Chapter Two: Fallout
As soon as Lupin announced the discovery of Harry's shattered wand and his confirmed disappearance, Ginny felt as if she had been punched in the gut—hard. Ron's mouth was hanging open and his face looked pale. The twins didn't look particularly happy either.
Mrs. Weasley gasped audibly. "Do you think he's dead?" she inquired.
"No one knows for sure," Lupin mumbled. "The Muggle witnesses weren't terribly helpful. As far as I know, Harry and Voldemort faced off and that's the firmest fact they have. Dumbledore has been all over the place trying to make arrangements and collect facts. The Ministry knows that Harry is gone and has sent people out in force to search for him."
"That hardly does any good if they don't know where to search." Fred said.
"I know," Lupin acknowledged. "Dumbledore wants the Order to get together. We'll review everything that any of us have managed to discover and then figure out what to do. I'm supposed to bring you all in to the new headquarters."
"There's a new headquarters?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Yes," Lupin said. "Dumbledore feels that Grimmauld Place isn't safe now that Sirius is dead. It was his theory that Harry inherited complete ownership of the place, but now that he's gone too, we can't be sure of the wards. The new headquarters is at Moody's house."
He pulled a slip of paper from his robes and passed it to Mrs. Weasley who in turn passed it to each of her children. In Professor Dumbledore's handwriting was written the new location. "The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at 38 Greyham Way."
Lupin kept talking. "Arthur has already been informed. The Ministry has him and everyone else it can get in working. He'll meet you there. Dumbledore advises that you bring enough clothes and whatnot to last for a couple of weeks. You might be back as soon as this evening, but if it turns out that Harry is dead, things could get really bad really fast."
Mrs. Weasley wasted no time in issuing orders to her children to get their things together. They all left Lupin in the kitchen while they hastily packed some clothes and other things to take to Moody's house. Within half an hour, they were ready to leave the Burrow.
Lupin produced a Portkey for them all to touch. In a second they found themselves holding their baggage while standing in the parlor of an unfamiliar house. "There's not a lot of room," Lupin apologized to the Weasleys. "You'll have to go upstairs and try to find a place to camp."
Just as they were heading upstairs, they heard a quiet pop announcing the arrival of someone. They all turned around and spotted Dumbledore standing in the main hallway. He nodded to them gravely and then began speaking to Lupin urgently.
They continued upstairs, deposited their belongings, and made their way back to the ground floor. Lupin was already gone and Dumbledore had just stepped out the front door. Ginny walked to the window of the living room and saw that Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore were standing out front discussing something, Mad-Eye gesturing a little urgently.
"What are they doing?" she asked Fred who had joined her at the window.
"Probably placing wards," he answered gravely. "Harry's disappearance changes a lot of things."
Before Ginny could question Fred's comment, an exclamation of surprise from Ron drew them away from the window. "Hey! It's Harry's trunk."
They found Ron crouching next to Harry's trunk which had been left in the hallway. "They must have retrieved it from Privet Drive," Ginny commented faintly.
"I suppose," Ron said.
Further speculation ended with Mrs. Weasley announcing from the kitchen that she was starting breakfast for everyone and needed their help. With that, Fred and George turned and made for the kitchen, but Ron and Ginny lingered.
When he was sure that no one was watching, Ron opened the trunk and dug through it until he found the Marauder's Map and Harry's Invisibility Cloak. He nodded to Ginny and then ran up the stairs with them while she went to the kitchen and made excuses for Ron's delay.
In short order, breakfast was put on the table, though there was hardly anyone around to partake of it. Ron and the twins helped themselves to large portions while Ginny nervously nibbled on a few slices of bacon. Various members of the Order stopped in for a few moments to speak to Professor Dumbledore or to leave a message if he wasn't there at that particular moment. Mad-Eye was eventually satisfied with the wards he'd been erecting around the house and came in for some breakfast. During all this, the Weasley children did their best to stay out of the way and avoid notice. They reckoned that this strategy was most likely to result in them overhearing more information.
As the morning wore on, they began to notice that the various Order members who stopped in were no longer leaving on further errands. Eventually Moody's house became quite crowded with wizards and witches both familiar and unfamiliar to the Weasley children.
Mr. Weasley arrived with Professor Dumbledore after some more time. Ginny thought this might signal the start of the Order meeting, but was proved wrong as Dumbledore ended up speaking in hushed tones with both Weasley parents and Moody. Ultimately, it was the arrival of Severus Snape, the potions master of Hogwarts and the Order's primary spy that triggered the start of the meeting. He strode into the house looking as foul as ever and sneered at most of the Order members. Ginny was surprised at this; she had previously assumed he was only that way to his students.
