The world around him shuddered as something powerful slammed into him, rattling his very bones and soul as the something floated overhead, a sickening toxic green aura around a bone white skull with a chilling scowl, frustrated that its target was still in the land of the living.

"Not like this, notlikethis-,"

The skull charged again with a silent scream that would have frozen his blood if it had sound, slamming through the last thin piece of glass shielding him from the monster with a sicken crunch before it flew back, allowing the world or rather, shadows of it to still and breath before trying again. And again.

Slam!

"Omega Lifeup!"

Slam!

"Omega Lifeup!"

Slam!

The world tilted on its axle as his stamina and PSI points drained out, hitting zero then plummeting into negatives. Was he falling? Was he standing? Was he breathing? He couldn't tell, all he felt was pain. Pain. Pain. And inhuman rage that wanted to make others pay, to make others feel his pain.

To be equal again in this magical world of pain.

"Ness." The darkness abruptly disappeared as air rushed into his lungs, his body registering someone holding his hand, his hand that felt cold and sweaty.

"Repeat after me, you're safe." The voice ordered, soft and calm as Ness mumbled the words, hating how scratchy his throat felt and how croaky the words sounded as he moved up to normal speaking volume.

"Better?"

"Y-yea." He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he faced Maria Anta, his therapist for the summer. "How long was I out?"

"Only five minutes, I just finished up speaking to your mom." Maria informed him, gently pushing a plate of homemade cookies toward him, "Same dream?"

"Same memory." Ness corrected, his stomach dropping at the vivid images he had seen as he nearly—no, he's okay now, he's alive and still kicking.

A sharp stab in his head quickly corrected his thoughts as he shoved the chocolate chip cookie into his mouth, hating how easily the sugar dulled the stabbing sensation behind his eyes. This entire summer had been spent talking to Maria about his nightmares and possible PSTD given how he couldn't look at skulls or the color green anymore, not without his head hurting and the instinct to fight rising up.

Also, replenishing his PSI points which were still in the negatives despite having an array of sugary sweets and fruits added to his diet to curb the physical pains his battle against Voldemort had left. Being blasted in the chest hurt almost as much as nearly dy—

"So, you're heading back to school soon, correct?" Maria pressed, distracting him from his never-ending thoughts.

"Yea, at the end of August." Which meant more suffering and pain for him. Whoopee. "Do they have a school guidance counselor you can talk to?"

"…I don't think so."

A shadow of anger flickered on Maria's face before she caught herself and moved on, "I see, have you been practicing your breathing exercises and meditation?"

"Yes, Tracey and King do their best to remind me." Although King's form of reminding him meant carrying around the radio with a pleading look on his face since Ness didn't dare use his passive PSI powers, not yet.

"Good, it won't be enough but…It should help curb your fears and make it a bit easier to adjust to everything."

A dry snort slipped through his lips, "Right, adjusting the magical world of mayhem where people don't bat an eye at underage kids fighting for their lives." Maria flinched, and guilt quickly settled in, "Thanks headache. THANKS."

"S-sorry just—," Maria nodded in understanding, "Just the pain talking, not you. I do have a history working with troubled kids Ness."

"You sure?" Ness teased, earning a pillow to the face and a small laugh before they got down to business, talking about his newest fear. Wizards. At the very start Maria had made it clear that she was to know everything about how he had gotten this bad and refused to acknowledge the dangers of wizards. "Wizards or no, I have a job to help people." She had said, ending the argument and forcing Ness to talk.

It had been a bumpy road since even though Ness knew why he was afraid he couldn't bring himself to get over it, he wasn't scared of his friends, Harry, Hermione and Ron were a different story but…yea, Wizards—Adult Wizards to be precise scared him.

And angered him to no end at their forceful society. "I know that I'm not supposed to be there, but they keep forcing me to go!" Ness exploded, cringing as he saw a faint outline of yellow reaching toward Maria before fading away, Rockin' Beta had slipped through his fingers. Again. "Mom tried her hardest to pull me out of it, but Dumbledore wouldn't listen or acknowledge it, stating that my outburst was the main reason why I'm going."

"Even though they caused the outburst?" Maria questioned, writing everything down in her spiral cat covered notebook.

