Author's Note: I want to start off be saying thank you to those who left me reviews. They're great fuel to keep me going and they also give me a sense of the best direction for writing so keep them coming!

Also its a given but it needs to be said: This story is definitely going to be an AU (Alternate Universe) with a number of things.

I would like to thank ShadowBlazer and Vixen's Shadow for being amazing beta readers for this chapter.

CHAPTER TWO: White Rabbit

Harry could only feel embarrassment and the slight sting of shame. For so long he had valued his ability to keep his emotions and magic in check. Not since the unforeseen outburst in his youth in Dumbledore's office had he ever been so dangerously out of control of his magic. He had to keep himself from squirming in the cushioned seat that Knowledge had produced for him. After the fire had been put out of course.

He gave the spirit of Knowledge a tentative glance before hastily turning away when he noticed her beaming face. Sitting beside him in a similar chair was Mouse, looking disheveled and mildly annoyed.

"That was splendid!"Apparently, the silence was too much for Knowledge.

"I'm sorry?"Harry stared at the shimmering spirit in shock.

"No no don't be sorry at all!" In her excitement, Knowledge was practically bouncing on her feet. For a brief moment, she had the appearance of a young woman. Harry blinked his eyes in confusion hoping that the illusion would disappear but frowned harder when it didn't.

"How are you...," He didn't want to sound rude but the rapid age regression was freaking him out a bit. Along with everything else in this place.

Ignoring Harry's question Knowledge continued in scarcely contained glee, "Such an intriguing display of magic you must tell me how it works! I would think you were a mage but you don't necessarily feel like one at all. Maybe you're a memory of one? Hmm, so many questions."

The last part Knowledge mumbled to herself as she pulled a book from thin air. Without pause, she began to flip through the phantom pages in a rapid pace.

"A Somnari? Possibly. But there isn't enough sufficient evidence." Muttering a conversation with herself, she seemed to have forgotten that they were there.

Without pause, she threw the book over her shoulder but before the book would have hit the ground it vanished. She turned towards one of her bookshelves with determination.

Harry turned to Mouse with confusion marring his face. "Is this normal for her?"

Mouse answered him with a cheeky grin, "Yep. Give her something new and she acts like a mabari with a milk bone."

Harry accepted his reply with a raised eyebrow, assuming that a mabari was some type of animal. Turning back into his seat he gave out a surprised yelp when Knowledge popped up in front of him.

She stared at him, her gaze unblinking, "Tell me, what is your name? I must know."

Swallowing back his unease he responded cautiously, "Potter. Harry Potter."

Ignoring Harry's discomfort Knowledge cocked her slightly. "Hmmm. Tell me, Harry Potter, what are you exactly?" Straightening his back sharply at Knowledge's tone, Narrowed green eyes stared back at her. "I'm a wizard. A human. A living breathing human."

"Wizard?"

Harry averted his eyes as the small glow surrounding Knowledge's form flared. It lasted a short moment, yet in that moment the mouth of the void opened wide to swallow. A fathomless pit. Hands creeped out grabbing at him. Picking. Prodding. Clawing. Hungry, always hungry.

Harry felt ravenous.

He swallowed thickly, anxiety lodged in his throat he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "I guessed you would call it a mage,"muttering meekly his bravado gone.

"Thank you for this lovely gift Mouse. It will not be forgotten." Knowledge barely turned her glowing form towards Mouse's direction, so intent on Harry. Mouse gave Harry a worried frown but nodded slightly at Knowledge's word.

Knowledge's attention never strayed from Harry, " We're going to learn so much from each other."

Well, that sounded unpleasant.

-LINE BREAK-

So they did.

Knowledge had already forgotten about her other guest completely dismissing him. She turned her full attention to Harry with vigor. Mouse seeing that he was no longer needed gave Harry another sheepish smile than with a flash of magic he had scampered away through the woods.

Harry refused to admit he was sad to see him leave. Knowledge disturbed him with her demeanor and eager hunger of him

Yet she was by far the better presence to meet in the Fade. Like her named suggested she was full of all manner of tidbits and best of all she loved sharing it with others. But her help was never free.

In exchange for her guidance and information, Harry had to give his in return. She wanted his entire story. The hardest part was explaining his role in everything. So he started off small, retailing aspects of his world to the best of his abilities.

"After my magical education, after the war, after everything I was adrift." It was strange looking back at his life now and the twist in turns it had taken. Talking about it after so long gave him a new perspective on things he never wanted to look back on.

"I didn't really think I would have survived in the end. I thought of every outcome and made preparations accordingly." A scornful smile decorated his face, "But I've always had a way of mucking things up."

He was grateful that Knowledge kept quiet listening intently in that hungry way of hers. Only ever interrupting to interject a few questions.

"Everyone had their ideas on what my next step should be and the path I should pursue. But I spent the entirety of my life following someone else's words. So for the first time in my life, I decided to make my own decisions."

