I do not own Harry Potter or gain anything from writing this other than the opportunity of expanding on an already brilliant universe for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours.
Metamorphosis
It was difficult to measure how long he had been here. Of course the answer to that was no time at all, since time did not exist in this space, but there was no denying he had accomplished a great deal. Instead of time, he has been measuring the number of times he has trained with the Guardian of Power. So far the number has reached eighty-three thousand five-hundred and six. Normally the sessions would begin with practical training of some sort. Ways to apply the knowledge he had learned from the other guardian and a bit of self-study to get used to what he'd learned.
The training sessions would always end with a duel between the two. As of this point he has lost eighty-three thousand five-hundred and five duels. He's won one. The one the session before.
He had often convened with the Guardian of Knowledge before and after his training sessions, though as he would usually be unconscious after most sessions it was usually just before. If he was not training or talking to the Guardian of Knowledge, he was eating, even though he didn't have to, or sleeping in the bedroom through the dark blue bordered doorway. He never got tired here but he did often wake up in the bed after he'd been knocked out by the man.
After defeating the old man for the first time, Harry opted to eat a celebratory feast and have a nice sleep. When he awoke, the man had already returned to his statue form behind the woman.
Harry felt an immediate sense of loss. The two had become his favourite mentors. The man had his ridiculous sense of humour and his impossible power and the woman had become a friend of sorts. She reminded him of Hermione in many ways, except the guardian genuinely did know everything.
Because of the two of them, he had first learned then mastered magic previously unimaginable to him. He gained experience in many other aspects of life as well. He became rather fond of learning from them, his desire to better himself just growing stronger the more he was there.
Looking to the pitch black door he saw it was still closed. Did that mean he was still not meant to leave yet? He tried communicating with the statues but as he expected, they did not move or speak into his mind. He went to the pantry and ate a good meal. There was no point bringing anything with him when he left because he knew nothing from this place would be able to leave here. Once finished, he went out into the white field and trained by himself.
He ran through the entire gamut of spells he'd learned, then moved on to combinations. He practiced his seamless transformation into his Animagus form; a Falcon the Guardian of Knowledge had named Quill. He tested his physical strength, speed and agility. When he'd gotten bored training on his own, he went back to the pantry and retrieved a broom and Snitch from inside and played around, catching and releasing the golden ball many times until he got bored again.
With nothing left to do he went back to bed. When the door was not open after he woke, he sat down in front of it and meditated. His mind emptied of all thought and his magic rested in his body. When he opened his eyes again he chuckled to himself that he may have been meditating for years and he would have no concept of it.
Getting frustrated at the one pitch black door, he tried to knock on it. His hand passed straight through.
Grumbling, Harry Potter walked through the door and left the mysterious place, noting to himself that even with all the knowledge in the world, he was still a damn idiot.
When he stepped out on the other side of the door he was back in the Department of Mysteries, the room with the spinning doors. The one he seemed to have just come through was shut behind him, he tried to open it but it was locked. He knew it was gone to him forever but now he had more important things to deal with.
'Room of time,' he said calmly.
The doors spun impossibly fast until they stopped suddenly. Harry stepped through the door ahead of him, wand raised. He transfigured the two Death Eaters with their backs to him into galleons then placed them into a leather pouch he'd transfiguration from a piece of his robes.
Focusing his magic to his eyes, he found the trail he knew belonged to Hermione and Neville and set off through that door. Another pair of Death Eaters was there, Neville on the ground with a bloody face and Hermione beside him, limp and unmoving.
'There you are, Potter!' one of them growled at him.
Harry could feel Hermione was still alive but he was still enraged to find his best friend so badly injured. A red spell flew at him. He calmly swatted it aside and sent another eight back at the Death Eaters in an instant, causing them to go blind, deaf, dumb, and in severe pain. They writhed on the ground silently while Harry destroyed both their wands.
' 'Arry!' Neville cried through a broken nose and a bubble of blood, 'we 'ought we 'ost you.'
Harry waved his wand at Neville's face, healing the wound then kneeled in front of Hermione, running his wand along her chest.
'Thanks,' Neville marvelled, touching his face. 'One of them did it,' he added about Hermione. 'She silenced him but he cast it without an incantation on her. Is she OK?'
'She will be,' Harry said confidently.
He ran his wand along the injury and started muttering under his breath. After a few moments he repaired her clothing.
'Rennervate.'
He spoke the incantation aloud more for Neville's benefit than out of necessity, but it did the trick just the same.
