A/N: Disclaimer (applies to whole fic): Joanne Kathleen Rowling owns HP.

This chappy is dedicated to jameslilyharry, my pebble.

Chapter 1

"Daddy?" Teddy Lupin asked quizzically at Harry. Harry smiled and reprimanded his godson once again. "No, Teddy, your dad's name was Remus Lupin. He was a brave man who died during the Battle of Hogwarts. I'll tell you all about him one day, but remember, I'm not your dad. Just your godfather. I don't deserve the title of Dad, when Remus was your father, Teddy."

Teddy giggled and reached for Harry's messy hair. "Harry! Harry!" Harry smiled and set him down and walked out, just as Andromeda, Teddy's grandmother, came in.

"Harry, I didn't realize you were here! Honestly, you come here so often to visit Teddy, why don't you just move in?"

"Can't," Harry replied wistfully. "The Daily Prophet's looking for more gossip about me, currently. Don't want them spreading rumors about you lot too."

Andy sighed. "Come soon. And bring your friends with you again, sometime, will you?"

"Of course," Harry smiled. "They miss Teddy, even the ferret. I'll see you again next time." Harry thought for a second, and then said, "Actually, why I don't take Ted out for the day? Merlin knows you need the break, and it really has been a while since my friends have seen them."

"Alright Harry. You go and have fun, will you? And don't let the press bother you too much, alright?" Andy handed her grandson to Harry.

"Alright," Harry laughed and with a crack, disapparated to Grimmauld Place. There, he quickly scribbled several notes to give to the new owl he bought after the war (even though it would never replace Hedwig) to go to Hermione, Ron, Luna, Draco, and Ginny respectively, telling them to meet him at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in 30 minutes. He would have invited Neville, but he knew the man was probably at Hogwarts preparing for classes.

He set off to Diagon Alley, ignoring the press that was throwing multiple questions at him, even going so far as to blast one reporter who was particularly nosy on his love life. After that, most people stayed a bit away, but Harry made certain the owner of Fortescue's put privacy charms around his table.

Ron and Hermione arrived first, greeting Harry enthusiastically, Hermione giving him a hug and an extremely bright smile, along with the news that her parents had their memories reversed and could now remember their daughter. Draco then came, a cold expression at them all, before looking around and giving them a half-smile. Harry almost chuckled at Draco's desire for everyone to still think that they were rivals, not that they could be after Narcissa had saved Harry's life, and Harry had saved Draco's. All of them were waiting for Luna and Ginny to arrive. At long last, Luna came, surprisingly wearing her lion hat, which Harry really didn't think there was a reason for, aside from making Draco annoyed. She came bearing the news that Ginny couldn't make it, as she had a Quidditch match that day for the Holyhead Harpies. Harry waved his hand, indicating it was fine. Everyone except Luna was eager to know what Harry had called them for, until Harry asked in a sarcastic tone if it wasn't okay for him to see his friends for a chat once in awhile. Things were going fine, and it was perhaps one of the best days since he had destroyed Voldemort that he had.


A young boy with red hair - almost red enough to make one think he was a Weasley - ran out of the kitchen, waving his arms around wildly and yelling, "Mum! Old Dumbles came to visit us today!"

Lily Potter walks over to the boy, making it seem like a daily occurrence, and says mildly, "Don't call the headmaster that, Leo. I'm sure when you're old you wouldn't want people calling you 'Old Leo.'"

James Potter walks in as well, chuckling at his wife's former comment, and additionally making no move to reprimand his youngest son. Instead, he says, "Old is quite a bit from 11, isn't it?" and walks over to Dumbledore, and smiles, shaking the man's hand. "Any news on the war?" he asks, if a bit tentatively, meanwhile shooing his son out of the room.

"No new deaths, although there could very well be another attack on Hogsmeade soon, according to Severus. There were a couple of hints dropped about it, at the last Death Eater meeting."

