A/N: This story is the result of a prompt posted by u/Niko_Of_The_Stars on the subreddit r/HPFanfiction. The prompt goes as follows:
The Order of the Phoenix tries to summon a champion to defeat Voldemort from another world while inside a heavily warded area. The summoning works, but the enchantments mean that Harry lands outside the building. He has no idea what's going on, and the Order thinks they failed.
I can think of two possible paths from there:
- The Order moves on and tries to find another path while Harry wanders around confused. They could then possibly end up meeting later without either realizing their situation.
- The Order tries the ritual again at least once, bringing in even more confused Harry's (Harries?).
As you can guess, I read the prompt and immediately decided to write it, taking the second path for the story.
And, also, a few moments and quotes of this one shot were inspired by the Loki Disney+ show and Spider-Man: No Way Home. While this story contains no spoilers, those who haved watched either one of those will probably recognize the subtle references in the story. ;)
Albus Dumbledore looked at the members of the Order of the Phoenix with grave eyes. They were all sitting in the dining room of Grimmauld Place, which Sirius Black had allowed to serve as the Headquarters of the Order.
"As you are all aware, we recently lost... Harry Potter." he said, stuttering briefly on the name of the kind boy who had been willing to sacrifice himself when Voldemort stormed Hogwarts to give the other students a chance to escape. The body had never been found, though the Dark Lord had announced in public of having killed the teenager. As he expected, a sob was heard coming from the corner of the room where Lily and James Potter were sitting. Lily was trying her best to stay silent as she cried while a depressed-looking James rubbed her back comfortingly.
"As you also know, Harry Potter was the Chosen One – the hero predicted by the prophecy to vanquish Lord Voldemort." Ignoring the flinches at the name, he continued. "Unfortunately, with young Mr. Potter's death, our chances of winning this war are very, very unlikely."
"So that's it?" asked one of the members of the Order quietly. All of them looked grim. "It's over? We lost?"
Dumbledore sighed. "It is not impossible for us to win without the help of the Chosen One." he said. Someone in the room snorted, though the aged wizard could not tell who. "However, it is very unlikely." he finished, repeating himself.
"Is there anything we can do to increase our chances?" Arthur Weasley asked.
Dumbledore was about to answer no – but something suddenly crossed his mind. Old forbidden knowledge resurfaced and hope grew in the old headmaster. Maybe... maybe there was a way.
"I might have an answer." he finally answered after spending a few seconds in thoughtful silence. The Order waited for him to continue, but Dumbledore stayed silent, already back in deep thoughts.
"Which is?" finally asked someone impatiently, startling him slightly.
"I once read of a ritual with quite the interesting result." he explained. "The ritual has been banned by the Ministry and the records of its existence were all but wiped out. There was a fear Dark Lords and other dark witches and wizards would use the ritual to summon..." He suddenly shook his head. "What am I saying? I didn't even tell you what the ritual was!" he chuckled.
A few looked at him like he was crazy. Dumbledore easily ignored their stares. It wasn't anything new, after all.
"And what is this ritual, Headmaster?" asked Nymphadora Tonks.
"To put it simple: the ritual allow for someone to summon someone else of their own choosing from another dimension and bring him here."
Now it was official. Everyone in the room believed him insane. Well, everyone but one Lily Potter whose eyes were full of hope.
"A-Are you saying t-that you can b-bring Harry back?" she asked, earning herself some incredulous looks.
"Ah – well..." Dumbledore stumbled. "Maybe?" he hesitated. Everyone looked back at him, this time in confusion. "I mean, my idea is to bring a new Chosen One here, but it is possible the summoned Chosen One is not a Harry Potter. After all – even in our reality – there were two boys who could have been marked by Voldemort: Harry and Neville Longbottom. Maybe we will summon a Neville Longbottom, or maybe we won't! After all, maybe in another universe, the prophecy mentioned girls instead of boys. Or perhaps, instead of 'as the seventh month dies', it is 'as the fifth month dies' which could bring someone else entirely. In all honesty, I do not know who will arrive here, my dear Lily. Maybe it will be a Harry Potter, but it is just as likely – more likely, even – that someone else will be brought forward."
"And even then, it's possible he won't be anything like the Harry we know and love." Remus added quietly. "His entire life might be different, which mean different personality."
"Still, if it give us a chance to end this war, we have to do it." Alastor Moody said.
"Is everything ready?" the former headmaster of Hogwarts asked to Bill Weasley, their resident expert on rituals.
"Everything was done according to the instructions in that book of yours. If it doesn't work, then there's something wrong with the instructions – not the runes themselves."
"Thank you very much, William." he said, making the man nod. He turned to the rest of the Order. "Now, all that remain is to chose who need to take part in the ritual. The ritual ask for five people. I will be one of them, of course. So, we need four... yes, James, Lily?"
"We want to take part in the ritual." James said. Lily nodded furiously next to him.
Dumbledore sighed. He could tell both held a lot of hope a Harry Potter would show up, despite the chances of it happening being small. He was not the only one to think so. Sirius Black shared the same mind.
"Prongs... We don't even know if..."
"Shush, Sirius." James interrupted. "I know it is statistically improbable we will bring forth another Harry, but Lily and I have to try in case it happen."
"But what if we're wrenching a Harry from the arms of his James and Lily Potter?" Remus Lupin asked softly, always the voice of reason. "I mean – we don't even know if its possible to send the Chosen One back to his or her home dimension. Could you live with yourself if the result of our actions meant your counterparts will have to live without their Harry and hold the same grief as you do?"
James and Lily's faces fell. Dumbledore could tell the idea they would doom another James and Lily to live with their grief had not crossed their mind. But then, almost as one, their grief suddenly let place to determination.
"Still, we have to try." Lily said to Sirius and Remus before turning to look at Dumbledore. "Could it be possible to use conditions in the ritual? For instance, we can't summon a Chosen One under the age of twenty whose parents are still alive? The same thing if they are over twenty, but instead we don't summon them if they have a wife or child."
"But what about their friends?" Remus asked.
Lily waved her hand in dismissal. "They can live without them." she simply said.
"Lily!" exclaimed Sirius, Remus and James (along with half of those who had been listening to the conversation) in shock.
"What?" she returned pointedly. "What's the chance a Harry just happen to have nobody close in his life? No friends at all? Infinitely small! I'm trying to be realistic here!"
Dumbledore sighed. "I will take note of it." he said before turning to the rest of the Order. "Anyone else has a condition in mind?"
Dumbledore looked down at his list. "Okay, so we have our runes, our five people and our conditions which are as follow:
"First: The Chosen One must be a Harry Potter." he first read. This was a result of an excellent observation by Kingsley Shacklebolt who said that if someone other than Harry was summoned, then it was highly probable that said person would already have a counterpart in this dimension, which could confuse many people. That and their presence could endanger the lives of their native counterpart and their friends and family if Voldemort even got word of it. Thus, the first condition on the list was that the Chosen One summoned must be a Harry Potter, someone they knew was already dead. It ensured there would be no doubles. That condition had unsurprinsingly pleased James and Lily.
"Second: The Chosen One must be male." The reasons for this condition were similar as the first condition. It simply would be easier for a Harry to take the place of their Harry if they were the same gender.
"Third: The Chosen One must not be happy with his current life." That condition had come when someone had commented that they could easily get an angry Harry Potter if they dragged him out of a happy and peaceful life to fight their war. At least, with that condition, it gave them the possibility to offer a new life to the summoned should they fight Voldemort here.
"Fourth: The Chosen One's parents must be dead." This was the condition set by Lily and James, which had been kept.
"Fifth: The Chosen One must not have anyone close to him." Despite Lily's beliefs, some (like Dumbledore himself) still believed it wasn't a good thing to steal a Harry from his friends. They knew how close the Harry of their dimension had been with his Ron, Hermione and Ginny and, seeing the grief all three held for their deceased friend stopped many from wanting to bring that fate to their counterparts. It was like Remus had said to Lily and James earlier.
