Mage

By Cataclysmic

Chapter 2

Arrivals.

Albus did not need to look at Minerva to know the way she would react to his presence; initially she would be surprised to see him before calming down and allowing her courage to grow in his presence, with an undercurrent of protectiveness that all the staff held for him, she would likely insist on accompanying him until their visitors intentions could be determined. No it was not Minerva's expression that interested him instead his gaze was riveted on the two strangely expressionless individuals whose identity's he did not know.

The two blank expressionless stares were impassive and impossible to read, though when he first looked into the eyes of the pair he was rewarded with a quick flash of emotion passing through their eyes, to fast to determine, but definitely not malicious in any way. They held themselves straight and tall, proudly as if nothing they could throw at them would hurt them, and yet, there was something off in their stance. No their manner, it was as if they posed a threat to them, though not a threat they had been expecting.

They had not moved from their rigid stance since he had set foot in the room, they had not moved their eyes from him as if everyone else was suddenly unimportant.

They were obviously thinking about something but their expressions gave nothing away no emotions no hints as to what they were thinking, nothing. That should have started sending out danger signals he inwardly noted, it was not a skill that could be seen in many people, and used to this degree it should have been somewhat frightening to see when they should have had no need for cultivating the skill in the present environment. Perhaps being cooped up in the position of Headmaster since the defeat of Voldemort and before that Grindelwald was finally getting to him. Then again he had always enjoyed puzzles, and these two certainly fit into the puzzle category, he was going to enjoy figuring this puzzle out.

Inwardly he shook his head at himself, he knew nothing! Nothing about the pair except that they somehow caused a disturbance in Minerva's classroom big enough to cause the castle to involve the Headmaster, not to mention that for some reason they had Minerva near quaking in her boots. And all he was worried about was the puzzle they presented. He surprised even himself with his eccentricity sometimes.

Minerva did not seem to have an answer ready for him and neither of the other two seemed in a hurry to give him an answer.

Suddenly the boy seemed to jump out of his stupor and flashed him a signal using Alastor Moody's personalised hand talk, something he had not seen since the end of the war with Lord Voldemort, something a child like the boy should not, could not know, he would have still been in his cradle the last time that was used. Yet he had and the message was only too clear, 'not here'.

Deciding then and there he was going to have to take the chance, if the child knew of Alastor's hand talk well enough to use it himself there was no telling what else he could know. There were so many possibilities and none of them should be discussed in front of the students.

Happy to oblige now he continued on barely pausing for a breath, "Never mind, never mind, we shall get to that later, if you would please follow me to my office." Albus inclined his head towards the door; it was not really a request, even if the castle did not deem them a threat, they, or at least the boy, obviously knew too much to let go without questioning.  In any case he was not about to allow the pair of them a free reign in his castle, especially without giving any reason for being there, or for that matter information about themselves. At the very least they would need an escort off school grounds. Not to mention the fact that they would also have to explain how they had managed to get onto the school grounds without tripping the alarms.

The two did not seem to hesitate as they immediately made their way from the back of the classroom to the door, though how you could tell whether they hesitated from those unchanging faces and unchanging stances he did not know. They walked straight out the door ahead of the Headmaster seemingly uncaring about leaving their backs exposed. The young man, he noticed, moved with a deadly grace that seemed instinctive, and the young lady seemed to follow his example and although too moved as elegantly as the most powerful aristocrats next to her companion she seemed clumsy and awkward.

They waited for him outside the classroom door, still without showing any signs of starting up conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Harry and Hermione it had been a shock seeing Minerva alive and well, they should have expected it. But they didn't.

Albus, he was alive, here, right in front of them, they practically froze solid at the sight of him. Of all those they had lost by far the most shocking and hard-hitting death for them had been the death of Albus Dumbledore. Only one other death had come close to invoking the depression and sense of loss they had felt when Albus died, Ron.

Ron had been their fallback point someone who could always be counted on to pick them up when it all became too much, Ron had been a pillar of strength for them. The strategist had proved his worth not in the field as Harry and Hermione had initially but in the planning of attacks and counter-attacks. He may not have earned the same fame as Harry and Hermione, the public spotlight but in the background everyone who knew what Ron did admired and looked up to him.

Yes Ron's death had hit them hard but Albus's death had hit them harder. He had been their teacher, their mentor, and their father figure, their only friend when they were isolated from everyone during their training. If Ron was a pillar Albus was their foundation stone, a constant they had unrealistically expected to be there forever. Albus's death though had a greater effect on them, not only had they lost him, the world, the cause had lost him. They had been forced to deal with their grief in private so that the public, the people would not lose hope, they had been forced to act strong when they had been at their weakest put aside the fears they secretly shared and act like they were still as hopeful as they had always been. 

Jolting himself from his thoughts Harry noticed that Albus had led them off into some obscure passage way that most certainly did not lead to Albus's office, at least not directly, either Albus was stalling to gather time to think or he was testing them in some way or another. Either way Harry had had enough of wandering aimlessly, he wanted to get to the bottom of this, whatever was going on here and he wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as possible, he did not enjoy being in the dark, even if it was only temporarily.

