Harry Potter: Time and Space
(Character: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE)
Would you like to start the game?
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No
…
Would you like to start the game?
Yes*
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…
Welcome to Harry Potter: Space and Time, a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for everyone of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin.
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Ronald Weasley
Ginevra Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Sirius Black
Narcissa Malfoy
Albus Dumbledore
Moaning Myrtle
Gellert Grindlewald
Arthur Weasley
Salazar Slytherin
…
Welcome to Harry Potter: Space and Time, a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for everyone of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin.
Harry Potter*
Hermione Granger
Ronald Weasley
Ginevra Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Luna Lovegood
Sirius Black
Nyphadora Tonks
Narcissa Malfoy
Albus Dumbledore
Bellatrix Lestrange
Arthur Weasley
…
Would you like to use 'Harry Potter'?
Yes
No
…
Would you like to use 'Harry Potter'?
Yes
No*
…
Welcome to Harry Potter: Space and Time, a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for everyone of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin.
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Ronald Weasley
Ginevra Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Sirius Black
Narcissa Malfoy
Albus Dumbledore*
Moaning Myrtle
Gellert Grindlewald
Arthur Weasley
Salazar Slytherin
…
Would you like to use 'Albus Dumbledore'?
Yes
No
…
Would you like to use 'Albus Dumbledore'?
Yes*
No
…
Greetings player! You have joined the magical community of Harry Potter and now inhabit the body of Albus Percival Wulfrick Brian Dumbledore and shall continue doing so until the end of the game! The rules and idea of this game are simple.
You shall go through Albus Percival Wulfrick Brian Dumbledore's life from beginning to end (for characters that survived the War, this means the epilogue) and experience the true Potter experience!
The rules of the game are:
-YOU CAN'T EXIT THE GAME ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED. Once you have joined the game you are unable to exit until your character is dead. You may only eject from the game if you have passed the first checkpoint. In reality the only time that has passed will be approximately 5 minutes.
-YOU CAN'T PREVENT ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN CANON. This means that Draco must be a Slytherin, Sirius Black MUST die in the Ministry, the Weasleys must be poor, and all the other canon sequences. You can't go to London and kill Tom Marvolo Riddle to prevent Lord Voldemort. Anything changed in the canon universe shall immediately eject you from the game and you shall be banned from the game for an indefinite amount of time.
-YOU MAY NOT TELL ANYONE IN THE GAME THAT YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME. This is for secrecy reasons and all creatures playing in your universe are computers or people disguised and monitoring your progress. Depending on who you would tell, you would either end up in jail at the Ministry (an immediate eject from the game) or being brought forth to the game animators, also an immediate ejection.
-YOU WILL RECEIVE THE MEMORIES OF YOUR CHARACTER AND ALL MEMORIES OF YOUR REALITY SHALL BE PUSHED TO THE BACK OF YOUR MIND UNTIL YOU RETURN TO REALITY. You shall not forget the memories, but they will be shoved in the back dusty corner of your mind until you have awoken in reality.
-YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF EXTREMELY DIFFERENT WHEN THE GAME IS OVER. [Potterhead Inc. is not to be blamed for any suicides, insanity, bipolarness, or any other mental or physical health issues one might have received at the end of the game.]
-THIS GAME IS DANGEROUS. YOU ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
…
Would you like to start the game?
Yes
No
…
Would you like to start the game?
Yes*
No
Blue eyes fluttered open as the bright sun caressed the wizard in the eyes. "Ughhhhh…" the redhead groaned, covering his eyes with his arm as he tried to bury himself back into the soft and warm covers. "Who opened the shades? Hmm, I bet it was Abe. He always does something stupid like that-"
The redhead froze in mid-sentence, his arms above his head in a stretch and his blue eyes wide with stunned disbelief. A mirror was placed conveniently on the other side of the room, just across from his bed- was that really his bed?- and whatever the boy had expected, it wasn't that.
He scrambled out of the bed, which he now realized had familiar yet unfamiliar blankets, and leaned towards the mirror, poking and prodding at his face.
He was a redhead.
He had bright blue eyes.
He had freckles.
He could have been Ron Weasley, but this wasn't Ron Weasley's room.
Who was he?
The answer whispered itself from the back of his mind, "Dumbledore."
...Damn. Potterhead Inc. had really outdone themselves this time.
This was amazing! He felt like he was really Dumbledore! But of course he wasn't, that would be stupid, but the details were simply exquisite!
Albus took a closer look at himself. Angular face, high cheekbones, slightly crooked white teeth, wide eyes, expressive eyebrows; he couldn't have been older than seven or eight. He was tall, broad shouldered, tan slightly from the sun… It wasn't what he would have expected from Dumbledore (even though this Dumbledore was younger and had coloured hair) but it was fine by him.
Well, Albus always wanted to be a redhead.
But Dumbledore?
He would have never thought.
Albus rubbed his chin as he glanced around 'his' room, and frowned. He had no idea what the date was, where he was, or even if he had family or friends to rely on until he understood what was going on.
