Golden Age by black_blade

Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty

Severus was surprised when Harry led them down to the Department then into a quiet hallway off the main office area. The Ministry had been in chaos and the silence of the hallway was unnerving. He knew that this was no ordinary corridor and he could almost feel the magic on the air as Harry paused in front of an unmarked door and knocked. Severus had questions but he kept them to himself as he heard Albert call out. Harry opened the door and held it open for Severus before closing it behind them.

Severus looked around the large room and the table and was surprised to find only four men seated before him. Severus paused as he recognised the Minister of Magic but Harry just grabbed a seat and collapsed into it. Severus quickly sat down in the seat next to Harry. Albert gave him a nod and he recognised Greengrass next the Minister. The tall dark skinned man in a Auror uniform was the odd one out. From the expression on the dark man's face, he wasn't sure why he was there either surrounded by such powerful men in the Ministry.

"We'll have to make this quick," Minister Harold Minchum announced in lieu of greetings.

"We will," Albert agreed and picked up a thick file before him. "Harry and I have spoken about this in length and believe that now is a good time to bring everyone up to date. As you would have already guessed, this room is well warded. Anything that is said here can't go any further. With the Dark Lord's attack last night, this war is heating up quickly. Harry?"

"The file that Albert has in his hand is my own," Harry remarked. "I was born on the thirty first of July 1980-"

"What!" Harold interrupted.

"Just let me explain," Harry said calmly. "I had an incident with a time device and was sent back to 1977. We have decided to release this information to you for the simple reason that I have already fought against Voldemort."

"You are changing time," Harold gasped. "Isn't that against the laws set out by the Department of Mysteries?"

"Yes," Albert agreed. "And no."

"When a time turner is used," Harry explained. "It creates a small loop of time. The perimeters of that time loop keeps the future locked for a time. The further back that you travel the more unstable the time that you came from becomes. I travelled back roughly two hundred and forty years."

Shock greeted his words and Severus wasn't sure what to think.

"The time that I came from would have dissolved quickly after I arrived here," Harry continued. "I followed the laws and met with Albert and handed over my file."

"Harry used to be the Head of the Department of Mysteries in his time," Albert added. "He was aware that an alarm would have sounded at the use of the time magic. If he hadn't handed himself in then a Auror strike team would have been sent after him."

"Which would have been fun, I suppose." Harry said with a grin.

"And you would have been sentenced to Azkaban," Albert stated. "That would have gotten you out of my hair for a while."

"As interesting as this is," Harold cut in. "We do have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Yes," Harry agreed. "The Dark Lord is growing in power and if he continues then he could have the Ministry in his hands by the end of the year."

Silence greeted those words and Severus felt that cold ball of dread sitting heavy in his stomach.

"He has increased his domination of the wizarding world," Harry continued. "Faster than he did in my timeline."

"And we only see that accelerating," Albert remarked. "Last night's attack saw him releasing many supporters of his blood purity rule."

"He's gathering support from witches and wizards that would not hesitate in using the darkest spells."