Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter sequel. Those were all J.K Rowlings' Ideas, so don't sue me! This story is purely fan made and the quotations of the real Harry Potter (those are the parts presented in bold throughout the page) are present just to give sequence and logic to the story! The only thing mine is Amy, my invented character. Hope you all like it.
Converse of Wisdom
The day seemed as if it never saw the end. How long had she been on the sidewalk? 30 min? An hour? The sun hadn't been there before had it? She looked unwillingly to her wrist, although she knew she had no watch. Her shirt was no longer recognisable, and she didn't want to think of the state her face was in. Her stomach wasn't having its nice day in paradise as well. It insisted on playing the same symphony even though she mentally told it, more than a hundred times, to wait and shut up.
She had thought over the details of what happened to her. The more she thought about it, the more un-rational it seemed. It sounded more like a fine horror story than her life. She thought about what she would say and the more she thought about it, the more she was glad she would be explaining it to Dumbledore. He had the wisdom to no longer separate reality from the truth and that would surely help. She also thought about Harry. She felt bad leaving him crashed on the alley floor looking oddly at her as she ran out of there, using her remaining energy as turbo. What was he thinking right now? What description had he branded her with? She suddenly felt so stupid. And poor Mrs. Figg, she probably scared the old woman to the bone. Had she actually managed to call Dumbledore in the state she was in? Most likely to have collapsed by the door.
Perhaps Amy was losing her jar of marbles after all.
Amy pinched a little stone near her from the ground and rolled it between her fingers. "Why is it taking this long? For a powerful wizard he sure is pretty slow." She mumbled, throwing the rock out onto the road.
"Unfortunately old age brings many disadvantages, even to the strongest." Said a soft voice behind her.
Her eyes widened as she instinctively turned around. She was facing a rather old man who, too, was gazing at her with intent blue eyes. The words sprang to her mind again, so familiar, so unique. It was like seeing the reflection of once a very real memory.
A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.
He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.
Her eyes shifted to his hair, following the gleaming silver strands that fell down his back and then continued along his cotton-like beard and onto his garment.
He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.
Her eyes shot back to his face. It couldn't be more precise. His eyes seemed like two bright gems glaring at her curiously.
"I came as fast as I could. To my defence, I pray these bones are a little too old to travel by Floo Powder."
"Dumbledore" Amy whispered. She realised she had been holding her breath. She hurried to mask her embarrassment "I-I didn't...I didn't mean it...like that... sir!"
Dumbledore chuckled softly and looked over his shoulder towards Mrs. Figgs' front window. She rapidly withdrew from peeking through the curtains, pretending as if she was never there.
"You must be the strange lunatic girl that has scared my good friend silly?"
"Yes... No! I mean no!...I'm not a lunatic...It wasn't my intention to scare her, honest...How stupid! My- My name's Amy Barnlow." Amy raised her hand in a pathetic attempt of a respectful greeting. Dumbledore shook it gently.
"Greetings Amy. I'm Albus Dumbledore, although you seem to know that already."
She grinned hoarsely. Dumbledores' intent stare upon her seemed to relaxed a little even though his voice continued to flow as smoothly as it had in the beginning.
"You look like you are hanging upon your last spark young one. Your message must be of great importance. No more delays. Come inside, we'll be more comfortable."
"In there?" Amy pointed at Mrs Figgs' house. The old woman had sneaked her head back under the curtains and was studying them again. Amy shook her head. "I don't think Mrs. Figg wants to see me any closer than this."
Dumbledore dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Probably." Turning towards the door, he stretched his elbow to her, crooning his head to the side and inviting her to take it through the top of his glasses. She hesitantly circled her hand over his arm and followed him towards the door. Mrs. Figg opened it before Dumbledore lifted his hand to knock.
"If it wouldn't be much of an inconvenience Abagail, we would like to intrude upon your hospitality for a few minutes. I don't want the poor girl fainting before she could tell me what all this is about."
Amy felt her face glowing every shade of red. She lowered her head, hoping that Mrs. Figg would actually give more notice to her hair.
