A/N: Thank you to all the reviewers of the last chapter. I appreciate everything you say….really I do. It helps me to type up another chapter (my least favourite thing to do is type up what I have written already…).
Warning: My best friend and internet source is leaving for Virginia for college at the end of the week so theses updates will probably come slower. If they stop for a while, never fear, for I will keep writing. It may just take a while to get them posted. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP. Nor do I own the phrase 'Dee Dee Dee'. It belongs to Carlos Mencia and Comedy Central.
KCKCKC
Chapter Two
'World of Darkness'
Dorian stepped into the staircase and rode up to the top nervously. He still hadn't pieced together exactly what he was going to say to Dumbledore. Only that he had to tell him everything so that he could attempt to rectify what had become of the magic and muggle worlds.
Also, it was somewhat odd for him to meet someone that had been dead for the last fifteen years and was a legend even in his bleak existence.
When the stone staircase stopped, he saw a wooden door with an odd-looking knocker on it. Hesitantly, he walked over to it and grasped the knocker, pulling it back and then releasing it again. The resounding 'thump' almost made him cover his ears with his hands it was so loud. Suddenly, a voice sounded, taking the place of the loud knocker.
"Come in!" it said rather merrily. Obviously, Albus Dumbledore was in good spirits, and that seemed to be a good thing to Dorian as he pushed open the large door and entered the room.
Dorian looked about himself as he walked into the circular room. It was awfully cluttered looking with trinkets of every shape and size littering the desks, tables, and spilling over onto the floor. There were so many things filling the room that Dorian wasn't sure how the man fit in here at all. Hell, he couldn't even see him anywhere…
"Hello there. Who might you be?" came a voice towards the centre of the room. Looking over, Dorian now noticed a desk, and behind the desk was a thin man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles. The one and only Albus Dumbledore.
Dorian stuttered. "Uh….Dorian, sir." he didn't know what else to say. Where to start. It seemed foolish to say 'I am here to save the world!' which he was in truth.
Dumbledore seemed to take notice of his peril and his blue eyes twinkled. "I usually find that the beginning is a good place to start when telling any story."
Dorian nodded and launched into the tale of his very existence, leaving out the names of his parents for the time being. When he was finished, Dumbledore sat staring off into space in a grim silence. Dorian stood there, fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt unsure of what to do or say. Finally, Dumbledore looked up after a few more minutes.
"What is your last name, Dorian, if I may ask?" he questioned, the tell tale twinkle back in his blue eyes. Dorian vaguely thought that the twinkle might be hope or some similar emotion.
"My name is Dorian James Black, sir." he answered, receiving a look of approval and happiness from Dumbledore.
The old man smiled at him mischievously. "That's what I thought."
DeeDeeDee
Hermione rushed around her room in a frenzy. Somehow, she had managed to oversleep and get up in only enough time to have to rush down to breakfast if she wanted anything to eat. An impatient knock at her door informed her that Ron and Harry had gotten tired of waiting on her and had come up to see where she was.
"I'm coming!" she yelled, pulling her hair up in a loose knot at the back of her head. She then grabbed her robes from a nearby chair and threw them on over her skirt and shirt. Making sure her Head Girl badge was firmly in place, she rushed over to the door and opened it, nearly jerking Ron's arm out of socket (he had been attempting to open it at the same time).
"Blimey, Hermione! Let me keep my arm, thanks!" he said, rubbing at the joint where it connected to his shoulder. Hermione smiled apologetically and then looked around for Harry. He wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Sorry. Where's Harry?" she asked. Ron shrugged and gave her his normal vacant expression.
"I dunno. He was gone when I got up this morning. Seamus said something about McGonagall coming for him early this morning, but it's hard to tell."
Hermione frowned. Why would McGonagall come for Harry so early in the morning? Unless there was something wrong. Voldemort had been striking more frequently lately, so maybe something had happened…
"Come on, we have to go find him." she said, grabbing Ron by the collar and pulling him roughly down the corridor towards Dumbledore's office.
