For All the Right Reasons

Summary: When the twins find out Remus Lupin was a Marauder, they develop a way to travel back in time. When Harry dies and a new war breaks out, they implement it.

AN: This plot bunny has, in my opinion, the potential to be expanded into a novel-length fic. Currently, however, I do not feel like rewriting the whole canon, or even the key scenes in which I would make a change. Therefore, I decided to end the story after Harry's first night at Hogwarts, letting it stand as a long one-shot, or an slightly expanded plotbunny.

Someday, I might continue here, but for now, my focus is on my other story. If somebody else is interested, I'd even share my ideas to expand the plot.

First Prologue: Legacy

May 28th, 1997

An unusual, quiet wave of laughter rippled through the crowed by the time Minerva McGonagall, newly appointed Headmistress of the prestigious Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft stepped down from the podium. Unusual not only because Professor McGonagall is wildly known and respected as a stern woman, but also because she is, in fact, speaking at a funeral – the funeral of Remus Lupin.

The event had started usual enough. It was remarkably well attended for a known werewolf, but taking into account that Remus Lupin was even better known as an husband, scholar, educator and war hero, the crowed attending it actually seemed quiet small. In fact, the remaining family had been forced to deny many guests they though to be unappreciated. The first to step up to the podium was Andromeda Tonks, the late Mr. Lupins's mother -in-law, carrying her little grandson Teddy Lupin. She had, already, acquired an unwanted familiarity in events like this one, having buried her own husband Ted, as well as her daughter, Remus's wife Nymphadora the day before, at this very spot. While they decided to hold two services, mostly due to the many lives either magician had touched, the young couple would be afterwards rest together for eternity. So Andromeda appeared more collected than she actually was when she spoke about the young couple's love, their hopes, and their accomplishments.

An endless procession of friends and colleagues seemed to follow her up to the speaker pedestal. The one notable absence, though, was the hero of the wizarding world, young Harry Potter, who, mourning in silence the loss of his last honorary uncle, sat in the second row, right next to where Andromeda had seated herself. In fact, young Harry seemed to be lost in his own world, his strangely dull green eyes staring into nothingness as he completely missed his young godsons attempts to get his attention. Not even his old and new girlfriend, Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley, nor his two best friends, Ginny's brother Ron and his girlfriend Hermione, seemed to be able to get through to him.

Finally, as the last speaker of the day, right before the coffin was to be lowered into the ground, Remus' former teacher, colleague and friend, newly appointed Headmistress Minerva McGonagall stepped up to share her favourite memory. Sizing the opportunity, she finally took her chance to hold her celebration of the life of not only one, but three of her most favourite and most talented pupils, for Remus Lupin's seven years at Hogwarts are undeniably connected to his two best friends, a band of brothers in all but blood, Sirius Black and James Potter, the Marauders and, for the better part of seven years, the undisputed 'it' group in the exclusive boarding school in the cold north of the Scottish Highlands. Nobody choose to mention Peter, may he rot in hell, more than in passing that day.

"And although most will remember the Marauders for their love of pranks, and probably for their spectacular yearly 'Easter Prank Obstacle Course to Breakfast', " Professor McGonagall finished her speech, "what I always found most remarkable in this group of friends was their ability to stay grounded. No, I'm not talking about being put under house arrest by their parents, although I know James' parents especially liked to do that almost every summer. Despite being popular with most of the students, as well as, as I am sure they were aware, quiet a few of their teachers, James, Sirius and Remus always had two favourite kinds of victims in their pranks. Those they felt deserved a reminder that feeling superior is not a trait to aim for, and, of course, themselves. Indeed, one of my most favourite dinners ever at Hogwarts was that so far completely unremarkable, and that in itself should have been a warning for all who knew Hogwarts or the Marauders, Tuesday during the boys seventh year.

All of a sudden, Peter, dressed up as a girl with ridiculously large hair-buns covering his ears, lying sideways on the pedestal before the heads-table, while James, dressed up in a strange, white armour, comes strolling through the main doors.

I still remember Peter's first words, and my confusion when I heard them. His voice was comically high pitched as he exclaimed 'Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?'

For the next ten minutes, James, Remus and Sirius, covered from head to toe in fur and only barking and whining, 'rescued' their princess as they swung through the hall on ropes and got chased by masses of white armour-illusions, while we, the teachers, desperately searched for our wands to put an end to the scene.

I was later on forced to watch 'Star Wars' a Muggle movie that millions, including the Marauders, had seen the summer before, finally allowing me to fully appreciate the magnitude of work those four had put into their prank."

