6-05

Getting anything done the next day was impossible. Dumbledore still hadn't returned from his travels but he'd had the present of mind to tell Moody about the connection between me and Tom and had tests in mind. We spent a majority of the day in a room with him doing stuff.

A thermometer into my mouth and it stayed there for thirty minutes, he ran a wand over me humming under his breath at points. With a bronze knife he pricked my finger and let the bead of blood drop over an onyx piece of parchment.

Another device came out of his pockets running over him with let out a series of beeps as he ran it over my body, getting louder when he neared my head. He gave another hum, both of his eyes taking me in as he frowned, muttering words I couldn't hear and nodded to himself.

Six hours in total and finally he was done.

"So what is it?" I said, keeping the shakiness out of my voice. "Can you help me with the portion of Tom's soul in me?"

"Don't know yet," said Moody. "I don't have an image of what's going on with you. But I'll be able to figure it out with the Unspeakable's help."

"Is that really wise?" I asked, feeling trepidation filling my stomach. One wrong move and everything could come undone. I'd thought about it, their approach to all of this and I could see their thought process.

They weren't too sure what was going on and from what we'd gotten from Mara, she had just been watching us to make sense of that. Them having me followed was in an effort to gain a greater understanding of the mystery before deciding what they should actually do with it.

"About as wise as you leaving the house," said Moody. I was a little surprised that Remus had told him, but I wasn't particularly disappointed in him. Moody was Dumbledore's right hand man. If Remus couldn't tell Dumbledore about that, then he'd surely tell Moody.

"But as it was with you it's unavoidable," he continued. "You're important to all of this, Potter. To the fight with Dumbledore. We don't need the Department of Mysteries thinking it's a good idea disappearing you. I'll be working on the inside."

"Won't they have spells in effect to stop that?" I asked.

Moody snorted. "I was able to get away unscathed from your curse, didn't I?" said Moody with a scarred grin. "I can do the same with them. Risky though. But knowing the risks is the first part in putting up countermeasures."

He waved his wand and his supplies started packing themselves into a large bag.

"Mad Eye," I said and the man stopped, looking at me. All of his concentration. He'd died before really doing anything in my timeline, but he was legend and it was hard not to be intimidated by that. "I wonder if I might have some Polyjuice. About an hour's worth. There are some supplies I want to buy. Get things easier for my return to Hogwarts."

"Plots brewing, huh?" he said and then snorted. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small flask, throwing it in my direction. I caught it without much trouble, opening the thing and taking a sniff.

"Scare I might be trying to kill you, Potter?" he said, amusement in his voice.

"No," I said. "I fear that if you were, I'd already be dead. I'm trying to get into your frame of mind."

"My mind is the most sane," he said. "I'd best be off. Things to do. Recruits to get stronger." He started walking off towards the door before he stopped, looking at me. "You're different, Potter."

I felt my face starting to twist but I stopped it, making my features placid. "Different how?" I asked, my words slow with, hopefully, confusion littered in them.

"I think you know," he said. "After these tests, I'll know too." He turned around, fully looking at me. "What I need to know is, do I need to be worried?"

He was being vague. The trouble with being vague was the fact that it was possible he might really know what I didn't want him to know. But that was just as likely that he didn't know and he was trying to bait me.

To lie or not to lie. After the tests it was highly possible that indeed he'd know about the merge. Magical forensics had never been my speciality but I knew people could get a lot from blood and it was greater if they had the person to continually probe. If I lied now it would set a divide between the two of us which might lead to a divide between me and Dumbledore which would greater complicate things.

I'd wanted to tell Dumbledore and it was only the fact that I was scared that stopped me. But just as scary as Dumbledore was, Moody could be more so.

Taking it all in, I didn't know how to react. I didn't know enough about Moody's character to predict what he might do.

The colder part of me didn't know what to do. So I let the emotions I'd been putting down surfaced and I thought of this less on a logical standpoint but on the emotive. Dumbledore trusted Moody and he'd died for me in my previous life. He'd tried to console me with pictures of my parents though that hadn't really worked out.

He was good. He looked out for the greater good and he was cautious enough that he would be able to watch out if I went axe crazy.

"I merged with Tom," I said.

Moody let out a long sigh, looking tired as his hand moved, reaching into the folds of his robes. He pulled out his wand but I'd done the same, getting into a stance and a shielding spell already conjured. That a spell hadn't already landed made me think he wasn't going to attack me.

And indeed he wasn't. He instead conjured a chair a sat heavily on it. "I'm not going to attack you, Potter," he said, his voice hollow. "But this makes things complicated you realise that?"

"I know," I said. "And it wasn't something I actively wanted. Loss after loss made itself known and Tom convinced me that it would be in our best interest if it were one person. Before I realised what I'd made my subconscious had already made the decision and I couldn't reverse it."

Moody was nodding all through this. "Do you feel different? Do you have any new memories?"

