Chapter 21: Everything Changes

I wake in my dorm room in the School of Thought in Torn Elkandu, and smile a little. Time to start a new life, with my friends. I get up and age myself up to twenty or so, and promptly forget to take my clothes off or resize them first. Uncomfortably, I grumble and wave a hand to get rid of my pajamas, pull out my jeans and robe, and resize them before trying to put them on.

I head for the Nexus and focus my thoughts upon Vakkiri, on Sucia Island. I need to go pick up Rispy first, and he would be around nine years old at this time period. At the edge of the village, I run the young servile, as if he'd run out to wait for me.

"Wow," Rispy murmurs. "For a moment there, when I woke up in Vakkiri, I thought that the entire past ten years had been just a dream."

I grin broadly. "Not a dream at all. Come on, take my hand. I will show you Torn Elkandu."

I Recall the two of us back to the Nexus. Rispy's eyes widen as he stares around the place, at the glowing runes, the swirling purple sky. I smirk faintly toward Keolah, who, while she's still supposed to be watching the Nexus, hasn't even noticed us, as usual.

"This place is incredible," Rispy says.

"And we can go anywhere from here," I say. "I need to head to Wizarding Earth to pick up the others. Do you want to go along with me, or look around here a bit while I do that?"

"As fascinating as this place is, I'd rather go with you than wander around here alone," Rispy says, chuckling.

I give a nod, and step into the Nexus again, gesturing to Rispy to join me. I focus upon the thought of Diagon Alley, and activate the Nexus, making sure Rispy is with me. The glowing mists surround us and Torn Elkandu vanishes, and when the mists clear, I'm standing in the public Apparation point in Diagon Alley.

But Rispy is nowhere in sight. I frown and peer about. Maybe he got left behind in Torn Elkandu? I Recall again to see if he's there, but there's no one there but Keolah, still staring off at nothing. I return to Diagon Alley, wondering just what might have happened to him. Maybe he got sent to a different place?

I find Cassie shopping in Diagon Alley, and she tosses me a bag of holding. "Here you go. Already filled up, you're welcome." She grins at me.

I glance inside the bag and see a pile of galleons, sickles, and knuts inside. "Thanks. Cassie, Rispy came with me, but he's not here. I don't know what happened to him."

"That's strange," Cassie says. "Wasn't there another Rispy around already?"

"But it wasn't the same one," I say.

"Are you sure? Can you really be sure?"

I frown deeply. "I have no idea, but either way, the other Rispy deserves to be free, too. Let's go pick up the others, and then pay a visit to the Parkinsons'"

Cassie comes along with me as I visit the Malfoys and get Tom Riddle's diary. I tuck the diary away in my bag for the moment. Then we stop by Nurmengard to liberate Gellert Grindelwald.

Gellert smiles when he sees us. "Lexen. Cassie. I'm a little surprised you actually came and got me again, after what a right arse I was being in our last life."

"Oh, you realize it now?" Cassie says.

"I don't know what the hell I was thinking there at points," Gellert says. "But, thanks for not killing me."

Cassie hugs him. "I'm glad to see you're yourself again. You're enough of an arse without the canisters."

Gellert laughs, and we leave the prison behind. Words cannot express how relieved I am. He'd gone further into the canister madness than I ever did. But perhaps it should not surprise me, seeing as I actually used the Geneforge before and suffered no lingering effects from that, either.

The three of us Apparate to the Parkinsons' doorstep. It's only by the time we arrive there that I realize that I'd forgotten to pick up my wand. Ah, well, I'll get it next. I don't have any dire need for it right now.

We meet with Mr. Parkinson. "Ah, do you need something?" He looks over us critically, as if wondering if he should recognize us.

"We don't have time for beating around the bush," I say. "You have an elf in your care by the name of Rispy. We need to see him immediately."

Parkinson frowns. "Ah, well, yes, I do. He has been behaving strangely today..."