"I'm fine really, I just -" She tried to mumble
"Of course not Albus." The old woman said stepping aside. "So she's..." she managed to whisper as Dumbledore passed by her. Amy heard it anyways.
"On a very important mission it seems. There is no danger..." he looked at Amy through the corner of his eye. Mrs. Figg turned from shutting the door to face them again. "...just yet. If it makes you feel safer my friend, I'll enforce the barrier around this house. But there is no need. You are safe. The girl means no harm."
"That's what I said. But I understand. I wouldn't trust me too." Mrs. Figgs' face contorted with caution. Amy bit her lip.
'That probably wasn't the right thing to say.'
"It's just I've wasted so much time-"
"And time is of the essence, yes." Dumbledore interrupted in his humming voice
"Please, make yourselves at home" Mrs. Figg lead them to the living room were three cats rested on the sofa. She shooed them away to make room for her guests. Amy sat herself on the couch in front of Dumbledore. He continued to study her through the shades of his glasses as Mrs. Figg took a seat next to him. She seemed to be leaning the nearest to him as possible.
'Do I really look that dangerous?'
Her stomach ached again as if threatening that she would look more dangerous if it continued to lack of food. If Amy felt every shade of red before, now she discovered a whole new collection of tones.
"Goodness child!" exclaimed Mrs. Figg "How long have you been without eating?!"
"Since yesterday, I think... I'm not sure exactly."
"I'll go get some crakers-"
"There's no need." Dumbledore took out his wand from within the folding of his robe. With a flicker of the tip, a tea pot and three cups appeared out of thin air. A white porcelain tea collection engraved with golden drawings around the rims. A jar of milk and a basin full of sugar appeared with another glide of the wizards' rod. A few more motions and a plate full of delights began to rain upon a forming green cloth the hovered over Mrs Figgs' decorated tea table. Even after everything had settled on the floating slab, Amy still looked at the new objects with her jaw hanging open a mile wide.
"Help yourself." said Dumbledore as he poured a cup of tea for Mrs. Figg, then for her and himself. Amy grabbed a strawberry covered cookie and twisted it in every angle giving it a silent discreet sniff. Dumbledore smiled "I can assure you that it's real. And pretty good so I heard."
'That was so .......AWSOME!!!!!!' Her thoughts were screaming at her. She never, in all the time she'd been inside the book, actually thought of seeing real magic preformed, but to see it and by none other than Albus Dumbledore and with none other than one of the Deathly Hollows. She jammed the cookie in her mouth before she started screaming in hysterics. And it was, in fact, delicious.
"It's wonderful." She replied.
Dumbledore leaned back on the couch as he sipped his tea. His eyes still shone brightly on Amy. "Now that we are comfy, there was something you wanted to say Amy."
"Yes, sir. It's...It's about Harry, Harry Potter." She looked at Mrs Figg. The old woman was stroking her cat. She still looked uncomfortable with the girls' presence.
'Would it be safe to say it in front of her?' Amy wondered. 'If things are suppose to follow as it says in the book, Mrs. Figg is supposed to be caught by surprise when the two Dementors show up. If I tell her, would it change things? But I have to make her go shopping, or she won't find and never see the Dementors, period. I have to explain right?'
As if Dumbledore read her thoughts, he posed his tea cup. "Abagail, would you mind giving us a minute alone."
She had been caught off-guard. "Um....Yes, I guess. I'll go upstairs. If you need anything..."
As she left, Amy felt a strange ambience flow through the room. Dumbledores' presence was immense. A knot started to form in her throat.
'Of all retched times!'
She tried to sip a bit of tea. Dumbledore broke the silence for her.
"You don't need to be nervous Amy. I believe something strange is going on here that I can't quite put my finger on. You seem to be battling against something you can't quite put your finger on as well. Let's be open shall we." He leaned once again against the sofa, hands crossed over his lap.
Amy took a deep breath.
"Well sir. Believe it or not, I had an explanation ready, but know it just seems silly."
