Soul of the Enemy
By Willow Spirit
Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.
A/N: Some of you may hate me for this. I can honestly say I don't care. It's been a blast!
And thanks a million for all the reviews. I really do appreciate them.
Chapter 24 - Truth
From last chapter:
"My name isn't Reid," she barely whispered.
"Well, I could have told you that," Hermione rolled her eyes knowingly. "So who are you really?"
"We already know who she is," Ron scoffed. "She's a DADA maniac, excessively trained on a broom, and has one of the nastiest tempers I've ever seen."
"Ron, now's not a good time," Ginny sighed.
"So let's hear it, then," Hermione folded her arms, waiting for an answer. "Let's have your real name."
No response. Alex still sat with her head to the floor. Just when Hermione was about open her mouth again, they heard some more muttering coming from Alex's direction. "Oh, they are going to kill me…"
Then Alex raised her head, her eyes clear with purpose and her chin raised in pride.
"My name is Alexandria Potter. I'm from the future and Harry Potter is my father."
Now, there are certain times in one's life when one can have a sort of out-of-body experience. These experiences are usually triggered by a very surreal or life changing moment, something so out of the ordinary one has to think 'I thought stuff like this only happens in the movies.' The entire situation is perfectly clear, but it feels like you are watching it from the outside. You can imagine how you must look and the next thought that goes through your mind is 'I wonder what I'll do or say next.'
This was definitely one of those moments. And even though everyone was staring dumbly at Alex, they all could see the frozen tableau in their minds. They knew how stupid they must have looked, but it didn't matter. Their brains were still processing that last one bit of the conversation.
And quite surprisingly, after over a minute of complete silence, it was Ginny who finally recovered enough to say something.
"That's it?" she asked incredulously. "Four months of lies and secrets and that's the best you can come up with? You're Harry's daughter?"
"You did escape from St. Mungo's!" Ron exclaimed. "Right from the psycho wing with crazy Lockhart."
"It doesn't even make any sense!" Hermione said. "I don't see how this could be possible."
"It sounds like a cheesy plot from a bad fanfiction."
"Even I could come up with a more convincing excuse."
"It's not logical."
"Why did you even try?"
"I would laugh in your face, but somehow I don't think that would be very appropriate right now."
"Alright!" Alex huffed. "I know it doesn't make sense but I'm telling you the truth, I swear. You have to believe me!"
"Oh, really," Ginny's eyes narrowed. "After we've just found out that you've lied to us for the past four months? So we're suddenly supposed to trust you after everything that you've done. Do you honestly think we're that gullible and stupid?"
"No!" Alex cried. "You're none of that. I know my record here hasn't been the best. That was then, that was what I had to do…I don't expect you to understand what has happened. I just need everyone to trust this."
"Trust is something that must be earned," McGonagall said curtly. "Whatever trust you did have is now gone. You have lost it and I highly doubt that you can earn it back."
Alex looked from face to face and could only see the same thing: disbelief and uncertainty. How was she to do this when no one was on her side? "Please," she pleaded with them. "I really am Alex Potter. Why would I lie about something like that?"
"Because a lie like that has potential," Moody said. "That name has a lot of power, you could use it to your advantage. Or maybe you were hoping to catch us off guard."
"You aren't listening to any of this, are you?" Remus glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Of course I'm not! I'm just trying to figure this crazy girl out here!"
"Let's just keep calm," Molly reasoned. "We can't sort anything out if we lose our focus."
"I think our focus is long gone, Molly," Arthur said.
"Perhaps we should try the Truth Serum," Snape suggested quietly to Dumbledore.
"I doubt that will be very useful at this time," Dumbledore softly shook his head.
"You all aren't listening to me!" Alex was beginning to look desperate once more, only now it was for a different reason. She knew something had to happen and it had to happen fast. Otherwise the plan was still in jeopardy. She had to convince at least one person of her true identity. She knew these people, they were her family. If one person believed, then that would create a domino effect, making believers out of everyone. But first, someone had to listen!
"Ginny! Ginny!" Alex nearly begged. "You had an imaginary pet dragon when you were younger. Charlie was so into dragons and it sort of rubbed off on you. It didn't stick around for long, but for a while it was your best friend."
Ginny seemed to hesitate. "Everyone in my family knew about that," she said. "It's not like it's a huge secret or anything."