"Sixth and finally: The Chosen One must be over the age of twenty-year-old." he finished. This last one was mostly common sense, none in the Order wanted to drag a teenager to fight their war. It was bad enough that their Harry had only been sixteen when he was killed. It was not something they wanted repeated.
Dumbledore put the list back in his pocket and looked up at James, Lily, Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks, the ones chosen to take part in the ritual. "Everyone understood?" he asked. They nodded. "Then let's get to work."
With hearts full of trepidation, excitement and fear, the three wizards and two witches stood around the edge of the runic circle. They closed their eyes and began changing the ritual, all wishing for the arrival of a Chosen One which fit their criteria.
The ritual was thankfully quick so, only a few minutes later, they were done. Now, standing in front of them, should be Harry Potter. They opened their eyes... only to see nobody was present.
"Uh." commented Tonks. "Did it work?"
"I do not believe so." Dumbledore sighed. He took his list and looked back at it. "Maybe our criteria were too precise." he said.
"Do you think we should remove one condition and try again?" James asked. Dumbledore nodded.
Looking down at his list, he decided to remove the last condition – age. He explained his decision to the others. "As much as I loathe the idea of bringing a teenager in this war, perhaps the reason it did not work is because all Harry Potters are currently sixteen. After all, maybe our calendars are all aligned across the dimension."
They nodded in understanding. "Let's try again and see if it works." said Moody.
Unbeknownst to them, the ritual did, in fact, work. However, because of the strong wards Orion Black installed around Grimmauld Place before his passing along with those installed by Dumbledore and Bill Weasley, it meant it was impossible for someone to appear in the middle of the house. They all knew of that fact, which is why everyone apparated on the top step of the stairs at the front door. But, in the heat of the moment, everyone forgot about the wards.
Thus, they did not think to check outside if their ritual had worked. If they had, they would have found someone with a mop of messy black hair and round-wired glasses wearing a strange black business suit with a bright green vest and tie laying down on the grass, seemingly unconscious.
Twenty-three year old Minister for Magic Harry Potter opened his eyes and groaned as his vision was assaulted by the light of the sun. He quickly blinked until his eyes became adjusted to the sunlight. Once he felt ready, he stood up and took a look around. He was confused to find himself standing on the front lawn of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. He was even more confused when said building appeared to be missing, Minister Harry only being able to see Number Eleven and Number Thirteen.
'Interesting' he thought as he stood up. Not only did the Fidelius long disappear after Dumbledore's death, but Minister Harry owned Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, which should have allowed him to see the building no matter what. But, it was missing.
Frowning, he tried to think about what he was doing before arriving here.
The last thing he remembered was working in his study in his small house in the south of Wales when his body was suddenly engulfed in a bright golden light. He had been writing a letter to someone. Who was it? He did not remember, so it must not have been important. Probably a foreign dignitary or something.
Taking the Elder Wand in his hand, he began casting spells around, hoping to find something magical.
As he investigated the wards he detected close to him, the corner of Minister Harry's vision suddenly filled with a bright golden light. The same light he had seen before arriving here. He quickly turned toward the light and was shocked to see a toddler laying down on the ground. He was even more shocked after approaching the child only to find an identical lightning shaped scar on his forehead.
"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed quietly.
Still standing in shock, Minister Harry decided to act and take the toddler – himself – in his arms, finding it preferable to leaving him laying on the ground. With the wave of the Elder Wand, he silently conjured a bench and a small crib. He laid his younger self in the crib and examined him more closely.
Immediately, he could tell that his younger self was young. His scar was still vivid red and looked recent. If he had to guess, he would say that Harry was only weeks out of the tragedy of Godric's Hollow, maybe even less. While he did not know the precise age of the child, he could tell mini-Harry was clearly starved and maybe even physically abused. It made him angry to think about and wished he could go and find that Harry's Dursleys to teach them a lesson. Quickly, he used his wand to cast as many healing charms as he could. Once he was sure he had done the best he could, he sat down on the bench and began reflecting on their situation.
"I wonder what happened, younger me." he spoke aloud, deep in thoughts. "Time travel, perhaps? Or maybe something else..."
He decided to wait on the front lawn of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place with his child self in case somebody else appeared. And someone else did appear. With another bright golden light, Minister Harry saw someone fall down on the ground, seemingly unconscious. And that person was himself at fourteen – if the Triwizard Tournament robes the other Harry wore were any indication.
He wondered what would be the best way to wake up his younger self. After flirting with the idea of doing so gently, he decided to use another, quicker method.
"Aguamenti." he said with a smirk, his wand pointing at his younger self's face.
Teenage Harry shot up with a yell. "W-What's going on?!" he exclaimed. He turned to look at who sprayed him with water only to jerk back at the sight of his older self.
"Hello there." Minister Harry said with a pleasant smile.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked.
"Language, young man." he joked, taking immense pleasure in teasing his younger self.
"Don't tell me to mind my language." Teenage Harry scowled, shooting to his feet. As he stared at his younger self's eyes, Minister Harry suddenly remembered that fourteen was the age he began developing typical teenage angst, something which became apparent in his fifth year with everything happening at the time.
Unaware of his older self's thoughts, Teenage Harry repeated his question. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm you, you git." Minister Harry said, rolling his eyes. He pushed his hair away to reveal his scar, which the younger Harry stared at in shock.
"What? But how?" Teenage Harry asked in shock.
"How indeed." Minister Harry said. "That's something I've been wondering ever since I arrived here – made worse when he followed me." he said before pointing at Toddler Harry.
Teenage Harry blinked. "Who is that?" he asked, walking forward toward the crib. He then let out a gasp. "Is that us?"
"Yep. A few weeks after our parents died, I'd wager." he said.
"That's..."
"Shocking?"
"Yeah." Teenage Harry said faintly. Minister Harry chuckled before sitting down on the bench. Teenage Harry sat next to him.
"So, I'm guessing by what you're wearing that you arrived from the day of the First Task?" he asked to confirm his theory. Teenage Harry nodded.
"I'd just entered the arena when my body suddenly began to glow-"
"In a golden light?" Minister Harry interrupted. His younger self nodded again.
"And I ended-up here." he finished. "What about you?"
"The same." he answered. "Well, not the same. I wasn't taking part in the First Task, obviously. For me that was years ago."
"How did it go?" he asked. Minister Harry looked at him.
"The First Task?" he asked. Teenage Harry nodded. "It went good." he answered. "The dragon managed to scratch my shoulder but the injury was superficial."
"How does the rest of the Tournament go? Does..." he hesitated for a moment before asking "Does Ron ever become our friend again?"
Minister Harry smiled. "Oh, he does. Right after the task, as a matter of fact. Seeing us against the dragon was a wake-up call to him. Came straight over to apologize."
"That's good to know..." Teenage Harry smiled.
"Yeah." he said with smile half of fondness and half of grief. "As for the rest of the Triwizard Tournament..." he started. Unfortunately, he never got to finish as another bright gold light filled their vision. And, suddenly, another teenage Harry was laying down on the ground. He looked a bit younger than Teenage Harry. If Minister Harry had to guess, he would estimate the fourth Harry was thirteen. The shocking thing that differencied him from the other teenage Harry were the Hogwarts school robes he wore. They were in the colours of Slytherin.
"Well that's interesting." Minister Harry commented, pointing his wand at the newcomer but Teenage Harry immediately shoved his arm down. "Don't spray him either!" he hissed. "I'll wake him up."
"Go for it, kid." he said with a smirk.
"Don't call me that, please. It feel weird coming from you" Teenage Harry pleaded, making the older Harry snort.
Using his foot, Teenage Harry gave a small tap on Slytherin Harry's arm. When it didn't awake him, he tried again, this time harder.
Minister Harry snorted. "How is that better than my method?" he asked.
Teenage Harry sent him a glare before trying again. The moment his foot connected, Slytherin Harry's eyes widened and his arm instinctively grabbed Teenage Harry's leg. "Who the fuck are you?" he hissed, his green eyes meeting Teenage Harry's identical ones.
"Oh, for god's sake... What is it about teenage Harry Potters and language? Seriously..." Minister Harry muttered to himself.
"I'm you." Teenage Harry answered. "You a year from now on. More or less." he added after taking a look at his green robes.
