Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.

March 1, 2074:

Harry put down his quill and turned to Merope and asked, "Well, dear, did you have everything you intended to bring with you?" Harry had shown Merope how to set up her own backpack, including the features that Harry had added to his so long ago.

Merope thought about it. She had given Salazar's locket to their son already, so that he could pass it on down the family, there was really no need for her to hold onto it anymore. She had hundreds of clothes that would help her fit in with any time period in the muggle or magical world. She was sad to be leaving their family behind, but was glad to be leaving before any of them passed on.

That would be the hardest part for her, sharing Master of Death status with Harry, always watching loved ones pass on and knowing that you will probably never see them again, unless one used the power of the stone. After much discussion, she and Harry hypothesized that being the Masters of Death, the use of the power of the stone ought not drive them into despair, but they had both decided that they would only use the stone's powers if circumstances seemed to require it.

Merope had at this point learned everything about magic that she could from Harry, and they were both trying to learn their magical limits as Masters of Death, so far they have not found them. Then again, they have lived in peaceful times for many, many years now and haven't had to truly put it all to the test. They became proficient in martial arts and weaponry in The RoR, so if they ended up traveling to a place where they could not show their magical skills, for whatever reason, then they would still be able to defend themselves in that way.

Merope shook herself out of her thoughts and looked at Harry and said, "Yes, I believe I have everything I planned to bring." Adding with a smirk, "Including my own money to invest with the goblins, wherever we end up." Harry just smiled at her indulgently, which caused Merope to roll her eyes.

"So," Merope said, redirecting Harry's attention, "do we plan to change our names when we get wherever it is we're going, or do we intend to use the same names we've been using all these years?"

Harry scratched his chin in thought. As it was, the only timeline using their current names was the one they were getting ready to leave. If his understanding of the MoD's powers of time travel were accurate, that meant that their identity was now unique only to themselves. It was complicated enough that it still made his head spin even after all these years of trying to figure it out.

Then Harry said, "I think we should be able to keep our current names, but if we end up in a time that has experienced Lord Voldemort, then Dumbledore would pay extra attention to your first name. You remember, he did an extensive study of Tom M. Riddle's family and your first name was completely unique even then."

Merope nodded in understanding and asked, "How about I change my name to Mary Grant Jameson, and you remain Hadrian Evan Jameson, keeping the nickname of Harry?" Harry nodded in agreement.

"Well," Harry said, "I can feel the pull getting stronger, so I hope you're as ready as you say."

Merope nodded, then said curiously, "I wonder why we're feeling a pull, but you did not when you came to my time?"

Harry said, "I've been wondering about that as well. You recall that I had been planning to time travel, but had no set time in mind?" Merope nodded.

"Well," Harry resumed, "I don't think I had a chance to feel any particular pull because I wasn't waiting around my original timeline for any certain purpose, and when I made the decision to go, I just allowed my magic to choose where to go." Again, Merope nodded in understanding.

"I don't know if we're going to be able to stick around in the new timelines for as long as we did this one. Maybe we'll start feeling a pull to move on more quickly than we did here, because we won't have any children here to hold us, unless we adopt. I think we'll be allowed to stay in one timeline just as long as we're needed, and then we'll feel the pull to move on to somewhere else." This caused Merope to look at him puzzled.

Harry just shrugged and said, "I could be wrong. It's really just a guessing game. Probably we'll be able to choose where we want to go at some point, but this just kind of feels like we're being called to a specific place, almost as if it's a call for help. Does that make sense?"

Merope just smiled at him and said, "What will be, will be. We'll take it each day as it comes, we're immortal after all. This time, if we meet any villains, as I'm sure we will, we should mess with them a little bit first, like pranking. I mean, stuff like vanishing their tea before they can even drink it, have them wondering if they really even poured themself a glass.

"My, my, Mrs. Jameson," Harry purred as he sauntered on over, "I never knew you could be such a prankster."