Somewhere in the middle of the crowed sat two normally unsilentable redheads, their mouths hanging open, staring in shock not only because of a side of their former Head of House they had never seen before, but also because, finally, they had solved what they had nick-named the Marauders' Mystery - the identity of the Marauders. Then, in an almost hesitant whisper among the still smiling crowd, Fred broke the silence.

"Forge, did she just...? Did we really find them?"

"Yeah, but do you think that Ronnikins and …?", George answered his brother, equally hushed.

"Probably, although they would have …?"

"They did not really know we searched now, did they?"

"True, oh brother mine. But they are all dead now, so it's all over anyway."

"Well, at least we finally found them, and just imagine what Harry must know. Always knew that boy had it in himself."

"You think we could use some of the things they did for the shop? I can't see Harry complaining, really. What a waste of his legacy, really."

"Well, ", George realised with a grin, "McGonagall will probably know most about them. This is a literal untapped goldmine."

.

August 7th, 2000

Chosen One Raids Dark Hideout

Earlier this morning, the Chosen One himself, newly appointed Auror second class Harry Potter managed to locate and successfully infiltrate the biggest hideout of Dark Forces in Britain found since the end of the war. Harry Potter, against calls from a majority of our valued readers, decided to follow a typical career path and joined Auror Academy directly after his defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named three years ago.

Potter was available for comment later that day and thanked the Minister for his cooperation. "During the whole planing and observation phase in the past 3 months we have worked closely with the other departments in the Ministry of Magic. The success today is not only due to the great work of Captain Smith and his team (of which Potter is part, comment by tDP), but also due to a good part of the MoM. We could not have done it alone. Rest assured, though, I will not rest until our world is finally safe."

Already, calls are being made for the Boy-Who-Lived to be promoted or to be awarded on of the prestigious lifetime seats in the Wizagamont.

See page 4 for the whole interview with Harry Potter

See page 7 for the list of captures

See page 9 for a time line of the post-war clean-up

With a singe, George looked across his cauldron, which contained the latest batch of their new ear-growth-potion, and simply commented to his brother, "And to think we had such high hopes for him."

Fred, with an almost identical look on his face, confirmed "Unfortunately, he just had to join the establishment."

"Pitty we can't change that..."

.

April 4th, 2002

Dark Forces still entranced in Britain – Ministry forms Committee

In order to counter the dark forces still remaining in hiding throughout all of Great Britain and their recent uprising, Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt today announced the formation of a new Anti-Dark Committee made up mainly from veterans of the last war. In fact, the whole list reads like a who-is-who of the final battle, chief among them Harry Potter, the Hero of the Wizarding World, and Lucius Malfoy, Dark Arts expert and Politician.

"Even now, 5 years after the war, some of out citizens are afraid to be out alone after the dark. " Minister Shacklebolt said in his speech. "It is about time for us to finally regain control over our own country. I fully expect the commission to create various mid-term solutions in the near future and to see complete results within the next 5 years."

In the aftermath of the press conference, Lucius Malfoy, who changed sides during the war and who's wife was instrumental in the final defeat of You-Know-Who, commented: "It's an honour and a chance for me to even be considered for this position. I'll do my very best to finally bring this country onto the right path. I have been looking forward to a chance to serve my country for years."

Auror Potter was unfortunately unavailable for comment.

See page 5 to 7 for a short biography of the 9 committee members

See page 8 for an overview of recent dark activity

Unbelieving, Fred stared at his brother and back down at the paper. "They see a problem, and they talk about it? With Malfoy, nonetheless? And Harry joins in with that?"

"Seems like the war again, doesn't it? With politicians talking while good men and women are dying. Still, I can't believe that Harry doesn't see it...", George trailed of with a frown.

"Don't forget he's part of the establishment now. Firmly entranced, really. Ginny even forces him to go to all those parties and functions and ministry balls and be chums with Malfoy and the like."

"Poor sod, we really lost him, I think. Can't change that."

.

November 23rd, 2003

Potter Burn Out?

By Sherly Roberts

Has the great Hero of the wizarding world finally lost it? Don't get me wrong, Auror Potter is definitely still sane. It would seem, however, that he has, for now, lost the will to fight. In a press conference earlier today, our most valued citizen has announced his retirement from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "There is still so much left to be done, but I am just as human as everybody else", Potter said in front of an assortment of press and politicians. "I just need to shut down, get a grip on my life again, fill up my reserves, and find my centre, focus and purpose again. There are plenty of talented people out there who will do what is needed."

Although Potters retirement is a huge blow for the Ministry and for England, it does not come as a surprise. After the break up of the decade, Potter had to fight a lot of unwanted advances of witches of all ages. At the same time, more and more voices called for the young Lord Potter and Black to finally bring an end to the continuous Dark Uprisings and to take his rightful place in the Wizagamont.

