Knowledge is Power

This is a time travel fic that begins near the end of POA but is AU by the end of the first paragraph. The first three chapters cover the non-canon alternative future and the reason for H/Hr returning to this particular point in time.

Chapter 1

Harry stared at the retreating back of the elderly wizard in utter disbelief as Dumbledore walked out the infirmary while sealing the door behind him. Harry's whole world had just come crashing down around him as the man he trusted above all others had unbelievably let him down in the worst way possible. The headmaster's final words still reverberated around in his mind. "I believe you Harry, but there's nothing I can do. The minister is going to have Sirius kissed tonight."

One minute Harry had a family, a godfather who wanted Harry to live with him, then all that was going to be taken away. All this because a small-minded man wanted to look big in the press, regardless of the truth. The Minister wanted his headline, and an innocent man was going to have his soul sucked from his body to give him it. Meanwhile Albus Bloody Dumbledore, Head of the Wizengamot no less, claimed his hands were tied.

He felt a gentle hand on his arm and turned to look into the brown eyes of his best friend. Harry then did something he'd never done before, he threw his arms around Hermione and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her bushy hair.

Hermione was shocked that her best friend had initiated a hug. Harry was normally very uncomfortable with any form of contact, yet here he was clinging to her as if his life depended on it. She had her arms wrapped round Harry when he whispered her name. She started to pull back but he held her even tighter.

"No, please stay like this. If I looked into your eyes I would lose the last piece of courage I have, and there's something I really need to tell you. Before I passed out I saw who cast the Patronus that saved us, it was me!"

Hermione just held him as something told her there was more to come.

"I wasn't alone though, Buckbeak was there in the background too. I think the reason I was able to cast a corporal Patronus was that I had a whole new definition of a happy memory, I was kissing my best friend."

Hermione's mind was in turmoil, she actually felt sick. No wonder I couldn't get him interested in me if he was kissing Ron Weasley. Now there was an image she didn't need in her head. Hermione felt Harry pull back a short distance to gaze into her face, searching for a response. He still held her in his arms as he looked deep into her eyes and asked a question that rocked her world. "Do you think I'm crazy? Em… Do you even think of me like that?"

Realisation rushed through the young witch with the speed of an explosion. How could she, Hermione Jane Granger, be so stupid? Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone screaming inside the castle. There was no time to answer Harry now, they needed to act at once. "Harry, do you trust me?"

"More than anyone in the world" That trust Harry claimed to have was suddenly being tested, he looked on with jangling nerves as Hermione started to loosen buttons on her top.

Harry's fantasies were soon halted though when Hermione quickly withdrew a long golden chain that had a weird kind of egg timer charm on it. Looping the chain over Harry's head too, Hermione whispered in his ear. "Hold on tight."

She turned the charm three times backward. Hermione knew it wasn't strictly necessary for Harry to hold on tight but she wasn't going to tell him that, it felt too good.

Harry watched his surroundings blur as everything went out of focus, everything except the beautiful witch currently wrapped in his arms. Ever since Harry had seen the vision of them kissing it just felt so right that he could probably cast a patronus with just the thought of kissing Hermione.

As everything came back into focus, Hermione removed the chain from around his neck and tucked it back inside her top. She gave him the 'you need to listen to me' look before starting to speak.

"Harry I've been using a time turner to go back in time so I could take all my classes. I've just sent us back three hours and, with a bit of luck, we could still save Sirius and Buckbeak. Oh, and in answer to your question, I most certainly do think of you like that."

Harry, whose arms were still around Hermione, lifted her feet of the ground and spun the giggling girl round twice while repeatedly chanting, 'yes!'

"Hermione, you are the best and never let anyone tell you different."

"Harry, we need to be quiet, we can't be seen or heard." Taking him by the hand she led him through the school heading toward Hagrid's hut.

It wasn't until Harry saw the three of them heading out of school that the inherant danger of their situation began to sink in.