James shakes his head, and Albus Dumbledore can still tell that James' old rivalry with Severus has not completely been resolved yet. Even so, they have come to a mutual agreement that for the sake of the war, they would try and remain on as neutral terms as possible until the Dark Lord has been defeated. It was a wise thing to have done, because otherwise the Order of the Phoenix couldn't have cooperated, as both were both important members of the anti-Voldemort association. Of course, there were still people who died, just like James' oldest son, Harry, who had died because of misplacement of trust. It had eventually led James to wariness and reluctance to trust anyone, especially regarding his two remaining children.

"Well," James says, gesturing for the Headmaster to take a seat, "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Dumbledore's tone grows serious, almost comically, and perhaps James would have laughed if the older man hadn't started to speak at that moment. "James," he says slowly, "I've always trusted you, because I know that you're a good man. I see the way you love your children, and how you take care of them. I know you mourn every day for Harry's death -"

"Get to the point, old man," James whispered.

Dumbledore smiled gently and said, "Voldemort will cause more deaths, just like Harry's. Without someone who can ultimately stop him, once and for all, he will reign over this world as the supreme ruler. So I found a spell… a spell that could be considered borderline dark… but it will bring another man from an alternate universe, one that has already defeated Voldemort before, to us."

It had gone dead silent.

Dumbledore spoke again. "The reason it's borderline dark, you see, is because it's a binding magical contract. Nearly everyone - no, everyone will have to donate a drop of blood to this cause in order for it to work. And the defeater of Lord Voldemort will be bound to stay until he has completed what he came for."

James laughed, a deep laugh without humour. "Had it been anyone else who said that, Dumbledore, I would have deemed them mad to even attempt such a spell. But my complete trust is in you, Headmaster. If not for anything else, I will do this to avenge my son."

Lily smiled. James hadn't been brave enough to talk about their eldest son for years. And today, it looked like James was finally free again.

"I trust you will be able to safely get to headquarters, won't you? I can get Minerva to watch the kids." Dumbledore smiled, already heading outside the house to apparate.

James smiled. "We'll be there."

Dumbledore nodded, and was gone.

James heaved a sigh of relief, and called their two sons down. "Char, Leo," he said, "Mum and I will be going out for a while. Try not to get into any mischief, will you, Char? And Leo, take care of your brother."

"What?" Char exclaimed, "I'm the older one here! And why don't you ever tell Leo not to get into any mischief?"

Lily smiled and said, "Aunt Minnie will be coming to watch over you boys, as well."

"Aunt Minnie? Yes, she always lets us do whatever she wants!" exclaimed Leo happily.

"You'll be changing that opinion when you go to Hogwarts this year," Char grumbled. "She practically gives detention for breathing."

"That's Snape you're talking about, son." James added merrily to the conversation.

"And Mum! She gives out detentions for having one of Fred and George's canary creams! I didn't even plan on using them!"

"That's because if you accidentally dropped one of them into a potion, it could cause a huge explosion!" Lily defended herself.

Now Leo simply looked terrified of Hogwarts. His head darted around toward his mum, then his brother, as if scared of what would happen.

Luckily, just then the wards alerted them to Professor McGonagall having arrived. Lily opened the door and greeted her heartily, inviting her in.

"Thank you for doing this, Professor, it means a lot to us." Lily said.

"Of course, dear, and do stop using Professor, would you? Minerva."

"Old habits die hard, Minnie." James says.

"And you, Mr. Potter, you should really show some respect to your professors." Minerva shakes her head.

"But - but - you just let Lily -"

"Leo! How's my favorite boy doing?" Minerva asked. Char coughs and glares up at his aunt.

"Oh, and the mischief maker. You didn't think you'd be my favorite after calling me 'Aunt Minnie' several times in class, did you?"

James laughs loudly, and through his laughter says, "We'll have to get going now. Char, behave."

"He won't be when you're the one encouraging him," Minerva grumbles, making sure James can hear her.

James just laughs again, and walks out the door to apparate, Lily following close behind him.

Lily smiles up at James, and says, "Meet you there." James nods back, and together, the two disappear from Godric's Hollow.


"We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz -"

"Quiet, Sirius. This is an important meeting."

"But Moony -"

"No, quiet. This spell will be important, as Dumbledore mentioned. It's a good thing I'm here at Headquarters with you, or I'm sure you would've exploded by now."

"No, I'm just singing the song to annoy my mother. You can still hear her screaming from her portrait."

