A/N: Enjoy!


Labyrinth of the Mind


Harry's eyes flew open, a jarring pain in his shoulder welcomed him back to the land of the living; or was he dead? He no longer knew the difference anymore; nor did he care. The nightmare was still in full swing, he realized bitterly.

Damn you Voldemort! What do you want from me?!

Enraged beyond reason, he threw himself to his feet, while gingerly holding his throbbing shoulder and glared around for his non-existent enemy. It was as if he could feel someone around him but nothing met his eye. He was in the empty common room, standing right before the large window, from where he had just…. He tried to suppress the odd mixture of feelings of self-disgust and self-pity that were threatening to aggravate his already deranged state.

He glowered at the grounds below the castle, as if it was responsible for his situation. He felt cheated, in a morbid sense of way. His only means of escape was denied to him.

"Come and get me!" Someone shouted out loud, the strangely unfamiliar voice coming from somewhere upstairs. Was it a challenge to him? For some reason, he wanted it to be so. With a vicious smile he marched upstairs, his wand held at his side, ready to unleash the volcano of rage inside him.

Once again, there was the same sense of déjà vu but Harry disregarded it. He was no longer thinking straight. Not that he could be blamed…

He came to the first door and opened it, no longer surprised that it was his dorm and not the first year's. There was no one, which didn't surprise him either. All that anger that burned inside him extinguished instantly. His mood swings were getting worse. There was no one in this little world of his that he could throw his frustration at. He was all alone.

He was so tired; so very tired. He had enough of this. With his droopy eyes he glanced at his inviting bed. He eased himself onto it and threw the covers over himself, covering his whole body. He snuggled in the warm bed and closed his eyes, a small smile spreading across his face. I shouldn't have left this comfortable place to begin with.

He sighed with relief as he tried to forget everything that had transpired in the last few hours. Maybe… maybe nothing actually happened. He must have been hallucinating all this while. Everything was alright now. Within a few hours the sun would be up and this horrible nightmare would end. A strange calmness began to hug him as an irrational sense of understanding distorted his impression of reality. This is not real. Nothing is real. This is just a bad dream. A lonely nightmare. All he needed to do now was for him to go back to sleep…

He heard the sound of splashing water coming from the washroom. He slept unmoving…

He heard footsteps from outside the dorm. His eyes remained closed…

He heard the squeak of the door knob turning. He swallowed hard but still didn't move…

He heard someone open his trunk and search for something inside it. His eyes flew open, a frown beginning to form on his forehead…

"-playing this game of hide and seek!" Someone yelled out loudly at the doorway. Harry's eyes widened suddenly as he heard the same words that he remembered himself saying. The sense of déjà vu was stronger than ever. An idea began to grow inside his head, a possible answer to everything that was happening to him. However, there was one factor that seemed to shoot down all the theories that he could come up with.

Time

It just didn't seem to fit with the sequence of events that had occurred in the last few hours or so. He strained his ears, and on not hearing anything he poked his head out to look at his pocket watch at the table.

12:06

What?! What?! What?! Harry mentally yelled repeatedly. It was as if he had run headfirst into a brick wall. His mind had screeched to a complete halt. He blankly stared at the second hand, tick around the dial, without a care in the world.

He heard someone's running footsteps and something hit the bed he was sleeping in. At the same moment, sudden pain flared in his forehead and he heard a barely audible groan coming from below him. Someone was under his bed. That someone could only be- It's not possible! What he was thinking was inconceivable!

He clenched his jaws to reign in his growing sense of panic. He had to make sure. He waited for silence to return and again poked his head out to glance at the watch. It was no longer there. Harry balled his fist with frustration. In doing so his hand grazed by his side. There was something in the pocket. Something round; like a... pocket watch. With eyes wide, he again looked from under the covers... and there it was again. His watch was back on the table. And the watch in his pocket was no longer there. He quickly grabbed the watch and checked the time.

12:14

Impossible! It couldn't have been more than three minutes since he last checked the time. What in the world was going on? Did it mean that what he was thinking was actually true?

"NOOOO!" A sharp scream coming from downstairs distracted him. Harry's eyes immediately returned to the watch.

