"Hey, I found that book," Harry said browsing through books again late in February.

"What book?" Tom asked sounding highly irritable. He hadn't been sleeping enough over the last month, and he was obsessing over Soloman Slytherin, because they couldn't find anything on him.

"The one by Marina Peverell," Harry replied pulling the huge dusty tome from its shelf. Tom looked over at the book and dismissed it as unimportant. Severus however came over and sat next to Harry. He was always up for learning more about potions and the great potions master.

Harry flipped straight to the index in the back, much to Severus' annoyance. But within a minute Harry was flipped to the beginning of a chapter called "The Beginnings of Mastery." There was a picture of a man under the title as well. He was smiling cheerfully, and every once and awhile he would wave up at Harry and Severus from his place. Under the picture was the caption, "Soloman Slytherin, First Potions Master and co-founder of Beuxbaton Academie."

"Hey Tom, there's a picture of Soloman here he looks like a nice guy. Not at all like that sarcastic git in the portrait outside," Harry told Tom looking up from the picture. While none of the boys had mentioned it, they had all long since figured out who the people in the portraits were.

"Hey, don't insult my ancestor!" Tom cried half joking, half serious.

"I'm just stating a fact. Soloman looks a lot nicer than his father," Harry replied calmly turning back to read the book. There was a short paragraph which caught Harry's eye right away. So he read it to his brothers.

"Soloman Slytherin earned the first mastery in the newly forming subject of potions when he created the Numbness Potion, which could be used against the newly invented Cruciatus Curse. Several years later Slytherin created a potion to lessen the pain caused by cutting curses, and bone shattering hexes. This second discovery led to the branch of study into healing potions and spells, and Slytherin is often called the first Healer as well at the first Potions Master."

Tom, Harry, and Severus exchanged looks before Tom said, "That's pretty awesome."

The last few days of January passed uneventfully, and February passed the same way. In fact before the boys felt they could blink it was the end of Easter Holidays and the entire school was going insane over exams. The teachers piled on homework, and the students struggled through it, many of them doing research and review outside of what was assigned to make sure they did well (those were mostly Ravenclaws although the odd Hufflepuff or Slytherin might do the same).

Tom and Severus forced a reluctant Harry to really and truly study the material, instead of their search through topics which interested them. Tom had recently begun looking through Healing spells and potions, hoping to find more one Soloman Slytherin. Severus had begun haunting the fourth floor and carrying giant piles of books down to the potions lab. Harry had found his love with the defensive and offensive jinxes, hexes, and curses. He would sit studying a spell for hours absently waving his wand and muttering incantations. The Gryffindors had quickly learned to get away from Harry when he was doing that, because otherwise you'd likely find yourself petrified, or vomiting slugs, or something equally nasty or annoying.

All three boys got through their exams with passing (and better) grades. Tom got a record breaking 100 percent in History of Magic. No one did that well on the recently deceased Professor Binn's exams, not even when he was alive. Severus got the highest score on the Potions exam that any first year had ever achieved in Slughorn's class. But everyone expected it, he was something of a potion's prodigy. Harry made a similar showing on the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, he even got extra credit for knowing about some more obscure theories about the nature of what caused a dark aura around an object or person.

All too soon it was time for the farewell feast. Halfway through the meal a note popped up next to Harry's plate, and he tucked it into his pocket. He then stared at both his older brothers until they noticed him staring. Then Harry sort of wrote in the air and the older boys got the idea that a new note had appeared, so they nodded and when the feast broke up they waited for Harry outside the doors.

"So, are you ready to see what it says?" Harry asked pulling the note from his pocket as the three boys started walking off towards the Charms corridor.

"Yes of course!" Tom said looking annoyed at Harry's question, of course he wanted to see.

"Of course you idiot!" Severus added right on the tail of Tom's comment. So it ended up sounding like both boys said "Yes of course your idiot" which worked out for the twin thing.

"Geez guys, you could be a little nicer you know. I bet most older brothers are a lot nicer than you two," Harry grumbled as they gave the founders their password and stepped through the portrait. The three boys didn't notice the two girls who had followed them and listened to the conversation, and the password into the Book Room.

"So, the note," Harry said laying it on one of the tables.

Harry,

I see you've reached the end of your first year unscathed, or you know, at lease alive, and that's always a good thing. I doubt you'll get into as much trouble as I have, but soon you'll have to survive without me. I only have an hour before you'll appear in the orphanage, and once that happens all of history will change, and I won't have ever gone to the past, so this is a good bye of sorts.

No doubt you've found a few notes, but I very much doubt you've managed to find them all. Don't forget Gringott's, I went through a lot of explaining and working with my ancestors to convince them to allow you into the ancestral vault, and to allow me to place things there. Also I suggest you get a pet, they're very useful when you need a friend and don't trust anyone.

Also, if you get a chance see the beach, and go camping. Go abroad if the chance presents itself. Please see the world, and live life to its fullest. I've saved three lost boys from a future where they all have endings which aren't so happy, so I want you all three to be good people, and good friends.

Good luck in life and love. You'll find more words from me, but for me these are my parting respects. So good-bye mini me and Tom Riddle and Severus Snape, if they're anywhere near you.