"Abe and Arianna will be running up the stairs to wake me up in a few minutes." Albus's mind supplied him with the usual routine. "It would be strange if you broke that habit now."
The redhead, having no other choice, decided to follow the little voice in his head and jump back into bed, making himself comfortable and slowing down his breathing so it wouldn't be noticeable that he was awake.
Sure enough, not one minute later, that two redheads burst into the small clean room and jumped on the boy 'sleeping' peacefully in the bed.
"Wake up, Al! Wake up!"
A tiny little girl, who couldn't have been older than two or three, giggled as she pounded her older brother with tiny fists. "Wake up, Al!"
"Come on Albus, get up. This is getting old." Despite the coldness of the words, Albus opened an eye to see that the slightly younger boy was smiling. Obviously this was a normal and fun occurrence.
"Mother's got breakfast ready, and she'll want you to be up and down there as soon as she's got the porridge done. Hurry up!"
Albus couldn't help but laugh as he picked up Arianna, the little girl squealing with happiness as she was thrown over her brother's shoulder. "Well come on then, Abe!" Al said cheekily. "Don't want to keep the woman waiting!"
"Al!"
Laughter could be heard echoing throughout the Dumbledore house that whole day.
Achievement Unlocked! Player has earned:
Meeting the family (40)
Can't touch this (20)
Fakin' Bacon (20)
1,920/2,000 points left until Level 2
"Albus, these are our new neighbor, Mister and Missus Grindlewald. This is their son, Gellert. He's your age." Kendra Dumbledore politely introduced the trio to her oldest son- as Arianna was sick with the flu and Aberforth was left behind at the house to watch her.
Albus looked curiously over at Gellert, for some reason the name sounded so darn familiar yet he couldn't put a finger to it. Oh well. Gellert was a tall blond- even taller than Albus, making the redhead pout- with blue-green eyes and a wicked mischievous grin that promised 'trouble'.
"Nice to meet you, Mister Grindlewald, Miss Grindlewald, Gellert." He offered his hand out to Mr. Grindlewald to shake, took Miss Grindlewald's hand to place a delicate kiss to, and inclined his head to Gellert.
It had been a surprise to Albus when he learned he had fallen into the 1800's. It meant he had to be extremely polite to everyone. He was expected to marry a woman and have a billion children to continue the line. Him, being the oldest son, had to carry on the Dumbledore line, the Dumbledore business, the image… It was also hard because of the immense differences between London, England, 1880, compared to London, England, 2020.
But he got used to it.
(Kinda.)
And now he had to talk to Gellert while his mother and Gellert's parents talked about something or another.
Why was Gellert so damn familiar?
"So…" Albus cursed himself for his awkwardness. "Where did you move from?"
Gellert looked surprised at how openly Albus was speaking. Albus assumed that it was because he didn't really know the kid.
"Oh, I am from Germany." That would explain the accent.
"Which part of Germany?"
Once again, Gellert looked surprised.
Albus wondered if the stereotypes about redheads were included in this universe also. Great.
Oops. Gellert was saying something. He probably should listen.
"I'm sorry, where did you say you were from?"
"Berlin."
"I heard it's nice there!" Albus said cheerfully, trying to remember what happened in Berlin besides World War ll. "Tell me, what is your favourite-"
And that's how Albus and Gellert spent the rest of the afternoon, running around Godric's Hallow and sharing stories and experiences, laughing and cheering as they ate some cookies that Gellert's mother had set out for them around tea time.
Albus was just cracking up at one of Gellert's jokes- the guy was such a charmer, he could make even old Abraxas Malfoy (the first, not his son) give up some money. And that was saying something- when suddenly the world turned grey around him.
"Huh?" Albus frowned and turned towards Gellert, to ask him whether or not he was seeing the grey also, only to freeze once he saw that Gellert was stuck in mid laugh and hadn't moved an inch.
"Okay, this is really weird." Albus tried to get out of his chair, only to find himself stuck to it like superglue. "I take that back, this is super creepy. Wha-?"
Achievement Unlocked! Player has earned:
Grindlewalds and Gellert (100)
Is This Love or Am I Sick? (50)
You have reached the checkpoint! Would you like to restart at the checkpoint?
Gellert's House
Waking Up as Albus
1,770/2,000 points left until Level 2
"Wha-What is this?" Albus asked, bewildered at the words that appeared in Gellert's kitchen. "What's going on?"
Achievement Unlocked! Player has earned:
Grindlewalds and Gellert (100)
Is This Love or Am I Sick? (50)
You have reached the checkpoint! Would you like to restart at the checkpoint?
Gellert's House
Waking Up as Albus
1,770/2,000 points left until Level 2
"What do I do?" Albus asked, running a hand through his bright red hair and slamming the other one down on the table, careful though of Missus Grindlewald's fine china. "Do I have any controllers in this game? No… What, do I just say the commands out loud? Like cancel?"
As soon as the word 'cancel' left Albus's mouth, the world lost its grey tint and the words faded away. Gellert continued laughing and acted as if he had never been stuck in a (portal? World? Pocket in time and space and/or this video game?) spot in time. In fact, it didn't look like he even had realized!