12:34

A jump of twenty minutes! He felt the dull pain in his head return but he overlooked it. He kept staring at the watch deciding not to look away until there was a change in time. The seconds ticked by.

12:28

And then it happened again, right before his very eyes. The hands of the watch seem to change positions. It hadn't even been more than twenty seconds since the last jump. Moreover, the headache seemed to aggravate a little. Harry's eyes widened slightly as a hint of understanding began to dawn on him. He might have finally come up with an explanation for the fluctuating levels of pain in his forehead… and possibly also his shoulder.

It had been he himself all along. It was his other selves, his copies from a different time, that he had been seeing or hearing for the last… he no longer knew how long it had been. Clearly the time was overlapping for him. Time seemed to be jumping around that was clear, but how and why was still a mystery... for now.

There was another thing that he realized that was definitely strange about his time jump. It wasn't his body that was moving through time. It seemed it was just his consciousness. That could definitely clarify why the pain he felt was so discontinuous with varying levels of intensity. That being said, he couldn't explain why there were more copies of himself in this… realm? He also didn't know what this place was… Another one of the things that he had yet to unravel.

The more Harry began to reason his current situation, the more of his sanity seemed to return. He felt he was finally returning back to some sense of normalcy. However, just being able to understand his predicament was not going to help him much in terms of his escape.

First he had to find out why he was here. If he could figure that out then he could perhaps find a way to break free from here. Did his earlier assumption that Voldemort was behind everything, incorrect? Clearly, the pain in his head was because of him hitting it on the edge of his own bed. It had nothing to do with his scar. What about what he saw in the common room? He closed his eyes and tried to focus on what he could remember of it. Now, with a much clearer head on his shoulders, he had to agree that there was a chance that it could not have been Voldemort. It was too dark to make out who the person actually was.

That being said, the last thing that he did remember was his mind being taken over by Voldemort. That seemed to definitely indicate that the Dark Lord could have had a hand in this unending nightmare of his or maybe at least be the cause of it.

Harry decided to make his move. He once again waited to ensure that there was no one around. Then he checked his watch.

12:02

Perfect timing! He stealthily got off the bed and with a look around, opened his trunk. The first thing he saw was his broom. He was about to reach for the broom but stopped himself. He realized that if he removed the broom from the trunk, his future self wouldn't be able to retrieve it. He waited patiently for the next jump. He didn't have to wait too long.

12:52

The broom disappeared and the trunk was left completely messy; not that he cared. He once again stopped himself from retrieving his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, remembering what happened with the pocket watch. He had woken up at just past twelve so he had to ensure that he took the cloak and the map as early as possible. He didn't want to lose the cloak while he was walking around under it to hide his presence. Another worrying thought struck him! If there had been a time jump while he was riding the broom, to a time before he took the broom, it would have been catastrophic!

12:43

He heard footsteps outside as soon as he moved to a new a time. He threw a glance towards the door but the sound of the footsteps moved past by. It was still too late so Harry waited.

12:09

The broom was still not there. It seemed he had taken the broom quiet early in time and hence was able to avoid any accidents. He pocketed his watch and quickly took the cloak and the map, and closed the lid of his trunk. He immediately threw the cloak over himself and whispered the password for the map after unfolding it.

There was no one anywhere in the castle, that much was clear. He focused on the Gryffindor tower and what he saw mildly surprised him. There were three Harry Potters in total that he could see, currently roaming around. This should have shocked him more than it had but after all he had experienced so far, this seemed rather ordinary in comparison. He watched one of his selves standing in the common room while the other seemed to be flying around on his broom outside. Well that explained a few things.

And raised a few more questions…

If his own copies are the only ones here, what was Voldemort, or whoever that was, doing here? Also what was that note to kill himself meant? He had to investigate further. The answers were most probably downstairs.

Harry quietly made his way down towards the Common Room. To his astonishment, he managed to run into his other self; almost. Harry pushed into the side of the stairs and let the other one pass by, while holding his breath. He let out a deep sigh of relief when he was again alone on the stairs. It was a strange feeling of seeing his copy before him.

