Harry spent the next eight days, fours hours, and eighteen minutes dodging men.

News of a single and apparently good-looking woman (Harry didn't think she was exceptionally pretty, let alone beautiful) staying with her cousin spread through the area like wildfire. With women scarce in the West and this area being particularly female-deprived, men flocked to see Harry. Almost all of those who toted guns-be they handguns, rifles, or shotguns--opted to ignore Harry' protests. Aside from being a single woman, she was, well, a woman. She was supposed to look pretty, cook, and bear children.

Harry wanted to scream and transfigure the men into the toads they were. She tried to tell them there was a young man who was very interested in her, she sort of maybe liked him, and if he ever learned of what was going on, he was going to be unhappy. When the men waved the idea away, Harry contemplated siccing Draco on them.

He certainly would not mind turning the men into toads.

With six hours and thirty-one minutes remaining before her companions arrived, Cousin Quigley and Harry went horse-shopping. Harry didn't see why they needed horses until Cousin Quigley said there wasn't much of a chance the others would land in town as she had. Likely or not, they would wind up in the desert beyond the town, which was dry and miserable as deserts tended to be. Since Severus was a ghost, they did not include him in the necessary headcount. When the rancher who was selling the horses asked Cousin Quigley what he needed the horses for, Cousin Quigley sighed and cast Obliverate on the man, leaving him puzzled at why he had money for six horses, which were currently missing from their corrals.

"Was that really necessary?" Harry asked as she bounced awkwardly on the horse. She had thought it was no harder riding a broom than a horse, but a horse was gangly, difficult to balance on when she wanted to move one way and it insisted on going the other, and there was something nerve-wracking about a ton of temperamental horse flesh between her legs. Her skirts billowed stiffly at either side of her. She would have tried riding side-saddle, except the first time she did it she fell off the horse, and that had been the end of that. She jealously watched how Cousin Quigley easily rode, moving up and down with the horse's gait and his hips swaying with the forward movement. The reins loosely clasped in one hand as the other hand grasped the lead rope tied to his saddle's horn. Trailing from the lead rope were four other horses.

As this was the first time riding a horse, Harry thought she was doing rather well, although she probably could do much better. She bounced heavily in the saddle with the horse's choppy trot, and tried to control its head. The horse did not care for its rider. It tossed its head, pulled against the bit, danced around, and swatted Harry with its tail.

"Of course it was necessary," Cousin Quigley replied. "Once your companions arrive, you may have to leave quite soon. As I intend to stay here for a little more time, I do not wish to be pestered by curious people. Furthermore, I do not believe I actually would have cared to explain the calming charm I had to cast on the horses."

Well, there had been that as well. When Harry had tried approaching the little roan she now rode, it had tried to kill her. It was bad enough she was trying to save her life from being killed either indirectly or directly by Voldemort, but insult was being added to injury when a horse decides to trample her to death.

"How soon are the others to arrive?"

"Any time now."

Harry sighed. She squeaked as the horse gave a little jump and nearly unseated her in the process. She wrapped the reigns around the saddle horn and clung desperately to it.

"Amazing!" Cousin Quigley looked over his shoulder at the roan. "A calming charm does nothing to dampen that horse's spirit!"

"Yes." Harry gritted her teeth together. "Simply amazing." Her grip on the saddle horn tightened. Cousin Quigley gave no notice to Harry's discomfort as he scanned the dry countryside. When he spoke of deserts, Harry had imagined sweeping dunes of golden sand. Instead, she got compact, cracked ground that sagebrush and cacti clung to. Every now and then, a lizard would skitter across the ground, disturbed somehow by her passing.

Harry rubbed the sweat away from her brow with the back of her hand. She sighed and shifted in her saddle. Her butt was numb from the constant bumping up and down. Damn these creatures for being so ungraceful. What she would give for her Firebolt. "How much longer?" she called to Cousin Quigley. He peered up at the cloudless sky.

"They arrived already," he said. "They're over the butte there." He nodded his head at one of the many flat-topped hills.

Harry frowned. She hadn't felt anyone come. "Are you sure they're here?"

"Yes."

"When did this happen?"

"When you caught your dress in the cactus."

Harry glanced at her dress' hem, which was shredded from being snagged by the long spines on the cactus' limb. "Oh." She had barely got away with her skin intact, but the horse seemed highly amused over it all. She had considered kicking its sides a little harder than necessary, and then decided she would much rather remain seated.

They rode to whatever butte Cousin Quigley had referred to. Harry drank the stale water in her canteen and contemplated her life in general as they rode along in the hot sun. Her hair was sticky beneath the heavy bonnet Cousin Quigley made her wear. Her glasses fogged from the combination of sweat from the bridge of her nose and the day's heat.

"How much longer do we have?" she asked.

"Just a little more," Cousin Quigley replied. Harry sighed and drooped tiredly over her horse's neck.

An explosion of green, shooting up in the air like a pillar of light, sent Harry's horse in a crazed panic. It reared up with a frantic scream as pain lanced through Harry's head. Harry, too surprise to make a grab at her saddle horn, fell backward and landed on the hard ground. She tried to jump to her feet and scramble out of the horse's way, but her feet tangled with her skirts and she fell over again. Her surroundings blurred from the fierce pain in her forehead. The lead line of horses ripped free of Cousin Quigley's hand. He pulled his horse's reigns tight and grabbed the saddle horn as his horse bucked beneath him.

The ground beneath Harry's fingertips vibrated slightly from the immense explosion of power. She tried to scramble to her feet again just as her rearing horse brought his two front hooves down. Harry jumped backwards. The horse's hoof grazed down the front, tearing away the front of her dress. She was pulled down, but the horse leapt away and galloped across the countryside, following the string of lead horses.

