Summary- Harry finds out some very shocking news from a letter from his mother. News that leads to Harry going to a whole new world? What will this whole new world hold for Harry? And how will the shocking news Harry finds out affect the new world he is in?
CHAPTER ONE: the letter
Harry stared down at the letter that was in his hands with a huge variety of emotions on flashing a crossed his face as he did so. Emotions ranging from shock, disbelieve, fear, and a hint of longing; and these emotions were what was showing while he hadn't even opened up said letter yet to read it. The reason for all these emotions because of a simple unopened letter was the writing on the front of the old fashion, clearly aged, envelope. Writing which read:
From Lily Evans-Potter
To her darling son.
It was short and to the point, at least the envelope was because it looked like it held a pretty thick letter considering the size it currently was. Not only that but, it also had to be at least fifteen years old considering that was how long Lily, his mother, had been dead.
Knowing this and knowing it had to be something important if his mother had been willing to one, write it all down to begins with, and two willing to wait so long to give it to him Harry knew he had to read it. Though how exactly she had been able to deliver a letter so long after she had died Harry had no idea about. Especially not how it had even arrived, seeing as it had just appeared before him right after he turned sixteen; meaning somehow she had literally timed it that way.
Harry with a slightly shaky hand opened the envelope; taking care to not rip anything as he did so. He really wanted to know what was in this letter, yet at the same time he wanted to preserve one of the very few things he had from his mother. But even more then that he wanted to know more about the woman who had written it in the first place; something the letter in his hand could do. As long as he read it that is.
Once he had the letter open and read it a little Harry found himself dropping it in pure and utter shock, before in a dazed almost traumatized state reaching down and beginning to read it again, unable to not read it; almost like a train wreck and being unable to look away.
Wanting nothing more than to deny what he was reading the whole while. But at the same time, somehow, knowing it to be true deep within his heart of hearts; no matter how he denied it otherwise. The letter read.
Dear Harry
I hope with all my heart that I am there reading this with you, or that I have already informed you about what this letter is going to tell you and there for what I am about to tell you in this letter won't be as shocking. But at the same time, deep in my very soul, I know that, despite how much I wish this, it isn't going to happen and you will be alone when you get this letter. Alone and knowing absolutely nothing about what I am about to inform you about.
If this feeling is right, and I know that it is, then James and I must be dead; there is no other way then that if you are uninformed as I fear you are. And if that horrible fact is indeed true, then please let me switch to a happier note then what I was on, and that this letter takes, by saying Happy sixteenth birthday; for that is when I spelled it for you to get this letter with a rather nifty bit of magic.
Then let me say what I am about to tell you through this letter will surly come to a huge shock to you. I honestly have no idea how to break this to you so I am just going to be blunt, something that I can be a little bit too much of at time if what the others say is true, and tell you; rather than continue to beat round the bush and hit at it forever. At the same time I find myself hoping to all that is magic, and to all that I love, what you are about to find out doesn't hurt you too much.
Ok here it is, your father isn't James Potter; he isn't even from this world. I know you're probably wondering what the hell I am talking about, or even thinking that this is a cruel joke that someone is playing on you. I know that is what I would think if someone told me that the man I was raised to believe is my father wasn't actually my father. But I swear to you that I'm not lying to you, and that I really am your mother; that what I am currently writing is all the truth. By my magic and blood I swear it to you.
Perhaps you would understand, and actually believe me, more if I gave you more information If I told you everything that had happened, how it turns out that James isn't actually your father unlike what everyone else believes….perhaps it would be more believable if I started from the beginning instead of just giving nothing but the bare bones of everything? But where is the beginning to this tale? That would be the big question wouldn't it.
Well, I guess I could say that a lot of what you have most likely heard about me and James from everyone else is true. At least the parts that informed you that in the beginning I did not like him, James that is, in the least bit; thinking he was an arrogant toe rag. That is until our seventh year which is when I actually started dating him and yes eventually married him. Then you were most likely were told that we were married right out of school and had you no long after…that last part is the part not quite true. And the part that really started everything.
You see, me and James dated all throughout our seventh year and I honestly did, and still do, love him. But right after we got out of school neither he nor I were really ready to get married right away like everyone else seemed to expect us to; me more so than him.
Instead I took a job offer that even today I am still amazed I got. It was for the Unspeakables in the Ministry. Which is a very difficult and high desired job within the ministry; a job that most purebloods would give a good chunk of their fortune for might I add. It was also a job that muggleborns rarely ever got because of the lack of connections they would have. I was told that I got this job not only because of my skills in both potions and charms but because I always thought outside the box; which was something the unspeakables really needed at that moment.