"A young muggle who knows a lot about the wizardry world seems like something hard to explain."
"That isn't important right now sir. Harry's in danger and only Mrs Figg can help him. But as you see, she thinks I'm nuts. She'll never listen to me."
"In danger? What do you mean?" he said suddenly serious.
"He's going to be attacked sir. By a couple of Dementors."
He eyed her intently. His light blue eyes burned deep in her consciousness as he tried to study her. "How do you know this?"
"I don't know if it's worth explaining right now. The thing is, Harry's going to be attacked and Mrs. Figg has to go shopping before 7pm or everything is ruined."
"Shopping?" Dumbledore asked her. She saw she lost him on that word.
"From the beginning Dumbledore sir? Well, Mundungus has been disappearing from his watch. Mrs. Figg can prove this. She put out watch, to warn her if Mundungus did it again. The thing is, she's suppose to go out shopping and find Mr. Tibbles on the way, who tells her Mundungus has disappeared again. She's suppose to run back to private drive to guard Harry, but finds that he's not there. When she does find him, she'll witness Harry's attack, and that's going to be very crucial in the future." She took a breath "That's going to help."
Dumbledores' expression had gone blank as he heard her tale. "This is very accurate." He managed to say after a minute of silence.
"Yeah. And it's true." Amy continued. She feared she freaked him out. If he didn't believe her, than she was lost, she didn't know what else to do.
"I believe you speak the truth. Now either you are, and forgive me for saying this, a lunatic and believe with every fibre of your being that what you are saying is real, or it is in fact real. I can't precisely understand which one it is at the moment. The simple fact of knowing this before hand is strange, no doubt about it. And being a muggle yourself, who supposedly isn't to know of the existence of the magical universe knows something like this, you can see how many possibilities have been ruled out of any argument I'm trying to arrange to decide which truth I should believe."
"I understand sir. But there is a way to prove that I'm speaking the real truth. Send Mrs. Figg out shopping. What time is it?"
"It seems like 30 minutes to 7pm." He said softly, looking out the window.
"Ok. Just ask Mrs. Figg if she could go shopping, and we'll wait till she returns. If she relays the same thing I just did, then you know that I'm telling the truth. If not, than you can just chuck me into the nearest lunnyville, I feel like I'm almost there anyway."
Dumbledore remained silent for some time, emerged in his own thoughts. Amy awaited impatiently. He finally said "Yes, 'tis a way." He chuckled "We'll chuck us both." She giggled.
"I could also interfere."
"What?" asked Amy startled.
"If what you say is true, I can go see to Mundungus myself, see that he does not leave his post tonight. That way, Harry won't be unguarded during the attack. Or I could simply go there myself, and rid the Dementors before he even sees them."
"No. It can't go that way. That would change everything. I'm not here to change anything, just to put things on track."
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"It's starting to get late sir. Mrs. Figg needs to go. Please! Trust me."
He looked absently at her, deciding what to do.
'Please! Please!' she prayed squeezing her hands tightly in her lap.
Dumbledore focused back on her. He slowly got up and walked towards the door. Amy got up as well, ready to do anything to stop him from leaving. Just as she was about to plead, Dumbledore called for Mrs. Figg. In a flash, the woman was in the doorway.
"Yes Albus."
"I'm terribly sorry Abagail. I'm abusing your hospitality and I hate doing that –"
"Not at all Albus –"
"- But I need to be alone with Amy for some time. Was it alright with you if we stayed here in your lovely home? You probably had other plans before we intruded upon your afternoon."
"It was nothing important. I just had a few things to buy, but I was actually thinking of delaying it anyway."
"No, please, by all means. Take some fresh air. That way I would also have a moment with Amy."
"Are you sure you want to be alone Albus? I don't think that's such a good idea –"
"Don't worry Abagail. Everything will be just as you left it."
She looked suspiciously at Amy, who sunk back on the sofa. The old bat was starting to get really annoying with those evil persistent eyes. It's not like she was criminal or anything. She real had scared the old lady bad, huh?
