luckily for us, we've found you, my darling."

Corene nodded, her smile slightly larger. "That much is true, there's no going back."