Potter was unavailable for questions after the press conference. He did not announce when he would return.

See page 7 for comments

What do you think? Owl us your thoughts.

"Well, what did they expect? Even Harry Potter can not simply do everything alone. Or better yet, do everything while working against everybody."

Astonished, George looked over to where his brother sat. "You know, you do have a point there. It does seem as if he somehow had to work against everybody sometimes."

.

January 5th, 2004

Seriously Serious again

In the light of the recent attacks by the so far unnamed terror group reminiscent of the feared Death Eaters, 'Weasleys Wizarding Wheezies' and its owners Fred and George Weasley, veterans of the last war, have announced the relaunch and extension of their "Seriously Serious" series. The Seriously Serious concepts was developed in the beginning of the last war, when the two now infamous inventors joined the war effort and marketed a series of light to medium protection gear as well as a range of mild distractions, in the hope that it would allow people under attack to flee or even to fight back.

"We can not wait for another Harry (Potter, tDP) to rise up again and solve our problems. It is our responsibility to make our world a better place, and to stop this thread." one of the Owners explained.

The first new item in the Seriously Serious series is, uncharacteristically, a book. "Defense for Dummies – A guide to defence, magic, and everything in 42 pages", promises nothing less than to be a quick start guide for the average witch or wizard to successfully survive this brewing conflict. The most important advice, however, is, according to the two authors, the bold yellow letters on the front cover, reading "Don't Panic."

.

March 16th, 2004

Calls for Potter to rejoin the fighting

With the number of disappearances rising slowly from month to month, multiple sources, including Wizengamont member Lord Odgen, nephew of the late Block leader, appealed to the hero of the last wizarding war to finally join the fighting, or to be made to.

"So far, we do not even know who we are fighting. After the disastrous results of the second war against You-Know-Who, our society is simply not prepared to fight another civil war of these proportions. In order to preserve our way of life, this war has to end before it even began.", Lord Odgen explained his decision. "Sometimes, for the Greater Good, some have to make sacrifices to protect everybody."

Since Harry Potter's disappearance a year and a half ago, he has not been seen, although there have been unconfirmed sightings all over both the magical and the Muggle world. Sources close to our young saviour report he is living a hermit life away from civilisation and away from magic.''

See page 4 for the full interview

See page 8 for a list of supporters

See page 16 for a time line of the post-War terror

"This is getting out of hand, brother. You would think Harry has done enough, but at the same time, we really need him." Fred said to his brother.

"True, oh brother mine, but what can we actually do. Harry has sure earned his retirement and no matter what others say, he never really did explore the deeper secrets of magic. He's simply not the second coming of Dumbledore."

"Not that that is a bad thing", George heard his brother mutter. Then, aloud, Fred announced: "It's too bad we can't change that."

His brother's sudden, wide-eyed look of inspiration is one he is quiet familiar with, although he did not expect to see it right then and there.

"Well, do you remember Remus Lupin's funeral?"

"Of course, it probably made us thousands of Galleons. The marauder's best pranks – now for your living room."

"Not that. The other thing. Harry, and how he should have been a prankster."

.

September 1st, 2004

Urgent Special Edition

Harry Potter dead – Cult leader Lucius Malfoy exposed as the 'Angel of Chaos'

In an display of unmatched cruelty and destruction, the one responsible for the terror nights of the last years presented himself for all to see. At shortly after 4pm in the afternoon, about two dozen black figures, wearing black masks, appeared (whether by Apparition or Portkey is yet to be determined) in the centre of Diagon Alley. For unknown reasons, the group of outlaws quickly started throwing potent and destructive Dark Magic, displaying a clear attempt to cause death and chaos.

In the beginning, Magical Britain and her subjects were too much for these Black Angeles (a term not known at that point) to handle. Proofing that we have learnt our lessons from the last war, the shoppers, lead by Hogwarts' newly appointed Professor of Transfiguration, Hermione Granger and her fiancée Ron Weasley, both known war heroes and friends of Harry Potter, quickly closed ranks to protect the children, and seemed to be winning. The fighting stopped approximately one minuet later, however, when a figure clad in blood red from head to toe appeared in the middle of the street, carrying the dead body of our beloved Harry Potter. In an almost absurd display of clichés, he started to introduce his band of followers, the Black Angels. Meanwhile, an shield ward of unbelievable strength held back the desperate attempts of the crowd both to reach Potter and to flee.