"You're me?" Slytherin Harry asked in disbelief. "I don't believe you."
"Well, you'll have to believe him otherwise you'll have a bad time here." Minister Harry commented. This time, Slytherin Harry turned his eyes toward him.
His eyes narrowed as he let out a hiss of anger. "You!" he exclaimed before standing up to run toward him. Before either Harrys could react, Slytherin Harry crashed into Minister Harry like an American Football player in the middle of a play, sending them both on the ground.
"Hey! What are you doing!" both Minister Harry and Teenage Harry exclaimed together. The violent thirteen-year-old Harry did not listen to them, instead staring at Minister Harry's face angrily. Then he blinked and his anger left place to confusion.
"You have the same eyes and scar as me."
"Because I'm you!" Minister Harry said as Teenage Harry shoved Slytherin Harry off him. "Why the hell did you attack me?"
"Language!" retorted Teenage Harry with a grin. Minister Harry sent him a small glare.
"Because I thought you were Father!" Slytherin Harry answered, like it was an obvious answer. The other two Harrys looked at him incredulously.
"Because you thought I was Dad?" Minister Harry asked, making his younger self nod.
"But why would you want to attack Dad?" Teenage Harry asked. Slytherin Harry looked at him in shock.
"You mean... you don't want to attack him?" he asked, sounding more shocked than them. He turned to look at Harry to see the same look that was visible on Teenage Harry's face. "You neither?"
"Why would we?" they asked, confused.
"For abandoning us to the Dursleys and ignoring us for our twin brother!"
"Abandon us?!/Twin brother?!" Teenage Harry and Minister Harry asked respectively.
"You mean – Father and Mother didn't..." Slytherin Harry asked, shocked.
"Well, I don't know about your slightly older self but I'm pretty sure I'm an only child. And while I was raised by the Dursleys, it was because my parents died when I was a baby."
"Same for me." Teenage Harry said.
"I... oh." Slytherin Harry said. Then his eyes drifted to the crib behind them. "Is that a kid?"
Minister Harry turned to look behind at the crib. "Oh, yeah. That's us." he answered.
"Us?"
"As a child." added Teenage Harry.
"Fucking hell."
"Language." Minister Harry said.
Slytherin Harry scoffed and turned to Teenage Harry. "Is old us always this stuck up?" he asked.
"Hey!" Minister Harry immediately protested before Teenage Harry could answer. "I'm not old and I'm not stuck up!" he whined.
"Of course you aren't." he deadpanned, making Teenage Harry snort.
"Great! Gang up on me, will you?" Minister Harry scowled. He pretended to be offended though, in actuality, he was happy to see his two younger selves get along.
Before one of them could make another joke at Minister Harry's expense, another bright golden light appeared, dropping the body of an adult Harry on the ground, one only a year or two older than Minister Harry. Instead of round glasses, on his face were sunglasses. The man wore green swimming trunks and a blue Hawaiian shirt.
"Well, someone certainly was having a good time before joining us here." Slytherin Harry commented.
"Can I?" Minister Harry asked, taking out his wand.
"No." Teenage Harry said.
"But he's already wearing the perfect clothes!" he pouted.
"No!" he repeated firmly.
"Do what?" Slytherin Harry asked.
"Summon a jet of water to wake him up." Teenage Harry answered. "That's what he did to me."
"Is that why you're wet?" the thirteen-year-old asked in amusement.
"Yeah." the fourteen-year-old answered, glaring at his twenty-three-year-old counterpart who was chuckling.
"Well, I'm sure it must be an interesting sight." Slytherin Harry said before taking out his wand, pointing it at the relaxed-looking Harry and casting "Aguamenti!"
"Harry!" Teenage Harry exclaimed before blinking in confusion. "You! I mean...! Uh – that's confusing."
"Yeah, we really need a system or nicknames." Minister Harry agreed.
"Still, why did you do that?" Teenage Harry asked to Slytherin Harry. It was not him who answered, though.
"I would like to know that as well." said the Harry in a Hawaiian shirt, slowly standing up. Unlike how the others had looked like when they awakened, this Harry didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the strange situation they were in – or that three Harrys all younger than him stood in front of him. "Strange situation." he commented.
"You don't look bothered." Minister Harry said.
"I've seen weirder." he commented, shrugging.
"You have?" Slytherin Harry asked, surprised. "How?"
"Well, when you fight as many dark wizards as I do, you tend to just take things as they go along and not spend too much time thinking about how likely something is to happen." he said with a tone of amusement.
Minister Harry stared at him in disbelief. "Man, I'm Minister for Magic and even I haven't seen weirder than three of my alternate selves stand in front of me." he said.
"You're Minister of Magic?" asked his two younger selves, shocked.
"For Magic." he corrected. "And yes I am! Why did you think I was wearing this suit?" he asked.
"I thought you were working for Weasley Wizarding Wheezes." the relaxed Harry commented, looking him up and down.
"Of course I'm not!" he protested. "And what about you? It look like you were on a beach before showing up!"
"I was." the older Harry confirmed. "I'm was on my honeymoon laying down on the beach with my wife when my body suddenly glowed gold. Then, I ended up here."
Somehow, the fact that the oldest Harry was married was what shocked his younger counterparts the most. "You're married?" Teenage Harry exclaimed.
"Yep." he said proudly before saying the name all of them wanted to know. "To Ginny Weasley."
Minister Harry took a step back, looking like he had been slapped in the face. "She survived?" he whispered, making all others turn toward him.
"Survived?" repeated the older Harry, for once looking shocked. "You mean... your Ginny is dead?"
"She died at the Battle of Hogwarts – along with Ron and Hermione." he said softly.
"What?!" Teenage Harry exclaimed just as Married Harry said "Oh, man. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean they died?!"
"Look, I don't want to talk about it." Minister Harry said quickly but Teenage Harry interrupted him.
"No! I need to know! I can't let the same thing happen to my Ron and Hermione!"
Married Harry put a hand on his shoulder, patting him comfortably. "Calm down for a moment, kid. Will you?"
A brief scowl appeared on Teenage Harry's face at the nickname before it disappeared just as quickly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry." he said.
"No, I get it." Minister Harry said. "I'll tell you, just not now, please." Teenage Harry simply nodded.
"By the way," Married Harry suddenly said, looking behind them. "Is that a baby?"
"That's us!" Minister Harry, Teenage Harry and Slytherin Harry all told him at the same time."
"That explain the scar – or the green eyes."
"Green eyes?" Minister Harry repeated, surprised. He shouldn't have been able to see the colour of their child self's eyes as he was sleeping. Unless...
The three younger Harrys turned around to see their child self stare back at them with wide green eyes full of confusion and awe. "Who you?" the child asked.
The Harrys all glanced at each other. "Someone want to explain to him?" Slytherin Harry asked.
"I suppose, as the oldest, it should be my job." Married Harry sighed, taking a step toward the child. The child took a step back in fear. Married Harry froze in his steps.
"Right." Minister Harry sighed. "I forgot to tell you but this Harry is being abused by his Dursleys."
"What?!" exclaimed the other three quietly as to not startle their younger self.
"I found him with bruises on his back." he explained. "And, he look thinner than toddlers his age should look like."
"Fucking Dursleys." Slytherin Harry hissed. Minister Harry decided not to call him out on his language despite their child self being awake.
Married Harry took another tentative step forward, his hands raised in surrender. "I won't hurt you, Harry..." he said.
"'Arry?" Toddler Harry repeated, mispronouncing the name. "Who's that?"
"It's you." he answered. "Harry is your name."
"Unwkle Wernon say my name is fweak."
The older Harrys tried not to hiss at the child's words. All mentally cursed Vernon Dursley.
"'Freak' is not a name." Married Harry said softly. "But 'Harry' is a name. It is your name."
"I'm ''Arry'?"
"You are." Married Harry confirmed. He was now standing next to the bench. "Can I sit here?" he asked. Toddler Harry nodded, likely not wanting to anger Married Harry in case he answered negatively. "Thank you."
"Wha... Wha's your name?"