Sweeping past Albus with the deadly grace and poise of an experienced warrior, calm and in control he took the lead made three right turns followed by a left and stood waiting calmly at the gargoyle waiting for Albus to announce the password and grant them entry.

Normally Harry would have been happy to follow Albus feigning ignorance and taking an hour and a half to complete a five minute journey but not right now the whole portal business had him on edge. That here on this side of the portal there were a lot of 'supposed to be dead' people walking around perfectly healthy only helped to set him further on edge. He wanted answers not an extended scenic tour of the school.

Albus just smiled adopting a 'knowing' look and cheerfully boomed out the password "Smarties" and walked spritely up the spiral staircase that led to his office.

It was a little shocking to walk into 'Albus's' Office as it had been after all this time, even if he knew better he half expected to see the paper shewn disaster area that had been the office he had recently occupied. Instead the office was immaculate, papers sitting in perfectly ordered piles, not one piece of paper sticking out anywhere. It was disgusting. But Hermione seemed to approve.

Too bad for her, she liked order and he enjoyed living in a little mess, growing up with neat freaks like the Dursley's for the duration his deprived childhood ensured that he developed a mild love of chaos. It was probably inspired by a need to spite them in any way he could, not that he minded, he liked the way he turned out even though he regretted the way he had been forced to spend his childhood.

Without waiting to be asked Harry plonked himself in one of the large and comfy leather chairs facing Albus desk swinging one leg over the arm rest, seemingly perfectly at ease.

Hermione with a shake of her head sat down as well not waiting for permission or an invite; it wasn't like there was anything else to do. Once she would have scolded him for his lack of respect or proper manners, a part of her still held onto that, but the war didn't really leave time for being proper or having manners, it just wasn't Harry's way and it wasn't really hers anymore either.

Training had changed them both drastically in some respects, Harry more though he was more confident than he was before. He no longer cared it seemed about what others said and thought about him, or at least he no longer showed that he did, she was sure that the many hurtful little exchanges he had caught while people thought he couldn't hear them hurt him deeply.

They were truly unique Albus thought as he surveyed them over his half-rimmed spectacles, neither squirmed nor even moved under his gaze; in fact they seemed perfectly at ease, something even the older staff struggled to maintain at times. Even if he was a little miffed about their lack of manners he decided it would be best to put aside his disgruntlement and work with the matter at hand.

After Albus's initial intense gaze Harry and Hermione found themselves being picked apart with his eyes, like they were a puzzle he just could not put together. It had been too long in their books since the great Albus Dumbledore had been stumped, and it gave them great pleasure to be the cause of the problem that had him so far out at sea.

Seeing that Albus would be content to just study them for a while longer the pair allowed their eyes to wander the room. They were amazed at the differences; the office looked exactly the way it had before the castle had been attacked, before the first successful or rather semi-successful attack had partially disintegrated the castles protections. The office Hermione was glad to see no longer looked as though a bomb had hit it, as it did after the attack.  And neither did it hold the perpetually untidy quality it had held during Harry's brief ownership.

Deciding that enough was enough after five minutes of waiting Harry asked the first question. Even though it would give Albus more control over the conversations path he was ready to concede that point in favour of not having to sit here for hours waiting for Albus to make the first move. He never had been very good at waiting.

Harry had no doubt Albus would know what was going on, he always knew. Right now Harry knew exactly what he needed, answers, and he had a fair idea where to find them, from Albus. He didn't know what that portal was, where it had taken him, hell he didn't know a lot of things, but he needed to know and his brain really had not recovered from the initial and continual shock it had taken today. He just did not have the mental capacity at the moment to deduce his own conclusions.

"Albus, what exactly is going on here?" he asked keeping his voice as calm as possible, he was calm of course, as calm as he could be. It took an awful lot to faze Harry Potter and he was long past the slightly fazed point of the spectrum. Albus would have the answer, he had to have the answer.

"Lemon Drop?"  Albus asked hoping to divert attention away from the question he had no idea the answer to, hopefully he would be able to sufficiently divert their attention and get them talking, that way he could gather more information and make an informed guess.

Of course it didn't hurt that the distraction came in the form of his beloved Lemon Drops, giving him an excuse to eat another of his favourite treats. He had first discovered Lemon Drops during the war with Grindelwald when he had attended a meeting with the muggle command authorities to co-ordinate attacks. With the large-scale magical nature of the war it had been impossible to totally segregate themselves from the muggles, and all the muggles involved had their memories modified following the war. They had recessed for a small break and he had decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air, where of course he had spotted a candy store, and being himself could not resist going to have a look. In addition to being delicious the lemon drops had served him well over the years, distracting those in his office and giving him an overall appearance of being somewhat senile, not to mention the looks on peoples faces when he interrupted their important messages to ask if they would like a lemon drop. Ah yes those looks were a priceless and a source of great amusement to him.