"In the end, it was almost absurdly easy to get to Potter. Once we found him, his wards were weak and he seemed to have no will to fight, and no real knowledge of magic. As powerful as Potter was, he was unfit to handle his power. In the end, his mudblood heritage shone through. It's mine now, though. Behold, the Angle of Chaos, the true Lord of Britain!"

With a simple wave of his hand (not his wand!), the Angle of Chaos exposed Potters chest and the numerous runes carved into it. The Department of Mysteries later confirmed the rune array as one used in the most disgusting and extremely forbidden 'Ritual of Forced Transfer', which transfers the victims magical power, the maximum amount of magic he or she is able to use, as well as his power regeneration rate, into the initiator. The ritual is forbidden because not only is it most painful for the victim, it also guarantees Death at the end of it.

Panic broke out in the crowd around the shield. The Black Angles reacted instantly, though, and started hurling explosive and deadly curses into the masses. Few of Britain's proud citizens had a chance to actively fight back with the masses pushing against them and August 30th, 2004 will forever be known as the Diagon Alley Massacre.

Easily noticeable among the fleeing crowd were Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who were desperately fighting to reach their fallen friends body. In the end, it was in vain and both were felled by the 'Angle of Chaos' himself. Although this self-styled 'Angle of Chaos' obviously commanded the power of Harry Potter, our two heroes managed to land multiple hits on their opponent, one of which blew of the red cloth hiding the 'Angle of Chaos's identity.

There is no denying the identity of our newest foe. Lucius Malfoy used to be best known for his expertise and insight into the workings of the terror group. The reason for that quickly became clear and will forever be burned into the minds of the survivors of yesterdays bloodbath.

Not even three minuets after the first group of Black Angles appeared in the Alley, multiple units of the Auror guard deployed to reinstate order, forcing the enemy to withdraw. Their response time, while almost 6 minutes or 70% better then any seen in the last war, was still too slow.

Yesterdays attack leaves 84 witches and wizards dead, 14 of them still school-aged and 10 of them Aurors. A further 23 magicians were transferred to St. Mungos for emergency treatment. The centre of our economy lies in ruins and will be unusable until the clean-up can be accomplished.

Our thoughts today are with those who passed on and their families. May they rest in peace.

One of the main disadvantages of a wizard dealing in the Muggle world is the need to be out of communication every once in a while, so the two owners of the wizarding world's most successful start-up were far away when the attack happened and only later found a newspaper reporting the events.

It was rare to see Fred and George Weasley both speechless. This article, though, was easily able to manage that.

"Do you think it is ready? Because it just might be time to use it.", Fred asked his brother.

"Actually, the timing is perfect. Hogwarts is easily the most magical place we've ever been to, and the school-year starts today. We should easily be able to use the magical concentration to target our voyage, and to focus our portal. Do we have everything planned out, though? Are we sure, this will actually improve things?"

"I really don't fancy staying here and finding out just who all was at the alley yesterday."

With a grim look, George stood up and moved to the back of the room. "Let's do this, then."

.

September 1st, 1989

With a start, two identical red-heads awoke in the first year Griffindor dorm room of the Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, far up in the north of Scotland.

Quietly, as not to awake the their room mates, they turned to each other, grinned, and muttered:

"Mischief"

"Managed".

.

Second Prologue: Improvisations and Preparations

In another time, in the height of the war, the snap of a twig would have caused George to spin around and reach for his wand. Now, though, he sat well hidden amongst the high bushes on the back side of Hogwarts, digging along the castle's mighty walls, and was well aware just who had just arrived behind him.

"Did you get it?"

Unseen by his brother, who was still mostly focused on the wall before him, Fred waved a piece of parchment through the air. "Please. Breaking into Filch's office has been a challenge to third year, at best. Now, it is simply boring. A little disillusionment, a small Muffilato, tipped with a hint of Alohomora."

George turned back to his brother for the first time. "You are sure nobody saw you? You should not know these spells, let alone be able to cast them, remember?"

"Relax, brother of mine," Fred grinned, "contrary to you, almost everybody is in the Great Hall, enjoying their first lunch at Hogwarts. How is it coming along?"

George turned back to the small hollow he had formed in the sand, uncovering a band of runes on the base of the wall. "I found the right section. This here is the anti-portkey ward. Now, all I have to do is add the override we worked out last night and charge the new array."

Fred frowned. "Are we really going to mess with the Hogwarts wards just to sent a few letters? Isn't that a bit, overkill?"

"Well, it is still better then doing it for a prank like we did last time." George argued dryly. "I recon this will take another half an hour, at least. Why don't you go organise some food before classes restart? We won't get to the forest until tonight, anyways."

"I still think we should simply raid Snape's supply. After all, who would suspect two little firsties to be able to break those anti-theft wards. That way, we can sleep tonight, for a change."

