Depressing Times

Chapter 2
In Past Times

When Harry next awoke he was greeted with the familiar sight of a white ceiling. Silently he pondered over the depressing fact that he knew the number of tiles that the ceiling held having counted them numerous times when he was bored with nothing better to do. That particular ceiling was the ceiling of the Hogwarts hospital wing.

Most would claim that it was a bad thing that he was so well acquainted with the Hospital wing that he recognized the feel of the beds and the ceiling without having to look around but Harry wouldn't take it personally. After all it wasn't his fault he was always coming in injured. It wasn't like he tried to get hurt or find trouble, it just...happened. Anyone who claimed differently could try out his life for a spin and see how hard it was NOT to attract trouble or end up in the medical wing as much as he did.

After a brief mental spiel on the his history involving the Hospital wing Harry's mind caught up to him reminding him that something wasn't right, as in REALLY not right. Unless he just imagined the last two years of his life then something was off. He was pretty certain that he was not insane enough to come up with all of the last two years of his memories so he assumed it was the latter. After all not even in his wildest dreams had he rode a dragon out of Gringotts after successfully breaking into one of their top security vaults. While it did sound unbelievable he was fairly certain it had indeed happened. He'd wait for Ron and Hermione to verify though.

Minutes later, that felt more like hours later as he laid there, his mind wildly going over the last few, depressing years of his life Harry had enough of the white room. Anyone who knew him wouldn't have been surprised though since he held a strong aversion to the chemical smelling room. In many ways it reminded him of Number 4 Privet Drive with its disturbing cleanliness. Harry didn't really have a problem with people wanting things to be clean or neat but he had spent the first half of his life being forced into scrubbing, dusting, and organizing everything to his Aunt's idea of perfection. He had more than enough of it.

Even worse he always somehow ended up in the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey was a devil of a woman when someone who she believed to be ill or injured was attempting to escape. Considering Harry always did so she would watch him like a hawk whenever he was in. One thing he did find odd was that he wasn't in his bed, the hospital bed that he always occupied a few times every year for long amounts of time. Madam Pomfrey always seemed to find it amusing to place him in the same one every time and he had already gotten into the habit of calling it his.

Sitting up and enjoying the feel of having slept well for the first time in nearly a year Harry surveyed the room only to find it quite thoroughly empty. Another difference was soon added to the steadily growing list inside his head. The beds were arranged differently, in fact there were more beds crammed closer together, all of which were, like he mentioned before entirely empty.

Neither Ron or Hermione were anywhere in sight, something that made him all the more on guard. After sitting there for a few more moments he got up taking note of the hospital gown he wore and the fact that his shredded and bloodied clothes had been minorly repaired, or as repaired as it was possible to be from the horrid state he had left them in. His moleskin pouch rested quite innocently on top of the pile and was the item he was really looking for. Grabbing it and pulling out the Marauder's Map from inside the safe confines as well as taking up Draco's old wand to recite the password he soon was looking at the entirety of Hogwarts.

What he saw very much surprised him. The place was empty, well, almost. There were a few exceptions such as someone by the name of Ogg, Katherine Perkins, Professor Kettleburn...he hesitated at that last name recalling the fact that Kettleburn had been a Professor before Hagrid had taken Care of Magical Creatures. Shaking his head and continuing he finally located Rom and Hermione. Where they were though came as a shock to him. On the map it placed them in the Headmasters office along with a Armando Dippet.

That name was hauntingly familiar. He didn't even need to think all that hard to recall that the Diary Voldemort has mentioned him as the Headmaster. A sudden sinking feeling filled his gut as he prayed that he was wrong about the notion that was starting to form in his head. Just the idea that he might be here around the same time as a young Voldemort was disturbing. What was more was the fact that he was either here before Riddle attended or they had traveled back in time to the point where he was currently attending. The reason he knew this was that Professor Dumbledore had told him of when he took over the position, and it was just a couple years after Riddle graduated.

Both of the options didn't seem too pleasing. Plopping back down into a sitting position onto he bed he lead his mind mull over the possibilities. If it was true and they had time traveled then how had they come back so far? No, he already knew the answer to that one, it was something Luna had done. Unconsciously he reached for the necklace, only to find much to his disappointment that it was missing.

In a sudden panic, one which he couldn't entirely explain if someone had asked him about why he was so worried, he searched through the stack of his belongings. It simply wasn't there. Gradually he forced himself to relax back on the bed his mind working a mile a minute to try and comprehend everything.

He was in the past, or at least he was pretty sure it was the past. The necklace he believed to be responsible was missing before he go the chance to really look at it, and even worse he was most likely in a young Voldemort's time. Considering that it was his job to kill Riddle he was now at a loss as of what to do. As Voldemort he might have been able to bring himself to accomplish the task but as Riddle? The only reason he had managed to do anything in second year was because it was a memory-ghost thing that was trying to kill him and Ginny. In fact every year it had been self-defense.

Unless Tom Riddle suddenly decided that Harry needed to die he couldn't picture himself killing the monster-man-boy. Honestly he wasn't even sure about what to think of him as. Suddenly he felt so much more lost than he had ever been.

