I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters or storylines.

I do not own anything of the World of Warcraft or related properties owned by Blizzard.

The idea came from a plot bunny posted by Bobmin and Alyx so thank you to them too.

The silver ball made almost no noise as it rolled across the desktop.

Dumbledore caught gently as it fell off his side of the desk.

Raising two long fingers to eye level he summoned his magic and started looking at it with more then mortal eyes.

It definitively WAS portal magic, he could feel the activation spell as well as the power source in the mercury contained it. What was missing was a destination as well as a reintegration spell.

-'What is this Severus?'

-'The weapon used in the train.' The potion professor's voice was tense as he responded.

-'You mean this is what took Mr Potter and his comrades away?'

The raven haired man massaged his temples as he responded.

-'No Headmaster, you have to let go of this foolish hope.' His voice was wary as he continued. 'This is the weapon that KILLED Harry potter, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.'

Putting it down with care the older man tried to use a soothing tone.

-'How can that be Severus, we both know that can't happen."

Snape exploded.

-'You think I want him to be dead?' He stood up abruptly, almost toppling his chair. 'You know why I've been so terrible to him, we both know exactly what is at stake and why I damned myself thus,' He started pacing. 'You better then most understand what will happen now that the one hope for the light is gone, Gods, what I will have to do if I want to survive.'

With a heavy sigh Dumbledore waved his hands.

-'Yes my friend I understand, now sit, let me get you something to calm you down.' As he made to stand Severus waved him down and opened the drinks cabinet.

As he poured two tumblers Albus spoke up.

-'What does it do?'

Not turning around he answered.

-'It turns the target into a form of energy that is easier to transport I gather then a portkey,' He grabbed both glasses and walked back to the chair. 'Theoretically it could be used as a substitute for both floo and portkey with impunity, being both faster and , again in theory, safer then both.'

-'But...?'

-'But they were designed with just that in mind, to make them work as I am sure you guessed you would need a destination, either a spell or targeting, and something to rematerialize on arrival,' He put the drink in front of the headmaster and sipped his. 'Both of which are missing from those little orbs.'

With a renewed twinkle in his eye the headmaster looked at him.

-'But that means that Mr Potter is still there, just in an energy form that can potentially be rematerialized no?'

Pinching the bridge of his nose Severus answered.

-'No Albus, the energy is naturally incoherent, it flies off every which way at what I understand is several feet per seconds, only if you had a working gate at hand would it stay coherent enough for the few seconds needed to rematerialize,' He took another sip from his drink. 'As we speak most of what constituted the only hope for the wizarding world is making it's way towards the distant stars.' He raised his glass to the heavens as if toasting the departed.

Both men looked at each other, leaving the unasked question hanging, what do we do now?