Prologue

Jaculus was used to being kidnapped.

He had a small journal tucked in his pocket that kept record of each kidnapping. Luna had given it to him when he was six years old.

She had shown him back issues of The Quibbler, and his small hands had carefully cut out the right news clippings and then pasted them into the journal.

And when he'd gone down to London to spend time with his father, Jaculus found the Daily Prophet news clippings that described the same incidents and pasted those, too.

It was very organized.

All the pages in the journal were headlined by the words:

DATE MISSING:—DATE FOUND:—RECOVERED BY: HP / DL / Both / Other

Of all stupid things, Jaculus felt something tight in his throat when he thought about the empty pages in the journal. He didn't want to get kidnapped again, for Merlin's sake, but there was almost a familiarity of being snapped out of Incarcerous ropes, or rapidly being tugged into a desperate side-along Apparition.

And right now—right now, Jaculus thought that what he was about to do was akin to being kidnapped again. The unknown, the mysterious, the dangerous, somewhere far away from home, but in this case he was doing it himself and there was no one to rescue him anymore.

Jaculus moved toward the Veil. It was whispering so softly that he couldn't make out the words, but if he listened hard enough, he could almost hear it calling his name.

"Jack—don't!"

Jaculus started. He turned around, and it was Teddy, his hair bubblegum pink-purple and his black robes streaming behind him. Jaculus looked at him, memorizing the sight of his best friend.

"I thought you were dead," Jaculus said numbly. His snake Kaisa stirred awake at his neck, having recognized Teddy's voice. She was always fond of him, and there was a spark of warmness in her piercing yellow eyes when she blinked them open.

"I got the antidote in time," Teddy said. "Your blood—magic—whatever it was you left behind, it was enough. Professor Longbottom and Draco Malfoy, of all people, worked on it and they're having it being given out to everyone."

It wasn't too unexpected—Draco taught Potions at the school in London and Uncle Neville taught Herbology at Hogwarts, of course. What was unexpected, though, was the fact that Neville and Draco had worked together and they were quickly mass-distributing it, no exceptions.

Jaculus didn't know what it meant. Maybe it meant the prophecy was fulfilled. The war had been stalled when the plague came and even before that, but maybe it was permanently gone for good.

Which reminded him—"And you're here," Jaculus said. "In London?"

"Nobody's enforcing the Divide because of the plague," Teddy said. "And I knew you were going to do something stupid. The note you left…so it's true? Harry and—"

"Yeah."

His voice came out low and scratchy. Jaculus was very, very tired, and he had never felt so haunted before.

He had the Elder Wand up his sleeve, the Resurrection Stone ring on a chain around his neck, and the Invisibility Cloak folded in his pocket. He was terrified of the second Hallow—he didn't dare wear it on his hand.

"They died because of me," Jaculus said. "I did something to stop the plague from spreading. Killed the Plague Doctor. But I couldn't handle it and I almost lost my hold on the plague, and they—they stepped in and they helped."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Teddy said. His hair color flickered to its normal, somber black, and Jaculus felt Teddy's hand squeeze his shoulder, pausing to brush Kaisa's scales lightly.

There was true grief in Teddy's eyes. Jaculus wanted to cry, to sweep Teddy in a hug and just shake, because hell, he was an orphan now and it was his fault because he wasn't strong enough. But all he felt was numbness and coldness, and he let himself lean against Teddy's touch.

"You ssshould take him with usss," Kaisa hissed.

"No," Jaculus said.

He said it in English, too. "Teddy, you can't come with us."

Teddy's eyes flashed. "In your note, you said you thought there would be something on the other side of the Veil. You're my best friend and you can't just leave. I'm going, too."

"You belong here," Jaculus said. "Victoire, Rose, Hugo, Louis—and everyone else. The Quibbler needs you when I'm gone."

"They're your family, too! And I know they can be awful, but you have your family and friends on this side." Teddy made a sweeping gesture, indicating London, this side of the Divide. "And the paper—"

Jaculus felt a pang at the mention of family, and he made himself shake his head. "Wizarding Britain's changing. I think it's going to reunite again, and it doesn't need me. You need to keep documenting everything's that happening, Teddy."

"Bloody hell, you prat, you can't run away. You're not the only one who lost your parents."

Jaculus flinched. Remus Lupin had died a year ago during a raid gone wrong in London, and Nymphadora Tonks had been one of the first plague victims.

"I know," Jaculus said. "But I can't stay here. I have to do this. It's not suicide. Dad left me some things and I know that if I go through the Veil, I won't die."

He said, "I'm sorry."

He twitched the Elder Wand from under his sleeve, and a red light shot out toward Teddy, stunning him.

Jaculus did not want to look back.

But he looked back. Teddy Lupin, slumped over and unconscious on the ground at the Department of Mysteries, his hair still that rare color of somber black, his original color when he was sad or angry and couldn't control his Metamorphmagus abilities.

Usually Teddy kept his hair that cheerful bubblegum pink-purple, or he matched the Weasleys or Delacours with red or silver.

Jaculus and Teddy had grown up together.

Jaculus forced himself to continue forward. The Veil was still whispering.

He made a wish on the Hallows. The wand in his sleeve, the ring at his neck, the cloak in his pocket.

He fell.

A/N: Everything will be explained in time. Jaculus' universe is not compliant with HBP/DH/TCC, while the one he falls into is semi-compliant up to DH (eg. definitely not epilogue compliant, among other things).

This is a guilty pleasure fic that I'm not sure I'm going to write much of. By the way, if it makes anyone feel better: the circumstances of Jack's birth were not mpreg. It's a magic handwavey potion ritual Chekhov's plot device thing. Giving away a major spoiler, but mpreg is a huge squick for me so this is reassurance to others who feel the same way.