Chapter 5

The silence in the air was dense, two sets of eyes watched Harry closely. He in turn avoided both, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground trying to figure out just how a reconnaissance mission went so south, so fast.

He looked up at Max and sighed before turning to Chloe, there was only one option he could take here and honestly it was going to be painful but he had to do it.

"Yes, it's true. I'm a wizard." he answered while sighing in defeat.

"Like, a real wizard? Like with the robes and the cauldrons and pointy hat and the magic carpets?"

Harry had to suppress his chuckle, no matter what reality it seemed as though Chloe had the same questions about magic in all of them. "Yes, robes, cauldrons and occasionally pointy hats, not magic carpets though, those have been banned for centuries." he told her with a small shrug.

"So like you have a wand and everything?!" Chloe asked again, seemingly trying her best to not believe him.

Harry pulled out his wand at her question. "15 inches, thestral hair, elder wood. Got it off... an unpleasant chap from my school days." he then waved his wand slightly and emitted a small gathering of confetti that rained around the room in a multitude of colours.

Chloe sat in complete awe, her eyes wide as saucers she had a whimsical smile on her face and she even gave one of those shocked laughs when something seemingly impossible is done right in front of you.

"I- I can't fucking believe this..." she whispered. "Magic, like actual magic... so like dragons are real?"

Harry couldn't but smile at her childlike wonder. "Yeah, so are pixies, unicorns, goblins, ogres, giants, trolls... basically any magic creature you could imagine we have." he answered with a small nod.

"What the fuck... Max, this is awesome!"

"I know, Chloe! So with this we can help you! Then you won't have to..."

"Max!" Harry said sharply cutting her off. "Stop..."

"Wha- What do you mean stop?! You can help her, just heal her and she'll be able to walk again! You can do that, right?!"

"No, I cant."

Harry's response cut right through anything Max wanted to say next as she stared at him in shock and the bubbling beginnings of anger marring her usually sweet face.

"What do you mean, you can't?!"

"Magic isn't a fix all, Max! There are some things that not even magic can reverse."

"But..."

"I can put the spine back into place, fine. But the damage is still done. The body has a memory system, Max. Trauma can't just be magicked away. If I fix Chloe's spine, she still won't be able to walk."

"Trauma?"

Harry then showed her a scar on his forehead.

"This was given to me by a spell specifically designed to kill people. I was really lucky, to this day no one really knows how I survived that spell, but I did. The day I got this scar, was the day my parents were murdered, in cold blood. I saw my mother die right in front of me, Max. Do you really think I want this thing here? Don't you think if I could I would've spelled it away by now? Whenever people see it, they remember the miracle of my survival, but forget the sacrifice of my mother and father. I can't get rid of it because it was a traumatic event. My body won't heal it because it remembers the sensation of getting hit with something meant to kill me."

"But- but... maybe if we're lucky...?"

"I'm sorry, Max. I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but... there isn't anything I can do, really. Perhaps give Joyce and William an anonymous donation? Help take the load off. Other than that though... There isn't much I can do for Chloe." Harry slumped against the wall and sighed.

"No! But..."

"Max! That's enough!" turning, Max saw Chloe looking serene. "He already told you, there isn't anything he can do. I won't be able to walk again." she smiled sadly before turning to address Harry once again. "And the failing lungs?" she asked, but guessed the answer wouldn't be promising.

"Not a long term solution, I could probably do something to allow you more time, but nothing substantial. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. Really. I'm okay with this. Were you serious about the donation? You really don't have-"

Harry smiled slightly. "I have more than enough to last me multiple lifetimes. If anyone deserves this money, it's your parents, they are saints. I'd be more than happy to help out."

Chloe smiled at him and thanked him, she then turned back to Max and looked at her pleadingly.

"Max, please. This needs to be done. My parents deserve their lives back, don't you think?" Chloe said a sad look on her face.

"Chloe... I- I don't know if I can make that choice." Max said, her voice cracking under her high emotional state.