But alas it seemed the youth knew him well, though from where he could not fathom, not only did he use his first name freely but called him on his stalling tactics, something no one else had ever picked up on, or at least never mentioned, he was one very focussed individual.

"So you don't know." He stated blandly, rolling his eyes heavenward to emphasize his annoyance. Why oh why couldn't Albus just give him straight answers?

Deciding to intervene before the two of them started degrading themselves with petty squabbling Hermione interjected "Enough of that!" she said sharply glaring at each of them in turn, sometimes they were like overgrown children, inwardly she snorted, in fact in most respects they were overgrown children. Glaring at both of them Hermione forcefully took over the situation whilst Albus contented himself watching them both for clues.

The boy showed no outward sign of being affected by the glare or the words but kept his mouth shut anyway allowing the girl to take control of the situation, allowing was the correct word, for it was clear that the boy would still be in control if he wanted to be.

What really interested him though was that the boy knew him well enough to call him on his stalling tactics and he had absolutely no idea who he was. It had to be some kind of appearance change, charms were out of the question although they had more than enough magic surrounding them they didn't have any 'on' them, so that left some kind of potion, a fairly long lasting one as they had already been in his company for almost half and hour and obviously had not refreshed it. There were several potions it could be depending on how 'changed' their appearance was the longest an appearance changing potion could last without renewal was twelve hours and that was for the lesser changes.

"Now," said the girl "Since Albus obviously doesn't know what's going on here we had better start discussing what we do know so we can figure it out. Are there any objections?" she asked already anticipating what their answer would be "Well then lets get started."

"Ah before we begin would you kindly give me your names?" the Headmaster decided to concede the fact that he did not know their names, it was clear that he would need to know their names to continue the discussion. The girl obviously expected this to be a totally open conversation with no secrets and nothing barred. Normally he would have balked away from such a conversation but he was intrigued and if he was right and this was someone under an appearance altering potion he would know the person well enough anyway.

Hermione was shocked that the Headmaster did not know who she was, even more shocking was the fact that he didn't know or didn't remember who Harry was either. She was more than shocked; after all he had spent a great deal of time on their training. But that was before the little incident with the portal and she was beginning to get a very bad feeling that the portal was a lot more than it seemed. Well it had to be more than it seemed because there were a lot of things going on here that should not be going on, like dead people being alive. Overall she thought both she and Harry were handling this situation very well.

Harry of course was a lot more shocked by the fact the headmaster did not recognize him, after all he had terrorized the school since his sorting, well maybe not his sorting but since his first year without a doubt. His highly dangerous adventures, which more often than not stopped something bad from happening, not to mention the highly advanced training he had taken part in since his fifth year. Harry decided it best for him to sit in stunned silence while Hermione and Albus worked out what was going on. It would not be easy, it was not common practice for him to just sit back, and more often than not he took a lead role in discussions. Those discussions however were on battle strategies a subject in which he was well versed. This however whatever it was would definitely not be a subject he was well versed in, he really only had one or two specialties in magic and they were Offensive and Defensive Magic. Most everything else he had a basic knowledge of a base to touch back on. Deciding to focus on something he knew Harry set himself to observe and counter any problems that might come up, like attacking Death Eaters or something, not that attacking Death Eaters was likely from what he had seen and felt around the castle, but hey he could hope couldn't he? He had never been any good with really intellectual discussions anyway, which was what this promised to be, he could take part if he really wanted to but generally it took up too much effort in keeping up with the flow of conversation which tended to jump from topic to topic.

Still slightly put off by the statement that Albus didn't know them Hermione decided to stop gaping like a fish and answer the mans question. There were a lot of strange things going on here.

"Ok then," Hermione started "I am Hermione Granger and this," she said motioning towards her partner, "Is Harry Potter, we'll save the full titles and such for later." Catching onto Harry's intention to stay out of this and unable to resist goading him a little.

Albus though was still too stuck on the statement to take any notice of the jab. They could not possibly be who they claimed to be, Hermione Granger, although she looked like enough to this girl certainly did not behave in any manner similar to her. And Harry Potter had been dead eighteen years; he ought to know as the boy's parents still blamed him for the child's death.

Deciding to hear out whatever story these people, whoever they were, had made up before he started 'questioning' them Albus only nodded for her to continue. 

The girl continued with a curt nod, oddly reminiscent of Minerva "Well I think we should start with a logical chronological retelling of events." Hermione said, Albus nodded his head in agreement, Harry continued surveying the office with the practiced eyes of a soldier seeming not to have heard a word.

Clearing her throat and glaring at Harry in annoyance she continued looking pointedly at Harry "That means YOU, Harry have to stop acting like a brainless moron and start explaining." She smiled sweetly and entirely fakely at his responding glare.

Harry reluctantly stopped his observation to concentrate on explaining, which was really quite the joke, he was the one who had to explain when he was the one who probably understood the least of what was going on here.

"Well I'll try but I really haven't got a great handle on the situation at the moment, so you'll have to be satisfied with the brief version."

