Waving his wand quickly, Dumbledore reinstated the gravity in the room causing it's occupants to cringe as several items broke

A/.N – Okay, okay * ducks rotten tomatoes * I know this part is very late…but at least it's here!! And its pretty long! I'm very busy this year, with A-levels, being deputy head girl, school council, the youth orchestra...etc…etc…I think you get the idea, but I will finish the story satisfactorily…Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this part, and please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please READ AND REVIEW!!

The grass is always greener on the other side,
the neighbour's got a new car that you wanna drive,
and when time is running out you wanna stay alive.
We all live under the same sky
We all live, we all die.

There is no wrong,
there is no right
the circle only has one side.

Travis, Side

**

Harry Potter and the Order of Praesentia

Part Six – Interlude…

Waving his wand slowly and concentrating hard, Dumbledore reinstated the gravity in the room causing it's occupants to cringe as several items broke upon impact with the floor.

"Ah yes, well – sorry about that everyone."

"What –?" Ron left the question hanging in the air. Nobody took their eyes off the small child sat innocently in the middle of the bed.

Sirius exchanged glances with the Headmaster.

"I suppose this is one of those pre-school magical showings, eh, Albus?"

"Exactly, Sirius – perfectly normal."

Hermione frowned. "But-"

"Right then, come on Harry!" Sirius interrupted shooting another glance towards the Headmaster. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Padfoot!"

"Exactly. See you in a bit, everybody."

Lifting Harry up to his shoulder, Black began to hurriedly walk out of the room - trying to avoid any questions he couldn't answer. Harry leant over his shoulder, reaching out his arms. The stuffed toys Lupin had conjured earlier flew directly to him.

Hermione pointed in amazement, whilst Lupin turned his calculating gaze towards Dumbledore.

"Ron and Hermione," he said, turning towards them. "Why don't you go and reassure your classmates about Harry – when Sirius returns I'll bring Harry down to you."

The two nodded resignedly and walked out of the room. Turning back to Dumbledore, Remus frowned.

"What's going on, Albus?" He said. "That's not normal magic for a child to be showing – there's something else here, isn't there?"

"I'm afraid so, Remus." The old mage sighed heavily. "I'm sorry you weren't told any of this before, but it was only a desperate effort to maintain Harry's safety."

"I wasn't told what?"

"This all started with the Prophecies of Merlin." He stopped and glanced at Remus over the top of his spectacles. "Have you heard of them?"

"Yes," Lupin frowned. "But I've never seen them."

"Very few people have – they are a closely guarded secret, Remus and so, too, are the men that guard them. The Order of Praesentia believes that Harry fulfils one of the major prophecies and is therefore the hailed 'Aureus' - saviour of the modern world. The magic displayed just now is connected to that."

"Wouldn't he need training of some sort though?"

Dumbledore paused. "We believed so – Harry has actually started his training – but he seems already so in control of what he is doing. I was discussing these matters with the leader of the Order - he believes there is very little they an actually teach Harry that he hasn't discovered for himself."

"So Harry's on his own then?"

"As far as the order is concerned their task is done, the prophecy solved. But not if we can help it, Remus, not if we can help him."

**

"No, Harry – don't! Elise, come here! I'm not kidding – if you don't get over here right this-"

"Problems, Sirius?"

"Oh, thank God! Hermione could you just keep them apart for a bit? If you thought they were trouble before, you should try now! Especially with Harry able to-" He stopped.

"Able to what?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Able to – to –get into smaller spaces! Yes, that's it!" Like that's going to work, Black. "Anyway, do you want to take Elise then, you two?"

"No, we'll take Harry."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, desperately trying to come up with a decent reason why they shouldn't – they couldn't find out about the order. Too Late. The door shut behind them as they left, leaving Sirius holding Elise.

Damn

**

"What are you talking about, Hermione?" Ron asked, struggling to keep a hold on Harry who was desperately trying to escape.

