Desiring Other Times

Chapter 8 - Preparation

Disclaimer: My English teacher told us a joke last week. It went like this: There once was a really bad zoo. There was only one animal. It was a dog. It was a Shih Tzu. (If you don't get it, read it out aloud). Now, I don't own that joke and I don't own Harry Potter.

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Artists sing of how they would sacrifice anything to start again. Others sing of how inevitable everything is, like how gravity will continue to pull us back down to earth. If my life were to be turned into a story, into a song, it would tell of how I came from both something and nothing to become… somebody in my own right.

My name is Harry James Potter and this is my life.

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"What are you going to do in the holidays, Jeremy?" Jeremy and I were in the library, along with Neville, Hermione, Ron, Terry and Thomas. Padma and Lisa were elsewhere in the library searching high and low for a copy of Brashnard's Magical Legends. Despite the name, the tome was actually filled with real magic spells, real charms, real potions. There were references, of course, to other 'legendary' items, including Brashnard's own 'Ultimate Sphere of Power', a rather remarkable sphere that could generate a shieldlike barrier for miles. No-one really knew where Brashnard's Sphere was anymore, but the other stories within the tome was certainly useful for their History of Magic essay.

"Well… Neville invited me to his house for the holidays, but I'm not sure…"

"Come on Jeremy, it'll be fun!" declared Ron, and I could see how Neville was beginning to regret inviting the lot of them, fearing for his home. Hermione, however, drew Neville's attention back to the Astronomy assignment she was helping him on.

"…and because Earth is moving closer to the perihelion, the planet Neptune will seem to be moving like this-" She drew a looping line on the map in erasable ink, and Neville blinked.

"But… but how…?" Extremely confused, he tried to listen attentively as Hermione explained again.

"Oh, come on, Jeremy! It's no fun staying at the school in the holidays." counselled Ron.

Jeremy shrugged, and Ron decided to give up. "So, Harry. How about you? You going anywhere these holidays?"

"You can come to my place if you want, Harry." said Neville, as he ran his finger along an unmarked path on the map. Hermione nodded, then shook her head and moved his finger back an inch or two.

"No, no, Neville. Remember it's not moving in a straight line – it has its own perihelion and aphelion." she admonished.

"Oh, I don't know." I replied. "I'm staying at the school – maybe explore a bit. This school's a lot larger than it seems, and maybe I'll find a hidden passageway the Weasley twins haven't…" Jeremy opened his mouth then shut it abruptly as he realised that telling these people I was going to the Malfoys' place for the holidays wasn't exactly the best of ideas.

"Are you sure?" Neville looked up from the map.

Thomas snorted. "More like he wants to read the whole library in his first semester here… How many of these books have you read already, Harry?"

I paused theatrically, tapping a finger against my chin. "Uh… not that many of these books…"

Terry sniggered. "Only because you've got your own copies of them." I mock glared at him, but then smiled.

"Yeah," I replied. "That sounds about right. But I might go home, if I'm allowed. How about you, Hermione? What are you doing these holidays?"

"Well…" she mumbled as she began drawing dotted lines across Neville's map. "Originally, I wanted to stay here, but my parents said they wanted me to come home so I could have my dental check-up."

"You're going home for a dental check-up." Thomas was incredulous.

"Oh!" She looked up apologetically. "No, that's not… no, they said they wanted to take me skiing as well."

"That's more like it – you had me scared for a moment there… Dental check-up, honestly…" muttered Thomas, shaking his head.

"So, what about you two? Thomas? Terry?" She asked.

"Me?" Thomas pointed at himself, and Hermione nodded. "Well, I'm going home because my older brother's back in the country – he normally lives in the States, and we don't see him very often, you see…"

"Well, I'm going to help my parents at work – they're Wizarding lawyers, you see, and there's plenty of work I can help with. Job experience will be cool, I reckon."

"Experience at stapling documents?" retorted Padma who had just returned. "Copying files? That sounds so… boring, don't you think?" Lisa grinned and nodded, gently piling a small stack of books on Terry's head.

"Hey! Hey!" cried Terry, but he was smiling anyway.

"Well, I'm going home with Parvati. Mum and dad need us home for my cousin's wedding – we're bridesmaids, you know."

