Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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23 May 1995, Hogwarts, Scotland

What the hell was Nidhogg's corruption doing in the future and how had it infected the World Tree? Well, that made things a lot of confusing, but also, a lot more complicated. He just knew that this was probably going to spiral out of control.

When Harry had woken up this morning, he had expected a quiet day of research and experimentation, not being forced to deal with three idiot teenagers who thought that time travel was the solution to everything.

Well, he couldn't really blame the girls, Julia and Catherine, as they had no idea what was happening, but the Alexander boy was beyond reckless with his plan. Messing with the fabric of time was generally a bad idea, especially given the fact that he used an experimental device that could have very easily killed him. No, it should have killed him, if not for the fact that he was lucky. Or was he?

Now, he was dealing with Nidhogg's corruption and three time-stranded teenagers, with no easy way to send them back to their timeline. He could have theoretically just frozen them in time and left them somewhere, there could be some complications in the long run. Given the fact that the density of ambient magic would be far higher in the future, at least according to the kids, then there was a very real possibility that their bodies would absorb too much magic at once, essentially making them combust from the sudden increase of energy in their circuits.

That was pretty needlessly cruel, especially given that he had another way to send them back, specifically the time-turner that brought them there in the first place. Harry could theoretically retrofit the time turner to work in reverse despite its initial design, essentially sending the three teenagers back the same way they came in. There was an elegance to it, especially since he could see that there was a modularity in how the time turner was enchanted. It was essentially a place to actually slot the enchantment without it interfering with any of the other functionalities. That had to be a nice hint. His future self was so thoughtful…

He turned towards the teenagers and spoke up, "Sit here. I'm going to do my best to fix this thing and use it to send you all back."

"What about the World Tree?" they all asked at once.

Harry raised his hand and conjured hundreds of golden runes, that started to combine with one another and fold into each other's function, which he managed to do with Solomon's magic, slowly turning it into a web of golden symbols that was barely discernible, so densely connected as if it was a solid ball. Harry then opened his palm, conjuring a white glowing dove, his Patronus, which flew inside the web of interconnected runes and started to glow white. The light solidified like a shell around the runes, turning it into a white metallic ball with doves carved all over it.

Harry gave it a once over, nodded to himself, and threw them the ball, that the Marinakis girl seemed to barely catch, and then treated it like some sort of bomb, "What the hell is that?"

"I've seen that sort of magical corruption before. Patronus charms could theoretically keep them at bay. It's a miracle that the corruption is spreading so slowly, believe me. I saw it practically swallow up an entire island and the sea around it, corrupting wildlife and killing everything it could get its hands on, in a couple of years. The tree must be fighting it off, but that thing absorbs magic. Just to be safe, I made it so the World Tree itself would power this ball and release a very powerful Patronus charm. Given the energy, the effects of the spell might reach half the continent."

Harry didn't mention the fact that he made sure that it would destroy any potential breach with Nidhogg's realm, in case some idiot ended up opening one, and that it would essentially remove all signs of the essence from everywhere it touched. The fact that the corruption existed in the first place was far more concerning than fixing the tree. After all, if it could be infected once, it could happen again.

Still, the fact that someone was messing with fucking Nidhogg, especially after Harry had just dealt with Ekrizdis, was extremely troubling. He wasn't fighting the Light and Dark, only for his realm to be devoured by Nidhogg of all things. Hopefully, it was some sort of residual of the corruption that someone used, or maybe coming from an old breach that Harry never found. It would be far more disturbing to think that someone would manage to open a breach in the future. It was a very small possibility, especially without Solomon's Grimoire, and the fact that Ekrizdis wasn't the type to let his research lie around, since he hadn't exactly planned on dying, and it wouldn't have made sense to risk someone using his magic against him.

Harry's impromptu artefact would deal with any breach and destroy any traces of Nidhogg, but it wouldn't exactly stop someone from opening a new breach if they could. Well, at least it would slow them down, given the energy requirements, but that was it.

The three teenagers were gaping at Harry, especially Alexander, "How did you do that? You literally made something entirely from runes, and you did that in seconds."

The last Potter raised an eyebrow, "Your point being…"

He supposed that from an outsider's perspective, what he had just done was very impressive, especially given the fact that it was unplanned. The boy, though, seemed to choke, at his response. Thankfully, the Marinakis girl stopped him, "Alex, this is seriously not the time for this," she then turned towards Harry, "So, this should heal the World Tree?"

