Prologue: A Meeting of Minds
Albus Dumbledore was sitting quite comfortably behind his desk in his office. His brow furrowed slightly over something that was in the letter he was reading. The letter had arrived just that morning during breakfast. He set the letter down with a sigh and rubbed his eyes, tired. He pulled out his strange pocket watch and glanced at it, apparently confirming the time. He then began to straighten up his desk, stacking the various pieces of parchment on it in a neat pile at the corner. While he was doing this, a man appeared in his office, and stood in the center of the room. He swayed slightly on his feet, and then seemed to get a grip on himself. He stood patiently as Dumbledore finished his stacking. When Dumbledore looked up he seemed slightly surprised but shook it off. He then rose to his feet to greet… himself. Dumbledore motioned for his visitor to take a seat and then resumed his. Dumbledore stared at himself, seemingly at a loss for words.
"Ah, I remember how this office used to look," the other Dumbledore said, gazing around sadly.
"Used to look?" Dumbledore inquired calmly. "Am I to assume that I, that is to say, we are not the Headmaster anymore?"
"You may assume what you like, but I cannot tell you any more than what I came to tell you."
"May I inquire as to how far in the future you are from?"
"I am from about 3 years, 2 months, and 24 days in the future. And, you will be deposed in about two and a half years."
"Oh. Thank you for the information. Now, what did you want to tell me?" Dumbledore asked politely.
"Several things, actually. First and foremost, you must trust Severus Snape, and ask him about his new assignment for this year."
"Of course, I always have."
"This year it is paramount that you do, or else Mr. Potter will be out of a mentor. Which brings me to the next item of business. Where to begin?" the other Dumbledore asked, almost to himself. "About a year ago, I became aware that Voldemort had shifted his focus somewhat from Harry. He now seemed to be targeting someone else, but we, that is, the Order, did not know who it was. When we could not discover who had attracted Voldemort's attention we just assumed it was a Muggle. As we had other problems to attend to, we had to back that one down on our priority list. Big mistake. We discovered whom it was two weeks later when she arrived on our doorstep. She was dead. We immediately began the process of relocating, and took her body with us. When we had settled in our new headquarters we began the process of identifying her. None of us had ever seen her before, but she looked vaguely familiar, though none of us could say why. She had been beaten to death, so it took us a little while to clean her up. Once we did we discovered not an answer, but a mystery. She was a replica of Lily Potter, except for her hair and eyes. She had James's dark hair and eyes. We were all extremely confused, especially Harry, who was also with us. He was also, understandably, very angry with me. He demanded answers to questions I had just begun to formulate. I was as confused as him, probably even more so. She was the Potter's best kept secret, Harry's twin sister."
"What? No, Harry is an only child. I mean… it's not possible!" Dumbledore exclaimed, completely thrown off his guard.
"Yes, that was my reaction as well. But it is true, and I will assume that you are beginning to see the reason for my visit," the other said, smiling gently.
"You want me to find her, and bring her here," Dumbledore said, more calmly than he felt. "Why?"
At this his older self sighed tiredly. "I will be frank. Voldemort is winning. He has almost completely wiped us out. After our discovery, Harry lost his will to fight. He resents me for not knowing about his sister, and for not saving her. Since Harry has given up, so has almost everyone else. Thus Voldemort began to pick us off, one by one. I fear that soon Voldemort will abandon all pretenses and cunning, and simply attack us at our base. If, no, when he does, unless Harry gets his fighting spirit back, we will all die. I believe that if you can find his sister now, and begin training her, that we will be able to change the course of history for the better. She is alive in your time, right now. The only problem will be finding her," he said, stopping to allow his younger self time to absorb all that he had said.
"How will I find her?" Dumbledore asked suddenly, looking at himself.
"I have gathered together some information that might help you locate her, although I do not know her exact location. She is about 5 feet 4 inches tall; she has black hair and hazel eyes. Her hair is wavy, like Lily's was. We still do not know her name. She was living somewhere in north Italy. Why she was there, I have no idea. We found a business card in her trouser pocket. Here," he said while handing it to Dumbledore. "That will probably help as well. Now, I must be going. Is there anything else you wish to know?" the other Dumbledore said as he was rising.
"No, I believe that is all I need to know. Thank you, and good luck."
"The same to you my friend. Good bye." The other Dumbledore went back to the middle of the room and said a rather complex spell, waved his wand, and disappeared.
"Well now. That was rather strange," Dumbledore said. The portraits on the wall behind him seemed to agree with him. He began to make plans to leave the next morning. He then wrote a short letter to Minerva McGonagall, requesting her presence in his office as soon as possible.
"You can't be serious!" Minerva McGonagall cried, shooting out of her chair in the Headmaster's office.
"I'm afraid I am serious, Minerva. I plan to leave tomorrow, and I hope to return soon, bringing her with me. Who is staying here over the summer?" Dumbledore inquired calmly.
"Myself, Filius, Pomona, and Severus. Why?" she asked as she resumed her seat.
"In the event that I do bring her back we need to begin her magical education as soon as possible. After all, she will have six years of school to catch up on," Dumbledore said, smiling softly.
"All right, I understand. Would you like me to inform the rest of the staff?"
"No, I would rather not reveal Ms. Potter's real identity if we can help it. I need to have a talk with Severus, so I will inform him at that time, but no one else can know."
"Fine. Would you like me to have the house-elves prepare a room for her?'
"Yes, please. Maybe one of the empty rooms on the ground floor? That will make for much less walking up and down stairs all day. Thank you," he said to McGonagall, dismissing her. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, and then stood. He left his office, and began the descent to the dungeons. He entered Severus' office and found the Potions Master sitting in a chair behind his desk, bent over some parchment. Severus' head shot up at Dumbledore's intrusion, but once he recognized the Headmaster he relaxed slightly and leant back in his chair.
"Severus, you are on holiday. You are not supposed to work on holiday," Dumbledore said, shaking his head at the dark man sitting opposite him.
"Regardless of whether it is holiday or not, I still have work to do. Now why are you here?" Snape asked curtly, not attempting to hide his irritation at being interrupted.
"Very well. Have you gotten anymore assignments from Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked bluntly, ignoring Severus's wince.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I have. I am supposed to begin looking in the hospital records for any Potter references. I am not sure why, but that is his command," Snape said sarcastically.
"Well, that explains a great deal. Severus, have you begun your search yet?"
"No, I have not. Why?"
"I believe I know what Voldemort is looking for, and he must not have that information," Dumbledore said urgently.
"Why? And what is he looking for?"
"He is looking for evidence of another Potter, more specifically Harry's twin sister."
"What?! I thought he was an only child!" Snape exclaimed, his shock destroying his reputation for having no emotions other than scorn and hatred.
"As did I, but we now know that he is not. Severus, Voldemort cannot get this information."
"Of course not. I assume that you are going to go and find this girl?"
"Yes, I plan to leave tomorrow morning. Minerva is the only other person who knows, and I would like to keep it that way."
"Yes, of course. Was that all Headmaster?" Snape asked dryly, clearly wanting to get back to his work.
"Yes, that is all. I will see you when I return," Dumbledore said, as he rose from his uncomfortable chair. He then left the office and headed up to his quarters for a good night's sleep.