"Everyone, I would like you to meet Jonathan Potter, otherwise known as Jessie – our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore proclaimed from his golden, throne-like chair. The teachers were all gathered, Jessie standing just off to the side, hands behind his back as he stood in the general at ease position.

McGonagall, who had been eyeing him, now narrowed her eyes, "Potter? How old are you?"

"Twenty in December, Professor," he answered plainly, knowing she was trying to figure out his family tree. She was a much closer ally to House Potter than he'd previously known before defeating Voldemort. "But the Headmaster assures me that my experience makes up for my age."

"Your NEWT's?" Professor Sprout questioned. Jessie tipped his head.

"The Auror Academy did not require them."

"Why are you here if you're in the Academy?" Flitwick questioned. Jessie went to answer when Trelawney suddenly spoke up.

"He has come from a place past the fabric of reality!" Her wide eyes were only made bigger by her huge round glasses, Jessie freezing as she spoke, not noticing Snape suddenly looking at her with more than just attention. "You came by no mere accident, Mr Potter," she pointed at him, "the moon knows all as she looks up at you from her pedestal!"

Inside, Jessie's mind was awhir, fingers tucking underneath his sleeve for his bracelet. "Luna," he whispered under his breath, unable to be heard by the surrounding people. But appearances had to be maintained. Coughing, he spoke up. "Professor Trelawney, I assume? I've heard some…interesting stories, from colleagues."

"Yes, this is Sybil Trelawney," Dumbledore stepped in, looking polite as he took charge of the conversation. "She is our resident Divination professor." He motioned to another set of women – those Jessie never really could identify, due to not taking their classes. "There is also Professor Babbling, of Ancient Runes, Professor Vector, of Arithmancy and Professor Kettleburn, of Care of Magical Creatures. Our flying instructor and school matron are not here as of this moment, but I'm sure you'll meet Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey at some point."

Jessie nodded, mouth pressed in a thin line as he looked at his bracelet, which shimmered in the light.


Rhys was bored. Oh so terribly bored. She'd been sitting with Harry for the past couple of hours, hanging out with him, Ron and Hermione, because she didn't want Dobby doing anything to hurt him. She could still remember the sharp pain of the bludger hitting her arm in the Quidditch match, cracking it, doing something – Madam Pomfrey didn't get to find out or tell her, as Lockhart, the imbecile, had vanished it.

But now, Rhys was anxious to be doing something else – to be talking with people her own age and maturity. Hermione and Ron were so young now, as well, and she was having a hard time addressing them the same way she did Harry – as if they were twelve, or in Hermione's case, nearly thirteen – and really, she wanted to locate Luna, as well as Ginny. Because of how the summer panned out, they didn't know whether Ginny was given the diary or not. If she had, it would be easier to take it off her hands, if it wasn't…well, there were multiple choices to consider. Dobby was coming after Harry, so Lucius had obviously talked, as he did in the last timeline.

Rhys shut her eyes, counting to ten, trying to clear her mind. She'd had moderate success with Snape in lessons in her Universe, dimension, whatever, and they worked to degree – but Voldemort had always been too powerful for her to block out. Trying to clear her mind now was easier, without the pressure of an irate Potions Professor, or insane Dark Lord. Once she cleared her mind, she could feel her shoulders relax. She breathed in and out, opened her eyes.

"Harry, I'm going to go explore," she interrupted his debate with Ron over playing exploding snap or not, standing and flattening the skirt of her dress. "I'll see you later, 'kay?" He nodded, before going back to his conversation as she left the compartment, walking up the halls slowly, looking into each compartment for familiar blonde hair, or at least Weasley red. She'd travelled through the entire carriage before bumping into Percy.

"Oh, sorry," she smiled up at him, biting her lip nervously and stepping back. He flushed upon seeing her, the person behind him peering over his shoulder. Immediately her smile vanished upon seeing Penelope Clearwater, prefect badge for Ravenclaw secure on her lapel. "Hello, to you both. Have you happened to pass a compartment with a blonde first-year in it? Her name's Luna."

Percy swallowed, frowning lightly, "Luna Lovegood? Why would you want to see her?" His eyes narrowed, looking at her suspiciously. Rhys raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, why do you want to know? It's private."

"Luna," he paused, taking a breath before adjusting his position, hands going behind his back. "Luna is a family friend. I've known her since she was a baby. She and her mother came over to our home all the time."