"My name is also Harry." he answered.
"'Arry too?" he asked, his eyes wide. Married Harry nodded.
"Harry too." he repeated. "And so are they." he added, nodding toward the other Harrys who stood there awkwardly watching their older self talk to their child self.
The child seemed mind blown at the revelation all of them shared the same name. He looked like he wanted to say something but, before he could, another bright golden light appeared in their field of view. Married Harry instinctively shielded Toddler Harry while the others raised their hands to cover their eyes. Then, it stopped and a small soft thump was heard. When they looked at the new arrival, all of them but Toddler Harry let out exclamations of surprise.
"What the fuck?!"
"No way!"
Because in front of them had not landed a boy or a man like they expected. No, it was a teenage girl. A teenage girl with messy black hair, a lightning scar and round glasses. A teenage girl who was pregnant.
"A female teenage pregnant us." Minister Harry said in disbelief.
"That I didn't expect." added Slytherin Harry, looking as shocked as his older counterparts.
"Who should go and wake her up?" asked Minister Harry quietly.
"What about you do it?" Teenage Harry asked. "You seemed to excited to wake the others up."
"Uh – no thanks." Minister Harry said, taking a step back. "I mean, isn't it considered back luck to wake up a pregnant woman?" he asked.
"Why are you asking me? I'm you but nine years younger." he returned.
"Then how about you do it?" Slytherin Harry said, pushing Teenage Harry forward.
"Uh, can I think about it for a moment?" he asked, not stepping forward. "I mean, maybe you're right with the bad luck thing."
Married Harry groaned. "There's no such thing as getting bad luck for waking up a pregnant woman! Where did you even heard that from?"
"Do it, then." Minister Harry challenged.
"Fine, I will." Married Harry returned. He took a few steps forward before stopping. He turned toward them. "But what if he's right?" he asked, making all of them groan. "I mean – we don't know how the magic of this dimension works..."
"Just do it!" Slytherin Harry exclaimed.
"Alright! I will!" he said.
"Do what?" suddenly asked Female Harry. The others let out shrieks of surprise.
"Damn! You're awake!" Teenage Harry exclaimed.
"Yes, I am." she said, rubbing her face. She slowly tried to stand up but her pregnant belly got in the way. Married Harry quickly ran to her aid, giving her a hand. "Thanks." she said once she was on her feet. "Now, who are you all?"
"Uh, I believe we are you but male. And not pregnant." Minister Harry said.
"You're... me?" she asked in disbelief.
"Apparently so!" Slytherin Harry said.
"That's crazy! I mean, how did it even happen?"
"Sue me, I have no idea." Married Harry said. "I was lying on the beach enjoying my honeymood and suddenly there I was with these three spraying water on me." He nodded in Minister Harry, Teenage Harry and Slytherin Harry's direction. The two teenagers quickly pointed at their adult counterpart, shaking their heads and muttering "He did it."
"I was the first one to arrive here." Minister Harry said, rolling his eyes at the teenagers' actions. "At first I thought it was something to do with time travel but with the arrival of Harry in Slytherin robes, the one with a wedding band and now you, I believe it is something bigger."
"Alternate realities, perhaps?" Married Harry in interest.
"Something like that." Minister Harry said. "Why? Got any knowledge on that?"
"I thankfully do. Perks of being an Unspeakable."
The other Harrys let out low whistles. "So one's the Minister and the other's an Unspeakable. Wow do I love you for setting the bar so high!" Slytherin Harry said sarcastically.
"So that's why you said you'd seen weirder shit than the Harry who's Minister for Magic." Teenage Harry said.
"Language!" Minister Harry said, making the two boys roll their eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me! There's a baby here!"
"A baby?" Female Harry asked in confusion. The male Harrys moved out of the way to allow her to see Toddler Harry standing in his crib.
"Oh!" she swooned. "Look at you! You're so cute!" she said, making all four older male Harrys flush in embarrassment.
"I'm not cute. I'm handsome." Slytherin Harry protested while Minister Harry and Teenage Harry nodded furiously. Female Harry rolled her eyes before moving forward toward the crib. "Hello, young man." she said with a smile. Toddler Harry looked at her with wide yes. Immediately, the others could tell he was far more interested in the presence of their female self than the others. He extended his arms toward her and, smiling, Female Harry took him in his arms.
"Anyone else feel like shit?" Slytherin Harry jokingly asked. "I mean, he backed off from grown-ass us in fear but now he's happy to be in the arms of female us."
"With Vernon as an uncle, wouldn't you feel more comfortable as a child being in a woman's arms instead of a man's arms?" Married Harry asked.
"Fair point." he said.
"Now, do any of you know how we can return to our homes?" Female Harry asked, sitting down on the conjured bench.
"I could probably find us a way." Married Harry said. "But, I need to know what method of travel brought us here in the first place to reverse it."
"I'm guessing it is not a coincidence we ended up on the front lawn of Grimmauld Place." Minister Harry said. "If we can find a way in, we should get our answers."
"Grimmauld Place?" Teenage Harry asked in confusion.
"Sirius' home." Slytherin Harry said. "It's practically my childhood home since Sirius refused to let me be raised at the Dursleys despite what Mother and Father wanted."
"Mum and Dad wanted what?!" Female Harry exclaimed.
"Long story." he said, waving his hand aside. "How are we going to enter, though? The place is clearly under Fidelius."
"I know." Married Harry sighed. "One of our options is waiting here until someone notice us and let us in."
"Or?"
"Or, I could bypass it."
The other Harrys looked at him in surprise. "You can do that?" Female Harry asked.
"Perks of being an Unspeakable." he repeated himself with a grin.
"So cool." Teenage Harry said as Married Harry began waving his wand around.
After a few minutes of work, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place appeared in front of their very eyes. For Teenage and Slytherin Harry who had never seen the Fidelius in action, the appearance of the building shocked them to the core. "Merlin's beard!" Slytherin Harry said.
"That's the Fidelius, kids." Minister Harry chuckled.
"Don't call us 'kids'." Teenage Harry said. "We're literally you."
"But you're younger." added Married Harry, making Minister Harry snort.
"What he said." he nodded toward him. "Now, let's go inside, shall we?"
They nodded and, together, the six Harry Potters made their way inside Grimmauld Place.
Sirius was waiting with half of the Order of the Pheonix in the parlour of Grimmauld Place not so patiently for the ritual to finish. Strangely enough, despite having gone inside the ritual room thirty minutes before, nobody had come out despite the ritual only taking a few minutes to complete. It was strange, something all of those in the parlours agreed to think.
"I wonder what take so long." Remus asked him.
Sirius shrugged. "Don't know, don't care." he answered, his entire body shaking. He was very nervous. He knew that by the conditions chosen by Dumbledore before they closed themselves in the ritual room, it was all but guaranteed a Harry Potter would be summoned. This made him nervous. He had no idea how he would react when he would see his dead godson's counterpart walk around Grimmauld Place.
Suddenly – and startling everyone in the parlour, the front door of Grimmauld Place opened and the unrecognizable voice of a teenage girl was suddenly heard.
"Wow! It look cleaner than last time I visited!" she exclaimed, prompting other male voices around her to shush her quiet.
"Not so loudly!" hissed a familiar voice. "We don't want to waken Mrs. Black's portrait!"
This voice had sounded horribly familiar and, instinctively, Sirius knew who it belonged to. He simply did not want to believe in it.
"What portrait?" asked a very similar sounding voice, but younger.
"Of Sirius' mum." answered the second voice. The now pale Sirius and Remus glanced at each other in confusion, wondering what the intruders were talking about. Sirius had his mother's portrait removed the moment he inherited Grimmauld Place. Apparently, he was not the only one, somehow. "I got rid of it when I moved in after the war." said the voice. "What about you?"
"It's still there." answered an identical voice. "I couldn't step inside the building without freaking out. Reminded me of too much." Someone hummed understandingly.
"Well, I don't see her portrait here." said the female voice. "Seems whoever own this version of Grimmauld Place removed it."
"Thank Merlin for that." snorted one of the male voices.