"There's something else behind this, Ron." She looked back at the large book on her lap. "We know that magical children display small signs of wand-less magic before they start their education – yes?"

"Yep – sort of proof they're magical."

"Right – but this is more than that, I'm sure of it. I mean, from what Harry's told us, there have been more than just a few incidents, and not just when he was young either."

"Don't be daft, Hermione – everyone knows you need a wand to do magic!"

"But what about his Aunt then? He didn't have his wand then – and that snake thingy he told us about, when he set it free? He didn't even know about magic then!"

"That could have been one of those-"

"That's not it though, Ron, what about last year?" She looked up nervously.

"What about it?" Ron asked. "The Panther thing was because of the fairies, wasn't it?"

"Initially, yes." She turned the book towards him. "Look – it says here that for the words to work, the person saying them needs to have their wand."

"But Harry-"

"Exactly. There's that fireball he used on Voldemort's wand, throwing you against that wall – Ron, Harry has some strange ability here, and this-" here, she pointed at the stuffed animals which were once again alive, "this is proof of it!"

"What kind of ability?"

"I don't know," she frowned. "But I know where we can find out."

"Oh, Herm, not the-"

**

Ron frowned at the large sign with 'Library' imprinted on it. Anyone would think she lived in here.

"Found anything yet?" He called out without raising his head.

"Nope – you keep an eye on Harry and I'll keep looking." He looked round to see where the reply had come from, but able to see only a towering stack of books, turned back to Harry, who seemed fascinated by the bright colour of Ron's hair. Looking down at the book in his lap he grinned, and began to explain something very carefully to Harry.

A short while later…

"Oh good, Ron." Hermione said absently as he appeared by her shoulder. "Can you take these back for me?"

"In a minute, Herm – look what I found." He dangled the black cub near her head.

"Oh, that's nice – could you move the-" She paused and looked up. "Ron, please tell me you didn't?"

"What?" He asked innocently, placing the small cat on the table. It gave a small 'mew' and toppled over. "He'll find out how to do it later on anyway!"

"He shouldn't be able to turn into a panther yet though! The fairies let him do that – he's hasn't met them in this body yet! Oh, wait – maybe that's a clue."

"What's a clue?"

"Thanks, Ron - you're a genius!"

"But I don't get it." He watched as Hermione excitedly got up and began to empty more bookshelves. "What's a clue?"

**

"So the only way to return Harry to normal is to recreate the original potion?"

Snape sighed. "Look – I can't find the antidote until I figure out what Longbottom did wrong in the first place!"

"Well," Sirius thought hard. "Can't you just look at the potion as it is now?"

"No, I need to know how it went wrong!"

Albus sighed and stared at his hands. Looking up after a moments thought, he turned towards Professor McGonagall and smiled.

"Minerva – could you possibly fetch Mr Longbottom for me please?"

"Of course, Albus."

**

"So basically," Ron said, smiling as Harry returned from his panther form with a slightly confused look on his face. "We're looking for situations when people have the ability to turn into big cats without any particular training?"

"Yes – now get Harry to stop floating the books, and keep looking!"

Ron turned to the small boy. "Harry, can I have those, please?"

"Floaty!"

"No – down."

"Floaty!"

"No, Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh – Hermione!! Help!"

Hermione looked up as Ron's wail disturbed her train of thought and then back at Harry.

"Harry – put him down. Please, Harry – somebody will get hurt!"

Harry looked up with wide eyes, and a small smile spread across his face as he giggled happily. "Floaty!"

"Hermione – did I say 'help'," Ron said sarcastically. "or 'gosh, Hermione, why don't you join me on the flippin' ceiling?'"

"Shut up." She snapped, angrily. "Ouch – watch where you point us, Harry – that hurt!"

As the two continued to be bashed from one side of the library to the other followed by several of the volumes from the shelves, the door slowly opened…

"Holy Sh-"

**

"But I don't know what I did wrong, sir!" Neville cried. "I really didn't mean to do it!"

