Chapter 3
"So," Dumbledore said the to the dimension travelers, "did you want to discuss some things first or would you like to start showing memories? The pensieve is prepared whatever your choice."
It was the next day, and they all gathered at Grimmauld Place again with all the Order Members that had been present the day before. Everyone was looking curiously upon the four travelers, letting them make the decisions . . . for now.
"Let's clear up some points before we share memories, which was also help introduce where we start with our memories," Harry said. "It seems to me the one major change between your world and ours is what happened the night the Potters were attacked, though I'm sure there are plenty of other minor changes. You all know what happened here, but in our world, it was obviously quite different."
"For us, You-Know-Who attacked the Potters by himself, without any other Death Eaters," Ginny said, Harry having told her to take control of telling this part of their history. "James was killed trying to buy time for Lily and Harry to get away, and Lily ended up sacrificing her life to save Harry's, so when You-Know-Who attempted to hit Harry with a killing curse, it backfired back upon him. Harry was known as the Boy-Who-Lived in our world and was world famous for surviving the killing curse and defeating You-Know-Who as a baby."
The Order members gasped.
"You're telling us that he," Moody pointed at Harry, "survived a killing curse?" His voice was skeptical.
Harry pulled back his bangs to show them his scar. "It's the truth. Because of my mother's sacrifice, You-Know-Who was defeated. People weren't sure if he was dead or just gone, and the wizarding world had peace for many years, though many Death Eaters like the Malfoys avoided prison and helped to further the Death Eater agenda in the Ministry which was fairly corrupt."
"So, he never took control and was believed dead for many years?" Dumbledore clarified.
"Correct," Alicia said nodding. "In the aftermath of his defeat, many of his Death Eaters were rounded up, or they went into hiding and he had no support to help him get his body back. Many believed he was dead, or at least too weak to be a threat."
"You-Know-Who eventually got his body back, like he did here, but it wasn't until my fourth year at Hogwarts, and he did it by kidnapping me and using my blood in a ritual," Harry said. "I dueled him and managed to escape and warn our Albus Dumbledore, though the Minister at the time didn't believe me and launched a campaign to discredit Dumbledore and myself. The war didn't really begin for a year after that though, because You-Know-Who spent the next year trying to obtain a copy of the prophecy since he didn't know the whole thing, and the wizarding world didn't believe he'd returned. Finally, he was exposed as being alive, and the war picked up in earnest."
"Over a couple years, we discovered his horcruxes, and some of the locations, spending the whole of the last year of the war on the run, hunting horcruxes while You-Know-Who controlled the country," Alicia said. "He gained control when our Albus Dumbledore was killed. Finally, we managed to find all the items, and lured him and his weakened forces into a battle at Hogwarts where Harry finally killed him for good."
"So, you four found all the horcruxes, weakened his forces, and then drew him into a battle where you killed him?" Kingsley asked, hoping for some clarification.
"Not just us four," Harry said. "We had help, and everything happened over several years. For the horcrux hunt, we were a team of seven, with Jace's younger sister, and two more friends of ours helping. Towards the end of the hunt, our Mad-Eye, Kingsley, and Sirius joined us, as did our Fred, George, and Angelina Johnson."
The people mentioned all looked surprised.
"The horcruxes were all destroyed over basically five years. Weakening You-Know-Who's forces was Jason's plan," Harry continued, "but the Order helped run those missions, and the battle at Hogwarts included all of the Order, most of the of age students, Hogsmeade residents, aurors, and anyone else willing to fight. It was a large operation."
"So, you know everyone in this room, then?" Mad-Eye asked. "Some of us quite well by the sounds of it."
"Most of you, but not everyone," Harry said. "I suspect those we don't know are people who died in our world before I ever met them or circumstances were different for them in this world prompting them to fight, where perhaps they didn't in our world, but yes we know many of you quite well, or at least we know or knew our counterparts of you quite well. It's part of why we were so angry getting here. We were pulled from a party where everyone in this room that I know was at, minus those that have died."
Mad-Eye nodded. "Alright, let's see these memories. Then we'll be able to tell you what was different, and we'll be able to decide if you know what you're talking about."
They all added memories to the pensieve Dumbledore brought out, so that between the four of them they could show the key points of Harry's years at Hogwarts, the battles, research, and overall journey that all four of them had undertaken in the path to destroy Voldemort as well as showed some of their harder conflicts or missions that Harry, Alicia, and Jason had been on in the last couple years after the war.
As a group they watched Jason's and Harry's first year at Hogwarts, seeing only the major key points like the run in with the troll, discovering that someone was trying to steal the sorcerer's stone, Harry's run in with Voldemort in the Forest, and finally working through all the traps before the final confrontation and duel with Voldemort.
While the memories transitioned, Harry could hear some people muttering, a little impressed. Even Moody grudgingly muttered, "Not bad for a couple of first years."
