MusicalSurge on ao3
Harry doesn't understand how he ends up in this kind of situation.
One moment he was helping with the clean-up efforts after the battle of Hogwarts and the next moment he was hit with a spell that sent him back to 1977. Twenty-one years in the past.
What the actual hell?
Thankfully, as incompetent as the ministry was in his time, the ministry in 1977 has a protocol for those who get lost in time. Or at least the unspeakables do.
The unspeakables made Harry a new identity suspiciously quickly and then contacted the Potter family to take in their lost relation.
One. Harry's grandparents were bloody amazing. Dorea and Charlus Potter are everything Harry imagined good grandparents were.
Two. Harry told his grandparents everything, against the wishes of the unspeakables, and they decided to not let their son and Harry's future dad in on the secret. They go with the cover the unspeakables created saying Harry was an illegitimate son of Charlus' brother Fleamont, making James and Harry 'cousins'.
Which would be weird enough on its own.
But now Harry was re-enrolled to take his 7th year at Hogwarts alongside not only his Dad but his mum, godfather, Lupin, and that traitorous bastard Wormtail.
He was warned by the unspeakables that he should try his best to not change history too drastically, but ultimately with the way he fell through to 1977, it was unlikely he was ever making it back to 1998 so to make the best of his time here in the 70s.
When Harry got sent back, it had been June 7th, but when he landed in 1977 it was September 7th. The unspeakables had to adjust his birthdate to match the time difference so his birthdate was no longer July 31st, 1980 but now it was October 31st, 1959.
Harry was not amused.
His grandparents, now aunt and uncle, had written to James to tell him the news of them taking in his orphaned cousin who had previously been tutored at home and would now be joining him at Hogwarts. They would be in the same year and James may need to help his new cousin acclimate to the change.
Harry had worried about what his dad's response would be, but when he wrote back he seemed quite excited to meet his new mysteriously previously unknown cousin. He also promised to take good care of him and make sure he would be fine at Hogwarts.
It was September 12th when Harry stepped back into Hogwarts. It was both a relief and a bit jarring to see Hogwarts like she had been prior to the Battle of Hogwarts. Behind his eyes, he could still see the crumbling towers and torn-up soil mixed with blood.
Dorea had apparated Harry to Hogsmeade where Deputy Headmistress McGonagall was waiting with a thestral-drawn carriage to take him up to the castle. Dorea gave Harry a kiss on the forehead before leaving him in the capable hands of his old head of house.
"Good Morning Mr. Potter. If you will follow me. We will ride up to the castle where you will be sorted into one of four houses and then we can discuss your class schedule." McGonagall said in a painfully familiar tone. Harry hoped he ended up back in Gryffindor, he had missed his head of house, but he wasn't sure if the hat was going to let him escape Slytherin for a second time.
The ride up to Hogwarts was peaceful, Harry was sure McGonagall was expecting to be asked many questions, especially from someone who supposedly had never been to a magical school before, but Harry just didn't have the energy to pretend. He was tired. It had been one bad thing after another for years now and he was just tired.