Harry didn't know what to do either, he himself was once more faced with a dilemma, should he tell them about the time stream, or would it be better to not mention it? Especially now. Whatever choice Max made, would then be dealt with by a Harry and Max who were not aware of any of this and would be the subject of either the families ire or Chloe's. They obviously had to go back to correct the timeline, but... This reality would now exist, when it hadn't before, which means; the Max and Harry of this world never met, and wouldn't be here together if at all... and when they had control of their bodies back... fuck!

"I'll be back, soon. Gotta make a quick stop."

He spun on the spot and apparated out of the room without waiting for a response, landing in front of the Salem Gringotts branch. He had to act quickly. Rushing in he found an empty teller and walked towards the window.

"Hello, how may Gringotts, help you this morning?"

"I'd like the sum of twenty million dollars to be wired to a Joyce and William Price, based in Arcadia Bay, Oregon, please."

The Goblin paused slightly before turning back to his computer and proceeded to type away.

"Do you know their bank account number or the bank they use?"

"No, but I know you guys can find that out."

"Hmm, what makes you so sure?" the Goblin asked, his beady little eyes narrowing further at the wizard.

"Because, I'm willing to pay Gringotts 1.5 million galleons should they succeed." Harry answered, knowing exactly how to get through to these greedy little blighters.

The Goblins eyes flashed in interest for a second before turning back to Harry.

"And how do we know, you are good on your word?"

"I'm Harry fucking Potter, I have more gold than most Dragon dens, I'm good for it. So do we have a deal or not? No offence, but I'm short on time here."

"We'll need a drop of your blood to-"

"Just give me the bloody knife and let's get on with this!" Harry practically yelled, his patience wearing really thin. He took the knife from the Goblin, sliced his hand open and let a few drops land on the parchment before him.

After a few minutes the Goblin spoke once more.

"It seems, that all is in order. Anything else?"

"Yeah, make the transfer permanent. I don't want anyone, even myself to be able to reverse the payment."

"It shall be done. Thank you for you time." Goblin said with a nod.

Recognizing the dismissal, Harry turned and left the building, once he was out of Gringotts, he spun and apparated back to Chloe's room. Where he found Max standing by the IV machine and Chloe looking awfully peaceful.

"It's done?" he asked sadly.

Not being able to respond, Max simply nodded her head while tears feel from her eyes. She turned back to Harry and rushed him. Hugging him along the waist and crying openly.

After a few minutes when she finally collected herself enough to speak Max looked up to Harry.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I know how hard this must be for you."

Harry felt immensely bad for not telling her that she'd basically doom her alternate self to a life time of pain and guilt for what had just happened, but how could he tell her now. He bit his cheek and willed himself to not bring it up. They had to get moving... and soon.

"Max, we have to go back, we have to fix everything." Harry told her while rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Max nodded, "You're right. Let's go." she said, while moving over to the photo album and focussed on the photo of her and Chloe as children.

Harry felt the pull and watched as everything around them, shook violently before a flash of bright white light engulfed him. He was back in the kitchen in his astral form and watched as Max moved over to the fireplace and stared into it sadly. He turned and watched as the events that played out before, went as they should have the first time around. Joyce calling William, William finding his keys under his sports hat, him and Chloe having some friendly banter and finally William leaving the house, never to return again.

"Hey Max, you're being so fucking strange, like you aren't going to see us again." Chloe said as she moved over to stand by the smaller girl.

"Listen to me, whatever happens, I want you to be strong. Even if you feel like I wasn't there for you... because I will never abandon you, Chloe. I will always have your back."

Harry watched Max's passionate speech and Chloe's confused expression for a moment before everything once more went blindingly white. He blinked when he was suddenly sat on a bed hearing the soft tunes of music lulling in the background. He looked around and saw Max standing in front of a board covered with pictures and various other nick nacks.

"Chloe, you're alive! Yes!" Harry watched as Max rushed over and grabbed a sitting Chloe, hugging her tightly.

"Whoa! Down, Max. You get one kiss and now you're all over me..."

"I'm- I'm just glad you're here."

"You sound high... but thanks for the morning grope."

