Time Stream

Disclaimer: This author does not own anything pertaining to Harry Potter but the author does own all the characters not in the Harry Potter world


Chapter Two: Awakening
Seven years had passed since the day Lan Ishtar had been caught outside ward boundaries by Michaël, seven years since the day it was decided that they would move to France, and seven years since André had been seven years-old.

André de Medici was, by human terms, no longer a little boy (though his family would say otherwise), and he bore a suspiciously strong resemblance to his beloved foster family. For one, his face no longer carried the scar that had once been on his forehead, and it was now narrow, pale, with the same piercing emerald green eyes he had been born with. His figure was quite small, which was not unusual for de Medicis or Ishtars, and he had acquired the feeling of "I'm-Going-To-Shatter-Into-a-Million-Pieces-if-I-Fall-Over" which was exuded by just about everyone in the family.

André's fingers flew across the keys of the all too familiar instrument, effortlessly gliding through the complex cadenzas and scales. Of course, being a foster child of not only the de Medici and Ishtar family meant Music Lessons with Liam de Medici at the age of three, Dance and Etiquette with Solon Ishtar at the age of three and a half, Magical Theory and eventually actual Magic at age four under Rinyuu Ishtar, Languages also at age four with Myriam de Medici, and many more that made up his daily schedule.

And so, now at the age of 16, after living and being surrounded by the de Medicis and Ishtars for over a decade and a half, André was truly and irrevocably one of them.


André de Medici was a smart boy. Ever since he was a baby he had been surrounded by people. As he grew into a toddler, his toddler mind could not understand why Michaël was unnaturally graceful, why Lan was particularly beautiful, why both Raine and Seth too looked so different compared to him and other people for that matter. In fact, everyone around him seemed unreal and perfect.

His little four year-old mind would have fallen for it too, that glittering, shining, flawless illusion that had enraptured, for example the mailman from last week, so many had he not known that Lan could be hopelessly careless and that it drove Michaël spare, that Raine liked to ditch his lessons because he found them irritating and boring, and Seth loved giving his guards the slip so he could sneak out to chase butterflies.

Yet even knowing they too had flaws and quirks like everyone else did not change the fact that they still seemed so much better than, say, the mailman from last week, as though they stood miles above the rest of the population. Even Lele, who would serve the Ishtars forever, and her name never with a "Lady" at the beginning of it, appeared to subconsciously turn her nose up at anyone who was not them.

And so, though he never felt any of those almost imperceptible contemptuous expressions from any of them directed at him, André de Medici still felt different, but at least his four year-old mind had been given hope that one day by his Magical Theory teacher.


"Rinyuu… why don't I look like Lan or Michaël or you? Michaël is Prince right? He can make me look like everyone else!"

"Do you remember Young Master? When we told you how we found you."

"Uh huh, I remember, you told me I appeared in the dining hall with a flash of light when everyone was having lunch and Michaël caught me, and Lan said I was special, so I should stay. You said that no one could find my real mum and dad, but it's okay cause I should never forget that you, Michaël, Raine, Lan, Seth and everyone else all care about me."

"Yes and you have changed already! See? Look in a mirror, their magic is making you look more like us everyday."

"But why can't it go faster?"

"It can only go so far in this way, but do you wish to know a little secret Master André?"

"Uh huh…"

"I heard the Prince and Ms. Lan talking about you in the Meeting Room, and with everyone there, I believe that they are seriously considering the option of completely adopting you."

"Really?? Wow… thank you for telling me Rinyuu!"

"My, your eyes are so big! Is it that surprising we want to keep you forever?" Rinyuu laughed as André sprinted down the corridors, no doubt to interrogate someone about the conclusion of the meeting.


Rinyuu was strictly speaking, a de Medici, but he was so distantly related to Prince Michaël, and the Blood of Origin had run so thin that his status was not high enough that he could easily get away with dancing around the halls in his underpants… not that he'd even consider dancing anywhere in his underpants in the first place.

But he did not have a drop of carine blood in his veins, and combined with his rather unique magical talents meant that his name still carried the de Medici weight and prestige at the end of it. Thus, it was unlikely that he would be used as a knife sharpener whenever he toed or, god forbid, stepped over the line.

Rinyuu's responsibilities in this generation were the same as it had been in all his lives: to educate and refine the talents of the Main Bloodline, and really anyone else he was ordered to by people of said bloodline. That is where his unique talents came into use.

Rinyuu was currently reminiscing, he could remember the day in perfect detail, the day André had dropped from the ceiling, no larger than a baguette. It was just as he had described; everyone had been having lunch when a brilliant glow of obviously magical light erupted from near the high ceiling and a bundle had materialized from the supernatural afterglow had started to fall.

A tiny green-eyed baby with a bleeding cut on his forehead entered their lives that day. It was healthy, Seth and Raine had said, for everyone, but especially Lan. Lan at that time had been so dangerously dependent on Michaël she could barely survive half-an hour out of his presence.

