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Everytime I update a chapter I also publish a "Previously On..." section, story acknowledgements, and answer questions like: "What in the name of fuck does UGL stand for?"
ch-sixteen's is linked on my profile and titled "A New Dawn"

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An Old and New World
by Lens of Sanity

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Chapter Seventeen: Stick to the Code

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Dumbledore had asked for a couple of days and Harry said that was fine, it should give the Headmaster enough time to get his original notes together. Now he and Bellatrix were walking side by side into the polished white building of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, with Harry under a terribly cast glamour charm. It was the type of concealment and disguise even the most passive onceover would detect with ease.

"Thief, ye hav' bin war'ned" Harry muttered in an old timey pirate voice, reading the plaque aloud.

If this works it's going to be awesome.

"Good evening filthy servant creature, I am the astoundingly inbred, erm, well bred, Lucius Malfoy. And I command you to lead me to my family vault. Avast!" The Goblin looked at him incredulously, and under the aristocratic glamour Harry went on. "Hop, you will move lickedy-split or will face my shaft, erm, cane, across you filthy behind!"

Predictably the Goblin waved over to a number of his kin, and after a whispered conversation several senior looking employees, escorted Bellatrix and he deep within the bank. By this point the Goblins and everyone else knew of Lucius' disappearance, so they would be on guard in case of an Imperius Curse. And just as predictably the defence which would have shaken that very spell from Harry, had he been under its effects, was utilised against him during the cart trip.

The atrocious glamour flickered visibly, but Harry just smiled benignly at the creatures watching, and continued down into the cavernous bank.

Slashing his hand with the supplied dagger, Harry placed it on the large vault door. Which then opened... thereby proving he was a Malfoy, and had full access rights to the high security chamber. The Gringotts Goblins had of course allowed him this far into their domain in the hopes that the obvious thief would be horribly killed by the vault's protections. And as such were clearly surprised that the man actually had authorisation to be there.

They were surprised and more than a little disappointed. Goblins didn't get to watch foolish wandusers die on a regular basis unfortunately.

It took almost an hour to fill all the magically expanded sacks, but when the vault was bare of all but a few haphazard piles of Knuts, the two climbed aboard the cart and returned to the surface. They exited the building, and with a whispered "Caerbannog" to their wrists, Harry and Bellatrix activated their portkeys, landing safely in the ship's atrium.

"Can you fucking believe that worked?" Harry exploded after a moment.

Bellatrix just giggled.

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Wearing one of those 'Support Harry Potter: Everyone Else Stinks!' badges from fourth year, Harry stepped into the Headmaster's Office. It was time to get through this.

Harry had known something weird had been going on for a while now, and had even been using it throughout the year. Dumbledore had always been acting kind of guilty toward him, and it was that reason the old man had essentially been letting him do whatever in the hell he felt like while at school.

Well, guilt and the fact that Harry was pretty much doing what Dumbledore wanted him to be doing anyway, for the most part. Those things being; stay in the castle, become stronger, and don't kill Snape. Possibly in that order.

Luna's offhand comment about the Philosopher's Stone pissed him off though. Until she mentioned it he'd actually thought the thing had been at Hogwarts, and they'd actually achieved something back in first year. When now those little obstacles, kind of obviously, had been a setup.

"I understand you can now boast of performing the sole successful attempt at burglarising Gringotts Wizarding Bank." Albus said, not really chastising. Removing resources from a known enemy was standard practice in wars after all.

"Honestly, if people stopped thinking things were impossible, they'd come up with the same kinds of solutions as I do." confirmed Harry.

They sat for an extended moment in silence, neither really wanting to begin the conversation, one simply looking at the other.

"You were banking on my death."

The bland, not even accusatory statement, landed squashily. Exactly like the big steaming pile of manure it truly was.

"Harry I-"

"I've known for ages, its fine." Harry interrupted, waving it off. "I was, and am, a Horcrux. I had to die or he couldn't. I just want to know the original plan, there was some reason I had to go to the Dursleys, only I never asked because I didn't want to know your plan until now."