This version of Grimmauld Place? His mother's portrait still being there? Most voices sounding horribly familiar to that of a dead teenager? Sirius was starting to have a pretty good idea who were standing on the other side of the door in the entrance of Grimmauld Place.
The ritual worked and a Harry Potter had come. But, not just one of them but at least three – maybe even four of them! Sirius felt faint.
On the other side of the door, the voices spoke again. "Let's go to the parlour first." said one of older voices. "If nobody is in here, then we can look around to find somebody who can explain how we all ended-up here."
At his words, most of those in the room stood up, withdrew their wands and pointed it at the door. They waited as footsteps came closer and closer. Then... the door opened, revealing-
"Harry?!" most of the Order exclaimed at the same time. But there was not just one Harry but four! Two of them were adults and two were teenagers. There was also a pregnant girl who looked awfully similar to Harry and a toddler in her arms who looked exactly like Harry did at that age.
"That's us!" said the Harry in a business suit. "Uh – can we come in?"
Sirius felt too faint to answer directly, so he simply gave them a nod. As they walked in the parlour, questions began erupting in whispers across the room.
"How did that happen?"
"Are they all Harry Potters?"
"Why is there four of them?"
"Six, you mean! One of them is a girl and the other a baby!"
"What is going to happen now?"
"Why did they keep summoning after the first arrived?"
That was a good question, Sirius thought. Why did the group upstairs repeat the ritual and summon more than one person? After all, they should have known it worked, right?
Sirius was suddenly tempted to curse himself as the answer hit him in the face. No, they didn't know! The wards his dear old dad had placed around the place stopped anyone from directly coming in or out. Other than the Floo Network, the only way to get to Grimmauld Place was to apparate outside. So, when the ritual summoned someone, they would not have appeared in the ritual room but right outside instead! Which meant Dumbledore, James, Lily, Tonks and Moody had no idea the ritual worked and tried it again!
"Oh shit!" he suddenly exclaimed. Jumping to his feet, he ran past all the Harrys out of the parlour and up the stairs to go to the ritual room. He had to get there before they summoned someone else!
When the second attempt at the ritual also failed, the group was perplexed. After discussing a bit, they decided to repeat it, but by removing yet another condition. They repeated that action when it failed a third time, then a fourth and a fifth time. When they tried with only the condition the Chosen One had to be a Harry Potter, the Potters hoped with all of their being that a version of their son would appear. Yet, nobody did.
"No Harrys showed up?" Lily asked, her voice sounding heartbroken.
"I'm sorry, Lily." Dumbledore sighed.
James took his wife in a comforting hug. They had failed. They would never see Harry again. "Maybe it just wasn't meant to happen." he muttered quietly, also sounding sad. Lily closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her cheeks.
Neither Dumbledore, Tonks or Moody said anything to the couple, deciding to give them a bit of time alone before trying again. Quietly, they moved to a corner of the room and began discussing ideas and theories on why the ritual had failed so far.
It took a few minutes but, eventually, the Potters had calmed down. "Are you ready to try again?" Albus Dumbledore asked. The couple nodded and all took their place around the runic circle. "We tried to summon a Harry Potter but, alas, it was not to be. This time, we shall try to summon-" He never got to finish as the door burst open in a loud slam. Lily shrieked in shock as they all pointed their wands at the door, only to lower them immediately when they found Sirius.
"Stop the ritual!" he yelled. "Stop the ritual!"
James blinked in confusion. "We aren't even doing anything!"
"Don't care! Stop! Don't do anything!"
"Why?" Tonks asked. "It didn't even work anyway. We tried summoning someone but nobody appeared in the room."
"Because the ward stopped them and left them outside!" the owner of the house exclaimed. All of their eyes widened.
"S-Sirius." James stuttered. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that there are six Harry Potters in the parlour!"
Barely had he finished the sentence that he was pushed aside by Lily who ran out of the room to go downstairs, quickly followed by James and then the others. Similarly to what Sirius had done only moments before, Lily opened the door of the parlour with a loud slam and barged in – only to freeze when she saw six identical pair of green eyes turn toward her.
"MUM?!/MUMMY!" two adults Harry, one female Harry, one teenage Harry and one child Harry exclaimed together.
Lily took one look at them before fainting right away.
All the Harrys save Slytherin Harry (who was scowling) looked at the presence of Lily Potter in shock. Despite meeting counterparts of themselves, none had ever imagined they would see their mother alive and well. Mostly well, Minister Harry reminded himself as he stared at her limp form in the door frame.
Loud footsteps were heard running down the stairs until someone was standing just behind the unconscious Lily: James Potter.
"Dad...!" four of the Harrys whispered almost reverently while the fifth looked ready to attack him.
James Potter looked at his son's counterparts in shock. "Wha- but how? Did it- No! But- what?" he said incoherently.
Behind him arrived Albus Dumbledore who let out an "Oh my!" Taking one look at Lily on the ground and the shocked Order of the Phoenix, he said "Maybe it is best if we move this somewhere else. Somewhere more comfortable – and private."
After waking Lily up, Dumbledore, the Potters, Sirius and Remus all moved to the dining room. The rest of the Order wanted to follow them to find out more but were stopped with one look from Dumbledore.
As they arrived in the dining room, Female Harry passed down Toddler Harry to a still badly shaken Lily, who quickly took the child in her arms to both her and Toddler Harry's delight.
She and James sat down on one side of the table with Sirius and Remus standing next to them while the two teenage Harrys and Female Harry sat on the opposite side. The adult Harrys decided to stand next to them.
Married Harry asked the question all of the visitors wanted to know.
"Is our presence here your doing?" he asked to Dumbledore.
"Yes, it is." Dumbledore answered.
"How?" Minister Harry asked. "And why?"
"You travelled to our dimension thanks to a ritual we just performed." he answered. "As for the why, it is a long story."
"Can't you simplify it?" Slytherin Harry asked, trying not to sound sarcastic.
"I can." Dumbledore began. "Seventeen years ago, I was interviewing a candidate for the post of Divination professor..." Suddenly, he was interrupted by the two adult male Harrys and the female one, who continued the tale by themselves.
"Who was called Sybill Trelawney. You didn't think she had the gift of sight and were ready to dismiss her when she suddenly froze and gave a real prophecy." said Married Harry.
"Thanks to the greasy git Snape who overheard the first half and reported it to his master, you knew you had to warn the affected families that Voldemort might come after them." continued Minister Harry.
"You suggested to Mum and Dad that they hide under the Fidelius. Mum and Dad originally chose Sirius Black as their secret-keeper." Female Harry said. "But Sirius was afraid he could accidentally reveal the secret – didn't trust himself with the lives of our family."
"Instead, he suggested Peter Pettigrew become the secret-keeper as nobody would suspect him to hold the secret, and Sirius would be free to act as a decoy and gather all the wrong attention away from the rat."
"But Pettigrew was a Death Eater who immediately told Voldemort."
"And Voldemort attacked on Halloween 1981, killing Mum and Dad. He also tried to kill us. However, he failed and, thanks to Mum's sacrifice born out of love, the curse rebounded, hitting Voldemort and destroying him." Female Harry finished.
"Of course, since Mum and Dad are clearly alive in this dimension, something went different here." Minister Harry said.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Well, yes, that was what I wanted to tell." he said. "However, as you guessed, James and Lily survived here and went on to raise our Harry. I do not know how closely Harry's Hogwarts years match to yours, but I assume there are some differences."
"But still, that doesn't answer why we're here."
Dumbledore sighed again. "Because our Harry Potter died two weeks ago trying to protect the students of Hogwarts from Voldemort's forces." he said with a grave voice.
All the Harrys looked at him in shock. They could tell Dumbledore was speaking the truth when they glanced at James and Lily, the grief evident on their faces (and, in Lily's case, because she brought Toddler Harry closer to her). And, suddenly, the three oldest Harrys understood the exact reason why they where here. This dimension had lost the one chosen by the prophecy to defeat Lord Voldemort. In desperation, they summoned someone else who could accomplish the job, hence their presence.
However, Teenage Harry and Slytherin Harry still did not understand the reason why. And, they had a few questions.