'Harry?' Hermione said groggily once she came to. 'What happened?'
'You were hit with a nasty bit of Dark Magic,' he explained, then aimed his wand at the door as it opened, Transfiguring another Death Eater into a galleon. 'We're not safe yet, let's find the others.'
Harry opened the sack on his waist and the Death Eater turned galleon flew inside.
'Harry …' Hermione said in shock as he tried to find a trace of the other three. 'What was that magic you just did? And what happened to you? You fell into that strange pool and … '
While she was speaking he had collected another Death Eater turned galleon without either of them noticing.
'A lot has happened, actually,' he said. 'I don't have time to explain but I promise I will. Just know that I can protect you properly now.'
Passing into another room he found the trail of his three other friends.
'This way,' he said urgently.
They followed without question as Harry burst through the next door and wrapped the two Death Eaters there in a thick black rope with a single spell, the bundle toppling to the ground even as a shouted Stupefy flew past where their heads had been.
'That's eight,' Harry said quietly, destroying the two Death Eaters wands.
His three friends were hidden behind a stone desk for cover. Luna had her eyes peeking out and stood slowly upright when she caught sight of him, her head cocked to the side.
'Thank you, Harry,' she said in a dreamy voice. 'You look different.'
'Anytime, Luna,' Harry said, ignoring the second comment and moving to the two redheads on the ground behind her. 'How are they?'
Ron was struggling with a strange creature that looked like a brain with tentacles. Ginny was unconscious against the wall, her leg twisted at an odd angle.
'Get this thing off of me!' Ron yelled, giggling. 'I think it's hungry.'
Harry transfigured the strange brain into a pin cushion then kneeled down to inspect the two Weasleys.
'His mind is damaged,' he said, referring to Ron. 'I can fix him but I would need to concentrate on it for a bit.'
Instead, he raised his wand and transfigured Ron into a pocket watch and handed him to Hermione.
'He'll change back in an hour,' he said to the girls wide eyed expression. 'It'll be a bit painful when he changes back but he'll be safer like that. Keep him protected.'
He turned his attention to Ginny while Hermione just stared dumbly at the watch that was her best friend a few moments ago.
'Harry,' Hermione squeaked. 'How did you -'
'Later, Hermione,' he promised.
He healed Ginny's injured leg and cast a silent Rennervate on her. She blearily opened her eyes, pushing herself onto her side.
'Grab your wand, Ginny,' Harry instructed before she could say anything. 'We're getting out of here.'
Ginny scrambled for her wand and got to her feet muttering an apology.
'Come on,' Harry ordered, they followed.
He held his hand out as he reached a door and they all froze behind him. With six circular swirls of his wand he transfigured replicas of all of them, including Ron, and sent the copies running through the open door.
'Wait a minute!' Ginny whispered in a terrified voice. 'Where's Ron?'
Harry cast a quick spell at the doorway to make sure Hermione's muttered reply and Ginny's eventual gasp of surprise wasn't overheard.
Shouts and cast spells greeted their ears as the copies ran to another door, being tailed closely by the Death Eaters.
Harry waved for them to follow and he moved silently out the doorway. They were in the room of doors, alone.
'We wish to leave,' Harry intoned, walking smoothly to the other end of the room. The doors stopped spinning just as Harry reached his hand out to open the exit. They rushed out and down the Ministry corridor to a lift.
'I can't believe we got out so easily,' Ginny sighed as she fell against the wall of the lift. 'You know, after we almost died and all.'
Hermione moved next to Harry who was casting sensory charm in the area of the Ministry atrium. She looked up at him curiously, noticing the slight changes in him now that they were out of the dim light of the Department of Mysteries.
'I went to a mysterious place,' Harry began, answering her unasked question, 'a place where time stood still. I met two people there, although they weren't actual people. They were the guardians of that place, and they taught me many things. I know much more now than I did before and I am much more powerful.
'It is difficult to explain the concept of a place where time stood still. It all took less than an instant, but felt like it may have been hundreds of years.'
He looked down at her with a small smile on his face. She stared back at him with her brow furrowed, she was confused but it seemed like she believed him.
'Are you still Harry?' she asked quietly.
'Yes,' he answered immediately, 'a strange version of Harry who knows more than Hermione Granger, but still Harry.'
His cocky grin made her punch him playfully in the arm and they both laughed. The elevator rose ever onward, getting closer to the atrium.
'This may seem sudden,' he said with a small smile on his face, he knew the Guardian of Power would have cracked up at that, 'but I want to teach you, Hermione. Not like in the DA, not just defense, I want to teach you all I can. If you're willing to learn from me that is.'