"Yes!" he bit his lip and crashed into the back of his chair, feeling exhausted as his mind demanded to rest, which meant falling back asleep and facing the dreaded nightmares.

"Hogwarts is full of horrible events that had happened over the years, and yet no one seems to go 'Hey! Maybe we should pull our kids out in protest or yell at Dumbledore some more!' or something."

"Well, the Mystic Informer have been verbally chewing them apart." Maria offered with a small satisfied smile, "The concerned letters are still going strong."

"Are they?" he really hadn't been keeping up to date with the Mystic Informer, but Paula had. Probably enjoying the sweet justice of American rage directed at those stuffy wizards for a good cause.

"Hopefully it won't have America mind wiped once everything calms down." Ness thought as a small alarm rang, signaling the end of their session, "I'll see you this Friday, Ness." Maria stated walking him to the door with her kind smile, "Remember, write down every dream you have and work on your exercises."

"Or pay the price, I got it Maria." Ness replied, lightly rolling his eyes as his mother stood up to have a few words with Maria. Leaving him alone in the waiting room with the Gameboy obsessed receptionist who thought no one could see her playing Pokémon through the army of magazines.

He quickly found himself looking at Mystic Informer then having the magazine in his hands, a guilty smile on his face as he read the cover page which was talking about the politics of the Ministry.

It avoided wizard detection and had labeled them being in charge of the educational world in Europe and children's wellbeing and apparently, it had worked since Ness flipped to the middle of the book and blinked at the high-end discussions being traded back and forth between psychologists and worried parents. None seemingly connected to the wizarding world as they gave their opinions on the matter.

To avoid overwhelming his still fried brain, Ness skimmed it and summed it up in a single sentence, Hogwarts was unsuitable and a dangerous school for kids that may or may not be using drugs to lull the students into dangerous situations and reckless behavior.

It was…pretty solid even though they only had the tournament to go on. But Chip's pictures and his cousin's story had created a blazing fire, and the picture of the dragon Harry had fought and been injured by didn't help either, making it even worse in Americans eyes by claiming it was a machinal beast most likely used on movie or amusement park sets programed to 'fight' the kids.

…Yea, Hogwarts was screwed. But not enough to close the school down to do damage control. With a sigh and the dread of knowing he was going to head back into the toxic environment with a still damaged mind he leaned against the chair and allowed a foolish thought bleed into his wishes.

"I seriously wish Hogwarts would close down. Or at least expel me before anyone gets seriously hurt because of me."

…As…you…wi…sh.

He jerked out of his stupor with a small yelp, wondering if he had heard the tiny voice or accidentally tapped into an animal's mind. There WAS a vet right next door, who's owner was very fond of squeaky rodents who all screamed for cheese or mice revolution whenever Ness popped his head in to say hello. Yea. The mice were weird but…were they that weird to grant a wish?

"…I hate Hogwarts." Ness groaned, figuring that whatever he had heard would show up there like all of his other troubles would.


In the office, it sounded like a beehive. People were chatting, answering phones, typing away at their computers, taking random pictures (Knock it off Chip.) and walking around in casual shoes or high heels. For her, it was simple cream flats slapping against the oddly hardwood floor as she hurried to the delivery she was very late to.

"Of all the days I had to oversleep, it had to be TODAY." The young intern lamented, shuffling the bundle of papers she was supposed to drop off before resuming her job as coffee girl/reigning in the flying pens and paper clips (They had a mind of their own thanks to a certain SOMEONE.)

"Okay, dress smooth, hair flat," she muttered, moving the papers around to fix her hair and dress before knocking on the door, or rather attempting to knock on the door since it opened and allowed her fist to tap against a leather trench coat.

"A-ah!" she jerked back and forced a smile at the clearly tried man with silver hair wearing a giant clock around his neck, the chain swinging back and forth as the clock made soft ticks. "Will Clockwork! It's a pleasure to actually see-," she blinked, and the papers were gone, the door was closed and there was no proof that she had been speaking to Mr. Clockwork.

"…Really?" she questioned, ignoring the laughs and yells of, "Pay up!" floating around the office as she went to resume her coffee girl duty, "Look on the bright side, he fixed your bow for you." Willa Pens offered as she fooled around with a complex looking computer mouse.

"Gee. Thanks." She deadpanned, before glancing at the closed door, "So…is it just the boss and the…others or?"