His thoughts were interrupted by the call of his name from a familiar person. Hermione he thought with a smile realizing that he must have gotten so wrapped up in his thoughts that he lost track of time. "Hey 'Mione," He weakly smiled not in the mood to do much else. On one hand he felt as if it was his job to fix things, to stop Riddle from becoming the Dark Lord Voldemort who caused so much destruction and pain but on the other hand he knew he would be incapable of killing him no matter who he would grow to be until he looked like more of a monster than a human. Really he was in quite a pickle.

"Um Harry, I'm not sure if you noticed this yet but we're in the year 1941, the calender back in the Headmaster's office said it was August 1st, a month away from when school starts back up..." Ron rubbed the back of his head looking anywhere but at Harry he seemed quite lost himself and was clearly unsure of how to break things to his buddy. Harry though let out a heavy sigh at the news. If it was 1941 then Riddle hadn't even killed someone yet as far as he knew. There was no way he'd be able to kill him now.

"What Ron forgot to mention was that the Headmaster is Armando Dippet, Professor Dumbledore's predecessor, and that Professor Dumbledore is currently away. The Headmaster of this time now knows about our circumstances but has order that we keep it all under wraps and register as transfer students because of the war-the one with Grindlewald as it is still going on at the moment." Hermione pointed out already beginning to ramble as she continued on her voice laced with enthusiasm. "Of course Ron and you are going to have to change your names since you can't be a Weasley or a Potter as those are both Pureblooded names and there are no loose ends there so you'll both have to be at least Half-blood's."

"I'll be Hadrian Evans, Harry for short." Harry immediately put in choosing to use his mother's maiden name as something to remember her by. He also didn't think he'd be able to answer to anything else besides Harry so something close enough to Harry was a must.

"I think that's smart. What about you Ron?" Hermione immediately turned on Ron who looked quite surprised at suddenly being addressed.

"Um...Can I keep the name Ron?" He asked his face showing exactly what he thought of having to change his name.

"It should be fine Ron," Harry laughed lightly, as long as they didn't use the name Weasley he thought. It wasn't as if he had gotten that name from his grandparents or anything, since the only thing that'd matter at the moment was the fact that they were in their grandparent's time.

"Okay then, Ronald Westley."

Hermione made a face at that recognizing how little it was altered but she couldn't bring herself to lecture Ron since she doubted he'd react to anything that wasn't so close to his own name. Still all he changed was taking away an "a" and adding a "t". Another reason though that she couldn't get angry at him was because she herself would be sticking to her own name since she was a terrible liar. If they could make their back story as close to the truth as can be then that'd be preferred.

"I'm going to be a war orphan, Harry, your parents are going to have died in a fire when you were one since I doubt you can pretend to have known them." Harry nodded in agreement and she continued, "So the story is we attended a small local school on the edge of France since our parents wanted us nearby, or at least mine would have. Harry you were adopted by the Westley's, Ron's family who we'll still have be a decent size. The three of us were neighbors growing up, hence our friendship."

Ron nodded before opening his mouth to add his own impute, "Exactly how many siblings am I to have and why wouldn't they be attending with us?"

"Hermione pursed her lips for a moment, "Well, only Ginny would really be young enough to still be going to Hogwarts so how about we say that Ginny was born without magic, unless you want to say she died?" Hermione questioned making Harry wince.

"No, please don't." Harry pleaded to which Ron quickly agreed. Just the idea of his baby sister being dead was enough to make his stomach churn. Although he clearly wasn't going to be seeing her anytime soon, or if all, something he was still trying not to think about. It was bad enough that Fred had just died. He hesitated for a moment. If they truly were in 1941 than Fred wasn't dead, just not born yet. That thought was a lot easier to live with than the idea that he was gone forever so he stuck with it.

"Well I don't know about you but I don't speak French, " Ron spoke up, this caused Hermione to pause before turning to look at Harry.

"I speak a it but I am no where near fluent." Harry shrugged remembering how Gabriella had been trying to teach him French. Hermione, he knew spoke the language since she often took there over the summer but really he doubted that he'd ever be able to pass as properly fluent in the language.

"I suppose you two have a month to learn it but I was also hoping that we could study the current history and fashions after all we do want to fit in." This announcement had Ron mentally groaning but not daring to actually groan out loud since his girlfriend would no doubt lecture him for doing so. He had been hoping to use the month as a break and time to recuperate instead he'd have to deal with his girlfriend drilling him to read a library worth's of books. It was just the sort of thing 'Mione would do too.

Harry on the other hand understood where she was coming from. It was for this reason that he kept his mouth shut and merely nodded in agreement listening as Hermione droned on and on about everything they needed to cover in the short amount of time. Mentally he added to the list Arithmacy and Ancient Runes as Bill had told him that he should have been taking those classes all along since they appeared to come easy enough to him. Also he hadn't forgotten that his spell repertoire was pathetic and in dire need of improvement.

Yes, this was going to be a long month.