Yee gads, I've been writing on this thing for over five months!

*******************(You all do remember who Malik is right?)************************

Malik looked at his watch, which was charmed to look like a normal watch; when he looked at it; however, he saw planets and stars. It was much like Dumbledore's watch, which he'd once thought that he would never be able to read until hell froze over.

He moved away from the counter. He locked up display cases, and put a sign on the door saying that it was closed indefinitely. Then he locked the door and set up his security charms.

He had no plans to return here anytime soon.

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Ron and Hermione sat side by side in a companionable silence. Hermione's eyes were a bit red, and they looked for all the world a couple who had received bad news some time ago; Now they were just enjoying the comfort of each other's presence.

The two slumped slightly against each other, their eyes closing, for they were now asleep.

The agent of this sudden trip into unconsciousness was a wizard standing unnoticed in the corner of the room. Maybe they would have noticed him if the room wasn't such a blinding kaleidoscope of color, but then again, maybe not.

He walked over to where the younger version of himself lay and put a hand on his chest, his eyes closing. The Phoenix on his shoulder began a faint song, almost beyond human hearing. "Damnation, it's what I thought."

He breathed in, in preparation. Then his world tilted as he entered the dark cell that was his counterpart's mind.

Being in someone else's mind was a terrifying thing. Foreign thoughts would assault your sanity. Memories would drown you.

Young Harry's mind was a whirlwind -A million hells swirled around him, all designed to torment him in one way or only. They were also quite effective, seeing as how they were the manifestations of his own mind

His unconscious was certainly active. Faces of those he hated and those he loved swirled around his younger self at every angle, scenes of every painful moment he'd every had playing out behind them.

It was a maelstrom. His conscious mind was currently running through a secret hallway in Hogwarts, whist the castle crumbled behind him. The older Harry remembered this one -he had to keep running, to find, and save everyone, and if he didn't run fast enough, they'd all be crushed under the falling stones.

He mentally winced, as the link to Voldemort became active. He wasn't the only one who was visiting, apparently.

He had to bare the pain caused by the link's suddenly flaring up for a minute before it eased up. Voldemort hadn't even noticed him, which wasn't all that surprising. Currently he was tormenting the younger Harry.

He stayed vaguely tuned this the conversation as he began his work. Working with someone's mind was delicate work.

"Oh, your father's gravesite again Voldie? I'm getting kind of used to it by now. Would you mind conjuring a chair while you tell me -what? I'm only going to ignore you, so don't tell me about my parents, how I'm going to die and my little friends too, how I'm wrong, or how I should join you."

"Come now Potter, surely you prefer this better than some places? Your reaction when I locked you into that memory of your old cupboard was quite amusing." The smooth voice was aimed at destroying the boy's resistance.

His younger self sneered, "Yeah, and that version of Hogwarts filled with bodies and drenched in blood was pathetic. I would think it would remind you to much of the fact what that you are never going to have Hogwarts."

"You like snakes to you not Potter?" Somehow the older Harry didn't think his younger self liked the site of the snakes that were now slithering up his legs."

"Gee, I just noticed what a nice red sky you created. How quaint."

The snakes were gone now, and Harry's image of himself had unfocused as he combated the pain. The scene around them darkened as Harry's own mind unconsciously twisted it into a new scene. Voldemort cast a cursory glance at the image of Sirius cradling Arabella's body, then looked over to where Lucius Malfoy prepared to kill him.

"With you out of commission I have an open doorway; Do you realize that? And with Dumbledore leaving the country… my, my, my, Potter. I promise to let you know which of your friends dies when. And how."

"You son of a muggle bastard."

He could feel his younger self's mind tremble as Voldemort lashed out in response. Fortunately for the young man, he was ready.

He twisted Voldemort's connection back on itself, causing the 'man' no small amount of pain. Voldemort's mind wasn't pleasant and he had no intention of remaining their long. He ignored his revulsion and prodded Voldemort's mind which, he noted with satisfaction, was twisted into a state of extreme confusion. Odd loops and twists had formed which would keep him trapped for hours.