Harry shrugged, "Pretty much, yeah. Just make sure the tree touches it, and it will take care of the rest."

The Zabini girl spoke up this time, "Now what?"

"Now, I'm going to deal with this thing to get you all home."

He didn't even bother hearing their responses and instead started to analyse what had to be one of the endless layers of the time-turner. His future self certainly spent some time very carefully designing the enchantments when making this artefact. The efficiency of it all, was the way certain sections were very tightly coupled with one another, while some of them were weirdly independent, modular even.

It didn't take long for Harry to find a very nice subroutine in one of the enchantments, especially in one of the safeguards in case the journey failed somehow, which would return the user back to their time. Harry had expected to spend hours modifying the thing, but all he had to do was trigger this enchantment, with the three kids touching it, with the time turner being exactly in the same location it was in when it was activated. It seemed like a weird condition since there should have been better ways to handle errors during activations, but it wasn't that big of a deal, really.

His future self really was thoughtful when he made that thing, even if that last detail was weirdly inefficient, but that wasn't that big of a deal.

Harry smirked slightly and turned towards the teenagers, "Alright, I think I got something. Can you tell me where exactly you arrived when you landed here?"

"Outside the Black Lake," the Granger boy retorted, "I couldn't do it inside the castle because I thought that someone might come in by accident. Not that it ended up mattering…"

"Dude, the ritual was like a light show in the middle of the night. The entire castle saw you," Julia Zabini answered with a dry voice, "We just happened to be the closest people there. Why the hell did you think that this was a good idea?"

The boy groaned, "My mum's instructions were very clear. The artefact needed to be activated outdoors."

Harry rolled his eyes, "No, it wasn't."

"Then why was it in my mother's note?" Alexander protested.

"Look, kid, I don't give a damn about your political aspirations, and your frankly idiotic plan to make yourself a hero and save the world. I don't care if you wanted to make this thing a spectacle, for everyone to see you achieve the impossible, but with just a glance, I can understand this artefact better than your mother ever could in decades. So, believe me, when I say that the whole thing about it being outside is completely wrong."

He was telling the truth. The artefact had nothing to do with being outside. It didn't even really require a ritual to work. Maybe there could be one as a medium to interact with the artefact properly, like putting in the date and time, maybe even a change in location, or certain parameters. Normally, they should have been accessible through certain spells and using the runes as interfaces. Even Hermione should have been able to figure that out. Using rituals and making a spectacle of the whole thing shouldn't have been in her notes.

Either the boy had personally made that up, hoping for some publicity, or there was something else going on. Still, Harry didn't exactly care. The moment those three idiots were back to their timeline; he would sleep a lot easier.

Of course, the other girls didn't take that lying down and Marinakis' expression flattened as she stared at the boy accusingly, "Did you seriously try to go back in time to become some sort of hero?"

The boy's silence was telling, not denying what she said, which caused her to hit him in the shoulder, "You absolute idiot. Please tell me you weren't involved in actually poisoning the tree."

That time, the boy protested, "I swear I had nothing to do with that. I don't even know who did that or even how. I just thought that saving the tree would stop muggleborns from being prosecuted, and even then, I could use my popularity to promote the idea of granting them more rights, giving them more opportunities, of showing the world the injustice they face every day…"

The Zabini girl growled, interrupting him, "Save it, Alex. We'll talk about that when we get home."

Thankfully, the way down to the castle grounds didn't have any complications, other than the girls glaring at Alexander. Harry's privacy charms were more than enough to hide them, and they arrived right outside the Forbidden Forest, with the boy doing his best not to wilt at the looks his companions were giving him, "This is where I conducted the ritual."

Harry nodded, feeling the denser magic around this place. He raised his wand; he needed to make sure that the time turner would be in the exact same place it previously was, and he used to start scrying into the past, using time magic to stabilize the picture, to get an exact picture of what happened, and making sure to position the time turner properly.

He slowly peered back in time, focusing on the teenagers landing to this time, trying to see the exact position of the time turner, to avoid any sort of complications, only to freeze completely as he saw something in the corner of his eyes. He kept looking at it, again and again, making sure he wasn't mistaken. It was a silhouette, a hooded figure that he saw just for moments before it turned invisible.