"I assume such actions were not well received after spending so long following the will of others."

Harry grimaced at the very memory. "You would be correct on that front." There had been screaming, arguments, accusations, and broken friendships. The wizarding world as a whole seemed to have an opinion on Harry's decisions, adamant for him to hear it.

"Regardless of the outcry, I wandered for a bit trying to plant my feet and all." He had taken Sirius's bike and he went exploring trying to see a bigger world. Taken on many jobs, either magical or muggle. From exotic and mundane he had wandered, trying to figure out who was the person in the mirror staring back at him.

"For a time I was content," Lonely was probably a more apt expression but Harry remembered sitting at a beach with his toes touching the waves staring at the sunset. It was the first sunset he remembered feeling without the weight of the world clawing on his young shoulders. "But in the end, I finally decided on becoming an Unspeakable. The job gave me a sense of adventure I suppose."

Becoming an Unspeakable was actually a more complicated matter. Harry had been resigned to a life of wandering from place to place having never known a life of stability the idea of staying still didn't seem to sit well. Stepping into Hogwarts had been inconceivable, there was too much death and loss. Every echo in the halls reminded him of the friends he had lost. There was nowhere in the magical community that did not remind him of death.

So he kept moving forward. Harry refused to look back and he barely acknowledged any letter from the wizarding world except those that pertain to his accounts or matters that required his signature as the head of his house. He would have likely ignored the job offer for the Unspeakable position if it wasn't delivered by Hermione, one of the few friends he kept.

She had come to Harry with a job offer and a plan that involved him backing Hermione in the most important fight for their world. A plan so bold, dangerous, and it sounded so much like Hermione that he could feel a stronger headache coming. A fight to save their world from falling on the same fulfilling curse that had haunted them.

His life had been hard at times and there were times when he cursed his fate bitterly. But he would be damned if he let the world he loved fall while he did nothing. He needed to get back home. He was still needed there, his world, Hermione, and countless others needed him to return home.

Shaking his head from his distracting thoughts he continued on, "In the end becoming an Unspeakable was for the best."

"An Unspeakable?"

Harry looked up from rubbing the headache in his head absently to the confusion in Knowledge's expression, "Yes kinda like a person who studies magic and all the unknowns but," Harry hurried on seeing her excited expression, "it's not what you think. We weren't really allowed to talk about our work, in almost in any capacity." If any whisper of Harry's research ever got out without Ministry approval it would be considered an act of treason.

"How preposterous!"

"I'm sorry?" Harry blinked owlishly at the disgruntled look on Knowledge's face.

"This role of yours, this Unspeakable, it seems so wasteful. Your purpose was to learn and understand new depths of your world's magic but you could not share it! How dull! Such a sacrilege of knowledge!" She was practically shouting in appalled anger. "Such things are meant to be shared amongst others. It is meant to better you an - I don't see why this amusing!?"

"Sorry!" Harry hurriedly apologized as he went cover his laughter, "It's just- you reminded me of a dear friend of mine. She had similar ideas." Hermione had argued, quite often actually, to Harry about the quality of information being shared by the magical community. She stated numerous times that having too many secrets and taboos were not always the answer. But knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

"She must be a human of great character then."

"She is." Hary felt a soft ache in his heart, he needed to return home.

-LINE BREAK-

Harry found himself sitting on a damp coast with his hands absently playing in the sand. His legs were splayed before him gray ocean waves lapping gently at his toes. He crooned softly as the wind ruffled his dark messy locks feeling a small measure of peace. His only audience the numerous ships strewed across the coast, a graveyard.

Scattered throughout the waters were numerous ships various warships, skeletons left to rot. A testament to some ancient warfare by the seas. Ripped flags fluttering in the winds of lost allegiance and pride long dead. Further out was an ancient battleship, the deck had been destroyed opening up its innards like a cracked egg. A howling wolf decorated the broken sails lying limply beside its breached hull. An empty cemetery with no but Harry left to witness.

It had been difficult for Harry to get this alone time. Knowledge had argued that it was too dangerous for Harry to go anywhere on his own, regardless if it was within her territory. Even with his magic, he was still vulnerable from creatures that called the Fade home. He wondered if the spirit was a genuine concern for his safety or Knowledge's wish to covet his information.

His lessons with Knowledge - the spirit seemed to consider their interactions as scholarly debates and information gathering- added with the rare visits from Mouse gave him a small sense of stability. But it often gave him a sense of suffocation. He envisioned the trees of made of wood and shadows enclosing him on all sides. Blocking out the already small amount of light to nothing, a frightening cage.

He could never bring himself to scream.

So he would bicker with her for a chance to take small walks through the trees needing space. Like a child, he would promise Knowledge that he wouldn't do anything too foolish. He would wander her vast territory -though she denied its size in comparison to more powerful spirits- and like everything else, it seemed to follow its own rules. From his numerous walks, the landscape would have different spots of settings hidden away.