"They grabbed a retired informer for this meeting," Willa explained her mouse shuddering, reflecting her nervous grimace, "The one with the strings and scissors. Whatever is happening must be big."

"Of course, it's big." They looked up and studied the young man, or rather his floating hair and the various office supplies floating around his head, "Ness and Paula were brought over to a Wizards only territory and barely made it out alive." A pen snapped, startling Willa a bit from the ferocity. The man quickly stopped the office items to put them at ease and offered a small grimace, "Sorry, my uncle was kidnapped and brought to New England for…reasons. My father never saw him again."

"Those kids will be okay." Willa soothed, "They saved the world after all."

"Right…" the conversation ended, and the trio resumed their work typing up another story of Mystic Informer that wasn't Hogwarts related for once.

None the wiser as the main meeting commenced with stony expressions. Indicating that it was a serious matter at hand and—

"Okay seriously! How can you work with so many threads?!" A young man with short blonde hair looked up from a tangled maze of various colored threads, all wrapped around his arms, wrist and fingers.

"You get used to it." The man simply replied, easily untangling a pair of blue and green threads before he turned to the leader of the meeting, "I take it your predictions have been as gloomy as the situation Astra?"

Astra Kale gave a solemn nod, his eyes hidden behind his glasses as he glared down at a notebook full of predictions and dreams. "So many different outcomes have come to me in the middle of the night." The star seer mused, "And none of them are good."

"For the Boy Wonder or Ness?" Lily Adams asked, fiddling with a pen as she studied a folder filled to the brim with pictures and reports given to her by Chip.

"Both."

"So helpful." Will muttered, his eyes closed and his head leaning side to side, in rhythm with the soft ticks echoing around the room, "Dully noted William." Astra dryly replied before a woman with soft blue hair spoke up, "What are we going to do? Slandering them doesn't seem to work, and we can't be forceful…right?" she glanced at Astra who shook his head no.

"Not yet, Maybell. Not yet, although I do wish that Maria could help repair Ness's mind faster." Maybell tensed and caused a teddy bear to poke its head from her lap, its beady black eyes barely peering over the wooden table.

"What is he going to face?" the thread man asked, clasping his hands together and summoning a new collection of threads, one of which was a deep purple loosely knotted around a regal red.

"I…have no idea." Astra chew on his lip and flipped through his notebook, "They change, sometimes being random items of trash, other times their toys. The only thing they have in common is that there slow but…moving toward the same location."

"Which is…?" William pressed.

"Don't know, the stars yield very little to me. It's…disturbing since there are now so many theories and timelines to choose from. As if…something splintered it." They perked up, their eyes wide with surprise as Astra drummed the table nervously, "The only thing that has stayed consistent is with Harry, it's…unsettling how easily I can see into his future with only two branching paths."

"Makes sense, Harry's a wizard." Maybell snapped her bear giving soft growls despite clearly being a toy, "You know how they work."

William and Lily nodded in agreement, frowns appearing on their face as the man tangled in threads held his hands up for order, "Now, now. Remember the point of this meeting wasn't to worry about the nature of time." He clasped them and opened his eyes, revealing a kaleidoscope of lilacs and reds, "But to talk about how to disrupt the course Ness is on."

"You see his fate?" Astra asked then he blushed at the obvious answer.

"I see their fates." The man corrected earning a soft growl from William, "What do you mean Fate? Who are they?"

"Harry and Ness. The two who were not supposed to meet." Fate clarified, pointing to the regal red and purple threads, "There threads have been tangled enough thanks to Ness having no clue what to do and falling back on the desire to help others. But if we allow any one of those boys to hear about that prophecy…"

"Game over." Lily guessed earning a frustrated growl from William, "Can't you just cut it? Get it over with before any other kids are dragged into this mess?"

Fate wearily shot his comrade a look and shook his head no, "Their fates will make or break the worlds we kept separate from one another, if I cut them…something even worse than wizards tampering with our abilities may happen."

"Like?" Maybell pressed.

"Like the world tampering with our abilities since we no longer have a group on the same side."

The room fell silent as the PSI users exchanged looks, Fate merely closed his eyes in thought, thankful that America thus far hadn't really cared about the handful of PSI users appearing within their borders. After Giygas's attack it put the people at some ease to know that they had some way to fight back against living inanimate objects and people who had been a little too close to a Mani-Mani Statue.