The last Potter put down his wand and murmured, "There was someone else."

"What?" the three time-displaced teenagers asked.

"There was a fourth person who was sent back in time," he murmured.

Without even waiting for their responses, he immediately opened a portal, which swallowed them all, spitting them out in a very familiar location. The three teenagers slowly got up and the Marinakis girl spoke up, "I know this place."

Harry nodded, "Of course you do. If what you told me about the World Tree is true, then this is where it will grow in the future."

"I can see it. How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I planted the World Tree, of course. Before your infamous divine tree, this was one of the oldest magical places in the world. We called it Stonehenge, and not too long ago, someone tried to rip out every drop of magic from this place. I was able to salvage it before it became too late by planting a seed, something very small which would grow in time. Something that would bring this place back to its previous purpose. I never thought it would grow into something like the World Tree, but I recognized the magic the moment I saw the sapling that was, for some reason, in the time turner."

Julia Zabini gave him an odd look, "Then why did you bring us here?"

"Your mother might have researched this time turner, but she's not stupid enough to think that a ritual was an efficient way to control it. Someone wanted to come, hidden in plain sight, essentially use you as a mule for some reason. Someone who changed the coordinates to get you to go back farther than you estimated, someone who tried to poison the World Tree. It was all about the tree, wasn't it? So, why don't you reveal yourself and save us all some time."

Harry heard a loud clap and turned towards its source. He had been able to detect her in just a second but was doing his best to buy some time, while preparing a little trap, just in case. The figure removed its invisibility, revealing a hooded figure, probably a woman. She lifted it up and Harry seriously didn't recognize the woman in any way. She seemed like an average middle-aged woman, with blonde hair and brown eyes. It was the sort of person you wouldn't look twice if you saw them on the street.

He had no idea who she was, but Alexander obviously did, as he gasped in shock, "Aunt Penelope."

The woman, Penelope, the boy a sad smile, "Hello, Alexander. I'm sorry you found out this way," she then turned towards Harry, glaring, "Harry Potter, you really don't remember me, do you? I suppose I was just another nobody in your grand story. After all, what's just one muggleborn compared to someone like you? My name is Penelope Clearwater, though I doubt you would even recognize it."

Penelope Clearwater… Penelope Clearwater… That was familiar. It had to be someone who knew Harry. Given her age, he probably met her in Hogwarts and she was also a muggleborn.

Oh, right, Penelope Clearwater. Wasn't she a muggleborn that Percy Weasley dated or something, a prefect from Ravenclaw, right? Yes, she looked familiar. Ah, right, she fought Daphne in the duelling tournament back in Hogwarts last year. She won, but it was pretty close. She ended up being beaten by Gemma Farley, who ended up becoming Arcturus' assistant, a very coveted job.

Harry hadn't heard anything about her since the previous year. She was supposed to have graduated from Hogwarts, probably searching for a job or something.

Was this seriously the evil mastermind behind almost destroying the fabric of time? It was underwhelming, to say the least.

Seeing the neutrality in his expression, the woman released a bitter chuckle, "That's just typical, isn't it? I don't know what I expected from you, Potter. I have to admit that I'm impressed that you managed to track me down, but you are too late."

Harry suppressed his eyes from rolling. Well, that was certainly dramatic. He just hoped he'd be done with this quickly; he would technically have enough time to get back to his date with Daphne. He had a feeling that he'd need a drink after the madness that he had been experiencing all day.

Who was he kidding? Of course, this would end up spiralling out of control. It always did, after all.

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AN: Well, that chapter was weirdly hard to write, despite being somewhat uneventful. I was excited at first when I planned this mini-arc, but it's surprisingly difficult to not spoil anything when people from the future of the story are involved. As for the chapter itself, I'll be completely honest, I ran out of Muggleborns to use as an 'antagonist' for this. I didn't want to use Hermione even if she was a bit involved, and for some reason, Penelope Clearwater just jumped up at me despite me not mentioning her at all in the story.

I crafted a bit of a backstory for her, which I'll explore in the next chapter, and the situation is a bit more complicated than I showed in this chapter. Either way, the ending of this storyline will have a pretty important event. I'm not sure I pulled it off. Maybe I should have made the reveal have more of a twist and chosen someone else that was more impactful. I'm not sure, so, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.