Harry Potter and the End of Darkness

by Caesarion

AN: Before anyone tries to correct me, I'm using the traditional Greek name for Aristotles, instead of the Latin 'Aristotle'. So, when I refer to "Aristotles' Seventh Prophecy", I do not mean that there are several "Aristotle"s. Secondly, if you haven't read the fic preceding this one, The Skull of Grindelwald, then you probably won't understand why Peter's on the light side, who the Maxwells are, why James and Sirius are alive, and that there are now to versions of Lily Evans in the (to Harry, anyway) present. As to why there are two versions of Lily, that will become apparant as this story progresses. Lastly, the Xallara is, essentially, the very being of time, time personified. As such, it possessed immense power over the fabric over the space-time continuum.

Chapter One: The Two Lilies

Time unfroze, and Gaius sent three balls of temporal energy towards the Dark Wizards; all immidiately started de-aging, eventually shrinking down to zygote size, then disappearing alltogether.

Peter seized on the temporal energy, and cast a spell he had not known he would have the fortune to be able to use. It had an unfortunate side effect, however, when it was cast...

There was a flash of light, and when Harry looked up, there were three people on the ground; his mother, his father, and a redheaded girl he didn't recognize. "Mum? Dad?" The Potters were unconcious. He looked at the girl. "Who are you?" Harry asked her.

Her answer surprised all present. "I'm Lily Evans. Where am I?"

Harry stared in amazement. He had always wanted to meet his parents, but... two mums? He looked carefully, just to make certain she was who she said she was. The hair, the eyes, the face... just like the visions in Snape's Pensieve.

Then, all of a sudden, he passed out... as did all in the immidiate area, with the exception of the Xallara, who was unaffected by the Death Eaters' attack. Xallara, still weak from the energy transfer, unable to fight the Death Eaters, teleported the 12 people to Dumbledore's office, leaving several bewildered and frustrated Death Eaters in their wake.

Xallara then left the mortal world temporarily, a smile on his Julian visage as he thought of the look his protege had given the younger Lily Evans. A small gift, to make life interesting for him. I can only hope that she is not wasted... it happened once. Do not let it happen again, my young protege...

Dumbledore was... shocked, to say the least, at having two versions of Lily Evans in his office. Oh, the elder version, along with James, was hardly a surprise; he'd been expecting something like this from Peter for a long time.

He did not, however, expect Peter to botch the spell, if indeed that was what had happened. He had been to where the three had first appeared, and felt the magic in that area. It wasn't so much a necromantic spell, as he would've thought Peter would have tried, but... temporal.

No, there must have been some other cause for the redheaded girl's, now seated in front of his desk, appearance. He pondered this while he was walking to his office. Peter wouldn't have brought two of the same person forward in time, nor would he raise two of the same person from the dead.

His thoughts then went to Gaius, who the Xallara had informed him was his new protege, as to the aim that Harry would be protected long enough (by Gaius) that the End of Darkness could be achieved. Perhaps this was his doing...

Lily looked up as Dumbledore entered his office. Hogwarts seemes to have changed so much in only a day! There were several Gryffindors she didn't know, Professors she didn't know, and that strange James lookalike -that certainly had better manners than said boy!-, so it was comforting to see her old Headmaster looking exactly the same.

"Professor, what's going on? All I can remember is going to sleep, waking up in Hogsmeade-in uniform, at that- then waking up again in the Hospital Wing." Lily asked, still unaware of her time travel; being the youngest, and least mature, of those brought forward, Dumbledore had decided to inform her last, opting to have Madam Pomfrey keep her unconcious while he informed the Potters.

"Lily, this may be hard to accept, but... you aren't in the Hogwarts you remember. You see-" Dumbledore was cut off by a student Lily didn't recognize rushing into his office. "Headmaster, I've found out where they came from! Err... did I come at a bad time?" Gaius finished, noticing Lily's presence.

"No, not at all, Mr. Maxwell. As a matter of fact, I was just informing Miss Evans of her time travel." Dumbledore replied.

"Time Travel!?!" Lily asked increduously.

"Uh, Professor... they didn't exactly travel in time. Peter's spell was part of it, but as the temporal energies used to fuel the spell originated with Domine Xallara, they couldn't change the timestream. So... you're looking at what the Muggles would call 'quantum duplicates." Gaius turned to Lily. "Essentially, a copy."

"A... a copy? How? I mean... I don't feel any different." Lily was bewildered.

"Well, what happened is that you, at a specific point in time, were split, one of you remaining where you should be, and you coming into our time. Therefore, we can't send to back, nor James, nor the elder Lily.

Now, according to what Domine Xallara told me, Peter's spell focused on bringing Lily and James here; he... supposedly... doesn't know how you got here. Personally, I think he did it; as to why, I do not know."

"Thank you for the information, Mr. Maxwell. However, I must ask you to leave my office so I can talk with Lily privately." Dumbledore said.

"As you will, Headmaster." Gaius said, heading for the door. Dumbledore's eyes acquired a twinkle as he noticed the glance Lily gave the exiting 6th year. Prehaps this was the Xallara's purpose. I shall have to ask him later...

Harry lay in bed, still recovering from the wounds recieved during the Death Eaters' last assault. Next to him was Hermione Granger, there to "aid his healing process" officially. Unofficially... well, even Sirius Black would blush at hearing what they were up to.

