Disclaimer: I don't own Dollhouse, Echo, Laurence, or any of the characters. They are the property of Fox, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, etc. I also don't own Harry Potter, etc. He and company belong to JK Rowling.
Story: Who is Echo really? Is Echo really Caroline Farrell? Or is she someone completely different? How did she really get into the Dollhouse? What a laugh. Echo knew all of that. Who is she really? Harry Potter, former savior of the Wizarding World. Now? A broken Doll. But she refused to stay broken.
Set after and AU episode S1.9 ("A Spy in the House of Love") and after and AU during HP book 7.
Spoilers: Definitely, all vague now but there's specific mentions of things that happened in episodes. Major spoilers coming up. EDIT: watch for spoilers up to season finale "Omega" (S1.12).
Warnings: Violence, language, sexual situations, etc.
Pairings: Laurence/Echo (Harry Potter), Topher/Claire, slight Paul/Mellie, slight Paul/Echo, and slight Boyd/Claire.
Memories That Haunt
Chapter Two: Narcissus and Echo
"Wake up, Henrietta," Laurence prodded Echo into wakefulness.
The imprinted Doll yawned and blearily opened her eyes. "I prefer Harry."
He looked at her weirdly. Since when did she prefer shortening her name? Didn't Adelle say that she would prefer Henrietta? It was part of her imprint.
"Let's go, Harry. The plane landed, and the sooner we do this, the sooner we can go back. Got it?"
She nodded and gave him a bright grin that he rolled his eyes at. She hooked her arms around his again, and hummed as she cheerfully led him off the plane and into the airport. After everything was settled, Laurence found the car that was rented for them and remembered the directions Adelle told him to lead him to the London Dollhouse.
Immediately, they met with Wesley Charles in his office.
"Mr. Charles, a pleasure to see you again, sir," Laurence greeted politely.
"Laurence, it is indeed a pleasure," Wesley greeted back with a smile. "And who is this dear?" He eyed Echo, a Cheshire grin almost seeming to play across his lips as his eyes lit up with interest.
"This is Henrietta, my assistant," Laurence introduced her, not showing an ounce of nervousness he was feeling.
"Hello, my dear Henrietta. I'm Wesley Charles, but you can call me Wesley," Wesley took her hand and kissed it.
She blushed heavily and Laurence refrained from scowling.
After setting Echo off to do random errands for him, he turned to face Wesley and was surprised to see the man looking at him very seriously, face slowly showing awareness and reluctant epiphany.
"Laurence, do you have any idea who you just brought into my House?" Wesley cringed.
Confused, the Head of Security for the LA Dollhouse shook his head and started to file through his head on what the man could be talking about.
"Henrietta? Henrietta? You brought the Harry here?" Wesley scowled and tiredly plopped himself down onto a chair. "What in blazes was Adelle thinking? You don't know, do you?"
Laurence asked quietly, "I don't understand. I don't know what?"
"Who Henrietta really is? I can't believe Adelle had the audacity to make the Girl Who Lived a Doll," the other man cradled his head in his hands, looking like he had a terrible headache or one was coming on.
"Mr. Charles, I'm at a bit of a lost," the blond man uncomfortably admitted.
Wesley sighed, "Since she didn't, I will. I'm going to have to up your clearance. You have to know just exactly what kind of precious cargo you're traveling with, Laurence. Just keep an open mind and I'll even demonstrate for you."
Laurence listened. And he listened. And he listened. By the end of Wesley's insane lecture, he had slowly sat down to compose himself and try to assimilate all the information that had been given to him. He didn't know how to take it, out of this world the information had seemed, but Wesley was a superior and had no reason to compose such a colorful tale. He didn't want to even account the utter solemnity the man had spoken to him with, looking completely serious and grim. And then the man had to do more.
He started to perform a bit of magic in front of Laurence right then, glad that all technology there was not only magically compatible but also some were run by magic.