"I feel different," I said and sighed. "I'm not sure the full extent yet, but I think my thought process is faster. And no, I don't have any new memories and I've been looking for them while fortifying my mind."

"That's good," he said. "Better than we could have hoped for. Memories means he has a greater hold, that you're more inclined to act like him than the you before. It could be that you just got his proclivity towards learning from all of this."

"Yeah but at a greater expense," I said. "The original Voldemort has a greater foothold on the world."

Moody hummed. "We'll have to rework how he's dealt with in the end," he said.

"We could just jail him," I said. "There aren't many people who deserve Azkaban, but Voldemort's on that list."

"Or a kiss," said Moody. "That would at least take care of his portion of soul. But you're connected to him. It's highly likely that you feel some of the effects of a Dementor through that connection."

"I hadn't thought about that," I said. I thought about conjuring a chair, but that could have been Moody lulling me into a false sense of security. "But the connection isn't active. I've been doing my best in blocking it."

"It's not completely blocked, though, is it?" I shook my head. "That's the problem," he said. "But that's all thinking about the future. We still don't know where he is, don't know where Su Li is. We've got to work on those fronts before thinking too far ahead."

"Will you tell Dumbledore about this?" I asked, feeling years younger.

"Maybe after we find Abeforth," he said. "He doesn't need that right now." I felt a moment's relief at that. "But I'll be watching Potter, making sure you don't turn sociopathic on us."

"I won't," I said. "I should get going before it gets too late. Just in case you see it when you look through my room but I'll be building two maybe three golems. Thinking about shifting the narrative, making it easier to believe when I finally make my appearance."

"Keep it up on your side," said Moody, coming to a stand. "We might think about tearing through your outer shields though before we set this into motion. It will look better for when the go through your mind and it might alleviate my concerns on Voldemort."

After the conversation Moody left just as Aunt Petunia arrived, further forestalling my plans.

"Moody gave me some Polyjuice potion," I told her. "We could explore London."

"Why not," she said. "You'll have to stop by at the house, though. I'm not really supposed to be here."

"I can do that," I said. I summoned a guy's hair from the stoop and drank enough of the swill that it would last for at least three hours. Aunt Petunia and I mostly spent our time shopping, stopping at a restaurant before doing more shopping.

When we arrived back at Grimmauld it was to a message left by Kingsley. It said that he was having trouble getting the files, that Scrimgeour was keeping a tight lid on the case because of all the leaks to the Wizarding Herald. That he would need more time.

It was disappointing but with the narrative I was trying to set the file wouldn't be needed. What would be needed would be the golems being large but still being reasonable. There had to be a reason for a golem to be used at this particular time or the process would take longer.

Before going to sleep that night I worked on my mind again, fortifying the memories of the past before starting on the deception. Painting a picture so that a particular story was told. It was messy and rushed, showing a measure of experience but not enough. It would need to be further fortified before another image would be painted over it, this one cleaner to hide the messy changes.

Dumbledore still hadn't returned the next day, which marked the third day since he'd left. I couldn't help but feel a minute amount of worry at that fact but I pushed it back. Nothing newsworthy had been reported on the Prophet nor the Herald, instead the only thing of worth were growing reports of vampire interference in a country in Africa, with reports of the Egypt moving to take a stand.

That gave me worry a little because I didn't entirely know what was going on which meant I had to trace things back: A report on the Herald of an eleven year old warlord.

"There are more?" I said to Dudley as I stared at the mirror.

"Yes," said Dudley, a bit of fatigue in his voice. "The Society called a meeting the night you were released. I hijacked it, making sure that releasing you became paramount."

I hummed, nodding and running a hand at my chin. "This means we were wrong about what we thought before," I said. "About all this having common threads between me, Dumbledore and Voldemort."

"Not neccesarily," said Dudley. "We're talking about an infinite amount of university, where an infinite series of events might have happened. Anything could have very well happened."

"Which adds more to the mystery than it answers, honestly," I said. "We have an infinite series of events and yet we're so restricted in how this played out. What about the people who were born in our place because of different sperm cells or eggs? What about the timelines were our parents decided later to have kids and we had other brothers or sisters?

"Where we're dealing with the infinite, then things should have been wildly different. And yet they aren't?"

"Not my area of expertise, Harry," said Dudley with a shrug. "Questions like that are something the Society is no doubt dealing with."

"You don't have an in with them?" I asked.

Dudley shook his head. "I've been working on different means. Recruiting further than just the people time travellers. I'm looking towards the future, in case war breaks out. We don't have time to be recruiting then."

"That's good," I said.

"How are things working out on your end?" he asked. "Hope you aren't going stir-crazy."

"I'm keeping busy," I said. "I'll be going out today getting some supplies to build a golem. Setting the narrative. I've discussed it with Moody and he thinks the rough idea is good. Haven't worked out the nitty gritty yet."

"Good you're keeping busy," he said. "Aurors tried to gain access to your room last night. I heard three of them landed in the hospital. There's rumour that they're breaking in Ward Breakers."