Dumbledore stood up and called the meeting to order. "I think it would be helpful to review the facts of this situation before moving on to other things. Last night, the Ministry was alerted to some possible illicit magical activity by a magical shockwave of enormous proportions. Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered that the Death Eaters had attacked a Muggle shopping center."
He gestured to Kingsley Shacklebolt. "It was Kingsley who discovered the bodies of the Dursleys—Harry Potter's primary guardians. He sent Nymphadora Tonks to inform me, and I sent her and Alastor to check Privet Drive. Would you care to report on that, Alastor?"
Mad-Eye Moody stood and cleared his throat. "Tonks and I arrived at Privet Drive and found everything quiet. The blood wards that were supposed to guard Harry are now non-existent. I didn't find any evidence that they had been forcefully destroyed. Albus has examined the area and concurs. We searched the house and did not find Potter. As instructed, we removed his belongings and brought them here."
Several of the Order members whispered to each other while Ron, Ginny, and the twins exchanged glances. So far nothing terribly new had been said.
Dumbledore picked up from where Moody left off. "Harry's shattered wand was found at the scene. I have confirmed that the shattered fragments were indeed Harry's wand with Mr. Ollivander, the maker of said wand. The Muggles who witnessed the attack all seem to agree that a teenager matching Harry's description confronted Voldemort. At some point during this confrontation, the spell causing the magical shockwave was cast."
"After the shockwave, Harry seems to have disappeared. It was after the shockwave that the Dursley's were killed. This is a very curious turn of events. It would seem to me that Voldemort would kill the Dursleys first to destroy the wards protecting Harry rather than the other way around."
Several members of the Order murmured their agreement to this statement. Ginny's brow was furrowed in thought as she considered this information.
"Can anyone confirm whether Potter is dead or is now a prisoner?" someone called out impatiently.
"That's another irregularity with the situation," Dumbledore answered patiently. "Severus?"
Snape stood up and glared at everyone. "As far as I can ascertain, Potter is not a prisoner. Neither is he dead."
Ginny let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding along with several of the others present.
"The Dark lord would not be biding his time if Potter was dead and he would be gloating if he was holding him prisoner. It appears to me that there was a spur of the moment chance to get Potter out of the way somehow and the Dark lord took it."
Discussion then ensued between some of the more vocal members of the Order about where Harry might be, whether he was injured, or whether he might be able to contact them or find his way back. Several had theories about what may have happened to Harry, but to the Weasley children, they all seemed rather unlikely.
Dumbledore commissioned each Order member to look into their own suggestion. Subtle inquiries would be made among all possible contacts. Hedwig who had been retrieved by Tonks and Moody would be put into service in hopes that she might be able to locate her master and lead the Order to him.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were appointed to maintain the new headquarters and keep communications up and running. Order members would communicate their progress and findings to the Weasleys who would pass anything important on to Professor Dumbledore. The children were happy about this as it meant they would likely be able to know everything that was going on, though they vaguely wished they could be out there looking too.
The meeting began to conclude with Dumbledore telling them that they would reconvene should anything significant be discovered or if it became necessary to change their strategies. He said he was especially hoping that Snape would be able to glean more information from his connections.
He then urgently stressed the importance of finding Harry. "I realize that some of you think that he's just a lucky child who happened to survive a killing curse cast by Lord Voldemort. I can't stress enough how important he is to our cause. His fame gives us a strong foothold in addition to the fact that he is the only person that Voldemort feels is a threat." That ended the official proceedings of the Order meeting.
Before long, it was only the Weasleys and Professor Dumbledore left in the house. Dumbledore was giving instructions to the Weasley parents about how to communicate with him and for what reasons.
Just as he was about to leave, Ron and Ginny took the opportunity to approach him. Ron ended up taking the lead as he was closer friends with Hermione than Ginny was. "Professor, we were wondering if we could contact Hermione and tell her about what has happened."
Dumbledore nodded to them, his usual twinkle appearing in his eyes. "Yes, go ahead. If she wants, she can even come and stay here at headquarters. It might turn out to be safer for her because she is a well known friend of Harry."
"Is it all right if we go down the street and use a Muggle telephone?" Ron asked, pushing his luck.
Dumbledore told them that he'd leave that option up to Mrs. Weasley and then left to pursue further information about Harry's whereabouts. In short order, they had managed to convince their mother that they would be safe and back in only a few minutes.
It only took a few minutes more for them to find a phone booth and place a call to Hermione. She picked up on the first ring. Apparently she had been waiting by the phone since their original call during the night. "Hello?"