"What prophecy are you talking about?" Teenage Harry asked to Dumbledore. It was not him who answered though, but Female Harry.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark her as his equal, but she will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." she quoted.
"That." said Minister Harry. "Except our prophecy talk about a boy rather than a girl."
"Is that why Father and Mother abandoned me at the Dursleys so long ago? So they could focus on training my brother Alex to defeat Voldemort?" Slytherin Harry asked quietly, looking down at his feet. James and Lily let out quiet gasps, looking at the thirteen-year-old counterpart of their son with shock and heartbreak. For them, abandoning their child was inconceivable. In their minds, no good enough reason existed for them to do so. That a version of them in another dimension did so and made their Harry suffer for it was heartbreaking.
"I-I'm sorry, H-Harry." Lily said in tears to Slytherin Harry. "I don't k-know what our o-other selves t-thought but a-abandoning you is u-unacceptable." Slytherin Harry simply nodded while Female Harry rubbed his back comfortingly, a look of pity and well hidden anger on her face.
As he expected Slytherin Harry to be just like he had been at that age, Minister Harry quickly tried to move on to ensure the younger boy's plight was no longer the focus of everyone's attention. "You summoned us to defeat Voldemort, didn't you?" he asked.
Dumbledore nodded. "I know it is not a good thing to wrench you from your home realities, but we are desperate. If we do not have someone defeat Voldemort, our whole world will soon collapse."
Minister Harry could not deny he was angry that they had done exactly that but, at the same time, he also understood why they did it. He was the Minister for Magic, after all. Learning to put the needs of many over that of few was part of the job description. Turning to look at Married Harry, he saw that his older counterpart shared the same opinion as him. Both gave each other a small nod of understanding.
"But who is going to fight him?" Teenage Harry asked. "There's six of us – well five when you exclude our baby self."
"And why are there six of us anyway?" Female Harry asked.
"I will answer your question first." Dumbledore said, looking at Female Harry. "To make it simple, it is because we were unaware the ritual had succeeded until after our sixth attempt."
Sirius explained further. "The wards around Grimmauld Place stop anyone from directly coming in or out, no matter where you come from. So, when they did the ritual upstairs, instead of appearing in the ritual room, you appeared outside on the front lawn. Nobody noticed so it was assumed the ritual failed." he said.
"Indeed." Dumbledore continued. "We did not know if the ritual was feasible in the first place as most of the information about it has been wiped out a long time ago. When we first did it and believed it to have failed, we were unsure whether it was because we chose a set of conditions which were too narrowed or because the ritual simply did not work."
Female Harry guessed where it was going. "So you tried again by changing the conditions. You had nothing to loose from another attempt, after all."
"Exactly."
"What were the conditions?" Married Harry asked in interest. Dumbledore took out his list and gave it to him. Minister Harry read over his counterpart's shoulder aloud.
"Number one: Is a Harry Potter. Two: Is Male. Three: Is Unhappy with his life. Four: Have no close blood relation. Five: Has no close friends. Six: Is over twenty year of age." He began to think. "I assume you removed the sixth condition first, then the fifth, then the fourth, ecetera?" he asked. Dumbledore nodded. "So, I arrived first because I fulfilled all the conditions. I'm twenty-three, I'm male, my parents and friends are all dead, I'm relatively unhappy with my life and I'm a Harry Potter.
"Baby Harry arrived second after the age condition was removed, fourteen-year-old Harry third after the no having friends condition was removed. Then the Harry in Slytherin robes came fourth when the no family condition was removed, Married Harry when the happiness condition was removed and, finally, female pregnant Harry-"
"Harriet." said girl corrected.
"Finally, Harriet arrived after the male condition was removed. Is that right?"
"I believe so – not that we knew you were there until we saw you in the parlour." Dumbledore said.
"And you need one of us to kill Voldemort." Married Harry completed. "But who?"
All the Harrys and Harriet glanced at each other, all wondering who would end up fighting and killing Voldemort of this dimension. Minister Harry eventually spoke. "Well, as I was the first one summoned, I will sacrifice myself to kill Voldemort." he said.
"About that..." the other Harrys said and, before he knew it, four wands were pointed at his throat.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he demanded.
"I'm the most experienced and aged Harry here – so I will sacrifice myself to defeat Voldemort." Married Harry said.
"No you won't." Slytherin Harry scowled. "You have a wife and are happily married. My life is meaningless. If someone has to die to kill Voldemort – I will!"
"You still have a family." Teenage Harry said. "I'm in the middle of the Triwizard Tournament hell and have nobody other than Hermione in my life. If someone's to sacrifice themselves – I will!"
"I'm already in the middle of fighting a war while all of you are either before of after it. I'm the one already warmed up for fighting – so I will do it!" Harriet told them.
Unseen by them, Lily Potter shook her head. "Why do all versions of my son have to be self-sacrificing idiots?" she asked to herself.
The argument continued on the other side of the table. "You kids are only teenagers!" Minister Harry said, pushing their wands away. He then turned to Harriet "And you can't fight either! You're-"
"What? A girl?" she challenged with a scowl.
"You're pregnant." he said.
Harriet stared at him for a few moments before saying "Fine, I'll give you that one."
Minister Harry then turned to Married Harry. "And you're married to Ginny! You can't abandon her!"
"I won't." he said confidently. "As an Unspeakable, I know a lot more magic which give me a better chance at defeating Voldemort than you."
"But you have a family and friends and I don't! Look, I don't want to do it but you're forcing me to use the Minister card. Thus, as Minister of Magic, I command you, Unspeakable Potter, to stand down and find a way to bring us all back to our home realities."
"Technically, as we are in another dimension, you fall under my jurisdiction. Thus, I order you. Minister Potter, to stay here while I fight Voldemort."
"No, I will!" he challenged.
"No, I will." he returned with a calm voice.
"No, I will." a third voice said.
Everyone in the room gave a start, recognizing that the voice was definitely the voice of a male Harry, except it came from none of the visitors. They turned to look at the door of the dining room only to see a sixteen-year-old Harry Potter in dirty and tattered clothes limp inside the room. He had a beaming smile on his face. All of them knew that this Harry was different.
This was the Harry native to this dimension. The one who was supposed to be dead.
"Harry?" Lily and James gasped, standing up in shock.
"Hi Mum, Dad." Harry grinned at them.
"Oh, my baby!" Lily cried. She quickly passed Toddler Harry to the person nearest to her – Remus – before jumping in her son's arms. James followed quickly after and Harry hugged both of his parents, tears in his eyes.
The alternate Harrys all took a step back to give some space to the reuniting family as Sirius and then Remus hugged the new arrival. All of them had tears in their eyes, wishing that the same reunion could be possible in their home realities. Well, all but one.
"Does anyone feel unloved?" Slytherin Harry quietly asked jokingly. Harriet gave him a wack on the arm.
"Don't ruin their moment!" she said.
"Fine." he returned, rolling her eyes.
Lily, who had yet to let go of Harry, grabbed his face with her two hands and looked at him closely. "How?" she asked. "I- I thought you were dead!"
Harry gave a small grin. "My death was greatly exaggerated." he joked. "As for how, Voldemort actually captured me instead and only pretended to have killed me with a stone transfigured to look like me to destroy our side's morale. He brought me to Riddle Manor and kept me prisoner in his dungeons until I managed to escape a few hours ago." he explained.
Lily took one look at him before hugging him again. "I'm so happy to have you back. I thought – I thought you had died!" she choked.
"I'm harder to kill than that." he told her with a smile.
After their warm reunion, Harry limped to the table and collapsed on a chair with a satisfied sigh. Then, he looked at the other Harrys and asked "Who are you all? You kind of look like me."
"They're you from other dimensions, Harry." Remus answered. Harry looked at him in confusion.
"But how? And why are they here?"
"Ask Dumbledore. It's his fault anyway." Slytherin Harry said.
Dumbledore let out yet another one of his sighs. "We believed you dead." he told him. "As you were the only one to have the ability to defeat Voldemort, we became desperate and decided to summon outside help."
