Harry Potter Ground Hog Year One

Chapter One

(Fourth Year For the Second Time)

Harry woke up and stared at the curtains surrounding his bed and blinked. When he had gone to sleep the night before, he had been in Dudley's second bedroom at the Dursleys as was usual during summer break from Hogwarts. Getting out of bed, his mind on the death of Cedric Diggory and the return of Voldemort, he wondered if the Headmaster had acceded to his requests and brought him back to Hogwarts.

Still, that didn't make much sense because he would hope that someone would have awoken him instead of just transporting him back to the castle without his knowledge. Seeing his regular dorm mates in the other beds had him frowning as he tried to figure out what was going on. Those four all had someplace better to be during the summer other than their school. Yet, here they were, asleep in their beds.

"What on earth is that?" Harry muttered as he saw the ornately carved silver and black enamel pocket watch sitting on the nightstand next to his bed on top of a thick envelope with his name on it. Breaking the dark green dragon wax seal apart to open the note while looking at the watch, he leaned back against his bed and read what was written on the notecard that was inside the thick envelope.

"Mr. Potter, to change your fate, learn what is important and follow through on those lessons."

Harry frowned and flipped the card over to see who had sent it and only found it embossed with a small creature that sort of resembled a large fluffy rodent. Looking back at the pocket watch resting on his pillow, he lifted it and gave it a thorough examination. On the outside was a horizontal hourglass with the sand magically fluctuating back and forth and the phrase "Through the sands of time, we all become the person we are meant to be."

Finding the mechanism to open it, he saw on the inside some similarly phrased etched words. "To oneself be true."

Getting out of bed, walking over to Ron's bed, he shook his friend awake and said "Something is going on, come on, I need to talk to Hermione and you."

Harry shook Ron's shoulders as he tried to wake up his best friend.

Ron sat up and yawned and asked "What time is it?"

Harry looked at the face of the pocket watch and said "Five thirty."

"Can't it wait until a more reasonable time, Harry?" With that Ron threw himself back onto his pillow and frowned at his best friend as he attempted to go back to sleep clearly annoyed at having been awoken.

"Fine, what day is it?" Harry asked as he dug into his trunk for clothes. He would sent Sirius an owl and talk to Hermione for now. He knew that Ron wouldn't focus until he got his needed sleep. "What classes do we today?"

Groaning, Ron said "Harry, it is Sunday, and besides, how would I know? We haven't been given our schedule yet. Harry, is this life or death? Is it that urgent?."

"I guess not." Harry reluctantly replied as he took a pair of jeans, a dark gray hooded jumper along with his underclothes and went to shower. Dressed and putting his wand up the sleeve before heading to the common room, Harry tried to figure out if what had happened had all been a dream or if it had been real.

Two hours later, he was growing frustrated. He had seen a repeat of the first day from his dream and was now convinced that it was real and that somehow he had been sent back to make things right.

When he tried to tell Ron, the red head just denied it was possible and Hermione suggested that he tell the Headmaster while she went to do some research in the library. Watching as she rushed off, he looked over at Ron who was staring at him in a strange way as if he doubted Harry's words.

So strolling towards the Headmaster's office, he was just approaching the stone gargoyle when he saw Snape exiting the staircase and moving his way.

"Potter, where do you think you are going?" "I need to see the Headmaster, Sir." Harry replied trying to be polite, after all in his dream Snape had been going back to work as a double agent. He had not been the enemy that Harry had long believed.

"He is unavailable." Snape snapped as he glared at Harry and seemed to be itching to reach for his wand. "So why don't you just confess what trouble you have already created."

Harry stayed silent, and watched as Snape's face turned red and then the man snapped that he had detention that evening.

"I haven't done anything." Harry protested. "Look, if you really must know, something happened and the Headmaster told me to tell him directly if anything strange happened."

Wanting to sneer at the boy but Severus saw that something seemed to be on Potter's mind so he grudgingly said "The Headmaster is at the Ministry. He will be back this afternoon."

"Thank you, Sir." Harry said trying not to clench his jaw as he began to walk away before stopping and turning. "Sir, do I still have detention?"

Snape started to snarl yes, but he knew that the boy could whine to the Headmaster and he would get out of it, so he snapped at Potter. "No, try to stay out of trouble until at least your first class."

