Chapter 2 - Reset
Sitting on a bench in a yet another foreign nation with naught but his trunk, Harry felt himself slipping.
His thoughts again returned to the day of his arrival in this world.
Firstly was the man in the desert, and his terrible handling of the situation.
The best of the auror force, he thought cynically, getting flustered by some random muggle.
Yes, he'd ended up obliviating the man, confunding him for good measure, and leaving him somewhere safe to recuperate, but it had been a sloppy job.
His actions had been that of a rookie, not the seasoned war-veteran that he was.
He blamed the disorienting effect this world had on him.
The main problem was that he could feel this world was devoid of magic- to him, it felt suffocating. Back in his home world, Harry hadn't been able to feel magic- he theorized that the perpetual presence of magic had caused it to have been overlooked by everyone, and that it was only after he was transported to a world without it that he became aware of the disparity.
The lack of magic in this world wasn't necessarily an issue by itself, but it confirmed that his dimension-hopping plan had failed. He had meant to go to another version of his own world, where he could see his friends again, warn them of what awaited, and save them from their fates- but a world without magic meant a world without magicals.
He had spent a few days depleting his stock of Firewhiskey once he'd come to that conclusion, and had checked all the magical hotspots of his world, only to find muggle ruins, cities, or nature in their place.
Although everything he knew was gone, at least this world seemed to have the same geography and history as his, with only a few strange but slight alterations- but the familiar lands he went to were hollow, soulless- muggle through and through, lacking the unique spark he'd seen in each.
They were nothing like what he saw when, decades before, he had travelled his own world, researching desperately to find a way to go back, to change things, to save his friends-
They haunted his dreams, blaming him for their deaths, crying for the futures they never got to experience, as he, the cause of it all, lived on.
To have the sole goal of the last few decades of his life be set back by so much was devastating.
But he was Harry Potter, and such a thing was nothing new.
He stood up, suddenly feeling disgusted at his stagnancy.
Only action would fix this problem, not moping around, reminiscing.
He turned in a half circle, and with a slight pop, was gone.
xxxXXXxxx
Harry slammed hard into the floor.
Alarmed and dizzy, he stood up and whipped out his wand.
He had meant to apparate to a rural area of the UK he'd visited once in his travels, but had, for some reason, arrived in a brightly lit room with wooden walls, and a raised area in the middle with a table and a few chairs.
"Tea?"
Harry turned towards the voice and flicked his wand, a silent Reductor Curse writhing forth from it and impacting only the wall, where it curiously flickered out of existence.
"That wasn't very nice."
He whipped around again, tense but refraining from casting a spell.
In front of him was a tall, thin, and very bald woman.
As Harry eyed her warily, he noted that she reeked of some dark, foreign, energy-
"Hm. So you've noticed," she sighed.
Harry kept his wand trained on her.
"You… you are keeping yourself from death. You wield magical powers- but that can't be. How?"
The woman shook her head and sat at a chair with a patient yet patronising air.
"Mystical- not magical. Please, put away that focus of yours, sit, and have some tea with me. There is much to discuss."
Keeping his distrustful gaze and his wand on her, Harry slowly walked to a seat and sat.
"You must be wondering how you came to be here. You see, I am an expert on dimensions and dimensional travel," the woman began, "and when I sensed your arrival on our world, I made the necessary preparations in case I deemed you a danger."
She poured a cup of tea for Harry, before taking a sip of her own, and continuing.
"I didn't sense any ill will from you, so I thought it would be prudent to have a conversation."
"How did you disrupt my apparition?"
"Oh, is that what you call your teleporting abilities?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He didn't respond.
"I wish you wouldn't be so hostile," she sighed, "it's really rather unsettling."
"Unsettling?" he scoffed, "unsettling? From the woman who is hiding from death, cloaked behind dark magic?"
"You're right on most counts," she replied, unfazedly sipping her tea, "but again- no magic. I wield the mystical arts, which I admit I do use to extend my life force. How about you? Where does your immortality stem?"
Harry froze in his seat, the scathing response he'd prepared as she spoke dying away, unspoken, at her final question.
"I- how-"
"Let us restart," she interrupted, "with an introduction and some trust. I am called the Ancient One. I draw my powers from different dimensions, as do all sorcerors. The immortality you see in me is the result of a deal with a devil- literally. I draw energy from the Dark Dimension to hide myself from death."
She stopped, looking at Harry with an air of expecting from him an introduction of his own.
"Before I tell you anything," Harry said, "tell me how and why you brought me here."