Gellert gives a sage nod, stepping in. "A clear sign that he's infected."

"Infected?" Parkinson says in alarm.

"Yes," Cassie says. "Bring him to us immediately, so that we can stop its spread while we still can. Otherwise, a large number of house-elves may die."

"Die!?" Parksinon says. "Rispy! Come here!"

Rispy the elf appears in the entryway. "What's going on here? Oh, hello! There you are! Why do I have such big ears and such a small nose? Why can I pop around like this? Gah, I'm a house-elf! I remember being a house-elf! No, a free elf! I was a free elf! I'm so confused."

Gellert strokes his chin, which would look more impressive if he had a beard. "He clearly has it. Mr. Parkinson, we need you to transfer ownership of this elf to us immediately. We will dispose of him properly."

"And this is why we do not capture wild elves," I say. "They can introduce horrible magical diseases into the domestic population. Quite unfortunate."

"Am I to be compensated for this?" Parkinson wonders.

Cassie glares at him. "You should be glad that we don't intend to fine you for this. Provided that you comply with procedure posthaste."

"Of course, of course," Parkinson says. "Rispy, these people are to be your new owners." He turns to us. "Now, please, get him out of here! I have to make sure my other elves are alright!"

"I have owners?" Rispy says. "Whoa, weird, that feels funny. My head..."

"Come on, Rispy," I say, grabbing a hold of him and leaving the house.

Once outside, I Recall the four of us back to Torn Elkandu. I pull out Tom Riddle's diary so that he can rematerialize himself. Cassie takes off her hat and hands it to Rispy.

"What's that for?" Rispy wonders, taking it. "Oh... Oh! Clothes! I'm free again! Thank you!" He plops the hat back on her head and bounces around.

Tom finishes reincarnating his physical body and looks oddly at Rispy. "What precisely happened here?"

"When I went through the Nexus to Wizarding Earth with him, he disappeared," I say. "He appears to have... merged with the elvish Rispy who was already there?"

"I have two sets of memories," Rispy says. "It's kind of confusing. But I'm okay. It's not like the two Rispies had radically different personalities or anything. It's just a little disorienting."

"Fascinating," Tom says. "So it appears that if there's another version of you already in existence in a world, they will merge, including memories? I suppose that makes sense, given how your magic works, Lexen. You're constantly merging with your former selves, memories intact, as it is."

"I suppose," I say. "I've never dealt with a situation where the 'me' I was returning to had memories that the 'me' that was returning didn't have..."

Cassie hands Tom and Gellert bags of holding. "I didn't do much shopping yet. If there's any other supplies we want to pick up, we ought to do that."

"Lexen, did you get your wand already?" Gellert says. "I still need to pick up one for myself."

"And collect mine as well," Tom says.

"Right, of course," I say, stepping back into the Nexus. "Can you play the part of a normal house-elf while we're in Diagon Alley, Rispy?"

"Will do," Rispy says, nodding.

The Nexus activates. I didn't do it, so one of them must have decided to do the honors instead. That's alright. I smile a little to myself as the mists surround us again and take us away.

When I arrive, I find myself standing in Diagon Alley with Rispy the elf. The others are nowhere in sight. I frown deeply and look around, and realize immediately that something is very wrong here. This place is still Diagon Alley, but it is not the Diagon Alley that I just left.

"Something wrong, Master Lexen?" Rispy says, looking up at me. "Where they go?"

"I don't know," I say. "Stay close. I mean to find out."

I catch a few stares from people milling about the alley, murmuring, "Oh, how crass to dress like that." "How Muggle." "Must be a Mudblood."

I pass by a newspaper stand selling copies of the Daily Prophet and peer close at the front page. The headline talks about Grindelwald. It's dated July 4th, 1933.

1933? What the fuck?

Same day, different year. Did we somehow go to a different point in time? That should not strike me as so strange, seeing as I am a Time Mage, but it's never happened before. Which one of them activated the Nexus, I wonder, and what did they do to bring us here?