"That sounds… interesting." said Ron. Of course, Padma had been waiting for someone to say 'Oh wow!', but eleven-year old boys weren't really interested in weddings, Hermione wasn't paying attention and Lisa already knew.

"Thanks a lot, Weasley." sniffed Padma.

"What? What'd I do?" Jeremy thwacked Ron lightly with his hand. "Hey!"

"How about you, Lisa? What're you doing these holidays?" Thomas turned to her, back to Ron.

"Me? I'm going home. Hogwarts will be so cold during Christmas, I don't know how I'll stand it when we come back for second term."

"Is that all? You don't like the cold? Honestly, why are you even in Britain if you don't like the cold?" chided Terry, and Lisa leaned down heavily on the books on his head in response. "Ouch! Gah, painful!"

"Say sorry!"

"Why should I? OW! Help me, don't sit there laughing!" He demanded of Thomas.

"Hush!" Madam Pince appeared at Lisa's shoulder. She stopped applying pressure to the pile of books and looked apologetic. "Sorry," she whispered.

"If you make anymore noise…" Madam Pince let the threat hang in the air unsaid.

We returned to work in quasi-silence. The others were working on their assignments, while I was drawing a replica of the door to Dumbledore's office.

"Wow, that looks so cool!" Whispered Terry as he peered at my rather detailed sketch.

"That's the door to Dumbledore's office, isn't it?" Jeremy leaned across the table to get a closer look. "Yeah, it is."

Thomas gaped at me. "You must have a really good memory… hang on, since when have you been up in his office?"

"Remember Halloween? The troll? My parents came to visit, and we went up there."

"And you remembered the door from one visit…" Padma stared at me in awe.

I shrugged, and returned to carefully drawing in all the parts of the door. When I had first started, I hadn't thought there would be anything more to just remembering what the door looked like. But when I had started putting in all the decorations, I had realised that the design was causing magic to gather in the drawing. I was sure that when I had finished the entire drawing of the door save the inscription, the sketch would be practically bursting with magical energy that it had drawn from the surroundings. Just what exactly would happen when I also put in the inscription was beyond me, as I hadn't had the time to puzzle out what it meant.

As the world turns, so does the Great Mandala. As the body ages, so does the temple to the Lords. As the Light grows, so does the Dark. The Balance is kept by those who understand. Enter, and be judged.

Remembering the inscription made me realise that the shape of the magic imprinting itself into the paper was in the shape of several concentric circular rings, that seemed to vibrate and shift a little as if they were fighting to spin about their diameters. Whatever the design on Dumbledore's door did should become clear when I finished my sketch.

Several hours passed and we all trooped down to the Great Hall for dinner, Terry, Thomas, Lisa, Padma and I to the Ravenclaw table, Jeremy, Ron, Hermione and Neville to the Gryffindor table.

"You know, I'm really going to miss the food during the holidays…"

"Me too."

"Hey, you know how to get into the kitchens, right?"

"No, actually."

"Well, I'll show you sometime. You can stock up on some of their fare before going home."

The chatter of the students about me lulled me into a comfortable mood, and I ate slowly. As I was tucking into some meat and potato stew, Mittere flew in and landed gracefully on the table.

"Thanks, Mittere." I sliced off a chunk of steak and cut it into smaller cubes. While Mittere gobbled at the meat, I opened the letter attached to the small parcel.

Harry Potter,

Enclosed is a Portkey to my home. Password is Purus Masca. I'll see you at Malfoy Manor.

Lucius Malfoy

Wow. To receive a 'gift' from Lucius Malfoy himself. I burned the letter and carefully unwrapped the parcel, taking care not to actually touch the Portkey. Inside was what seemed to be a miniature model of a large mansion, quite possibly Malfoy Manor itself. Pointing my wand at it, I cast a few spells to check if there was anything illicit about it, but it seemed Lucius didn't want to risk straining relationships with the Potters any more than they already were.

"What is it?" Terry reached over to pick up the little statuette, but I quickly swiped it out of his reach and tucked it into a pocket.

"A gift from a friend – a pen pal. I told him I wanted to see what his house looked like, but I thought he was only going to send me a photo. Guess he decided to send me a model." I smiled incredulously and Terry laughed.

