"Mary, I want to help you, but I can't if you do not tell the truth", said the squeaky annoying voice of Harry's nightmares.
In the middle of the courtroom sat a woman on a small chair in front of who indeed was Umbridge, glaring down from the chair behind her raised desk; right where Fudge had stood when Harry had been here for his trial a million years ago. On the desk sat a see-through cat: her Patronus. Around her neck she had a strange looking golden locket.
Why would she ever need a Patronus…?
"Mafalda, come here", said Umbridge, beaconing at Hermione. Reluctantly Hermione walked up the steps to Umbridge.
Something was wrong – Harry felt it before he saw it – that familiar icy cold and horrible feeling of dread; dozens, hundreds of Dementors swirling and circling above them, only kept at bay by Umbridge's Patronus. They spread out across the room: the two Peters taking a seat amongst other witches and wizards; Ron took his place next to Mary Cattermole; Harry stood to the side.
"B-but I am telling you the truth, please—"
Harry caught a very alarming look from Ron; he felt his skin slightly bubbling like hot melting wax. Some polyjuice potion; no time to keep to the plan.
Well, it was now or never, he thought.
"Ah Albert", smiled Umbridge. "I was wondering when you would come by. Mary here might need help loosening her tongue."
Harry smiled back as he felt he shrunk in height slightly, walking towards her.
"Reginald, please tell her…", pleaded Mary.
Umbridge slammed her hand into the desk. "Silence – Albert, what on Earth are you doing?"
"Dolores", he said, grasping his mask in his pocket while signing with his hand to the others behind his back. "One thing I can't tolerate are lies and deceit. And you mustn't tell lies."
"What in—"
Many things happened in very quick at the same time; Harry pulled on his mask, stunned Umbridge, her Patronus vanished; Hermione rushed to Umbridge's desk, desperately searching the drawers and her pockets; Ron stunned a few Death Eaters and the two Peters started knocking out the rest.
Harry threw himself up into the air in some sort of pirouette, kicking two Death Eaters in the face in the process, landing neatly on Umbridge's desk. His eyes fixed on the locket hanging around her neck.
"Show off!" yelled Peter, using the walls to throw himself at his attackers, not too dissimilar from a cannonball. He now looked like his normal self, in fact they all did except for Ron who still had the appearance of Reginald Cattermole.
Harry shrugged. "That was nothing."
Death Eaters converged on Harry's position; they fell like dominos from spells casted by Ron and Hermione. One Death Eater trying to grab Hermione, soon enough wished he didn't as she punched him straight in the face and sent him flying across the room.
"Good one!" Harry yelled to her as Pete threw a Death Eater flying straight over his head, into the wall behind Umbridge.
"Always the tone of surprise!"
The Dementors above Harry's head were reaching for them – he was about to wave his wand; Ron was faster.
"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Ron, sending a blast of silvery white, keeping the Dementors temporarily at bay.
Harry grabbed the locket and tore it off Umbridge's neck. "Thank you, I will take that – whatever it is."
Yeah, whatever it was; his spidersense didn't like it very much. He witnessed Ron dragging Mary towards the exit, kicking a Death Eater in the face like it was nothing.
"I found it!" Hermione raised her hand behind the desk, holding a stone orb emitting a slight purple light. She gave a yelp as the Dementors swooped down, one of them attempting to kiss her.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled, knocking the Dementors away; a spell would've hit him were it not for Hermione skillfully countering it.
"Come on!" screamed Ron, continuously dodging curses flying around him while still casting spells. He kicked the door open, pushing out Mary through it. "Let's go!"
The two Peters grabbed one Death Eater each, knocking them into each other and down on the floor before joining Ron.
Harry grabbed Hermione's hand, who clambered onto his back and without giving it a second thought, he launched himself away from the table, all the while he made sure neither him or Hermione got his by spells in mid-air.