The pillar of green power disappeared. The pain in her scar receded as she tried to pull together the front of her dress. Her petticoats were also torn, but her pantalets and corset were still intact. Harry realized what she was doing was futile. She just shrugged out of her dress and petticoats. Cousin Quigley eyed her figure.

"You'll get burned by the hot sun," he said as Harry pulled her wand free of her dress' pocket. She tucked it down the front of her corset.

"So I'll transfigure a bush into sun screen." Harry pointed at the butte. "What was that?"

"That was one of yours, I believe."

Harry scratched her head. "Probably Tom Riddle," she said. "But why was he using so much power?"

Cousin Quigley shrugged. "Get on." He guided his horse over to Harry's side and extended an open hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up. Harry plopped down behind the saddle and wrapped an arm around Cousin Quigley's round waist. "We'll go see what that was about." He kicked his horse and they cantered toward the direction.

===========================

"Master?" Pinky, hugging a lopsided, slightly-ragged blue bunny close to her side, was crying as she wandered the halls of Dinsmore. Fat tears rolled down her face and dripped off her pointy nose and pointy chin. "You leeeeft Pinky! Master!" Pinky buried her face between the bunny's two floppy ears and sobbed. Her master was gone. He had somehow left, but in Pinky's mind, that translated as abandonment. What was she to do? Master never left home without telling her, and he usually took her along.

Only Pinky knew how Master liked his covers turned down at night. Only Pinky knew how he liked his meats cooked, and his teas made, and what sort of desserts went with what wines at what time of the day. Only Pinky could make his towels nice and fluffy and then hang them just right next to the bathtub. Master couldn't take care of himself without Pinky! What was going to happen to him?

Pinky wailed again in anguish. She wiped her runny nose on one of the bunny's ears. Woe was Pinky! What was she to do when her Master was gone? What if he were sick? No one knew the little songs that Pinky could sing to make him better. Oh, Woe was Pinky!

After several more minutes of wailing, Pinky wandered into her Master's bedroom. She climbed onto the big poster bed and curled up on one of the down-filled pillows. Her ears drooped depressingly as she hugged the bunny close. She used to sleep here with Mistress and Master when she was little, because Mistress thought that Pinky was too small to stay in the little cupboard. After Mistress was gone, Master learned Pinky was scared of the dark. Master was so kind to Pinky; he captured jars of fireflies and would keep them in the hall and in Pinky's little cupboard so she wouldn't be scared.

Pinky gasped and sat upright. Did Master leave like Mistress did? Was Pinky never to see her Master again? She burst into a fresh bout of tears.

"Pinky?" Pinky stopped crying as she eagerly jumped to her feet and looked around.

"Master?" A ghost stood in the doorway. He had blue eyes and wild black hair. He was lean and of average height, and there was a sense of familiarity about him. "You're not Master." The ghost shook his head as he crossed the room over to Pinky's side.

"No, I'm not."

Pinky studied him. He wore a white vest over a dark shirt, and his feet were faded out. "Who are you?"

"My name is James. I'm here to take you to your Master." James stooped and picked Pinky up. She shivered at his cold contact and hugged her blue bunny closer. "He needs you."

Pinky gasped. "Master does? I knews it!"

James nodded absently to himself. "Hold on tight, it's going to be a rough journey." And then he Jumped between the realities.

=========================

The first thing Severus was aware of was how his face was currently planted firmly in the ground, and it smelled sort of odd. He grunted softly as he moved his hands beneath him and shoved himself upright. In the line of his vision was a pair of shiny shoes, of which the hem of deep green robes brushed the tops. Severus looked up to see Tom Riddle looking down on him, waiting for a reaction.

Severus sat upright and looked around. The others stared at him, also waiting for his reaction. He ran his hand over the ground, noting how solid and warm it was. He glared at Riddle. "What did you do?" He stopped at the squeak in his voice. He grabbed his throat. "My voice broke!" It squeaked again. Riddle looked highly amused, much to Severus' immense irritation. "You brought me back to my teenaged years, didn't you?"

Riddle shrugged and turned his back on Severus. "I gave you back a little bit of life." Severus stared after Riddle as he walked to the shade of the bluff. Next to Francis, Riddle sat down. Severus squinted. It might have been his imagination, but he thought there was a touch more silver than usual in Riddle's otherwise black hair.

Not too far away, Draco coughed in to his fist. "Doing that was fairly noticeable," he said. "How far are the closest people? Been a long while since I had to perform any memory charms."

Harry2 pointed over the butte. "We've got a couple of them coming, but I can handle them if they're dangerous."

Francis jumped to his feet. "Do you suppose one of them's Harry?"

Harry2 jogged over to the bluff. "I dunno. Let me check." He climbed the butte's steep side and peered over across the distance. He shielded his eyes against the sun and waved. "I think it's her," he said. "I'm not sure. The heat's making everything blur." A woman's voice, the words indistinguishable, called across the distance. Harry cupped his hands around his mouth. "What did you say?" He listened to the sound, again indistinguishable. "What?"

"Oh come down from there," Draco called up at Harry2. "When they get here, they get here, and then we can hear what they meant to say." Harry2 shrugged. He slid down the butte's side and sat down beside Riddle, who absently stared off across the distance.

"So then what do we do?"

"We wait," Draco said knowingly.

Severus ignored them. He touched his hands and face, marveling at how much had been lost and then regained. He felt thirsty and hungry, but those meant he was alive. He stood up and walked, with some difficulty, over to Riddle. It might take a while for him to get used to legs again, when he had chosen instead to glide and fly rather than walk as a ghost. "What's the catch?" he asked Riddle.

