A/N: Hi guys! Sorry if I didn't update earlier, damn writer's block!

Chapter 4: In training, missing…

"Aaaaah! Where is he?" Madam Pomfrey's voice rang out in the now empty Infirmary.

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Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, finishing up this year's paperwork. His peaceful task was interrupted when he heard frantic footsteps in his stairs followed by a loud tapping on his door.

"Come in!" he said worriedly. Pomfrey quickly got in and, not even waiting for Dumbledore to say anything, she said: "Mr. Potter is no longer in the Infirmary. All I found in his bed were his bandages and pyjama!"

For the first time since Poppy knew Albus, she saw him utterly and completely flabberghasted.

"What are we going to do, Albus? Where could he have gone? With his injuries, there is no way he could have gotten out of his bed by himself."

Dumbledore had partly recovered from the shock. "It couldn't have been Death Eaters, the wards would have warned me. Same thing for a Portkey…" He was interrupted by a bright light blinding him.

"Do not worry. The one called Harry Potter is alive and well. He will be returned in a month, in a better condition than the one he was found in." A being of pure magical energy was in his office! And it did not sound happy…

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When Harry woke up, he was in a bed with warm covers. He slowly opened his eyes to realize he was still in the glowing room. However, the room was no longer empty. First, he was in a bed when he distinctly remembered falling asleep sitting in a corner. There was also a desk with a chair and with a stash of parchment, his quill and his ink bottle.

Hedwig was in a suspended cage in the corner where he fell asleep. "Hedwig! Oh, girl, how happy I am to see you!"

He got out of the bed and suddenly noticed he was naked underneath. He spotted a dresser and put on a pair of pants and a shirt. And he realized everything around was still glowing. Even the dresser or the cage holding Hedwig. He heard a slythering sound and he turned around to face Dora.

"Hello, Linkweaver. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I am," Harry answered to Dora.

"Good," replied the hissing Sermetallis. "Now, we can begin your training."

"T-t-training?" Harry stuttered out with difficulty.

"Yes, that is why you're here. We are aware that a training anywhere in your world but here wouldn't bear the expected results." Dora said in a matter-of-fact tone. "With this training, you will be better abled to complete the other task you are fated to undertake."

"You mean… that I would be more able to protect my friends from Voldemort?"

"You can see it that way." Dora said in an amused voice. "In fact, what I'm here for is to teach you how to access your core, how to use the raw magic inside of and around you, helping you come to terms with your inheritance and of course, how to defend yourself, either magically or physically."

"All that?" Harry said in a disbelieving voice.

"Yes, all that and possibly more, if we have the time…" Dora said. "Oh and one more thing, I will teach you about my world, its cultures and customs as you will have to go there once in a while. Maybe, a Sermetallis will be willing to bond with you…"

"I wasn't aware of those bonds, between humans and Sermetallis, I mean…"

"There are all kinds of bonds between you and other people. The bond between you and your parents and the one between you and magic are the first ones ever a wizard from your World will complete. There's also the bond between you and your friends or your enemies. In fact, those two are quite similar, in the magic sense, it's only the emotion that changes. To the trained eye, the bonds surrounding a person are endless, like a web of connections between people. Our Worlds are Linked in precisely the same way. Every other World is connected to others. The ones with less connections are less stable. Same thing applies to people."

"I see. So, you and I have to share a bond and develop it to the point of it being a Link?" Harry asked, trying to process the information.

"You're close. We do have to create and develop a Link and we do have to share a bond for it to exist, but there are Links formed between two Worlds whose customs are so different from each other, their Links are weakened by it or even broken. Like, for example, the Link between Ruby and Amethyst was broken a few years ago because of the sheer differences between those two Worlds. Ruby is chaotic and filled with very aggressive red reptilians while Amethyst is populated by a lavender-skinned people who does not tolerate war and violence from any of its inhabitants."

"Okay, but isn't that bad for the general stability of the Universe? I mean, didn't someone think about maybe changing the Links to Worlds more suited to the mutual understanding of each other?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but it did not work. I don't know why. Nobody knows why because they never returned from their visits to other Worlds. And we don't know who's behind it." Dora said sadly.

"Are you okay? You sound really sad." Harry said worriedly.

"Yes. I'm okay, it's just that I knew the last one who tried. It was my mate. No matter how hard I tried to stop him, he went on, the stubborn diamond-head! I know he's dead because I felt our bond break. Death is the only way to sever such a bond, a soulmate bond." Harry was sure that had Dora been human, she would be crying. She slythered away, exiting from the room, passing through a wall, but not before saying: "I will see you tomorrow for the beginning of your real training." in a broken voice.

He was feeling sad for her. It couldn't be easy to lose a soulmate. He sat down at the desk to take notes on the matter he just received. Like that, he could read it again if he had a blank…

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A/N: Dum, dum, dum. R&R!