He landed a bit unceremoniously next to the others and followed them out the door. They sat off for full sprint towards the stairs and up them, onwards to the lifts; Mary being in shock as Ron half dragged her. Still not being able to process what just had happened, Harry just kept running with Hermione hanging on his back – he was pretty certain that Dementors were chasing them judging from the rattling and freezing chill somewhere behind or above them.
"You know, I am perfectly capable of running myself!" she said with an aggravated tone in her voice. He wanted to tell her there was no time, but the only thing in his mind was the way out.
They practically slammed all of their bodies into the lifts, Peter desperately pushed the grille aside and all of them got in; Ron slammed the grille shut as soon the Dementors pressed themselves against it, reaching for them with their slimy hands.
Their rattling got louder, filling his ears, Harry felt that very familiar hopelessness and had a hard time getting standing up. Hermione slid off his back; he heard a woman screaming… he moved his wand hand and – "Expecto… Patronum!" His Patronus shot out of his wand with a silvery wisp, knocking the Dementors away.
The lift was moving, no more Dementors
He lost the grip of his wand; his legs gave away underneath him but a pair of arms wouldn't let him fall over: Hermione. She pulled off his mask, letting him breathe. She too had been heavily affected by the Dementors, her face pale and eyes wide open.
He put his hand on a small bleeding cut on her chin, rubbing it with his thumb. She gave him a weak smile. She stuffed the purple orb into his pocket along with his mask.
"That was too close", panted Ron, who was supporting himself against the grille with one hand.
"Everyone alright?" Harry looked around on the others. He didn't expect anyone to answer his question, he could see it himself how everyone was doing. Peter was in a horrible state, half his body was on the floor and the other half clung onto the grille. Pete was a bit pale but stood the firmest up of them.
Peter's face took on a shade of blue and all Harry heard was a long string of profane curses. Harry looked at him while the lift moved left, right and up. He reached out his hand – he did not take it.
"We're alive", answered Ron. "That's all that matters, right?"
The lift eventually reached a stop and they walked out, now though without polyjuice, they had to do their best to blend in and keep their heads down.
"Mary, you best find your husband leave the country", Ron said unexpectedly.
Mary just nodded; they left her there, heading for the fireplaces.
Harry caught Peter's look, seeing just the pure anger and hopelessness washing in waves over his face; had the Dementors really affected him that heavily?
People started to notice them, heads turned to look at them; eyes meeting theirs and a lot of them weren't exactly happy to see them; voices sort of popped up amongst the crowds, going from whispering to shouting, "Harry Potter?", "Is that Harry Potter?", "Harry Potter is here, grab him!"
"Don't panic", Harry said under his breath – they picked up the pace. Ron, Hermione and Pete were definitely panicking. He was right there with them, he was too panicking and his legs told him to run, run as fast as he could.
Peter just seemed sort of numb and stuck in his own bubble.
Harry felt a sting of annoyance towards him, this was not the time to shut everything out; he wanted to tell him to pull himself together but he didn't have the heart to do it.
"Harry Potter – right there!" screamed a voice followed by running footsteps.
All Harry had to do was look over his shoulder once to know they had to run – Death Eaters – and within the second he began running. The others weren't far behind. Harry dodged and weaved through curses and people. Ron and Hermione were blindly casting spells to slow the Death Eaters down. Harry felt something catching his foot, tripped but somehow managed to not fall over – he could practically feel them breathing down their necks.
He twisted around half aiming, half not at the Death Eaters, "Confringo!" The curse blew up a good part of the Magic is Might statue, crumbling down over their pursuers.
"Are you trying to kill people?" yelled Pete.
"That was not on purpose!" Harry yelled back, webbing a Death Eater appearing in front of him. Harry's feet moved themselves at this point, they were so close to the fireplaces, so close.
They were literally there! Why wouldn't he move any faster? Something burning hit him in the back, this time he fell over on the ground, caught himself with a roll and kept running – because of that little mishap, he was lagging far behind, the others were already at the fireplaces, desperately waiting for him, fending off Death Eaters with a lot of struggling. He waved for them to go, to leave but they wouldn't.
Right, the Stone – the stupid Stone. Couldn't let it go back into the hands of the Death Eaters.