For the moment, however, I step into Ollivander's. I'm going to want my wand before doing anything else, especially if I'm in an unfamiliar time period. A much younger looking Ollivander comes up to greet me.

"Good day to you, sir," Ollivander says. "What do you need? You look a bit old to be going to Hogwarts."

I chuckle softly. "No, nothing like that. I'm a time traveler that inadvertently forgot his wand back in 1991. Do you happen to have a pine wand, thirteen inches, dragon heartstring?"

Ollivander blinks for a moment at me, and then pulls out the wand in question. "Why, yes, I just finished making it."

That's right. Ollivander told me that the wand had been made in 1933... I ask him the price and count out the galleons for him. Wand in hand, I head back out into the open streets.

So, if Rispy merged with himself, even as a servile to an elf, I would imagine that the other three did so as well, merging with their earlier selves. I don't know where I might find them in this time period, so I should probably remain in Diagon Alley so that they will be able to meet up with me at least. I head back over toward the public Apparation point.

After a little while, Tom appears, looking around twenty-five years old and dressed like a poor Muggle. He spots me and approaches, and murmurs, "Muffliato. Good to see you here. What happened? How did we get... now?"

"I don't know," I say. "I wasn't the one who activated the Nexus. Was it you?"

Tom shakes his head. "Although it was pretty clear something was wrong when I woke up in that damned Muggle orphanage."

Cassie appears a moment later and comes up to us. Tom recasts the privacy spell to include her.

"Merlin," Cassie breathes. "I didn't realize that this was even possible."

"Cassie, did you activate the Nexus?" I ask.

Cassie nods. "Yes, it was me."

"What were you thinking of when you did it?" I press.

"Just to come back to this world," Cassie says. "But... I was thinking about my little brother, Marius. And wishing that we could use the knowledge we've learned from Terrestia to save him from a life of being a Squib..."

"So all it took was a wish and a stray thought, and we wound up in another time," Tom says thoughtfully. "This is incredible. This changes everything."

"I... yes," I stammer. "It does. We're going to have to experiment a bit, test the limits of this ability and see what we can do and where we can go with it."

"Omnia semper sunt quae umquam sunt. Omnia sunt quae possunt esse. Omnia possibilia sunt. Ergo omnia sunt." Tom recites. "Everything always is that ever is. Everything is that can be. Everything is possible. Therefore, everything is."

"Tom, Lexen, I want to stay here," Cassie says. "This is everything I'd ever hoped for. I want to see this through."

"If you like, my dear," Tom says, grinning at her. "If we're remaining, we should try to keep our cover. I had best get back to my orphanage before I'm missed. Could you... come and adopt me or something?" He smirks, and gives the address.

I chuckle. "Certainly. We'll try not to leave you hanging for too long."

"We'll make whatever arrangements we have to," Cassie says.

Tom nods, and says, "We'll talk more later." He goes and Disapparates.

"First things first," Cassie says. "Let's do something about what you're wearing. I'll transfigure this into something a little more acceptable." She waves her wand at me, and my clothes shift and change. "Much better."

"Thanks," I say.

Gellert appears at the Apparation point, although looking like a teenage boy barely old enough to Apparate on his own. He comes over toward us.

"Good idea on the age," I say. "I saw your picture on the front page of the paper."

Gellert makes a face. "Hopefully they'll be looking for someone older than this, yes. What's going on?"

"We've decided to stay in this time period for now," I say.

"I see," Gellert says. "Well, alright then. I have some experiments I wanted to try with the equipment available in this world as it is."

"Like the Awakened modification platforms?" Cassie says.

"Exactly so," Gellert says. "The canisters are too dangerous, but those seem like they could prove very useful."

"Do you really think you can duplicate them?" Cassie asks. "And make Squibs or Muggles into wizards?"

"Don't know until I try," Gellert says with a grin. "But I'm pretty sure I can find a way."

"That's wonderful," Cassie says, beaming.