"Alright I suppose this starts when Albus died," he said pointedly looking at Albus with a pained expression on his face.
"Your last words told me that when the final battle was finished to go through the Golden Portal, which I did, and then I ended up in the Transfiguration classroom and since then have seen and talked to several dead people." Harry said giving the extremely short version of event so he could go back to observing. His explanation though short gave to many implications about how much this was disturbing him. He did not like it.

"Thankyou for the highly elaborate and detailed description Harry" Hermione snapped irritably, but she was not surprised by the brief answer, true it would have been nice to have all the itibity details of what had gone on since the moment the portal appeared, but as it was Harry it was extremely unlikely to happen. Harry never revealed everything he knew on a subject always kept something back that only he could know. Not to mention that Harry was not known for highly detailed analyses of past events, most of his battle reports were the same, as small as he could possibly manage to get away with. He wasn't big on history, least of all recent history, because most of it was about or involved him in some way. The exception of course was any information on a subject he could use. That was information that could be used in the future from the subjects past. That was not history, at least not to Harry.

Hermione sighed; she could not honestly expect more from Harry. She herself shared Harry's panic at the situation, not that either of them showed it openly. Harry's explanation had also revealed that he did not know much about the situation either. Sighing again Hermione kicked off on her part of the tale.

"When Harry entered the portal he disappeared off the tactical maps." Seeing Albus was perplexed she elaborated "The tactical maps keep track of all our soldiers while they are on the battlefield, they record deaths who fights who and the positions of soldiers and key people, being a key person and someone I was keeping a close eye on when Harry went missing it was noticed almost immediately. There are only three ways to remove a person from the tactical map, death which is recorded on another map however this only happens if there is a body, apparition or leaving the battlefield through any method or to be remove by the maps keeper. Since Harry was not removed by the keeper, me, that left two options leaving or death, I didn't get time to check before the portal opened up in front of me. I could see Harry and his surroundings quite clearly so I went through the portal and ended up here."

"So Albus any ideas on what is going on here because seriously I'm at a loss."

Albus's mind was still running over what he had learned of the two so far and what he had just learned from their explanations, either they were very good actors or they were from another universe. Following their explanations he was leaning towards alternate universe, there were a lot of things that just did not fit well if they weren't, like how they had gotten onto Hogwarts grounds, their magical power and the need for tactical maps and soldiers. From what they had told him and through the underlying messages he had partially understood Harry and Hermione seemed to have been very close to him. Which would explain why they are so comfortable and the pained look on Harry's face when he was talking about my death, both their shocks that I did not know their names and then the fact Harry trusted me, the other me, enough to jump through a portal that went to who knows where.

Albus looked thoughtful before turning to Harry and Hermione. "I am not entirely sure but I have a theory but it has been so long, I will have to investigate." The old wizard looking quite excited at the prospect of an investigation, it seemed he had not had a lot to do in all these years.

They just stared at him, stared; clearly expect him to reveal his suspicions. Sighing he found himself giving in to their stares and explaining.

"My theory is that I sent you here from an alternate universe, However I have no clue as to how you got here, perhaps in your world I did more research into the possibility than I did here and made a discovery I don't know..." he trailed off once again adopting a thoughtful expression.

"Ah well in any case it will be awhile before I can tell you for sure; in the meantime, the ministry must be informed." This earned a groan from both of the late teens, which told him they were not at all fond of the Ministry. The aged wizard however could not keep the twinkle out of his eyes, something Harry had learned it paid to pay attention to. And to be very cautious of. He sent the Headmaster a curious look; however the Headmaster didn't seem to be sharing.


"Why don't you two go freshen up," he said with a pointed look at Harry's battle robes, which were currently encrusted with dry and drying blood. "I am sure I could find you both some suitable garments around here somewhere."


Harry just shook his head and said "I will be fine, I have some spare with me" Hermione snorted, "I am sure THOSE clothes will go down well with a non war-time ministry" she said, Harry just smiled at her sweetly and continued, "We might need something for Herm though."

Albus disappeared into a room hidden behind one of the portraits of a former Headmaster and came back with a set of royal blue dress-robes and all the accessories for Hermione who raised an eyebrow. Why on earth would she need dress robes? And why did Albus have spare dress robes in her size, well close enough to her size, lying around anyway? Both Harry and Albus however seemed to know all about it. note to self; interrogate Harry.

In any case she took them gratefully and Albus directed them to the teacher's baths, which not surprisingly they already knew how to find. Albus probably found it a little suspicious, but not overly so as guests were known to use the Teachers baths on extended stays.

He didn't however bother to inform them of the current Minister for Magic, a man he thought to be Harry's father from the strange likenesses between the two not to mention name and age, would be likely to visit when he received the owl he was about to send him, he did however ask them to return to his office afterwards for some dinner and discussions.

He couldn't help but be a little curious however about exactly what Harry was planning on wearing.