"Will you grant me this favour?" insisted Dumbledore
"Alright. I'll go get my coat" she said finally. As she opened the door, she patted Dumbledore lightly on the shoulder and whispered harshly. "You keep an eye on her. I don't trust her Albus. She's very strange, that girl."
"Indeed" replied Dumbledore lightly. He smiled a goodbye as Mrs. Figg set out down the road. He closed the door and went back inside.
Amy relaxed as she heard the door close. She shut her eyes. It was done, things would go right now. She felt light as an enormous weight lifted from her shoulders. Bottled-up sleepiness started to drip down her eyelids. Dumbledore came back into the room. She looked at him and smiled.
"Thank you. Everything is going to be ok now."
He looked at her for a moment in speculation. Amy rested her head on the couches back and took a deep breath.
"From what you told me, Mrs. Figg won't be back for a couple of hours am I correct?"
"Yes. She'll be back quite late."
"Then that gives you plenty of time to explain how it is you know all this. I want to know, even if you do end up in the lunnyville."
Amys' opened her eyes slowly and looked at the great wizard. His eyes were brighter than usual as he awaited for her to speak. She swallowed dryly.
***
"Vernon, shh!" said Aunt Petunia. "The window's open!"
"Oh – yes – sorry, dear..."
The Dursleys fell silent. Harry listened to a jingle about Fruit 'N Bran breakfast cereal while he watched Mrs. Figg, a batty, cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, amble slowly past. She was frowning and muttering to herself. Harry was very pleased that he was concealed behind the bush; Mrs. Figg had recently taken to asking him around for tea whenever she met him on the street. She had rounded the corner and vanished from view before Uncle Vernon's voice floated out of the window again.
"Dudders out for tea?"
***
"So you don't know? You didn't bring me here?"
"If I recall, it was you who called for me Amy."
"It wasn't you who brought me into the book? The visions?"
Dumbledore looked at her gently, but said nothing.
'He doesn't understand anything I'm saying. He didn't do this. I was so certain!...Who else was powerful enough to call me and ask to set things right?'
Amy lowered her head.
"I thought you would be the one giving me answers sir. The fact is, I don't know what the hell is going on. I'm still here which means, something is still wrong. I thought I'd disappear when Mrs. Figg stepped out the door. Maybe I have to be there?"
"We still have time. Tell me everything and perhaps then you'll understand if you have to find Mrs. Figg or not. I'll personally take you to her if that's the case. So let's hear it from the beginning shall we? You had a vision?"
"A vision? I'm having so many visions, so many illusions! You can't be real! All this can't be real sir! I don't know if this is a dream or madness! It's the only logical explanation than...that I'm going mad!"
"You seem confused -" started Dumbledore as he saw the girl beginning to lose all sense of control. Her head snapped up to look directly at him. Amy felt her heart start to override.
"Understatement!!" she snapped
Dumbledore was starting to become concerned. He gave her another cup of tea to make her calm down. She took it greedily.
"Then lets' start with the things you know, the ones you are certain of."
Amy sipped her tea and began to receipt what she was sure was real. She mumbled it lowly to herself but loud enough for Dumbledore to hear.
"My name is Amy Marie Perlson Barnlow. Daughter of Jasmin Lyssa Hollen Perlson Barnlow and Christian Anthony Feral Barnlow. I live with them and my brother Dean Aaron Perlson Barnlow in Carson City, Nevada, USA. I'm fifteen, a highschool junior. I love reading and listening to music..." she felt better saying this. It made her feel less a freak. At least something still made sense.
"United States of America. It's a long way to travel."
"No it wasn't. That's the thing. I didn't come from this United States of America...at least I don't think so."
"You are from a different America?" asked Dumbledore confused
"Yes...the real America!" she exclaimed. Dumbledore was silent, waiting for here to explain further.
"I'm not from this world sir, because this world can't exist. This world you know sir, is part of a story in my world, the world of Wizardry, Harry Potters' world sir! It's fantasy, part of someones' imagination. I can't possibly be here. This isn't real!"