As the weeks turned into months, it was apparent that André was good for everyone. Life seemed to become both more exciting and stable with the little baby. Michaël's self-control improved dramatically (things no longer spontaneously combusted every time he was hacked off) since now he had to be careful of damaging the baby, Lan became less zombie-like (she was smiling, and disobeying direct orders for heaven's sake), Seth snuck out less (this pleased his teachers a great deal as they no longer dreaded having to explain to Raine about how they had lost his brother… again), and things were really looking up.

No one had ever considered not telling André about his origins, they wouldn't dream of keeping the truth from him. So André grew up fully knowing exactly why he was different, but it was obvious that he had come to resent that chasm that kept him from feeling like he belonged.

Personally, Rinyuu could feel that André would not be going to be dumped at an orphanage anytime soon. He could feel magic developing within him, and he knew Lan would probably accidentally blow up half the house in rage (again) if someone tried to get rid of him.

Besides, why else would the Prince bother subjecting a child he was just going to get rid of to daily refining lessons with Liam the moment he was able to stand?


It had been difficult. They had thought it was impossible to really adopt André, but as usual, with the combined brilliant minds of both Naren and Adonis, both family's genii, it had been done. From the moment they had decided to keep him, ever increasing quantities of Michaël and Lan's blood was added to his milk every meal. Combined with gradually decreasing amounts of blood from everyone else in the Main Bloodline in his food would hopefully eventually give André a tentative, weak immunity.

The proportions were very precisely calculated, as one incorrect amount of any person's blood would be fatal. The immunity that he built up, though weak because it would take decades for a strong immunity to be established in this way, was hypothesized to be able to keep André alive long enough in order for the change to take place. Of course, this required more work to factor in André's own magical core.

When he was about to turn nine, the immunity had finally been built strong enough, and André's magic had matured adequately. He had been taken aside, and asked very seriously if he wanted to live with them forever. Naturally, of course he would want to stay with the people who had taken care of him for as long as he could remember, because of this influence, they were still hesitant to change him.

On his birthday, he had wished to be like Michaël, like Lan, like Liam, Rinyuu, Raine, Seth, Solon, Myriam, and everyone else he knew. The next day he was sat down and the final decision was made.


"… Michaël… why did Lele wake me up and five in the morning?? I don't have lessons until seven!!"

"We're all here to discuss your wish, André."

"You told us you really want to be with us forever, do you completely understand what you mean for us to do?" Lan was calm, stoic, and deadly serious, wearing her "I-Am-To-Be-Last-Empress-Disobey-and-Fear-the-Consequences" face.

"Do you understand that it will hurt every time you see a friend who is not one of us die from old age? That you won't ever be able to relate to your own kind fully? That someday you might get bored with life and be unable to end it?" Here Rinyuu interrupted under his breath in attempt to lighten the rapidly turning sombre mood.

"And don't forget you might have Liam tailing you for the rest of your lengthy life telling you off for not walking right. And you can't be within fifty feet of carine without feeling completely ill. And-"

"Rinyuu, be quiet. André, you will be different from everyone else, and there will be, I guarantee you, several attempts on your life."

"Why are you asking me this? I know all this, I see it everyday! I know it is what I want." Lan stared straight in his eyes as she said,

"Are you completely sure? You will not regret it? By next week it will be too late to reverse the change." She purposely left out the fact that it was actually already too late to remove the, by now, enormous quantities of blood he had consumed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I… don't want to die, not if it means I won't see any of you for a long time… I want to be with you, all of you, forever." Lan broke into a smile as the previously silent crowd surged forward, hugging the small boy in celebration, and Lan tackled Michaël to the ground as she whispered in his ear.

"I told you, I told you he would!"


Adonis had once told him that the spell traces on him when he had dropped in their living room had been a hybrid banishing, relocating, restricting, and tracking spell. Apparently it was the restricting that was most puzzling since it stopped even Adonis and Naren from being able to track where the spell was originally cast. However, the tracking had been corrupted by an unknown someone's power, which meant the people who preformed the spell would have no means of tracking him, and the banishing and relocating part had been pushed so hard, by the looks of it the combined full magical energy of at least three extremely powerful magical people, that it had pushed his baby-self right through the supposedly impenetrable wards.

Naren had said that at the very least, new warding upgrades were discovered through this incident. André, though young, deduced that it was very possible that the spell, which was evidently the creation of a very talented charms master or mistress, had been used to send him to safety, but secretly he hoped that it was because he had been unwanted. If it was the second case, he wouldn't feel the occasional twinges of guilt that surfaced when he thought about his perfect life with his currently, in his opinion, perfect family.