"Okay," he croaked out. "I get it. I believe. Just…So Echo is some sort of –"
"The savior of a hidden world that had most assuredly been ready to betray her had she not disappeared some years ago. I assume somewhere along the way in her attempt to drop off the face of the world, she had been drafted somehow into the Dollhouse."
Laurence stayed quiet.
"The world…the Wizarding World had been ready to throw her off the pedestal they had hailed her on," Wesley continued in a quiet voice. "After everything she'd done for us, the fact that lingered most in our minds was the pure power that resided in that girl and had terrified us until the very end with her disappearance. Even now, the ghost of her terrifies the weaker minded majority of the Wizarding World, and mostly many of the guilty. She's a powerful sorceress, Laurence. As far as many were concerned, she was the next coming of Morgan le Fay."
Laurence opened his mouth to respond tiredly, when there was a knock on the door and Echo bounced in, smiling brightly.
"I'm all done, sir!"
Wesley suddenly got a calculated gleam in his eyes and he watched her observantly.
"Henrietta dear, would you like to try something?"
Laurence stiffened up, staring at the man in anxiety.
"Oh, of course! What would you like me to do?" Echo came closer.
"Mimic me," Wesley murmured.
And then he'd used his wand to lift the sofa up and waited for her to respond in kind. She looked questioningly at him, astonished at what he'd done, but also waiting for him to instruct her on what to do next.
"Use your hands," Wesley gestured to the sofa.
Laurence watched in morbid fascination and the slightest bit of fear.
Echo shrugged and then waved her hand in the same way Wesley had waved his wand. The entire furniture set, with Laurence and Wesley still on it, and even Wesley's desk started floating in the air. Laurence scrambled in a panic on his seat to get a good grip and glanced around him furtively, while Wesley leaned back quickly and clutched at the arm rests, eyes wide.
Even without her memories, Henrietta Potter was still lingering somewhere in there.
One thing was for sure –she was still as powerful as ever, memories or no memories.
"Okay, so Laurence…Ms. Charleston, the woman you'll have to travel to LA with, isn't here yet. And probably won't be until probably tonight. So I suggest you two look around London together for a bit, while you wait," Wesley uneasily suggested, glancing at the Doll with guarded eyes. "Henrietta, if something happens and the two of you need to escape, look for a clear area before grabbing onto Laurence and wishing you were back here."
She nodded understandingly, still grinning widely.
Laurence just put it off as one of…those magic things.
"Alright, off with you two!" Wesley put false cheer into his voice.
Surreally, Laurence left with Echo to wander around London.
He kept a firm grip on her arm, which was kept easier with her continuing to wrap her arms around his. Walking along, he was brought to confusion when he noticed Echo slowing down and her face look solemn as she gazed at a particular spot. He followed her gaze and saw nothing but an empty space between an old record store and an electronics store.
"Henri –um, Harry. What are you looking at?" he murmured into her ear, sure he wasn't seeing anything unusual.
But he wasn't the one with magic…powers. And he was just recently introduced to this whole thing. So he might be missing something…
"You don't see it, Laurence?" Echo murmured back. "The pub right there. The…Leaky Cauldron."
He raised an eyebrow at the name, but didn't question it.
"Harry, why don't you take me to it? Show me the place," he gently ordered. This was either going to be incredibly stupid on his part, or incredibly moronic. Either way, it just seemed like a lose-lose problem that he was setting up, but there was nothing like the present to get acquainted with the enemy. This wasn't ideal, but Echo was the only one who could help him get to know and familiarize himself with the enemy, never mind as a way to actually get to the enemy in the first place.
And he was curious. Damnably idiot curious or even (hopefully for him) fulfilling knowledgeable curious. But it was curiosity nonetheless, and ominously the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' floated through his mind.
But it was too late and Echo was already leading him forward, until suddenly he found himself in front of a pub door that appeared out of nowhere. Then he was pulled inside and he had to keep his mouth shut from yelping at the oddness of the activities going on in the room and all the impossibilities that were defying his usual cool logic.
