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Chapter 2: I Will Protect Them

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, woke up to a splitting headache. It felt as if the world was compressing onto his head, and opening his eyes was not something he wanted to do. Besides, the bed he was in was warm and felt safe.

At that moment, all the events of the last days came rushing back. He sat up suddenly, opened his eyes, and felt a wave of dizziness. A hand in the peripheral of his vision steadied him back onto the cushions,

"Easy there. From what Madam Pomfrey says, you are in no condition to be up."

Harry instinctively relaxed at the sound of Dumbledore's voice. Holding a hand to his pounding head, a combination of his scar throbbing and his head paining, he tatted around, reaching for his glasses. Once he had put them on, he could finally see clearly. He saw white beds and a small woman bustling around out of earshot.

"Ah, the infirmary. Of course."

He then looked back quietly into Dumbledore's blue eyes.

"I assume you have questions. I will do anything to prove I am not on Lord Voldemort's side, but there are many things I cannot talk about for fear of repercussions."

"Then you will not object to talking to a few ministry officials?"

Harry's eyes snapped to Dumbledore's face.

"I will not. I will be powerless to stop them from poking into my personal experiences and knowledge is a dangerous thing.'

"My dear boy, that puts me in a difficult position; I cannot allow you to stay here if I do not know whether you will endanger my students, regardless of the fact that you seem to be against Lord Voldemort. Now who are you? I will need answers, otherwise I must hand you over to the Ministry of Magic. I just wished we could do it the polite way.'

Harry shivered at the threat in a man he had considered as a mentor and had trusted implicitly.

"Professor Dumbledore…I-I wish I could. I will answer your questions without any legilimency performed on me. But first, could we go to your office? I cannot speak here."

Dumbledore regarded him with no expression on his younger face before getting up.

"Do you need help?"

Harry shook his head as he slid slowly out of the bed. The loud protestations of Madam Pomfrey had him whirling around, his hand flashing into his robes.

Dumbledore said, "Pomfrey, do not worry; I have heard all your ministrations. I will take care of him, physically." Then turning to Harry he said, "I took the liberty of removing your wand. I have questions about that too."

Harry was only half listening, his breath heaving. He walked painfully to the door, then, turning to Dumbledore, he asked, "Are you coming?"

They walked silently, Harry slightly in front, making it obvious he knew exactly where the office was. Fortunately, the castle was empty – probably the holidays, Harry thought – and they did not meet anyone until they reached the headmaster's office. Once safely inside, Harry looked around with interest. Not much was different, the spindly objects that had been, or were to be, on Dumbledore's desk were less in number, the sorting hat was on a carved shelf. Then he spotted Fawkes, probably just reborn; he looked quite miserable in his few feathers.

"Fawkes!" He walked a few steps then winced. He could see how that sounded. Turning around into the deep blue eyes of Dumbledore he started. "The reason I am afraid of talking about anything is because, well… what year are we in?"

"1st of September, 1977" Dumbledore replied, his eyes widening at the implication of Harry's questions.

Harry gasped. "So far! Are there any Weasleys or Potters alive? No wait, let me explain first, Professor. I, until this dawn, was more than 30 years in the future. I was dueling Voldemort, he threw some spell at me, and then I woke up here."

Harry did not look up to Dumbledore. He was pacing, reeling with the fact that he was more than 30 years in the past. How could he manage? What would Ron and Hermione or anyone think?

"You expect me to believe you based on that."

Harry looked at him in surprise, "No, of course not! Ask me anything about you. We were really close at one point, and I know much; I had to, you were the one who taught me."

Dumbledore looked at him silently, not speaking. Harry sighed; this was going to be harder than he thought.

"You are the greatest wizard of my time; probably of this one, too, if you have already defeated Grindelwald. You are the school headmaster –"

"Facts known to everyone."

