30 MAY, 1993
Hogwarts, Hogsmeade Outskirts
Harry opened his eyes. He was not sure where he was or why he was naked, but he did not feel uneasy about it. Taking stock of his surroundings, he realized that he was in a vast field of light. Looking for a few moments, he found a place to sit – it was like a park bench, freshly dried with a clean coat of paint. He sat for a moment, reflecting on what had just happened to him. The basilisk had bitten him in the arm just as he had speared it through the brain with the Sword of Gryffindor, and with his dying breath – his dying breath? - he had speared that damnable diary with the sword as well. "So, I'm dead. What now?"
"That, young Harry, depends on what you choose." Said a voice from behind him. "Normally someone you are familiar with would take this role, but your parents died before your memory fully took hold so they couldn't find this place in time. The fact that you're operating outside of the canon does not help matters."
Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he resorted to the standard of "Who are you?" as he looked around. He turned around to see an old man, not quite as old as Dumbledore, but still one with the signs of a full life.
"I am not surprised that you don't know my name; your father died before he could teach you your ancestry, and Albus certainly is loathe to start you on the Quest before you are prepared for it. None else alive would have known of the connection between us. I am the youngest of the Peverell brothers, Ignotus, and a rather distant ancestor of yours."
Again, Harry did not know what to say to this, so he went with another of the standard questions. "Where am I?"
"Where? That is a question I do not have an answer to, though you are here because you died. You have a choice in whether or not it sticks, however."
"Why?"
Ignotus shook his head. "Because you're only mostly dead, I can't directly reveal anything you don't already know without permission from higher up – partly to prevent 'cheating' as the Boss calls it, but mostly because this is all happening inside your head while somehow also being real at the same time. I never got a good explanation for how that works, myself." He chuckled, then continued. "But I can give you a couple hints if you choose to go back."
Harry nodded. He definitely wasn't ready to be dead yet, now that he thought about it. He wished he wasn't naked, though, and as soon as he did he was suddenly wearing white shorts and a thin white shirt.
"First, and this is related to why you're only mostly dead, you need to give the Diary to Professor Dumbledore and tell him to show it to Horace Slughorn. He'll know what to do."
Harry nodded and repeated the instruction. "Dumbledore, Diary, Horace Slughorn. Got it."
"The second is to travel to Azkaban Prison and ask Rastaban Lestrange about Slytherin's Folly."
Harry repeated this instruction as well. "Azkaban Prison, Rastaban Lestrange, Slytherin's Folly. Are you allowed to tell me why?"
"That one is related to the lizard thing underneath the bench that we've been ignoring up until now, and I can't give you any more details than that." Harry looked underneath the bench, and sure enough there was some kind of reddish lizard thing under the bench. It looked vaguely humanoid and mildly disturbing. "There is one more thing I can do for you, and we're already cheating anyway so I don't think the Boss is going to mind if I do this for you."
"What is it?"
Ignotus sighed. "To destroy Tom Riddle once and for all, you will need to draw upon 'power that the Dark Lord knows not.' I can imbue you with an emblem that will allow you to begin to learn and harness this power."
"Huh?"
"Basically, I'm giving you a shortcut to power. Though all things considered it's not so much a shortcut so much as it is a backup weapon in case you ever need to fight Tom Riddle and don't have your wand handy. If you accept this shortcut, you'll wake up with a mark on the back of your right hand and... actually that's about it. The mark will be on the back of your right hand, and since you're not fully alive right now I can't give you any better details or instructions about it. Just make sure you show it to Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes professor."
"But I'm not scheduled for Ancient Runes." Harry protested weakly.
"You weren't exactly scheduled for '14th Century Alchemy' or 'The Basics of Battling Basilisks,' either, yet that didn't stop you from learning about Flamel last year and getting yourself bitten by a basilisk this year."
Harry nodded, acknowledging the point. "Alright... this is a lot to take in. I have to ask Horace Lestrange about Dumbledore's diary, and I have to show that to Professor Babbling...? No, that's not right..."
Ignotus paused, then sighed. "Actually, just ask Professor Dumbledore if there's a way for you to show him your memory of this conversation. All things considered, particularly your age and the fact that you have difficulty remembering things at the proper time anyway, it's probably for the better if he teaches you how to use a Pensive ahead of schedule."
Harry started to protest, but Ignotus gave him a brief hug before he could. "I believe this was enough stalling for Dumbledore's phoenix to cry tears into you, purging the basilisk venom and cleansing your aura so that your body can heal magically. For now, you wake up – with some information you weren't supposed to have yet, and with a Crest that you definitely aren't supposed to have ever. But we Peverells are nothing if not cheaters."
Dumbledore and the present Harry rose up out of the memory, and returned to the Headmaster's office. Albus took a handful of Floo Powder, called for Professor Babbling's office, and stuck his head into the emerald flames. After a moment, the headmaster withdrew his head and out stepped an older, taut woman. She had the same air of not tolerating nonsense as Professor McGonagall. "Mister Potter, raise your hand so that I may see this for myself."