"Of course you didn't, Neville. Nobody," McGonagall glared at the potions master, "thought you did. We just need you to repeat what you did – try as hard as you can, that's all we ask."

Snape looked as if he was restraining himself with difficulty as Neville slowly placed ingredients in the large black cauldron, stirring constantly. He suddenly raised an eyebrow as the boy dropped in two horntail scales, and then pronounced it finished.

"Two scales, Longbottom?"

"Yes, sir."

"No, Longbottom. One scale – one."

"Oh." Neville blushed. "But at least we found what went wrong!"

"I suppose – now get out of my sight."

Neville grabbed his bag shakily and ran from the room as fast as he could. McGonagall frowned at the professor.

"Must you scare him so?"

"Yes."

She snorted and left the room, leaving the antidote to be prepared.

**

Sirius stalked through the halls, Elise under his arm, heading for the library. Having trailed all over the school in search of Ron, Hermione and Harry, he had finally resorted to asking some of the portraits, which then directed him towards the library. Elise giggled as her position was shifted, wriggling her legs in a vain attempt at escape.

"Will you stay still, 'lise?"

"Why?"

"Because it's hard to carry you when you insist on squirming so."

"Where's Harry?"

"Hopefully he's in here – God knows I've looked everywhere else."

"Yep – there, see?" She pointed happily at the corner. Sirius followed her finger to the small boy stood in the corner of the room, and then to the two teenagers flying above him.

"Holy Shit!"

"SIRIUS! Help!" Hermione screamed from her elevated position.

"Er – right then," Sirius said, considering the situation carefully. "Back in a minute."

"No, Sirius, don't - damn it."

**

"Dumbledore," Sirius cried, bursting into the headmaster's office. "Call Causidicus now – this is getting out of hand!"

"Why, what's he done now?"

"Ron, Hermione and half the contents of the library are doing some kind of dance."

"That's not too bad then," Dumbledore rationalised.

"They're 15 feet in the air!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Right then. I'll call for him now," the headmaster said, heading towards the fireplace. "Go and see if you can help, I'll see you down there."

As Sirius ran from the room with Elise, with plans to drop her off with Madame Pomfrey again, Dumbledore threw some powder towards the fire and, stepping through the flames, shouted "Order of Praesentia" before being whisked away.

**

Harry groaned as he prised his eyes open to find darkness. Where am I? What happened? He reached out tentatively with his finds to find solid walls surrounding him. Ugghh, Neville's Potion – what's he done this time? As his eyes slowly adjusted to the very dim light, Harry could vaguely make out clothing on hangers above his head, and a door handle to his right. Attempting to turn the handle he frowned as the door refused to open. He rattled the handle in annoyance and then leant back against the wall.

BANG

The door swung open, and as Harry shielded his eyes from the vicious light a voice boomed around him.

"What do you think you're doing boy? What have we told you about disturbing our –" The voice stopped, mid-rant.

Harry looked up slowly, his heart sinking to his feet as his dead uncle stood before him. Backing away quickly, he watched as his uncle's face went from purple to green before resting at white as he screamed, "PETUNIA!" Harry's horse-faced aunt came running from the kitchen and screamed as she saw Harry crouched in what had to be the cupboard under the stairs.

"Y-y-you –" She stared at Harry once more. "Vernon – this has to be some of that, that – weird stuff."

"Yes – you, boy. What's your name?" Dursley asked slowly, as though speaking to the three year old that had previously been in the cupboard.

"It's – well, its Harry, Uncle Vernon." Harry said tentatively. "Only I appear to be in the wrong year somehow, so if you would kindly let me through I can-"

"NOT SO FAST BOY – you get back here!" His uncle's face had gone back to its original purple colour and Harry realised with a shudder that this was the most angry he had ever seen him. Backing away slightly but being blocked from further movement by the closet wall behind him, Harry winced as his Uncle advanced on him.