The common room finally came into view. He noticed that he had to walk down only one set of spiraling stairs. For some strange reason, the fifth year dorm was on each storey, in some kind of weird loop. He felt like trying to find an answer to this mystery wouldn't benefit him much and decided to ignore it and focus on finding a way to escape.

The common room was completely dark. He had stopped on the stairs trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness when suddenly someone bumped into his shoulders. It was his other self! So much for being careful…

Harry ducked as his other self's hands reached out for him. That was close. He should have remembered what had happened earlier. He realized that everything seemed to be following a single chain of unaltered events. Nothing seemed to divert from what had occurred in the past… or the future.

Suddenly the common room was flooded by the moonlight and the fire was crackling at its brightest. He was the only one in the room. He quickly moved towards the table before the sofa where he had earlier found the parchment. However, there was nothing on the table. He frowned as he looked around the common room. He finally spotted a couple of sheets on the floor, in the corner hidden from view. The first few he picked up were blank. However, his search was interrupted as the common room once again returned to darkness and the parchments disappeared from before him. He turned around to notice a faint outline of the parchments on the table. They seemed to have returned to its original position. Why was that happening? He began to walk towards the table when he suddenly stopped mid-step as the scene before him suddenly changed.

He noticed his other self, walk down the stairs and towards the portrait hole. In the same instant he noticed something bizarre near the fireplace. A long crack began to form in mid-air and slowly began to widen. Something was shooting out from all around the crack in the form of dark sparks as Harry felt a pulsating energy emanate from the crack. He could feel his skin crawl as he gulped down the intense feeling, telling him to flee. The crack suddenly began to take on a human form as someone tried to force his way through it. Harry first noticed the hand and then one of the shoulders and then the face…

Professor Dumbledore! The weird sparks and the strange glow escaping from the crack behind him was morphing his features in a sinister fashion and only by looking more closely could anyone have identified him to be the Headmaster.

"H..a..r..y" The floating partial body of Dumbledore, called out to his other self. There was a hint of an undertone of concern and worry in his voice but the way he sounded and looked, gave a completely different picture. No wonder his other self was absolutely terrified and ran for his life.

Moments later, the crack disappeared and so did the Headmaster. There no longer seemed to be any doubt in Harry's mind that Dumbledore was trying to help him. Did that mean that the message that was written on the parchment was actually from the Headmaster himself? Then why did he wanted Harry to kill himself? Was he missing something? He had to find out.

Harry resumed his hunt for clues and walked towards the table to examine the parchments when suddenly a few things occurred in quick succession.

The common room was illuminated by the fire and the moon.

He noticed his broomstick appearing right at his feet near the sofa.

He spotted his other self, standing near the fireplace behind him.

And finally, he saw a third Harry Potter, standing on the ledge of the large window.

Whatever happened next was instantaneous and involuntary. His invisible-self grabbed the Firebolt, mounting it in the same breath and shot ahead towards the Harry Potter who was already disappearing from view. Harry leaned forward and reached out with his hand as he tried to race the free fall of his other self, with his Invisibility Cloak fluttering around him. The cold earth was quickly approaching. He had less than half a second.

"Nooo!" Harry heard a muffled scream coming from the common room as he stretched out his hand as much as he could and managed to get a good grip on his falling-self's ankle and tugged hard, pushing his broomstick in a hairpin turn. A screech of agony burst through his throat as his shoulder flared with unbearable pain but he refused to let go. They flew in a sharp arc, his other self's fingers almost grazing the ground. That was a close one. Harry was breathing hard as he tried to regain control of the broom and tried to pull up the other Harry.

He propped his unconscious self safely on the broom and slowly flew back up towards the common room. Upon finding the room empty, he gently placed the other Harry on the floor beside the window and turned his attention to nurse his sprained shoulder. It didn't feel broken but it was hurting a lot. His eyes returned to his sleeping self and studied him. It was a very strange feeling, something he was sure he could never get used to. He realized something else. He had just saved himself. What would have happened if hadn't reacted the way he did? What if he had decided to just watch and see what would happen? He really didn't know and neither did he want to think about it.