Dumbledore spent a long time enjoying the flavour of his favourite candy. Sometimes the twitch response ritual he had performed in his youth was a burden he could do without, but sometimes a dependence on sugar could provide one time to think. Or in this case, postpone the inevitable.

"Lily Potter was a member of the Order of the Phoenix as you well know." began Dumbledore. "When the Death Eaters started to target you specifically because of the prophecy, Lily was the one who tracked down the Fidelius Charm which was intended to hide your family. You have heard that your mother was especially gifted at charms I assume?"

"Yes." he didn't comment further.

"Lily cast the Fidelius and the Potters switched Secret Keepers at the last minute. With such disastrous results."

Harry nodded, that was Dumbledore's way of informing him that he truly hadn't known Sirius was innocent. Something which he and Padfoot had never been one‑hundred percent on.

"She also did something else. I do not know what, but Ms. Lovegood concluded it had been a ritual, and I would hazard she is correct in that assumption." Dumbledore said, subconsciously stalling for time. "There are no two ways about it, whatever Lily had done was decidedly dark. Researching human sacrifice rituals could not be viewed any other way."

"Magic is about intent." Harry put in. "There is no Light Magic or Dark Magic, at least not really."

When he nodded but did not go on, Harry huffed.

"Get on with it Albus."

"I weaponized it." He said, "I turned the sacrificial shield into a weapon. If you were to willingly give your life to protect another, the ritual effects your mother had employed with such success would be repeated. My intention was that several of your friends would all receive the Guardian against Voldemort's magic, and they would in turn dispatch him."

"And to do this I was anchored to Privet Drive?" asked Harry.

"Correct; your blood, your aunt's blood, and your cousin's blood. All carried the altered form, and so long as you spent at least some time living together each year, the plan could go ahead. Once you turned seventeen the change would have been permanent, and you could be sent against Voldemort when he inevitably regained power."

Dumbledore hung his head and Harry mulled over what he'd heard.

"That's brilliant!" he shouted after a moment.

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"What?" Dumbledore exploded in disbelief.

"Hell I'd have done the same thing if I'd thought of it." Harry admitted. "Dark Lords need killing, you know that better than most seeing as you defeated one yourself. But the brilliant part of it is that there are still two people wandering around who have been touched by my mother's sacrifice. Meaning the Runic Array that Luna devised still has an honest shot at working."

"What?" Dumbledore couldn't believe his ears. He'd never been at such a loss for words in almost a hundred years, maybe ever. When his mind reengaged, Albus pointed out a flaw in Harry's reasoning. "Unfortunately the Blood Protection around Privet Drive fell while you were in Azkaban."

"Yes, yes. Those badass wards fell," the teenager agreed. "However the kinds of archaic magic involved leave a deeper imprint than that, it's worth a shot!"

"Harry yo-" the old man began.

"Grab your notes, let's get to the Room of Requirement and dig into this thing."

Shouting after his retreating back the Headmaster cautioned, "Harry it is not going to work!"

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"Harry it's not going to work!" Luna screeched in exasperation, before unknowingly voicing Tam's thoughts from the day of Harry's rebirth. "You cannot heal death pure and simple."

"Of course it is." He mulishly attested, "Think of the Trials we've gone through. How could it possibly not work?"

This gave the blonde pause, and in light of the statement even Dumbledore halted what he was doing.

"What do you mean Trials?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Fine Harry, let me look over Albus' notes. I'll have a look to see if it's even theoretically possible." At his wide smile Luna scowled. "Do not get your hopes up. I still don't think it's going to work."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Hermione.

"Thanks Luna you're the best!"

"Hello?" said Hermione. "Can anyone hear me?" Shaking Tam, the redhead looked through her. "Am I invisible or something?"

Harry finally looked over at the bushy haired Griffindor. "Sorry about that Hermione. What's the problem?"

"Trials?" she asked. "What are you talking about, the word sounded capitalised."

Harry blinked a few times before sharing a look with Tam.

"You have never even heard of the concept before?" the redhead half asked, half stated in surprise.