From there, they watched the key events of Harry and Jason's second year, showing each of the attacks by the basilisk, revealing Harry was a Parseltongue, figuring out the creature was a basilisk, and finally Ginny being taken and Jason and Harry going into the Chamber to fight the horcrux and the basilisk.
They moved quickly through Harry and Jason's third year, only showing a memory that showed Sirius had escaped from prison, and finally when Jason helped track Sirius after his escape from Gryffindor tower, and the reveal of Pettigrew's treachery ending with chasing off the dementors with Patronuses.
The fourth year took a fair amount of time showing Harry being entered into the Triwizard Tournament, all three tasks, Voldemort's return and Harry's escape, as well as the events immediately following: Jason and Crouch Jr.'s duel, Crouch Jr.'s confession, and the Fudge's disbelief before they watched Jason's memory of his discussion about horcruxes with Dumbledore while Harry had been in the hospital wing.
People were grumbling about how stupid Fudge had been, and more and more were giving Harry and Jason grudging looks of respect, and he could see hope rising as the Order members began to realize that perhaps Harry and his friends were as capable as they said they were.
"Your dueling abilities at the end of your fourth year are a far cry from where they had been at the end of your second year," Kingsley mentioned after watching Jason duel Crouch Jr.
"I gained my Mastery in Defensive and Offensive Magic under Dumbledore that year," Jason told them, smiling at the Dumbledore if this universe, to many people's surprise. "I dueled with Dumbledore at least twice a month and he taught me a lot over that year, and as I'm sure you can all imagine, he completely changed how I dueled."
"A Mastery by the end of his fourth year," McGonagall said. "Impressive."
Alicia smirked. "He had six Masteries by the end of his sixth year," she said proudly. "Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, Runes, History, and Arithmancy, and had all the knowledge of a fully qualified mediwizard and curse breaker."
Jason got a lot of impressed or incredulous looks at that statement, and he shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Harry, Ginny, and Alicia all had masteries by the end of that year in several subjects as well. Let's just continue with the memories."
To start off the fifth-year memories, they watched Jason and his sister infiltrate Herpo the Foul's ancestral home and then find Voldemort's hiding spot in Albania. Before they showed the actual fifth year memories, they briefly explained about the dementor attack, and the Ministry's attempt at framing Harry and having him expelled, before having Dolores Umbridge appointed as the DADA professor, and gave an overview of what Umbridge had done at Hogwarts, and how they had tried to counter her. They showed Alicia, Isabelle, and Jason finding the diadem and cleansing it. They then showed the one major confrontation between Umbridge and Jason during their Astronomy OWL and finally showed the whole Department of Mysteries event ending with Dumbledore's duel with Voldemort.
"What mode of magical travel did you use in that duel?" Sirius asked with a frown.
"It's called Shadow Travel," Ginny said. "Alicia, Jason, and his sister found a book written by Salazar Slytherin on the subject in the Chamber of Secrets."
"Fascinating," Flitwick said. "I'd very much like to learn that."
Jason chuckled. "Our version of you said something very similar. If we have time, we'll show you and anyone who wants to learn how to do it."
Several people murmured with interest at that offer.
"He seems to have roughly the same skill level and abilities of our Tom Riddle," Dumbledore said. "Truthfully, ours might be a little more skilled, though I would attribute that to ours having many more years of practicing magic, compared to yours."
"That's good to know," Ginny said. "If our Tom is comparable to your Tom, then we actually should be able to help kill the bastard, though it will still be challenging. We're all much better than we were as fifth, sixth, and even seventh years."
"She's right," Harry said. "We'll want your opinion on some things after you see the next couple duels with him," Harry said, "but for now let's try to get through the sixth year. It's getting later the day, and I don't think we can get through the seventh year tonight, but there wasn't a ton of key events that happened our sixth year."
"Well, then, let's get to it," Moody growled.
The dimension travelers chuckled.
They started with Alicia, Jason, and Isabelle briefing Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry about horcruxes and then cleansing Harry's horcrux. They moved on to Jason and Isabelle breaking into where Voldemort had hidden the locket, though they revealed after the memory that the locket had been a fake. They showed Jason's memory of ambushing the Death Eaters that attacked Alicia's sister, and then the skirmish at Hogwarts where Dumbledore died.
"So that's when things started going really bad for your world?" Tonks asked.
"Yes," Ginny replied. "Tom took over the wizarding world within two months, and we had to go on the run with Harry having a 10,000-galleon bounty on his head."
"At that point, the diary, ring, Harry, and the diadem had been either cleansed or destroyed," Alicia said. "Soon after going on the run, we figured out who had stolen the real locket based on where we were staying, and the initials left in the note. R.A.B."
"Regulus," Sirius said quietly.
"Correct," Harry said. "He stole the locket and hid it in Grimmauld Place."
