u/Fit-Car-9981

I’m a long time reader of HPU Time Travel fics, I genuinely believe i’ve already read or found all the most prominent or best tagged fics in the subject on Ao3, but I still find new ones all the time here on Reddit, often they’re poorly and/or hardly tagged at all (if they’re on ao3) and thus my tag searches have entirely evaded them, or as is often the case they’re not on ao3 at all, and thus I’ve been left to flaunter unable to find them. Time Travel fics (specifically the type in which time isn’t actually a circular concept wherein nothing can change and everything that was meant to happen has already happened).

Just a few days ago I was once again searching through Reddit rec lists and found several fics which have since been deleted (including ‘Dial G for Granger’, luckily someone posted a downloadable copy of the fic in another post so I managed to read it). However this is just another example of how some fics just slip through the net and thousands of people are missing out on them.

I’ve always been a huge fan of using Time Travel Fanfics as a medium to fix ‘the plot’ and/or enable non-canon pairings. However I’m also aware that sometimes the most well written fics tend to get a bit dark and angsty so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find genuinely good writing with a funny plot, even if its just because one of the characters have officially gone insane and/or become so unhinged that the humor becomes very dark. (I suppose nobody will be surprised to learn then that Crack-Treated-Seriously, and Crack fics in general are also on my list of favorite tropes?! Didn’t think so😅)

So ladies and Gentlemen, what are some of the best possibly obscure time travel fics you’ve read? 

(Bonus points if they’re funny🤩)

[FOUND] This is everything I remember about the story, it all starts in Lockhart‘s POV, he’s ‘visiting’ an elderly lady, presumably a retired adventurer of some sort or curse breaker. Her home’s full of all sorts of artifacts and he‘s just finished obliviating her after recording all of her adventures and is gathering her artefacts with the excuse of needing to be able to prove his story.

And then he finds them, a pair of gauntlet, which he just feels instantly drawn to put on. (Just like Ginny just had to write in that Diary). And over the next few day/weeks Lockharts preference regarding everything from clothing to food starts to change and he gets odd thoughts that cross his mind inexplicably, and he doesn’t question any of it because something in his head keeps assuring him it all perfectly fine. Until one day the POV that takes over is actually Herpo the Foul, the ‘father of horcruxes‘ and naturally dear Lockhart just put on his horcrux.

The story proceeds with Herpo taking Lockharts place, while Lockhart’s mind remains locked away in his own mind, only questioned for answers when Herpo comes across something he doesn’t know or needs Lockhart to perform his ‘Lockhart‘-Act. (After a while you even start to mistake the relationship as only mildly threatening, until Herpo gives the reminder that he’s most definitely a dark lord with all that entail).

The plot focus is on how Lockharts already signed on for what would be Harry’s second year at Hogwarts as the DADA professor and it just so happens that Herpo is uniquely qualified to teach that class. So he does, and really well too. Surprisingly So.

Another reason for his presence is that he’s trying to figure out why several Horcruxes are walking around Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, he can sense these things as he is the developer and is attuned to such, and maybe because he himself is a Horcrux, but who knows?

So out of curiosity he gets involved in the Harry Potter-Voldemort situation. He becomes Harry’s Mentor.

Also he starts an amicable relationship with Severus Snape that develops into a sexual if not outright romantic relationship (Slash M/M Pairing).

Does anyone remember this fic and is able to locate it?

(At the time at which I’ve read this originally I only really knew about/read stories on AO3 and FF.net).

So you all ever that that ‘what was that one story called’ itch, like the concept was great, you had every intention of reading it, surely, but you downloaded it, stuck it in one of your billion different fanfic folders and forgot all about it?

Yeah, that’s me, in a nutshell.

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The fanfic I’m looking for includes some time travel element.

(The damning part is that I’m probably looking for two fics with a very similar premise).

This is the concept; Young Tom Riddle performs Horcrux Ritual, Death says ‘bad boy not allowed’ and dumps Baby Harry on him, for him to pay of his crimes. (I know I’ve seen a few different iterations of this or something similar, either where Baby Harry is sent back in time to Tom to be raised in the 1940s OR Young Tom is pulled forwards in time to raise Harry in the 1980s).