"Harry has disappeared." Ron announced solemnly. "The Order doesn't have a clue where he is other than that he's not dead and not a prisoner." He then related to her the details of what had happened since they had last spoken and where they were now.
"Would you ask if I can come and stay at headquarters with you?" she quickly inquired.
"We already did," Ron admitted. "Professor Dumbledore says that it's all right. He even seemed to approve of the idea." They then made arrangements to meet Hermione and then went home and told Mrs. Weasley who assured them that they'd be able to meet her at the specified time."
After that, there was nothing for them to do but wait for their rendezvous with Hermione early the next day and for information to come in from the various Order members.
In her haste, Hermione practically threw the phone back onto its cradle and ran upstairs to pack her trunk. As she was a terribly organized person, it only took moments to find everything she wanted to bring along and not too much longer to place it in her trunk.
The trunk was soon waiting next to the front door and proved to be quite the surprise for her parents when they arrived home from their dental practice.
"I've got to go tomorrow morning," Hermione announced to them.
Naturally they weren't particularly pleased and were very concerned. This required a lot of explanations and assurances from Hermione. In the end, the argument that she might not be gone the entire summer won them over.
Hermione herself wasn't sure when she would be back but justified her minor deception of her parents with the thought that not only was Harry one of her very few friends, his disappearance endangered the safety of a lot of people, including her parents.
Arrangements were made for Hermione's parents to drop her off at a certain place in London on their way to work the next morning. Hermione at that point regretted setting the rendezvous time for the next day rather than that evening.
When Harry regained consciousness it was late in the afternoon. Nothing in particular woke him up, other than the taste of dirt and the other pleasant things that are found on forest floors. Though still feeling quite tired and miserable, he pushed himself up and surveyed his surroundings, confirming that there was nothing but forest for miles around.
Harry's growling stomach and dry mouth quickly convinced him that he needed to find food and water soon. He might get lucky and find a stream nearby, but if he wanted food that was appetizing in any way, he was going to have to find a village or town or something.
Cursing the loss of his wand, Harry chose a direction to walk and started off trying to figure out precisely what had happened to him. Voldemort's words came back to Harry. He had said something about exile. That would indicate that Voldemort had simply sent Harry away from Britain.
Returning to Britain won't be that hard, Harry comforted himself. I've just got to find some civilization and I can communicate with someone back home. I might even be back home by the end of the week. Harry wondered if the Dursleys would be there or if they had been killed after his forced departure.
It was several hours and quite nearly dark before Harry spotted anything resembling civilization. What he saw appeared to be a small settlement of some sort. Harry who had begun his journey walking briskly had taken to trudging, but the far off lights lifted his spirits and he picked up the pace.
What he saw was indeed a village and he gratefully made his way to it. As he got closer, he could make out the sight of people moving about. It wasn't until he got even closer that he noticed that there was something strange about them. They were all wearing very funny looking clothes. As he got within earshot, he discovered that the language they were speaking sounded kind of strange, he only recognized the occasional word.
"I suppose people in different countries wear different clothes and speak differently," he told himself out loud, hoping that hand gestures would work for communicating when he needed to talk to them.
He tried to act casual as he walked around the rather primitive town looking for a shop or perhaps post office. Despite his best efforts, he was drawing a great many stares that were making him nervous. The people who didn't stare but hurried by him carefully not looking in his direction were worse. Some of the people seemed to be afraid of him. A couple of mothers even steered their children away from him quite deliberately.
Harry finally found a pub that seemed to be the center of the village. He supposed it would do for his purposes. He followed a small group of men in and looked around. In London, the Leaky Cauldron had always seemed a little old fashioned, but this place was downright medieval. Most of the customers were dressed quite roughly—hard laborers he supposed. There was one fellow wearing a hooded cloak in the corner that looked like he might be wealthy. The barkeep was a thin fellow with a sour expression on his face. He was in the process of dispensing mugs of ale.
Harry had just gotten up the nerve to approach the barkeep and make inquiries when he was approached by three of the rougher looking customers. One of them said something that sounded kind of rude, but Harry didn't understand the words. "Can you please repeat that?" Harry asked slowly and carefully, hoping fervently that they would understand and not be offended.
The three thugs didn't seem pleased at all. Harry glanced around to see if anyone else there might be able to help them. Most were ignoring them, though the fellow in the dark cloak had leaned forward and seemed to be interested in the exchange.
Looking strangely at Harry, the fellow who had spoken before spoke again. Harry focused on what he said as intently as he could and managed to decipher the meaning. "We don't like your sort around here."