Echo ignored everything like it was nothing unusual, and took him to a booth in the back, sitting down and waiting for him to do the same. Laurence quickly did so, so he wouldn't draw attention to himself, but his eyes were already darting around the pub. He looked at viable threats, where the exits were, and who was and wasn't paying attention to them.
He noted the bartender heading towards them and prepared himself for a conversation and a convincing act, when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Echo had hunched over and was rubbing the temples of her head in pain.
"E –Harry?" he corrected himself.
She blinked at him, eyes dazed. But before she could answer him, the bartender had already reached their side and was smiling a gap-toothed smile at them.
"'Ello there! I'm Tom. You new around here?"
Laurence plastered a smile onto his face.
"Americans. Just visiting."
"Merlin, that's a long way! How're you findin' London?"
Laurence was about to speak when Echo neatly cut him off, a bright smile on her face.
"Brilliant," Echo's voice took on a really strong British accent. "Do you mind spotting us both with a pair of butterbeer and treacle tart for dessert? I think I fancy taking a trip through Diagon Alley later as well, if you could manage to show us how to get in."
"Not a problem," but Tom had faltered. "You…you remind me of a nice girl that used to come often around here," he smiled sadly at her before he turned to leave.
"Harry? What was that about?" Laurence hissed, glaring at her.
Echo blinked at him, before shrugging. "You're hungry, aren't you? Let's eat and then check out what else is around."
"Never mind how you know about the food and all this other stuff, but how are we going to pay?"
She waved it off, dismissing his concerns. Just in time for Tom to return back with their snack and drinks.
"That's 25 sickles and 4 knuts," Tom said cheerfully.
Echo's smile didn't drop, "Mind if you put it on my tab? I'm a visitin' American, but I've lived here before so I'm pretty sure I got one."
"Sure! Just place your hand on this and it'll recognize your signature," Tom handed over a small orb-like miniature.
She put her hand on it and it glowed briefly white. Tom's eyebrows furrowed and he looked confused, but he just shook it off and smiled again.
"Alright, just tell me when you'd like to go into Diagon Alley and I'll show you in! In the meantime, enjoy your refreshments."
Then they were left alone to themselves. Laurence reluctantly took one of the treacle tarts and munched on it, eyes blinking in surprise.
"S'good," he muttered.
Echo grinned widely.
They finished quickly, and then Tom led them out, Laurence hiding his surprise when the man tapped a couple of bricks in a pattern and the brick wall began parting in an amazing sight. But the sight on the other side was even more amazing, and this time he couldn't hide his jaw dropping.
Echo said goodbye to the barkeep and hooked her arms around Laurence's once more, cheerfully leading her dumbstruck partner. Laurence quickly pulled himself together, straightening up and securing his hold on Echo by putting his other arm and placing it onto the ones holding onto his.
They traveled to store to store, dazedly looking around at each merchandise and gazing in wonder at the displays. They went inside one store that even sold brooms that raced!
"Laurence," Echo murmured into his ear. "Everyone uses wands. I don't…I don't see anyone who doesn't need it."
'Like me' went unsaid.
The blond man shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Harry."
"Harry?" a woman's voice gasped in surprise and disbelief, and the both of them whirled around in the direction of where the voice came from.
A brunette lady stared wide-eyed at them, a tall red-haired man looking even more incredulous than she (though Laurence was sure he spotted a sort of longing in the man's eyes –nothing he could understand why or what for), and two kids hovering near both adult's legs, shyly staring in their direction as well.
Thankfully, no one else's attention seemed to have directed their way, so it was only their small group that seemed to be in this bubble of shock and confusion.
"How'd you know my name?" Echo scooted closed to Laurence, her grip tightening.
The woman sighed sadly.
"Harry, I'm Hermione Weasley. And I am…was your best friend."
Started 8/29/09 –Completed 6/28/10
A/n: Long time no see! I'm so sorry I get late on so many updates. But I try! Anyways, after this update (since I've closed the poll), I'll only start to update the other one until it's finished, and then start to work more on this. Lightly edited since my eyesight is horrible (and become worse!) and it's 12:39 am here so who knows what errors I missed, eh?
