Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. No financial gain is derived by this story what-so-ever. All original characters are mine.
A/N: Some explanations in this chapter. Hope I got it right. While I'm a science student, I'm no expert in what I'm writing here. Even less in British politics. Feel free to point out any errors so I can edit them.
Chapter 2
Long-winded Explanations
Harry reached the gargoyle entrance to the headmistress's office.
He stood there, wondering what McGonagall would use as a password. It would never be sweets, he thought with a laugh. Something people would deem... proper.
Minerva McGonagall was the sort of person who presented herself in a manner that made people think of her exactly as she wanted them to. Usually that meant a strict persona.Once you got to know her personally, outside of work, she was far friendlier. She'd never let her hair down, figuratively nor literally (as Dumbledore loved to say), though.
He stood there for five minutes, stumped. He couldn't think of one thing McGonagall would use. In the end he decided he'd somehow signal his presence. Right, now how did that spell go?
Harry raised his wand and let it down quick, muttering an incantation as he did so. The blare of trumpets was released, the beating of drums accompanying them. It sounded like those military parades he'd watch as a kid on the telly.
The gargoyle jumped aside.The little girl who he met previously stood behind it. She looked around in shock. Someone stood behind her.
At least someone stayed the same. McGonagall looked just like she did when Harry first came to Hogwarts, barring some lines on her face and more strands ofwhitening hair (quite understandable as well, the nuisance Voldemort was).
"Quite effective, Harry. Perhaps too effective," she remarked with a smile, rubbing her ears. "Why didn't you just say the password?"
"I forgot," said Harry, trying to get a sheepish look.
"Goodness me, that's the fourth time this year," she laughed. "It's lemon drops"
You're kidding me. Candy passwords? It was unexpected,a perfect password.Or maybe it's her way of remember the old guy.
"Natalie," she said to the little girl, who looked like she wanted to run away from Harry. "Let's go."
Harry went with them to the office, and promptly stopped at the door.
Everything was different. Dumbledore's unusual possessions were all absent, replaced by McGonagall's things. Normal things like books, photographs, amongst them. Harry never went back to Dumbledore's office after his funeral. While it had been eight years, including his time in Europe, it still left him stunned.
Harry looked at the portraits, and saw Dumbledore standing in one. Even dead, he always was the first person you'd spot in a crowd. He wore a light blue robes, emblazoned with gold stars and silver crescents, totally different from the dark, respectful robes worn by the other ex-headmasters.
"Professor Dumbledore," breathed Harry. He tried fighting emotions that threatened to tear out of him.
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Harry just looked at him expressionless. Even when one of them was dead, it seems like this game had to be played. The game where Harry was hiding something, and then said something that perks Dumbledore's suspicion. Dumbledore makes a vague statement, or gets a look on his face, to clearly show Harry (without actually saying it) that he knows something's off.
But what exactly tipped him off? All he said was Professor... wait that was it. Harry was a professor. He'd call Dumbledore, Albus. He'd have to make sure to call McGonagall, Minerva, he realised as he sat down, if he wanted to avoid causing more suspicion.
"What have you called me for, Minerva?" he asked.
"Well," replied McGonagall, "I got a visit from the Head Minister."
She paused, and Harry wondered why she didn't go on.
"And? What did he want?" Harry realised that it was a stupid comment when she looked at him as if he was stupid.
"The ministry's changed a few things of the Defence curriculum, and he deemed it necessary to inform me the day before the children arrive," she said, her mouth very thin. "Here's what they do not want taught this year." She passed a blue folder to him.
"If you'll excuse me," she said, getting up. "I have a meeting with Hermione."
"Do you mind if I stay here for a while? I wish to speak to Professor Dumbledore."
"By all means do," replied McGonagall. "Natalie, let's go. Unless you want to stay with Professor Potter?"
The girl shook her head, and left with McGonagall.
"You never know the importanceof shy children," said a voice to Harry's side, "until they lose it when they grow up and spout stupid nonsense."
