Chapter Four: What Dumbledore Didn't Say

Prongs glared at Draco Malfoy all throughout dinner. Draco felt the gaze like an itch between his shoulder blades, even though he was facing the Gryffindor table. Prongs wouldn't look away, his glare only heightening in ire when Draco caught his gaze once or twice. Potter-two was planning something, Draco realized, and – unlike Potter-one – Potter- two looked as if he was willing to wait for a moment when Draco was as defenseless as he was ever going to get to exact whatever he was planning.

He wasn't the only one who noticed it, but then again, it was Crabbe and Goyle's prerogative to understand instinctively when someone was out to hurt Draco.

"You want us to do something about him?" Goyle asked, his voice low, as Pansy Parkinson went on about her Ancient Rune's class in Draco's other ear.

"No. I'll handle it. Just let me borrow your wand for a bit."

Goyle slipped his wand into Draco's pocket without anyone being the wiser, even at the Slytherin table itself.

If Prongs was willing to wait for just the right moment when Draco was alone and off guard, Draco was more than willing to create such a moment. He left dinner early, heading for the doors of the Great Hall. Yet, at the look on Prongs' face, he paused and changed his destination. Prongs looked murderous as he rose from the Gryffindor table – probably to follow after Draco. There was no other look that could describe the rage in his eyes, and the intent in his expression.

He lead Prongs down past Hagrid's hut, almost to the lake. There would be no one there, especially this late at night, to see their confrontation. It was how he preferred it.

Prongs must have realized that Draco was leading him somewhere, but that did not deter him. Such a Gryffindor weakness, Draco thought snidely as he turned and waited for Prongs to cross the distance he'd kept as he followed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Prongs spat as soon as he neared and saw Draco waiting for him.

"Getting rid of you."

"You won't do it. I'm stronger; I will win in the end."

"Not if there are things about Harry which you can't compete with."

"If you're talking about that hissing, then it won't matter in the long run."

Draco resisted the urge to shout at Prongs' stupidity. "Really? How much did you learn about our timeline? That 'hissing', as you call it, is one of Potter's most distinctive characteristics! In our second year, he was accused of being the Heir of Slytherin because of it. And just try to make people like your precious Ron Weasley forget that his sister nearly died because the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Just try! You don't belong in this timeline, Potter-two, and it's time you realized that."

"You have no right to say that!" Prongs seethed. "You may have money in this timeline, but I know what you're really like – a weakling little boy with nothing of value."

"You'll find, Potter-two, that choices are very important. Perhaps I did make weak choices in your timeline. Perhaps I am the dividing line that made this timeline persevere over yours. I'll never know, and neither will you. But I warn you not to consider this world the same as yours. The people here, similar as we may seem, are not the people from your time. Would a weak little boy be able to do this?"

Draco pointed his wand at Prongs, called up his pure hatred for the other into his mind, and though the boy tried to retaliate, he just wasn't fast enough.

"Crucio."

Prongs dropped to the ground shrieking, and Draco waited. When Prongs had screamed himself hoarse, Draco ended the curse. It was a pathetic number of moments, he thought, only a handful.

"Consider it a warning. You're useless to this timeline. I have it on good authority that Potter can bear that for much longer, and yet you drop to the ground shrieking and writhing in an instant."

Pocketing Goyle's wand, Draco turned and left Prongs crouched on the ground.

It was a good hour before Prongs shakily got to his feet and returned to Gryffindor Tower. When he was questioned worriedly by his housemates, he refused to answer and headed wordlessly for bed.

Malfoy found Neville, again in the library, after most of the students had left for their dormitories.

"You read the book, I take it." Neville nodded, reaching into his bag for said book. "You don't believe it."

"I believe it. I've seen what's happening. Prongs is taking over Harry's spot. Harry's not eating as much, he's wasting away. He looked the most alive, that I've seen, today in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"That's because he was. For that small time, he stepped fully back into his natural place in this timeline. For some reason, Prongs can't use Parseltounge. That's special to Potter, shaped – most likely – by his second year when the Chamber was opened. It's a trait only he developed."

"How did you find that out?"

"I'm a Slytherin, I have my ways." Malfoy shrugged. "I didn't know exactly. It was just a hunch. You see, Prongs hates Slytherin so much because Slytherin, in his timeline, has won the House cup five years running. That hasn't happened in our time. Prongs had exams every year, one of my friends overheard him telling Granger. So none of Potter's little point-gaining adventures occurred in Prong's timeline. The triwizard tournament did happen, but Cedric won it in Prong's timeline. Prongs wasn't even involved. From what I've heard, the only thing between our timelines that is the same, as far as Hogwarts is concerned, is Quidditch."