Once he came across an ancient tower, a fortress made of brick and stone. There were people walking around attending to some busywork. They were all calm and chattering amongst themselves while the entire tower was set ablaze none of them seem to take heed of the flames around them. He had left the scene quickly staring at it had made feel queasy.

He had walked for some time before finding this place filled with still air and salty seas. The silence allowed him his thoughts.

So it came as a bit of a surprise for Harry when he felt the familiar warning of trouble. Trusting his instincts -they were rarely wrong- he rolled from his position just as a sword thrust rested where he once sat.

Harry caught a glimpse of gleaming armor and a very big sword. He cursed softly as the armor gave a bellowing battle cry.

"Show me your skill, young warrior!" The screaming armor swung its sword right at Harry's head.

The fuck.

Harry scrambled to stand up from his position in the sand, cursing the weight of his robes. He nearly fell again as he narrowly avoided the swing of the sword from cleaving his head off. The soft whisper of steel, catching the reflection of his panicked eyes.

Too close.

"Wow there! What's your problem?" Maybe the intimidating knight had him confused for something else."Maybe we should have a nice chat before you decide to kill me?!" Harry gave a grunt of exertion as he ducked his body down avoiding another swing. But gave out a cry alarm when a metal shield came up and smacked him square in the face.

Okay, so this was going nowhere. He tried to shake the slightly dazed confusion from his eyes. Only to feel the cool metal of steel grab him by the scruff of his robes, tossing him a few feet away and landing hard onto the sand. There was no way he could keep up this deadly dance.

Stumbling to his feet he felt a dull throb of pain where the metal shield had smashed into his face. His heart felt like it was going to burst from his ribcage and his breath was clawing through his throat. Fear a practically tangent living thing.

Including the thrill of adrenaline. He was far into Knowledge's territory in a different world far from home but he wasn't entirely defenseless. Harry really had no choice in the matter.

"Expelliarmus!"

He felt the familiar sensation of magic running through his veins as he held tightly onto the spell.

Not too much, he quietly reminded himself.

Pushing his strength into the spell with a wave of his hand the sword flew from the hands of his mysterious attacker.

"See now you have no sword," Harry didn't even think about keeping the smugness from his tone, "so maybe we can stop this silly fight-"

"How presumptuous," a deep baritone voice echoed through the metal helmet. Harry felt his throat dry as a soft glow appeared in the armored hand, "to say that you have disarmed me!" The soft glow turned blinding as it took shape into the same sword that it had held moments ago.

With a battle cry that rattled his bones, the armored knight charged again.

Oh shit.

Scrambling back with alarm Harry came up short as his feet felt an icy chill. Green eyes glanced down noticing his feet had submerged into the lapping waves. His eyes jumped around frantically looking for a leeway, his only testament being the waves and the clear quickly he focused his magic adding a bit more power and pushed.

Behind him, the ocean groaned into a small swell almost putting up resistance before a large jet of water raced to the charging knight. Hoping to knock his assault down or give him more space to move.

However, the large burst of water served to only stop him. The knight struggled against the water before, to Harry's astonishment, taking a step forward with a grunt. Harry gritted his teeth and pushed more concentration into the spell.

Stay down. Harry thought angrily. Stay down. Stay down. Stay down. He repeated the mantra in his head as the knight continued his hard-won advancement.

But his body was slowly giving into exhaustion as maintaining the spell was demanding his fine line of control. The spell was failing rapidly forcing him to stop the spell completely.

Harry fell to his knees as his nerves convulsed. Staring at the sand as he tried to force air back into his lungs. He struggled to his feet -he'd be damned if he died on his knees- as a metal foot came into his field of view.

But he cried out in outrage as a metal fist grabbed him by his throat and lifted him a few inches off the ground. The sky darkened above them as dark clouds stole the sun.

A deep baritone voice gave out a sigh of disappointment, "Not much of a fighter are you." It spoke as Harry bared his teeth at him in rage, clawing at the tight metal grip at his throat.

The knight gave another disappointed sigh at Harry's pitiful display. "Truly, I was assuming a bit more from you." A metal fist raised up to give the final blow.

Harry choked out a rueful laugh as he gasped for his decreasing air, "Well you know what they say about assuming." His response served to give the knight a small pause as the metal helmet tilted its head in mild curiosity.

"Oh, what do they say?" Genuine curiosity echoed from the metal bucket, The tight grip on his throat loosened slightly to allow Harry to respond.

"It makes an ass out of you and me." Just as Harry finished gasping out his answer a roar of thunder answered back.

The metal bucket looked towards the sky finally noticing the gathering ominous clouds with a small degree of alarm, hopefully. Harry couldn't tell. However, before the knight could take any action a thick bolt of blinding white light shot from the sky, along with a slight crackling noise as high amounts of electricity pierced through the clouds onto one single target.

Please review! Thoughts and critics are a welcome.

Notes:

1. I noticed a few grammar mistakes in my summary so I fixed. Hope it's less confusing.