Harry rotated his chair so it faced the portraits. Dumbledore had that twinkle in his eye that Harry missed.
"Professor," said Harry. "It's good to see you again."
"And I, Harry, and I," replied his former headmaster, before sighing sadly."Tell me, what madness have you gotten into this time?"
"What?" asked Harry perplexed. How did Dumbledore notice his problems so easily? Damn that infernal twinkle.
Dumbledore laughed at Harry's shock. "It's quite simple mistake you made. I asked you to call me Albus since 2001. Not once have you called me Professor since. It's always the simplest of things that are the most revealing."
"I was going to tell you something was wrong," said Harry, laughing, "but it seems that all-knowing look of yours has shown itself once again."
And with that, Harry told Dumbledore everything. This was, in a way, different from his interactions with Dumbledore in his lifetime. Then, Harry would reveal everything after the events came to a close. It felt better this way.
"Most puzzling," said Dumbldore. "It seems that the second person who has survived Avada Kedavra is the first person."
"What can you get from that?"
"Like our last year together, we must re-enter the realm of conjecture and doubtable thought.
"It seems from your pain, this killing curse has affected you, unlike the previous one which just bounced off, with a few lingering effects."
"If it did," said Harry, "then how was it that there was a Harry that was running along, living my life?"
"That's the problem," said Dumbledore in thought. "If it worked, you'd be dead. If it didn't you'd be okay. Instead a sort of separation occurred…
"Wait Harry, allow me time to think. Do not interrupt."
Harry obeyed, and didn't say a word. He read the blue folder McGonagall gave him. It seemed to be a bunch of things that were not allowed to be taught to the children. They were all completely acceptable, leaving Harry in complete bemusement. Why were they forbidden? Some were quite effective means to avoid detection, some were defence spells, and some were attacking spells.
An hour passed, and then two. Harry had gotten all the teachings in his head, and was just thinking to go out for a walk until Dumbledore came back to this world, when Dumbledore spoke.
"It explains it, but is it possible? Can it happen?" whispered Dumbledore.
"What, sir?" asked Harry cautiously. He rarely saw Dumbledore this nervous. "What are you thinking?"
"It's pure guesswork on my part. We're dealing with the most unknown facts."
"What is it?" Get on with it, man!
"The soul, Harry, the soul." replied Dumbledore. "Imagine if the killing curse worked, but at the same time did not."
"And that's possible how…"
"Think! The killing curse is, by analogy, a cutting curse. It severs your soul from your body. What if there was some unknown factor, some madness, that instead of it functioning as it normally would, it would instead sever the soul."
"That's impossible!" dismissed Harry.
"You of all people know that it is not. You've dealt with Horcruxes. They are the willful separation of the soul. And how are they made?"
"By killing," replied a stunned Harry.
"Now, can such a separation occur by accident? Not likely. The several circumstances must work entirely in your favour. And once again, Harry, you are the exception that proves that"
"How?"
"You spared Pettigrew's life. It has very rarely happened that one would owe a life-debt and use the killing curse on the person to whom the life-debt is owed. That is only one probable reason I could come up with. It may even be possible that your mother's sacrificed may have lingered to help out."
"Perhaps," said Harry, "but how does it explain the fact that I returned six years later. Why not instantaneous? Why not at all? And, why does it seem to me mere seconds had passed, when years had passed instead."
"To answer why you returned in six years or why not at all is beyond my comprehension. You were fortunate in that regards, it seems.
"This explains the fact there was a Harry living around, while a part of you was absent. Perhaps by pure unfortunate luck, the dominant part of you went missing. How this affected your character is a mystery to me. Perhaps it didn't, perhaps it did. Would it affect your memories, abilities, likes or dislikes? All this is a murky thought. You could ask Hermione and Ronald as they knew you the best, and the smallest of differences would be picked up by them, if at all.
"To deal with the difference of time is harder to explain. Tell me Harry, have you heard about the muggle physics work on time? I mean the likes of Einstein, for example."