Besides, so what if his parents might not have wanted him? What did it matter when finally, his wish for so long had come true. To André, everything for over a month might have been a blur after that five am meeting, but all of a sudden, he could see the drastic changes taking place and he couldn't imagine himself happier.


André's slender fingers stilled as he heard the unmistakable sound of the door open. A moment later, Lan entered and peered over his shoulder.

"Practicing again? How long did Liam sentence you anyways?" He could have sworn there was the undertone of amusement colouring her voice as he turned around and smirked at her just washed soggy hair dripping all over the impeccable floors. He could almost hear the less-than-manly shriek Liam would emit at the sight.

"And you? Dancing for I gather at least nine hours judging by your less than usual grace. So, how much dance did Solon sentence you to?" Lan threw him an annoyed sneer as she shifted her posture for what had to be the fourth time during their two sentence exchange.

"Well you try walking "like a lady" after this!" Here she made a sweeping gesture unsuccessfully hiding a wince as it further agitated her sore arm muscles. "'Like a lady', god I swear Liam really needs to put things in perspective sometimes…" André smiled, no matter how grueling a day he had, it couldn't compare to what Lan and Michaël were put through daily to prepare for their "future roles". It made him feel wonderfully unstressed and relaxed when comparing his relatively normal eighteen hour schedule with Lan's sometimes twenty-four hour ones or Michaël's constant twenty-four hours with no sleep for who knows how long.

"So, what are you here for? I assume you didn't just drop in to allow me to taunt you about your current… state." At this point Lan gave up and after glancing around to make sure Liam was no where in sight, dropped on the piano bench in a boneless heap, but when she answered, all traces of amusement were void from her expression.

"Yes you're right. Prince Michaël is calling a meeting to discuss the contents of a letter he received this morning."


Hundreds of miles away, Hermione Granger was waking up, she could here the soft voices of conversation.

"Oh god oh god, why isn't she waking up? What on earth happened?"

"Shh, I don't know, I got back from the office and I just found her lying in the living room unconscious!"

"Hermione dear, please wake up now, please be okay!" Hermione forced her exhausted mind to wake up and managed to whisper,

"Mum? Dad? What happened? How did I get back here?" And suddenly the memories of Ron, and the lightning hit her like a train. "Oh no, where's Ron? What happened after the lightning hit? Is Harry okay? I don't remember what happened after we were str-" She was cut off as her tone was rapidly reaching hysteria and she tried to sit up on the couch her father had put her on.

Mrs. Granger looked worryingly at Hermione. "Are… are you alright dear? You haven't gone back to your school yet, it's only August right now, remember?" Hermione turned wide-eyed towards her mother.

"August?? But… are you positive Mum? I could have sworn… I…" She trailed off, her mind working a mile a minute. Mr. Granger was beginning to look extremely concerned.

"Hermione, who are Ron and Harry? Didn't you say Ron Weasley was that boy who asked you out to the dance that year during the err… Three-wizard Tournament? And you've never mentioned a 'Harry' before…" Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock. Her parents didn't remember Ron and Harry? She knew that she and Ron and been struck by the lightning for sure, and if so, why did Hogwarts send her back here? Couldn't Madame Pomphrey heal her much easily than muggle doctors? But they did say it was August… but then…What was going on here?

Hermione took a deep breath under her parents' anxious expressions and asked calmly as possible, "How old am I right now?" The only rational explanation was that she had been out for a year but... hadn't her father just said he found her lying in the living room?

Mrs. Granger was really worried now as she was shooting panicked looks at her husband. "Hermione sweetie, you're sixteen this year, going to your sixth year at Hogwarts… you remember Hogwarts don't you?"

Hermione froze. There was only one logical conclusion left. She couldn't have traveled back in time because she was sure she talked endlessly about Harry and Ron so her parents couldn't have just forgotten them. Secondly, she had never told her parents Ron had asked her to the Yule Ball, so that was wrong too.

Could she really have, because of that bolt of lightning, been transported to…?


A/N I'm sure the first chapter was pretty confusing but fear not! It is suppose to be that way.

In this chapter I hopefully conveyed the time switches clearly enough. Basically in the first chapter Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus were struck by lightning seven years later. But the beginning is depicting events seven years before they were struck.

So in chapter two it begins by chronicling André's adoption into the de Medici and Ishtar family. By this point, André's original identity is just about one hundred percent confirmed.

Before it switches to Hermione, when André and Lan are talking, this takes place a short time after Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus were struck by lightning. That means that just when Lan is telling André about the letter, at the same time Hermione is waking up in the living room of her house. And so, now everyone is at the same time frame aside from the occasional flashback.

I hope this clarified things for people.

Next chapter will cover what happened to Ron, Sirius, and Remus for sure, and maybe their meeting with the Potters and the letter Michaël received.

And thanks so much to Caliko and Sylkie your review were awesome and really brightened my prospect of this story.

As usual, please please review?

-Thanks!