"Ron," Alex instantly turned to the other Weasley teen. "What about that lesson you learned at Christmas time when you were ten? You never went snooping for your presents after that, did you?"
"How…" Ron stared at her in amazement. "How did you know about that? I never told anyone about that."
"You see?" Alex beamed excitedly. "I know these things because I grew up around you guys. I'm not reading your minds, you guys would know if I had. I learn these things in the future."
"What lesson did you learn, Ronald?" Molly asked, her arms folded across her chest.
"I always knew that Ron was the most trustworthy when it came to not snooping," Arthur mused quietly. "I just never knew why."
"Sure, it's all about Ron," Ginny rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile, Hermione was looking at Alex with a curious expression. It was like she was trying to evaluate the truthfulness of her claims, and she could find the answer just by staring at her. She gazed right into Alex's green eyes, and at one point Alex returned that gaze. And in that brief connecting moment, Hermione caught a glimpse of something that was eerily familiar. She had seen that look before, only it had been someone else's emerald green eyes. She suddenly gasped, as piece of the puzzle suddenly came into place.
"Ron…" Hermione said slowly. "DADA maniac, trained on a broom, nasty temper…Ron you just described Harry too! Alex is just like Harry!"
"What!" Ron cried, and Harry shot her a nasty glare.
"No really, think about it!" Hermione started getting excited. "Can't you see it? Harry and Alex share so many of the same qualities, it's just that Alex is a bit more extreme sometimes."
"Thank you, Hermione!" if Alex could have kissed her she would have, but unfortunately Alex was still tied to her chair.
"Hermione, are you sure about this?" Ron frowned at his best friend.
"I think so," she replied breathlessly. "I mean, it still doesn't make much sense, but I think it's true. Can you prove that you're Harry's daughter? And…wait a second. Did you just call me Hermione?"
"Yes," Alex said in relief.
"But you've never called me Hermione. You've never called any of us by our first names."
"And you have no idea how hard that's been!" Alex sagged a little in her chair.
"Why…"
"I'll explain later," Alex sighed tiredly. "Right now I need to convince everyone else that I'm me."
"You have weaved one incredible tale, whatever your name is," Dumbledore said cautiously. "You've been able to close your mind to us for months now. I can no longer tell if you are telling the truth or not."
"I agree," Snape glared at Alex.
"Please trust me, Professor," again she leaned forward as far as could go. This time, Alex focused her gaze at Dumbledore. She stared at him willingly, with wide, unblinking eyes. Dumbledore stared at her in return, waiting for whatever was coming his way. They stayed connected like this for several seconds, until there was a subtle hitch in Dumbledore's deep, calm breaths. His gaze changed slightly, like an invisible veil had been lifted and now he saw everything clearly.
"Sir?" Snape looked at him with questioning eyes. When Dumbledore didn't respond at first, Snape too glanced at Alex. When he did, he also caught a glimpse of something, like a quick image flashing through his mind. Snape nearly gawked openly at Alex. She just nodded and gave him a quirky half-smile.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the room was wondering what in the world was going on between the three of them. Then finally…
"As hard as it may be to believe, I think Miss Potter here is telling the truth," Dumbledore said with the usual twinkle in his eye.
Alex wanted to cheer out loud. Most of the tension in the room was starting to melt away, as people in the room were beginning to realize that this whole thing might not be a trick after all.
"You mean you're really from the future?" Arthur asked.
"This is amazing," Remus gasped.
"If Dumbledore's convinced, then I'm convinced," Moody said.
"Merlin!" Ginny grinned from ear to ear. "This is so wicked!"
"How is this possible?" McGonagall looked shocked.
"Oh, this is too much," Molly fanned herself with her hand.
"Bloody hell!" Ron muttered under his breath.
"Just a minute," Alex interrupted the multiple comments. There was one person in the room who hadn't said a word in the past several minutes, ever since Alex had revealed her real name. And in all the chaos and confusion, no one had even noticed. That person, in Alex's opinion, was the most important person of all.
"Wait a minute," Alex repeated. "This is wonderful and everything, but I need one more person to believe me."
Everyone turned to look at Harry, who had been sitting so stiffly the entire time. When they saw his expression, they nearly gasped. Harry's face was filled with such anger, they wondered how they and Alex could have possibly missed it. Or maybe Alex hadn't missed it; maybe she had been waiting for the right time to turn to him.