Harry J. Potter

"Good-bye Harry," All three boys muttered and murmured to the scrap of parchment, not noticing the girls standing behind them, listening as Harry read the note aloud.

"What in the world does that mean?" Alise's voice rang out loudly in the silent dusty room. The boys jumped guiltily and looked over at the girls. The other was Chiara with a wide grin on her face.

"Um…" Was all any of the boys could get out, and that was coming from Harry anyways, he was always the least articulate.

"So you three have cracked the theory of time travel and made it a reality? That's pretty interesting. I've always been interested in time. I suggest you explain everything to me, or I'll set Chiara out to make it not only known that she's a minor seer but also that you're all time travelers. Seers have a very high credibility as it's impossible for a true seer to lie," Alise threatened and blackmailed them all with a tone of voice as if commenting on the weather.

"I suddenly understand why you were sorted into Slytherin," Harry commented stepping away from the table towards the shelves of books on time travel theory.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked Harry following him a step or two before stopping again.

"He's getting something that he believes will explain things better than he can," Chiara told her with a funny look in her eyes.

Tom looked at the Ravenclaw with suspicion. He didn't feel comfortable with the idea that history was destined, or that people could predict what would happen. He was much more comfortable with the philosophy that the future was what you made it with the work of your hands and the sweat of your brows.

Harry lifted three books off a shelf and dropped them onto the table much to Severus' annoyance and Alise's discomfort. The dust it kicked up was considerable. One of the books was small and pocket-sized but the second book was bigger than your average dictionary by a large margin, and the third was even bigger.

"These three are the ones I've found most helpful. It's best to start with this small one, it was intended as a teacher for the very basics of time. But then I don't know why really. I mean as far as we can tell from the various books in here time manipulation was never taught in any capacity in this school, or any other either." Harry rambled opening the smallest book and flipping through the pages. It was called The Beginnings of Time Manipulation by: Emmalia Sedey.

"I see…And you talk too much Potter," Alise said lifting the book from Harry's fingers. Harry released the book only reluctantly. It was a very valuable book. It was a first edition, and the book had gone out of print back in the 1880s, it was also signed with a note written by Emmalia herself, who was known as the first person to ever craft an actual temporal spell. It was very basic, allowed time to stand still for all but the caster for what would be perceived as one minute.

"Sorry MacBell, but you'd make a rampaging rhino nervous," Harry told her with a small glare. Harry and Alise didn't like each other, even though they didn't actually dislike each other either. Harry being in Gryffindor and Alise in Slytherin meant that they didn't really interact all that much, but both Tom and Severus (who both spent more time with Alise than Harry) thought that given the chance the two could be very good friends, and Tom had been planning to get them talking anyway.

"No, she'd make a basilisk nervous," Tom countered with a snort.

"She'd make a manticore nervous," Severus added calmly, with a very Slytherin-looking smirk.

"She'd make a sphinx nervous, too," Harry put it topping both fearsome creatures for one known for its calm nature.

"Oh shut it you three," Alise snapped not seeming herself at all. But then only Tom had ever seen her while she was studying. She was a force to be reckoned with then, of course not one you wanted to mess with at all. Alise with a book in her hand was like a starving lion with a piece of meat: not something you wanted to get in the middle of.

"They are right though. It's pretty foggy but I think you're going to end up intimidating a lot of animals in the future, there's even a basilisk, although for some reason Tom and Harry are both involved…And so is McGonagall. Why's she involved? She's not even on speaking terms with any of us," Chiara said adding her own two cents to the situation.

"You shut it too. Although I love your prophetic insight, I don't need you siding with these idiot boys. They have enough ideas of their own. Like Tom changing his birthday at the last minute after I had gone through all the trouble of getting into Dumbledore's office to look it up. I'm still mad at you by the way," Alise said adding a glare at Tom and for good measure Severus and Harry as well.

"Well…I'm going to go see if I can't find a couple books on healing to look through for the summer. I don't think Matron's going to be very happy about having to pay for bandages for your hand. She dislikes us enough as it is," Tom said rushing off up the stairs to escape his housemate.

"I love it when he runs away. It makes me feel so powerful,' Alise said with a satisfied smirk. Severus and Harry found themselves shuddering and taking an extra step away from the Slytherin girl. It was best not to mess with dragons after all

They had to shrink the books to make it possible to move all of them up to their various dormitories to pack them into their trunks. Tom had managed to find a whole section on healing, but they couldn't bring all of them, because they had to enlarge them before putting them into their trunks. And none of the three had enough room for more than ten or so books, depending on size. So they were very selective on which books they brought. Five of the books were on general healing (one written by Soloman Slytherin himself), two were on magical injuries, and the other three were on injuries inflicted by magical objects. It turned out that only three of the books were very big at all, so that meant that each boy could pick as many as six or seven books of their own choosing to bring with them.

Harry picked out two books from the section on Defense Against the Dark Art (from the subsection on dark objects), one from the section on ancient rituals (specifically about how to see alternate futures), and three from the shelf hidden in one corner of the weapon's room (one about the handling of swords, one of sword forms, and one on basic bare-handed techniques).