"I can assure you I'm very real." He said lightly
"That's what's freaking me out!" she blurted.
"So, if I understand correctly, you are telling me that you have been brought into a book."
Amy looked at him in defeat. "Yeah."
Dumbledore was silent for a time and Amy hastily sipped her tea, looking down at the floor. His voice sounded again, soft and gentle as ever.
"And this story...it's about Harry?"
"Yes." she responded with a sigh. "It's actually pretty well known his story. I know everything about him. Everything that's happened to him: the sorcerer's stone in his first year, Tom Riddle in his second. I know about Sirius and Buckbeak. I know a lot of other things too, things about him, and Sirius and you sir." She paused to see his reaction. Dumbledores' eyes were directed to the window as he listened. "I know what's really happening at the moment...you know..of Voldemorts' return."
His expression was blank as he looked back at her. "And you have visions of things going wrong. Diverting from the story you know. That is why you came?"
"You make it sound like I'm an ET. I didn't come sir...so per say. I was brought here. I thought it was you who magiced me here. I thought you had the answers." Dumbledore massaged his temple lightly in silence. He reached for his tea cup. "You think I'm mad too." Amy concluded.
He locked his full mysterious blue stare on her. "I...I'm afraid I don't know. It is a strange tale. I can understand why you seem so lost." She gave a weak smile. "It does explain many things."
"How did it happen? How did you come here?"
Amy slowly related everything from that night. The owl, the flicker of lights, the flaming letters, the white light...
"I've never heard of this type of magic before..." he stroked his beard in thought "It is very strange...And you know everything that is going to happen?"
"I know everything that is supposed to happen. Like I said, since I'm still here, something must still be wrong."
"But you do in fact know everything that is going on –"
"You mean if I know what Voldemorts' up too." A sparkle seemed to burn in the depths of Dumbledores' tired eyes. "The future is something that, for the best, should remain hidden. I'm sorry Dumbledore sir, but I can't say anything. That would-"
"Change." He interrupted and nodded. "Of course."
At that moment, the door flew open and Mrs Figg came charging through the room. Both Amy and Dumbledore stood up at the sudden explosion of sound. Mrs. Figg was shaking with rage. Her breath was practically heaving from her chest and her hair was falling out of her hairnet.
"Albus, you wouldn't believe it! Harry –"
"Was attacked" he said calmly looking at Amy. She maintained her own when their eyes met.
Mrs. Figg was astonished at first, but must have ignored the fact since she was after all talking to Dumbledore. "Yes! Two Dementors, in Little Whinging! They appeared out of nowhere. When Mr. Tibbles told me....and then I realised Harry wasn't home...Oh, what a problem! I'm just a squib, I couldn't do anything. The poor boy had to protect himself and that idiot cousin of his by himself. He used the Patronum charm Albus."
"It's alright Abagail, your presence there was extremely crucial. Where is he now?"
"I helped him home. What else could I have done?"
"I have to go sort out this mess before it spirals out of control. The ministry must be celebrating already." He mumbled
"By the ghosts, who would do this? In a town of muggles..." Mrs. Figg sat down on her couch exhausted. Dumbledore turned to Amy who in response just said "Hurry"
"Abagail, would you mind-"
"I'll keep an eye on her Dumbledore, just go, go! Oh the poor lad."
Dumbledore ducked inside the fireplace and, taking a pouch from within his robes he poured into his palm an ashy powder.
"We'll be talking again." He said to Amy who was taking in the whole scenario with sudden childish anticipation. He smiled, and with a firm voice said "Ministry of Magic" and released the powder at his feet. Soon the tall figure was engulfed in green flames. Amy held her breath and resisted the impulse to reach out and remove the wizard from the scorching emerald fire. Then just as soon as the fire appeared it faded away, and so did Dumbledore. Amy sat back on the sofa, beat, and found Mrs. Figg staring at her with accusing eyes. She took in a deep breath.
*FallenWolf*