"Oh. Well, do carry on, Sirius."

"Will do." Sirius smirked, looking towards the door as it opened. When it turned out to be his favorite married couple, he ran toward them, shouting, "James!", going so far as to ignore Lily's offended look.

"Padfoot!" James shouted back, running forward to hug his best friend. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Not since yesterday, at least," sniffed Lily. Both men turned to glare at her.

As they took a seat together, Dumbledore walked to the front of the room. "Looks like nearly everyone is here. All of you should know what today's meeting is about, as I have personally visited each of you to discuss this. It surprised me, to say the very least, that most of you were very open about this new idea. So I would like to thank you all for your cooperation. Now, to the actual ritual. As I have told you all, it is a binding ritual that makes sure the person we summon cannot leave until he fulfills his duty to us. And to do this, we need a drop of blood from everyone in this room." He stared a while, and added, "Those of you who are unwilling to do this, still have the opportunity to leave now."

Nobody rose. Dumbledore smiled. "Then we must not waste time. Voldemort is out there, killing hundreds of muggles at this very moment. There is a knife here up front, if you wish to prick your finger yourself. Otherwise, I'm sure you all know the charm that will do the same. Starting from Ms. McKinnon, pass the basin around, ending with Mr. Weasley. I should be able to say the charm, and we'll be able to greet the man that has defeated Tom Riddle in an alternate universe."

There was a murmur of excitement, and the bowl was passed around quickly, and Fred Weasley (that was what he claimed, anyhow, he really could've been George Weasley) passed the bowl to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore pushed the rims of his glasses up, and slowly, poured the amass of blood that he had gathered onto the floor. "Salvator tuus veniet ad faciendum officium." He waved his arm in a wand movement that no one had ever seen before and then -

There was a roaring noise inside the house now, and Dumbledore swore he could've heard screaming that didn't belong to anyone in the house. The spell couldn't have gone wrong, he had looked into everything about it, the spell couldn't have gone wrong!

And then, a young boy came through, lying on the floor, blood smeared all over, his hand covering his face.


In the middle of a chain of insults that Draco was throwing at Luna, while Luna looked completely relaxed as her lion continued to roar, Harry heard the wind blowing quite fiercely. Harry might have just dismissed it as a windy day had they not been inside at the moment, so he had his wand in hand, not trusting to leave it anywhere other than there after that bloody war.

Suddenly, his wand began to glow and Harry jumped quite suddenly, expecting something terrible to happen at any moment. Really now, these unusual occurrences were becoming more usual occurrences. Harry prepared his wand at the ready, and pushed Teddy, who had been laughing, abruptly off his lap and onto the floor. His friends began to notice that something was wrong. Hermione asked Harry what he was doing, until suddenly, a searing pain bloomed inside Harry, and he could smell the faint scent of blood arise. He could hear cracking, magic in the air, it was beating inside his chest, his teeth were clenching together to try and relieve some of the pain, and he started to scream, until all was black.


Luna sat upright just as the others were beginning to wake. "Is Harry alright?"

"Argh Malfoy, geroff me -"

"I can't when your girlfriend's leg is stuck in my ear -"

"Oh, quiet Draco, or it'll be in your balls next -"

"Is Harry alright?"

"Looks like you finally grew up from not breaking any rules at all, Granger -"

"Better than slimy snakes like you, who bend rules inside of breaking them!"

"Is Harry alright?"

"Luna, your hat is making too much noise -"

"What just happened, anyway? It's probably all Potter's fault, once again -"

"Is Harry alright?"

Suddenly the question seemed to register with all of them, and they looked at Luna. "Where's Harry?" Hermione asked in a small whisper. "What- what just happened? Is this - well, we're still in Fortescue's, but Harry's gone. What happened?"

As no one could give an answer, Draco Malfoy rushed out into Diagon Alley.


Harry moaned as his eyes slowly opened and he looked around. He was in Grimmauld Place, but - he was in the guest bedroom. How did that happen? Harry suddenly recalled going to the ice cream parlour with his friends, and a sharp, searing pain. He was worried. Something might've happened to his friends! He tried getting out of bed, but he was sore all over, and he felt extremely dizzy. As soon as he let go of the bed and shakily tried to stand, he toppled over and hit the ground with a loud crash.