"First things first, however," Gellert says. "If we're going to stay here, I'd best get back to the Continent and disband my army." He snorts softly. "I've got better things to do than world domination."

Gellert waves and Disapparates. After a bit of discussion, Cassie and I decide to head for Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place for the moment, Rispy coming along with us and still patiently playing the part of a good house-elf.

"Father," Cassie says, coming into the house's dining area. "There's someone here I'd like you to meet."

The man looks up from his breakfast and raises an eyebrow to meet, peering at me appraisingly. "And who might this be?"

"Father, this is Lexen Chelseer," Cassie says. "Lexen, meet my father, Cygnus Black."

I bow suavely toward Cygnus. "It is an honor to meet you, sir. Your daughter has told me absolutely nothing about you."

Cassie elbows me sharply, but Cygnus just chuckles. "Chelseer? That's not a family name I'm familiar with. And you're not English from the sounds of you, either."

"I am American, sir," I say. "And I assure you, I am a pureblood. I'm a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, in fact." I give a quick demonstration of Parseltongue to prove it.

Cygnus brightens immediately. "Ah! This is an excellent match you have found, Cassiopeia! You are here to seek my daughter's hand in marriage, are you not?"

"Exactly so, sir," I say quickly.

After spending so many years with Cassie, it seems a little overwhelming now to suddenly actually marry her, but I'll go along with it for her sake. And Cassie seems positively delighted at the prospect.

And while the Black family spends time making arrangements for our wedding, Cassie and I go off to make arrangements for the adoption of one Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Are you certain that you wish to adopt this one?" says the woman in charge of the orphanage. "He's a... troubled one. I'm sure we have other boys that would be more suitable."

"We're sure," Cassie insists. "Tom is the one we want."

"You should probably be aware of his issues," the woman goes on. "He's like a demon, he is. We tried to have him exorcised once, you see, but it doesn't appear to have done any good. A horrible devil child, he is."

I scowl at her. "You tried to exorcise a little boy?"

"Well, yes, of course. We were trying to help him, you see. So we called in a priest and he performed the exorcism ritual for us. Tom had to be restrained for it, and from the way he screamed, you'd have thought that all the demons would be coming out. And it made him quieter for a bit, but now it seems like you can see the evil in his eyes. He hates us! No normal six year old boy should have that much hate in him!"

Cassie puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes, and I push down the rage in me with an effort. There's no use in electrocuting this mad Muggle woman.

"We're sure," Cassie says firmly.

"Well, alright then. I'll be glad to have him off my hands, that's for sure. But don't come complaining back to me saying you weren't warned."

Once the necessary arrangements are taken care of, the little boy Tom finally gets transfered into our custody. I can't help but hug him once that's over with, especially after hearing what he went through.

"I can't believe those fucking Muggles tried to exorcize you," I mutter.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Tom says. "To a five year old, it was utterly terrifying. And not a word about the big bad Dark Lord being scared of Muggles."

"We would never," I say.

Tom grins at us. "I know. I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

Once we get back to Grimmauld Place, Cygnus Black turns his critical eye toward Tom now. "And who might this be? Are we picking up strays now?"

"This is my son, Thomas," I say.

"You have a son?" Cygnus says.

"My family was into arranged marriages," I say. "I'm sure you understand, purebloods and all. But his mother died in childbirth, sadly."

"So you're a widower," Cygnus says, scowling a little. "And with a son and heir already. Cassiopeia, did you know of this?"

"Of course, father," she says. "And I adore Tom."

Cygnus grunts, and then murmurs to himself, "Still, there's prestige to be had in a marriage to one of Slytherin's line..."

He drops the subject quickly enough and doesn't delay the plans for the wedding. Although he's a little cool toward Tom at first, soon enough he's welcoming him like his own grandson.

And then I discover Marius, tucked away on the top floor. I had been here weeks and hadn't run across the fifteen year old boy yet, and when I do it's completely by accident when looking around for the library.