Elsewhere, Draco and Ginny were in the Astronomy Tower, not even snogging; Ginny was merely reclining against Draco, the two of them just enjoying each other's company.

Ginny's brother Ron was in the Room of Requirement, his head on his girlfriend Luna's lap, fast asleep; Luna was, as usual, reading a copy of The Quibbler upside-down.

The now-reunited Marauders were having a party remenecient of their school-day ones, with the addition of Lily Potter and Snape.

Lily Evans was moving into the Gryffindor Sixth Year Girls' Dormitory.

Down by the lake, Gaius Maxwell and Blaise Zabini were going for a walk, the only two people of that group of friends to not be involved with anyone; their relationship had gone from not know each other, to passionate, to good friends; the two preferred the latter.

And in the space between the Realms, a place known to the ancients as Tartarus, the three Dark Ones floated aimlessly: Grindelwald, Voldemort, and I'thok the Orc. Grindelwald, now realized to be the First Dark One spoken of by Aristotles, had been in Tartarus for nearly fifty years, carefully planning and plotting.

He had studied ancient texts from all manner of races, including a remarkable human-like race, now extinct, on a planet called Bayore. The Bayorans, notable for once having a high place in the cosmic order, had become extinct in a war started by extradimensional beings locked in an eternal conflict.

The texts they left behind, however, survived, and Grindelwald learned how to merge souls, and how to bind these beings to his will.

The other race he studied wasn't at all like humans; far too strong, far too warlike, far too... chaotic. Grindelwald fancied himself in love. The Vorocans, native to the planet humans would one day name Hephaetus, didn't become involved in an extradimensional conflict; it was their own innate powers that fuels their rage.

They, too, were supposed to have been major players in the cosmic order; Grindelwald quietly steered them to oblivion, harvesting their magics, and storing them away for when they were needed. And that time had come. For the Three Dark Ones were united at last, and would bring death to Earth, and from there, death to all the realms.

Grindelwald chuckled to himself at the seeming stupidity of their mission; yet he knew it to be their destiny. And no one would laugh once they beheld the Three United.

According to the prophecy, the Three would return from Death to wreak havoc. It never said what forms they would take... or, in the case of what Grindelwald planned, form...

"Domine Xallara! I have entered my sleep cycle, and am here not to train, but to ask questions." Gaius said, the recent events causing many questions to arise in his mind.

Xallara appeared; his young student still was amazed at how much he resembled the males of ancient Rome's Julian family.

"I imagines you would, my young protege. Should I begin with young Miss Evans?" Xallara asked, already knowing the answer. A bit of knowledge reinforced by the look his student gave him.

"Ok, ok. I admit, bringing her forward was my doing. However- her purpose is not to be revealed to anyone; if the people her presence is meant to affect were to find out her purpose- and don't look at me that way, her presence affects more than you know- all would be lost.

"As to why I interfered with the spell..? Pettigrew was going to throw time off-balance. He should have consulted another of the Aspects, like Dum- oh."

"So Dumbledore is one of the Aspects, eh?" Gaius said, no at all surprised. "What Aspect is he? You are Time and Space; Dumbledore must be Light; the third aspect has yet to reveal his appearance... that's who I am to fight, isn't it?"

"...Yes, Gaius. You are to fight him, and in all probability, die in the fight. That is why we Aspects have agreed to allow you to back out at any time."

"No, I will not back out. If my lot in life is to die so that Harry and the others can live, then I accept it, and will face it with all the honor befitting a descendent of the gens Julia."

"I am truly proud of you, my young protege. I always knew you wouldn't let us down. You will, however, recognize that according to the prophecy, you require a Companion to prepare you for battle. If I do not miss my guess... Miss Zabini is no longer your chosen, correct?"

"No, domine, she is not. I will endeavour to find another, if necessary."

"No. She will come to you, but you will have to fight for her. You need true sleep now, though. We will continue this conversation on the morrow."

Gaius Maxwell fell into a most peaceful sleep, safe in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, guarded from on high by the Aspect of Time and Space.

Classes were boring after the attack on Hogsmeade; even DADA was boring, considering that they were no longer allowed to learn any good spells, despite the combined protests of Dumbledore, the Hogwarts staff, and most of the Auror Division of the Ministry of Magic.

Then, something interesting happened: Cornelius Fudge stepped down as Minister amid controversy about his abuse of House Elves in a most... perverse way. The minute he left the Minstry building, he was hit with multiple hexes; he then found himself sharing a hospital room with none other than esteemed writer Gilderoy Lockheart.

As replacement Minister of Magic, Albus Dumbledore nominated Arthur Weasley, who was subsequently elected in a landslide election. Among his first actions in office were pardons for Sirius Black (accompanied with an official apology) and Peter Pettigrew.

Another interesting occurance was Harry's sudden change: if someone even looked at the new girl, Lily Evans, wrong, they would find themselves staring at the business end of his wand.

Even his friends weren't immune; Ron made an absent comment that Lily was hot, and wound up in a fistfight in the Great Hall; it took most of the 6th Years to pry them apart. McGonagall made certain to give them seperate detentions.

Yule Ball approached, and for the first time in her life, Lily found herself without anyone she could go with; no one wanted to contend with the Boy Who Lived. So, she went to the only person currently residing at Hogwarts who could both understand her and give sound advice: Lily Evans Potter.