The Order of the Phoenix was having breakfast downstairs, when they heard the crash. Sirius Black looked over at James, who blinked before standing up and announcing that he'd go check on the boy that came through last night. Dumbledore agreed and continued to take a sip of his pumpkin juice.

As James walked up the stairs, his curiosity wondered. The boy that they had accidentally summoned - because it was obviously not this child that had defeated the darkest lord in the history of Britain - looked identical to him when he was around his older teenage years.

James stopped at the guest bedroom in the middle of his musing, and lightly knocked the door. He heard a groan from the other side and hesitantly pushed the door open. Immediately, a wand was pointed at him from the floor where the boy was sitting, and the boy's eyes widened when he registered what he saw.

"Okay, you bastard, now's not the best time. Could you come again in an hour to torture me to death?" Harry groaned again, adjusting his glasses.

James blinked. "Pardon?" he asked.

"Honestly, are you deaf? I asked if you could possibly come back in an hour."

James blinked again. "I'll go get Dumbledore. He - well, he - anyway, Dumbledore."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course, you do that." James practically ran out of the room and down the stairs.

"Albus?" James asked. The Headmaster turned around and gestured for James to continue. "The boy seems to be under the impression that - I, ah - am going to torture him. Could you explain how we summoned him here and he has to complete his duty?"

The Headmaster's eyes twinkled and he smiled. "Come with me, James." He addressed the rest of the Order, "We'll be right down."

James trailed after Dumbledore up the stairs, once again stopping at the door. This time, neither knocked, instead going straight in, where they found Harry sitting on the bed, extremely still. Harry ignored them and continued whatever he was doing.

"Hello," Dumbledore said, "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm the Headmaster of a school called Hogwarts. Have you ever heard of it?"

"No, you're not."

"Pardon me, my boy?"

"You're not the Headmaster, your name is not Albus Dumbledore, and you can stop pretending now, Death Eater."

"Could you explain?"

"What's there to explain? Care to do an Identity spell?"

Dumbledore gave Harry a look and the words "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" appeared over his head.

Harry gave him a look. "Summon Fawkes, then."

Fawkes was summoned.

Harry smiled and reached down to pet the bird. And with a soft croon, Fawkes was off again.

Harry gave him another look. "You're doing pretty well so far, you know. But tell me this: How did Ariana die?"

Dumbledore startled and with a crash he was on the ground, an uncommon sight for the Headmaster, usually a calm and peaceful man. James stared at the newcomer, wondering how in Merlin's name he could possibly have made the Headmaster so startled. He was just wondering if he should restrain the other wizard when Dumbledore asked, "How in the world do you know about Ariana?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Research, mostly. Rita Skeeter made the mystery bigger, spreading lies about you. But the last piece in the puzzle was Aberforth, actually."

Dumbledore gave a numb and yet a fresh, raw look of pain at the floor. "I killed her. I think I've always known, deep down, that I killed her."

Harry looked Dumbledore in the eye, and said, "You may have led the circumstances that killed her, but I think I know that it wasn't you who cast the curse, Albus."

Albus Dumbledore gave a surprised look at Harry, another look James had never seen on the Headmaster's face before. "Thank you, Harry." And the topic was left at that, something James would wonder for the longest time about why it had ended at that.

Harry then sighed, turning James' attention back to him. "What do you want, Albus Dumbledore?"

"Well first, shall we start with your name?"

Harry was thrown for a loop at this one. "I - what? It - I - Harry. My name's Harry."

James immediately held his breath and looked at Dumbledore, but all Dumbledore gave was a, "Well thank you, Harry!"

Harry sighed. "Hand me a lemon drop, Albus. Okay so do tell, why am I seeing you again? Am I at King's Cross again or just daydreaming now?"

Albus reached across to hand Harry the lemon drop. "Good choice, my boy - the lemon drops are laced with mild calming potion. Anyway, you come from an alternate universe."

Harry sighed, noting the potion was already taking effect. "Of course, first thing I should've thought of. One thing that hasn't happened to me yet will happen anyway."

