It was with a killer headache that Harry regained consciousness. Hissing in pain, he couldn't help thinking that it had been a while since his scar had been hurting him so much.

He had tried to believe that the fact that he was in the past meant he was safe from Voldemort. The same way he had wanted to believe what happened last year had been maybe a bad dream and that him using occlumency would just be enough for it to stop.

Clearly it had just been wishful thinking on his part. As if it would be that easy.

Opening his eyes, the first thing Harry noticed was that he was not in fact in the infirmary but that he was sitting in Professor Mesmer's office.

The second thing he noticed was that he was handcuffed to the armchair.

"What's your name?"

Raising his head, Harry looked at the man in front of him who was leaning against the desk. "What's my- Why am I handcuffed?"

Professor Mesmer's face wasn't betraying anything. "Later, you have to answer my questions first. What's your name?"

Seeing the man wasn't going to budge on this Harry answered, "Harry Potter."

"I mean your real name."

"Harry Potter."

"So you didn't change your name when you came here," he concluded. "Sloppy."

Harry gritted his teeth. "I didn't have time to think about something better, you know?"

He hummed. "Who's Riddle then?"

Harry's heart stopped.

Seeing Harry's face, his face darkened. "If we assume that the spiritism séance we conducted was a success, I can only assume that rather than Salazac not making sense we are the one misunderstanding him. From that point on it's not that difficult of a leap to assume that 'Riddle' may actually not be a random word but may very well be an actual name. So I ask again: who is Riddle?"

"I don't know."

Mesmer tsked. "Haven't I told you one shouldn't lie? It only makes you look guilty. So I ask again: who is Riddle?"

That was bad. If Harry were to tell the seer about Voldemort, Harry had no doubt handcuffs were going to be the last of his problems. The man had been helping so far, but that was because, as far as the seer was concerned, Harry was some random wizard who had just travelled through time. He didn't know about Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. He has never heard about Harry Potter, the baby who somehow survived the Killing Curse and banished the most dangerous wizard of all time. For how open-minded the seer was, Harry did not think even he could just accept something this big. There wasn't anybody who could actually get it. Only somebody like Professor Dumbledore could ever look at him and see that for how alike he and Voldemort supposedly were, Harry would never let Voldemort harm anybody or Hogwarts.

Professor Mesmer might be many things, but he would never be Professor Dumbledore.

Harry had to hide what he knew, that much was obvious. But how could he? From Mesmer, who would see right through him?

He supposed the only way to do that was to put into practice what the man himself had taught him. Rather than lying he'd have to use the truth in such a way the man would see what he wanted to see and not notice what Harry was actually trying to hide.

"Riddle is a wizard from my time," he carefully began. "He killed my parents and was actually Slytherin's heir."

Mesmer looked pensive. "I don't recall any pureblood family being called Riddle though."

"That's because he wasn't a pureblood. His father was a muggle."

He hummed, "I would have never thought any descendant of Slytherin would ever be with a muggle. The future truly is a strange place. And you definitely don't have a split personality named Riddle, is that what you're telling me?"

Harry tried to appear nonchalant. "If I ever did, I think he'd want a more grandiose name. Something like Voldemort, maybe."

That made the other man snort.

Something knocked at the window. The seer briefly glanced at the direction of the noise and sharply got up. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he murmured as he headed to the window and upon opening it a little owl fell in his hands.

Mesmer quickly grabbed the letter the animal had been carrying and promptly started reading it.

Harry didn't think he had seen the man so frustrated. "No answer," he told the owl who, after a long look at the man, flew away. "And and I though he was bad," he muttered as he closed the letter. and put it in his pocket. "Couldn't she have sent it earlier?"

Seeing the man had seemingly forgotten him, Harry tried, "Sir? What is it?"

The man gave him a long look. Finally he answered, "Considering how the séance ended and how you were acting earlier I thought it was safer to handcuff you and make sure nothing was amiss. You see, the one thing you should not do during a spiritism séance is stop it before the summoned spirit is properly banished. As you know, the connection was broken before this happened so I had to assume there was a possibility that some echo of Salazar Slytherin got left behind and would influence you in some way."

"Can't you just-"

"-see it? Only people whose Sight is absolute and who can look into your soul like Trelawney can and I'm not one of them. So until I got her letter I had to err on the side of caution and assume the worst."

Harry considered what the man had said. "Does that mean she knew this was going to happen?"

His left eyebrow twitched. "That she did. She even knew you'd be handcuffed in my office and there are dozens of charms to stop the Sight from working here. That's the annoying thing with seers whose Sight is absolute: you can put a Fidelius around the whole house, they will still be able to See you taking a bath."

Harry digested these words. "Is there anything this Sight cannot do?"

A shadow passed over his face. "It cannot be stopped."

Harry frowned at the man's sudden melancholic mood. Still, he tried, "Can you uncuff me now?"

Mesmer dazedly blinked. "Oh right, that." He took his wand and the handcuffs on Harry's hands vanished.