He dug into his pocket and threw the orb at Ron, who caught it without much problem.
"Why give it to me?" Ron screamed.
"Go!" he roared at them. "Just go!"
"Like hell!"
He reached them, Ron grabbed him as he plainly threw his body into the others and they apparated out; a hand belonging to Norman Osborn grabbed Hermione's arm, her nails dug into his arm and instinctively he hit whoever it was with his elbow as hard as he managed. For a few chaotic moments he saw Hermione being pulled away from the group, the Death Eater taking her with him.
Harry felt his entire soul escaping his body. He was back in the Astronomy Tower, failing to catch her.
The Ministry of Magic had vanished around them. Harry saw the toilets flash by, a forest, then his eyes stared up at the roof of the Burrow. No one came to greet them, because of course they weren't here.
As soon as he felt the ground under his body, he stood up. They were all accounted for, except Hermione. Ron didn't get up – Harry wondered for a quick second what was wrong with him, but were was Hermione?
The two Peters however did get up and seemed confused over what just had happened. Pete scratched the back of his head, twisting around on the spot and looking around.
"Were are we?"
"The Burrow", Harry answered hollowly, anxiously looking for Hermione in the distance, almost expecting her to come running towards them – maybe something had just slightly gone wrong and she had ended up somewhere else, like when he had ended up in Knockturn Alley before his second year at Hogwarts.
But she wasn't here, no matter how many times he kept looking – she wasn't here!
Ron must have been the one that apparated them out, unless Harry had done it without intending to. Harry forcefully tore himself from the thought of whatever horrible thing had happened to Hermione and rushed to Ron's side.
Ron didn't open his eyes. Harry shook him, no response. He was breathing though, thank God. Peter slowly approached them, so slowly he looked as if he was walking on ice which might break any second under his feet at any second.
"Is he—", Peter's voice cracked.
Harry put his fingers on the side of Ron's neck. "No. He's still alive."
He didn't know what he would do if Ron too vanished or worse, died.
A sudden cackle startled him. He turned around to see the least desirable person he wanted to see right now: Norman Osborn. He sat in the grass in just regular workclothes, appearing very pleased with himself.
Harry's antipathy was met with Norman grinning at him from ear to ear.
"What did you do?" Harry rushed over, grabbing Norman by the collar, pushing him down on the ground.
The Goblin laughed in his face. "Harry, Harry, Harry… no good deed goes unpunished."
Harry threw him violently on the ground and rushed back to Ron. "Keep an eye on him", he did a half-hearted gesture towards Norman.
Pete simply nodded and walked over to the Goblin. They started having a conversation which Harry did not at all pay attention to. He looked down at Ron. He was just lying there, closed eyes, breathing but not getting up.
If Hermione had been here, she would know what was wrong with him. But she wasn't. The many horrible situations she could very well be in right now flooded through his brain like toxic sludge, making him feel even worse. What if she was being tortured, thrown to the Dementors, maimed or perhaps they didn't bother and just killed her? The thought that she might be dead was a weak comfort, but at least she wouldn't be in pain.
What followed were dark thoughts, he hadn't felt like this in a long time –anger, putrid and burning, melting him from inside out not unlike corrosive acid.
He was going to find her, even if Ron was awake or not. He could almost hear Hermione's voice telling him not to do it, "You need to get your head on straight and focus on the mission, Harry."
Lupin and Moody probably would've told him he was being impulsive or kick him out of the Order for not thinking with his head. But he didn't care – if the world was going to end, he'd rather be with her and Ron or dead.
He grabbed both of their wands and Ron's shoulder, and without as much as look at the other Peters, he apparated the two of them out of there – his only thought focused on Hermione.
Bad idea though, but it was too late now and he had never really tried to apparate outside the lessons they had to attend at Hogwarts.
His hand was as if it was glued to Ron's shoulder as light, color and what Harry swore were stars zooming past them. Voices started to mix with the sound of wind, or at least what sounded like wind. The words were hard to make out, but the voices weren't.