Riddle glanced at Severus, and then went back to studying what only he could see in the distance. "For most of nature, the sun is a primary source of life. It is now the source of life to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Riddle smiled. "I wouldn't recommend coming into the shade here," he said mildly. Severus studied him. Yes, Riddle had more silver in his hair. When they first met, there was only a sprinkle in the temples. Now there were thick streaks of silver through all the black.

"So I no longer live if I step into the shade?"

"You become a ghost as you once were. A much younger looking ghost," Riddle added as an afterthought. "But as long as you stay in the sunlight, you can live and age like a normal human being."

Harry2 raked his eyes over Severus' figure. "As normal as anyone like you could be," he said out loud. Severus glared at him and Harry2 winced. "I meant that in a good way," he hastened to add.

A figure topped over the butte "Hey!" Harry waved from where she sat behind Cousin Quigley. The horse carefully picked its way down the butte to where the others were. Harry slid from the back of the horse to the ground and smiled brightly at the others. "Boy, it's good to see you guys." Her cheerfulness wilted into an annoyed anger. "Except I've got some complaints on the magic being used around here. What was the beam of green power?" She absently touched her scar.

"That," said Riddle cheerfully, "was Severus Snape receiving back a little bit of his humanity." He grinned at Severus, who glared back. Harry's eyes widened.

"You look solid," she said with a hint of awe. There was a long pause as she studied Severus. "And a little young." She nervously looked at the others.

Severus pointed at her pantalets. "What's your explanation for that?" he asked, his voice breaking twice. Harry's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Aside from dressing with what appears to be the times, I see that you are running around in your underwear. Usually you keep your drawers hidden under proper clothing."

Draco grinned from where he was sitting. He stood up and walked over to Harry, raking his eyes over her appreciatively. He stopped at her side and whistled. "I like it! I like it!"

Harry2 tossed a rock at Draco. It bounced off his head. Draco glared at Harry2 as he rubbed the spot behind his ear the rock had struck. "What was that for?"

"My mom," said Harry2 with a tone of voice that could only be described as "wise," "once told me that women preferred respect. 'Specially from the 'bad boys.' Mom said that it was flattering to know a tall, dark, and sexy stranger would single her out personally and give her respect, attention, and compliments. Not, I think, that anyone like that has ever tried to flatter Mom, but still." He took a deep breath. "The point I'm trying to make is you aren't being very respectful."

"I thought I was being very respectful. I just said I liked it. What would you have done if I said she looked absolutely ravishing?"

As Draco and Harry2 argued, Cousin Quigley dismounted from his house and stood beside Francis, who shaded his eyes against the sun and looked up at him. "I do not know any of you," Cousin Quigley said hastily. "At the moment, you are all in the past, and I would prefer to keep our interaction as minimal as possible lest we change the future."

Severus sneered. "Suits us just fine," he muttered darkly. Cousin Quigley glanced at Severus as if noticing him for the first time, and then turned back to Francis. A fraction of a second passed before he whipped around and stared in open-mouthed surprise at Severus. "Yes, Father?" Severus asked mildly with a raised eyebrow.

Cousin Quigley opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to say something but couldn't. His eyes teared up as he continued to gaze at Severus. He finally turned away and stared at a nearby sagebrush. "You look like someone who was very dear to me. She . . ." His voice trailed off, and he snuffled and scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"She what?" Severus stood up. "This wouldn't happen to be my mother, would it?"

Despite the depression clear on his face and in his eyes, Cousin Quigley managed to smile. "My White Rabbit," he murmured. "You seem so much like her. She was a sweet little thing--" A white figure materialized behind him.

"Actually," said the Bloody Baron knowingly as he rubbed his chin, "she wasn't little. She was about a good four inches taller than you."

Cousin Quigley squeaked at the sight of the Bloody Baron and cowered behind Francis. " 'm not drinking anything!"

A different Cousin Quigley, a little older-looking and only slightly leaner than his other self, popped up beside the Bloody Baron. "But I'm short to begin with," he said with a hint of whine in his voice as he twisted the hem of his shirt. The Bloody Baron grinned at both Cousin Quigleys.

"And she wasn't all that nice either," said the Bloody Baron. "There was a time when a distant Malfoy cousin was rather loud and obnoxious about her being a Muggle-born inferior for a human being. After a couple days, poor Horace was dead, and his scalp was missing under the most suspicious circumstances--as well as the sharpest knife in the house."

The Cousin Quigley Harry had met in the saloon looked ready to burst into tears. "My sweet gentle wife did what?" he asked in disbelief.

The Bloody Baron looked at Severus. "Although you are right in one retrospect: Young Dominic here is much like his mother."

Severus crossed his arms before himself. "I," he said indignantly, "have never scalped anyone."

"Given your personality," Draco said, "I bet you would do it though."

Severus conspicuously said nothing.

The Cousin Quigley who showed up with the Bloody Baron smiled at no one in particular. "This is all going according to plan," he said brightly.

Francis frowned. "I don't think I like the sound of that."

"Oh, no, no, no." Cousin Quigley wrung his hands and shook his head. "It's not that you think. This is how I remember it in the past. You all had to be pulled back here like this so I could just send you into the future rather than force you through any more realities."

"Is that what happened to Harry?" Francis asked.

Cousin Quigley suddenly looked guilty. "Er, actually, I have no idea how that happened." The others glared at him and he pulled at his collar, as if becoming hot. "But it all worked out in the end, you see, so we shouldn't worry." He smiled expectedly, but his good cheer wilted at the others' clear displeasure.