Plus, the fact that PSI seemed to be around the world added a bonus of possible super soldiers who could defend their homeland if a war broke out.

Something that may happen if Europe, the only place in the world with seemingly no PSI users kept meddling with their forceful ways.

"Alright…we don't cut the threads." William relented, "But we are fighting back."

"Yes, with undercover agents." Fate tilted his head to Astra who sighed and flipped through his book again, "Following Harry's future as far as I could, I see a ton of arguments and disagreements following Dumbledore's path, leaving him stubborn and fool headed from all the backlash his idol is getting. Soon, his role will get to his head and may do something crazy, something that would allow us to put our message out into the world."

"Yea don't mess with us or will beat the tar out of you." Lily added a small grin on her face as she scribbled something down, probably a to-do list to add more fire to the blazing fire.

"I see, William, when the time comes you'll lead the force into attack." William sighed and tapped his clock, "This is because I'm such a stickler for time, isn't it?"

Fate nodded.

"I despise you guys."

"Oh, get over it," Maybell huffed, "At least you aren't posing as a magical storekeeper."

"You're posing as a squib who sells Muggle toys to wizard kids." William deadpanned, "That's a lot better than giving myself a headache."

"You always get a headache." Lily pointed out, grinning as William grumbled, "Do not," then turned to Fate, "Is this meeting over? It's nearly 2 and I have a strict schedule to keep."

"It's over." Fate assured him, smiling as William muttered a grateful, "Right on time." And hurried out of the room to tend to his errands.

"Well, I suppose I better get ready to head back to work." Astra sighed, "So many wizards, so little time."

"Same, I can't keep the store closed all the time." Maybell stated, getting up and adjusting her puffy ribbon, "Ta-ta—Pickles."

Lily snickered at the New England phrase and stood up, "I'm off to rendezvous with Chip, something about the Ministry up in arms about something."

"Something being…?" Fate pressed as Astra gathered his things. "Something about Harry breaking a law in self-defense. I don't know, I just know Wizards are stuffy but are great at making giant mistakes in the course of a couple hours! See ya boss!" Fate nodded and resumed fiddling with the threads, observing the names only visible to him as Astra bid his goodbye and left.

"How can so many people be connected to such enigmas of fate?" Fate mused, tracing a starry blue thread that had just wound itself around Ness's, frowning at how it went out the window and up into the sky.

"How odd…" Fate murmured, not liking this strange new thread as it splintered and spread outside. Connecting to new life with sickening deep blue threads. Very odd, new life didn't appear this quickly…


Barty Jr. Lives!

Scandal at the Ministry!

Parents fear for their children's safety after deadly mishap at Tri-Cup Tournament!

Is the Minister losing his touch?

Barty Crouch murdered by his own son under officials' noses!

Was the attack at the World Cup Connected to the Tri-Wizard attack?

Another dead man found walking. Is our Ministry losing its grip?

Is our faith misplaced in our leader?

The bold headlines tasted like sour milk as Cornelius Fudge took a long sip of his tea, grimacing at the cold, bland flavor it left in his mouth. Two years. That's all it took to pull the rug from under his feet with a simple jerk.

Mistakes he had never dreamed happening appeared, verdicts were found false and now his head was on the line as American papers joined forces with the Magical ones and nitpick at everything he had worked so hard to build, to create.

The only consolation to these terrible events of not just letting two dead men walk free and create havoc, but also endanger an exchange student's muggle family was that Hogwarts was right beside him on the frying pan.

"How." He muttered, pushing the newspapers away and looking at his workload full of letters to be written and stories to be blacklisted almost towering over his shoulder in an ominous fashion. "How in Merlin's beard did everything become so…wrong?"

He didn't even want to think about Dumbledore's baloney story of Voldemort being real. Now, call him foolish for not listening to the strongest wizard in their entire community but would you really believe a boy who had been painted as a delusion trouble maker and another boy who had come from America, land of the crazies fresh out of a coma?

Dumbledore was just the icing on the cake as he kept coming by, trying to persuade him to write the truth while keeping his own lips sealed for his reasons why he accepted an American Wizard, one who was surely tainted by those blasted PSI users.