Harry snorted at that and turned back to the two girls in front of him, happy that they were back, but worried for the world they had just left. It was then he felt his pocket vibrate and brought out the mirror and cursed.

"Shut off the music and don't say a word." he told them sternly.

"Why-"

"Quiet." he said quickly before sighing and answering the call.

"Mr Potter."

"Mr Johnson." Harry replied with a nod.

"You have been MIA for the past 24 hours. We picked up a massive surge yesterday, larger than ever before everything went dark. Update."

Harry looked up at the girls and sighed before turning back to his MACUSA handler.

"There was an incident of a magical creature attack, I had to exhaust a lot of my reserves to finally bring it down. That probably explains the surge. I then went dark because I had to recover, I apologise for not informing you sooner." Harry lied easily.

"There haven't been any magical creature attacks in the US since the Scamander incident. What magical creature was it?"

"A rabid Griffin, I don't know how it got here, I just know it did."

There was a moment of silence before Johnson spoke again. "Very well, we will investigate these claims, but in the meantime, you must do something about this Maxine Caulfield. We pulled a lot of information on her, the important information is that she's a no-maj, no sign of any magical heritage, recently moved back to Arcadia Bay after living in Seattle. We are aware that you've made contact. When do you plan on turning her in?"

Harry saw Max freeze up out the corner of his eye and immediately narrowed his eyes at the mirror, something didn't feel right; how did they know he and Max had been together unless...

"How long have you had me tailed?" Harry asked frowning at the mirror.

"Since the first day. I am no fool, Mr Potter. From your record it's easy to assume you wouldn't be able to help yourself and attempt to assist Ms Caulfield, who may I rightly assume is currently at your current location, yes?"

Harry froze before rising from his place on the bed and rushing over to the window. He then saw it, the slight shimmer on the other side of the road; disillusionment.

"Relax, Mr Potter, while we know that Ms Caulfield and Price are now aware of magic, I find myself rather curious to this rather sudden appearance of magical ability, so for the time being, I will not make the President aware of the situation, should you find the reason all of this is happening in the first place." Johnson told him calmly.

"And once I figure that out? What happens next?"

"Well, that's on you Mr Potter. I could, of course assist you, lead the President off your trail and let you and you merry band of little friends go, or I could inform her of your current actions, that'll have the entire Auror force after you and an Unspeakable squadron after Ms Caulfield, I'm sure you know how that'll turn out for both of you."

Harry couldn't help the wince that came over his face. He looked back down to the mirror to the confident look, Johnson shot him. He knew he had no option in this matter. Either work with an unreliable or force the hand of a foreign government.

"Fine. I've got some ears out looking for information already, when they get back to me. I'll let you know." Harry told him with a small glare.

"Excellent. Now if there isn't anything el-"

"Actually there is." Harry said cutting the Ministry official off.

"And what would that be?"

"Call off your tail."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I work better knowing there isn't someone in the shadows evaluating my every movement."

"Hmm, well you see Mr Potter, I don't see how that's my problem."

Harry gritted his teeth. "Kreacher!" He called out and was unsurprised and thus unfazed when the two girls let out shrieks of surprise.

"Yes, master Harry?" the aged elf asked with a bow.

"Get rid of that man under the charm outside, drop him off at Mr Johnson." Harry told him without breaking eye contact with Johnson.

"As Master commands." with a small pop Kreacher disappeared there was a few moments of quiet and finally Harry heard a second voice shouting in surprise before Kreacher appeared before him again. "It is done, Master."

"Now then, Mr Johnson, when I have more information. I'll let you know."

Johnson was quiet for a moment before letting out a deep laugh and responded.

"Okay, I look forward to your updates, Potter. And please don't forget, you decide to back out of our deal, there are a few other people in this town we know about." the mirror went dark and Harry saw his own reflection before sighing and placing the mirror away.

"Kreacher. I want you to get me a couple of ward stones, nothing crazy just a simple detection ward should suffice. Minimum 12. Put them in my room at the dorm, also scan the dorm for any listening charms."