"I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely, still focusing on trying to make them understand his words. "I mean no harm. I'm just lost and was hoping to find some help around here."
This answer didn't seem to satisfy the toughs and they made like they were going to lay hands on him. One of them lunged forward and by reflex, Harry held up his arm to shield himself. Suddenly, the thug was flying backward until he crashed into the pub wall.
Harry winced as silence suddenly suffocated the room. He could not remember performing accidental magic since before he had started at Hogwarts. It had always gotten him into trouble and he was sure this time would be no different.
Instead of sticking around to fight, the remaining two thugs fled the pub alongside everyone else, including the barkeep, dodging Harry as if he was a ten-foot-tall ogre. After the exodus, Harry was surprised to see the dark cloaked fellow still at his table.
Harry looked at him. "I don't suppose you know where I could find a telephone or an owl?"
The dark cloaked figure responded with a deep-throated laugh and threw back the hood to reveal a somewhat aged face that looked hard enough for one to be able to use it as a hammer. The man had a mane of hair that had once been bright red, but only faint traces of that red remained among the grey and sometimes white hair. He drew a wand and pointed it at himself, muttered a spell, and then spoke. "I know nothing about a telephone, but I can certainly help you find an owl."
"Thanks." Harry said, extremely grateful for someone who wasn't acting like he was a monster.
The man pointed his wand at Harry and muttered the same spell. "We shall now be able to comprehend each other perfectly. Your previous efforts weren't working very well. What is your name?"
Harry was hesitant to share his name because he didn't want any Death Eaters to locate him before he could properly defend himself. After a slight hesitation he responded. "James, I'm called James."
"I suppose you're wondering about everything that just happened, James. I can explain," the man offered.
Harry was glad because he was quite confused about everything, though he didn't blame the folks who had been quite obviously Muggles from scampering in response to his accidental magic. "I'm so glad," Harry said.
"You're a wizard, James."
Harry started laughing so hard that he doubled over. "I know that! I didn't mean to let loose with the accidental magic in front of all those Muggles, but I was just recently in a fight and my wand was destroyed. Honestly, I didn't mean to wallop that guy."
The man seemed to be quite annoyed. Apparently he was used to a very different response from the people whom he informed of their magical status. Harry supposed that Hagrid would have been rather annoyed if he had reacted the same way back on that island Harry spent the morning of his eleventh birthday on. "What were you expecting me to explain then?"
Harry figured he could trust the man and explained in vague details what had happened. A Dark wizard had come to fight him and cursed him in such a way that he found himself a few miles out in the forest that surrounded the town. He was trying to find his way back home, was completely lost, and everything was very strange to him.
"I've never heard of a spell that could do that," the stranger said thoughtfully. "Then again, the Dark arts are very mysterious and can often do strange things. It sounds like he hit you with a transportation spell. I'm sure we can get you home without any trouble."
"I'm very relieved to hear that," Harry said.
"All you have to do is tell me where you live and I can make a Portkey to take you straight home."
"I'm from England," Harry announced.
It was the stranger's turn to laugh and Harry was very properly offended. "What's so funny about that?"
"We are in England, my boy," the man announced. "You'll have to be more specific."
Harry went on the defensive. "Everything is so strange here that I was absolutely sure I was in a different country. You all dress differently and speak a funny sort of language."
"You'd be surprised at the different people you can find in our land," the man said. "If you can be more specific about where you live I'll get you home straightaway."
Harry had decided that he must have fallen into a town full of loons. He remembered vaguely from his Muggle primary school that there were communities that tried to be old fashioned. This might be one of them. He decided that if the man could get him to London he'd be happy. "Just make the Portkey for London," he requested.
"London?" the man said. "That's just a short distance from here. How can you be lost when it is so close?"
Harry promptly decided they weren't speaking of the same London. "Hogwarts, he muttered. Take me to Hogwarts."
The man abruptly stiffened. "Hogwarts? Why there?"
"I'm a student there!" Harry said in an exasperated voice. "I know the headmaster there. He'll get things sorted out for me."
"I know everyone who has ever been to Hogwarts and you're not one of them," the man stated stiffly. "Who are you, James of London?"
Harry was getting very annoyed. "I'm James! I told you that already. I've been to Hogwarts and I would certainly remember you if I had seen you. Who are you?"
"I am Godric Gryffindor," the man said.
Harry's mouth dropped open. "Huh?"
Voldemort was one to brag about his accomplishments, both the great and small. Therefore, it was only a few weeks before Severus Snape was able to glean enough information both directly from Voldemort and from the other Death Eaters who dutifully listened to the Dark lord's speeches to ascertain Harry's fate.