"I know this is hard for you to swallow," Alex said softly. "I probably wouldn't believe me either, if I were in your shoes. I'm just asking you to consider the possibility."
"How dare you," Harry hissed icily, throwing everyone off guard. "How dare you come here and use my family's name as a cover. You have no right to do that. I never thought you people could sink so low…"
"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed. "I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just trying to…"
"Shut up!" Harry shouted. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Everything you've ever told me has been a lie, hasn't it. Everything! I have no reason to trust someone like you."
"Please, Harry," Alex said gently. Harry sucked in a quick breath at the sound of his name. It seemed so different coming from her. "Nothing here matters if you don't believe me. I need you to be on my side. I can't do anything if you're not with me on this."
Everyone watched in silent fascination as Alex pleaded desperately with her eyes. It seemed to have little effect on Harry, who still remained angry and annoyed. "No daughter of mine would have behaved like you did," he reasoned coldly. "She would not talk to people with such disrespect and she definitely would not attack someone until he was almost dead."
"I know," Alex hung her head in shame. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean to hurt Malfoy, I just couldn't allow him to tell anyone that I was a Parslemouth. Not that it did any good, everyone still found out in the end…but…I guess I really have no excuse."
"There is nothing you can say that will change my mind about you," Harry told her. "You can try and talk your way out of this but it won't work."
Alex bit her lip in concentration. That was just it; she needed the perfect piece of knowledge to convince him. She needed something that was deeply personal, something that only she as his daughter would know. And if this didn't work, then Alex would officially be screwed. So with a great deal of hope and finger crossing, Alex picked her weapon.
"I know about the mirror," she whispered. Please, God, she thought to herself, let this work.
"You mean the mirror Harry and I found back in First Year?" Ron wrinkled his forehead in remembrance. "Even I know about that one. That's not a huge secret."
"Not that mirror," Alex said carefully, nervously glancing at everyone else in the room. Harry was about to say something, but Alex quickly cut him off by switching to Parseltongue. "I'm talking about the mirror that Sirius gave you the Christmas before he died. It was part of a set. There was a note on the back of it, explaining that he also had one. He and Grandpa Potter used them to talk during detentions."
"I never told anyone about those," Harry unknowingly responded in the same tongue.
"Well, you did break it, didn't you, when you realized that it wouldn't work?" Alex pointed out. Harry opened and closed his mouth in shock. How could she know about this? It was impossible unless…
Alex kept her eyes on Harry's and saw the subtle change in them. She was starting to get to him. She was not quite there, though she was very close. "You never knew what your parents looked like when you were growing up," she plunged on. "Vernon and Petunia never had any pictures of them around the house. You never really knew what they'd been like as people, since they were never discussed. There were even times when you…when you wondered how much they had loved you."
Harry wanted to yell at Alex, to tell her to stop, but found that his voice wouldn't work. Something was stuck in his throat, so he just listened to Alex as she continued on in a voice that was becoming thick with emotion.
"You had no idea how much because they had left you. If they had really loved you, then maybe they still would have been around. When you grew up a bit, you stopped thinking like this because it didn't matter. You knew that you were pretty much alone without any family and that was how things were. Then you came to Hogwarts and found the Mirror of Erised. Suddenly, you saw your family for the first time and you knew just by looking at them that they had loved you very much. It was one of the biggest moments of your life."
No one but Harry and Alex could follow along with the conversation, but that had been the whole point. As Alex talked, everyone carefully watched Harry's reactions. Anger and stubbornness had eventually melted away into cautious doubt, which had eventually turned into astonishment. By the end of Alex's little speech, Harry's eyes were wide and shimmering in awe.
"I've never…ever told anyone about that," Harry said. "No one."
"You tell me," Alex gave Harry a little smile. "In the future when I was…or will be a little girl."
"What about the map?" Harry suddenly remembered, grasping at one final straw. To hell with keeping the Marauder's Map a secret. They were nearing the end of their 7th year, it wasn't like they'd have many more opportunities to use it. "Your name on the map said Alex Reid, not Alex Potter. I saw it myself."
"Well, Harry, I do happen to know one of the original creators of that map," Alex inclined her head slightly towards Remus. She was desperately trying hard not to laugh because half the people in the room looked completely confused. "It wouldn't take much for me to make a few changes…"
"What are they talking about?" Arthur whispered, but Molly quickly shushed him quiet.