Kreacher nodded. "As Master commands." and popped away.

"Shit, now I have to deal with this on top of everything..."

"Uhh, Harry? What the fuck is going on? Wha- What the hell is going on? What the fuck was that thing just now? Who the hell were you talking to? Ju- Just the fuck is going on?" Chloe asked looking around wildly as she grabbed her hair.

Harry looked over at Max who too looked extremely freaked out by what had just happened. Sighing, he sat down and looked between the two girls.

"Okay, this is a long story..." Harry then began telling them everything he felt they had the right to know; his assignment, the mirrors, the bigotry towards muggles (no matter the amount), Kreacher, Johnson and the MACUSA, and his theory for Max's sudden appearance of abilities.

"So you're telling me, that I somehow gain this ability because of a magical creature?"

"That's the running theory." Harry responded with a nod.

"Holy shit..."

"What happens now?" Chloe asked as she looked around in an almost paranoid manner.

"We figure this out. Bring it to Johnson and hopefully have Max depowered before they can do anything about it."

"What about Rachel? You expect us to put everything on the back burner for your little investigation?"

"No, I have a feeling Rachel's disappearance has a major role in all of this, I just don't know how yet." Harry answered as he adopted a thoughtful look.

"And those guys won't just show up again, right?" Max asked nervously.

"I don't believe so, no. It wouldn't be smart for them to try anything when they don't know anything about your ability."

Chloe stood and narrowed her eyes at Harry.

"Hold on, you somehow always manage to find out where we are, how do you do that?"

Harry cursed in his mind before looking between the girls and sighing. "I placed a tracker on Max, back when I figured out that she was the one rewinding time. It's still active and I use that when I feel like you might be in trouble..." Harry started.

"You- You've been tracking me...?" Max asked her voice straining.

"Dude, that's hella creepy!" Chloe added her face twisting to a look of slight disgust.

"I only did it so that I could get to you quickly if need be." Harry tried again.

"That's still... Isn't that a violation of my privacy?"

"Really? That's what you're worried about, I just bought you time against-"

Chloe scoffed, cutting Harry off. "That just sounds like something, step-cock would say."

"Is it... is it still on me?" Harry sighed before reluctantly nodding slightly.

Harry then watched as Max stepped away from him slightly and looked away.

"Don't you guys think you're over reacting slightly?"

"Over reac- I think it'd be best if you left now. Max and I can take it from here."

"Don't be ridiculou-"

"Dude, this is my house, and I want you out." Chloe said sternly.

"... Max?"

The smaller of the two girls simply looked away from him and didn't say a word, effectively yelling that her allegiance was with Chloe during this moment.

"Oh before you go, do your whole hocus pocus thing and get rid of that tracking thing from Max. We don't want you following us, and if I find you anywhere near either of us again, I'll tell the whole town you're stalking us." Chloe said in a cold tone.

Harry sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, raising his wand, he removed Max's tracker. He didn't say a word simply looked between the girls one last time before, spinning in place and apparating to his room at Blackwell. Once he landed he stretched his arms above his head and sighed tiredly.

"Now I get why Dumbledore kept some stuff to himself..."

He's thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock on his door. Frowning slightly he looked around his room to ensure that nothing had been out of place or exposing before he walked over and opened the door.

"Victoria? What are you doing here?" he asked with a frown.

"Care to explain why I found this under my door this morning?" she asked as she held up a sketch. The sketch of her. The sketch he'd done of her in art class. That sketch.

What the absolute hell had he done during his little trip to the past with Max.

"I can explain that..."

"I sure hope you can, the only reason I'm not absolutely dragging you through the mud and making you the joke of the school is because this isn't halfway bad." she responded with a look. She raised a brow and questioned him again.

"Well? Care to explain why you were creeping on me in class? Or is this a kink thing? You had a naked girl right in front of you, but that doesn't get your rocks off? Secretly watching someone does?"

Harry sighed and repressed the urge to groan, now he was being seen as a pervert by three girls, he really needed to nip this in the bud before it got out of hand.