Neither Dumbledore nor James could make sense of this, but James continued holding his breath and Dumbledore continued to smile.

"Well, in our world, the Order of the Phoenix is a group of members -"

"I know."

"Ah - yes, well, I'm assuming the one main difference is that Voldemort is dead in your world and alive in ours."

Harry's body froze at the world Voldemort, and his emerald green eyes turned dark. "And what it is you mean to say?"

"In our world, things were terrible, Voldemort had destroyed most muggleborns before they even turned 11, blood traitors were killed, Voldemort even killed his own Death Eaters when they ceased to be useful. It was getting more and more dangerous every day. So… the Order decided to summon someone who had already defeated the Dark Lord in another world. Obviously, we did the spell wrong. We're extremely sorry for dragging you into this."

"Oh, the spell didn't go wrong, Albus." Harry laughed darkly.

James interrupted right there. "What do you mean? Obviously, it did. How could a little boy like you defeat the greatest dark lord in the history of Britain?"

"Well, tell me, how do I get back, because I refuse to be your savior, Headmaster. After all, a little boy can't be your savior. Also, I need to know. What happened to my friends? They didn't come to this alternate universe with me, did they? Because I swear if any one of them were harmed -"

"I can assure you - Harry - that no one else arrived with you. I believe you were the only one. At the moment, I cannot tell you where we are, for safety reasons, as you may presume. But I can tell you, however, that you are safe where you are, and I can assure you that any Death Eaters cannot get to you here."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'd like to think I'd recognize Headquarters even in an alternate universe, Albus. I know Grimmauld Place. Thank you for summoning me and all, very flattered, Albus, but I'd like to leave now. Have a good day."

"Harry, wait - the spell that we used to bring you here was a binding contract." Harry had already gotten up and started wobbling his way toward the door, but at this he gave an incredulous look at Dumbledore and swore.

"You're different." Harry stated.

James turned and gave Dumbledore an incredulous look, but the Headmaster simply nodded, as if he had expected Harry to say that, and asked, "How so?"

Harry sat back down on the bed again, and closed his eyes. "Headmaster, there's something you have to understand about my world. I think I can safely say that I've grown up differently than most other children, in any universe. You - in my world, you might have thought about the greater good. You might have sacrificed yourself to save thousands, millions, to defeat Voldemort." Harry laughed. "I don't think there's any universe you wouldn't have done that. But in the end, the most important thing was -" Harry opened his eyes. "You loved me, you loved me like you would've loved a son."

James stared. So did Dumbledore.

"And that's how you're different. My Headmaster would never have tried to summon another me to defeat Voldemort. He might have given himself up, but he would never have given me up."

There was pause, and then Dumbledore replied, "You must've been very close."

Harry gave a tired smile. "Close? Not particularly. I used to think I knew more about Albus than anyone else. I couldn't have been more wrong, but by the time I had realized that, it had been far too late. The only question I've ever asked him, as a matter of fact, is what he saw when he looked in the Mirror of Erised, and I don't believe he answered that truthfully. But the fact remains, close or not, that Albus loved me."

Dumbledore sighed, and said, "Well Harry, I supposed we've been quite rude. We'll leave you to sleep now. You must be pretty tired and sore after traveling across universes. Madam Pomfrey - the school nurse, thought you weren't going to survive. Of course, she did a tremendously wonderful job in fixing you up. I was wondering though, Madam Pomfrey said you have a scar on your left shoulder caused by basilisk venom. What happened there?"

James eyes widened and followed Harry's own eyes as it trailed toward his left shoulder. "Happened in my second year," Harry replied monotonously. "Fawkes healed me in the end, though."

At this James let loose. "This all happened in your second year! What in Merlin's name were you thinking, Dumbledore?" He rounded on the Headmaster.

Dumbledore gave James an odd look, before looking back at Harry again. "One last question, if you don't mind me asking."

Harry gave the tiniest hint of a nod.

Dumbledore smiled, and said in a hushed voice, "Your name's Harry James Potter, is it not?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore, then at James, and he said, "You wouldn't believe how much I'd like it changed."


A/N: Alright, please read and review! The next chappy is under construction.