The second last week of term came and went (with the students of Hogwarts doing a mad rush for the library to finish their end of term assignments), and I was back in the Room of Requirement, sketch of the door in hand.

I had written in most of the inscription, and was pausing for an inordinate amount of time, debating whether or not to write that last word in.

J. U. D. G. E. D. Full stop.

And the piece of paper floated up till it was three feet up in the air, magic swirling madly about it. I had already stepped back and my primary wand was out.

Then the paper vaporised and the rings of magic were left, all of them spinning madly about their diameters so that it was actually a lot of hollow spheres of magic, a smaller one inside each, like Russian Dolls. Stepping forward, wand in hand, I took a closer look at the sphere. The outermost sphere was red, but if I peered in, I could see the next layer, which was orange, then next (yellow), then the next which was green, and the next which was blue and the next which was indigo, and the seventh and last one… which was violet.

"The colours of the rainbow…" I murmured, stretching a hand out to bring it close to the sphere. The sphere(s) reminded me of my mental defences – there were seven circles in my mind. I played about with the sphere by concentrating on a certain layer, and the other layers outside of it seemed to go transparent, as if they weren't even there.

"If you know it's there, then you can see it." I muttered, and brought a finger to the surface of the red sphere. Closer, closer, and contact was made. Strangely enough, I couldn't push my finger past the red surface – it was actually solid, and I realised that where before there had been rotating rings of magic, there were now actual spheres. Cupping the sphere (which was about the size of an Olympic handball) in my left hand, I experimented to see if it was still supporting itself by alternatively lifting and dropping my hand. If I dropped it, it stayed at the height of approximately three feet – if I lifted my hand then dropped my hand away, it would bob back down to the three foot height.

The door opened and Snape and Dumbledore came in. I leapt to the side in shock, putting the sphere between me and the professors.

"This is certainly interesting, Mr. Potter. What on earth is it?" Dumbledore paced about the floating sphere, and Snape trailed behind him curiously.

"It's…" I paused. "I made a copy, a sketch, of your door. And this… well, when I finished it, this happened."

Snape shook his head disapprovingly. "And what would have happened if it had turned out to be a portal to the demon world? Idiot boy…" He muttered half-heartedly, as even he knew the Headmaster's door wouldn't really be a design for a portal to Hell. However, the idea was there.

"I wonder…" Dumbledore murmured, tapping at the sphere with his wand – to my surprise, the tip of his wand went through the sphere as if there was nothing there. "Brashnard's Sphere was solid, even to a magical focus such as a wand. This," He gestured at the sphere. "While it resembles the sphere somewhat, seems to be something different." Dumbledore peered intently at the sphere. "I cannot seem to see any other layers – Severus?" Snape shook his head, and they both looked at me.

"Can you, Harry? Can you see layers within the first?" This revelation surprised me – maybe the defences of my mind really did resemble the sphere! Only I knew the circles were there, only I could get in.

I swallowed, then nodded. "I can. It's… they're in the colours of the rainbow."

Dumbledore's eyes widened, Snape openly gaped. "The colours of the rainbow!" Snape looked at me, expecting an answer. I nodded.

The Headmaster continued to prod at the sphere, this time with his fingers. "That's… that is truly amazing, Harry. A magical object that has all the colours of the seven types of magic, all unsullied by corruption or the other types…" He turned to regard me. "I had no idea the design on my door could be for something as amazing as this, but if anyone were to have a mind brilliant enough to design this… then the Founders are certainly on the top of that list. Perhaps…" He trailed off, conjured a chair with his wand then put his wand away. Putting his right index finger on the sphere, he concentrated on the chair.

And it exploded into tiny, tiny pieces that floated about like dust.

"A… amazing!" Snape managed to make out. Dumbledore turned to regard me.

"Yes, simply amazing." He agreed. "It seems Harry has managed to produce one of the most efficient magical foci in history. And just from a design on my door."

Snape was getting excited. "Would there be other designs in the school that… that hide such incredible… such incredible mysteries, Albus?" Dumbledore looked thoughtful.