When they made it to the trees beside Hagrid's pumpkin patch, Hermione sat him down and explained some of the perils associated with time travel. Harry was only half listening as he gazed at his beautiful friend, he didn't really need to pay full attention as his new motto was, 'Do whatever Hermione tells me'. She'd never let him down in the three years he'd known her, and not many people could match up to that in Harry's life. If Hermione said he couldn't/shouldn't do something, that was good enough for him.

As the scene played out again in front of them, Harry siezed the moment and raced out to rescue Buckbeak. Remembering to bow to the proud Hippogriff, he quickly untied the condemned animal and tried to lead it to safety. Harry pulled on the rope for all he was worth but there was just no moving the large creature. That all changed the moment a dead ferret came flying over his left shoulder, straight into its beak. Harry turned around to see Hermione had raided Hagrid's store and held handfuls of the dead creatures, which definitely got Buckbeak's attention. Between flying ferrets and Harry pulling on the rope, they managed to get the Hippogriff under cover before the execution party left the hut.

Macnair threw a hissy fit, attacking Hagrid's pumpkins with his executioner's axe. There was only one reason Macnair didn't get slapped silly, the gentle giant was currently doing his version of break dancing. Hagrid's version of this dance meant that anyone within a ten-foot radius would have suffered a broken bone from his flailing arms and legs. Compared to his dance skills Hagrid was a master baker, and anyone surviving his legendary rock cakes would dispute that claim vehemently.

Fudge looked as if he might burst out crying at any moment, his bottom lip trembling like a petulant child while Dumbledore just appeared perplexed. This was a new look for the headmaster, and one that both students thought suited him.

They waited as the three stooges, Cornelius, Walden and Albus headed back to the castle while Hagrid was almost skipping in the direction of Hogsmeade. The Three Broomsticks was in for a giant celebration tonight.

Harry and Hermione manoeuvred the stubborn hippogriff into position and waited until they were required. Hermione explained for the third time why they couldn't interfere with what they knew had already happened though she had to wrap her arms round Harry when Peter escaped again. So much for doing whatever she told him.

As they waited, both suddenly looked as if they had been petrified before falling into each other's arms. "Where are we? When are we Hermione?"

"Oh Harry, your scar is fainter and my teeth are enormous again!" Hermione looked around and saw Buckbeak, "Your mum and dad said we would be sent back to a time when we could do the most good, this is the night Sirius was kissed. Harry we may be able to save Sirius and stop Professor Lupin leaving the magical world."

Harry was confused, "But how can we be here and yet over there at the same time?"

Hermione felt as if she'd been hit by the knightbus. "Shite Harry, I'm so sorry! I had a time-turner and never thought to use it. How could I have been so stupid?"

"Hermione, no one calls my girlfriend stupid, even you. So tell me what this means?"

Hermione was basically just thinking aloud. "It probably means something jogged my mind to use the time-turner, I'm wondering if you saw us?"

"But how the hell could that happen?" bemoaned Harry, the possible permutations making his head hurt.

"Well considering we travelled back in time, and there's a time-turner involved too, I would say pretty much anything is possible. I think it may be like a 'chicken and egg' paradox but since I appear to be fourteen again, give me another hundred years and I might be able to work it out."

"As long as you spend them with me." Harry wrapped his arms around his love as if to prove his point. "I thought I lost you once already when Dolohov hit you with that curse and that was more than enough for me, I'm never letting you go again."

"I'm very happy to hear that, Potter, because you're stuck with me now."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, love." Harry then kissed the wonderful witch who, in the other timeline, had been his girlfriend for nearly a year now. His mum and dad had fallen in love with Hermione instantly, and he'd once again asked her to marry him. Her answer of yes in their presence made him he happiest wizard on the planet.

Both felt the temperature drop drastically as the dementors made their presence felt, Harry drew his wand and produced the strongest Patronus of his young life. The dementors fled for their lives as Hermione helped Harry get Buckbeak back under cover.

"Now all we have to do is rescue Sirius from the castle." Harry confidently stated.

"Oh Harry, I've just thought of a serious problem. We have no idea where in the castle he's being held."

The now thirteen and fourteen year olds looked at one another and had the exact same thought, shit!

A/N Thanks for reading

Edited and Reposted 12th March 2012