Albus furrowed his eyebrows and tried to make himself look calm. "So all I have to do is say the commands out loud? That's how this video game works?"
Gellert looked confused at the proclaimed 'genius's words. "Commands? Video games? I do not understand."
The redhead looked up, as if just noticing that the blond German was sitting across from him, and tried to give a reassuring smile as his thoughts overlapped each other in his mind. "Ehehehe, sorry, just thought of something my brother said earlier, nothing big."
Gellert narrowed his blue-green eyes into Albus's and nodded after a few moments. "If you are sure…"
Albus didn't know why Gellert looking at him so intensely left butterflies flying through his stomach.
It was probably something in the cookies.
"What house do you think you'll be sorted into?" Albus asked, bouncing up and down in excitement at the thought of being sorted into a Hogwarts House. "I bet Gryffindor, since you're so brave. Like when you stood up for old man Jacob that was really brave and cool and-"
Gellert laughed and covered his best friend's mouth with his hand, shaking his head with amusement in his blue eyes. "I am many things, Al, but brave is not one."
"Liar!" Albus pouted as he smacked the hand away. "You're more brave and smart than I am!"
"Well, you just don't spend the time to read."
"I do read!" Albus protested. "Quite a lot actually! It's just that the textbooks are boring. Adventure stories and fantasy stories are much better. More creativity, less facts, good for the brain, plus, most of them have a madman, which make it a thousand times more interesting."
It was 1893 and Albus was heading off to Hogwarts for the first time. He and Gellert shared an apartment towards the back of the train and had jumped on board right as the conductor opened the train for seating at ten. Not many people were on board, only those who- like the two first years- were excited for the school year so much that they couldn't wait, or the international students that arrived from boats or carriages.
Albus was bouncing off the walls in excitement. He was going to Hogwarts! The Hogwarts! As in Harry Potter Hogwarts! And he would be sorted! Oooh, he wondered which house he would go in. Probably Gryffindor, after all, this was following Albus Dumbledore's timeline, and something as major as being a Gryffindor would probably eject him from the game…
"Oi, Al. You there? You kind of spaced out on me."
Albus burst out of his haze at Gellert's voice and smiled broadly. "Yep! Just excited for Hogwarts!"
Gellert rolled his eyes with a smile on his face.
'Even though you're a Slytherin, we're still best friends, right?
-APWBD'
Gellert sighed as he sat on his new emerald green bed, twirling the quill in his hand absentmindedly as he stared at the paper that Al sent him VIA owl.
'Yes.
-GG'
"So, how did you do on the exams? I think I did really well on them!" Albus said cheerfully as he and Gellert relaxed in the warm summer heat under a tall beech tree that lined the lake. "The Transfiguration one was a breeze. I think I did really well."
Gellert made a 'hn' noise as he turned a page of his book. His redhead companion looked annoyed as Gellert completely ignored him.
"Hey!" Albus stole the book from Gellert's hands, holding it away from the boy. "What did you do that for!?" Gellert asked angrily, putting his hands out for Albus to return the book back to him.
"You've been ignoring me this whole time! We rarely get to see each other anymore and all you're doing is reading!"
"Well, maybe you should read more so then you would understand why I'm reading so much!"
"So you admit you've been reading a lot!"
"Yes! It's kind of a bloody mandatory and useful thing to do!"
"Why have you been ignoring me?" Albus demanded, trying to forget the two best friend's earlier conversation.
"I haven't been ignoring you."
"Liar!" Albus pointed a finger at Gellert.
"I swear, I haven't!"
"Do you just not want to be friends anymore?"
"What?" Gellert looked confused, as if this wasn't going the way it wasn't. It seemed like he had burnt Albus's fuse down so low that he blew up on him, like a bomb. But nothing his friend was saying was making any sense. He wasn't ignoring him, he was trying to become stronger to protect Albus! Albus was so horribly naïve, acting as if his whole life was a game that he could just start over if anything went wrong. "I never said that!"
Albus was red in the face and the bright blue eyes were filled with anger. "That's it!" he yelled.
Gellert expected Albus to punch him in the face or run off, but what he didn't expect was for Albus to yell out,
"Eject! Eject!"
Are you sure you want to eject from the game and lose all progress, special bonuses, and characters?
Yes
No
"Yes!"
Are you sure you want to eject from the game and lose all progress, special bonuses, and characters?
Yes*
No
And then he knew nothing more as Albus disappeared into dust.
Albus, or the boy who once inhabited Albus Dumbledore's body, was panting as he suddenly found himself in his old bedroom in reality. The fourteen year old ran a hand through his hair- his brown hair- and looked at himself in the mirror for the first time in four years.
Brown hair, light mint eyes, tiny freckles. Short, not too short, but short, and quite obviously not Albus Dumbledore.
Albus lay down on his blue bed, and cried.
For the Quidditch League: write OTP misunderstanding using poor, fine china, madmen.
I don't own Harry Potter.