"I've covered a bit in Europe, yes. Not in detail, though."
"That won't matter," said Dumbledore. "Now, in muggle physics, time is relative. I take it to mean that it isn't a constant. One minute is not always one minute. Length of time depends on many issues. Einstein's special theory of relativity implies that you can travel into someone else's future by high speed travel in space. Traveling to the past is even more confusing, and doesn't concern us.
"Using high speed travel, one can travel into the future. To the traveler, a short period of time has passed. To the world he re-visits, a much longer time has passed."
"How would it affect me?" asked Harry. "I didn't jump on some high speed train that travels to the future."
"But you did Harry, it seems that you did," was Dumbledore's reply. "Tell me, what is the spells we use made out of?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "It seems like light."
"Exactly, and what is the fastest thing possible?"
The answer dawned on Harry.
"The speed of light," he answered. "But how?"
"Part of your soul, which was your consciousness, was separated by the killing curse, which is made from light like all other spells. It seems that it somehow remained with the light and was carried, like a train in your analogy, through space. This would allow you to feel a few minutes passed, when the world sped through many years."
Harry was silent after this. It was alot to accept. It explained much, and if Dumbledore thought it was true, it would be as close to the truth as he would ever get.
"How can I get back?"
Dumbledore looked extremely saddened at this.
"Don't you see Harry? You never left."
"Yes, I did. You just said a part of my soul left."
"Not your body, nor the rest of your sould. How could we send you back? Even if there was a time-turner for that, you're twenty-five year old body would go back. Not the nineteen year old version of yourself."
"We could send back the part of my soul," replied Harry defiantly.
"How?" asked a patient Dumbledore. "By sending the killing curse back at you? Who'll do it? You burnt Pettigrew alive after you the pain of the curse that caused this mess left you. Even if he did the same curse to you, you might be sent further to the future, and not the past."
"So what are you saying?" growled Harry, standing up. "That I have to somehow accept this? I lost my family to the war. I lost my school years, which most enjoy, but I had to go off fighting Voldemort and basilisks and the ministry through mine!"
He grabbed hold of his chair, and promptly threw it at the shelf. Two legs broke off, as many books fell off the shelf.
"Everybody else is fine after the war!" he yelled. "But it's always me. It's always me who suffers. Now I have to give up six years of my life!"
"Harry," spoke Dumbledore calmly, like they were discussing the weather. "Calm down."
"Calm down? Calm down!" snarled Harry. "What do you know about sacrifice? I must have done something far more terrible than Voldemort to deserve this."
"I know a lot about sacrifice," replied Dumbledore, his eyes flashing.
"Yeah?" spat Harry. "What Dark Lord have you defeated…? Sorry,I forgot." Grindelwald
His anger deflated slightly, and he sank to the ground.
"Why me, Professor?"
"It's not your fault, Harry."
"I know."
"It's not your fault, Harry."
"I know," Harry spat, his anger flaring again.
"It's not your fault, Harry."
"I KNOW!" Harry screamed.
"It's not your fault, Harry."
"Why not?" Harry whispered after a pause. "Everything happens to me."
"And the world is grateful that someone so worthy was given the cause. Do not despair, there are positives to this mess."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact you lost 6 years and not sixty. What if you came back and you were on your death-bed? Great people do the best with the time they have. Fools waste it with despair. What if it was another Death Eater that attacked you? One without a life-debt owed to you?"
Harry chuckled. "You did say sparing Pettigrew's life could come up to my advantage."
"And it has, Harry, it has," Dumbledore said firmly. "The world is dark once again. And the enemy has changed."
"What? Another Dark Lord?"
"No, nothing that bad. Nothing that good," said Dumbledore, back to his cryptic self. "Suffice as it to say you'll find out very soon. Right now, get used to the world. Embrace life and your friends. Voldemort is gone from you forever."
Harry got up, ready to leave.