"I knew this would happen – I told you, Petunia – we should have thrown him in the orphanage two years ago!" He paused here to take a breath, glared at the teen sprawled on the floor before him and realised that this was magic – the very thing they had been trying to squash out of the boy.

"We take him in off the street and he repays us with this – this – this strange stuff. What are the neighbours going to think?" He made a swift kick at Harry and connected solidly with the boy's chest. Harry raised his arms in self-defence as another kick was aimed, and winced as a punch was thrown in amongst it. Finally, Aunt Petunia let out a high-pitched scream and took a well-aimed shot at Harry's head; with the frying pan he had always remembered her threatening him with…

**

Dumbledore walked into the room with Causidicus, whom he had collected from the Order, and he felt himself lose control of his feet. It wasn't long before he joined Ron, Hermione and now Sirius as well at the top of the ceiling. Causidicus watched with amusement from his position on the ground – being the only one still with any sense of gravity. He looked at Harry on the ground and spoke sharply.

"Harry."

The grin on the small boys face faded as he looked up at the stern adult.

"Put them down."

Harry frowned and then winced as everything, including the people, landed on the floor with a thud. He tried to move away from the man in front of him, as he grew increasingly scared.

"All of you please leave," Causidicus spoke smoothly, his eyes never leaving the child stood in front of him, "Harry and I have matters to discuss."

Harry pleaded with the others silently as they left the room, all of them smiling slightly.

Kneeling in front of Harry, Causidicus placed one hand on the boys shoulder. "Good morning, child."

"Is it a good morning?"

Causidicus smiled, a strangely foreign gesture for him. "No, it is not a good morning by any means.

"Oh."

"You are a very special little boy."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are. It will all be explained to you when you are older. Right now, though, you belong back at your aunt and uncle's house."

Harry frowned, upset. "Do I have to go back?"

"Yes, I am afraid so." Causidicus observed the small boys pleading face. "We shall see each other again though make no mistake about that. No more of this 'floaty' business though, all right?"

Harry sadly nodded his assent.

"Now take my hand. You will be leaving soon."

**

The two finally arrived back at the headmaster's office to quite a large gathering of people and as they entered, Causidicus nodded towards Snape whose cauldron was full to the brim with a potion that was obviously the antidote.

Sirius sadly looked Harry squarely in the eye. "Tomorrow morning, you'll wake up, and none of this will have happened," he promised.

"Why not?" Harry asked, confused. "Where am I going?

"I can't tell you anything, except that I'm taking you back to your Aunt and Uncle's house."

"But-"

"No buts, Harry. You have to go back to your Uncle's house."


"So I won't know anything happened?"

"You will when you're older."

"How much older?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Sirius sighed. "Harry, do you know what day it was when you left?"

"Saturday," said Harry, a frown creasing his tiny face.

"Don't you like Saturdays? A day off school?"

"No. Or Sundays."

"Why?"

"No where to run." Harry said sadly.

"From what, Harry?"

"Dudley," Harry explained.

"Your cousin?" Sirius asked, slightly confused, having been spared from 'Dudley stories' in general.

"Yes."

"You don't like Dudley?"

Harry shook his head violently. It was rather comical to see the hair fly outward and the bangs fall in front of his eyes. Sirius had to restrain himself from laughing out loud.
I do like this boy he thought, smiling indulgently.

He turned to Albus with a face easily recognisable as the one once used on teachers on the many occasions when he got into trouble, years ago.

"Oh, Albus," he whispered, "why can't we just keep him and bring our Harry back, too? They'll punish him for this, somehow!"

"Sirius, no. You know that's impossible – our time cannot have two Harry's – one belongs here, the other in his own life. The Dursleys won't have any recollection of this, and no reason whatsoever to punish him the potion will see to that. That is correct, is it not, Severus?"

The potions master nodded his assent.

Sirius continued with his rants. "But-please? I mean, he's right here, right now! I missed over twelve years! I could undo that!"