The boy scrambles away when he sees me, terrified and hiding as quickly as possible. I follow after him quickly and corner him. He's even paler than usual, and thin, almost skeletal. He flinches even as I come close even as he puts on a look of defiance.

"It's alright," I say gently, quietly putting up a privacy spell to make sure nobody overhears us. "I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Lexen. You're Marius, aren't you? Your sister Cassie told me about you."

Marius says, "Cassie?" He relaxes a little. "You- You don't hate me?"

"Of course not," I say. "Hating someone for being born is stupid." I glance around to make sure nobody is watching. "Hang in there, Marius. We've got a plan for you. We came across something that might allow you to use magic."

Marius's eyes widen. "Really?"

"Hopefully," I say. "But even if things don't pan out, I'm not about to let these people throw you out onto the street, or worse. I'll keep you safe. I promise you that, Marius."

"Thanks..." Marius says. "I don't know why you're helping a Squib like me, but I guess I can't complain."

The next day, I wind up having a discussion with Cygnus Black.

"So, Lexen, my boy," Cygnus says. "What is it that you aim to do with your life? Cassiopeia has spoken of wanting to conduct magical research. What about you?"

"I've been doing some various research and experiments of my own," I say. "Most recently, I've been dealing with blood. Why purebloods are better, why Squibs exist and how to fix them, what effect interbreeding with magical creatures has, that sort of thing."

"I see," Cygnus says, frowning at my mention of Squibs.

"Speaking of which," I say. "Do you happen to mind if we borrow Marius? I've got some experiments planned and require a test subject. Unfortunately, I can't be certain of my experiments might further damage or even kill the subject."

"You know about him?" Cygnus says.

"Certainly," I say. "Your daughter mentioned him when we were discussing Squibs. Me, I'm a researcher. I don't make judgments. I just want to find out why this happened, and how to fix it."

"I see," Cygnus says, frowning. "Do what you like with him. Just make sure that if you can't figure out how to fix him, then I don't want to see him again, understand?"

"Perfectly, sir."

"Nice place you've got here," says Gellert, stepping inside our new home.

"I'm just glad to be away from my family, myself," Cassie says. "I'd forgotten what it was like to be around them."

"Good to see you finally made it, Gellert," I say.

"About time I managed to clean up loose ends on the Continent," Gellert says. "Who knew that disbanding an army of dark wizards without causing any further unfortunate incidents could be so complicated?"

I chuckle softly and lead him into the dining area, where Marius and Rispy are having tea. They're both a lot more relaxed since we left Grimmauld Place. Marius doesn't have to hide, and Rispy doesn't have to pretend to be an obedient house-elf.

"Tell me more about the Shapers," Marius is saying. "What sort of magical creatures did they make?"

I clear my throat and get their attention from the doorway. "Marius, I'd like you to meet our old friend, Gellert Grindelwald."

"Grindelwald?" Marius says in surprise, almost dropping his teacup. "The Dark Lord?"

"Former Dark Lord," Gellert says, shrugging. "I'm sure the papers have been all awash with my erratic behavior lately." He smirks. "The Dark Lord Grindelwald, suddenly deciding he doesn't give a damn about world domination? Preposterous, huh?"

"When can we get started?" I ask.

"I've already started drawing up some plans and figuring out what we're going to need," Gellert says. "Who's up for a shopping trip?" He grins wickedly. Despite his claims about being a former Dark Lord, his grin never ceases to seem a little creepy to me. Not that it particularly bothers me that much.

"I'll go," I say.

"I probably shouldn't," Marius says.

"I think I'll pass on this one," Cassie says, unsurprisingly. She's been spending as much time as she can manage with her little brother ever since we got back, and now that we're away from the Blacks, she's been able to be around him a lot more.

Gellert and I Apparate over to Diagon Alley. He passes me a piece of parchment in which he's written a list of materials to look out for. Some of them are easy enough to get in this world, or at least close analogs, while others are going to be very difficult and will probably require a lot of improvisation, perhaps creating them from scratch if need be.