Rhys blinked. I thought she was just friends with Ginny. "Huh. So she's, what? Like a little sister to you?"

"She's Ginny's friend," Percy spoke, not answering the question. "And she's always been a little odd. I just want to make sure she'll be alright."

"Then we both have her interests at heart," Rhys smiled at him genuinely, finding herself liking him even more, seeing as they were both concerned over the little blonde. "I haven't seen her in a while – I'd like to say hello. So have you seen her?"

Percy relaxed, but shook his head. "No, sorry – and we have to get back to work," he motioned to Clearwater. "We're new prefects."

"Cool," she looked over at Penelope, wanting to be civil, "Hey. I'm Rhys."

"Penelope," Clearwater gave a tight smile, "I've never seen you around before. What house are you in?"

Rhys shrugged, "Don't know, haven't been sorted yet. I was home-schooled before this year. I'm hoping for Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw." She looked up at Percy, smirking, "But you have to get back to work, as you said." She leant up, kissing him slowly, the Weasley stock still until she pulled away, when he leant down, trying to keep their lips connected. Behind him, Clearwater looked disappointed, and slightly bitter. Rhys kissed the tip of his freckly nose. "See you later, Percival." Then she slipped passed him – him and Clearwater – wondering if Percy had just missed her. Maybe she was in the bathroom.

"Come on Rhys, she can't be that far away," she muttered to herself, before continuing her search. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, little moon…"


"So is she really your aunt?" Hermione immediately shut her book after Rhys was out of sight. "Because I looked at your family tree in a book after Ron sent me a letter about it. Your father was an only child, Harry." She said seriously, looking solemn.

Harry bit his lip at her words, "It's more complicated than you think, Hermione."

"So she's not your aunt?" Ron wrinkled his nose.

Harry looked between his two best friends, before glancing through the windows of the compartment door. Breathing steadily, he looked back at them.

"You've got to swear you won't tell anyone – anyone at all. I need you to give a magical oath."

Ron seemed to understand what he was asking by that, but Hermione obviously didn't as she recoiled.

"A magical oath? Harry, I've read about those – if we broke them, we could lose our magic. Why would you even ask that?" Harry immediately became irate, fists clenching.

"Because it's important. I'm sorry Hermione, but unless you swear, I can't tell you. And it's not, you could lose your magic, you would. The only reason I'm not asking you for an unbreakable vow is because I don't know how to do that, and for all I know, Jessie would give me permission to anyway."

"Jessie – that's your uncle that shot that mini cannon thing in the Leaky Cauldron," Ron interjected. Hermione further became flustered.

"It's called a gun and they are illegal in the UK. I can't believe you would socialise with this man, Harry, let alone let him be your guardian."

Harry's anger immediately flared. He stood, glaring at her with his fists tightening, nails digging crescents into his palms. "Uncle Jessie is a good man – he didn't hurt anyone! He was showing Malfoy how stupid he was being by publically shaming muggles. He's going to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year, and you haven't even met him, spoken to him – you don't get to judge the person who took me away from the-" he stopped himself, stopped himself before he could say 'Dursley'. He breathed in and out, swallowing before looking to Ron. "Will you take the oath, Ron?"

Ron nodded, for once unconfused and serious as he spoke, "Yeah. Yeah, I will. If it's that important."

"It is," Harry nodded back, prompting Ron to look to Hermione, who seemed appalled.

"Mione, if Harry doesn't trust us enough to tell us this without getting a magical oath, it's important. Really important. You heard what he said – this Jessie's a good bloke, and Rhys is amazing."

"You only think that because she's pretty," Hermione interrupted. Ron scowled.

"What is she is? She kissed Percy, first time he met her. Mum called her a scarlet girl, until Harry defended her in the Leaky – remember mate?" He looked to Harry, "You were so angry at her." He looked back to Hermione. "I don't know if we can trust either of them, not yet, but Harry's our friend. If he says we can trust them, we can – and if we need to swear oaths to learn why, then we should. It's how things are done."

But Hermione still seemed defensive, and Harry knew that it wasn't going to work. He sat down, looking at her.

"If you want to go, go." He didn't let any emotion into his voice as he looked at her through his glasses. Hermione seemed hurt by his words.

"Harry, can't you just tell us? Without oaths."