"You could also end up spoiling him and leading his outcomes with Voldemort to have inconsiderably difficult circumstances. The Harry we know now wouldn't be the same person if you took the three-year-old Harry." Sirius sighed sadly. "Besides," the headmaster continued. "We could go back and save James and Lily – but imagine the consequences of that! What would happen if Harry hadn't existed until this point? Because keeping this Harry here for longer than necessary will mean our Harry is removed from existence."

"But everything's already happened," Sirius persisted.

"Not in this Harry's time, Sirius – he belongs in the past, not another world."

Sirius cast his eyes towards the small Harry huddled away from all the adults, staring once again at Ron's hair – which was apparently funny to him.

"Do you want to administer the potion?" Dumbledore asked.

"Me? Why?"

"He trust you the most, Sirius."

"Do you really think that?"

"I don't doubt it for a second. Now go on."

Harry was watching this conversation with great interest, trying in vain to hear the hushed tones of these two strange, yet kind men.

"Harry?" Said the one with black hair he remembered as Padfoot, yet couldn't remember where from. "It's time to go."

"Go where?"

"Back to your guardians."

"Can't I stay here?" he asked, desperate to stay with these friendly people.


"No – but trust us. You won't remember much Harry – but try hard to remember this, ok? Someone is coming for you. You won't be stuck there forever."

The child couldn't hide the pain and longing in his haunted eyes and Sirius looked away in despair.

"Wait a second," Dumbledore said hurriedly searching in the vast pockets of his robes. "I want you to take this, Harry. It is a reminder of your future, of your true self." He held out a small pendant on a chain – a panther with vivid green emeralds for eyes.

"What is it?" Harry asked, mesmerized.

"Nothing significant. But you will understand in the future – always have hope, Harry. Be strong and never lose faith that help is coming."

Harry looked politely puzzled, but took the chain. Sirius one helped him tie it around his neck. Harry tucked it carefully inside his shirt-his uncle would take it if he saw it – and said goodbye to the people in the room. One or two of them wiped their eyes quickly.

"How sure are you that this is right, Snape?" Sirius asked shortly, looking at the potion.

"As sure as it is possible to be, Black." The professor returned equally brusquely.

Black sighed and began trying to persuade Harry, who was still trying his best to avoid returning to swallow some of the potion. After several attempts and a large amount of the potion ending up on the floor, Harry finally realised they were never going to give in and thus the thick blue soup was finally administered. Harry opened his eyes wide in shock as the taste of the potion registered in his mind.

"Haven't you ever heard of flavouring, Snape?" Lupin muttered from where he stood.

A thick turquoise fog billowed around Harry, which was suddenly transformed into pink as a large bang echoed through the room. Everyone wafted the air in front of them to clear the cloud, then gasped.

"Harry?" Ron said, rushing forward and shaking him roughly. "Come on, wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" Lightly slapping him on the side of his face, Ron managed to bring Harry partly out of the 'sleep' he was in.

"Ugghh – what happened?" He asked groggily. "How'd I get out of the cupboard?"

"What cupboard, Harry? Come on, sit up." Harry leaned heavily on Ron as he was pulled up to a more comfortable position. "Oh, I'm back then – what happened?"

"I think that's what we'd like to know, Harry." Hermione said from behind him, prodding her finger gently at the blood coming from his head.

"I think," he replied slowly. "I went back in time somehow – the Dursleys were alive and I was back in my cupboard."

"Yes, we've established that."

"Shut up, Ron, I'm getting there." Harry snapped light-heartedly. "And then I couldn't get out because it was locked, so when I rattled the door handle, my Uncle came running. I don't remember much after that, but suffice to say they were slightly shocked. I think my aunt hit me with the frying pan."

"That would explain the bump – but what are these?" Hermione started prodding at other coloured points on his face. Harry pulled a face and moved out of her way.