'You were best friends with Grindelwald, you wanted to find the three hallows but he- he killed your sister, Arianna. You told me when you look at the mirror of Erised you see yourself holding a pair of thick, woolly socks but you probably see your family, too. You made Sna – no, I don't think that happened yet. You were the only professor wary of Tom Riddle when he was young. He asked you for a post at school but you knew there was another reason he came. Is that enough?"

Dumbledore had turned white while Harry talked.

"How? How would you? I would never tell anyone –"

"I know. But things change, I needed to know many things."

"I believe you."

"I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. I'd have thought it was black magic. I just show up unannounced with Voldemort. My god."

"What is wrong?"

"You already have one; I mean, he's already here, isn't he? Voldemort. So now…" Harry put his face into his hands. "What have I done?"

"Let us start at the beginning. What is your name, and why were you fighting Lord Voldemort? Surely the world has not come to children fighting Lord Voldemort?"

"Professor, my name is Harry P – Harry. I can't tell you my last name, it could change everything."

Dumbledore smiled even though his eyes continued to gaze at him seriously.

"I assume you are a Potter? Those features are not easily mistakable."

"Y-Yes, I am. So there are Potter's in this time?"

"Oh yes. Now, what spell did Voldemort use on you?"

"Deathero Infinitis."

Dumbledore looked blankly. "That is not a spell I have ever heard of. It must be dark magic if it is so powerful."

"Well, he used the elder wand when he cast it, but Voldemort said that I was the one who brought us here; I don't understand that, I didn't perform any spell. What am I going to do? What will they think? Hermione and Ron, I need to go back, now. The wizarding world will be in turmoil. They need me!"

"Calm down –"

"I can't calm down. I cannot do anything. Already by telling you I have changed something in my time. What can I do without affecting everything?"

"It is too late for that." Dumbledore said heavily, "If what I have understood is correct, we have a second Lord Voldemort running around here. He already will change everything; you can only try to counteract the change he will render to this time."

Harry started laughing a hysterical, high laugh. "After all this, I am stuck in a nightmare of past with Lord Voldemort. He was right; he did kill the boy who lived. For I cannot go back without him. And he is much more powerful here."

"Harry Potter, I am full of questions I shouldn't ask. Such as why you have Fawkes' feather in your wand or why you are fighting Voldemort. Don't worry, I will stop prying," he said, looking at Harry's face, "But meanwhile we need a plan of action. What are you going to do while I try to research the spell Voldemort used on you?"

Harry looked blankly at him. "What I am going to do….Professor, I need to protect them, all of them, anyone who is related to my current friends. Voldemort warned me he would torture me by killing them."

"Well I am sure we can get highly trained aurors onto this."

"No. It has to be me. I am needed to negate everything Voldemort does. The aurors would want to know about the situation and I cannot tell them. Besides, whatever they are doing they're supposed to be doing. If you pull them out you will change too much. And that will affect the future beyond me and Voldemort."

"But are you sure you can do this?"

"Oh, yes, Dumbledore. This is what I have been doing for the past seven years. Besides, I can count on your help. Tom has not changed much. He is still scared of you and does not know about love."

"Very well, then, I suppose we will have to enroll you at Hogwarts. You look too young to be a teacher; besides, our last post, Defense Against the Dark Arts, just got taken. I assume you went to Hogwarts?"

Harry smiled sadly. "Yes I did, I left before I could finish my last year."

"Perfect, you will enroll as a late student from Durmstrang or Beauxbaton and you can watch over them. I will give you medication for the pain for the next few days or Madam Pomfrey will have my neck."

"But professor, I can't, I mean I don't have anything with me except my wand. What about books and supplies? I can't even access my Gringotts account!"

"I will arrange for everything; I am sure my future self would – I mean, will do the same thing. Now do you need a list of students so you—"

"No, I am sure I will recognize them, or the family names at least. Now, when does the school term start?"

"Tonight; you were asleep for two days."

"I will protect them, Professor."

Dumbledore scrutinized the black-haired youth in front of him, with green eyes that were too old for his face.

"I know."