"He hid it here?" Sirius asked, wide eyed.
"Is Regulus dead in this world?" Ginny asked.
"No," Sirius said quietly. "He's one of You-Know-Who's most loyal supporters. We only have this house because my parents died before they could write me out of the will, so I got it over Regulus."
"Well, that's another change then," Harry said. "I'm sorry."
"I've accepted that few in my family turned out any good," Sirius replied stiffly.
"Well, then that means that the locket is probably still in the cave, which is good because that would mean we know where it is," Jason said, "though it would have been nice if it was hidden in this house."
"I'll take the cave over trying to break into the Ministry again," Harry muttered.
"You broke into the Ministry?" Bill asked in shock.
"Yeah, the locket made its way through Mundungus Fletcher to Dolores Umbridge. Jace's, Alicia's, and my part of that job was fun," Ginny said. "We just destroyed dark arts shops and ambushed Death Eaters in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley."
"You attacked Diagon Alley?" Mrs. Weasley asked shrilly. "That place is a death trap!"
"Maybe it's different in your world, though we also have resources and abilities I suspect you don't," Jason said with a frown. "My sister and I are both bonded to phoenixes and we know a way to get out without using apparation, so most of the things that make escaping hard, weren't an issue for us."
"You're bonded to a phoenix?" Dumbledore asked interestedly. "I saw the three phoenixes, one being Fawkes, in the Chamber, but didn't realize one was your familiar and another was your sister's."
"Yeah," Jason said, with a frown. "Artemis. This is the first time since I was eleven years old that I can't call her to me or have her around. I don't like it."
"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Dumbledore said, looking guilty.
Jason nodded stiffly.
"Perhaps we should do the last of the memories tomorrow?" McGonagall offered up hesitantly.
"Alright," Harry said, and everyone started breaking apart to apparate back to their homes or hiding places.
Harry and Ginny were starting to head over to Lily and James, when they were intercepted by the Weasley's: Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, and George.
"We were wondering if you might be interested in joining us for dinner tonight?" Molly asked hesitantly. "W-we'd like to get to know you. . .Ginny, e-even if you're not ours, and perhaps hear stories of what our family was like, with all those years of peace."
Harry and Ginny exchanged looks as Jason, Alicia, James, and Lily joined them.
"I think we can do that," Ginny said finally. "May I ask what happened to my counterpart? And I'd like to know what happened to Ron here as well, and Percy."
The Weasley's all got hurt locks that changed to stony, cold faces at the mention of Percy.
"We were attacked while I was pregnant with you," Molly said quietly, looking haunted. "They were there for Ron of course because of that damn prophecy. They tortured all of us a-and killed Ronnie. I suffered a miscarriage and you. . .you were never born."
"I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly. She was almost starting to be glad to be helping this world, even if she didn't like how they had gotten here. This world had suffered a lot. "What about Percy?"
"He's not one of us," Molly said coldly. "He joined the Death Eaters and is a traitor."
Harry, Ginny, Alicia, and Jason's shoulder's slumped at that.
"That's terrible," Harry said.
"Percy never betrayed us in your world?" Bill asked, obviously curious despite the sore subject.
They all exchanged looks.
"I think the possibility was there," Jason said hesitantly with a frown, thinking it through.
Ginny nodded slowly. "Percy was very ambitious, and he really wanted to work for the Ministry, and make a name for himself. He could be pompous, annoying, and he definitely thought a lot of himself, and if you were doing something that he thought was wrong and would hurt his reputation, I could certainly see him turning you in, no matter what it would do to you or no matter your reasons."
"What changed?" Charlie asked, a dull edge to his tone.
"Sirius escaped prison," Harry said, and they all gave him looks of incredulousness.
"Sirius was eventually found to have been innocent as you saw, and it was proven that he'd never even received a trial before being thrown in prison," Jason said, answering their questioning looks. "It made Percy rethink his life and his goals, since the Ministry he so admired, and thought was faultless had made such an egregious and shameful mistake, one which had negatively affected several lives including those of his family, since they'd harbored a murderer for twelve years. Instead of joining a department which would set him on the path to becoming a Minister's aid, and hopefully Minister someday, he joined the DMLE and within a year, was in Auror training."
The Weasley's eyes all widened in surprise.
"He changed even more in Auror training, and as a part of the DMLE," Ginny said. "He became so much less rigid, more relaxed and flexible. He was with people who had all studied hard and took their studies seriously just like he had, but when it was time for downtime, they made sure to relax and enjoy their lives. It changed his perceptions on how he was, I think, and how he could be. He's one of the better aurors at the Ministry currently, and his wife Audrey, who is great, works in the Department of Magical Trasportation."
"Sounds nothing like our Percy," Fred said bitterly.