Merope just huffed and said, "Yes, well, when the grandkids began telling about all the pranks from the Mauraders, it shouldn't be a surprise that I can come up with a prank or two."

"Yes, of course, dear," Harry said, with a twinkle in his eye, causing Merope to stick her tongue out at him.

"Do you have the tent?" Merope asked.

"Yes, I do. Would you like to set up camp whenever we arrive and test it out?" Harry asked playfully, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her, as he moved close enough to touch her.

Merope smiled back and held up her hand and placed it on his chest, then said, "Oh, most definitely. I've been wanting to see this tent ever since you told me about it, but as the years passed, I just forgot about it."

Harry had leaned down to initiate a kiss when Merope said, "Oh, please don't tell me we're taking all that same food from before. I understand that a preservation charm can work wonders, but I'm not willing to eat food that is 150 years old or more, preservation charm or not."

Harry said, "Relax, honey. I donated all that food to the food banks and homeless shelters years and years ago. Besides, this time I've only packed enough for a few months, unless you want to continue living out of the tent and forgo establishing ourselves an actual home when we get there."

Merope tilted her head in thought, "Do we have time to buy a new tent?"

Harry looked at her in confusion and asked, "Why do we need a new tent?"

Merope said, "Because you have had that tent for a long time, what if there is something with better features now? Like a hot tub. Does it have a hot tub?"

Harry chuckled and asked, "Dear, what year is it?"

Merope thought for a moment and said, "2074."

Harry said, "Exactly. I came back in time from the year 2100, having purchased that tent somewhere between 2090 and 2100, so the tent we currently have is more advanced that any new tent we could purchase in the current year."

Merope looked at him and blinked at his answer.

Harry said, "Plus, the tent has been well taken care of, there is no reason it won't be perfectly fine, but if you want to go tent shopping to have one as a spare, should something happen to this one, I think we have enough time to go shopping and purchase a couple of them before it's really time to go."

Merope nodded and said, "Yes, I would like that. Do we have a hot tub in the one we have?"

"Darling, if it doesn't have a hot tub, I will install one myself." Harry promised.

Merope said, "Okay. But the extra tents will need to have a hot tub in each one, too. Also, I think you should keep two tents in your backpack and I'll keep two tents in mine, if for some reason we get separated and it would be inconvenient to apparate to the other." When Harry just stared at her she said, "Yes, I know with the abilities we have, hardly anything will be inconvenient, and we can apparate to the other in stealth mode, etc." Harry raised his eyebrow.

"What if we needed to separate for a night or two in order to accomplish a specific mission? Wouldn't it be better to each carry a tent and an extra? I don't know, maybe we'll meet someone who we need to give a tent to." Merope said, crossing her arms.

"Dear, I'm not denying you a tent, but I find it highly unlikely we'll need to give away a tent, considering that likely wherever we go it will be such a new model that it isn't being sold yet." Harry said.

Merope said, "Whatever. I feel like we've wasted a lot of time talking about extra tents."

Harry just shook his head at her and said, "Come on. Let's go get those hot tub tents, and then we can get to where we're going and enjoy some extra time in the hot tub, perhaps we'll forgo the swimsuits."

Merope smiled at that and said, "I'm sure I can be persuaded of that." Causing Harry to have to think of something else for a moment, as they didn't have time for that right now.

Harry said, "Okay. By my estimate, we have three hours, minimum, so we need to have this last minute shopping spree done in two."

"Of course," Merope said. "Let's get going, then."

"Wait," Harry said. Merope stopped and looked at him in question. "We need to wear glamours. It wouldn't do for us to run into anyone we know, even if we have already de-aged ourselves."

Merope said, "Oh, right. I guess I got a little excited and got carried away."

And so each having changed their appearances to reflect something of a college couple, they left to go tent shopping, making sure to specify they wanted hot tubs.

Upon returning home, they removed their glamours, and had just finished repacking their bags when the pull nudged at them again. So they initiated stealth mode, held onto each other, and then took a leap and were gone.