Halfway there, Ron finally managed to pull free of her grip. "Let go Hermione! I can walk myself, you know."
She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you come get me earlier? What if something is wrong? All you were worried about was food! How is that going to make you feel!" she yelled at him, receiving the attention of another inhabitant of the corridor they were walking down.
Sirius walked over to them with an amused expression on his face. He always laughed when Hermione was berating Ron. Or Harry, for that matter.
"What's wrong, you two?" he asked, hurrying along to catch up to Hermione's break neck pace.
Hermione barely registered him over her shoulder. "Harry's with Dumbledore. McGonagall came for him early this morning and Ron didn't think it was important enough to skip breakfast over. So now we're heading in that direction."
Sirius nodded and walked with them the rest of the way to Dumbledore's office because of course he was as concerned as Hermione was for his godson's well-being.
DeeDeeDee
Dorian was sitting face to face with two legends. Albus Dumbledore was seated in front of him and Harry Potter was seated to his left. It was somewhat surreal that he was faced with these two people that no longer existed where he lived.
Harry was staring at him with an expression that said plainly that he did not trust him. Dumbledore kept smirking back and forth between the two of them. Finally, Harry spoke.
"So, what's going on, sir?" he asked, speaking to the Headmaster but never wavering an eye from Dorian.
Dumbledore looked to Dorian. "Perhaps you would like to explain?" he said.
Dorian sighed and then nodded, launching into his story with some reluctance. He wondered how many times he was going to be asked to tell his tale. After a while it would get rather old.
Once he finished it up, Harry was peering into his eyes as if to see some glimpse into the future to tell whether or not he was lying. Dorian stared back at him with the same intensity until finally Harry semi-smiled at him. What he saw in his eyes that caused him to trust him Dorian knew not. Only that he was grateful it didn't take up too much of his time.
"So, what's your name? Are you related to me?" Harry asked, completely surprising Dorian but at the same time allowing him to see that the reason Harry trusted him so quickly was that he was curious. Curiosity always killed the cat, thought a voice in Dorian's head that he thought best to ignore for the time being.
"Dorian James Black." he said in monotone. The look on Harry's face was one of pleasure.
"So you are related to me….well, sort of. Sirius is your dad, right?" he asked.
Dorian nodded.
"Then your like, what, my cousin or something? After all, Sirius is my godfather. It's got to mean something." Harry said with a grin, obviously pleased to find some semblance of family. Dorian remembered reading that Harry Potter was an orphan from the age of one, and that the family he lived with until he was of age treated him badly.
"Uh….sure. I suppose. It's never really come up in any conversation…" Dorian supplied, unsure of what else to say.
Harry paused in his questions for a moment, seemingly pondering something. He seemed to pluck up enough courage to ask after a few minutes as he looked at Dorian expectantly.
"Who's your mum? I always thought that Sirius would never settle down. I mean, there seemed to be no one out there that was his type, you know?" Harry said all in one nervous breath. He was probably wondering if he would like the future Mrs. Black.
Dorian hesitated. He didn't want to freak Harry out right away, or make him angry, but he asked. Therefore, it was only fitting to answer his question. Besides, it would all come out in the wash anyway.
"Hermione Granger."
Harry's jaw dropped. Obviously, he hadn't been expecting that one.
"Hermione? Our Hermione? Bookworm Hermione?" he asked, all to which Dorian answered with a nod. All the while Dumbledore was sitting back at his desk, watching the scene before him unfold with wondrous eyes.
"They aren't together yet, so don't get upset with her or anything. Actually, I don't even think they realise their feelings yet." Dorian said with a smile. He always loved the stories his mother would tell him of his father and how they were when they first fell in love. Of course, those stories were few and far between when she was in one of her rare 'good' moods. On any other occasion, she was sombre and depressed.