"Seriously?" Harry repeated the sentiment. Hermione got that 'I'm going to start hexing people' look on her face so he tried to explain. "Erm-, I'm not sure I am the best at describing it..." noticing her eyes narrow Harry continued, "but I'll try." Seeing him standing dumbly for a long while, Tam just pushed him out of the way.

"Say you want to learn, I don't know, Animagus Transformation or something..." Hermione nodded, "and you went to the library, found a book straight away, and began steadily practicing in order to turn into an animal." Tam said. "Well it would work, and one way or another you would eventually succeed. However let us say that there wasn't a book in the Hogwarts Library, and there wasn't someone like Minerva McGonagall around who could teach you."

"Okay." she frowned, following the explanation.

"And instead of an instructor, you learn that the only book which will teach you what you want to know, is some old Grimorie buried beneath the magical section at the Library of Congress in the United States. Not only that, you find you'll have to sell a prised possession in order to afford the portkey. Even worse, once you get there, and find the book you're searching for, you are forced to fight someone else who was looking for the exact same book you are."

"Well," Hermione clearned her frown, "the second way sounds like a lot of extra trouble for no real benefit."

"No!" Harry and Tam both wailed.

"There is all the difference in the world!" the redhead continued. "The second way you have gone through many challenges and setbacks, proving that the magic you are seeking is of some high value to you. Those challenges are known as Trials. In the second scenario you would become an animage in no time at all, the magic would sing and leap from your fingertips. You would command an understanding of the process to such an extent that it would barely even be the same thing as in the first scenario."

"In fact," Harry added his opinion, "Animagus Transformation is a very good example. Take me for instance. Did I learn from a wise old master? Did I learn in order to help one of my friends with his monthly medical condition? Did I go through the mediation exercises, or partial transfiguration?"

"No! I cheated, using my worthless gold to purchase a Ritual of Release. Merlin save me, I didn't even bother to brew the potions myself, I got someone else to do it." he paused. "I bet you anything I'd have been a panther if I'd done it properly!" Harry concluded, for the first time annoyed that he'd taken the shortcuts.

Hermione mulled it over in silence for a long time, with the other two just watching for her reaction. "This is a real thing?" they both nodded. "I thought you liked your animagus form."

Harry laughed "The bunny is just a bunny. It's me that makes it Vorpal."

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"Gods it's everywhere now that you've pointed it out!" Hermione declared. "I mean, you cannot do solid shields despite them being incredibly simple, albeit power intensive." Harry scowled at her but she barely noticed. "Yet you have such control of your wandless abilities that I have seen you transfigure six Cornish Pixies from peanuts, ten times in a row perfectly, and have them all spring into being already under compulsion."

Harry's scowl faded at her recognition of his awesomeness.

"And it's like that because Sirius was trying to teach you transhields for reasons you did not fully appreciate. Whereas your wandless ability came from time spent in Azkaban Prison, and necessity. Furthermore your first wandless animal transfiguration was used to save the life of the woman you love."

"Gah!" Harry exploded. "What have I said about people saying that? It isn't true no matter how many times you say it."

Ignoring the comment Hermione continued on her train of thought. "You! That's why you did it." She span, pointing at her messy haired friend. "This is the same reason you made the magical community build you an airship."

"I don't know..." Luna said coming over. "I find it hard to believe Harry had such altruistic motivations on that score."

Seeing as how Luna had apparently finished going over the preliminary notes, Harry asked "Was I right?"

"No," she said. "No you bloody weren't okay, shut the hell up."

"Ah so you are saying I was correct," Harry concluded, "and you were being a narrow minded fool just like everyone else."

"Shut up Harry."

"Come on, what's the damage?" he asked in high spirits.

"It's fucking impossible, give it up." Luna stated, and because Harry just looked at her without blinking until she said it, answered "0.002 percent probability okay, happy now? It will not work!"

Closing his idiosyncratic green eyes he began to pace, then snapped attention to his time travelling companion. "It wasn't 0.00214 percent by any chance?"

"Er-, yeah. Why?" she asked.

