time travelling to harry
part two
harry potter x reader
summary: you use a malfunctioning time-turner that takes you to Harry Potter’s fifth year, and you find it very difficult to not fall in love with the Hogwarts’ legend.
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"Yes."
Harry gives you a dazzling smile in answer. “Great!”
It is then that you realize the weight of your decision. What if this changes something? Well – if you change something in your past, meaning this present, then you’d see it already in your present, meaning this future, right?
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh. Nothing. Nothing.” You try to smile, but it comes out nervously, paired with your flushed face. “Mmmm… where do we start?”
Before he can answer, Ron’s yell cuts through the bubble you've created with Harry. “Guys, it’s getting late. We’ve decided to leave it here for today.”
“Oh,” Harry mutters in surprise. You hadn’t realized it was this late either. “Alright, then. See you all tomorrow.”
He waves Ron and Hermione goodbye, and the rest of the students follow them to leave. At last, Harry turns back to you. “We should leave as well. Do you have class now?”
You definitely don’t have class now, nor in about fifty years or more.
“I don’t,” you shyly say under your breath.
He will not find out. He will not find out. Calm down.
“Oh. Alright. Great!” He chuckles nervously, which makes you more nervous. Does he know your secret? “And would you like to – well, I am going to visit Hagrid, maybe… do you want to come?”
Oh my. Hagrid.
“Hagrid?”
“Hagrid. Yes.”
Hagrid. You were going to meet yet another Hogwarts legend.
Your friends always mocked you when you confessed it made you cry that you never got to meet the unique keeper of keys. But now you are, and Harry can read the joy it brings you by your beam.
“Is that a yes?”
You nod with carefree elation. Maybe this wasn’t too bad? Maybe it was the greatest thing that has ever happened to you. This was all you never knew you wanted – meeting your school heroes. Maybe befriending them… Maybe…
Your delight doesn’t falter one bit as you wander with Harry through the castle. Somehow, magic is more alive now than in the future. As if Harry’s magic spreads through the air. Perhaps the saying was right, Harry Potter really was the light of Hogwarts.
“What?” he asks with a laugh as he finds you watching him.
No embarrassment shows on your face, just an easy smile that creates a new complicity between you two. It has been fun talking to him during your walk. You’ve found out he truly is a sweetheart; it was relieving that the hero isn’t intimidating at all, but just a kind boy with a good heart. He is even quite timid, which makes him even more endearing.
“Nothing.”
He chuckles, and shaking his head, remarks, “I have to ban you from using that word anymore.”
You match his playful chuckle. “I’d be left with nothing.”
“Oh, shut up!” he laughs even deeper, hitting you playfully with some books he had picked up for Hagrid.
“Ouch!”
“No, but really – you have to stop saying nothing and start explaining who you are. Or why I’ve never seen you at Hogwarts.” There’s a suspicion in his tone that makes you alert. But he laughs it off.
“Mmmm,” you start, unsure of what to say. “Well, I’m Y/N.”
“I know that,” he says plainly.
“I told you it’s difficult to explain.”
“Try.”
You shouldn’t. You know you shouldn’t. But… You inspect the hallway, watching for any signs of someone being around. You're alone, but you still don’t feel safe enough.
“Hey – What?” he exclaims as you swiftly take him by his uniform and pull him through a door. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t risk being heard,” is all you explain.
His confusion only grows, and he takes a step toward you, as if the closer he gets, the closer the answer is to him. “So you are going to tell me?”
“I am.” You sigh, already regretting your decision. “But you have to promise me you will tell no one.”
He nods. “I promise.”
You don’t know why, but you believe his words utterly, just like you would Nathaniel, your most trusted friend. You try to tell your heart you shouldn’t trust this boy you’ve just met so blindly, no matter how kind and good he is.
“Alright. Well… the thing is… I may have come here from – well – from the future.” It almost sounds like a question, the way you say it. A question Harry most definitely doesn’t have the answer to.
“What.”
You nod.
“What do you mean you come from the future?”
You owe him a longer explanation. “I found an old time-turner. I turned it, and now I’m here.” You go to show him the collar, but you don’t find it on your neck, where it should be. Oh no. You must have dropped it somewhere, right? If not, how would you ever return?
Or maybe – just maybe, this was your perfect excuse to never return. To stay here.
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” you reply, looking down at your feet. You’ll look for the time-turner after this. “I didn’t know what I was doing, and I don’t know what to do now.”
“You mean you don’t know how to go back?” he asks, still taken aback.
“No, that I know. I would just have to turn the ring five times, or so. It’s just that… Nevermind.”
“What?”
“It’s not that I don’t know how to go back, it’s just that I don’t know if I want to.”
“You don’t want to go back?” he questions, surprised.
“I don’t want to leave.”
“But… Why?”
He’s really making this hard for you. You hope your answer is clear enough as you look into his eyes.
You. This Hogwarts. It feels like home. “I like it here, I guess,” you mutter at last.
He nods, registering your words thoughtfully.
“I’m glad,” he whispers, as a soft blush creeps up his cheeks.
“You are?”
“Yes. I like you… being here.”
You can't help the smile that grows on your face as you avoid his eyes. “I like that you’re here, too.”
He returns your smile, and you simply can't move your eyes away from the sweetness of it.
But your tender moment lasts only so long. “Do you hear that?” he asks, walking outside the door.
“What?” But then your answer comes in the form of a yell.
“Y/N?!” It’s Nathaniel’s voice. “Y/N? Where are you?”
How on earth–
“Nathaniel?” you ask as you face him outside of the room. Harry follows you immediately. “Nathaniel, how did you–”
But your words fade as he collides with you in a worried hug. His uneven breath warms your neck intermittently. “Y/N,” he whispers. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“How – How did you get here?”
“I took the time-turner I assume you used.”
“It was there? It stayed in that room?” So that’s why you didn’t have it anymore. But then – “Do you have it?”
He finally lets go of you, shaking his head no.
Oh my. This complicates things.
“But we will find a time-turner here. I promise. And then we will return home.”
Home.
You turn to the boy behind you. Harry’s face is nearly unreadable, but his eyes tell you he doesn’t want you to go.
You don’t want to go either.
But how would you tell Nathaniel? How could you abandon your real life?
“But we can’t waste much more time,” Nathaniel continues, and you spare a final sorrowful glance at Harry before turning to your friend. “We have to find one now.” He looks behind you and adds, “Does he know where we could find one?”
Even though you love your friend, it still hurts that he sometimes acts this way – that he treats Harry like no more than furniture, not even acknowledging he’s here. Not even speaking directly to him. It was his most Slytherin trait.
And it’s your most Slytherin trait when you tell him sharply, “I don’t need one.”
“What?” he asks with his eyebrows raised.
“I’m staying.”
-Characters by J K Rowling