Harry massaged his wrists. "Where's Black?"

"I told Mr. Black he could leave. Although he was already at the door so I'm not sure he heard me," he admitted. "Frankly I don't blame him. Even I don't know if I should qualify tonight as a resounding success or an utter failure."

Harry snorted wetly.

For a moment neither said a thing. Then Harry frowned as he realized something. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

The seer frowned. "Now, what makes you think that?"

I suppose I should have seen this coming. This is your doing, isn't it Mr. Potter?

"You immediately knew that it was me conducting the séance."

The man blinked several times. Finally he snorted and grinned. "In case you forgot, Mr. Black didn't know what a Thestral was. Knowing that I think it is quite obvious that he cannot see the herd pushing the carriages here. As a prerequisite for conducting a séance is for the conductor to have witnessed death, I don't think there was much choice of who it could have been, no?"

"You also said 'I should have seen this coming'," he pointed out.

His smile turned sly. "Did I now?" Seeing Harry glaring he slowly chuckled. "Just for the record, I could still get myself out of this one, but you're right: I wasn't actually that surprised. You see, Mr. Potter, I have been suspecting for quite some time that you may have some gift for necromancy."

Harry stared at the man. "Sir, I am not actually a seer," he reminded him.

"The thing with necromancy is that it's not so much your connection with Time that the one you have with Death that matters. Yes, you have no real gift when it comes to divination but when it comes to death? The connection is so strong it's even worrying when you think about it for a moment."

Harry flinched.

Mesmer crossed his arms. "If you really want to know, I decided to hold a spiritism séance because of you, Mr. Potter. I've been suspecting for a long time now that you may have a gift for it and recent events made me consider this possibility even more. I have little talent when it comes to it but I felt like you needed a hedge and I wanted to supervise in case something went wrong." He sighed. "As Trelawney said in her letter, I overestimated myself and underestimated you. If there was a mistake I made tonight, it was this one."

"You should have warned me," he tightly said.

"Perhaps. Still, would you have accepted to try your hand at necromancy had I done so? Better ask for forgiveness than permission, that was my reasoning. I suppose that means I owe you an apology now that I think about it."

Harry glared. "I'm not going to do this again," he warned.

To Harry's annoyance, the man grimaced "I wish I could say this is your choice. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that you will participate in at least another spiritism séance in the future."

Oh really, Harry fumed. Has the man Seen him pushing a palette in a vision now?

Mesmer's face was unusually dark when he answered, "I wish it was that simple. No, I did not See you participating in a spiritism séance, Mr. Potter. I did not, but Trelawney did."


When Harry finally left Professor Mesmer's office, he was exhausted.

The way the man had presented him, whenever a seer whose Sight was absolute made a prediction, it was very difficult for it not to happen.

He knew that should worry him, but, in light of what he had just learned, Trelawney and her latest predictions seemed unimportant.

Voldemort was in his head, there was no denying it now. How that happened, Harry did not know, but if a part of him had hoped this was a nightmare or that he would disappear on his own, it was clear now that the dark wizard had merely been biding his time. Why hadn't he made a move? Harry didn't know but it didn't bode well. He had planned to kill Professor Mesmer and Black so why hadn't he done so? Why had Salazar Slytherin's message terrified his descendant so much he had wanted to kill Professor Mesmer and Black on the spot and what could have stopped the most dangerous wizard of all time?

He was so tired. Every time he thought he was getting the hang of it, another problem always fell into his laps. Couldn't something nice happen to him just because? Just one time, could Harry have something nice?

With a heavy sigh, Harry gave the password to the Fat Lady. When he entered the Common Room however he blinked.

It was well past midnight, and the Common Room should have been empty at this hour. Yet Albus was by the table, asleep.

For a time Harry did nothing but look at his sleeping face, the reflection of the fireplace's fire in his hair. Finally, he softly shook him awake.

Albus groaned and tiredly opened an eye. He then startled.

"Harry!" he exclaimed. "W-When did you come back?" Turning his head to the clock on the wall and seeing it was 3 o'clock he sighed. "Damn."

"Are you waiting for something?"

The wizard seemed to hesitate for a moment. Finally, he sighed. "Well, if you truly want to know, I was waiting for you." Seeing Harry's confused face he looked away. "I know you had Divination and that you may come back late, but I suppose I- That is to say I-" He grimaced. "You could say I wanted to make up to you for forgetting your birthday."

Harry blinked several times. "I told you I don't mind. It's not as if I told you it was today. Well, yesterday," he amended.

"I know. Still, I could have asked."

Harry had nothing to say to that.

"Also you've just turned seventeen and while you did get a gift unlike last year I thought we could… you know… I thought it would be sad not to celebrate you becoming an adult."

He sighed and started searching his pockets. Retrieving a little box, he enlarged it with his wand and opened it.

He sighed. "This is stupid, I know that, but I thought that maybe… maybe you'd like some cake."