"Because that is one sixth to the power of six."

The blonde blinked a few times and went through the calculation in her head. "Bloody fucking hell, it's going to work isn't it!"

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A huge shadow was cast, obscuring the afternoon sunlight on a quiet suburban street in Surry. A place which once was the home of the single most awesome individual ever born to a man or woman, or at least that was how Harry liked to think of it. The shadow was being cast by his home, a mighty and imposing sky fortress. A fortress which was known the world over as the Caravel of Caerbannog, thanks to Harry's high profile name and reputation.

Each of the houses on this street, monotonously named Privet Drive, were absolutely identical. The roofs were the exact same shade of red, each of the gardens were precisely as well maintained as one another, and the houses all had an identical disinfected look of lifelessness that screamed 'lower middle class hellhole.'

That was of course, with one sole exception; Number Four.

Harry now knew why pretty innocent Bella had been acting so nervous all day.

"Well?" He pointedly asked, his beautiful purple eyed companion shifted from foot to foot.

"Maybe it was a 'lektikal thing?" she supplied. "You know how these Muggles are with their dangerous technology and things."

Harry looked over the Fiendfyre scorch marks. "Now don't get me wrong Bella dear, electricity can be very dangerous, I will readily admit that fact. However it does not leave damage as extensive and irreparable as what we are looking at this afternoon."

"Come on!" she whined. "They were so horrible to you. You cannot expect me to just let that slide can you?"

"When did you do it?" asked Harry.

Flopping onto the blackened grass which once framed the precious roses he had invested so many hours in, Bella replied, "About two hours after I was broken out of Azkaban."

"So my mother truly is dead." sighed Harry.

Lifting his wrist portkey and obviously about to leave, Bellatrix interrupted, "I only got the walrus animagus and his spawn." Seeing Harry drop his arm, she continued. "The horsy housewife you told me about was not home."

"There is an incredibly good reason being around you always makes me smile Bella dear. A very good reason indeed."

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"So let me get this straight..." Hermione stated a little over a week later. "You actually believe this is a positive turn of events, due to the fact that it will make our lives harder?"

"You appear to be new to this concept Ms. Granger," Dumbledore added, stroking his mighty white beard. "However those of us raised around magic take it as a matter of course."

"This is totally crazy!" she insisted. "Luna, you're on my side right? An incredible number of people died doing this in the original timeline."

"The thing is Hermione, you are relying on crappy information," the blonde kind of looked uncertain. "Yes, the Holy Forest Massacre happened because a small force infiltration got caught out by the Jabberwock. But this small force infiltration knows about the Jabberwock, and is attacking exactly the same fortification as the other force, using exactly the same members... for completely different reasons."

"But they are still going to die! It's obvious."

Tam took her hands and gazed deeply into her, brown eyes meeting brown eyes "The intent and circumstances are different." she said. "Remember Trials, this is the same thing. Intent is important, and we need to capture/rescue Petunia Dursley née Evans who happens to be behind those same protections."

"I can't believe this is happening just the same way as Luna said it happened before, and none of you care!" she screamed "Fine, Mrs. Dursley was captured and her blood used to prevent Harry from having any advantage over Voldemort, but come on! It's still a trap, and we are still all going to die!"

They did not reply to her accusations.

"Hermione," Harry said, "the odds that I will successfully resurrect my mother are a sixth to the power of six! The more challenges we face moving toward that end, the better. You do not need to aid us, perhaps this is the event which Fawkes has witnessed, and it will be the reason for your bonding of a Phoenix."

"I don't want all my friends to die!" she screamed. "We can come up with a better plan."

"..." everyone in listening distance commented.

"Hermione?"

"Yes Harry. I am listening."

"I'm a Vorpal Bunny. I've always been destined to slay a Jabberwock. Do not worry, I've got this."

She gave him a hug, and everything that she loved about her friend was poured into it. It was a new experience for Harry, and Hermione was quite drained by the overt showing of emotion. Harry would win, she knew it, it would happen. Fuck logic, fuck the universe, Hermione Granger was swearing, and she would settle for nothing less than Harry winning the day!