"One more thing Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry stopped at the door. "Well, two really. One, the other you refused to enter this matter to help the wizarding world. He said he had done enough for a life-time. That it was up to others.I hope you would not do the same."
"Never, Professor," replied Harry firmly. "After all, I have this hero thing."
Dumbledore smiled.
"One more thing," he said, eyes now twinkling again.
"Yes?"
"Perhaps it would be wise to fix the chair and the fallen books you made a mess off before Minerva returns and kills you?"
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Harry left the office (after dealing with the mess, of course), and then stopped at the corridor.
Where would he go? It's not like he knew where his office nor his bedroom were. His stomach then growled. When in doubt, Harry decided, follow his hunger. He hadn't eaten since coming here.
He went towards the Great Hall. As he walked, he saw that Hogwarts barely changed. Probably looked like this for the past thousand years. A few things changed, mainly because they were destroyed by Voldemort himself. Not easy to do a Reparo on that.
He walked in the Great Hall, and realised it was the end of lunch. There was only one table that was occupied. Ron, Hermione, McGonagall and Malfoy were the only ones seated.
Ron looked up, and was going to yell something, but was stopped by Hermione's slap to the back of his head. McGonagall and Malfoy were amused by the interaction.
Harry sat across from his two friends, because the only seat available near them was beside Malfoy. No way was laying low meant sitting beside the ferret.
"Did talking to Dumbledore help you?" McGonagall asked.
"As he was fond of saying, he was of immense help, and he was useless."
"It's was over two hours," exclaimed Hermione, who got into the recieving end of a slap.
"It was?" asked Harry, feigning surprise. "Time does fly."
"Anyways," said Ron, "I was just telling Hermione about the recent spate of attacks."
"And?" asked Harry, interested. There were attacks. From whom? Why? Against what? And how? He couldn't risk asking questions, as he could ask something he already knew about, which would make McGonagall suspicious.
"Well, three soldiers in the muggle army attacked a group of wizards in London. Two of the soldiers died, and five wizards."
Harry looked at Ron hard. It was so hard not to grab him by the chest and ask him what the hell was going on. Why the hell were muggles, soldiers no less, attacking wizards?
The look on his eyes told Ron to shut up. They kept silent until McGonagall left the table.
"Now," said Harry when the Great Hall doors closed, "what's all this about muggles attacking wizards?"
"Maybe we should start at the beginning," remarked Hermione.
"Maybe you should."
During the war against Voldemort, countless muggles were attacked. The Ministry, being preoccupied with the actual war itself, had little opportunity to obliviate them. As a result, a number of muggles then learned of the wizards.
"Who told them?" asked Harry.
It seems that the Muggle government felt that after seeing magic, usually by torture, the muggles had a right to know what happened to them if they weren't obliviated. They couldn't be left to think that they were crazy.
This revelation couldn't be controlled. The muggles informed told their families and friends, and so on. While laughed at in the beginning, the continous occurence of 'incidents' and other muggles reporting the same things in the media resulted in more people believing the existence in wizards.
"When did all this happen?" interupted Harry.
Well, around 2000, a good proportion of muggles knew of the magic existence. These muggles would announce it publicly, and it was only a matter of time when a majority would know the truth.
A cloak of fear fell upon the magical world. Their existence was tied directly with their secrecy. Muggles far out-numbered the magical people. Any conflict that may arise would result in huge losses of the magical world.
"Why should conflict occur?" asked Harry.
"Don't you remember History of Magic?" asked Hermione, irritated.
"I remember lots of sleep," offered Ron unhelpfully.
It has happened many times before in history. Muggles fear, above all else, the unknown. Just knowing that there were wizards who possessed powers scared the muggles, from politicians to the army, from secularists to the religious people. It was one of the few things that could unite such a group. Violence was usually an effect from all this.
Upon the fear emmiting from both sides, new politicians emerged from either sides. The magical party, called the Protection of the Magical Way, came up in the magical world, while the Truth and Honour party started in the muggle world. Each party's position was the defence of their own world against the instigators of violence on the other side.