Why on earth would Dumbledore do that? Then again, the man seemed to be losing his touch, hiring wannabe killers, a possible phony and a werewolf.

He'd let Barty Crouch Jr. slid for slipping under Dumbledore's radar, that was sadly his own people's fault. But hiring three bad wizards in a row? And only having the Werewolf come out on top as the only official Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?

Something was seriously wrong there.

But, those were problems for another day. He had a new problem to focus on. Cooling the flames of anger and fear before a new one showed up. Potter wasn't helping by his wild story of being attacked by a Dementor for some bizarre reason. Claiming it was because of You-Know-Who looming on the horizon.

But that was foolish, the man was dead. And that was something everyone was sure of, they had been through in their reports, pictures and testing to ensure that they were free from that mad man.

But something that was clearly stirring up trouble and brewing on the very edges of Hogwarts. Someone they didn't know lurking under this cover of chaos. But who? So many changes had been made, so many trusted co-workers and comrades buried under their work of the World Cup, Tri-Wizard tournament and now, Barty Crouch Jr.'s new trail. Unable to check it out for him while he fought with the bigger fish in the pond. No, sea.

Surrounded by sharks who were out for his blood, his chair of command. A small shiver of disgust ran down his spine as he heard the faint gongs of the clocktower, singling that it was five o'clock.

The time of reckoning as his first meeting walked in through the door, Dolores Umbridge. The best of the best and his soon to be spy. She was a woman to be wary of, climbing through the ranks of the Ministry as if she was merely playing hopscotch instead of a deadly game of chess with pronounced skill and a tongue as sharp and smooth as sliver and steel.

"Umbridge." Cornelius greeted, resting his arms on the table and relaxing as the pink dressed woman gave her sweet smile and sat down, a picture of perfection.

"Minister." She returned, folding her hands neatly in her lap, "I believe I'm here for that position at Hogwarts?"

"Teacher of Defense Against Dark Arts to hopefully cull a bigger threat." Cornelius stated, torn between worrying about Dumbledore's possible army to usurp him (It was quite clear that they didn't like each other or how they used their power.) or of a certain exchange student who was shaking down his numbers of support faster than he could take a breather.

"Dumbledore's Army?"

"Possibly." Vague, she could come to her own conclusions and bury herself six feet under. He was going to do his best to keep this angel on his stage and his terms. "Hogwarts has been stirring up trouble and creating waves of backlash and fear these past two years. But we aren't sure why."

She gave one of her breathy laughs that sounded like someone choking on a toad, or perhaps trying to unclog it from their throat. He wasn't really sure, "So, undercover agent Minister?"

"Yes and no." he pushed a piece of paper forward, a possible bill to hopefully calm the worried parents.

Her eyes flickered over it, a dreadful toad like smile forming as she understood her new position of power, one that would soon engulf Hogwarts under his control and hopefully, stem the earthquakes of problems erupting from it.

"I see…" she leaned back and shot him a promising smile, "I'll do my best to carry out the tasks at hand."

"Good, you're dismissed." The moment Umbridge was gone Cornelius slumped, weary and feeling as if he had stumbled into something worse than a simple sea of endless questions. Perhaps…perhaps he had guided his boat into a blood-filled ocean, surrounded by hungry sharks with the power to rip him in half.


It was nice to see that he wasn't completely alone in his wariness. He'd been having a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he was the only one worrying about Harry's connection to Ness.

A swift and rare exclaim of, "He's coming back?!" from his usually tranquil friend, Remus Lupin eased his feelings as the werewolf wizard looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, "Dumbledore, I know Ness is a powerful asset and tied to more things than we understand but…" Remus weakly gestured toward the newspaper yelling a headline about Dumbledore going mad for announcing Voldemort's return, "What if he's not ready to come back to Hogwarts? Actually, would he even agree to joining us?"

"No." Sirius answered as Molly pressed her lips together, adding more and more pressure until they were nearly an egg white color of raw anger and worry.

"He might." Dumbledore answered, nursing a cup of tea, "After all. Voldemort sees him as a threat, it'll only be a matter of time before he goes after Ness's family."

"Right, like he would dare risk going up against more possible PSI users." Sirius grumbled, knowing for sure that he wouldn't do it.