Now looking back on it I am not sure if those were actually the reasons why I got the job but even if it wasn't I can't find myself regretting the job seeing as it was because of that job I got you my little treasure.
When I told James about this job offer, and the fact that I had taken it, he very understood, not to mention rather happy for me because the opportunity being an unspeakable offered me. He was willing to wait until I finished my project with the Unspeakables to get married, and nothing made me happier. I got the job I always wanted and the supportive boyfriend/fiancé I had always dreamed about as well everything seemed to be perfect.
I should have known then that something was going to go wrong. Because all and all when something seems too good to be true then it usually is; something, in one way or another, is going to come around and ruin it because it is too good.
You see the unspeakable project I was on was only supposed to last two years at most and I wasn't actually supposed to be gone for any long periods of time during this project; meaning I was supposed to stay in England nearly the entire time. At least that was what I was told at the beginning of this whole project. Unfortunately, nothing went the way it was all planned. First I better inform you just what the project was.
Though I doubt you'll know what I am talking about seeing as the project is locked deep within the ministry. Normally I wouldn't be able to even speak of this to you, but considering that I am most likely dead, and this project was the whole reason you are facing such a big change in your life I feel like you should know all about it.
The project that I was working on when everything went wrong was something called The Veil. During my time it was most commonly known as, and believed to be, the veil of death by the majority of the people who knew about it then; though I don't know if that has changed any in your time. It may have changed, especially if the research that the unspeakables have done has gotten any further than it had been when I worked with it; I hope so it was honestly a very fascinating subject.
Oh I better stop rambling and just it to the point of what we found out I shouldn't I, and how it deals with everything else right? Well, it all started out when we found out what the Veil actually was. This took a lot of research, testing, as well as the combination of several different types of magic and a good chunk of power.
It took nearly a year of constant research from me, and even more reach before I was even brought in, to even get a basic idea about what the veil may actually be. But in the end we were able to do so and what we had found out was something we believed to actually be true. We would later find out that it was indeed true but that wouldn't be till much later and it will play a very big part of my story.
Anyway like I said, we believed, and had some very solid prove that the veil didn't lead to ones death like the majority of the sheep (the majority of the wizarding world if you haven't guessed) believed, but it actually leads the person that enters it to alternate worlds/dimensions; depending on which one you believe more in.
Through, some even more mind numbing, research we have found out why the Veil is believed to be the Veil of death instead of what it actually is. It is because most of the time a sacrifice wasn't given to the veil beforehand. Now that may sound a bit confusing but it is like this. The Veil needs a sacrifice to activate its magic fully, one that can't be alive or even a blood sacrifice; something most sacrifices call for. We have found that in most cases the best sacrifice is a portion of the user's magic, willingly given or something willingly give from a magical creature of some type.
If there is not sacrifice or if the sacrifice isn't accepted by the veil, which can and will happen as we have seen, then all the veil will cause is death to those that enter it as it uses the magic from said person to power itself; making the next time it is used just that more powerful and efficient. Which I guess mean the veil does or can accept a live as a human sacrifice…as long as the person being sacrificed doesn't actual know he or she is being scarified to power the veil that is.
We also believed that depending on the sacrifice given to the veil that you could end up in several different places; depending on the nature of the sacrifice in question. Though, unlike with our believes about the veil, we later found this to be completely untrue. As we later found out all that matter was determination and an idea of where you wanted to go while stepping through the veil; as well as the personality of the person being transported.
I am saying all of this later on and found out later because that is exactly what we did. After a year and a half of pure research we decided to test our Hypothesis. Unlike what I had been told when I had first started out, I was the one selected to go, and by then I was too into the project, to curious about what was going to go on, that I didn't care, nor did I argue against going; that is when things went to hell in a head basket.
Well, not all of it. By then I was eighteen nearly nineteen and I was ready to marry the love of my life James and he in turn felt the same. In fact we planned to marry as soon as I did this last thing for the unspeakables. Seeing as soon as I finished my last task my help wouldn't be needed as much among the unspeakables and I would be allowed to leave.
At first James was incredibly weary about letting me go through the Veil, which is what the unspeakables wanted me to do. He said he had a really bad feeling about it, but after I showed him all the research that I could (research I place in the Potter family vaults for you for reasons you will find out a little later in these letter.) he reluctantly agreed that I should go through the veil. Especially after he found out that after I did this the unspeakables would let me go and no longer bother me about research about the veil.
I should have listened to James when he said he had a bad feeling about it all; I really should have. I knew that James had really strong instincts and if he said he had a bad feeling about something it usually was bad, but still despite knowing this I still ignored the warning he had given me.