"There just might be. Perhaps, Harry," He turned to look at me. "Perhaps when you come back from Malfoy Manor, we shall have a search through the school for anything the Founders may have left behind." Dumbledore looked at the sphere, seemed to be fighting some sort of internal struggle.

I stretched out a hand towards it, and it bobbed gently towards me. "So it recognises its maker…" He muttered, and he reached to touch it again, when it zapped him.

"Albus?" Snape hurried to Dumbledore's side, concern evident in his voice, if not his expression.

"I… it is rather temperamental…" Dumbledore gazed warily at the sphere.

"Can you un-make this?" He regarded me sternly. I looked at him, then shrugged.

"I don't know. I have no idea."

"Then I guess we'll have to take that into custody-" Just as said those words and lifted his wands, the sphere cast up a shield between us. Blinking surprisedly, he lowered his wand then put it away. The shield dissipated.

"It seems that the sphere doesn't want to be taken." Dumbledore frowned. "Harry, perhaps you could put it into a box…?" He conjured a box with a lid.

I nodded, took the box and tried to push the sphere into the box. It wouldn't move, and actually bobbed away if I moved the box.

Dumbledore sighed. "Okay, Harry, we're going to have to try and have you lead it to my office." With that, I plucked the sphere out of the air and followed them to the Headmaster's office.

"Leave it on my desk, Harry." I placed it on the desk, and it bobbed up a little so that it was three feet from the ground, if only a few inches from the surface of the desk.

"That should do it…" I backed away slowly, but when I was about five metres from the sphere, it suddenly shot towards me.

Dumbledore and Snape seemed on the verge of groaning. "Just like a Potter to put us in a situation like this…" Snape muttered venomously.

"Harry, I do believe that it doesn't appreciate being left behind…" We tried several more ways of trying to keep the sphere away from me, but it seemed that no amount of magic would convince the sphere to be left in the hands of anyone other than myself.

"It seems I'm going to have to trust you with this, Harry." Dumbledore gazed sternly at me. "Can I? Can I trust you to ensure that it is kept safe?"

I hesitated, then nodded slowly, confidently. "Be careful, Mr. Potter. The magic you hold in your hands could quite possibly level all of Hogwarts if you make a mistake." I paled, knowing he had meant to say that it could destroy much more than just a castle.

"I'll be careful. Very careful."

"Very well, Mr. Potter." He gazed at the sphere, then spoke up again. "I suppose that is enough excitement for one day, Harry. Perhaps you should return to Ravenclaw Tower before the curfew. Severus?" Snape escorted me out and back to Ravenclaw tower.

When I returned to Ravenclaw Tower, Fawkes was waiting for me, a scroll in his claws.

Harry,

Over time, the Wizarding World has forgotten which of the colours of the rainbow correspond to which type of magic. If you have the time to experiment (do be careful), remember that the seven magics are: Attack, Defence, Soul, Time, Transmutation, Space and Enchantment. Mind magics fall under the Soul category, while Transfiguration is a branch of Transmutation.

Albus Dumbledore

I grabbed a sheet of parchment, scribbled a message of thanks on it, then gave it to the waiting Fawkes. "Thanks, Fawkes." He piped a few notes then disappeared in a burst of flames.

Within the safety of the chamber in my trunk, I experimented with the sphere. If I concentrated on a certain layer (and now I knew I was concentrating on a certain type of magic), some spells would work better or worse. Eventually, I had figured out the most efficient sphere to use for easy spells like the Stunner and the Disarming Hex.

That night, I fell asleep and dreamed about being encased in a sphere and falling, falling, falling into the deep seas, where I encountered strange kinds of sea creatures.

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Author's Notes:-

1. Brashnard and Brashnard's Ultimate Sphere of Power are from "Majesty: the Fantasy Kingdom Sim", a game I have been playing recently. The book is something I made up.

2. Holidays – In canon, Ron's parents are going to Romania to visit Charlie, and hence Ron and his brothers all stayed at Hogwarts. In this AU, Neville has been befriended and so he's invited the lot of them. The way Rowling writes about the holidays makes it seem like almost everyone goes home for the holidays.

3. The Sphere – an interesting artefact that won't always belong to Harry.

Next, the visit to Malfoy Manor!