CHAPTER 1

A wondering Harry Potter was making his way down to Dumbledore's, his headmaster, office. He had been urgently taken from his NEWT level potions class. It was a miracle that he was even in that class, and Snape let him know it every chance he had.

Today, Snape had received a note in the middle of class releasing Harry for an important meeting. He gave Harry his famous sneer and sent him on his way. To be taken out of class for a meeting with Dumbledore was a rare occurrence, which meant he had something important to tell him.

He shivered slightly. The halls were cold being as it was mid December. Though the halls were cold, he felt relieved to be out of the dungeons, which were nearly unbearable.

"Pigeon Pastries," he said as he reached the gargoyle. This was another ingenious idea of Fred and George Weasley. Ever since their shop opened it was booming, mostly with Hogwarts' students.

As he was lifting his hand to knock on the door in front of him, a voice came from behind it. "Come in, Harry." It was Dumbledore. 'How the hell does he do that?' Harry wondered. He walked in and took a seat in a chair in front of his desk. Next to him, Remus Lupin sat, twiddling hi thumbs. Whatever he was here for, Remus was involved, and Harry wasn't going to like it very much. Remus seemed nervous and couldn't reach Harry's eyes, definite signs that something was up.

"Now that everyone is here, lets get started," Dumbledore started. Harry and Remus both nodded and he continued. "Harry, there is some grave news I must deliver." Harry nodded again. "There is an attack planned. Professor Snape informed us at the most recent Order meeting. It is another plan at the final battle. He is attacking Hogwarts at New Years." Harry had no reaction.

He had told Remus about the prophecy over the summer, but he still couldn't bring himself to tell his friends. Remus readily agreed to help him study and prepare. The summer work was mostly reading, due to the laws against under age magic. Now though, Remus was living at Hogwarts and the two were training in the Room of Requirement.

"The Order has been thinking about the outcome of the final battle. We think that eventually you will defeat Voldemort, however, Remus has informed us that you still have much to learn. He tells us that you are ready for your NEWT exams in all subjects, and you will be taking them before you leave."

"Excuse me, sir, but where am I going? It seems you have forgotten to tell me." There was a bit of coldness, in his voice. The failure to tell him important information last year was still fresh in his mind. The two of them had patched many things up, but not all things were forgotten that easily.

"Oh, yes. I was just about to get there." Harry said nothing. "It is not exactly where you are going, but when."

"I'm afraid I don't understand your words," Harry said in his best impersonation of his headmaster. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, maybe I should explain more clearly. We are sending you to a past time period." Harry was shocked to say the least.

"Then why do I have to take my NEWT's?"

"Well, Harry, you will no longer be a student in the past. I seem to remember a familiar young man being the professor in the Defense Against the Dark Arts area," he said with a smile and an especially bright twinkle in his eyes.

"Are you telling me that I will be teaching? This is outrageous! I'm only sixteen, how the hell can I teach students older than me?" Harry raved.

"That's why you're taking the NEWT's" Remus tried to explain.

"This is unbelievable." Harry stated and tried to walk out. When he reached the door and tried to open it, he found it was locked. He tried to magic it open with Alohomora, but it didn't work. He used another, more advanced spell and he heard it click open. Before he left, he turned to Dumbledore and said, "You can no longer hold me back."

Remus and Dumbledore sat stunned, while Harry made his way back down the hall where he had just come from. He knew he shouldn't have blown up like that, but he couldn't help it. How dare Dumbledore send him to the past when his battle was waiting for him.

His temper was starting to simmer as he walked through the halls. He knew Remus would come talk to him later, so he wasn't going to go look for him. He made his way to the Room of Requirement. When he got there, he walked past the wall three times thinking for a place just to relax and think. He hadn't done much of this lately, and figured it would be good for him.

Halfway through his thoughts, the room started to change. The door opened and in walked two people. In front of him stood Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson.

"What the hell are you doing here, Potter?" Malfoy asked with a sneer that could rival Snape's. Harry could tell he wasn't happy and that his intentions weren't good.

'I could ask you the same thing," Harry replied. Malfoy was about to make a snide remark, but Harry cut him off. 'But, please, don't tell me. I really don't want to know what you do in your spare time." With that he up and left, leaving a shocked Malfoy to do what he wanted.

As Harry was walking away, he was trying to think of another place where he could just think. Nothing came to mind. He kept his eyes down, and unexpectedly bumped into someone. He looked down to see who he had knocked down, and held out a hand as soon as he saw it was Ginny.

"Hey, Harry. What's got you thinking?" She asked, knowing the look on his face. Whenever that look was there, it was always a good idea to steer clear of him and not get on his nerves.

"Sorry, Gin. Didn't mean to knock you down." She just brushed him off. "I've got a few things to think through. Do you know anywhere I could go?" He was desperate for somewhere.

"Did you try the Room of Requirement?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was just there, but I was interrupted by Malfoy," he said with a grimace. Ginny agreed with a grimace of her own.

"Oh, geeze," she said. "I don't want to know what he was there for."

"I didn't ask, but he had Pansy with them, and that's why." Ginny smiled and nodded. "I can't think of anywhere else to go."

"I think your best bet might be to grab a cloak and go outside somewhere. No one's out there, it's too cold, but I'm not promising you won't freeze to death," she said with a grin. He gave a small smile at her attempt to a joke.

"All right, thanks Gin."

He said and made his way to his dormitory. Harry grabbed his cloak as Ginny had suggested, and took his invisibility cloak as well just to make sure he wasn't seen. He was presently sitting alone at the base of a big oak tree with no leaves on it. The lake in front of him was frozen solid, and the snow beneath him was making his whole body numb.