George gave an annoyed sigh. "You know we need to stay low key. Besides, at some point selling potions might actually provide us with some income, as well. If we keep stealing, Snape will catch us eventually."

"Damn, I forgot we don't have the shop anymore yet." Fred exclaimed.

"Only you could butcher a language like that, oh brother mine."

.

In a dusty, dark chamber deep in the heart of Hogwarts, two students bent low over several cauldrons, checking colour, consistency and temperature of their brews constantly.

"How is that nutrition potion of yours coming along, Fred?"

When his brother wordlessly held up five fingers, George nodded in satisfaction. "By then, I should have the combiner done, as well. I hope our recipe is right."

"One would think we have brewed it often enough, for you to stop worrying." Fred replied absently. Indeed, the combiner was arguably their greatest invention and the root of their success. Normally, potions had to be stored separately, in some cases even kept in gold cauldrons to prevent interaction of the highly magical brews with the glass of the storage jar. Their combiner potion, however, absorbed the magical properties of all introduced potions, allowing them to create new ones out of combinations of already existing inventions.

Their most selling article, for example, the traditional canary cream, worked only because the transfigurative potion did not interact with the voice altering potion. Without the combiner, the explosion of mixing the two would have destroyed a good cauldron. If you added the chocolate to the mix, as well, you might even loose a whole room.

"Let's check again. I want to be sure we have everything we need." Fred's voice brought George out of his musings.

Immediately, he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, reading the list they had created in History of Magic a few hours ago. "Nutrition Potion. Skelgrow. Combiner. Skin absorbant potion."

"Check."

"Notice-Me-Not and Muggle-Repelent wards, located on the paper, keyed to us and Harry and a confundus charm on Harry the moment he touches the letter to prevent him from talking – never mind, I've got that here. Letter?"

"Drafted, waiting for you to proof-read." Fred confirmed.

"Photo?"

"Darn! I knew I forgot something. We were supposed to discover Hagrid's after dinner. Think we can sneak out, already?"

"We should." George speculated. "But maybe we have an alternative that is closer. I'd like some sleep tonight, as well."

"Library – the yearbooks?" his brother proposed.

"Nah. To impersonal. Besides, they would have two sperate pictures. Harry will want of both of his parents together."

"Snape probably has something of Lily flying around we can nick." Fred grinned.

"Same reason, or can you see him having something of Prongs as well? To bad Slughorn is not around, anymore yet." George denied.

"Ha! You used it as well." Fred exclaimed. "Do you think McG has that wedding picture on her mantle-piece, already?"

George leaned his head to the side for a moment, his eyes twisting in deep thought. "She might, even if it shows Padfoot in it. Flitwick, however, has one for sure, and he has patrol tonight."

"Do you think we can take the personal wards of a charms master? Flitwick is good, don't forget that." Fred put in.

"He is, but do not forget that we already know his ward scheme. He has not even optimised his layout since the Marauder's left school, since we have not pranked him yet." George explained, causing his brother's eyes to shine in joy. "Besides, McG is sleeping in her quarters, already, and I really don't fancy getting caught in there."

Half an hour later, the pair had successfully copied the memoria of their small charms professor, bringing their loot back to their hideout.

"So, anything else?" George questioned his brother as he dipped his quill into the inkpot, intending on copying the draft his brother had written onto the back of the ward scheme he had skillfully crafted on a parchment.

"Do you think we can attach a monitoring ward to the letter to jump onto Harry. You know, just in case he gets in trouble and we can do something to help." Fred proposed.

"I don't know. Something to keep in mind for the next letter, after we had a chance to do some research and play with a couple of numbers."

"Okay, so let's write this thing."

As George's quill touched the surface of the ink, Fred whipped out his wand and pointed it at the well. "Illuminus. No need for the whole surface to shine. The ink will do to make it readable."

His brother nodded in agreement. "Good thinking. And maybe you should be the one to write, also. Your penmanship is much better then mine. By the way, how do we sign the letter? 'Fred and George' is probably a bad idea if we are to remain anonymous."

"How about WT? You know, for 'Weasley twins'?" Fred proposed. "That way, we might even give the impression there is only one of us."

"Nah. We use 'we' all the time in the letter. But maybe W&T?"

"And we can even interchange the letters, writing T&W sometimes to further veil our identities. I like it."

Ten minutes later, Fred looked up to his twin. "Did you freeze the photo, yet? It would not do for Harry to get a moving picture, already."

With a simple sticking charm, the pair covered the complex array of runes with Lily and James Potter's expanded wedding picture, before sliding the combined paper into a large envelope.

"Portus!"