The Ministry of Magic was not as easy to navigate as I'd always imagined. If I hadn't had David Parkinson to escort me, I'd have been lost in minutes. As it was, we navigated through the atrium to the elevators - the one easy part of the trip - and to the second floor after inquiring after Harry Potter. He was working today, so we didn't have to worry about missing him.

"This place is too big," I complained, as a way of venting stress. I was in this fight now, seriously and irrevocably, and the sheer responsibility of it was almost paralyzing. Where to even start with something so vast? Asviloka Grindelwald had a decades-long head start on me, she had her own personal Voldemort while mine was more a phone consultant, and she practically owned one of the biggest countries in the world. And if I could already think of plenty of ways to exploit the land and populace, then she presumably had already thought of and implemented something even better.

By the time we reached Harry's office, I was fidgety enough to be pacing if we weren't already moving. Having someone else in the lead helped, I'm much better off in a secondary leadership position than being at the top, but David Parkinson was only here to help me. He probably wouldn't be much use in the upcoming war.

Me, leading a war? Aaaaaaa...

I didn't pass out that time, but I did collapse against Harry's wall, breathing very unsteadily for a minute as I tried to get my emotions back under control. I have a hard enough time running a kitchen, how am I supposed to run a war?

Maybe I could turn it over to Harry. Be his helper. Yes. That would make things much more bearable, much less overwhelming.

I drew myself up, trying hard to channel my inner I'm-the-boss-here attitude, and knocked firmly on Harry's door.

"You may enter."

I did so.

Harry was smiling. "Raven, what brings you back here? If you need further assistance with placing yourself, you can apply downstairs. You don't need to come to me personally."

"No," I said. "That's not why I'm here. It has come to my attention that there is a Dark Lady planning to conquer the world. I thought you might be willing to help me bring her down."

"There are always people planning to conquer the world," Harry pointed out, "but few who succeed. None, in fact, that I am aware of."

"Because people like you stop them, obviously."

"People like me?" Harry asked. "If you're talking about the Voldemort thing, I was so young I can barely remember the event. I'm not some Dark-Lord slayer, just got lucky as a kid."

"Have you ever been to the hall of prophecy?" I asked.

Harry frowned and shook his head.

"You should check it. In fact, could we go there now?"

"You can't just traipse into the Department of Mysteries," Harry pointed out.

I waved a hand toward the office door. "David's wife works there, he said. We could talk to her."

"We're getting sidetracked," Harry said. "Regardless of who David or his wife are, why are you coming to me? Is it because I was the first person you really spoke to after your 'revival' thing?"

"No, I talked to the shop guy first. But in. . . there was a prophecy about you. About you being the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. And I'm not sure anymore if that was even Voldemort. It might have become Grindelwald, or his wife. Given the temporal shifts she's created with her presence."

At this, Harry sat straighter. "Temporal, you say? The Grindelwalds are time-travelers? You're sure of this?"

"Asviloka is, at least," I said. "I don't know about Gellert. As far as I can tell, he's still the age he ought to be. But she caused a lot of changes by going back far enough to save him."

"And you know this how?"

"From my alternate reality that I was snatched from unsuspectingly."

Harry leaned back. "Yes, that. And how accurate can we assume that information is?"

I pointed to his forehead. "I bet I can predict when your scar will hurt. Whenever Voldemort is particularly emotional. Which isn't often, him being a well-controlled and less maniacal person in this version of events. But. . ."

I pulled out my phone - another burner, which I would switch out soon - and called Voldemort's number.

Part of me flinched at this blatant and dangerous line of action. Putting myself squarely between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort seemed a very very bad place to position myself. But it wasn't my doing in the first place, I'm just trying to survive with what I have to work with.

"Miss Star." He answered after only two rings. "What is so important-"

"I need you to become angry or happy to an extreme level."

Harry frowned at me.

Voldemort laughed at me. "What possible purpose-"

"Harry won't believe that I'm from an alternate past, and that my information about the Grindelwalds is correct, so I'm proving that I know about the fact that he's your horcrux as evidence that our realities align at least in essentials."

Voldomort laughed again, more coldly this time. "Very well, Miss Star. I will become angry. Do you care to designate a target? Or are you volunteering yourself?"

"N-no," I said hastily. "How about Nagini? She seems a safe target for a bit of rage."

"Indeed. The fact that she abandoned me for her own ambitions is perhaps a failing of my own character, but it also means that I put trust in the wrong being."

His voice grew progressively colder and I glanced at Harry to see if there was any reaction.

For a moment he frowned at me, then let out a stifled cry. His hand flew to his forehead seemingly without conscious thought and he went very still.

Voldemort's cold voice continued in my phone, though less clearly as though he'd moved away.

"I am not the sort to forgive such offence, even when committed by a part of myself. If she ever dares cross my path again, I will remind her who is the master."

Voldemort chuckled darkly, then ended the call.

Harry shuddered. "I see," he said, his expression turning grim. "This is unexpected."

"So do you believe I know things?" I asked. I realized then that I probably should have pretended to be a seer - after all, Trelawney knew all kinds of things that took place other times. I should have gone with that. Would it be too late to try now?

I scoffed at myself. It was far too late. I ought to have started at once if I'd wanted to go with such a story. Now, having already revealed a version of the truth, any such attempted deception would be completely transparent.

Harry seemed calmer now. "Very well, Raven. I will request access to the Hall of Prophecy." He stood and looked down at me, very serious. "But only if you come as well."

"Of course," I said, like the utter fool that I am. "I wouldn't miss it."