They certainly were an odd pair, in Hermione's case nothing like her alter-ego in personality or traits it seemed. And Harry was a far stretch from what he would have expected from someone who grew up with James and Sirius as role models. Sighing Albus gave up on his thoughts and set himself to composing a set of letters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry finally managed to drag himself out of the shower half an hour later feeling extremely refreshed. Harry had not realised how much the stench on blood and other bodily entrails on his clothes had been affecting his stomach so much until he had taken them off and jumped in the shower. His nose crinkled up, as he smelled the odour rising off his soiled battle robes, all the way from the other side of the room. Definitely not nice. It was surprising what your nose could become accustomed to when exposed for long periods of time. At times he thought the stench of blood had been ingrained into his skin. The stench gone now but in his mind the blood was still on his hands, a part of himself he could never remove, a stain on his soul. He had the blood of promising lives on his hands, lives he had sacrificed in order to achieve his goals.

Sure everyone who was recruited accepted that they 'might' die on the battlefield; they had accepted the fact from the moment they had entered the military or the Order of the Phoenix or the Aurors or any other organization that fought against Voldemort. But until they witnessed it first hand, the death, the destruction they could never truly understand what they were really signing up for, but by then it was too late. They never knew the odds, how truly small the number of recruits that lasted more than the first six months was.

The first six months for recruits were served on the front lines, and the front lines were one of the bloodiest places in existence, and they had remained that way until earlier today. Today the war had ended. Well he thought it was today time might pass differently here or travelling through dimensions. He would never know he supposed, the date that he had finally defeated Voldemort he had long given up keeping track of the date, it was just no longer important one day ran into the next and before you knew it a year had passed. Life for him had just been one big blur since Albus died, a blur he had dragged himself through because he felt obligated to, and because he lacked the courage to end it all.

He had often pondered on the thought of suicide, but pondering on it was as far as it had ever gotten. He had a responsibility to too many people. He had a responsibility and a job to do; he had people that loved him. Of course in the end there wasn't much left of the people who loved him Sirius, Albus, Ron and oh so many others, even Snape finally succumbed, one by one they had all died out and left only one spark of light in his life, Hermione.

One spark of light, one spark of the life he once had, the life he should have had, Hermione was wonderful, great, and fantastic but she was only one person and she was not his conscience, the conscience that berated him every day for every life he had failed to save.   He loved her, he knew that but she was only one small speck of light in a sea of darkness. Without her he didn't know what he would have done, how he would have retained his sanity. Most likely he would have turned into the cold heartless bastard he was forced to play every day of the war, cold and emotionless, no longer caring. He didn't know which he would have preferred insanity or that.

Harry knew now what Albus was trying to do when he sent him here, both himself and Hermione. He was trying to save them from doing something stupid, to give them another chance at life. He would not waste Albus's gift he vowed to himself. It was time to let go. and shape a new future for himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione was still in the shower; it had been awhile since she had had the pleasure. Having been to involved in operations to take enough time out for such trivial things as showers Hermione's had been few and far between. Lines for the few showers available were always a mile long to long and waiting around was not something she had time for. The remote locations did have some disadvantages including lack of civilized amenities, it was much easier if less enjoyable to just cast a simple cleaning charm on yourself. Now however Hermione had a shower and she was enjoying the fact that she had the time for it. After all there was no reason to rush back, Dumbledore would probably start questioning them on their lives next, something sure to bring back painful memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry had began his habit of magically carrying around an extra set of clothes early on in the war, often he would move from base to base so quickly gathering reports and giving out orders that he was never sure where he would end up spending the night. More than once he had been forced to borrow clothes from someone within the base, it was not very good for his image, the image he had been forced to maintain at all costs the image of a general who could not possibly make mistakes, who could not be viewed as human. was a quite difficult spell but well worth it binding the extra clothes and several other important items to his person, quite handy as it minimized damage from spies if he carried important documents of plans on his person at all times instead of leaving them lying about where any old chum could read them.

Of course there were several 'documents' left lying around to root out the spies and such but the light side was incredibly secure, their spies were kept secret from all but the top level of management, and were rarely found out or caught. The Enemies loyal spies and loyal servants also frequently found themselves caught after handing over false information, or 'disposed' of by their own side for gathering incorrect information. It really was a quite ingenious system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking back down to Albus's office he started to wonder whether it was a good idea to impose this image of himself, this part of his personality on the Ministry.


'Mione was probably right though, as always. His clothes would not go down with the ministry's people whoever they were, they definitely would not inspire trust, but well to bad for them. He thought he had earned the right to intimidate people a little with his presence, and he happened to like these clothes thank you very much.

Not to mention that if they proved difficult he could just scare the shit out of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although she would never admit it, Hermione found it incredibly amusing to watch people start squirming when they spotted Harry and his outfit. It was very funny when you knew what a softie he really was under all the intimidating clothing. The feeling of power that often rolled off him in waves only added to the effect, though most people did not know that what they mistook for extremely powerful was really only a fraction of what he was really capable of. Harry's power lurked beneath the surface ready to appear at any moment. In the past Harry's clothes had served a purpose. People were hardly about to betray someone they were consciously or subconsciously scared of, something Voldemort had evidently done correctly. But unlike Voldemort Harry's people actually respected him, he was harsh but fair and also a hell of a lot more lenient than Voldemort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here he could probably do away with the clothes but he had become so accustomed to wearing them, he didn't really want to get rid of them, he liked them.