Francis stood up and brushed sand and dirt from the back of his robes. "Would you mind being clear on this?" he asked impatiently as he walked over to stand before Cousin Quigley. "The Mirror of Rebounds tends to act odd all the time; are you trying to say that you are responsible for what it's done, or does it act odd and tend to ruin your carefully construed plans?"

"Um. Yes?"

Francis fiddled with his goggles. "Yes, what?"

Cousin Quigley pressed one uncertain hand against his mouth and gazed at Francis in confusion. "Well, sometimes I can get it to do what I'd like, sometimes the Universe gets its own idea about what should happen next, and every time that happens I have to rethink my position. But since Universe saw fit that Harry should be yanked into the past of that current reality, I had to go get her, and then it pulled all of you into the past of your reality, so I brought her along, except our pathways crossed and the repercussions of that was enough to literally wake up certain dead persons, so I had to pull Harry further into the past than I could. But I remember this all happening now, because this is the past and I'm from the future, and I clearly remember myself explaining all of this to everyone." He smiled again. "So it all turned out well."

"I'm getting a headache," Harry2 complained.

"But don't worry," Cousin Quigley pulled the Mirror of Rebounds out of nowhere and set it down on the ground. Pandora's Box materialized beside it. "We are all ready to go now. The Universe is cooperating, so I can send you all into the future. You'll arrive in the infirmary at Hogwarts only a few minutes behind your original departure."

Francis looked expectedly at the others. "That sounds too easy," he said. Draco and Harry nodded their heads in agreement.

Harry2 walked over to stand beside Cousin Quigley. "At the point, I just want to get everything over with. I'll even be glad to see Aunt Patches!" There was a long pause as the others looked at him and he reconsidered his words. "Actually, I won't be glad to see Aunt Patches."

Riddle eyed Pandora's Box with no small amount of trepidation.

"Come close." Cousin Quigley gestured the others near. The other Cousin Quigley looked lost. "You stay there, I'll talk to you in a moment." Harry, Harry2, and Draco were reluctant, but they did walk over to stand beside Francis. Severus and Riddle remained where they were. Cousin Quigley sighed. "You're all going to be difficult now, aren't you?"

Riddle pointed one slim finger at Pandora's Box. "I hate that thing."

Harry scratched her head. "It's not that--" She stopped and whacked Draco's arm. "Get your hand off my bum!"

Harry2 whipped around and grabbed Draco around the neck. "Get your hands off her bum!"

Draco's two hands shot up in the air in a surrendering motion. "I didn't do nothing!"

"Then whose . . ." Harry reached behind herself and screamed. She threw something into the air above her head and sprinted forward, waving her hands and screaming frantically. Nagini's green hand, severed just above the wrist, flew after her. Draco and Harry2 ducked as it hurtled past their heads. A dark blur followed after the hand.

" 'scuse me!" Marcia bounced off Severus' head and barreled past Draco and Harry2, her sword flashing in the sunlight as she swung wildly at the hand.

"Mom!" Harry2 stumbled and tried to regain his balance. Harry tried to jump past Pandora's Box, but her foot caught the edge of it and sent it spinning across the ground. It hit a small rock and fell over, opening up as it did. The usual green and blue lights exploded from it and the Mirror of Rebounds shook as the mirror titillated about on its hinges. It sucked Francis into itself, who was scratching his head and trying to make sense of the confusion that was taking place. Draco followed soon after, and then Harry2, and finally Severus.

Riddle gritted his teeth and clamped his hands over his eyes. "Oh, fuck!" he muttered bitterly just as he was sucked into the Mirror of Rebounds as well. Harry rolled to the side as Nagini's hand fell upon her again. Marcia yanked it off, threw it on the ground and pinned it with a foot. It squirmed as she hacked it into many tiny pieces. Harry managed to squint and suck in a deep breath to scream before the Mirror of Rebounds sucked her up. Pandora's Box dematerialized, and the Mirror of Rebounds disappeared.

Marcia looked up from the pile of fleshy scraps. She blinked in surprise at the glare Cousin Quigley was giving her. "Uh oh."

"That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Marcia looked down what was left of the hand. A single finger had escaped the damage, and it was twitching. She hacked that into several pieces. "What wasn't supposed to happen?"

"You aren't supposed to be here!"

Marcia looked offended as she cleaned her sword with a sleeve. "While I realize that I don't exist--"

"They were supposed to go right to their proper time. You weren't supposed to show up. You just sent them off into a different reality. Now I've got two different memories of time going on here, and I don't know how this just messed things up. You had your own purpose. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Marcia's face fell. "Well, I didn't mean to." She shuffled her feet guiltily. "Accidents happen, though, so it really can't be all my fault."

Cousin Quigley sighed. His anger melted away until he was just a tired, little man. "I know. Now I have to find out where they are and go get them."

Marcia brightened. "I can do that! I can find my Harry anywhere, and I'll just go to him."

Cousin Quigley shook his head. "No, I--wait." He studied Marcia for a long moment. "You do that," he said finally. "We may still be able to get some use out of you yet."

Marcia cheered at the idea of being useful after messing up something she was completely ignorant of (she didn't know what he was talking about, but that was fine because there were a lot of things she didn't know about). "I'll go right now!" She disappeared as she made her own Jump. The Bloody Baron looked at Cousin Quigley. "Correct me if I be wrong, but that was supposed to happen. Wasn't it?"

Cousin Quigley stared off into the distance. "Some people just need a little motivation in the right direction," he said absently. He frowned. "I seem to remember you saying something of Francis and the others being chased by heathen Indians."

The Bloody Baron looked innocent. "Did I? Now why would I say something that isn't true?"

