What was real?

That's all Harry had been bothered to scribble on his parchment during another one of Delores Umbridge's lessons, he knew how she managed to get the position of Defence against the Dark arts Professor at Hogwarts and he knew why. The Minister was concerned about Dumbledore, which if Harry was being honest Fudge should be. Although there was one matter very wrong with his class today, Umbridge was absent and Harry wasn't sure how Professor Binns was considered a suitable substitute.

Fudge should be wary of the old man but not for the reasons Fudge believed, Dumbledore had no interest in becoming Minister with his position as Headmaster and his history he didn't need to be the Minister for his ideas to be listened too. No one questioned Albus Dumbledore, he had gotten away with so many crimes mostly for his less then noble defeat of Grindelwald but Harry thought that it wouldn't be a push to call it a lover's spat. For the man, was hailed as a hero even though he was once working alongside Grindelwald, until an incident with Dumbledore's sister which led to her death and Albus had to change his path or he would never gain what he truly wanted. Control. After defeating Gellert there was celebrations, stories that over sold Dumbledore's duel pushing opinions onto the public. Generations after Generations growing up hearing how Dumbledore was a great, powerful, noble and kind. Slowly brainwashing children into hero worship.

Dumbledore did not need to be Minister, for he was held highly up there as one of the greatest Wizards of the ages.

Harry skipped lunch in the great hall and instead walked towards his private rooms, something that amused him greatly was that the Headmaster had attempted to isolate him from his friends this year, he'd been moved out of the Gryffindor common room at the start of the year into his own located on the DADA corridor. Hermione and Ron had been at the end of Dumbledore's wand during summer, compulsion charms to steer clear from Harry this year.

Which doesn't seem very funny except a private suite of rooms in a castle that would clear any spells Dumbledore left behind, as well as a handy spell he'd found last year whilst trying to stay alive in the Triwizard Tournament had protected their minds against anything Dumbledore threw at them. Which meant they couldn't be seen communicating in public but since his rooms were protected from Dumbledore they would often be found within.

He hated that he was questioning his entire existence, hated that he'd sunken into denial because both sides terrified him. He could admit that he was scared and confused. Was he even Harry anymore?

What if this wasn't real?

Or what if the memories weren't real?

But what if this is real and the memories are real and it happens again?

He was sure that his mind wouldn't survive much longer if he continued like this, the lack of sleep was not helping his patience or his urge to kill certain people and he was growing irritated being surrounded by school children intent on ignoring what was happening in the world around them.

He hated not knowing what the Dark Lord was doing, since his return at the end of Harry's last school year Voldemort had been resurrected. The events of that night played often in Harry's mind, he had been surprised to find an older version of the Tom Riddle he had seen in the diary in his second year step out of the cauldron but Harry wagered no one was more surprised then Tom Riddle.

The surprises had not ended there, Tom had robed himself and then approached him. Harry remembered tensing up when Tom's hand closed in near his scar only to gasp softly when that hand had connected with his skin. His wrist tingle when he thought about Tom's magic healing him, it felt so normal that Harry had released himself summoned the cup and fled with Cedric Diggory's body, back to Hogwarts, back to pretending to be Dumbledore's golden boy.

Harry had already begun planning against Dumbledore, against Fudge, against the restrictions of Magic but that night everything had changed. The Dark Lord had been reborn, he hadn't called his Death Eaters whilst Harry was there so Harry wasn't sure if any of them knew but he was sure Dumbledore had his suspicions.

The old man had repeatedly tried to coax Harry into changing his story, but Harry had repeated his fake story and stuck with it. Peter Pettigrew had made the cup into a portkey and in a fit of insanity had attempted to use him to resurrect Voldemort, Harry saw no sign of Voldemort so he overpowered Pettigrew and escaped, whilst doing so Pettigrew shot the killing curse at him but missed and it hit Cedric Diggory.

That night and the nights thereafter were why Harry was questioning his reality, over the summer he had began having dreams but the more he thought about them the more he remembered. As he remembered more he realised they weren't dreams at all but memories. He tried to convince himself that they were fake, but then markings appeared shattering that theory and he was struggling to ignore how his soul yearn for something, someone.

This had never happened before, their entire lives they had spent together, travelled from one world to the next restoring the balance between Light and Dark. Their lives were dictated by a prophecy spoken directly to them from Lady Magic but this wasn't part of the prophecy he knew. What was he missing.

His inner turmoil was interrupted when he was joined by Luna, Hermione, the Weasley twins and Draco Malfoy. This year the Slytherin had avoided him which suited Harry perfectly, he had no time for childish rivalries but here the blonde wizard was in his rooms. Fred and George stuck close to his sides and their faces begged Harry to hear them out.

"You missed lunch" Hermione said in disproval, unconcerned about Malfoy's presence and taking a seat on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

"Wasn't in the mood for company" Harry said dryly. "Why are you here Malfoy?"

"He's with us" Fred gave as an explanation.

"I know, but why is he here?"

"He's with us, as in with us, with us." George divulged like Harry hadn't caught Fred's meaning.

"I know. I've known for a while. Why is he here? In my rooms?"

"Oh well- it's scary how you do that." Fred said taking that as an invite for them all to sit around the island, Draco included.

"Spying again Potter?" Draco questioned without his usual sneer.

"They didn't hex your hair." Harry explained when all he received was puzzled looks he continued. "They pranked Slytherin house, every other Slytherin had red and gold hair except you. Everyone knows how obsessed you are about your hair, yet they left yours untouched."

"I had to walk around the school with a Gryffindor tie that was torture enough" Draco remembered, the twins wisely looked away as Draco turned to glare at them.

"I'm sure it was horrendous." Harry snorted. "Whatever message he gave you I don't want it."

"How?" Draco asked surprised.

"You're you. I'm me. Your father is his lieutenant."

"Then you'll know I cannot not give you this." Draco said holding a small card of parchment before sliding it across to Harry.

"I can't read it, it just looks like squiggles." Hermione observed.

"It's parseltongue." Harry told her before he set fire to the card, unwilling to read it. Tom must have expected him to do so because the card morphed into an outline of Tom's face and a smirk graced those lips.

"I will see you soon Harry" said a disembodied voice, that Harry knew belonged to Tom and he watched the outline of Tom's face blink away.

"That wasn't very dramatic" Luna sighed. "Harry?"

"Yeah not dramatic" Harry agreed although he didn't sound unaffected by the message, it had been a warning to expect Tom soon but how could Tom see him whilst he was at Hogwarts.

Author's Note.

Updated: 18th Oct 2018