Albus wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

It seemed like a good idea a few hours ago. But now that he had rested he couldn't help but think that this may be a little too much.

It's just that Albus had felt so guilty when he had realized last Christmas that the other boy, who was basically knutless, had given him something when Albus hadn't bothered thinking about him when he had done his Christmas shopping.

There had been so many gifts under the Christmas tree and all of them had been for him and none of them had been for Harry. How could he have not felt like the most selfish person on Earth? He had sworn to himself that he'd make it up to him next Christmas. But what good were these resolutions if he couldn't even bother finding when his birthday was?

He had an excuse ready for his gesture just in case, but seeing the other boy's dumbfounded face his mind had just drawn a blank and to his growing horror he couldn't now think of a way to not make it look like he was not some creep.

For a long time, Harry did nothing but look at the cake. Finally, he murmured, "Can I have a spoon?"

Albus wordlessly conjured a spoon and a knife and handed them to him.

Without a word, Harry cut a slice and sat next to him.

Seeing Albus' scarlet face he hesitated. "You know, that's the third time I get a birthday cake."

That made him blink. "You only got a cake three times?" he rhetorically asked, if only to buy time.

"Well, maybe I got one when I was a baby but… yeah." Taking his spoon he started eating. "The first one, I got it when I turned eleven and I found out I was a wizard." His lips twitched, as if he was reliving a fond memory. "The second time I was fourteen and my cousin was on a diet so my friends gave me a cake each."

Albus couldn't help but smile. "That's a shame. To me, the cake is an essential part of a good birthday."

That made Harry snort. "You and your sweet tooth."

Albus chuckled, secretly relieved to have finally found a good enough excuse for his behaviour. "Well, you know me. I like my sweets so much I tend to assume that everybody is the same." he made a contrite face, "Sorry if you don't like it and my gesture made you a little uncomfortable."

Harry waved his hand. "It's fine. I prefer treacle tarts but like cakes too. I'm just… I'm just not used to getting one. So… thanks there. I really appreciate it. Want a slice?"

"Oh no, I'm fine. "

"I don't mind, really."

"No, no. I wouldn't want to-"

"Birthday cakes are meant to be shared, right?"

"Well, yes but-"

"Then you must eat some."

After much bickering, Albus finally gave in and took the slice Harry handed him. After conjuring a spoon for himself he started eating in silence.

Suddenly remembering something the other Gryffindor had said however he frowned. "You said you got a cake when you learned you were a wizard; does that mean you're a muggleborn?"

Harry, who had been eating, turned his head. "What? No, I'm a half-blood; it's my mum who was a muggleborn."

Like me, Albus couldn't help thinking.

Except that wasn't quite the case, he immediately corrected himself. For one Albus' mother was not British and even among American muggleborns Kendra had been a special case, for two it seemed like Harry's parents were deceased and Albus' situation was so peculiar it was literally impossible for anybody to relate.

"I suppose that means you were raised by your maternal family," he slowly began. Seeing Harry's nod he continued, "Considering muggles parents don't know their child is magical I can imagine this had been quite a shock for you to learn you were a wizard."

"Oh no, my relatives knew all along. They just… They just hate magic." A snort. "Would have beaten the magic out of me if they could have."


"What do you mean they would have beaten the magic out of you? "

Harry startled and dropped his fork. Seeing Albus' thunderous face he stammered, "W-Well, you know… It's not like it's possible but if it were… It's not like they hit me or anything," he hurried, "they just made sure I knew I wasn't welcome."

Albus gave him a humourless smile, "And they never hurt you, is that what you're saying now? They didn't do anything to you at all?"

Harry was about to nod but Albus' pointed look dissuaded him. "They may have put me in a cupboard," he muttered. Vividly shaking his head, he tried to change the subject. "My aunt took me in and she really didn't have to. Sure it wasn't great and she was a nasty piece of work but it's in the past now."

For a long time, Albus looked at him, face inscrutable, finally, he turned his head. "I'm making you uncomfortable."

Harry didn't bother denying it.

"My apologies. I wanted to do something for your birthday but it seems like all I've done is just spoiling the mood."

"It's…" He sighed. "It's fine. I really appreciate what you did."

When he had seen Albus and his cake he hadn't known what to say. And while he clearly had other things on his mind at the moment and it wasn't even his actual birthday, he had been very touched to see the other boy had cared enough to wait for him. He hadn't even been joking when he had told the other boy he had never shared a birthday cake with anybody. In light of all this, Albus' outburst was nothing.

He smiled. "Thank you, really. And it's nice to know you worry about me, I guess." He shrugged. "Not that you need to. I'm tougher than I look, you know?" he tried to joke.

Albus gave him a tentative smile. "That you are." Checking the clock on the wall he sighed. "It's well past midnight. We should go to bed if we don't want to fall asleep in Alchemy tomorrow. Well, today."

"Lead the way."

There were a lot of things for Harry to worry about. But at that moment, Harry was just grateful to have this.