Harry turned to look at his counterpart and froze for a moment at the sight of Harriet. "How is it you're a woman?" he asked in disbelief.
Harriet scowled. "Does that really need explaining, Harry?"
"No – but that you're pregnant does." he returned. "I mean, you're what? Seventeen? That must mean you're still attending Hogwarts so how did that happen? And who's the father anyway?"
Everyone turned to look in Harriet's direction. All had wondered at one point or another who's child Harriet was carrying but none had dared to ask the question.
Harriet flushed under their gazes and began fidgeting. "Uh – well..." she stuttered before saying something quietly.
"We didn't hear! Who is it?" Slytherin Harry asked with a shit eating grin.
"Dra- Draco Malfoy." she mumbled.
"MALFOY?!" exclaimed Harry, Minister Harry, Married Harry, Teenage Harry, Slytherin Harry and James and Sirius.
Married Harry went out to shock Minister Harry when he turned to him and asked "Want to help me castrate a ferret?"
Minister Harry had to shake his head to make sure he understood correctly. "You realize it's illegal to ask a Minister for Magic to take part in a crime, right?" he asked.
"Oh, I know that." he said, waving his hand in dismissal. "So, are you down?"
Minister Harry grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!" he said and, together, they made their way to the door.
"Harry James Potter!" Lily yelled, making both adult Harrys freeze. "You will not go hurt a teenager! Understood?" Despite one being an Unspeakable and the other the Minister for Magic, Lily's raised voice was enough to make them instinctively cower in fear.
"Yes, Mum." the two mumbled, walking back where they had stood with their heads down.
The Harry native to the dimension snorted. "It's a lot more amusing when I'm not the target of her anger." he said, causing him and James to snicker. They suddenly stopped when they saw his mother look at them with steely eyes. Harry looked away, whisteling subtily.
"Our female self somehow having a child with Malfoy aside-" Teenage Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief. "What do we do now? I mean, we were summoned because the Harry of this world is dead – except he isn't. So, now what?"
"Well, the Harry native to this dimension is still alive but he's injured and need to recover. So, while he's at it, someone need to keep Voldemort occupied." said Harriet.
"I will!" Minister Harry and Married Harry immediately said. They then glared at each other.
"I'm not an infirm!" Harry protested, trying to stand on his feet. He would have succeeded too had Lily not forced him back down in his seat. "I can take care of Voldemort!" Protests immediately came from the two older Harrys and another argument broke out on who was going to get to play the self-sacrificing idiot.
While Slytherin Harry and Teenage Harry leaned back on their chairs to watch the show, Harriet rolled her eyes before bringing two fingers to her mouth. She whistled loudly, silencing everyone.
"Oi! Are you done?" she asked. Immediately, the three Harrys began to talk again at the same time and Harriet let out another whistle. "Stop!" she told them. "I have a better idea. How about we all work together?"
The two younger boys immediately sat more straight at the thought of making themselves more useful while the three older Harrys stared at their female counterpart in shock. "I- I hadn't thought of that." said Married Harry. Harry and Minister Harry made noises to confirm they hadn't thought about it either.
"Of course you hadn't." Harriet said, rolling her eyes. "Boys." she sighed, making Lily snort in amusement. She stood up and announced "I'm going to make a plan for the confrontation."
"Can we help you?" Married Harry asked.
"Raise your hand if you can beat Ron at chest." she suddenly said. Her counterparts looked at each other in confusion. Other than her, nobody raised their hands. "Raise your hand if when you're about to enter a fight, you do not recklessly jump right in but wait to make plans first." Again, she raised her hand but, this time, she was joined by Slytherin Harry. "That's what I thought." she smiled. "The youngest Harry can help me. Everyone else stay here."
While Slytherin Harry stood up with a smug smile and followed Harriet out of the room, the other Harrys all sat down, grumbling. It was as Harry took another look at his counterparts that he noticed Toddler Harry look straight at him from Remus' arms. "Why is there a baby in here?" he asked.
"He's a Harry!" the other Harrys all immediately said.
In the end, the plan Harriet and Slytherin Harry came with was simple. The plan was built around Voldemort's arrogance, counting on the fact the man would want to publicly kill Harry for real after the latter managed to escape. And, the chosen location was Diagon Alley.
Harry would parade around Diagon Alley to meet with people and announce he was still alive. He would do it with the expectation one of them would relay that information to Voldemort. Meanwhile, the other Harrys and the Order of the Phoenix would stand under glamour charms in the crowd and nearby building, waiting for Voldemort to appear.
When Voldemort would appear, no Harry or Order member would leave him time to do anything. They would immediately start blasting, the Harrys concentrating on Voldemort with the others on the Death Eaters. If Voldemort managed to survive the onslaught, then Minister Harry and Married Harry were to work in tandem together to defeat Voldemort. If capable, Harry would join them to make a victory harder on the Dark Lord.
Hopefully, Voldemort would be dead for good that day. They thankfully didn't have to worry about Horcruxes as Dumbledore admitted all of them had been destroyed beforehand.
In total, the Order and the dimension travelling Harrys spent a week in Grimmauld Place preparing for the fight. While Harry recuperated and Harriet prepared, the others could be found in the duelling room practising fighting together. Of course, they only did that half the time, the other half being spent by the two adults teaching their teenage selves spells they had learned later in life.
It was also during that time that all the children of James and Lily Potter got to know each other before. Teenage Harry got to learn about his likely future from Married Harry and Minister Harry while Slytherin Harry had an interesting revelation.
"What do you mean I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"Well, you say your parents abandoned you so they could train the 'real' Boy-Who-Lived so he could accomplish the prophecy, right?"
"Right - except by 'train' I meant spoil rotten." he answered bitterly.
"Well, the thing is, if your brother truly was the Chosen One, then shouldn't he be the one here instead of you? Think about it, if you're the one here, then this mean..."
"I'm the Boy-Who-Lived!" he exclaimed before suddenly bursting in laughter. "The idiots completly messed it up! They got the wrong kid!"
Of course, that revelation also came with its load of tears as Slytherin Harry realized his life could have been so much better. Thankfully, his counterparts and that dimension's James and Lily were here to comfort him.
When the big day came, everyone held hope that they had a chance to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Standing on the front lawn of Grimmauld Place, the group activated their portkeys and travelled to Diagon Alley.
Minister Harry's place could be found at Florean Fortescue's, a favourite of the Harrys. He was slowly eating his ice cream bowl and watching over the Alley as Harry walked around, shaking hands with citizens and greeting friends. At one point, he even saw him hug Ron, Hermione and Ginny, something which made him feel both happy and bitter.
"Are you alright?" Married Harry asked, sitting at his table.
"Yeah." he said, his eyes not leaving Harry and his friends. "I just feel like... I don't know..."
"Like this Harry has it all? Friends, family, etc?" his older self asked. Minister Harry nodded.
"It just remind me of what I lost during the Battle of Hogwarts. I guess I'm just jealous." he said before sighing sadly. "I wish it could be different."
"Well, maybe it can." Married Harry said. Minister Harry looked at him incredulously. "I don't think you can replace Ron, Hermione and Ginny – and, frankly, I don't think you should try either – but that doesn't mean you can't make more friends and fall in love again."
"Meh." he said, playing with his ice cream. "I don't really have time for new relationships with my job. Really, it's a wonder Dumbledore even has enough time to sleep with three jobs."
"Well, you shouldn't give up." Married Harry said. "Being an Unspeakable take a lot of my time but, we made it work, Ginny and I."
Minister Harry could not deny he felt some hope in his chest. "I'm happy for you." he said. "And thanks, I kind of needed to hear that."
"You're welcome." he said.
Suddenly, multiple pops were heard as figures in dark hoods with white masks appeared in the Alley. People shrieked as they noticed the Death Eaters. The two Harrys stood up and drew their wands.
The moment they had waited for had arrived.
The battle was hard on all of them but short. Less than thirty minutes after the Death Eaters first arrived, all of them were either dead or arrested. The only one left standing was Voldemort who was – to the shock of everyone not in the know – fighting three Harry Potters. The spellcasting of the three Harrys was fast enough that the Dark Lord barely had enough time to dodge and block.