Harry showed her the back of his wand hand. There was an emblem that he was familiar with thanks to his Astronomy class – it was the astrological sign of the moon, a waning crescent. This sign by itself was remarkable, but within the negative space of the crescent moon was a second, smaller emblem that he was unfamiliar with. It was vaguely hexagonal, but the at the top point it seemed as though a smaller hexagonal shape had been removed from it. In the lower part was what could best be described as a pair of eyes.
Bathtilda Babbling kneeled in awe. "I never thought I'd see another chosen of the Atlantean Magics in my lifetime, let alone the Millenial Duo."
"The Millenial Duo?" Dumbledore asked.
Professor Babbling nodded. "The crests of Protection and of the Dragon together, with Protection as the primary. I would be very surprised if anyone in Britain recognized it for what it is – Atlantean Crests aren't covered in the Hogwarts courses except as a historical footnote, as Atlantean Magic in general stopped being used on Earth with the Great Cataclysm. No other curriculum that I know of touches on them even in the context of history. Even during the Silver Millenium, the Millenial Duo was almost never seen, and even then only in the Atlantean Royal Line on occasion. What few surviving records we have from Atlantis make no mention of either Beryl or Strathmore bearing the combination, and there are no suriving Atlantean texts from before the commencement of the reign of King Strathmore."
There was silence for a moment, then Harry asked "So now what?"
Professor Babbling laughed lightly. "Mister Potter, I do not know. As I said before, Atlantean Magic in general stopped being used on Earth with the Great Cataclysm. Unless you find Atlanteans who escaped the Great Cataclysm, you will very much be learning on your own. What I can promise you, though, is that should you study wandless magic with dedication and steadfastness, you will find yourself reawakening a school of magic that has been lost for almost twenty five thousand years." With this, she turned to Dumbledore. "On that note, when exactly are you going to exorcise Binns? He hasn't taught anything other than the Goblin Rebellions and the early Renaissance since he died, and as I've told you many times before the more the students have to play catch-up as far as Ancient History goes the less actual Rune Study they can do. And don't give me that Budgetary nonsense, judging from the news I heard earlier tonight we have a perfectly good basilisk we can cannibalize for ingredients. That by itself should fund the school and staff for another century."
There was silence for a moment, then Harry asked "How do you know these are Atlantean Crests if nobody teaches about them?"
Bathtilda laughed. "A fair question. When I was first studying Ancient Runes on my own, I came across some Atlanteans who were trying to bring this ancient magic back to the modern world – I tried to help them but I wasn't 'compatible' with any of their experiments, so after I learned what I could from them they had me leave. I have no idea if the group is still around experimenting, since that was just before my cousin died about fifty years ago. By the way, I know she won't ever thank you personally since she never knew what exactly it was that killed her, so thank you for avenging her."
Harry nodded. "And thank you for the history lesson that I'm probably not going to remember. If I understand you correctly, then, I should learn to do wandless magic?"
"That is a deliciously succinct summary, yes. There are no formal courses for Wandless magic, and you'll need to master Nonverbal magic before you can make any headway with it... I would suggest you be tutored in Nonverbal Magic directly, but while Professor Snape is the best person to teach it to you from an academic standpoint, he is also the worst person you could ask to teach it to you specifically. Severus has little patience for teaching to begin with, and the fact that your father's best friend almost killed him when they were in school together certainly doesn't help matters."
Harry turned to look at Professor Dumbledore, just as there was a knock on the professor's door. "You said my dad saved Snape's life."
Professor Babbling smirked as she answered before Albus could. "Professor Snape, and that is still true. Your father's best friend thought it would be amusing to expose Professor Snape to a fully-transformed werewolf. Your father prevented Severus from being attacked once he found out what was going on, but for a number of reasons Severus thought he was in on the joke. He never really forgave James for it."
"Could you teach me to do wandless magic, then, Professor Dumbledore?"
Albus considered this for a moment. "I certainly could, yes. If scheduling permits, I will be be happy to train you in it."
There was a louder knock this time. "Enter" Albus said automatically, and in billowed Professor Snape. "Yes, Severus?"
"Gilderoy Lockhart was accepted into the Permanent Spell Damage Ward at St. Mungos two minutes ago. As you are still conferring with Potter and your Floo is busy, I assumed you did not yet have that information."
"Thank you, Severus, that was an accurate assumption. We were, in fact, just discussing when James Potter saved your life." Severus scowled at this, but Dumbledore continued on. "While I'm sure you would have enjoyed ruining Harry's opinion of his father yourself, Bathtilda has beaten you to the punch in revealing why saving your life was necessary in the first place. In light of that, would you be interested in informally teaching students how to perform Nonverbal magic next year, and as a formal course in years following?"
Professor Snape considered this torrent of information for a moment, recognizing the nonsensical segue as his cue to engage in Legilimency on Dumbledore so that no time would be wasted in actually bringing him up to speed. "I... believe I can make arrangements for next year, so long as I'm not training Potter in it. However, I do not have the resources to teach both Potions and a formal Nonverbal Magic course."
"Fair enough, I'll draw up the paperwork once scheduling for next term starts – hopefully we can make suitable arrangements for you in two years. Harry, if you would please make your way to the infirmary, I would ask you to have Madam Pomfrey check you for anything I may have missed."
With that, Harry excused himself from Dumbledore's office, unsure of what the dawn might bring…