He was forced to withdraw as Voldemort's automatic defenses began an assault -but paused to send a mental curse at Voldemort.

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He opened his eyes and looked down upon his other self. It was strange to look at a younger version of yourself, wondering how much you had changed.

He contemplated the magic surrounding the bed. You could sense the anguish in his aura; A good empathy could learn a lot of his secrets while his defenses were obliterated like this. "Nothing I can do for him now, it would take too much time. I don't want to risk failure in Italy."

The phoenix trilled it's sympathy, and flew around the room, to alight on the younger Harry's chest.

He stared for a moment in curiosity, but gave up trying to figure out why a Phoenix did what it did. "Thanks. I really hate to leave him -I remember what this felt like. And it didn't happen to me until later…" He trailed off in memory, and then smirked at himself. "I'm old."

Then he was gone.

Brian walked in, having finally gotten the chance to visit Harry. He paused in horror, looking around the room, "Bloody hell. The Weasley twins have been here." He stifled his amusement to a chuckle, noticing the red head sleeping comfortably next to the woman with frizzy brown hair.

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It was one of the rare times that Dumbledore was out of Hogwarts. Today he was within a nondescript Order building baggage already packed. He was supposed to have left already; Several Aurors and Order Agents were milling around waiting to accompany him. But, as always when he had to leave, several unexpected matters delayed him. "Minerva, Sprout's granddaughter has been arrested by Aurors. I think you'll understand that she isn't up to teaching right now. I've been considering a replacement, and I'd like you to contact Mr. Longbottom."

"Longbottom." Snape muttered his opinion of the idea evident.

"Longbottom?" McGonagall said at the same time as Snape, then shot him a look, "Alright Albus."

"Sirius." Dumbledore said.

"Everything is running as smoothly as it can be -besides the problem with stationing the elves." Sirius and the man in charge of the Aurors had different ideas on how the elves should be put to use. Sirius wanted to set them up into three basic squads, and keep a special one in reserve for relieving injured from the former three, or for when only a few elves were needed in extra missions.

Sirius glanced at Ron, who looked unwilling to speak up. "I've been looking at the list of people targeted by Death Eaters." Ron hesitated here, figuring out what he wanted to say. The lists were long, the locations varied, but "there is something… you know the problems we had with news sources until we figured out that Voldemort was controlling them? If we had looked, we might have noticed that they fair-minded reporters had been killed, or noticed that their families. Lets just say that I'm watching."

Dumbledore looked at the red haired man intently with keen blue eyes, "Trust yourself." Ron wasn't the best chess player in England for nothing.

Remus arrived carrying a small, plain chest of belongings. Sirius gave it a look and said, "How can you fit anything in there?"

His only answer was "Packrat."

"Hey, I deserve to be!" After running around for so long with nothing.

Snape snorted at this, but Black only glanced at him. Surprisingly, hell had frozen over and created a new ice age: They'd finally learned to tolerate each other.

Dumbledore said, "I'm glad you could make it on short notice Remus." It went unsaid that he was filling in for Harry.

Remus set down his things and went across the room to greet Maya, who was also holding baggage. "Is that muggle?"

"Yeah, see the wheels?"

Snape obviously caught that snippet of conversation, as his face twisted in distaste. He might be on their side, but he still had grown up prejudiced against muggles -not say that plenty others hadn't as well.

Dumbledore and the rest of his party became more animated as they had no reason to remain any longer.

Minerva said to herself, "I wonder what a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards is like?"

Snape responded, "I have one thing to say: bureaucrats."

"It's not set up by the governments -otherwise Arthur would be going."

"Humph," he answered sourly.

"There's no need to be dour."

"Shut it Black. I've things to do." The black figure made a swath to the door.

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I soo could have made this chapter more depressing… Anyways, what you don't need to know is that this chapter has started the final sequence in my story -so I don't know when the next chapter will be out, as I need everything in perfect order before I post it.