Harry quickly left and returned to the library to find Hermione. "What did the Headmaster say about things?"

"He isn't here and Snape quickly told me to go away." Harry said with a grimace. Looking at the books on Hermione's table, he asked "Did you find anything in the books?"

Closing the book she had currently in front of her, she asked "Harry I don't think that the answer is in this book. Or any of the books. Are you absolutely sure it wasn't simply a bad dream?"

"I don't know, however that earlier statement had words I never thought I would hear out of the mouth of Hermione Granger." He said with a smile at his friend as he fingered the watch in his jeans pocket. The smile soon faded as he continued speaking. "The thing is, I am going to take a wait and see approach. This all might have been a bad dream like you suggested."

"Why Cedric though?" She whispered as she saw the boy in question entering the library with two of his friends. They were soon settled at a nearby table and the three boys were talking as one of them finished up a late homework assignment from their summer break.

Shrugging off the unease that had overtaken him, Harry said "Maybe because we portkeyed to the Quidditch world cup with him. I don't know. I just am going to keep track and see if things are similar or completely different. Trust me, there are some pretty memorable events coming up that will let me figure it out."

"Like?" Hermione asked as she leaned in so that she would remain unheard by the others in the room.

Harry shook his head and said "I am going to stay silent. I don't want to create the situation that makes what I saw come true. So, what do you want to do now?"

Hermione stood and checked out the book she found the most informative on the subject of time travel. Her experience with Harry told her that if he mentioned what was bothering him to Ron and her, there was a good chance that he had been stewing on it for a while.

The next day, Harry grimaced when during their first class of the year was Herbology and Professor Sprout had them removing pus from bubotuber plants just like he recalled from his possible dream.

He felt a sinking sensation in his stomach when he saw the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Hagrid's class.

When Trelawney once again mistakenly stated he was born in midwinter, Harry found it hard to breathe as he exited the classroom.

That evening when Draco once again read the article from Rita Skeeter about Mr. Weasley and Mad-Eye Moody, Harry knew that there was a good chance he had gone back in time but he would wait to figure out what to do until AFTER Barty Crouch Junior had transfigured Malfoy into a ferret.

No matter who had done it, that was still always going to be one of his most memorable moments at school. He made sure that the circumstances were the same and when he saw the gleaming albino ferret bouncing through the hallway, Harry just grinned widely.

Eventually Professor McGonagall arrived and transfigured Draco back into a human before chiding the supposed Professor Moody. Slyly, Harry moved towards his head of house and innocently questioned a teacher doing what Moody had done.

Seeing her surprise, Harry said "I am glad he dealt with Malfoy, but still I would upset if Professor Snape did that to me."

"You, Mr Potter would never hex someone in the back." She said but she was frowning when she looked at who she thought was Alastor Moody.

By Thursday most of the Gryffindors were looking forward to taking classes with the grizzly old auror; all except Harry and Hermione was very curious as to the reason for that, after all she knew that Defense Against the Dark Arts was Harry's favorite class.

Harry let things fall out the way they had done so in his dream but midway through Moody's practical demonstration, he looked over at Neville and recalled why his friend was now looking sick to his stomach.

After class before 'Moody' could try to comfort and manipulate Neville, Harry left his bag on the desk next to his and called back to Ron to bring it to their dorm and dragged Neville to Madam Pomfrey altering what had happened in his dream but far more worried about Neville learning who had supposedly been comforting him.

Once they had arrived, he waited until Neville had been given a calming draught before insisting that McGonagall be contacted,

Harry soon was filling his Head of House in on what had gone on in their DADA class that day.

"Professor, I thought that anyone performing those spells on a human was automatically sent to Azkaban? Why would a professor be allowed to show them to students? Do you think that the Headmaster really knew what he was going to do? I just...well Neville's parents..."

The stern expression on his Head of house softened as she looked between Harry and Neville.

"I understand why you are upset regarding your class. I will be speaking to the Headmaster. I am proud of you for thinking of Mr. Longbottom, Harry."

In the common room later that evening after having the same conversation with Ron about his Divination homework and finding out about Bagman and the twins, he quickly exited the tower grateful he still had an entire hour before curfew and hopefully escaping Hermione and her determination to rescue the house elves.