"He already went after Harry." Dumbledore tried before Lupin shut him down, "Because he knows he can reach Harry without the fear of losing his magic."

"Is he really?" Molly breathed, still digesting Dumbledore's first announcement after bringing Harry back to 12 Grimmauld Place.

"A PSI user? Yes." Sirius answered while Lupin solemnly nodded, "I experience it firsthand, he teleported myself and your daughter to the Shrieking Shack to defuse the possible murder."

Molly made a strangled sound, torn between a whimper and a snarl as Dumbledore calmly accepted her rightful anger at endangering her kids. "For now, we need to keep an even closer eye on Ness. It's becoming clear that Fudge doesn't believe in Voldemort and that a war shall soon be brewing."

"Why must you be right?" Sirius wondered, grimacing at the truth behind it. His grimace evolved into a bitter scowl as Dumbledore added, "Especially with that item."

"Ah yes…" Lupin muttered, "The…"

"Blasted…" Molly started, purposely trailing off after she shot the door a look, being wary of possible noisy children.

"We'll have to warn him. Properly." Sirius announced a knot forming in his stomach, "He still has time to back out of this mess and leave everyone alone for good."

"But will he listen?" Lupin questioned, "He's in a difficult spot at the moment and…I very well doubt he trusts any of us anymore."

"And for the right reasons." Sirius thought, getting up to check on Harry. He couldn't sit here, he couldn't stomach this meeting. Not when it involved throwing his Godson into dangerous territory with an even more dangerous variable.

He could see why Dumbledore was so keen on keeping Ness on their side, anyone would be a fool to turn the boy's powers and title away. But he couldn't understand why the man wished to keep poking at something they didn't understand or could combat against.

"Maybe this is for the best." Sirius mused, feeling sick as he entered the hallway and headed up to Harry's room. He knew he wasn't very good at long term planning, not unless something valuable was on the line. He and James were brash and people who enjoyed going with the flow instead of trying to change it by force.

So…perhaps he was being short-sighted by trying to protect his friend's only son from the dangers America seemed to bring. Or, maybe he was right as he heard Harry say, "We should write to him, maybe meet up at Diagon Alley if possible."

"Please let the he be a completely different person." Sirius started as Hermione started to fuss, "Ness is dangerous Harry!" Sirius nearly slammed his head into the wall as the girl continued, "We shouldn't be trying to write him up for a jolly chat!"

"But we can't just ignore him! What if that makes it…worse?"

"…Maybe we can convince someone to take us to Ness's house, put us in his environment?"

Of course, Ginny would suggest that. Of course, she would!

"I'm a bit worried about him…he hasn't written back to Luna or I."

"What about that Selvis kid?" Sirius frowned at the bitter edge in Ron's voice. Why was he acting like Ginny had betrayed them somehow?

"No. And it's Selvis Karma, Ron." And why was Ginny sounding like Molly? Ready to dish out some punishment to a very annoying George and or Fred? Actually, she was ready to punish both of them since they always had their hands deep inside the cookie jar.

"This is a bad idea." Hermione muttered.

"Maybe. But you said it yourself, we need to know why he's really here." Harry countered, ending the argument and moving onto plans, ways to trick the adults into getting them close enough to Ness.

"God. Why do you hate me?" Sirius wondered, deciding to step back and let Harry handle this, the boy had been through four years of torture thanks to Voldemort. He was old enough to make his own choices now. Even if they seemed like terrible ideas. So, he headed to bed, his lips tightly sealed to protect his Godson from Molly's wrath.


Tensions are high and I'm just realizing that I might be writing meta by messing up the law force of the wizarding world and starting an American protest! (I just realized how realistic this now is thanks 2017 and the onslaught of protests.) Good lord I'm dangerous when I have a theory and a bunch of questions about something.

Also thank you BaronLily for the review! :D It sort of reminded me to update since I was scrambling to finish late assignments from school. Also it's only going to be Earthbound since surprisingly the Harry Potter timeline almost completely matches up with the Earthbound timeline if you follow the theory that Ness is Ninten's grandson. Plus, I like to see Mother 3 happening in the far future or at least in a drastically different location since it seems that attacking objects,wild monsters and PSI users are the norm than it was in Earthbound and Ninten's game.