======================

Everyone was slightly dazed when they finally landed from their Jump, but the first thing Riddle did was roll from his back to his stomach and vomit a mouthful of sticky blood on the Hogwarts floor. Harry, feeling an overwhelming urge to help Riddle, hurried over to his side. "What's wrong?" she asked as she gently grabbed his shoulders and helped him to his knees. Riddle said nothing as he cupped his hands and vomited more blood.

"Internal bleeding somewhere in the intestines," Francis said grimly as he strode over to Riddle's side. "We'll have to get you to the hospital wing as soon as possible." He glanced at Harry2 and Draco. "No one is to touch the Mirror of Rebounds or Pandora's Box." As one, Harry2 and Draco twisted about to peer at the two mentioned items, which sat side by side several feet from where the reality jumpers stood.

"I think that shouldn't be a problem," Draco said. Harry2 nodded in agreement.

Harry rubbed Riddle's back with one hand. It felt like the right thing to do. "Why does it do this to him?" she asked Francis. "How can something make someone sick enough to puke blood?"

"I don't know, Harry. All I do know is we may be here for a while. Riddle has been Jumping almost continuously and it's taking a hard toll on him. And then he gave Severus some life, and we have no idea how much that cost him." Francis looked at Severus, who was currently a teenaged ghost because of there being no sunshine for him to exist in. "We're going to have to stay here so long as it takes for him to mend. We can't kill him before we finally get back home."

Severus snorted. "It would be detrimental to our goals, which are still rather vague. We really weren't supposed to find and fetch a good Tom Riddle in the first place. We were supposed to find Pandora."

Francis' face fell. "I know," he said softly. "I know."

"And just what," said Harry in a high-pitched voice, tinged with panic, "was that thing that grabbed my bum?"

"That," said Draco, "was Nagini's hand. At least I think it was Nagini's hand. It looked like it."

Harry had felt violated when she was kidnapped by the woman, but to have the woman's disembodied hand grab her bum . . . She felt like crying and tried to hide it, but Draco reached out and pulled her close in a gentle hug. He held it for only a moment when he noticed the glare Harry2 gave him. He grinned and stuck his tongue out at Harry2 when he released Harry. "How did Nagini's hand get here?"

Harry2 shrugged. "It followed us or it followed Mom."

"But I thought Nagini was dead!"

"Nagini is too odd for anyone to think they can be rid of her."

After a moment of awkward silence, Francis stood up and gently helped Riddle to his feet. Riddle leaned heavily against Francis; the blood he vomited dripped between his fingers onto the floor. "Now, which direction?"

Draco pointed to his left. "That way," he said. "I recognize these dungeons from my school days. The other direction leads to some storage rooms where the Slytherins used to go for some privacy in their more, ah," he grinned suddenly, "procreational pastimes."

Francis ignored that. "Let's go," he said. Harry hurried over to Riddle's other side and wrapped her arms around his waist so Francis did not have to do most of the work of carrying Riddle. Draco scrambled to his feet and led the way. He disappeared around the corner, and then backwheeled around it.

"Stop!" He plastered himself against the wall and took a deep breath. The others froze and watched him carefully peer around the corner before jerking himself away from the corner. "It's him," he whispered loudly.

Harry2 tensed and shifted his weight evenly on the balls of his feet. "Which him?"

"Do any of you remember the Harry Potter who became an Auror and then was talked into teaching Defense Against Dark Arts?"

The others shuddered. They remembered all too well about it being one of the later realities where they had to escape with their very lives. It was one of the few no one knew about Harry's sexuality, since they had been too busy trying to dodge the various deadly charms and curses that had been aimed at them.

"He's there." Draco jabbed a finger in the general direction around the corner. "Speaking to Snape about something."

Francis fiddled with his goggles. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "We can't Jump, so we have to make amends." He riffled through his pockets until he found the letter Dumbledore had written him. "This needs to be given to Dumbledore. Once he knows who we are, we can stay here for a couple of days and Tom can rest."

Draco shook his head. "Remember, this hallway leads to a dead end in the dungeons. It only goes up and out the way past those two. I wonder why they're even so far out of the way down here, but knowing Harry as I do we might not want to know why they're here. We can't send Professor Snape because he looks like a teenager and no one is going to believe it's him. There are only two people Professor Snape--this reality's Snape--and Harry wouldn't recognize, and that's Francis and Riddle. Unfortunately, Professor Snape saw Francis so he's out of the question, and I'm not sure Riddle is up carrying a message to Dumbledore."

"I'll take it," Harry said.

"No," Draco firmly replied.

"Why?"

Draco pointed at Harry, although it was directly at her chest. "You're a girl."

Harry stomped her foot and sputtered angrily. "That's so sexist!"

"Harry." Francis reached out and touched her bare arm. "You're dressed in underwear that my grandmother used to wear, and we still don't know how we're going to get you past Snape and yourself without them noticing you."

Draco grinned suddenly. "We can take care of the underwear." He pulled out his wand and twirled it. "I'm a fair hand at transfiguration if I do say so myself."

Harry pointed at the wand. "If you so much as point that thing in my direction I'm going to snap it in half and then shove it up unmentionable places. No one is going to transfigure my clothes while I'm still wearing them, and I'm not going to undress so you can, either."

Draco blinked in surprise. "You're testy today." He squinted at her. "You wouldn't happen to be on the rag, would you?"

Harry decided to ignore that. Riddle attracted her attention by vomiting again. She went back to rubbing his back. "What do we do?" she asked no one in particular.

"What we need," said Harry2 knowingly, "is a distraction. We need something that doesn't look dangerous, but is relatively interesting or at least odd enough to attract and maintain attention. That should be enough to get Harry past Harry and Professor Snape."

