NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: CH 4
"At that point it looked like you were finally going to get out from under the influence of Weasley potions. We here, in Grim Reaper HQ, were ecstatic. However, Ronald Bilius... again under instructions from his mother... hit you with an extra strong loyalty potion, and you accepted him back as a friend. And, again, we were disappointed.
"Then, once you started paying a lot of attention to other girls late in your third year... and they were just as obvious in their attentions towards you... Molly Jillian knew she had to pull her cauldron out again. She also used the opportunity to start looking after Ronald Bilius's future, because the boy was doing the right thing by Ginevra Molly... surprising as that is. She started at the Burrow the summer between your third and fourth years. That's when she began collecting hairs from you and Hermione Jean, both.
"She began lightly dosing Hermione with a love potion keyed to Ronald Bilius, dosing Ronald Bilius with a love potion keyed to Hermione, and dosing you with a love potion keyed to Ginevra Molly. She also brewed a generic repulsion potion keyed to you and Hermione both, in case either of you started to receive advances from any others. And Ginevra Molly was then running around dosing the three of you with the love potions; and a few others... including Daphne Anna Greengrass and Cho Tse Chang... with repulsion potions.
"So, by the start of fourth year, she's had you on a loyalty potion keyed to Ronald Bilius for the past three years, just started you on a love potion keyed to Ginevra Molly, and a repulsion potion keyed to two other girls, of which one is your other soul mate. It's a wonder she hadn't turned your brain to mush. As it was, the loyalty and love potions were confuzzling your thinking to such a point it's surprising Tom Marvolo didn't manage to kill you the night of the third task, more than once.
"When you went on the horcrux hunt, on his mother's direct orders by way of a rune-based compulsion charm, he took along with him potions for the two of you. But, he only had enough for just over two months. When he ran out, he panicked. He fled, claiming he needed to find food, intent on heading back to the Burrow to get more. When he finally tracked down Molly Jillian, she already had the potions waiting for him. But, when he returned to the campsite, you were both already gone.
"He finally figured out how to use the deluminator left to him by Albus Wulfric to find you just before Christmas. But, holds off so he can enjoy a Christmas feast at William Arthur and Fleur Marie's cottage. The day after Christmas he finds you both, and starts dosing you again.
"Then there's his last mind alteration of you. When you came upon him, this evening, in the Entrance Hall at Hogwarts, he told you Hermione Jean had been killed."
Harry frowned and sadly nodded.
"He lied," said John, almost as a snarl.
"Wh-what?!" exclaimed Harry.
"He lied," snarled John. "She was very much alive. He suspected she'd want to go after you when you went into the Forest. He was right; she would have. So he stunned her, bound her, and stuffed her into the back of a broom closet under a notice-me-not charm.
"When he met you in the Entrance Hall, he told you she was dead and then hit you with a compulsion charm to go out into the forest and attack Tom Marvolo. His idea, not his mother's, was to get you out of the way so he could then play the loving friend and 'be there for' Hermione Jean in her grief for you.
"Unknowingly, he completely derailed Molly Jillian's plans for you and Ginevra Molly. And Molly Jillian almost completely upset the plans of Albus Wulfric by messing with your thinking. But, worse for them, they completely upset Fates' plan for you, Hermione Jean and Daphne Anna. And Peter's not happy with them... or with me."
"I," tried Harry. "Sorry. I... I don't understand."
"Who? Peter?" asked John, before waving it off. "Of course, Peter. You basically ask the same every time we meet."
"That I don't get," said Harry. "I know I've not met you before. A-at least, I don't think I have..."
"Yeah, well," started John, with a scowl. "This is why I'm so, so upset with you... and Albus Wulfric... and Molly Jillian... and Ginevra Molly... and Ronald Bilius."
Leaning forward in his chair, again, John tapped the file open in front of him. "You and I have already met before. Five times, to be exact. And this is the sixth."
"What?" exclaimed Harry.
"You... young man... have already had five UDEs. This is your sixth," said John. "The next one is permanent. There's a reason seven is considered a magical number."
"I... still don't understand," said Harry, completely confused. "I've died five times, already? Is that what you're saying?"
With a nod, John firmly said, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
"When?" asked Harry, trying to puzzle it out.
John flipped the file to a different page. "Your first UDE... that's an Unauthorised Death Event, by the way... was on the 25th of December 1987 when you were seven years old. It was Christmas Day. Your cousin tripped you on the stairs as a, sort of, Christmas present for himself. You fell face first down the stairs and broke your neck. At least it was near instant. We only had to backstep you an hour for that one. That's code here for send you back in time and reinsert you.
"Your second UDE was on the 4th of June 1992, when you went down after the Philosopher's Stone. Ronald Bilius forgot he was playing with real people on that giant chessboard and got you killed by one of the opposing chess pieces. A mace to the head ruined your day... and mine. That was a three hour backstep.
"Your third UDE was on the 29th of May 1993, when you were fighting the basilisk. You looked it in the eye before the phoenix pecked them out. That was a two-hour backstep.
"Your fourth UDE was on the 6th of November 1993, when you fell off your broom due to the dementor attack during your Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. That was a one hour backstep.
"Your fifth UDE was on the 24th of June 1995, when Tom Marvolo did actually manage to kill you at the graveyard in Little Hangleton. That was also a one hour backstep.
"And you already know what you did in this UDE."
"But... how come I don't remember you?" asked Harry.
"We wipe your memories before backstepping you. That is, sending you back to an earlier time and fiddling with people's thoughts so things turn out a little differently. Differently enough that what got you killed doesn't get you killed again."
"And that's what you're going to do this time?" asked Harry, a little worried.
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