Jason nodded sadly. "Your Percy grew up having been tortured and fearing for his life. Considering, nothing has changed in this world in a great many years, and I'm sure things only keep getting worse, he logically saw no point in fighting the status quo, especially since I'm sure he wanted to have a life."
"And since it seems that the only way to have a real life in this world is joining You-Know-Who," Alicia finished softly, "he joined up, and moved on from what he considered a losing cause."
"Understanding why he betrayed us doesn't change anything," Bill said harshly.
"I don't expect it to," Jason said evenly.
"Enough about Percy," Molly said with a shake of her head. "Dinner? Lily, you and James are more than welcome to come as well."
"That sounds lovely," Lily replied with a smile.
"I'm looking forward to hearing about our counterparts," Fred said.
"Indeed," George said. "They must be as brilliant as us if they were brought along on the horcrux hunt."
Bill, Fleur, and Charlie snorted.
"Eh, we just felt bad and took pity on you two," Alicia said with a morose shake of her head, causing the twins to give mock looks of outrage, but looking more lively than Harry had seen them yet, and causing the rest of the Weasleys to laugh.
They all apparated to the Burrow, where Molly with Lily went in to start preparing dinner.
The rest of them went into the backyard to conjure a table, and chairs for them all to eat at. Alicia and Jason conjured some lights and a tent canopy to give them some cover and light as the evening was coming. It was a little windy, and Harry was about to conjure some walls to shield them when Jason gave a slow, complex wave of his wand, and the wind surrounding them died, though Harry could still hear the wind around them. Alicia then waved her wand in a similar manner, and then Harry couldn't even hear the wind anymore, nor could he feel anything but a nice, pleasant breeze.
"How did you do that?" Arthur asked in awe.
"Elemental silencing and dampening charms," Alicia responded.
"That's incredible," Bill said. "The only people I know versed in elemental magic are Flitwick and Dumbledore."
"Huh, guess I should have taken you up on those elemental magic lessons then," Harry said, shaking his head morosely.
"You know how long it took us to get wandless magic down?" Jason said with a shake of his head. "Elemental magic is taking me much longer, since I started it at the same time, and I haven't nearly mastered it yet. It's ungodly tricky."
"You can do wandless magic?" Fleur asked surprised.
Alicia nodded and set her wand down. Using her hand, she conjured several more colored lights that she added to the canopy.
"Wow," Fred and George said, giving her admiringly looks.
"Sorry boys, that's my wife," Jason said with a smile, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek as she beamed back at him lovingly.
"Well, knew she had to have some sort of flaw," Fred said fairly.
"Of course, dear brother. She can't be perfect," George said.
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Apparently the Weasley twins are the same, no matter which dimension you're in."
"So obviously, with us joining you on the horcrux hunt, and Ginny here being Mrs. Potter, you must know us pretty well," Fred surmised.
"We were in the same year and House at Hogwarts," Alicia said, "and ran in the same circle of friends, plus we were on the House Quidditch team together for six years."
"We were friends, were we?" Fred said slyly.
"She just doesn't want to reveal what type of friends we were in front of her husband," George said in a placating manner.
Jason chuckled. "Sorry, she was too infatuated with me starting my first year and her third year to bother with you two. Besides, you were too busy trading off who dated Angelina."
Alicia's jaw dropped as she started to chuckle. "Infatuated, huh?" she muttered shaking her head, throwing an amused look at Jason. "I was the one infatuated huh?"
Jason smirked at her as Ginny and Harry chuckled.
"Ah, well which of us won this Angelina?" Fred asked, smirking confidently
"George did," Jason said, wiping the smirk off of Fred's face, and causing George, Bill, Fleur, and Arthur to roar with laughter.
"Sounds like I need to find this girl," George said, rubbing his hands together. "What's her last name?"
"Johnson," Harry said.
"Hmm, don't know any Johnsons," George said mournfully.
"Well, then who did I end up with? Fred asked eagerly.
"My older sister," Alicia said with a groan, her head going into her hands, as Jason, Ginny, and Harry laughed. "I'm still struggling to live with it"
"So, I need to find the Spinnets," Fred said, winking at Alicia.
"I'm not sure what my family would be like in this world," Alicia said with a frown. "I changed a lot because of school, and my friends, and Jason, Harry, and Isabelle especially. Me changing affected my family. Without meeting Jace . . . well, I don't think my family are fighters in this world."
"You never know," Jason said, "but you're probably right. I bet your family does it's best to stay off everyone's radar, good and bad, if they're still alive."
"What do we do in your world? George asked.
"Besides being devilishly handsome that is," Fred added causing George to nod placatingly.
"You own a joke shop," Ginny said. "Very successful. You both run it with the help of your wives, and Ron is considering joining you. Harry gave you both your start up loan, and you own stores in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and have an international owl order service.
"Wow," George said softly.
"Brilliant," Fred nodded.