"You'll need to sneak in there," I said. "Voldemort's father's bones are in there. I hadn't found the time to burn them yet."

"The room's being watched," said Dudley. "But I'll see what I can do. How much faith do you have on your wards?"

"A lot," I said. "I was Head Auror, that jobs lends itself to being able to make wards. I have to go, I've still contingencies to set before I go out."

"Sure," said Dudley. "Stay safe."

The image blinked off.

The hard part of all this was working through the Trace. The moment that any magic was performed around me in Knockturn I would have Aurors on me. Not to mention the fact that there would be Knockturn's own dangers: Between people scoping it out for targets and Aurors it was highly probable that a fight would occur, which meant I had to be able to book it quite quickly.

Apparition wasn't the answer much though I liked it. I still didn't know what the Society had done to aim my destination in a particular point but it was highly possible that someone could already replicate it.

Portkeys were safer, but what Remus had told me ringed at the back of my mind. Stricter wards were in the talks of being put in place and it was possible that there shady activities already making this a reality.

888

Getting things done took much of the day. It was more the thinking than the enchantments. I had to run through what was most likely to happen and set up pre-prepared spells so the Trace wouldn't be set off.

The first thing was setting up an ever active Human Revealment Charm on my glasses. It would wear on the material of the glasses, but I wouldn't be using the charms long enough to actually damage it. Then there were the grenades. Flash and darkness grenades, multiple Portkeys just in case they could be tracked, each further than the other while still staying in England.

With that done, I summoned some hair, roving through ancient looking robes that had belonged to Sirius' mother and got some magical protection on them before I set off, flying part of the way before taking the Night Bus to Knockturn Alley. Stan gave me a look, no doubt questions running through his mind but he didn't actually ask them.

I could already spot people sulking in the shadows, most of them unseen when I took off my glasses. There was a large chance that some of them might be Aurors, which would complicate things.

I got a few strange looks as I walked, scanning the people in the shadows, even one man who was moving with a drunkenly jaunt. He got too close to me and even as I tried to move out of the way he bumped into me. My protection enchantments didn't activate, which meant that it was nothing but a bump, even so I moved with more caution, trying to keep away from the crowd.

An apothecary was my first stop. Getting a large flask of Polyjuice potion, something which cost a pretty penny, some Invigoration Draught, a Blood Replenishing Potion and healing potion that could promote cell growth and worked in making healing quicker.

The next stop was a book store. I spoke to the store owner and quite quickly he got me the books I needed. He even talked me into ordering the supplies I would need for a golem from his store.

"I can get them to you in two days at most," the man said.

"I'll be back to order them," said Harry before he walked off. He checked and there were less people on the streets.

I walked further inward, towards some of the homes in the place and reached into my pocket. I let a grenade drop and the thing cracked against the ground, letting a flood of darkness flood around me and instantly running through the alleys. I started running, moving in one direction while seeing movements through the rooftops. The wizards chasing after me seemed agile enough.

Pulling more grenades out of my pockets I threw them in different directions, more darkness filling out the air. There were people in this street, the sounds of screaming filtering through as they lay on the ground in the foetal position.

"Evanesco!" I heard shouted from above me and looking back a section of the darkness gave way to light.

It would only be a matter of minutes before Aurors arrived to investigate, much sooner if they were on their game. I changed direction before shifting forms, flapping my wings and flying through the darkness, the spells' effect still on my eyes.

I couldn't fly out of the darkness because that would be as sign as any that I was an Animagus, which would mean greater scrutiny on owls. I let out a series of hoots, a short pattern before the pull activated and I appeared where I'd started. I landed on the roof of a house and watched my darkness three streets over, rising further into the sky.

Going in the opposite direction, I flew off until I was out of the Alley and in London. Another series of hoots and I was pulled by the hook and deposited in a large forest. I shifted back to my human form and was about to pull at a thread at my wrist when there were a series of cracks.

Seven people in all and they were already moving. They were tracking me.

I pulled the thread as a spell hurtled in my direction, disappearing and appearing in the city again, closer to Grimmauld. I started running, it was later in the day but there were still enough people around that magical use would be limited.

People looked at me strangely, no doubt because of the robes I wore but I didn't care. I heard the cracks from the alley and saw three men coming out before they disappeared back into the alley. No doubt they would be scouting from above, but this was time to think.

They could track me. But a spell hadn't been used or my shields would have activated. I ran my mind through it all and the answer came quickly, I reached out, feeling out all the objects until I found something that didn't belong, a small coin.

I found and alley and that was relatively empty while pulling off one of my bands. There was a crack as a witch appeared and someone screamed from the streets beyond. I pulled the band before a spell could be fired and disappeared, appearing just outside Godric's Hollow. I dropped the band and pulled on the last of my bands, appearing and turning on the spot, appearing at the foot of Grimmauld.

I let out a breath. I'd have to be even more careful when I was going to pick up my supplies.