Then, Minister Harry and Married Harry cast "Expelliarmus!" at the same time. Voldemort managed to dodge the first spell to reach him but was hit by the second. His wand immediately flew outfrom his hand to be caught by Married Harry. Now disarmed, the Dark Lord had no way to protect himself from Harry's last spell.
"Diffindo!"
The cutting curse flew and hit Voldemort's throat, almost cutting off his head, leaving it and the rest of the body only attached by a patch of skin that would have made Nearly Headless Nick proud. The Dark Lord was dead.
Cheers of celebration were heard across the Alley as Voldemort was finally defeated for good. Fifteen-year-old Ginny Weasley immediately jumped in Harry's arms and kissed him senseless while everyone else tried to get a piece of the defeater. Grinning, the two oldest Harrys and the two teenage Harrys (who had joined the others shortly after Voldemort was killed) shared high-fives and looked on in amusement as their counterpart tried to keep his nose away from people to breathe.
Thankfully for Harry, Dumbledore and James and Lily eventually arrived and managed to convince the people to let the teenager alone, citing he was still recovering from his stay in Voldemort's hands. In actuality, they simply knew Harry wanted to get away from people to allow himself to process what had happened.
After Harry shared a last kiss with Ginny and a few hugs with Ron and Hermione, all of the Potters and Dumbledore portkeyed away from the Alley back to Grimmauld Place where they reunited with Harriet and Toddler Harry. Then, while Dumbledore stayed downstairs to welcome the members of the Order returning from Diagon Alley, the Potters made their way to the ritual room where a runic circle made in preparation for their return home by Married Harry was already present.
Thankfully, the new ritual did not need five people to operate. It only needed to be activated and a cylinder of light appeared in the middle of the circle. They would be able to return home by entering the cylinder and looking up at the ceiling.
"Well, this is it." Married Harry said after activating the runic circle. Minister Harry looked at the cylinder of light, tears in his eyes. He got so used to see other Harrys around him, to have brothers and a sister, that the thought of being alone again made his heart ache.
"I'll... I'll miss you all." he admitted aloud, clearing his throat. The others all looked at him with sad understanding. Other than Toddler Harry who was simply too young, he was the only one who had been summoned from a life without friends, family or anybody close. They all understood how lonely he must feel like.
"I'll miss you too." Slytherin Harry admitted. "Even you, Mum and Dad." he told them with a small smile. For him, what would hurt was to find himself back in the universe where his parents did not have a care in the world for him. But, he at least had Sirius and his wife who treated him like one of their own.
"We'll all miss one another." Harriet said, wiping a tear from her cheek. She was also going to miss the presence of her brothers horribly. For once, she understood exactly what life Ginny had led and was very jealous. Putting a hand on her swollen stomach, she wished her unborn child had the chance of having loving uncles of his own. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
"I guess it's my turn now." Teenage Harry said awkwardly, making them all chuckle. "I' going to miss you too. I wish we had more time together. I guess I now feel insanely jealous of Ron for having such a big family."
"I get it." Harriet said with a sad smile. "I feel the same." The other Harrys nodded to tell they also felt that way.
Minister Harry turned to look at Toddler Harry who was in Harriet's hands. He took a step forward and extended his arms toward her. Understanding his meaning, she gave him his baby self.
Minister Harry looked at him with grief. The youngest of them, the baby Harry, was going to be sent back to the abuse of the Dursleys. No, that could not happen. He looked up and walked toward James and Lily. "He... he shouldn't go back." he said, shaking his head. "If he does, he'll be back to the cupboard and the abuse of his aunt and uncle." He took a breath before telling them "You should take him and raise him."
"Really?" Lily asked hopefully as James stared at him with wide eyes.
"He'll be better for it." he said. Lily nodded and gratefully took the two-year-old in her arms. She smiled back when Toddler Harry gave her a smile and kissed his forehead.
"Thank you." James said to Minister Harry who nodded back. He then looked at Harry and said "Be a good brother for him, will you?"
"I will." he said with a smile.
All the Harrys, James and Lily shared a few last hugs before they, one by one, went in the runic circle. Harriet was the first to return to her home reality after saying her tearful goodbyes. Slytherin Harry followed after giving two surprise hugs to James and Lily. Then, it was the turn of Teenage Harry, who stood in the runic circle, a strange smile on his face.
"I'm going to return straight in the arena for the First Task. Wish me luck."
"Don't worry, kid. You'll do just fine." Minister Harry said with a smile.
"Yeah. We all did." Married Harry added.
"Don't call me kid. Still feel weird." he said with a wet chuckle. Then, he too was gone, leaving only the two adult Harrys to go.
"Want to go first and reunite with Ginny?" Minister Harry suggested. With a smile, Married Harry nodded and walked in the circle.
"Have a good honeymoon, will you?" Lily suddenly said loudly.
Married Harry chuckled. "I will." were the last words he said before he looked up. Then, he too disappeared.
Finally, it was Minister Harry's turn. He wanted to tell the Potters of that universe something, but the words got stuck in his throat. In the end, all that came out was "Thank you." And, they all understood what he meant. Without another word, he stepped in the cylinder of light and looked at them with a smile before looking up. He felt his body become lighter and his vision turned white.
Minister Harry Potter was returning back home.
EPILOGUE:
A year had gone by since Harry Potter's visit to another dimension. In the year since, most of his time had been spent behind the Minister's desk, working and working to better the lives of witches, wizards and other sentient species alike as he pushed Wizarding Britain further and further away from its pureblood centred past.
Minister Harry never forgot about the other Harrys. One thing he especially remembered was Married Harry's advice to make new friends, not to replace Ron, Hermione and Ginny but so he wouldn't feel so lonely. After spending a week with brothers and a sister, Minister Harry wasn't willing to be all alone again. So, he decided to follow older brother's advice.
Since then, Harry had befriended a few of his former schoolmates and even was in a semi-serious relationship with an old aquaintance who now played for the Holyhead Harpies. While nobody was as close to him as Ron, Hermione and Ginny had once been, it was a start. And, Harry could freely admit he was happier too.
On the year anniversary of his dimension travel, the Minister was giving a speech to the Wizengamot. As his eyes travelled through the crowd, he suddenly spotted something – or, rather, someone – that made him freeze mid speech.
In the crowd overhead and wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt, was Married Harry. Minister Harry stood there speechless for a few moments before someone close to him cleared his throat.
"Minister?" said Percy Weasley. Minister Harry shook his head before continuing his speech like nothing was wrong, though his eyes often darted to his older counterpart.
After finishing his speech, the Minister quietly excused himself and walked out of the room. Knowing the other Harry would catch up with him, he made his way to the atrium. And, sure enough, there he was standing there in the middle.
"Harry?" he asked quietly. "The Harry who visited another dimension with me, fought Voldemort and married Ginny Weasley?" The other Harry nodded, making him grin. "How... how is that possible?"
"Well, when you're an Unspeakable, nothing is impossible." Married Harry said, returning an identical grin. The two shared a happy hug.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" he asked as they made their way to a fireplace.
"Well, after I returned home from a rather enjoyable honeymoon, I wondered if it could be possible to invent a way to freely travel across dimensions. It took me a year but, eventually, I did it. I came here first. I wanted to know if you were down to visiting our little brothers and our sister."
"Of course I am!" Minister Harry said cheerfully. "Speaking of Harriet, she must have given birth by now! We could get to meet our niece or nephew!"
"That was my intention! I also want to bring Mum and Dad with us. I'm sure they'd love to meet their first grandchild – even if it's technically not theirs but their alternate selves'."
Minister Harry gave a wave of dismissal. "You know it won't matter to them."
"I know." Married Harry grinned.
"Speaking of Mum and Dad, why don't we bring them with us when we go visit our Slytherin brother?"
"So we can see them slap their other selves for neglecting and abandoning their son?"
"Exactly." the Minister grinned. Married Harry chuckled.
"I'm sure that's going to be a very interesting sight." he said.
And, together, they flooed away to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place where they would depart for the next dimension.
THE END