"So, what about the rest of us?" Charlie asked.
"Well, Bill is married to Fleur in our world as well, so I'm a little curious on how you met here," Ginny said.
"Bill actually helped teach me how to curse break, and taught me a lot in my earlier years," Jason said.
"I was a Curse Breaker?" Bill said in wonder.
"You and Fleur both are," Alicia said. "Charlie, you have a Mastery in Care of Magical Creatures with a Focus on Dragons, and you work at a Dragon Reserve in Romania."
"Interesting," Bill and Fleur both said as Charlie's eyes glazed over and said, "That would be brilliant."
"You're not Curse Breakers?" Harry asked.
"I really couldn't do it," Bill said somberly. "You have to commit to You-Know-Who and agree to a period of service for the Death Eaters to work your way to being a Curse Breaker."
"Curse Breakers," Fleur continued, "zey are used to 'elp bring down the defenses for ze few places still 'olding out."
"How did you two meet?" Ginny asked.
"I wanted to get out of England for a bit, after Percy . . . and I ended up getting in with the French Resistance," Bill said. "I met Fleur there."
"As someone with Veela blood, ze Death Eaters only want me as a comfort woman," Fleur said with disdain. "My mama was taken. My father tried to stop zem, but he was killed in ze fight. I got my leetle sister out in ze confusion, but it was close."
"Those with Veela blood are basically used as whores or sex slaves, and age doesn't matter," Bill said with a grimace. "The ones who turn themselves in are treated better, but only so much. Nothing is off limits since they are offered to the highest ranked Death Eaters and disobeying one of them is a death sentence for yourself, and possibly your whole family."
Harry, Ginny, Alicia, and Jason hissed in anger.
"What happened to Gabrielle?" Ginny asked.
"She stays with us," Bill said. "She's staying over at Sirius's place though. She's best friends with his youngest."
"Sirius has kids?" Harry asked in surprise.
James nodded. "Two, Rebecca and Madelyn, ages 17 and 14."
"Wow," Harry said.
So, what about the rest of us?" Arthur said with an interested look.
"Currently you're the Head of the DMLE, and you're still fascinated with all things muggle," Ginny said with a laugh.
"Really, Head of the DMLE?" Arthur said in astonishment. "I'm not sure I would want that job."
"You were promoted from the Head Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department during the war to Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects," Ginny said before laughing a bit. "After the war, you became Head of the DMLE. You didn't really want the job, but we convinced you to take it. It helped our arguments that we didn't have a lot of people we could trust who could fill that spot," Ginny finished a little somberly.
"Sounds like the family is quite accomplished in your world," Molly cut in, her and Lily levitating a large feast for them to all eat.
"This looks great," Jason told the pair, and everyone else nodded or grunted in agreement and started to load up their plates.
"And me?" Molly asked.
"Well, you still stay home, but now instead of watching all of us kids who've moved out, you watch the grandkids and pseudo grandkids while everyone else works," Ginny told her.
"Grandkids?" Mrs. Weasley said in wonder.
Alicia gave a sly grin at Bill and Fleur. "Bill and Fleur have two daughters in our world."
Bill and Fleur both groaned. "Don't get her started, or we'll never hear the end of it," Bill said.
Everyone laughed, as Mrs. Weasley gave a mock look of outrage.
"You generally watch Dora and Remus's kids as well," Harry said.
"Interesting," Mrs. Weasley said, shooting a look at Bill and Fleur.
"I can't believe Remus is a father in your world and married to Dora!" James said.
"They're not together here?" Harry asked with interest.
"Kind of," Lily said with a frown. "Werewolves have been hunted to near extinction, and Remus thinks it's too dangerous for him to be with Dora, since he generally has to be contained on full moons. It's a major point of contention t in their relationship."
"He's dating her, but he won't marry her, and he definitely is reluctant to start a family with her, since he's locked down during his transformations, and there's always a risk that if we're attacked, he won't get out, and he doesn't want to risk passing on his lycanthropy and putting his child in the same situation," James said. "He doesn't want to make Dora a wanted criminal by marrying her."
Harry, Ginny, Alicia, and Jason all frowned.
"Werewolves are nearly extinct?" Alicia asked.
The Weasley's and Potters all nodded.
"After You-Know-Who started conquering the world, he gained enough allies and his army grew enough that he didn't really need the werewolves anymore, so he let his followers hunt them down," Bill said grimly. "There are still packs out there, and they're more dangerous than ever since now they go for the kill quickly, but they're small, hidden, and few in number."
"Fenrir Greyback currently leads the largest werewolf pack that's in resistance to You-Know-Who but finding them is nearly impossible. They don't have leaks or traitors, since the reward will only be death. Reports suggest he actually knows where every pack is, or nearly every pack and basically is like a werewolf king," Arthur said.