The entire group waited with their breaths held, wondering what Harry was going to say or do. The ball was in his court right now, and everything was up to him. Seconds passed by and still nothing happened. Then…
"Oh, God," Harry's face suddenly went ghostly white. Everyone else thought he was going into shock, but Alex knew better. She could see it in his face. It wasn't shock that took his breath away, it was horror. At that particular moment, Harry just remembered the three little words he had said to Alex the night of the ball; his awful, embarrassing confession.
"It's okay," Alex reverted back to Parsletongue in order to protect his pride. "I told you; you were confused. I knew you loved me…just probably not in the way you were thinking. You have to admit, though, it is kind of funny."
Funny? More like one of the worst moments of his entire life. This could not be happening. But then Harry looked into Alex's eyes and saw how at ease she was with the whole thing. It didn't matter to her. To Alex, it was just something to laugh at; a sort of Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox kind of deal. At least she was able to see the humour in this. Apparently, she didn't inherit her sense of humour from him.
"I believe you," Harry finally declared. "I think I might be insane, but I believe you."
For the first time ever, a huge, ecstatic smile spread across Alex's face. No one had ever seen her wear anything but a sarcastic smirk. This was real; there were no secrets or hidden agendas behind it, it was a pure and honest smile. It totally changed her face; now she truly looked like Harry's daughter.
"Thank you, Harry," Alex exclaimed softly. "You have no idea how much this means to me."
Harry didn't trust his own voice at the moment, so instead he gave her a nod and a shaky smile.
"Wait a minute," Remus said thoughtfully. "Moody are you thinking what I'm thinking? Did you see…"
"Did I see it?" Moody asked. "Yeah, so that explains it."
"Explains what?" Alex looked at them curiously.
"Your look," was all that Remus said. Apparently, though, it was enough for Alex to understand.
"Ah, I see," Alex nodded. "Well…if you can finally untie me and give me back my wand, I'll show you something cool."
Moody's hand hesitated slightly has he reached for Alex's wand in his front robe pocket. Alex just rolled her eyes and grinned at his antics. "Oh, come on, Moody," she teased him. "I thought we had agreed that I wasn't a spy for Voldemort."
"You got an attitude like her, too," he growled as he glanced quickly at the others, making sure that everyone was okay with it. Then he pulled out two wands and used one of them to untie Alex's binds. He tossed the other one to Alex after she took a second to rub her sore wrists. With a bit of a swish, she tapped her own head with her wand. Everyone waited patiently for a second, then they saw something happening to her hair. A deep, reddish color was working its way down from her roots to the ends. In a few seconds, she no longer had her chunky blonde and brown hair. Now she was a vibrant red head. Several people in the room gasped at her new appearance.
"She looks like Lily," McGonagall said what most were thinking.
"I know," Alex beamed proudly. "I guess you know now where I get my green eyes from."
"How come we never saw it before?" Harry wondered, a bit unnerved that he was now looking at someone who so closely resembled his mother.
"Because you were never looking for it," Alex shrugged easily. "You had no reason to suspect that I was who I was. I just thought that you would all want to see this. I think it's pretty cool."
And with another simple tap to her head, Alex's hair started changing back to its original color.
"So which is your natural color?" Ginny asked.
"Not telling," Alex winked at her. "It'll be a surprise."
"Now that we have your identity all settled," Dumbledore gently interrupted. "I think there are many other questions that need to be answered."
Alex let out a little sigh. "Yeah, I think you're right."
This sudden change in the conversation made Hermione sit upright in her seat. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed like something had just slapped her. "Oh…my…God. You're from the future! We can't be having this conversation right now. Professor Dumbledore, this is going against…oh, we are breaking so many rules here. We're going to be in so much trouble if we…"
"Whoa. Hermione," Alex held up both hands. "I think we're way beyond the point of no return. You guys screwed things up the moment I was forced to tell my real name."
Hermione looked horrified. "But we didn't…"
"Hermione," Alex said. "I was joking, okay? It was just a joke."
"But still…"
"I know," Alex sighed. "I know the rules and I won't reveal anything too important. But seriously, I don't think there's anything we can do now, unless you want everyone here to have their memories erased. Otherwise, I say we proceed with caution."