"Fear of a name… fear of the thing itself", Hermione's voice said, somewhere or maybe not even somewhere, maybe it was just in this contained space of light.
The light and colors started moving faster, or they were – it was hard to tell.
"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living… without love", whispered a voice, not unlike that of Dumbledore's. Harry's heart jumped, he had never been told that by anyone before and certainly not Dumbledore.
"We're with you, whatever happens", it sounded just like Ron but he was still unconscious, attached to Harry's hand.
Harry's head was spinning, it was going way too fast and he just wanted out, out of this purgatory. He closed his eyes and felt peace with himself. Maybe this was the way it was meant to be. Stuck forever, stars shooting over their heads, seemingly stuck between time and space and every breath feeling like an entire lifetime.
"Harry Potter is dead!", Voldemort. The strange thing was: he didn't resent him. He just agreed, his being agreed with the voice of Voldemort.
"Albus listen to me", it was his own voice. "Your name… Albus Severus. You will fit right in; you will be sorted into whichever house… the hat doesn't make that choice – you do."
Harry felt slightly amused. Was his voice talking to some kind of alternate version of Dumbledore or his own future son—no, who would name their kid like that?
"Harry. You need to let go", Harry opened his eyes, startled at hearing his dead mom's voice. Her voice sounded ethereal, unnatural, but it was unmistakably her.
He just didn't hear her, he saw her – at least part of her, including her head. Like a thin, barely visible floating ghost blending in with the colors and light, keeping up with him and Ron going at what – Mach ten thousand?
"W-what?" he wanted to say, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"Let go, son", his dad showed up next to her.
Let go of what? And how?
"You know how", Sirius too appeared.
Could they hear his thoughts? Everything? His fears, what he loved and hated, his favorite spot to hang out during recess?
A foreign, malicious voice whispered, drowning out all others but just for a moment. "You know the spell, Harry."
"Don't listen to them!" screamed Lily.
"Live in the real world, not here. Remember what I told you?" Sirius locked eyes with him.
With great power comes great responsibility?
Sirius nodded.
Harry hesitated – he was surrounded by friends and family and mostly good memories, whether or not they were his. Why was this so bad? Why not stay here for eternity, said a little voice in his head.
"But I won't see you again", he again wanted to say, but still no words left him.
"One day, but not now. Harry, you need to remember that you have friends that love you, friends that want the same love from you; they don't want you to live some sort of half-life they want you to live there – with them! Think of Ron! Think what his family would feel if he suddenly went missing!"shouted Sirius.
He was right. If not for himself, at least he had to get out for Ron, get him back to his family.
"He usually is. Now go, Harry!" said James.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as Harry attempted to move, attempted to get out.
He gathered the energy to try to break out, any way he could, any thought that could help him or at least push him to where he needed to be.
There was a bolt of lightning, colors exploding like some sort of ghostly firework and he felt ground hitting his body. It actually hurt hitting the ground, and that's how he knew he wasn't stuck between worlds anymore.
He looked around; they were in some sort of forest covered in leaves, sitting in front of a tent.
"What just happened?" Ron pushed himself up from the leaves into a sitting position. "Where are we?"
"No idea. At least we're not stuck anymore", Harry mumbled and stood up shakingly on his legs.
"What does that mean? We got stuck? Where's Hermione and those other two?"
Harry didn't answer; he heard voices closing in on them.
Two loud voices were coming from the clearing not far away. Immediately, Harry dragged Ron into the tent since that was their only place to hide in a short amount of time. Who they found inside; he didn't believe who was looking back at them – a second Ron.
Author's end of chapter notes: What? No way? That was badass! That's probably what you're thinking right now. If not, well that's quite alright. I told you that things would get crazy though, and it's getting wilder. I've imagined this scene in so many different ways. Maybe as an illusion, just straight up apparating from one universe to another but I believe this was the best way to do it. Remember, reality is borked and Harry really never apparated in this story before, so what happens? Well, I just pulled an idea from my nogging and made up what would happen.