Hermione grinned up at her friend; even this new Harry wanted her to be with him. She had always had the intrusive thought that if she wasn't useful, Harry wouldn't want to be her friend, or Ron for that matter. It was comforting to hear those words, even if everything she was hearing was so unbelievable. Because she did believe him.
'What would you teach me?' she queried.
'Everything,' he answered simply as the elevator reached the atrium.
As soon as the doors to the lift opened he stepped out at a brisk walk, casting another spell to make sure they were the only human presence. He paused, holding out his arm again as before to make everyone hold. He raised his wand high in the air.
'Who's there?' he questioned loudly.
'Harry!' Sirius Black's voice came from the darkness.
He rushed forward to greet the group, followed by the other members of the Order of the Phoenix. While Harry dropped his wand he covertly made sure they were who they appeared. They were.
Sirius seemed to catch the suspicion in his eye and changed to Padfoot for a moment before changing back.
'It's good to be cautious, Harry,' he said approvingly then came up short. 'You look different.'
His air became suspicious at once, holding back from his quick approach.
'The night we met and revealed Pettigrew, you asked me to live with you,' Harry said calmly. 'That has been my Patronus memory ever since. Expecto Patronum.'
His silver stag burst from his wand and cantered around Sirius once before dissipating.
'Sorry, pup,' he said, laughing and giving him a hug once he closed the distance. 'You've just changed a lot since Christmas is all.'
'I'll explain that later,' Harry said, looking at Hermione with a smile, she had the same bemused expression on her face. 'For now…' He tossed a leather pouch to Kingsley Shacklebolt.
'There are four Death Eaters in there transfigured into galleons. There are eight more down in the department of mysteries. Four of them are either cursed or bound; the others won't be able to release them. The other four are probably on their way up by now. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange are among them.'
Sirius looked around at Kingsley in surprise, who was hefting the bag with some confusion.
'What the bloody hell are you going on about, Potter?' Mad Eye Moody asked gruffly. 'Are you telling me five students took on a dozen Death Eaters and handled them easily?'
Harry's wand moved in a flash and Moody was gone. A golden galleon landed on the floor of the atrium with a loud, lingering ting. Another wave and Alastor Moody lay panting on the ground, good eye wide in shock.
'Yes,' Harry said simply.
The adults all looked at Harry strangely, Sirius' suspicion had returned as well.
'Look,' Harry sighed, 'there is a lot I could do to prove I am who I say I am but there is little time. The Death Eaters will be coming up any – ah, speak of the devils.'
The indicator above one of the lifts was indeed rising from the ninth level, making its way toward the atrium. Harry summoned a daily prophet that sat abandoned at the guard station. He tapped it with his wand a few times and it glowed an eerie blue.
'Will you allow me to stay and help you capture them?' he asked the group of adults, 'or would it cause too many problems?'
No one seemed to have an answer for the question but Harry understood all the same.
'Don't any of you die,' he ordered them. 'Bellatrix Lestrange is especially dangerous, don't underestimate her and don't fight fair.' He turned away from the adults and held out the newspaper to his friends. 'Everyone grab on, it's a Portkey.'
They all did without hesitation; at least they believed he was who he claimed.
'Should we just let him leave?' a confused Tonks asked from behind him. 'What if he's taking the kids into a trap or something?'
Before any of them could come up with an answer, the Portkey glowed a bright blue and they were gone.
They landed smoothly just outside the gates of Hogwarts, everyone steady on their feet.
'I don't think they believed you, Harry,' Luna said unnecessarily.
Harry smiled and the rest gave weak chuckles.
'I can't say I blame them,' Ginny said, looking Harry over. 'I heard what you said to Hermione on the lift. It seems so unbelievable.'
Harry shrugged at the girl and started walking toward the school. 'I hope they'll be all right,' he said as they walked. 'I wanted to stay and take care of it but I don't really want people to know what I'm capable of. It's one thing for the Order to have some idea, that won't matter, but if anyone else showed up …'
Their footsteps were loud on the damp grass in the quiet early morning. The darkness around them was thick with anticipation of the rising sun.
'Why?' Hermione asked, sharp as ever. 'Are you planning something?'
Harry picked up his pace somewhat as he pulled out a small glass orb. 'I plan on fulfilling this.' Their eyes widened at the prophecy. 'Come, let's go to the Room of Requirement. I want to explain a few things to you all before we sleep.'