"No," he immediately answered, remembering Rhys' story about how his Hermione had gone to Professor McGonagall instead of him, thinking a perfectly safe broom was jinxed, or cursed. Hermione would probably go straight to a teacher as soon as they got to Hogwarts. It made his chest hurt at the thought, but Harry knew that this was the only way. "Hermione, you're my friend, but if you can't trust me, then you need to go – and if you try to eavesdrop, it won't work. Rhys and Jessie taught me some tricks over the summer."

Hermione's eyes became slightly glassy, but she stood, holding her book tight to her chest, leaving the compartment, slamming the door behind her. Harry immediately went to it, locking it before taking out his wand, drawing an upside-down arrow with his wand on the glass, thinking exactly 'difficulties in communication', towards where he was facing, as Rhys had taught him. Runes were about intent – Tiwaz meant a lot of things, but reversed, it could mean difficulties in communication, mental paralysis and more that he couldn't remember. Rhys said if he could learn little things now, it would help him next year if he took Ancient Runes. To be honest, he was thinking about it.

On the compartment glass, the rune glowed, before the glow faded and it disappeared nearly completely, leaving only a slight shimmer. Harry drew the blinds, raising his wand and casting the Muffliato spell Jessie had taught him, before going back to his seat. Ron was waiting with his wand out. Harry swallowed.

"Swear on your magic that you won't reveal on purpose in any way what I tell you in this compartment today about the people that you, right now, know as Rhys and Jessie Potter, to anyone other than me, Jessie, Rhys, and whatever you learn about them in the future that's about the same subject, unless I give you permission."

Ron nodded nervously, raising his wand. "I, Ronald Billius Weasley, do swear on my magic not to reveal on purpose, in any way, what you tell me in this compartment about the people that I know, right now, as Rhys and Jessie Potter, to anyone other than you, Rhys or Jessie, and whatever I learn about them in the future that's about the same kind of thing unless you give me permission. So I swear, so mote it be." His wand flashed, before he sagged, looking uncomfortable, hand going to scratch at his chest. "Ugh, that's nasty, like one of mum's jumpers got shrunk while I was still wearing it."

Harry put his wand away. "Sorry. I should probably tell you now."

"Well, yeah, or there wasn't much point to making an oath, was there?" He gave a tense smile before sitting back. "So, what we talking about then, mate?"

Harry decided to get it over quickly. "Jessie and Rhys are me, from different universes. I gave Jessie his name – he used to be Harry as well, but that was going to get confusing, so…and Rhys is the girl version of me. She looks like my mum with my dad's eyes." He winced, looking at Ron, whose eyes had gone wide.

"Really?"

Harry was slightly surprised, "Yeah, they both just appearing out of nowhere – landed right on top of me. Rhys didn't have any clothes on."

Ron's eyes went even wider. "You saw- did you see her…"

Harry flushed, "Yeah. She, uh…she's nice, but it's weird, cause she's, well…me, but a girl."

Ron suddenly made a face, "Yeah, that would be weird. So, do they know how they got here?"

"No, but Rhys went through this veil thing, apparently. I didn't really understand, when they talked about it. Someone else went through it, and she ran after them. Mentioned someone called Remus, saying he didn't hold on or something," Harry shook his head. "And Jessie always plays with his bracelet. They both keep talking about a Luna though, like she would know what's going on."

Ron raised a sceptical eyebrow, "I'd doubt it – Loony's off her head, always talking about these made-up creatures. She used to hang about with me and Ginny, when we were little. She'd be coming to Hogwarts this year."

Harry became uncomfortable, "I'm not sure you should say that in front of them – Rhys is real protective of her. She probably wanted to find her when she left."

Ron shrugged it off, "Her choice. So, anything else I should know?"

Harry grimaced, "I already said they were me – that made things complicated, obviously."

"Obviously," Ron agreed, brow slowly knitting together, "Harry, when you say that they're your aunt and uncle-"

"Yeah, they're sort of illegally in my family tree now," Harry muttered under his breath. Ron sucked in a breath.

"Bloody hell, Harry, if they get caught, they're in Azkaban for life, no matter what you say. You're a minor – for all anyone knows if they find out, they're trying to commit line-theft. They could get the Dementor's Kiss!"

Harry looked at Ron in confusion. "A dementor's what?"