"As long as you keep that in mind, I see no harm in continuing," Dumbledore smiled, almost mischievously. "And I think the first question on most minds would be: how were you able to get here?"
"Yeah," Ron looked very puzzled. "You must have come…wow, at least twenty years back. Unless Harry has a secret girlfriend we don't know about."
"I do not!" Harry gave Ron an indignant glare.
"Well…" Alex started out slowly. "Harry was pretty close to the mark a little while ago." She carefully reached into her robe pocket and pulled out a small bundle of cloth. Everyone watched in anticipation as she gently unfolded the corners…and revealed small, ordinary looking matchbox.
"Behold, my mystery object," Alex extended her hand so everyone could get a better look.
"It's just a matchbox," Harry said. Talk about your anticlimax.
"Actually," Alex grinned furtively. "There is one other person in the room who knows exactly what this is."
"Really?" Ginny's eyes lit up. "Who?"
Giving a slow, dramatic gesture with her free hand, Alex kept everybody in suspense until she finally pointed towards Hermione. Hermione froze; her eyes were locked with Alex's. She took a deep breath.
"No way," Hermione exhaled. "It can't be!"
"Hermione, what did you do!" Ron looked at her accusingly.
"I didn't do anything!" Hermione exclaimed. "At least not yet."
"But what is it?" Harry asked impatiently.
"This," Alex held up the matchbox until it was level with her eye. "Is something that Hermione should explain to you herself. Would you care to do the honors?"
"Okay," Hermione said in a slight squeak. "Uh…I got the idea a couple of years ago when…oh, never mind. I was thinking about time turners and how they worked. You know how they always take you back to where you were at the time you go back to? Well, it occurred to me that time turners could only work for short term travels through time. You couldn't, for example, go back to a time before you were born because there would be no place for you to appear. You wouldn't have existed yet. And then I also realized that when a person goes back they normally have to relive the amount of time they jumped back…so if you jumped back a long time, years even, you would be stuck far in the past and would have to relive most of your life over again.
"So I came up with this idea for a time key, something that would combine the magic of a time turner and a portkey. That way a person could travel through time and go wherever and whenever. They would also be able to return to their original position in time. And I thought that an interesting design would be…a matchbox."
"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed.
"But I didn't do anything yet!" Hermione blushed scarlet. "It was just an idea."
"But you will make it eventually," Alex said.
"Her brain is full of surprises," Harry mused humorously.
"Amazing," McGonagall gasped. "So that answers how you got here but why are you here, exactly?"
Alex hesitated a bit. "That one is a bit complicated," she said carefully.
"Let me guess, you wanted to save the world," Snape sneered viciously. "It sounds so much like Potter and his band of trouble makers."
"Excuse me?" Alex blinked angrily while Harry, Ron and Hermione sent him nasty glares.
"Apparently I am the only one who sees something wrong with this situation," Snape continued. "If your story is indeed correct, which it probably is, then that means you have committed a serious crime. Not only have you traveled back in time but it appears that you have the intention of changing a certain event. Why else would you be here?"
"I'm here for a very good reason," Alex was on the verge of losing her patience.
"Oh, I'm sure you are," Snape snapped sarcastically.
"Severus," Dumbledore said in a warning tone.
"I am sorry Professor, but I refuse to sit here silently any longer," Snape exclaimed. "This has gone on long enough. Now we have the next person in the Potter line trying to get away with murder, just like her father and grandfather before her. What gives her the right to be here? She thinks that just because she's a Potter, she can do whatever she pleases. She can even change time if she wants!"
"Shut up!" Alex cried.
"How DARE you speak to me like that!" Snape bellowed.
"I mean it. Shut up!" Alex shouted right back at him with a huge disbelieving look across her face. "There are a couple of things I need to say to you, Severus Snape. Hey!" she held up her hand to silence him when he tried to interrupt her. "When I tell you to shut up that means you sit there and you listen to what I have to say. I'm going to give you a modified version of the speech I gave you back when I was in my first year at Hogwarts.
"First of all, I want to say that I am not my father. I am also not my grandfather and neither is Harry. I'm sorry that my grandfather was cruel to you back when you were in school, but that's life. Try going to school as the daughter of the Boy Who Lived and see what that's like. You have to get over it at some point, you are a grown man!