"So the two Harrys are actually very different!"

"Exactly. And I'm going to make sure that everyone knows that."

"How?"

"Little things like the duel today. Make Potter use his full talents. I should know them, after all, they've been directed at me for five years. I'll keep forcing him to make little ripples in this pool, and by the time the year is over, everyone will remember that he's the Potter from this time, not that mirror image."

"I'll help," Neville decided.

"I thought you would."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Exactly what you're doing now. Make sure he takes care of himself. I can't baby him from the Slytherin dungeons."

Neville nodded. He could do that. "But… Malfoy, why do you want Harry to take his place back? Why are you so against Prongs?"

Neville watched in amazement as Malfoy's face clouded over. "My father is in Azkaban because of him."

"What? How did Prongs-"

"Not Prongs. Him."

Neville froze as Malfoy slowly raised his sleeve. "You were there, in the Department of Mysteries, last year, weren't you? You understand what I'm getting at." The Dark Mark glared out at him, making the skin gleam white in comparison.

"I was so proud to follow in my father's footsteps, and now He is allowing father to rot in prison. I was so angry at Potter when it happened. I could have killed him right then and there and held my head proudly when I joined my father in his cell. But I didn't. I waited. For a whole summer, I burned in anger at Potter and waited for father to escape from Azkaban. He could have gotten father out of it, I know He could. But He didn't."

Neville didn't have to look very closely at Malfoy to see the pain shimmering in his eyes. Malfoy had truly believed in the Dark Lord, and his belief had been shattered.

"Mother realized it before I did," Malfoy spoke like a broken being, but there was a new resolve shaping his words. "He doesn't care what happens to His followers. I told you to imagine what would happen if Potter-two went up against the Dark Lord. He'd loose. There wouldn't even be a duel. If our Potter is to be believed, he's survived against the Dark Lord twice. He stands a chance against the Dark Lord. And, through him, I can regain my family's honor, which my father lost."

Neville was probably the only Gryffindor who could understand Malfoy's words. Pureblood honor meant more than life to families like the Malfoys. His grandmother was a little bit that way, as well. It was why she'd been so happy he was a wizard – a squib would have been a mark against the Longbottom family. They weren't as bad as the Malfoys – not even close – but it was enough so he could understand Malfoy's resolve. This was something Malfoy would not bother to lie about. His family was shamed, and it fell to Malfoy's shoulders to regain that lost prestige.

Hermione settled back against the headboard of her bed with a whispered privacy charm aimed at her closed curtains. The book, an old tome with dog-eared and yellowed pages, was far from pristine, but the silver lettering on the cover was still as bright as if it had just been shined.

Timeline Manipulation: A Battle of Strength by Horus B. Tock II.

Hermione opened the book to the first page and began to read. Chapter One: The Time Travel Lie.

She read in silence with the muffled sounds of her housemates slowly coming to bed in groups, talking, whispering, and giggling as they gossiped. She read about the "discovery" of timelines by Merlin in the first and only – until now, she added mentally – time that any two timelines had touched each other naturally. Merlin had written a treatise on timelines – which was never published, but was found hundreds of years later – and instead called his ability "time travel".

She read the second chapter, Chapter Two: Merlin's Theory of Timelines, which described how Merlin believed timelines had been created and how they would act if ever they were to collide. Merlin's theory was – almost word for word – what Dumbledore had explained during the welcome feast before they had first met Prongs.

All of the girls in her dorm had gone to sleep by the time she reached the third chapter. Chapter Three: When Timelines Collide. In the deep stillness of the sleeping room, she turned the page and began to read.

Despite Merlin's express warnings in both the introduction and conclusion of his treatise on timelines, it became highly popular to force timelines to collide through the use of a Time Turner during the reign of the Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, commonly referred to as Emperor Caligula. In fact, the Emperor himself is rumored to have met and destroyed so many of his other selves during this period of experimentation, that he caused his own insanity – no longer sure which of his own abilities were his own or just a product of his timeline.

This, naturally, discouraged any and all research in colliding timelines, and thus such research was outlawed upon the Emperor Caligula's death. In addition, the Standard Rules for the Use of Time Turners were written in order to prevent such other illnesses – mainly with the creation of the first rule, that one should not allow oneself to be seen by others once the Time Turner is in effect.

Before timeline collision research was halted, however, there were many documents written by Roman wizards about timelines. Only three of these survived the eventual invasion of Rome – and the corresponding destruction of the wizarding library. However, from these three documents alone – one letter and two treatises, we find a very descriptive picture of what can happen when timelines collide.