The Ancient One nodded her head approvingly.
"An astute question. Having been a wielder of interdimensional powers for centuries, I do like to consider myself somewhat of an expert in the field- when I detected your arrival on this dimension, I sent out my people to monitor you. Sensing no ill will, I decided to pull you here from your- apparition, you called it? My purpose was only to speak to you, and understand your purpose in this world. You see, I am sworn to protect it."
For a few seconds longer, Harry looked at her suspiciously, but his surface-level mental scan revealed no attempt at deception.
With a sigh, he cast a series of detection spells at the cup of tea in front of him, before tucking away his wand.
One could never be too careful.
"My name is Harry Potter. I did not mean to come to this world."
He hesitated, caught between wanting to ask a burning question and being afraid to show any semblance of weakness-
His curiosity won out.
"If- if you're an expert on dimensions, can you help me to- go back?"
The Ancient One smiled sadly, an expression of understanding and sympathy-
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I may draw my power from dimensional energy, but to traverse the dimensions- that, I cannot do."
"So, what?" Harry snarled, irrational anger bubbling up inside of him at her understanding air- she didn't know- she couldn't know- "I'm just supposed to stay here forever? You don't know what I've lost- the things I've done-"
She shook her head.
"No, and I don't think I ever will. However, if there's one thing I'm familiar with in my centuries of life, it is loss. You mustn't let it consume you- your grief and pain will erode you from within, and turn you into a husk of yourself. To find peace, you must learn to let go."
Harry stared at his cold tea. His anger had vanished, replaced with quiet weariness.
"You asked me earlier what my immortality stems from."
Eyes gleaming curiously, the Ancient One nodded slowly at this change in topic.
"In my world, there was a legend- a legend of three brothers, three hallows, and conquering death."
He laughed mirthlessly.
"How foolish they were. Death cannot be conquered."
He raised his eyes to meet hers.
"I united the hallows. Death came to me. Its grip on me is unyielding, eternal. I will bear its punishment forevermore. It tempts me with hollow images, spirits of memories..."
He looked away briefly, lost in memory-
"It whispers sweet things to me- that if I embrace its power, I could bring back those I've lost, and everything could be like it used to be- how it was supposed to be."
He shook his head.
"I know that I mustn't- but I'm weak. I want to let go, but- I crave to have their company just once more- to join them in eternity, not this unending, meaningless parody of it."
The room fell silent as his words hung in the air, heavy with meaning. Finally, the Ancient One spoke, her voice soft and reassuring.
"I believe that you are stronger than you think," she said, her eyes locking onto his. "I don't know what you've lost or who you've lost, but your determination to do what is right shows the depth of your character. It's natural to want to see those you love again, to be reunited with them. You and I both carry the weight of a million unsaid farewells."
"In you, I see the strength and will to carry on," she continued. "You have looked into the darkness, and when it stared back at you, you stood your ground. It's not an easy decision, but you must make it. Choose what you believe is right, Harry Potter."
The silence resumed, but her words had been impactful.
Finally, he spoke again.
"Thank you," he said, "for taking the time to speak with me. It has been decades since I last had the opportunity to talk about my troubles. You've given me a lot to think about."
Sensing the finality in his quiet tone, the Ancient One nodded.
"You're always welcome to come here whenever you need to speak."
With a flair, she pulled something akin to a business card from the air, and handed it to him.
Feeling a sense of closure, Harry stood up from his seat, the card the Ancient One had given him tucked safely away in his pocket. He took a deep breath and looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the strange yet insightful woman for a moment longer. It was time to move on, he decided, and if the presences haunting his dreams remained, there was nothing he could do but bear it. It was time to turn a new leaf, to leave behind the ghosts of the past and embrace a future that held new possibilities.
"Thank you again," he said to the Ancient One. "I may never forget what I have lost, but I won't let it define me any longer."
No longer would he live to chase the ghosts of his past, but to hold their memories and carry them into the future. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the haunting whispers of his past, and with a heavy heart and an almost inaudible pop, he took his first steps towards a new beginning.
AN: Yeah so… kind of an edgy Harry chapter. Sorry if that isn't your thing. I promise Harry will be a more upbeat character in this story, but I wanted to convey that he still has problems that he needs to get over. Sorry for not updating or anything for a few days, I've been rewriting this rewrite. Confusing times. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please let me know what you think and any ideas you have for pairings, as well as if you like/dislike the approach I took in this chapter in regards to Harry's past and personality.