"Hermione!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Let me guess," Sirius said, a frown creasing his forehead. "Your Uncle did the rest?"

Harry nodded. The rest of the group gasped and began to argue amongst themselves.

"We can verify the time change factor though, Harry." Ron said with a slight grin.

"Really, how?" Harry asked.

"Well, where do you think your three-year-old counterpart went?" Hermione said, laughing as she remembered the strange ways of the small boy.

Harry put his head in his hands, a blush spreading across his cheeks. "How bad was it?"

"Let's just say," Sirius piped up with a grin. "We've enough ammunition to last us a good few years."

**

One trip to the infirmary, and several embarrassing stories later, Harry was back in his bed in the Gryffindor dormitories. He had spoken to Sirius earlier about the quidditch team – he had, of course, been delighted and encouraged Harry to accept the position. It was only as an after thought that he suggested the safety aspect should be brought up with Dumbledore – obviously, Sirius was still a child at heart. Harry had eventually written to the team and accepted the position – on the grounds that schoolwork and safety should still come first, but not necessarily in that order. He refrained from telling his friends for the minute, though – still being unsure of how to break the news to Ron.

He was pondering this dilemma one morning in particular - when at his first practice. It could only get harder to hide the truth from here on. Slowly thinking over this as his teammates continued in a corner during their break, shrieks of delight coming from where they were gathered, he was interrupted as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"You alright, Harry?"

He looked up, trying desperately to remember the girl's name.

"Jess," she supplied for him.

He grinned sheepishly. "Yes – I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Come over here – see if you can help us."

Pulling himself up off the floor, Harry trailed after Jess, still feeling slightly out of place. He watched in amusement as the whole team proceeded to clamber onto the broomsticks stood up, only to fall over again quickly.

"What are you trying to do?" He asked with a slight laugh.

"Fly standing up," Andy, the keeper, said panting with the effort of trying to maintain his elevated position. "I can nearly do it too!"

"Well," Harry said nervously – not wanting to sound boastful. "I think it would probably work better if you took your shoes off."

"How?"

"If you just have bare feet, "he replied, removing his shoes and socks, "then you can grip the stick a lot better, see?" He clambered onto the broomstick, and flew it a few yards into the air – holding on with his toes.

"Bloody hell – we've been trying to get this right for weeks, is that all it takes?"

"I think so – try it."

The others rushed to remove their footwear, and then attempted once again. They achieved a little more success – Andy in particular was balancing better, but was watching Harry floating up and down with ease.

"Do you reckon you could do that in a match, Harry?"

"Do what?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Fly standing up!"

"Why?" he questioned. "When would I need to?"

Andy seemed to consider this and then frowned, pouting slightly. "I dunno – it just looks good."

Harry rolled his eyes slightly, and then stopped realising that most of the team was considerably older than him. Turning his attention back to his broom, he sat normally on it and flew into the sky. When high in the sky he leant back onto the twigs watching the clouds float past calmly. This is the life, he thought with a slight sigh. Shame it's too good too last.

To Be Continued…

A/n – I thought that was pretty long…

Thanks to everyone for reviewing…There's really not enough time for me to thank everyone who reviewed, but rest assured that I appreciate every single comment, And will try to get the thank-yous back in full operation next time..

Tanya – Thanks, as ever, for the wonderful comments and corrections – A wonderful beta in anyone's eyes…

Coqui – Sorry I posted without yours, but I will use them as soon as they arrive!! (And did you get that song? It's probably too big, really…) Thanks for the support and musical accompaniment.

I may be posting on Schnoogle soon; I have to re-edit some earlier parts, though, first… This is mainly due to the fact that Homestead are deleting my wonderful (haha) website, as I can't afford to pay for it…sorry to anyone (not that there are many) that visits it…

Sorry once again for the delay, but you can always rest assured that there will be a next part – I will finish this story if it kills me! Please READ AND REVIEW!!

Until next part

(From a very busy and overly stressed) Rufus