Harry if you don't want to read some really shocking news and want to live your life a lie I suggest you tear this letter up now, forget everything I have already told you and don't ever think about it again because what I am about to tell you will change your life in a big way forever; in one way or another.
Here Harry paused in his reading and bit his lip knowing he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he stopped reading now. Beside his mother had taken the time to write all of this out for him and had made it rather informative so it had to be important. Not only that, but Harry really wanted to see what she meant when she said James wasn't his father and that his father wasn't from this world. So with that in mind Harry went back to reading his mother's letter hoping that the news wasn't too shocking. Even if he was already in a state of disbelieve about what he had read so far.
Good Harry you've decided to keep reading. I knew you would it is something both me and your father would do; something James would of done as well. But I had to add that just in case; I had to give you a choice after all.
Like I said earlier I really should have listened to James feelings, then things might not have gone as they had and you most likely wouldn't be reading a letter like this from me...at the same time I can't say I completely one hundred percent regret not listening to him either.
It all started in front of the Veil everything looked perfect. It had all been going the way we had wanted it to. I had my magic cuffs on that were supposed to transport me back from where ever I landed; after I got my baring's and was able to look around and get some idea of where I had landed. (A longer research and stay had been planned for a later date, though I think it was scrapped after what happened to me.) We had the veil activated, had several people, as well as several different healers, on standby just in case something happened. We had picked out a powerful magical sacrifice, one that we made sure didn't have anything to do with blood or flesh, and had the veil magically activated.
Like I said it all seemed to be going just the way it was supposed to; it all seemed to be perfect. But something must have gone wrong somewhere in everything we had been doing, or maybe it was just how the veil worked and we never took that in to account. Anyway something happened that we didn't know or even have the slightest clue was going to happen; and I was the one who suffered for it.
You see as I was doing the last finishing touch of my part and standing in front of the veil nearly ready for a trip that was only supposed to take five minutes maximum. The veil began to glow a brilliant but blinding pure white color. Glowing so brightly and powerful that everyone had to look away; myself included.
I don't know what happened next exactly all I do know was one second I was looking away from the glowing white veil and the next I was falling through it feeling oddly light but completely dizzy at the same time; thankfully we had already thrown in the sacrifice (an ancient heavily charmed necklace) or I wouldn't be here to write this letter for you… in fact there really wouldn't be a you to write to now would there?
As I was falling through the veil a lot of thoughts went through my mind, a lot of them being about James and how devastated I was that I might not be able to see him ever again, and then I suddenly knew. I knew exactly what I was supposed to do to get through the veil and into the next world. I had to think about something that made me happy, a place, one that I felt at home at. Knowing this I could only think of one place that I felt at home at, besides at Hogwarts that is, and that place was the ocean.
You see that was the one place me and my family always went to when I was younger, before they died that is, and it was a place I had considered my home for the longest time. In fact my mom was sure I was a mermaid or even part fish because of the amount of time I spent in the ocean. She used to jokingly say that the sea called to me in ways that few people could understand.
Anyway as I said I had to think about a place I had considered home for the veil to take me anywhere. Because of the fact I had thought of the ocean and how much I loved it I ended up in a world that was mainly ocean. I admit at first, and for the longest time after that, I couldn't bring myself to care the least bit about this fact; in fact I didn't even realize this fact until near the end of my stay there.
That is because soon after I landed I found out that the cuffs I was wearing, the ones that were supposed to be able to take me back home, couldn't do that; they just didn't work at all for some reason. I don't know how long exactly I had spent in denial about this fact or how long exactly I spent trying all I could to get back home but I do know that at least a week had passed before I was knocked out of the state I had been put in; by some strange golden eyed man none the less.
Harry here is where my story takes a turn and where we get to the main point of my letter. First Harry you need to understand I was completely hysterical, depressed and in serious denial about everything; I was doing anything and everything I could to make it so I didn't feel those emotions. I also want you to understand that I had thought that I would never be able to get home; to my own world ever again. Finally I beg you to see that I never wanted to hurt James or you for that matter with what I was doing. Please, please know all of this before reading any further.
You see Harry, you know how I stated earlier in my letter that your father wasn't James and that your actual father wasn't from this world? Well, I mean, oh how should I say this? I guess I should start from where I had left of and go from there.
The name of the man that snapped me out of the rather miserable state I was in was someone called Dracule Mihawk. From what I have learned about him from the time I had been around him, both from his own lips and the rumors I had heard from others, he was (and probably still is) a very powerful man and one of, if not the very best, swordsman around. More importantly Harry he, not my beloved James, is your true father.