"He was one of You-Know-Who's enforcers back in our world," Ginny said.
"He was here, as well, until You-Know-Who turned on the werewolves," Bill said. "Now, he's one of their bigger problems, since he attacks to kill and cause destruction. Despite their small numbers, they're ruthless and destructive."
"Interesting," Harry said, thoughtfully. "Although he's a vile, despicable creature, we might be able to use that to our advantage here."
"You want to use Greyback?" Bill exclaimed in shock.
"If we're as outgunned and outnumbered as you say," Ginny said with a shrug, "then we can't afford to not use any help we can get, no matter how untrustworthy or vile."
"The enemy of our enemy is our tentative ally," Jason paraphrased.
"What's become of Hogwarts here?" Alicia asked.
The Weasleys all frowned.
"That's You-Know-Who's headquarters here in Britain," Arthur said. "It's basically his home, but he does have many other Death Eaters there at all times. The Ministry is the government, but Hogwarts is basically the capitol of his empire here in the United Kingdom."
"That'll make things a little difficult," Harry said with a frown, while Jason, Alicia, and Isabelle nodded in agreement.
"That's right, one of the horcruxes is there, isn't it?" Bill asked, and they nodded.
"Plus, we could get the sword out of the sorting hat and kill the basilisk in order to give us a method of destroying the horcruxes without a ritual," Jason said.
"Speaking of horcruxes," Harry said. "Does You-Know-Who have a familiar here, a snake called Nagini or some other such name, something he's fond of and keeps around?"
The Weasley's all nodded. "Yeah, a huge snake, which is actually called Nagini. He publicly feeds some of his victims to the creature."
"Perhaps, all the horcruxes are the same here," Jason said with a pleasantly surprised look. "We don't know when he got the snake. If he had it before attacking the Potters, it might be our last horcrux."
"I hope so," Ginny said. "I'm not sure where he would have hidden another horcrux if the snake isn't one."
"So, there's no formal education for young witches and wizards anymore?" Jason asked.
The Weasleys all shook their heads.
"Most just learn from their parents, though there are a lot of private tutors these days that the wealthier families utilize," Mrs. Weasley said.
"That's depressing," Alicia said. "No wonder you don't know many people. It's hard to make friends if you never meet other families."
"Well, enough of our sad world," Mrs. Weasley said. "We wanted to get to know you."
So, they spent the next little bit talking about their jobs back home, their dreams and aspirations, and then they got off on various different subjects before the evening ended and night was upon them. It was fun, carefree, and enjoyable. Something the people of this dimension hadn't had in a very long time. The dimension travelers bid goodnight to the Weasleys and went back to the Potter home where they separated for bed, preparing for next day when they would show the last of the memories, and then start the real planning for how to help this world.
**HP**
The next morning, they were all gathered back at Grimmauld again, to prepare for the last of the memories that needed to be shown.
Without discussion, they entered the pensieve and they watched the ending of Bill and Fleur's wedding when Kingsley's Patronus alerted everyone that the Ministry had fallen, leading into the run in with the Death Eaters at the diner, and finally them running to Grimmauld to hide. They explained how they figured out where the locket was and then showed memories from all their perspectives, showing the attacks on Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and the break in at the Ministry. They showed some of their run ins with Dementors while they were on the run, showed the encounter with Voldemort at Godric's Hollow, the destruction of the locket, the various raids to kill the dementors and giants, the mission to get into Malfoy Manor, the ambushes to kill or injure all the snatchers, and then in snippets they showed the break in at Gringotts, with the attacks on Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and then the Battle of Hogwarts, from all their different points of view.
"Incredible," Kingsley said, giving the four-dimension travelers respectful looks after the memories had ended. Many of the Order nodded in agreement.
"You guys were doing magic at 17 that doesn't even exist in our world!" Tonks said in awe.
"We created most of those things that don't exist here," Harry said. "Jason pushed all of us to get to Mastery level in as many subjects as we could, and most of our research projects were focused on creating spells to help us survive."
"I'll agree, you four know what you're talking about," Moody said, with a grudging hint of respect, causing the four to have to contain small smirks.
"Well, you've seen what we were capable of back then," Harry said. "All of us have improved by quite a bit. We've learned a bit of what we wanted to learn from James, Lily, and the Weasleys, but now we need to get into the gritty details."
"First, is Severus Snape a spy for you in this dimension?" Jason asked.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, though at this point he can do very little."
"We keep trying to convince him to get out of there and join us, but he keeps saying he just might be useful someday," Lily said.
"He's incredibly stubborn," James said with a fond smile, which surprised Harry.
"Alright, well having him as a spy will be incredibly useful, so he was right," Harry said. "Now, we know Hogwarts is his headquarters. What type of numbers does he have in his army, here in country?"