Harry wore a sleeveless black muscle shirt, black baggy pants, leather gauntlets on his arms concealing all manner of small weapons, you know daggers, poisoned daggers, poison darts he even had a multipurpose screw driver in there even though he rarely used it to screw anything other than peoples brains, he wasn't entirely sure how it had ended up there but well when he had lost some of his other weapons in a battle it had come in handy. He'd kept it ever since. In addition he wore Gryffindor's sword on his side a large black cloak with a very overlarge hood, but the most interesting part of the outfit was the clasp that held the cloak, clear and noticeable was the war mage insignia.

It took a lot of power and knowledge to earn a Mage insignia and they were highly prized by their owners. The last Mage before Harry had been a Healing Mage during the fifteen hundreds and not very skilled for a Mage either.

To earn the insignia and the title you had to forgo testing, the testing was vigorous and almost impossible to pass, almost.

The testing area, over a mile under the Ministry of Magic was enchanted to only give out the insignia to those that passed the test, to only allow out those that passed the test. There had been a huge uproar when he had announced he was going to do the test, most believed he was too important to risk, but he had just ignored them and gone anyway, only Albus had supported his decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Albus had not yet returned and he had to wonder what he was up to. Albus rarely left his office except for meals and important business, with their arrival he had to wonder what important business he could be attending to, after all what could possibly be more important than the arrival of two misplaced persons from another dimension? The brief thought of Voldemort flicked to his mind unbidden but he quickly shoved it to the back of his mind because everyone seemed much to cheerful for a Dark Lord to be running around, even Minnie was surprised about the two dangerous looking individuals popping up in her classroom if they were at war the teachers would have been prepared for anything even if it was the safest establishment in England.

Harry sat quietly with his thoughts allowing his thoughts to drift to more entertaining subjects like the time Sirius charmed all his opponents into thinking he was fighting in only a pair of Spiderman boxers, needless to say they were somewhat distracted and many who fought with him ended up dead or captured in THAT particular battle, his godfathers tactics had never failed to amuse Harry, a strange combination of jokes and seriousness. Harry did not allow himself to think of who else might be alive here; he hoped Sirius was here he missed him a lot and didn't know how he had survived so long without his guidance, even if it was a little warped, Sirius had never failed to brighten his day, but no it was best not to think of it he would be too disappointed if they weren't alive not to mention bringing up painful memories of those he had left behind.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James was curious in spite of himself. He was on his way to see what the old coot wanted, he was going, but he had in no way forgotten his grudge against the old man. He knew he was being unreasonable, the Minister and the Headmaster of the largest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the country should be on good terms. But they weren't. He really did not think he would need a guard of Aurors and Hit Wizards and Unspeakables but the escort would let the old fool know he meant to be here for business only and forego any personal conversations. He didn't know what the fool wanted but whatever it was it couldn't be good, it was Albus Dumbledore after all, he thought spitefully, nothing good ever eventuated from HIM.


He had put his trust in the old man and he had let him down. He would never make the same mistake again; he would never again trust Albus Dumbledore.

Deep down he knew that it wasn't really Albus's fault no one had suspected him, not even him he was loathe to admit, no one knew of what he could do, what he would do, but Albus was the leader he was supposed to know these things. There had to have been something Albus could have done to uncover him.

Albus of course knew of his grudge, he hardly kept it a secret, so the question was what did he want? Well whatever it was it had better be good, the world coming to an end or something because otherwise he was likely to blow the old man into the next dimension. Who cared if he got thrown into Azkaban he would be doing the world a favour.

He stormed up to the castle, not noticing the absence of students in the halls, a sure sign of something important going on, and if he looked at his watch he would have been able to find the school community easily as it was dinner time and everyone, including the headmaster, and excluding Harry and Hermione were in the Great Hall listening to the announcement of their guests (known only as Harry and Hermione from another dimension more would be revealed as it is known)


James continued storming, oblivious to everything, towards the headmaster's office.

His 'guards' noticed though, they may not have had they been professional guards but this was the Minister of Magic, and they were the police force of the wizarding world they were paid to notice strange goings on.


Unfortunately for the 'guards' they were the unlucky and only ones still in the office at the time the Minister had stormed in requesting an escort, if it had been anyone else they would have told him they were to 'senior' to act as bodyguards, had it been anyone else they probably wouldn't have even asked. They could look VERY intimidating when they wanted to.


As he neared the entrance two Unspeakables took the lead, if they were going to do this they may as well do it properly muttering a spell they opened the gargoyle and led the way up the stairs, much to James displeasure but he was too inquisitive and slightly mad to care. He just followed on at the same pace up the stairs to the circular office he had known so well as a boy and as a man, the office he had not been even close to in eighteen years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry heard them coming, they made to much noise, Herm never made that much of a racket even before training she had always been light-footed, and there was more than one, so it couldn't be Albus.