Bring it on universe, Hermione Granger was out for blood.

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Five days before Harry Potter's first affectionate hug, an event that—by the way—stayed with him for the rest of his days, and contributed toward his eventual dedication to the cause. Well it found them discussing the topic of Lily Potter's mostly impossible rebirth.

And they were doing so without the help of Hermione because she was in a huff with Bellatrix unrepentant treatment of the Dursleys. Or perhaps it was because she had been informed Lucius Malfoy was "sleeping with Stacy," presumably an unusual euphemism for "they killed him," which Hermione did not at all appreciate.

"So in conclusion; you have defeated a Troll, fought through a spurious maze, and dispatched a Dark Lord at eleven. Slain a Basilisk at twelve. Spent a year messing with an army of Dementors at thirteen. Killed a Dragon, fought off possession, and defeated a Sphinx at fourteen. Become captain on an airship, made peace with the Vampires, and survived your own death at fifteen. And now are intending to slay an unstoppable monster, in order to rescue a "princess," which may allow you to resurrect your deceased mother at sixteen?"

"That sounds about right, for a brutally stripped down version of events anyway." replied the sexy sole survivor of a Killing Curse.

"Bloody hell Harry, even Merlin didn't have a rap sheet like that on his death bed! And he even had the time travel on there for goodness sake!"

"What can I say Tam, my awesomeness knows no bounds." Harry replied modestly. "So what do we know about Vorpal weapons?"

"I have discovered something fascinating on further researching the creature," Albus informed. "The last person to slay a Jabberwock was in fact..."

"...my paternal grandmother." finished Luna.

"...Alice Lovegood." Albus said at the same instant.

Harry, Sirius, Tam, and Bellatrix all looked over at the blonde woman.

"You know about Vorpal weaponry Luna? Like, more than just having come across it in the future?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes, Gramma Alice went so far as to show me her sword once. I'd have loved to learn how to do it, but she said I was too young when I asked."

"Explain."

"I'm guessing you have read Lewis Carroll's book Harry?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course, but that is just Muggle fiction."

"No, it isn't." Luna insisted. "Lewis Carroll was a Muggleborn Arithmancer named Charles Dodgson, and he was a friend of my Grandmother. He named the main character after her once she told him the true story of her killing a Jabberwock."

"So you're saying that it is based on a true story?" Tam asked in amazement.

"What? No! Hardly at all, he simply named the main character Alice after his friend. Who happened to be my Grandmother."

"So do you know how to create a Vorpal weapon Luna?" Harry asked after a time.

"Unfortunately not," she admitted "nevertheless I can forge Valyrian Steel which is similar, if only around half as effective. Although we might not want to do that because the Goblin Treaties cover any transmuting of metals in such a way, and if they find out that we are creating it we will be in the same position as people they discover us counterfeiting gold."

Seeing Harry was about to ask Tam interrupted. "They send an army after you. The Goblins are at a constant state of war with counterfeiters, if this is covered by the same laws we will need to think twice and again before going through with it."

"Okay." Harry said, although going to war with the Goblin Nation was not rejected out of hand by the teenager. "What is the difference between Valyrian Steel and a Vorpal Sword Luna?"

"Valyrian Steel is basically just enchanted high-purity iron, with a complex rune cluster carved into it. It's funny but Goblins cannot in fact forge it themselves, and yet they'll kill anyone they find who is doing so." the blonde informed them. "Anyway, Valyrian Steel is enchanted and carved, whereas drawing a Vorpal Sword is wanded. The process I saw Gramma Alice go through actually transformed her wand into the hilt of an ethereal blade."

"And the creation is covered by the Interdict of Merlin." Albus shared with the group. "I do not know how to make one, nor do I know anyone who does."

"Daddy might." Luna said "He's still alive right?"

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It was still a few days prior to the famous, and totally embarrassing, hug from Hermione. The three who Xenophilius Lovegood had consented to teaching, were once again in the Come and Go Room, appearing today as a murky looking indoor forest scene for Harry's amusement.