"Roughly a fifth of the population serves him directly, and another fifth serve him in the Ministry, so roughly three thousand in each group, though at least half of those Death Eaters are currently abroad fighting in the locations Tom has not fully conquered," Dumbledore answered.
Jason, Alicia's, Ginny's, and Harry's eyes bugged out.
"Your population is smaller than ours," Jason muttered, "but still, that is a great many people he can call up. What about dementors, giants, or other Dark Creatures?"
"Not a ton of giants, in country at least," Kingsley said. "Most of them are sent to the areas he's still trying to crush, but I would estimate he still has ten or so here, some in Scotland, some in England, and some in Ireland. Dementors number in the thousands. He has a large portion that control Azkaban, but he also has several areas around United Kingdom which houses dementors so that they can continue to feed off or effect the muggles. As for other dark creatures, he uses trolls, inferi, and vampires. Trolls are all over the place, generally as guards, or assets to wand carriers. Vampires are used to sneak up on You-Know-Who's enemies, though he does have them target muggles a lot. Inferi are mainly in the areas that are still resisting, so I don't know if there are any in this country currently."
"Alright, we'll want Severus to get us as much as he can on exact numbers for all of those, at least in this country but every other country he can," Harry said, "as well as locations for where creatures are being held, training hubs for Death Eaters, and homes of some of the more prominent Death Eaters who might know the information we want."
"Income is the next major thing we need to talk about," Alicia said. "I assume the goblins still run Gringotts, though they probably have very little if any autonomy, correct?"
"Correct, rumors are abounding that the goblins are planning a rebellion, but no one is really sure if it's true. The goblins aren't nearly as strong as they once were, and You-Know-Who's forces are battle hardened and only too eager to spill blood," Arthur said.
"So, how does You-Know-Who fund his forces?" Harry asked.
"Sex and slave trade mostly, though they really don't need much funding," Mad-Eye grumbled. "Being part of the Death Eaters is considered a great honor and privilege," he spat," which means, they generally aren't paid, but they can take and do whatever they want while serving You-Know-Who, so it really doesn't matter. If they want to steal, rape, and murder, they can, and no one's going to do anything about it, or they'll die if they do."
"Well, we'll start coming up with some ways to mess with those pursuits," Alicia growled, "and we'll show those Death Eaters that they aren't free from punishment."
"Which countries, or areas exactly are the ones holding out, and which countries have the biggest resistances?" Jason asked.
"The greatest source of resistance is in the America's," Kingsley said. "Argentina, Brazil, and Chile have all remained independent in South America. Parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada are all free as well, being such large countries, and just having larger populations, they haven't bent to his will like other countries where a large portion of the population just joined rather than die."
"Some smaller island nations have remained free," Dumbledore said, "though I'm not sure which ones, and then in Africa, there's conflict all over, since many foreigners just can't hope to fight the locals on their home turfs in unfamiliar areas. You-Know-Who controls the greater part of nearly every country, but there is solid resistance on every continent. Same with Asia. New Zealand and Australia have retained control of their countries as well. International magical borders are raised, and with the distance to those islands, they've managed to hold off attacks."
"As for resistances, the biggest ones are in the larger major countries like France, China, South Africa, etc.," Bill said.
"Is there any connection to any of those resistances, any communication between your group and theirs?" Alicia asked.
"We have some connections with the French," Bill said, "but otherwise, not really. Communication is hard, and many of the people we might have known worldwide have either died or gone into hiding, so contacting them is near impossible, plus they have their own problems to deal with."
"Well, Jace and I have some familiarity with Brazil, the US, Australia, Japan, Greece, India, Taiwan, and several African nations, so we might be able to work something in those areas," Alicia said thoughtfully.
"Familiarity?" Remus asked.
"Alicia and I are basically like freelance aurors back in our world," Jason explained. "We travel the world taking contracts to fight the dark arts or criminal networks in other countries where the nation's Ministry is struggling."
"So, what you're doing here for us is pretty much what you do for a living?" Remus asked in surprise.
"Pretty much, though this is on a much greater scale obviously," Alicia said.
"Alright," Jason said. "Introductions for those in this room we don't know are probably due, and I'd also like to know if everybody in this room is the extent of the Order."
"We have more members," Sirius said, "but not by much. Another thirty people are available for us to call up if we plan any missions, but most people are pretty disheartened. Which people here don't you recognize?"
The dimension travelers pointed out those that they didn't recognize, causing surprised or sad looks to appear.
"You never met your uncles?" Molly asked Ginny, indicating two bearded twins who certainly bared a resemblance to Molly.
Ginny shook her head sadly. "They died when I was only a couple months old."
"Well, I'm Gideon," one of the twins greeted while the other said, "I'm Fabian."
Ginny smiled at the pair and nodded.
"If you know Sirius, Remus, Lily, and James, but not me, then I assume I must have died in your timeline," a pretty blonde said. "My name is Marlene Black, Sirius's wife."