Tom picked three extra books about healing, and two about the history of magic (unfortunately there was nothing more recent than 1790 in any of the books). Severus added six different books about potions, including one that had a number of very dark potions such as one which had no purpose but to make people feverish, delusional, and in excruciating pain.

All five students split off with a silent agreement not to talk about what had happened and what the two girls had discovered. Harry made his way alone up to Gryffindor tower feeling a little jealous of the other two boys. They both had the girls to walk with them to their dorms, and Harry was left the odd man out. He found himself wondering whether he would always be the odd one out from that time forward, and he feared he would be.

The next morning the five first years took a compartment to themselves. It wasn't all that often that one compartment held students from three of the four houses, but it was often enough that no one stopped to stare at them, which none of them would have liked. Tom maybe, he disliked being left in the shadows, but he knew how Harry felt about his popularity (or the fear that rolled off in waves from some of the more narrow-minded students (mostly Gryffindors)) and could guess that Severus' feelings would be about the same.

"So what will you three do this summer?" Alise asked cracking open the window and pulling her hair dyes out of her trunk.

"We'll be at the orphanage. Matron might let us go to the cinema sometime, and we'll probably go to Diagon Alley near the end. Mostly we'll probably be reading," Tom answered with a grimace. He hated the orphanage and the fact that they couldn't really do much there, and all the other kids were too stupid to be worth their time except to torment as a way to pass a little time. Of course Harry was a little too noble to torment the other kids, and he was pretty sure Severus wouldn't be fond of the idea either. Which was funny because from what Tom could tell they both had as much reason to hate the stupid muggles as he did.

"Oh…Well maybe Mum will let me invite you three over for a week or so, then you won't be trapped in the orphanage all summer," Alise offered looking a little uncomfortable.

"No, Matron won't let us go to stay overnight somewhere, and we'll have to sneak out to get to get to Diagon Alley for school supplies. She's afraid we're going to run away, and I would if I had some kind of place to go. This summer should be better though, Harry and Severus will both be there. Then there's Ruaraidh, Merlin, and Vert. So we can write to you and Ruaraidh can entertain us by scaring all the older girls out of their skins. And Merlin…well dear Merlin will be able to scare all but one girl in the entire place, all the rest hate mice," Tom plotted to himself at the end there. So as Tom continued to mutter Alise dyed her hair black again, while Severus and Chiara played a game of Wizard's Chess and Harry pulled one of the books on swordplay out of his trunk and settled down to read.

It was a full three hours before Tom realized that no one was paying even one lick of attention to him. By that point Severus had extracted his own book, Chiara and Alise were playing chess, and Harry had fallen asleep and was dribbling drool down his chin.

"Anyone ever notice how Harry doesn't really get involved?" Tom asked suddenly, but quietly so he wouldn't wake Harry.

"Yeah, but what are we going to do about it? It's not like we could just tell Harry to get involved or something," Severus responded setting his book aside, "I'm worried about him. He's only on speaking terms with maybe five people in his entire house, and he never really tries to get along with anyone but you and me."

"Yeah…I've only ever seen Peters talking to him. But I think that's because he doesn't believe it's possible to talk to snakes. But that doesn't even surprise me anymore. He was saying that magic didn't exist all the way up until Christmas break," Tom told him looking over at Harry. He wasn't just joking around when he called Harry his little brother, he really had a brotherly affection for the slightly younger boy.

"Well, that's true of course, but we still need to do something for him, I just don't know what yet," Severus told him looking at Harry as well.

"Maybe you two should send an owl off to the twins. They don't distance themselves quite as much, maybe they'd be willing to sit with Harry in the common room or something," Alise suggested looking away from her game which she was losing (rather spectacularly).

"I don't know, but I'll try this summer. He's done a lot for us, so we need to find a way to do something for him," Tom said effectively ending the conversation. He leaned into the window and joined Harry in Morpheus' arms.

So I'm really really sorry about the late update. But life sort of got in the way lately. First there was my job and swim team and school, and that took up most of my time. There was also the evilness called Senior Project, and there was Hamlet and a project for Film. Then there were no less than four colds, two trips to the doctor's and a new boyfriend. Then we toss in getting fired from my job and the madness of both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays…well let's just say life was conspiring against me.

But anyway, I brought Chiara and Alise into the forefront with the whole discovering the time travel thing. And one of my friends mentioned that she didn't understand why Alise was a Slytherin, because in personality she's somewhere between a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw usually. But she does have an ambitious streak, and she's good at black-mailing people. Even when she threatens people with absolutely no way to back it up they somehow find themselves doing what she wants.

Anyway, I brought up who in the world Soloman really is in this one too, and this chapter starts to solidify which of two paths I took for this story, so it's almost completely locked in.

Any suggestions or critiques are VERY appreciated, I wouldn't even mind a flame, it worries me that I've never gotten one. But please, everyone send me a quick review even one word is greatly beloved. Also if you can come up with a word or event you want tossed in I'll do what I can. I've got a couple things from my sister I'm working on putting in…although I'll have to find that stupid review to get them all…Ah, well. They'll get in there eventually.