Ensuring the cloak was securely covering him, he revived his unconscious self. "Ennervate"

He stepped back as his other-self slowly raised himself to his feet, and then disappeared right before his eyes. And so did the light as the room was once again engulfed in darkness. Another time jump... Sighing to himself, Harry turned around to face the empty common room once again. He had to find what he was looking for before something else happened. He noticed the stack of parchments and quickly moved towards it. As he was about to reach for them, the room was lit by the moon followed by a gust of wind which blew the parchments away. He turned his head to notice his other self, opening the window. So this was why the parchments were getting displaced. Ignoring his other self, he moved directly to where the parchments had flown to and began examining them, the moonlight slightly helping him. He finally found one.

'Don't Kill Yourself'

Harry frowned as he re-read those words. There was no 'Don't' in the message that he had read earlier. What was more peculiar was that the word 'Don't' was written twice, almost overlapping each other. What was that about? He realized what the Headmaster was trying to tell him, although he couldn't really explain the change in the message. So he decided to move on and looked for any other hints that Dumbledore could have left behind. He found another one.

'Take Control'

What did that meant? Take control of the situation? Take control of himself? His fear? He put some thought to it but couldn't really understand the message and again moved on, hoping this wasn't the last one.

His search was proving fruitless as he didn't come across any more messages. Just as he was about to give up. He spotted a sheet of parchment that he hadn't noticed before.

'Return to your body'

What did that mean exactly? He was slightly frustrated at the moment at his inability to make sense of these hints, if one could call them that. Why was Dumbledore being so vague? Couldn't he have left clear messages and that too on a single page? Why was the Headmaster making him work so hard? He tried to calm himself, slowly breathing in and out. His irritation would only hinder him, he realized. With a cool mind, he tried to think things over.

Dumbledore was asking him to return to his body. So where was his body? What part of him was missing from his body? He thought back to what he could last recollect. He remembered pushing Voldemort out of his mind and nothing much after that. He must have lost his consciousness. Then what could have happened later? He could either have been moved to St Mungo's hospital or the Hogwarts Infirmary. That being said, he had a good suspicion that his body would be in the Infirmary. Dumbledore wouldn't have allowed his treatment in an unsafe environment of St Mungo's hospital, especially after what had just happened.

If what he had guessed was indeed right, he just had to return to the infirmary. His eyes moved to the portrait hole and the memory of his disappointing failures flashed before him. However, he knew that this time it was different. He had a destination. His head was much clearer. And most importantly, he was not afraid.

With strong steps and a resolute mind, he left through the exit and made his way towards the Infirmary. For a brief a moment he didn't feel any resistance and he thought he was going to make it. And in the next instant, he felt as he was walking against a forceful gust of chilly wind which almost managed to blow him off his feet. He struggled to take another step as he leaned forward to try and keep his balance. His feet began to slide under him, pushing him back. Doubts began to cloud his mind. He was going to fail again...

I am not going back. Harry mentally yelled as he refused to buckle under the pressure. This wind is not real. Not real. He kept on repeating in his head as he poured all his strength in his steps and dragged his feet forward. A warm sensation slowly begin grow around him and nudge him ahead. It was as if someone was telling him, 'It is alright. You can do it.'

He was not afraid anymore.

The wind suddenly disappeared as Harry stumbled forward, sending him sprawling across the floor. He picked himself up and found himself standing at the entrance of the empty Infirmary… almost empty.

One of the bed was occupied by someone. Harry already knew who it was. He slowly walked towards the bed and stood by the side staring at himself. There was something very different about the Harry before him. Something was off; something was missing from him but he couldn't figure out what.

Well, I am here. Now what? He looked around but there was no one in the Infirmary, not that he expected anyone to be there to tell him what he had to do. He returned his attention back to his sleeping self. His right hand twitched for some reason. He stared at his own hand and then at the sleeping Harry.

Instinctively, he reached out with his hand to touch the arm. Before he could feel his skin, his eyes flashed open. It was as if he was waking up from a very realistic dream. The first thing Harry noticed was a pair of blue eyes that were staring down at him.

"Welcome back Harry."