We spend some time searching around the place, poking into one shop or another, buying some items and stuffing them away into our bags. One specialty shop in Knockturn Alley looks like it might have a serviceable substitute for Terrestian crystals, even, but they're a lot rarer in this world.

"Gellert?" says a voice behind us suddenly.

I turn to look in surprise, and see an Albus Dumbledore who still has color in his hair. It would figure that, although Gellert is using a form much younger than anyone should recognize him, we would run into somebody who would recognize him.

"Hello, Albus," Gellert says, smiling at him and putting down the crystal he was looking at.

"What are you doing here?" Albus wonders. "You know I will not allow you to conquer this fine country."

Gellert snorts softly. "What makes you think I'm here for conquest?"

"Recruitment, then?" Albus says, looking to me.

"Bah," Gellert says, shaking his head. "What is this? You raise an army and conquer several countries, and your face is all over the paper, but if you disband that army and tell everyone to go home and decide that conquering the world is a foolish plan, then that's not newsworthy? Or maybe you just haven't been reading the news?"

"I have," Albus says. "Although I'm not the only one who is dubious about your intentions. This is all very sudden, and I cannot be sure that it is not merely some clever scheme to get people to let down their guard."

"It's not a scheme," I say.

"And who might you be, young man?" Albus says. "His apprentice? Perhaps his lover?"

I snort softly. "I just got married to Cassiopeia Black last Sunday."

"Black, hmm? So, a dark wizard, then?"

"Cassie's about the least dark Black you'll ever see," I reply.

"Perhaps, then, you do not realize what you are getting into by associating with this man," Albus says. "You do not comprehend what sort of person he truly is."

"I think I understand that pretty well," I say thinly, giving Albus a hard look.

"Do you really?" Albus says.

I stalk right up to him and get in his face. "Do not presume to know what I have gone through to get to this point. You-"

Gellert puts his hand on my shoulder. "Lexen, do calm down."

I look aside at him and sigh, relax and turn away, taking a few steps away from them. "Sorry for the outburst."

"Your apprentice clearly has much to learn," Albus says.

"He's not my apprentice," Gellert says, grinning a little. "If anything, I am his."

"So how did it come to be that you look like a young man again?" Albus says. "This is no Polyjuice Potion. This is you as you were... then. Before."

Gellert gives a nod. "Much has changed since we last spoke to one another. So, let's make this simple. I bid you greetings, Albus, from the year 1996."

"You... How?" Albus says.

"How is not important," Gellert says, waving a hand. "What's important is that I made a lot of mistakes, and I saw the culmination of them, and paid the price. And, just when I thought I had learned my lesson, I did something foolish again, and it's only by the mercy of Lexen here that I'm still alive. I've received more chances than I deserved. So, when it came to pass that we wound up in the past, I tried to set right what I still could. I sent my armies home. I razed Nurmengard and freed those I had imprisoned. I gave up the power of the Dark Lord."

"I... cannot believe that you would voluntarily give up power," Albus says.

"Blindly reaching for power, power, and more power is what very nearly ended me," Gellert says. "Lexen warned me. He warned me, and I didn't listen. Like a fool, I didn't listen, and that power very nearly drove me mad. No, let me amend that. It did drive me mad, for a while."

"You aren't exactly alive by my mercy," I say quietly. "You're alive because I couldn't land a Killing Curse on you."

Gellert snickers softly. "There is that, too. But I won't blame you, because it was my own stupidity that led to that point, anyway. I fired the first Kill spell. You just responded in kind."

Albus stares at us. "I... see. And what do you intend to do now, Gellert?"

"Now? I'm building a machine that can, if it works properly, modify a Squib's body to be capable of using magic," Gellert replies.

"That seems a bit far from your usual activities," Albus says.

Gellert shrugs. "Everything changes, Albus. Would you like to help?"