Harry seemed to contemplate this for a moment before breaking out into a grin.
"Are they happy together?" he asked, causing Dorian's chest to lurch. How could you tell someone that one of the people you loved was murdered, and that their best friend was a shell of her former self?
"They could be. If I change everything like I intend to." he said solemnly.
There was a silence before Harry locked eyes with him.
"I'll do whatever I need to to help you. I promise." he said, earning respect from Dorian and pride from the older man in the room.
Suddenly, a pounding on the door and Hermione's voice interrupted the three men.
"I know you're in there Harry! Whatever it is, we can face it with you! Open up!" and then the voice of Sirius, "Calm down, Hermione, before you knock down the door!"
This caused all inside to laugh. Dorian was pleased to hear his parents talking and interacting. It was a change from not hearing his mother say much at all and his father being dead.
Dumbledore waved his hand and the door swung open, allowing a red faced Hermione, an expressionless Sirius, and a chastised looking Ron entrance. The three walked in and immediately looked at Harry.
"Are you alright?"
"Is everything fine?"
"No one got hurt, did they?"
"Have you ate yet?"
"Ron!"
Dumbledore's voice cut in with the others, causing them to be silent. "I assure you that Mr. Potter is fine, no one is hurt, and he has indeed eaten already. However, it seems that we have a visitor that it was imperative for Mr. Potter to meet with. May I introduce Mr. Dorian Brown?"
Dorian barely had time to register his change of name before the three new arrivals turned to face him, each looking equally embarrassed.
"Hello. Sorry to have barged in on you. It's just we were worried about Harry here." came the strong baritone of his father. This was the first time Dorian had heard it since he was very little.
His mother stared at him, acknowledging that they had met last night; she nodded her head at him and sat down. Ron did the same, taking a seat next to Harry.
"Well, what's going on here?" Ron said, rather bluntly, earning him a kick in the leg from Hermione.
Dorian laughed softly and then began to retell his story one last time. (He hoped)
"What is a Time-Changer? Is it like a Time-Turner?" Ron asked him once he had summed up.
Dorian nodded. "Yes. Only, a Time-Changer allows you to pick the exact moment in time you want to return to. It was developed a few years ago by a group of rouge Light Wizards wanting to go back and change the outcome of the war. Of course, the Dark Lord didn't like that, so he had it confiscated and attempted to destroy it. However, he soon learned that it held too many complex shielding charms and that to attempt to break them could be very dangerous. He stuck it into a museum where he thought it would be under lock and key at all times. Lucky for me his cronies are imbeciles." he finished with a self-satisfied smirk at the end that would have rivalled his fathers own.
"And….and you're saying that we lose the war? That the world is ruled by Voldemort?" came the soft, fearful voice of his mother.
"Yes. You see, eventually, Harry gave up the fight, thus allowing the dark side to prevail."
"But why would I give up? I mean, I don't want to be a hero, but I understand that it is my fate and only I can stop the Dark Lord." Harry piped up, asking a question that he didn't get a chance to earlier.
Dorian frowned. "You lost your friends. Ron. Sirius. Ginny. Eventually you decided that you had nothing else to live for and your will was broken. Or so legend says."
Everyone was silent and seemed to be processing all the new and horrible information. Hermione suddenly stood up and bolted out of the door, surprising everyone. Dorian was pleased to see, however, that his father was the first one to leap out of his chair and go after her.
DeeDeeDee
Hermione didn't know exactly where she was going, only that she had to get out of that office. She had heard too many horrible things that she had a hard time believing. When Dorian had said that all those that Harry, and she, loved died, it had been too much for her to handle. Tears slid down her cheeks as she walked aimlessly down the corridor, not even pausing when she heard someone yell her name and then heard footsteps fall in with her own.
DeeDeeDee
A/N: Sorry I had to leave that one hanging. If you paid any attention though, you know who is coming after her….
What about those revelations? Evil of me, I know.