Numb. That's exactly what he wanted; to be numb from everything. To be numb from, anger, pain, jealousy, and confusion. Harry sighed. He thought about this often. This train of thoughts always led to memories of all these feelings, which only made them hurt worse. 'Who the hell did Dumbledore think he was? God?' Harry chuckled as he made a mental image in his head. "Far from it," he said aloud.

He heard footsteps from behind him and he jumped up pulling his wand out, as his invisibility cloak fell to the ground. The person there put their hands up in 'surrender', and Harry calmed down. He apologized as Remus took a seat next to him. They were silent until Remus finally spoke.

"I'm coming with you, ya know." His voice was low and loving.

"I'm not going," came the reply.

"You have to, Harry. It's the only place you're safe," he tried to reason. He had to convince Harry to go; it was for his own good.

"I have to face Voldemort" -Remus shuddered- "sooner or later. And plus, I don't want to live like this forever." Remus had to agree, but he didn't voice this thought.

"You may not want to live like this anymore, hell, I don't want to either. But you're not ready to face him yet. I know you know it too."

"I wish it were over." Remus didn't reply. "Or better yet, I wish it weren't me, or it never even happened. Yeah, that would be great." He sighed as his mental image of a happy life faded away. Remus only nodded his agreement. They spent a long while, until it was nearly dark, sitting there just lost in their own thoughts.

By the end of their time at the lake, Harry had come to a conclusion. Remus and Dumbledore were right. He would agree to go to the past and teach, though still reluctantly. Remus only smiled slightly as he was told.

They made their way back to the castle, still in silence. When Harry got to the common room, he just made his way to his dormitory, ignoring the questions and odd looks. He flopped down onto his bed and thought of all he would have to do and when he would be teaching. 'Damn he thought, I've gotta stop thinking so much,' he smiled a small smile and fell asleep.

Harry woke the next morning, refreshed from a dreamless sleep. It was a Saturday and he planned on seeing Dumbledore first thing in the morning, even before his friends woke. He was dressing when Ron opened the curtains around his bed. "What in bloody hell do you think you're doing up at this hour?"

Harry glanced at his wizarding clock before he answered. It read 4:21. "Sorry, mate. I've got a few things to do this morning."

Ron gave him a look telling him that he was crazy, but didn't respond. He pulled the curtains back around his bed and his soft snores could be heard almost instantly. Harry smiled to himself as he realized that Ron probably wasn't really awake.

He showered, properly dressed and finished his morning routine before five o'clock. He decided that he was probably the only one awake and dressed at this 'ungodly hour' (according to Ron), which meant Dumbledore would still be sleeping in his own quarters.

He grabbed a cloak with the idea to sit where he and Remus had the previous night, but instead of making his way to the Great Hall and out the doors, he turned left and continued to the Room of Requirement.

He wished for a huge room and all the supplies he would need for a practice in training. He opened the door and found a familiar room. It was large with a book shelf in along the east wall, with so many books, Hermione would be jealous.

He whipped out his wand and wished for a double of himself to practice with. This way his opponent would be and equal. He practiced for nearly an hour until he tired himself. He wished his opponent away and sat in a chair that appeared. He grabbed one of the various books and started reading. He had been researching a certain category of spells and charms for a long time. He wanted to learn to distract his opponent easily. So far he had nearly twenty distraction methods, but he had yet to use them in a real dual.

This morning, he found one that duplicate himself. His opponent would have to decipher which person was firing the spells, and which was just a distraction.. This was only helpful for a period of time, but it worked all the same. He stood and took out his wand again. "Duo Duplicada." Considering this was the first time he tried the spell, his results were acceptable. Standing next to him, was a semi-transparent version of himself.

By this time, it was 7:30. 'Dumbledore should be awake by now,' Harry thought. With that he picked up his unused cloak, and made his way to the ugly gargoyle that he knew only too well. "Pigeon pastry," he whispered, just to make sure he wasn't overheard. The gargoyle jumped aside and a spiral staircase appeared. He made his way up and before he knocked, he heard voices coming from the office.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" This was the angriest Harry had ever seen or heard Remus ever. Whatever it was, it was really important. "Do you have any idea how he's going to react? You spring something as big as telling him he's going to be a professor in a whole different time period, and then you plan on telling him this!" Harry wondered to himself how often the teachers and other adults talked about him in this office. He sighed and pushed the door open.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked the two men in front of him. Apparently Dumbledore was too befuddled in his argument to use his 'x-ray vision' (as Harry liked to call it) to see that Harry had been standing at the door, because he seemed as surprised as Remus to see him. "What the hell is going on?" Harry repeated.

"Harry," Dumbledore started, but Harry interrupted him.

"No beating around the bush. What the hell were you talking about before I came in?" His voice was a no-nonsense tone. He wouldn't deal with Dumbledore treating him like he had for the past five and a half years.

"Dumbledore, here," Remus was speaking now. "Has just told me a minor detail about your trip, that he failed to mention before now." Remus was glaring at Dumbledore fiercely now, and if looks could kill...

"And just what would this detail be exactly?" Harry asked. He was becoming a bit suspicious now.

"Oh, you know," Remus started. He never seemed to be the sarcastic one, but it really seemed to fit now. "We were just talking about what time period you'll be going to. Yeah, he told me you'll be teaching you're parents."

Harry gaped at Remus for a minute, and then as his mind figured out what was going on, he turned and put his hardest glare on his headmaster.