He wouldn't take any chances; his brain knew this world was one at peace but his body and the instincts he had relied on so heavily the last few years were screaming danger. In his head he knew, thought, this world was at peace but clearly the message had not gotten through to his instincts, they may have only lasted a few years of his short life, but the Dark Wars dominated his existence and deep down he hadn't really accepted that they were over; he was not ready for a world of peace.

In his own world the change would have been gradual with those around him also cautious as well, but here he was an genetically improved wolf amongst sheep so used to peace that they stomped around like a herd of elephants.


He could feel his body moving and somewhere deep down he knew he was doing the wrong thing but all was forgotten in the action, he was not afraid but he knew he was outnumbered, he did not know his enemy and he guessed there were about eight of them. They were nearing the top of the stairs, they would be reaching for the door handle, and NOW.


He slipped out of the shadow of the doorway and wrap an arm around the slightly shorter man, dagger coming out of the gauntlet he was wearing on his arm and coming to rest on the skin above the mans jugular vein. He spun bring the captive with him facing the crowd at the doorway, his movement was so quick they almost missed the turn, he now had a human shield between him and the group of Aurors, tow Unspeakables he noted not counting the one he was holding, four Aurors and someone behind them he could not see, probably the one they were guarding he didn't hold himself like the others, too tense, not a threat or at least not a serious one.


It was fortunate for the 'guards' that he was wearing his hood up they would not react well to the near duplicate of their charge capturing the second most senior Unspeakable in the group, with ease.

The 'guards' raised their wands as one to this man who had one of theirs waiting for him to make his next move. But it would never happen because while they were waiting for him to move he was waiting for them.


Luckily before the situation got out of control, well more than it already had the sound of footsteps running up the stairs grabbed everyone's attention, however the 'guards' still kept their eyes and wands trained on the confused War Mage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione felt refreshed as she made her way back from the teacher bathroom, she luckily had not met with any teachers during the considerably long period of time she spent in there. The more she thought about the lack of activity the more she thought of the time, it seemed around the time they used to have dinner in the castle but she couldn't be sure.


As she neared the gargoyle she noticed it was hanging open, she'd never seen that before but whatever it meant it couldn't be good, she quickened her pace and rounded the corner bounding up the stairs making as little noise as she could in her haste.


It took her all of three seconds to realize what must have happened, Harry had over reacted, she should have expected something like this would happen.

The Ministry Wizards quickly decided she was no threat, which in a situation where she was not going to work with them would be a mistake, a very costly mistake. Luckily she was somewhat on their side, somewhat meaning she was not about to slaughter them.


As it was one of the lesser Aurors come to usher her out of the room, she just brushed him aside easily and fully entered the room, ignoring everyone but Harry. She knew there was only one way to get through to him when he was like this.


"HARRY JAMES POTTER, LET HIM GO NOW!" she yelled as loud as she could. He quickly lowered the knife but kept the other wizard in front of him. Shock tactics always worked she thought with a smirk he was starting to come back, the glazed look in his eyes fading.

"JUST WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, ATTACKING ALLIES REALLY I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THAT!" she shrieked, she didn't really know whether or not they were trustworthy, they were from the ministry after all but in the end in their world the Unspeakables and Aurors had been some of their greatest allies, when they realized the ministry was pulling the wool over their eyes that is. It did not really matter whether or not the others were allies or not as long as it got him thinking instead of reacting.


She could see him returning to a more approachable state and stopped yelling at him.


The 'guards' did not know what to think.

The man they were guarding in the background hidden behind a wall of Aurors and Unspeakables did not know what to think. Save for vague feelings of hope, stirring anger and disbelief, shock.


'Potter did she just call him Potter, Harry James, it can't be. My son is dead' he thought; yet he was still numb and he could not move. Somehow he knew this hooded man was the reason Dumbledore had called him here today. Dumbledore it seemed was playing his hand at the game so many others had already tried and failed.


As if replying to his thoughts Albus calmly made his way into the room, although he had lowered the dagger Harry had still held the Unspeakable in front of him, to stop the more trigger or should he say wand happy Aurors in the room, maybe even an Unspeakable would have had a go at him after an attack on one of their own, he wasn't quite sure.


"Ah what have we here, have a bit of a misunderstanding did we?" said Albus, "I must apologise Harry I did not think they would arrive so soon. Else I would have been here to meet them" he seemed to radiate calm and everyone in the room seemed to temporarily forget the events of the past few minutes, everyone except Harry who was still wary.

"Please, please take a seat we still have one more guest to arrive." he said absently looking towards the fireplace. You normally could not enter Hogwarts through the Floo network, only if the Headmaster gave his express permission and only if he considered it an emergency, which it wasn't really but it was exciting and he had never minded bending the rules a little.

No one but Harry and Hermione noticed that until that moment their had only been two chairs, The chairs Albus had conjured for his guests looked so 'in place' that they seemed as though they had always been there. The 'guards' though they tried to hide it seemed to be impressed by his foresight.