"I'd heard of you, but not much," Harry admitted. "I suspect now that Remus and Sirius just don't talk about you because of how hard it is."
"I'm Edgar Bones, and this is my wife Ruby," a dark-haired man greeted with a nod, indicating his pretty brunette wife. Harry could see the family resemblance with Amelia Bones and Susan Bones.
"I assume Susan didn't make it here?" Jason asked softly, causing the two Bones to flinch.
"She, my sister, and her husband were killed by You-Know-Who," Edgar confirmed somberly. "It's nice to know she is known to you in your world.
"She's a good friend, and was part of the defense of Hogwarts," Harry said. "You were the Bones family killed in our world. What about Amelia?"
"She's still around," Edgar said. "She just didn't attend these meetings, but she's a member of the Order. She was part of the Order in your world?"
"No, she was Head of the DMLE," Harry said morosely. "She was killed about a year after You-Know-Who's return, a couple months after it became public he was back. It's believed she was killed personally by him."
Edgar and Ruby frowned.
"I guess I'm last," a black-haired stockier woman said. "I'm Dorcas Meadows. I'm also friends with Lily and James and must have been killed in your world. With Poppy, I'm one of the main Healers for this group."
"Another name I'm familiar with," Harry confirmed, "but yes, you died in our world, before the attack on my parents."
Dorcas nodded grimly.
"So, what's the plan?" Mad-Eye growled.
"Jason and Alicia are going to go do some scouting for us," Harry responded, "and probably stir up some trouble to get people talking and take the Death Eaters down a peg or two. Meanwhile, Ginny and I are going to start teaching you all here the Destruction Patronus Variant, at least to all those who have a Patronus, and how to Shadow Travel. The Patronus Variant is picked up quickly, but Shadow Travel takes a lot of practice."
Some of the Order Members looked intrigued to know that they would be learning new magic today, while others looked concerned.
"What do you mean, 'stir up trouble to get people talking and take the Death Eaters down a peg or two?'" Kingsley said with a frown.
"He means that Jason and Alicia are going to attack Diagon Alley and get away after causing some damage to get the word out that resistance in England is getting bolder," Ginny said calmly, causing many to gasp. "It'll get people talking, which as our successes eventually grow will help to recruit members to our side as well as deter people from taking the Death Eaters side."
"It will also hopefully rally some of the other Resistances around the world and perhaps even foster some cooperation," Jason added. "Plus, resistance here spiking up will force You-Know-Who to possibly shift his forces helping other resistances and making the intel we're looking for fresher in people's minds and easier to find and to take."
"You're insane!" Molly exclaimed. "No one's attacked Diagon Alley and survived in years!"
"That's why it needs to be done," Jason said with a shrug. "This group has just been surviving over the years, taking out Death Eaters when they come for you, I assume. We need to take the attack to You-Know-Who and start turning opinions. Based on what you all said, nearly forty percent of Wizarding Britain either directly or indirectly supports Him, and just as many would likely turn you all in just to keep those they love safe. We need to change the latter groups mind, grow our forces, and chip away at You-Know-Who's forces."
"We also can use this time to scout out the locations of a couple of the Horcruxes," Alicia said. "So, you guys study while Jace and I do our thing. Albus," she said turning to the man, "when you get done learning the Patronus variant and at least have a basic understanding for Shadow Travel, you will need to get into contact with Severus and any other contacts you have and start getting us information. If you can get him to meet us in person, even better."
Dumbledore nodded in understanding as many gaped at the four travelers.
"What if you can't make it out of Diagon Alley?" Kingsley said. "Ours is a bit different then yours, especially compared to your attacks we saw in your memories. There will be far more enemy combatants against you here than you had then."
"That's actually a good thing," Jason said, causing many of the Order Member's eyebrows to shoot up. "Half of the struggle of attacking Diagon Alley in our world was doing our best to pull our punches and minimize the collateral damage to both the alley and to the Ministry workers who came to stop us. We only really wanted to take out Death Eaters and had to go off gut instincts."
"Here, we can blast in hard and fast and strike nearly indiscriminately," Alicia said. "It's brutal, but this is a war, and if we want chance of ending this war, killing the snake faced bastard and going home, then we need to be aggressive.
Many looked uncomfortably, whether that was from the reminder that the travelers were basically slaves, or whether it was the criticisms for how they had been fighting the war or even just being uncomfortable with the travelers ruthlessness, Harry wasn't sure, but he wasn't too concerned. He knew Jason and Alicia could be extremely merciless, but they were good people who were just willing to make the hard choices others struggled with. He'd witnessed firsthand how some of those decisions haunted them later, but he knew they'd both choose to do so again, just like they were choosing to do so now. You can't afford to be nice in war. You just have to pick your boundaries or your rules and do your best to stick with them.