Marcus Antonius Vigulus, the author of the earliest treatise, describes what it was like to meet his other self. He refers to this other Vigulus as "me yet not me" instead of calling him by name. Much of the treatise is spent describing the differences and similarities between the two of them, and the name Vigulus gives his other self becomes quite apt. Vigulus and his other self were, he writes, "equally strong", and yet they were strong in different qualities. In everything that Vigulus considered himself "weak", his other self was "strong", and in everything that Vigulus considered himself "strong" his other self was "weak".

Once they had made that distinction, Vigulus writes, they failed to be plagued by strange ailments which coincided with the other Vigulus' arrival. Vigulus concludes that they then went about their own lives, each man in his own "niche", with his own wife, and family.

The "ailments" that they suffered from, Vigulus does not describe in detail, but the second document, a letter from one of Vigulus' mistresses, does.

The mistress, only referred to as "Rosa" and not by a true name, writes that Vigulus acted strangely upon the arrival of his "shadow". The shadow or, sometimes, "shadow twin" that she refers to is Vigulus' "me yet not me", whom Rosa held with utmost disgust. She writes that where Vigulus was quiet, the shadow was loud, where Vigulus respectful, the shadow disrespectful. She writes that she urged Vigulus to destroy his shadow twin many times, and yet he was too fascinated by the shadow to do so. In his fascination, she writes, he did not notice that where his health waned, his shadow appeared to grow in vitality. Vigulus stopped eating for days on end, and his expressions took on a subdued nature, while his twin only seemed more healthy and energetic. Then, when she would force Vigulus to eat and visit with his friends, the obverse would occur. Vigulus would regain his color and gay countenance, and his twin would wane.

This strange 'ailment', almost like a scale in nature, appears again in the last document, a treatise written a few years after Vigulus'. The writer of this treatise, Gaius Severus Cornelius, expresses a different view of his other self. He calls his other self a "false Gaius" and was outraged that Merlin's third point had come true. Remember, dear reader, that Merlin's third point stated that were both versions of the same person equally powerful they would both continue to exist in the timeline that was stronger. Gaius Severus Cornelius felt that the false Gaius was much weaker than he, and he scorns the talents of his other self. These talents were those of the arts – music and poetry to be exact – and were seen as pathetic by Gaius, a retired soldier turned scholar. He writes how his other self even "wasted away", too limp to move at his end, "moping about as if his children had just been slaughtered". Gaius himself suffered none of these ill-effects, and does not seemed to have suffered as Vigulus did.

This can lead to only one conclusion about those left behind when timelines collide. A balance between the two versions of the one person – shaped into truly different beings by their own choices and the choices of those in their timelines – or else they will vie for existence until one of them is subdued by the other.

The book tumbled from Hermione's hands and banged against her shaking knees. It was all there, everything that was happening to Harry and Prongs now was nothing new, it had happened over and over again.

And Dumbledore must have read of what the two Viguli did and assumed that Harry would do the same. He could not fathom that the two Harrys would tumble into the same conflict that the two Cornelii did. Of course he didn't, if he had he would have put a stop to their conflict long ago! He had probably told the two Harrys exactly what he had told the rest of the school, confident that they would spot their differences and allow each other a bit of space to live in – their own niches. He didn't see that they were hurting each other by their actions… no one did. She certainly hadn't seen it, and she had used a Time Turner for a whole year! If someone should have seen what was truly happening, it should have been her!

But only Neville had seen it, because only Neville had been smart enough to think that perhaps there might be more to learn about timelines, perhaps a darker or more dangerous nature that they were overlooking.

Hermione frowned and leaned back against the headboard of her bed. Something had to be done about this. Harry could not be allowed to weaken or die – or be hurt any longer! But she liked Prongs, too, and he didn't deserve to weaken or die either. They both deserved to live out their own lives as "Harry Potter"; they both deserved their own niche.

She couldn't tell Ron about this, not just yet. He was still too angry at Harry to listen. She would have to try and get Ron to at least reconcile with Harry before she told him about the timelines. Prongs, too, she felt wasn't read to hear that he was killing Harry.

But Harry, she felt, was probably more than ready to know what was going on. She would find him and talk to him.

First she would apologize, she decided as she slipped the note – signed by Professor McGonagall – which had allowed her to borrow the book, in-between the pages as a bookmark. She would apologize and then she would explain what she had found out.

She only hoped Harry would forgive her.

Additional Notes:
1. Emperor Caligula - I do not, in any way, wish to insult any of my readers by stating this, but I figured I would cover myself and say that my version of how Emperor Caligula became ill is completely made up to suit my purpose. He actually had a documented mental disease and, of the many, many very strange things he did, proclaim to smash timelines into each other and kill other versions of himself is not one of them. Again, I'm just saying this so as to avoid any confusion.

status: beta'd by Ayeshah Harvey-Lomas