After all these years he had no doubt once she made up her mind Lily Potter would be here, and no doubt in her haste she would forget small details like not being able to Floo to Hogwarts.


They sat in silence for several minutes awaiting the arrival of the last guest; Harry had yet to witness his look alike who was still being shielded by his 'guards' which would probably be a good thing. It would not have been good for him to freak out again so soon after his last episode.

James however had only thing running through his head was 'there must be some mistake, my hearings going, yes that's it my hearing not my son, not my son' in spite of himself he was wondering what the stranger that had been addressed as Harry, his Harry, was hiding under that hood.

After only a few moments spent in heavy silence the fireplace roared to life filling itself to the fullest extent with bright green flames. Out of the flames came slightly nervous red head, Lily Potter.

Immediately she started forward embraced Albus in a hug and began apologising for her awful behaviour.

Noticing that they were not alone she took a step back and decided a break from apologising was in order in favour of finding out exactly what was going on.

The office she noticed had barely changed since the last time she had been here eighteen years ago, a few new knickknacks here and there but primarily unchanged. Save for the large amount of Ministry Officials, all law enforcement in some capacity, her husband, a young lady in pretty blue dress robes who was eyeing her with wonder and a hooded, she assumed stranger whom she felt strangely drawn to.

"Now that we are all here we can get into the explanations." Albus said as he motioned Lily into a chair near James, once again conjured from thin air.

"Now I am sure you are all wondering exactly who our two guests here are but I am afraid we are going to have to leave the introductions until after I have explained the situation."

"Now these two young people here have its seems stumbled upon some unusual phenomenon and travelled here from another world, or if you prefer a different dimension, I ask that you do not panic or over react when I introduce them all will be explained in time." Albus said his piece unaware that Harry's identity had already been revealed before he had entered the room; the only one who would be unaware of the name of the hooded fighter would be Lily Potter.

"Now would you like to introduce yourselves or shall I?" Albus asked, "Perhaps first we should go around the room starting with me and moving around the room leaving our new friends till last?" Albus asked before continuing not waiting for an answer, bloody Albus and his bloody games. "Well I shall begin I am Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry amongst other things next please."

"Lily Potter" Lily said simply she really wanted to get into the guts of this not waste time on silly introductions, she already knew most of the people here and their names weren't really relevant to the discussion about to take place. But this was Albus Dumbledore it was faster just to humour him.   

"James Potter, Minister of Magic, Order of Merlin Second Class." His voice was slightly choked he knew what was coming and at the moment he was unsure how he felt about it.

"Gavin Oldfeild, Unspeakable, Department of Mysteries." Unknown, though presumably the one in charge, also the guy Harry caught so easily earlier.

"Angelina Johnston, Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement." That was an interesting one, he never would have suspected Angelina to go into Auror Training sans Dark Lord.

"Leanne DeBrook, Unspeakable, Department of Mysteries." Well what more could be said, she was an Unspeakable, not that Harry and Hermione did not know what Unspeakables did, they did. But they were extremely secretive about their member, unsurprisingly and they had never met this one before.

 "Thomas Parkinson, Unspeakable, Department of Mysteries." Harry and Hermione took note of him, he was a known Death Eater in their world and it didn't hurt to take precautions.

"Joshua Armstrong, Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Unknown.

"Elizabeth Bailey, Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Reasonable Ability, nothing special suited to routine work.

"Peter Singleton, Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Brilliant Auror, last person in command of the Auror's before the Ministries collapse Peter was probably the only reason the Auror's in their world had managed to stay together as a body following the Ministry's collapse.

"Hermione Granger, Order of Merlin First Class, Head Tactical Officer, Chatelaine of Chateau Dobraine, Former General of the Debrisan Forces" A lot briefer than she could have gone but sufficient none the less. No one seemed to have a problem with her being one of the people coming over from another universe; they almost seemed to have expected it, though they did gawk at her a little. She wondered why. Then again she didn't realise, Hermione Granger, former top student, most successful graduate in a long long time of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, former Gryffindor, looked and acted distinctly different to herself. Sure she was startlingly similar to their Hermione Granger though not immediately noticeable, she held herself with a confidence that their Hermione had never exhibited.

"Harry Potter, Order of Merlin First Class, Lord Protector of England, Lord Protector of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, General of the Allied Forces, Head Phoenix of the Order of the Phoenix, Overseer and Chief Officer of the Underground, Administrator of Hogwarts, and War Mage." It was not a full listing of his various occupations but it was close enough. He swept back his hood and immediately found himself bombarded with the slight form of Lily Potter who seemed to be drinking in his form and totally disregarded everything he had just said save the Harry Potter part. She looked extremely happy yet not quite ready to believe what she could see.

As soon as she had heard Harry Potter in conjunction with the features his lowered hood showed Lily rushed over to him, it was hard to believe, yes, but there was a chance. And a chance was good enough for now.

Brushing aside his fringe she exposed it, a secret they had kept for years. The scar. It was there this really was her little boy, never mind that he came from another universe this was Harry, her Harry.