He went directly to Professor Dumbledore and reported everything. It only took Professor Dumbledore a little longer to confirm that Snape's information was most likely correct. A meeting of the Order was called. This one would have more members present and be a lot more formal. This caused some problems for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny who had fully expected to be included when Harry's fate was discovered. The Weasley parents, or rather, Mrs. Weasley felt strongly that they were too young for Order business.
"Mum! We were at the last Order meeting!" Ginny argued, her voice at a higher pitch than normal as various Order members trickled past her and into the room where the meeting was to be held.
"That was different!" Mrs. Weasley retorted, her voice even higher. "It was an emergency. Things have settled down since then. This could be dangerous."
Ginny opened her mouth but was supplanted by Hermione who had decided to try to reason with Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Weasley, we are perfectly aware of how dangerous things are. We all have had dangerous encounters because we are Harry's friends. At this point, I think it would be better if we are informed, even if we don't necessarily perform dangerous assignments."
"Yeah, Mom," Ron added. "Hermione is right."
Mrs. Weasley glared at the children and was trying to come up with a reply when Professor Dumbledore arrived and noticed the situation. "Is there a problem?" he asked Mrs. Weasley.
"These children want to join the meeting," Mrs. Weasley informed him, her tone of voice making it clear what she thought of that. "I've been trying to get it into their heads that this is serious business."
Dumbledore nodded gravely shot the teens a wink that Mrs. Weasley failed to notice. "The information we've received is rather innocuous, Molly. I fear that the search for Harry will be long and boring, and I am confident that there will be no hazards. We could use any help they would be able to offer."
Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was considering the possibility of letting them in now. They didn't waste their chance, and before she could properly decide walked into the room and found a place where they could sit.
The meeting began and as soon as the opening formalities were concluded, Dumbledore stood up and spoke to everyone. "Severus has been able to provide more detailed information about Harry's fate. It appears that in an attempt to get Harry out of the way, Lord Voldemort employed a very old and forgotten Dark spell to remove Harry from our time and send him to the past."
This caused a hum of conversation among the Order members as they digested this information. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny traded surprised glances. Ginny realized that Dumbledore had not been bluffing when he had told Mrs. Weasley that their help would be useful, especially in the case of Hermione.
Dumbledore then continued speaking. "The spell didn't directly harm Harry, so Voldemort had the ability to cast it on him despite the blood wards protecting him. Harry remains unharmed but is now out of Voldemort's way."
Bill Weasley, one of Ginny's older brothers, who was not living with the family at the present time, raised his hand to ask a question. "Can you confirm that the spell did in fact send Harry to the past?"
Snape seemed to take personal offense that his information had been questioned. Therefore, it was he that answered with a hint of a sneer. "The Dark lord has personally confirmed that the spell succeeded. That is why he killed the Dursleys after Potter's departure. In theory, the Dursleys should have been protected by the same wards protecting Harry. Those wards were to expire on Harry's seventeenth birthday. After Potter's departure, the Dursleys were able to be killed because Potter's seventeenth birthday had come and gone who knows how long ago.
Bill nodded thoughtfully along with several others who had been slightly skeptical of the information. Snape's explanation effectively covered the curiosity concerning the blood wards. There had been no evidence of their destruction.
"Our task now is to search history for Harry Potter," Dumbledore explained. "Voldemort himself is unsure how far Harry may have travelled into the past. We can only hope that he did not go far and had the foresight to leave us some clues."
"If Potter travelled to the past, wouldn't we already know?" Mad-Eye Moody asked. "As I understand time travel, the effects of this incident should already have manifested themselves."
Dumbledore nodded. "You are correct, Alastor. Recognizing these effects for what they are will be part of our task. We will also have to anticipate what Harry may have done upon realizing what had happened to him."
Snape snorted. "For all we know, he got mugged or attacked by cheap bandits within a matter of a few hours and was killed."
Everyone shot withering glances at the greasy-haired potions master. Dumbledore chose to ignore the comment. "The Ministry will have records of strange occurrences happening, especially with regard to time travel," Dumbledore told everyone. "With the help of some of you who have Ministry connections, I think we will be able to thoroughly review those records within a few weeks."
"What happens if the Ministry doesn't have a record of anything happening?" Hagrid asked with concern evident in his gravelly voice.
"We'll look for other records," Dumbledore answered. "Harry will have had to have run into someone of some significance at some point. I should think he would be in someone's record. After all, we must remember that he was without a wand and supplies. He would have attempted at some point to find a way to return to the future."
"What if he decided that he likes the past better?" Ron muttered quietly. "He might like a world where Voldemort doesn't exist yet."