Draco sighed and let his arms drop at his side. He did not tuck his wand away. "Where are we going to get that?"

"Harry!" Marcia popped into existence at Harry2's side, and he immediately clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Shshshsh." He nodded his head at the corner. Marcia's eyes were wide with surprise, but she nodded her head to show she understood. Harry dropped his hand and smiled broadly at Marcia. "Mom, we were just talking about you!" Marcia looked from face to face. She frowned suspiciously.

"Why?" she asked darkly.

Harry2 placed a hand on her shoulder and steered her to the hallway corner. "We need you to cause a distraction," he said. "There are two people in the hallway down yonder who're blocking our way. We need to get Tom Riddle to the hospital wing for help, but we can't do it because these two people think we're dangerous. The last time we were here they nearly killed us 'cause they think we're spies for Voldemort or something. Harry has to get past them so she can speak to Dumbledore."

Marcia looked uncertain. "And you want me to cause a distraction? What sort of distraction?"

"Oh, I don't care. Anything short of maiming or killing will do." Harry2 shoved Marcia past the corner. Harry heard retreating footsteps. Draco and Harry2 peered around the corner of the hallway. Figuring that if they could watch then she could watch, Harry squeezed between them and peered around the corner.

Marcia silently made her way over to Harry and Professor Snape. Both stopped talking and stared at her with suspicion when they noticed her. She stopped at an angle from them, which caused their gazes to be away from the corner of the hall and settle on her instead. She looked like a little girl who was lost, one finger timidly pressed to her lip as she turned her chin up and shuffled her feet.

"Who," said Snape after a long moment, "are you?"

Marcia scratched her head and finally shrugged. With a sudden and extravagant flourish of her hands, she jumped from one foot to the other and cried, "Who are you?"

Potter pulled his wand out without saying a word and pointed it at her. Marcia squeaked and ducked, covering her head with her hands. Potter hesitated, looking confused at such a sign of vulnerability. "And who," said Marcia in a quivering voice, "am I?" She slowly dropped her arms at her sides. "Who are all of us?" Snape opened his mouth to say something, but Marcia, her voice rising in a crescendo, cut him off, "We are but lost children, are we not? Or are we children? How long does one stay a child before one is not a child? Is it all the definition of society? Society defines who we are and what children are. Society is nothing more than a dictator, cruel and harmful in its whimsical ways. It is a leech, made up of thousands of sheep, ready to jump off a cliff. Wooo. Splat! Like that. Our whimsical ways go with whatever direction the wind is blowing, to and fro, like willows. Blowing in the summer breeze, squirrels playing and birds singing, perhaps in a city where the pollution masks the scent of the trees' leaves."

Harry2 pulled his head back from around the corner. "This is it," he said grimly. "I know Mom; she's going to be babbling for quite some time." He looked at Harry, and then turned to Francis. "Does anyone know a simple charm that will make Harry a little less noticeable?"

Draco waved his hand. "I know just the thing!" He whipped his wand out and pointed it at Harry. "This won't last long; possibly two minutes. It will muffle the sounds of your movement and makes you blend in to your surroundings like a chameleon. We used to use it all the time when sneaking across enemy lines." He waited a moment to see how Harry would react. For her part, Harry didn't feel up to wandering Hogwarts by herself, dressed only in underwear that was now more than a hundred years old. But if no one could see her (well, at least not easily), then she wouldn't have to feel so awkward.

"Only for two minutes?" she asked, unable to keep the disappointed note out of her voice.

Draco did not seem to notice. "It takes a lot of power to maintain the charm longer than that, and the concentration needed was always too easy to lose. Don't worry; it'll be enough to get past Harry and Professor Snape over there."

Harry nodded reluctantly. Francis passed her the roll of parchment explaining their predicament, and then helped Riddle settle down on the floor, his back pressed against the wall. Harry squeezed her eyes shut as Draco pointed his wand at her. He muttered Latin words too softly for her to distinguish. A cool feeling spread across her body, beginning from her fingertips to the back of her head and the bottom of her heels. After a moment, Draco said, "All right. Make way, Harry, before you run out of time."

Harry opened her eyes to see Harry2 leaning around the corner and watching his mother again. Draco was studying her with a mixture of loss and awe. Francis was gently wiping the corners of Riddle's mouth with his sleeve. Harry spun about on her heel and peeked around the corner. Marcia still held this reality's Harry Potter and Professor Snape's attention, if only because it was not often when a hyperactive crow demon pops out of the stonework and regales nonsense upon Hogwarts Professors.

". . . spiraling down the long, dark tunnel of madness. But who says madness has to be dark? Madness can be in all sorts of colors, 'cause you gotta admit that mad people tend to have a lot more fun than sane people. Sane people are odd; they don't have any fun and they don't trust people who do. People who have fun, are they be considered sane? Are all fun people insane, or do the insane people have all the fun? How many times do we ask ourselves, 'You gotta be insane to like that!' At what point does fun become insanity, and how do we really define sanity?"

Harry glanced down at her feet as she tiptoed past Potter and Snape. Her legs and pantalets were the same color as the dull gray stone that made up this hallway. She held her breath and shuffled past the two professors as quickly as she safely could. To her own ears, her pounding heart and shuffled steps sounded loud. She remembered this Harry. He was not too much taller than what she had been when she was still a he, but there was something dark and creepy about him. His movements were not particularly graceful or calculating, but there was a sense of malicious deviousness about him that made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. Normally, she rather liked herself; there weren't too many Harrys out there that she had a great deal of conflict with, once one looked past who most of Harry Potter's lovers were. Harry supposed that if she ever lost her sense of dignity and morality, and was desperate and lonely, she would be very much like this Harry.