His holly wand had vanished completely in a swirl of billowing wind and magic, and in its place hanging on its own a foot in front of him, was a firm two handed purple grip. Sturdily attached to this grip was an enormous cross guard as wide as his hips, out of which had sprang a blade of equal thickness.

"Don't worry yourself Albus, it's not the size of the sword but how you use it that counts!" Harry commented cheekily, gesturing with the weapon at the headmaster's greatsword.

It's probably worth mentioning that Harry's Vorpal Sword was, from absent pommel to single edged point, exactly as long as he was tall. The thing would have been unliftable, and ridiculously unwieldy had it been made from steel.

"That is the largest weapon I have ever seen!" Luna commented in amazement, and Harry gave a perverted little smile. "Oh shut up. You know what I mean."

"Conjure me a baby panda," he commanded the blonde. "I want to try it out."

Her father had told her that because Wu Jen had left her so out of practice with a wand, he would not teach her the magic, and that he might not have anyway because it was so dangerous. Luna had been a little disappointed, but was happy enough to see him alive again that she pretty swiftly got over it. Xeno having simply taken the news of time travel in stride, and informed her that she looked the splitting double of her mother Selene.

Swinging his mighty Vorpal Sword with an eerie "Swish" it connected with Tam's, before bisecting the panda. She had a weapon that seemed halfway between serpentine blade and rapier, but stopping him from murdering baby panders was unforgivable!

"Bring it!" Harry challenged, locking eyes with the redhead.

What followed was a lot of childish horseplay, with Harry's impressive weapon dominating all‑comers, and him loudly proclaiming his invincibility. It would have been over far sooner had Luna, Sirius, and Bellatrix not been firing off cheap shots intermittently, sending more conjured animals at the two, and imbuing the constructs with malevolent sentience.

When they eventually wound down Albus commented "It is good to see you in such high spirits Harry."

"Well, life is good. Nobody is trying to kill me anymore than usual, and we have an honest shot at curing my mother's death. What's not to like?" Seeing the man looking uncertain he took a guess. "Is this about the whole 'trying to get me killed' thing?"

"I had assumed it would change your perception of me," Dumbledore admitted, "and am at a loss as to why that has not transpired."

"Oh," said Harry. "Well killing Dark Lords is a bitch. Sending one kid off as a sacrificial goat is fair do's if it means the world does not have to enjoy Voldemort's company anymore. I mean, you had to kill your old friend to end World War Two didn't you? That must have sucked."

Albus didn't respond, but Luna did. "It is a little known fact that Grindelwald is in actuality still alive."

"Is that true?" Harry asked uncomfortably.

"Oh yes," she went on, "incarcerated in the prison he built during the forties to house his political and social opponents."

Truly horrifying implications tumbled at lightning speed through the teenagers mind. He turned to the headmaster and quite reasonable asked, "So you are saying that the Dark Lord your chocolate frog card says was "defeated," and everyone believes this to be a euphemism for "killed," is still alive? That in the end you couldn't bring yourself to stop him because he was once a friend."

"Ending life is not something I take lightly Harry. A close companion of my youth least of all something I could easily stomach."

"No, no. You misunderstand me." Harry interrupted. "I am saying that your initial plan to kill Voldemort involved me dying because my Horcrux connection tethered him to life. You are saying that somewhere there exists a building secure enough to house him, and that I never even for an instant needed to die at all! He could have gone in the cell next to Grindelwald, and I could have died of old age?"

"Wha-" said Albus, suddenly at a loss for words.

"You hypocritical bastard!" Harry exploded. "That's it, I'm kicking your arse!" he looked around "Tam, you got my back? You're always going on about how brother wands working together can take any foe. Let's see how they stack up against the Elder Wand."

"Harry, surely after what you hav-" the old man started nervously.

"Bella, we're playing with Dumbledore. Luna..." pissed off green eyes continued on ignoring him.

"Harry it is indisputable that you-"

"Sorry Albus old chum I'm sticking to The Code on this one. Rule 27: Never be afraid to have your side the first to resort to violence."