For the first couple of years, these groups were dismissed as war-mongering fanatics (with ludicrously bad names). Over time, and increased tensions on both sides, their ideas seemed more appealing for a few of the people.
That was before the 2002 disaster. That lit the spark.
A magical feast was taking place in Manchester during one summer night, when a group of thugs saw them. Many of the wizards and witches chose to wear the quite distinctive robes.
The thugs attacked the wizards, resulting in a large street fight. At first, the wizards had the upper hand, until the police arrived. The wizards didn't know what muggle law enforcement looked like, and the police were baffled by their refusal to listen to them. One of the police-man fired a shot which hit a witch.
This is when pandemonium happened. The wizards, who were holding back the lethal curses, threw everything (and some sinks) at the muggles. Unforgivables, dark curses, stunners all lit the evening. Some policemen were even hit with the Imperius, forcing them to attack the muggles.
The fighting stopped when Magical Law Enforcers popped into the mix, and force apparated all the wizards out.
Tit-for-tat strikes erupted throughout the nation. Deaths were reported almost daily. From Scotland to Southampton, groups of vigilantes mushroomed, both magical and muggle, to 'protect' their own. It wouldn't be too surprising to see muggles patrolling the streets with guns, nor wizards with wands. Where the muggles would get such firearms remained a mystery.
This caused a political disaster. The muggle and magical governments were shackled by the angry populations from reasoning with one another.
After all this, the two new parties informed their respective people that they were warning this all along. Emotional people, whether by fear or hate, always make interesting decisions.
Scrimgeour lost the people's faith. He insisted that the muggles were not all to blame, and that the rogue elements on both sides were the ones instigating the mess. While he had support at first, theattacks destroyed that. The people were scared, and Scrimgeour asking for people to remain calm seemed as cowardice to the people.
The leader of the Protection of the Magical Way party, Didius Quinrian, became far more appealing to the people. He was a young man, a few years older than Harry, who spoke of the failures of the previous ministries. Their inabilities dealing with Voldemort, and their inabilities dealing with the muggles.
"A new way is emerging," he roared in one speech in Diagon Alley, to the cheers of hundreds. "A way that will take us to the future. Away from the threat of Dark Lords, and from muggles."
Winter elections came that year, and Scrimgeour was ousted, with Didius Quinrian becoming one of the youngest Ministers of Magic in history,at the age of 30.
This was not lost on the muggles. Infighting in the parliament resulted in the muggle government losing important bills, forcing the muggle Prime Minister to call for elections. The Labour Party, Conservatives and the Liberal-Democrats were routed by the Truth and Honour party, who got an overall majority.
While it was remarkable that a new party not only win in their first election, it was even more stunning with such a majority rule. The three opposition parties tried to do everything to stall the rise of the Truth and Honour party, even by trying to reject the Queen's Speech, which would mean a vote of no confidence. This was ineffective as the Truth and Honour party had such a great majority. Plus, the protests that exploded in most of Britain in anger at the oppositions' actions didn't help, either. The Prime Minister was forced to submit his resignation to the Queen.
The queen then commisioned the leader of the Truth and Honour party, Micheal Gratian, to form a new government.
Both these governments were still ruling now, and have publicly announced theyreached an 'agreement'. Neither people would interfere with the other. For now, until the anger between the two peoples subsided, this meant interactions between the two populations were decreased drastically. Attacks still occured once in a while.
The respective governments decided that the people's anger was too much to expect them to deal with one another. Until the hatred decreased to an 'acceptable' level,this meant inter-marriages between muggles and magical people were no longer allowed. Also, muggle-born witches and wizards were no longer to go to Hogwarts. They wouldn't be informed of being magical, and left to live as muggles. All marriages that have already taken place, and all muggle-born students would be left alone.
"Are you telling me all this happened in just six years?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"That," said Hermione, "and more."
"What has the world come to?"
Note: About Harry's time in Europe, I'll shed more light on it later on in the story.
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