She and this Harry had met by her and Draco coming around the corner to in search of Dumbledore. In favor of covering more ground, the group had split with Harry2 and Francis going in one direction, and Harry and Draco going in the other (with Severus coming along to help, although Harry suspected he was chaperoning Draco). They walked into Professor Potter, who, after overcoming his shock in less than three seconds, flipped a jinx at them meant to cause some minor damage. At least, that's what Draco said, but the hallway had exploded into a blazing inferno when the jinx missed them and struck the wall instead. Harry and Draco split and Professor Potter chased after Harry, throwing multiple spells meant to severely injure the victim.

Harry hadn't quite forgiven Professor Potter for that one, and she did not feel like repeating the incident. Her mouth was dry when she finally got around the corner. The coolness about herself was beginning to fade. She looked down at her legs. Color, different from the gray stone, was beginning to come back. She sighed and began to walk a little faster, the parchment clutched close.

As she walked, Harry began to notice an odd sensation with her breasts. They were sore. She was used to her shoulders being sore, but not her breasts. Pausing in a dark corner, she gently prodded her breasts and winced. They were tender and felt swollen. Harry wracked her mind and tried to think of what she could have done to have sore breasts. Perhaps they were bruised? The problem was, there was really nothing she could do at the moment, since she had to find Dumbledore, and she certainly wasn't going to tell someone like Francis . . .

"What are you doing?" Harry squeaked and jumped as Severus floated up through the floor. She pressed her hands over her chest and gasped for breath.

"You scared me! Don't do that!"

Severus glared at her. "As fascinating as breasts may seem to a former male like yourself, this is not the time nor the place to be playing with them."

Harry felt her face burn red. "I wasn't playing with my breasts!"

"Oh?" One ghostly eyebrow went up. "Then what are you doing in this dark corner, far from prying eyes, handling yourself in a way that may only be termed as groping?"

Harry made a face. "You're just jealous," she muttered.

Severus sneered. "Jealous? Of someone whose now a victim of swinging hormones? Well, not that you weren't in the first place, being a boy going through puberty, but a girl going through puberty is twice as bad. If my arithmetic is correct, then you, being an adolescent male who turned into an adolescent female, are about four times worse off than the average boy going through puberty."

Harry didn't feel up to arguing that sort of twisted logic. She sighed. "If you must know, my breasts hurt, and I don't know why."

The other eyebrow went up. "Really? You don't say." Harry couldn't tell if Severus was being sarcastic, or just plain mean. "Surely that can't be from being too eager with your hands, now could it?"

"Do I look like Draco to you?" Harry felt a small bit of satisfaction at seeing Severus' mouth snap shut at that. "Come on." She waved the parchment in the air. "We have to find Dumbledore." She walked past Severus, who muttered something about certain persons who only tried to grope themselves when they thought no one was looking. "Gee, Uncle," Harry said viciously, "I never knew you to be a voyeur. What else haven't you told us about? Anything about cavorting with Remus Lupin?" She rubbed her chin as Severus gave her a withering look, which wasn't quite effective coming from a teenaged Severus who had yet to grow into his nose than from a middle-aged professor. "Reminds me of that one reality where--"

"You," said Severus coldly, "have a letter to deliver."

Harry stuck her tongue out at Severus. "You just don't want me to continue."

"I want you to take that letter to Dumlbedore, even if I have to grab you by the back of your corset and carry you there myself."

Shuddering at the idea of being hauled through the castle by Severus, Harry continued on her way. She became lost twice and had to be redirected by Severus, who snipped sarcastically every time. When they finally emerged from the dungeons, no one was around. Harry looked around at the Great Hall, from which she and Severus had emerged from a small door in the far right corner. No one was around, so Harry sighed and turned to Severus. "Where do we go from here, o great leader?"

Severus straightened his shoulders. "I would suggest searching a proper wardrobe. The last thing we need is you giving Dumbledore a heart attack from seeing you wear such things before he even has a chance to even read the letter."

"Oh yes. Heaven forbid that we kill the Headmaster with my clothes."

The look on Severus face made it clear to Harry that she had just given him a good opening for a bitingly sarcastic comment. "Oh, do be quiet," she snapped. He frowned, and she turned her back to him. Without thinking, she strode down the length of the Great Hall to the doors at the very end. "We best be going," Harry said. They wandered through more halls in silence, until Harry rounded one and found herself staring at the back of Neville's head.

"Oh, bollocks," he was muttering. " 'Teach a class!' he says to me, 'You'll make a wonderful Herbology teacher,' he says to me. Should have known better. Now I know why Snape was always so nasty. Rotten Slytherins, the whole lot of them."

Harry stared in surprise. "Neville?"

Neville whipped around, his eyes wide in shock. "H-Harry?" His eyes became a fraction wider. "Snape?"

Harry laughed nervously. "It's not what you think," she said. Neville frowned and grabbed his wand. He tried to yank it out of his robes pocket, but he got tangled up and nearly fell over as one of his legs buckled beneath him. His face red, he pointed the wand directly at Harry. Harry squeaked and jumped backwards, her hands in the air in a surrendering motion. The last person she trusted to point a wand at her was Neville. "I can explain! I'm Harry from a different reality, originally looking for my grandmother Pandora, and instead winded up with a good Tom Riddle who is currently throwing up blood!"

Neville remained silent. He glanced sideways at Harry, and then at Snape. Harry, thinking that was a good sign, decided to play on it. "In my reality, Severus Snape was adopted by Pandora to be my uncle. Unfortunately, when Voldemort killed him, he decided to haunt me."

Severus poked Harry with a cold finger. "Unfortunate? For who?"