Harry after reading this last part of the letter dropped in in shock, not wanting to believe it. Even if he knew that it was coming since the beginning of the letter. After all everyone says he looks like James potter; his father. Keeping that in mind Harry picked back up the letter sure that his mother would say something about the last bit of her letter being a cruel joke or that he had read parts of it wrong. Ignoring the fact his mother had said the exact same thing in the beginning and throughout her letter while he did so. Sadly he hadn't and she hadn't. In fact his mother seemed to know exactly how he was going to react if the next words in her letter meant anything.
Harry I know you're going to denial about what I just told you; you probably even forgot I mentioned it at the beginning of my letter. I know I most likely would of as well. You probably fighting against what I just wrote with all you heart. Not wanting to believe it and possibly even bring up the fact you look almost like a clone of James. Out of respect for James I thank you for that, but it doesn't make what I just told you any less true.
You see soon after I found out I was pregnant with Mihawk's child, pregnant with you, I found myself being pulled back into my own world. It seems that since I had disappeared the people I had been working with had doing everything in their power to bring me back through the veil. This is the only reason I, and you by extension, were able to come back to this world. If they hadn't have done that both of us would have grown up in the same world as Mihawk. I would never have seen James again and you would never have even seen the wizarding world…
Harry when I was brought back I found out that for them two years had passed since I had first gone through the veil. At first I felt like I should argue against this seeing that only a little over two month had passed for me but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to.
So everyone else assumed the same amount of time had passed for me. Mainly because of the long lifespan of withes and wizard, it takes a lot long for age to show and they always look younger than they actually are. So they assumed that I had aged two years without it really showing, seeing as I still looked nearly nineteen nearly twenty; barely looking any older than when I had first went through the veil.
I think it was mainly because of this, the supposed years that had passed, and the fact I told him that I had thought of him every day as well as the fact I had sunk in to a deep depression when I had thought that I would never see him again that caused James to forgive me. And forgive me he did, he married me only days after I had returned and even blood adopted you as soon as you were born; making you his heir; and his adopted son as well.
This blood adoption is the reason you look so much like James Harry, and despite what everyone says Harry you're not his clone; not even close. You still have a lot of you real father's features in you Harry. In fact to me you look more like Mihawk then you do James; though it is only noticeable when you are side by side. Even James noticed this though that didn't make him love you any less; he really adored you and considered you his son Harry. He loved you as if you were his own and never doubt that.
I am ashamed of what I have done, but despite how this letter may make it sound I am NOT ashamed of the fact that Mihawk is your father. He was a good man, a strong man that I can only hope you take after. One who helped me when I was in despite need of it and asked nothing from me in return. This is why I am telling you this, not only because you deserve to know the truth, but because I want you to be proud and know of your fathers, both of them; you blood adopted father James potter, and you blood father Mihawk.
Harry if you're not completely ashamed of me and have continued to read my letter to you, I can only hope you do not hate me and understand what happened and why it did. I just couldn't keep this secret from you. James knew most of it and now you know all of it. I just feel that you will need this information for some reason. Not only that but I honesty had to tell you it; I couldn't keep something like this from you. Please my son, please live a happy live and forgive this foolish woman for what she has done.
With all my love
Your mother Lily Evans-Potter
Ps-Also Harry I do not know why I feel like I should tell you this but something deep within me tells me that you will somehow, someway, be going back to that world. So I think you should know that for every month that pass there for about every year that pass here. So it will take twelve years to pass here before a year pass there. So for the sixteen years that you have been alive it has only been about one year and four month since Mihawk has last seen me.
Harry now feeling completely numb slowly put down the letter, not even feeling the tears that were slowly falling down his face as he did so. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. He did know one thing though, he would never be ashamed of his mother no matter what she had done; he loved and respected her too much to do that. But besides that Harry had no idea what to do about what he had found out from her letter; especially not about the fact James Potter wasn't his father but someone call Dracule Mihawk was.
Thinks on this for a while Harry took a deep breath then turned to look over to the sleeping face of the girl he thought of as a sister. The one who had stuck with him through thick and thin, even during this hell of a hunt down for voldywarts soul piece; Hermione. He shook his head. He couldn't do anything about the letter right now except ignore it. It wasn't that important at the moment not compared to everything else it wasn't.
After all right now all his concentration needed to be on the war they were in and on the hunt they were currently doing; nothing else. So with that in mind Harry folded up the letter and placed in in his pouch determined to ignore it the best he could.
Later after the war, after everything, was over and done with he'd think about it. Till then he couldn't bring himself to think about it. Nor could he think about just what he was going to do about the information said letter had given him.