Wandering the hallway and arriving randomly at the door of the staff room from which he could hear Minerva McGonagall's voice, Harry eavesdropped on her conversation with the Headmaster and felt a tad bit sick to his stomach as the man stubbornly refused to listen to her about Alastor Moody's strange teaching methods.

Hearing footsteps coming down the hallway, he ducked into a nearby classroom and waited until he saw Professor Snape entering the room with two of his other professors. Harry realized he could hear what was going on through a vent and felt a bit at a loss when Snape also told the Headmaster that there was something off about Moody.

Listening to the headmaster blithely ignore his two advisers advice and then the man leaving after telling his potion's professor that he had things under control, Harry began to realize that Albus Dumbledore wasn't omnipotent. That even a great man could make mistakes.

"Severus, surely you are wrong? Mr. Potter has been uncomfortable around Alastor as well but I am sure that the Headmaster would notice something amiss with a man that he has been friends with for almost fifty years." Harry heard his head of house saying.

"While I loath to agree with Potter on anything. I think that the boy's instincts are right on this matter. If for no other reason than what happened with Mr. Malfoy. Moody has never been predictable but this turning a student even Lucius Malfoy's son into a small rodent is beyond the scoop of acceptable limits, even for him."

Snape's snippy tone had Harry grinning at the idea of there being at least one person in the building who believed him. That grin faded however when Harry realized that the person was Snape. It wasn't like the greasy git would listen to him if he were to tell him who Moody really was.

He was racking his brain for an idea of how to convince someone, anyone, when it hit him, he had a way of convincing the only wizard who seemed to be as doubtful about Crouch as he was. Deciding to deal with the situation before the weekend was over, Harry returned to the common room and ran into a house elf obsessed Hermione.

After listening to what she was saying, he asked "Hermione, have you actually talked to the house elves? Found out if this is what they want?"

"Of course it is what they want, remember how happy Dobby was when you helped him get free from Mr. Malfoy?" She said in an earnest tone.

Harry reluctantly paid her for a badge, knowing that he would have to reason with his friend at a later date regarding SPEW. Right now, he had a bigger fish to fry and his only possible ally was his second worst enemy, no more like just in the top ten, he admitted to himself as he dragged Ron up to bed.

Just before bedtime, getting the expected note from Sirius that said the exact same thing as the last time, to go to Dumbledore and that he was returning from wherever it was he had been hiding had Harry feeling a bit sick to his stomach. Noticing Neville returning from the infirmary, Harry could hear the sound of his quiet classmate tossing and turning in his bed obviously still awake just like he was.

Getting up, Harry walked over and asked the other boy to join him downstairs. Once seated across from Neville, Harry bluntly said "I am sorry for what Professor Moody did today."

Neville face flushed, his fingers clenched into a fist and his eyes were stormy as he looked at his classmate and stuttered "Y-you know about m-my parents, don't you?"

"Yes." Harry quietly stated. Looking at Neville and seeing him looking ashamed, he said "Neville, your parents are alive. You at least have hope that someday they will be fine. I would give anything for a chance to see my parents."

Neville looked at Harry and confessed his darkest secret "Sometimes I think you were the lucky one. My parents don't seem to know me at all. My mum gives me these gum wrappers every single time I visit and I like to think that it means something but Grams is probably right that it means nothing."

"Don't lose hope, Neville. It's all we have. You have to know that." Harry quietly replied. "Ron, Hermione, the rest of our classmates, they have no idea what life is really like for us because their parents are alive and they love them."

"Your parents loved you too, Harry. They died trying to keep you safe." Neville said quietly.

Minerva McGonagall who had been coming to check on the Longbottom boy after a long talk with Pomfrey and Sprout, heard him talking to Potter and felt sad for her two lost boys.

"I know that here." Harry said pointing at his head before saying softly "At the same time, I get so mad at times. I can't help thinking that if they really loved me or had loved me more than saving the magical world they would have run away to America or someplace else with me instead of staying and fighting. I know it's irrational, but every time I go home to my relatives who don't want me, who don't love me, I can't help getting angry all over again."

Minerva heard the pain in Potter's voice and slipped back to the exit. Once in her own quarters she couldn't help once again thinking that they had made a grave mistake leaving Harry with Lily's sister.

TBC