Harry jumped out of Severus' chilly reach and continued. "So he haunted me all the time, except on weekends and holidays. After some deranged set of events, I pulled my grandfather forty years into the future--he's here now, well, with Tom Riddle--and so we all went reality-jumping in search for Pandora. However, after some more events, we learned that she wanted us to find a good Tom Riddle for the Universe to survive. And we got us Draco, and another Harry--I call him Harry2--and we really need to get Tom Riddle to the hospital wing for help, because reality-jumping is very difficult for him."

Neville scratched his head with the tip of his wand. He looked confused and Harry could not blame him.

Severus' eyebrow arched. "Deranged set of events? Harry, you're babbling incoherently again."

Harry thrust her parchment to Neville. "Here. This does a better job at explaining than I do."

Neville slowly accepted the parchment without taking his eyes off Harry. "Harry," he said after a long moment, "why are you a girl and dressed in those clothes?"

Harry glanced down her front. Her breasts impeded her view. "It's a long story," she said with a sigh. "I don't suppose I can borrow some clothes from someone? And quickly, too, because I don't know how long the distraction against this reality's Harry Potter and Severus Snape will continue working. I'd kind of like to get this information to Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible, because Riddle was coughing up blood, and I'm worried."

Neville gave Harry a look that said he was worried about Harry, too.

===================

Snape shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I grow weary of this," he snarled beneath his breath.

" . . . but who says two and two have to equal four? What if three never existed? Would that mean four was three and then two and two would equal five?"

Professor Potter waved Snape quiet. "Hush. I find it fascinating that someone can say so much and not really say a thing."

====================

Harry had little problem convincing Neville into helping her find Dumbledore. After reading the letter, Neville was eager to show Harry to Dumbledore's office. Severus was conspicuously silent as he drifted along behind Harry. Harry felt the tension between Severus and Neville becoming larger and larger. Her mind kept drifting back to the fact that Severus was Neville's godfather. Was it the same for this reality? She didn't know, but this reality's Neville had been browbeaten and bullied by Professor Snape. They all tended to be. Harry sort of hoped there was a reality somewhere, where Neville was the bully and Professor Snape was browbeaten and bullied. At least it would be different, and then she would know Snape was not picking on Neville.

She also noticed that Neville was limping, one arm pressed to his thigh as he bobbed along, nearly dragging his right leg along. "Neville," she began softly, "what happened to your leg?"

"Oh." Neville waved Harry's concerns away. "A Shankspin plant bit me."

Harry did not want to know what sort of plant could have bitten someone that hard, but she felt bad about Neville being hurt, so she decided to inquire after it anyway. "How did that happen?"

Neville only shrugged. Harry thought she heard him mutter something about slimy Slytherins who cheerfully sabotaged their teachers with blessings from their Head. Harry cast a warning look over her shoulder at Severus. He sneered at it.

"Now why would they want to do that?" he muttered darkly. "Mr. Longbottom is clumsy enough to kill himself without needing anyone else's help." Neville's shoulders tensed, but he said nothing. Harry gave Severus another dirty look, hoping he would be quiet. He ignored her. "If his ability to handle plants is anything like handling potions--"

"Potions shmotions!" Neville whirled around to face Severus, his face red and his arms trembling. "I've had it up to here with your potions." He pointed at his eyes. "I hate them! As far as I'm concerned, I can do very well without them! Who cares what goes in first, it just ends up in the same place!"

Harry tried to wave Neville quiet, but he would not be quieted any more than Severus. "And another thing, professor, black is such an ugly, dreary color--it suits you! And just because my simple healing potion melted through the cauldron, the table, and the dungeon floor doesn't mean I'm going to blow up the greenhouse with a batch of fertilizer! Frankly, I always thought the only reason why you became a teacher is so you could poison students like me and get away with it. Well, I was on to it the first day! And furthermore, I always wanted to ask you if you fell into a vat of uglification potion when you were a baby! God, I hate you!"

Harry threw her arms up in the air and stepped back in surrender as Severus' eyes narrowed dangerously. He straightened menacingly. He did not possess his adult height, and the curls only lent an air of hilarity to him, but his black eyes were cold and cruel and drew all attention.

"Mr. Longbottom," Severus' voice was dangerously low and silky as he gracefully floated over to Neville, "this attitude is the exact same reason you always failed in Potions. Merlin alone knows if you are even capable of reading, which would explain some of your ability to mix ingredients together to create worthless glop."

"It was not worthless glop! It was some of the best fertilizer Hogwarts has ever seen!"

"Which, no doubt, was absolutely unintentional, you numbskull. I do wonder if you have fertilizer for brains, but that would be giving you far too much credit as you have the intelligence quotient of a rock."

Harry hurried down the hall away from the argument, deciding it would be safer to find Dumlbedore on her own. At best, Neville would have released pent-up frustration from all the way back to their first year and Severus would have some insight on how Neville felt. At worst, Severus would decide against haunting Harry and instead haunt Neville.

============================

Draco covered up a yawn with the palm of his hand. "Your mother is amazing," he told Harry2 from where he was seated with his back against the wall. "And I don't mean that in a good way."

Harry2 shrugged. "I should probably disagree with that, except it's true."

Francis was seated closest to the branching hallway and could better hear what was being said than the others. "Actually," he said with a thoughtful look on his face, "if you go on this information as if it were deeply philosophical, it's actually quite interesting." He looked up as Harry2 rolled his eyes and snickered softly. "What is it?"

"Mom thinks philosophical is something you eat, and she said it probably wouldn't taste very good, either."

Francis fiddled with his goggles. "Yes. That does shine a different light on this, doesn't it?"