"Secondly, I want to point out that even though my grandfather did make your life a living hell, you owe him so much more than you realize. It's like you keep on forgetting that he saved your life that one time. And then on top of that, he died trying to save Harry from Voldemort. You know Voldemort would never have gone after my family if YOU hadn't told him about the prophecy. So from the way I see it, my grandparents are dead because of your big mouth. If Voldemort hadn't known about the prophecy, then maybe I'd still have my grandparents alive. So me and Harry could easily turn this whole thing around on you and hate you for all eternity for what you did. We won't though, because we're the bigger people.
"And the third thing is that you have no idea what the future is like for us. You guys think you have it bad with Voldemort? Well, we have someone so much worse, it would make you sick knowing the things he's done. Our world is being torn apart, so don't you dare judge us for wanting to do something about it."
Alex finally paused to catch her breath, since she was quite worked up by now. As she sat there, breathing heavily, she and Snape just stared at each other for the longest time. Snape was doing a marvelous impression of a stone gargoyle. No one dared say a word, they were too afraid that one of them would explode or hex the other to death. Not one person had ever ripped into Snape like that, not even Harry, though he had come very close.
The seconds ticked on, and Ginny even pulled out her watch and started counting. Then finally…
"Maybe you could enlighten us?" Snape said in a strained tone. Everyone released their collectively held breaths.
"What would you like to know?" Alex said calmly.
"Well, for starters, who is this person who's supposedly worse than Voldemort?" Moody asked gruffly.
"A wizard named Salazar," Alex said, just waiting for everyone's reactions. She certainly wasn't disappointed.
"Salazar!" several people exclaimed.
"What do you mean by Salazar?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"He's the Dark Wizard of the future," Alex recalled grimly. "He's caused way more deaths than Voldemort ever has. His main goal is to kill off all the Muggles in the world and start again with just wizards, sort of an apocalypse kind of deal. He even calls his most loyal followers Horsemen, like the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I think he likes the irony of the Muggle and biblical connection."
"How has he managed that?" McGonagall gasped.
"He took a page right out of history and created this type of plague disease that only affects Muggles," Alex explained. "It's really a clever idea, in a twisted sort of way. It works really well too. The thing just sweeps right through Muggle areas and wipes them all out. I'm telling you, it's worse than the Black Death ever was."
"So he's a powerful wizard?" Remus asked.
"Well he did get his power from Voldemort," Alex rolled her eyes in a "go-figure" motion.
"What!" Harry exclaimed. "You mean Voldemort gave someone else his power? How?"
"Oh, God," Alex buried her face in her hands. "I'm not explaining this very well. Okay, at some point, Voldemort is defeated and he dies. But you know that even if a witch or wizard dies, his or her magic or essence is still left behind. That's how wizards are able to become ghosts. Anyway, after Voldemort's death his body was stolen. No one was too worried about it at the time. It's nearly impossible to harness that leftover magic, and it's a matter of figuring out exactly how to do it. No one really thinks about it after someone's dead. But then, years later, this wizard showed up, claiming he had the power of Voldemort. Turns out he was right. He had all of Voldemort's powers and memories too. He ended up calling himself Salazar after Slytherin."
Everyone in the room just gave Alex these confused, questioning looks.
"Okay," Alex sighed. "Maybe it'd be best if I just showed you."
"And how would you do that?" Harry frowned. When Alex touched her wand to her head, many people in the room knew what she had in mind. Alex paused for a moment and closed her eyes. She stayed like that for a few moments, like she was going through a few things in her mind. While she was preparing, Dumbledore produced a rudimentary Pensieve for her. When she was ready she opened her eyes and accepted the pensive.
"Thank you," she said. Pulling her wand away from her head, she transferred a long, silvery looking string into the Pensieve. "I've put one of my memories in here that should explain pretty much everything. I took a moment to change anything that you guys really shouldn't know. And let me stress that it doesn't mean a thing if you do or do not see yourself in this memory. Everyone's pretty much fair game for living…and dying at this point.
"So, if you all want to, we can go into the memory and take a look. I have to warn you, though, what you see won't be pretty."
"It's okay," Harry put on a brave face. "We're ready for anything."
"Okay," Alex said. "Let's go then."
And as a collective group, everybody leaned forward and dipped a finger into the pensive. Soon the room was empty, its occupants having disappeared into Alex's memory.
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A/N: Anybody see that coming? Maybe, maybe not. So Alex is not evil or a Death Eater. I'm really making an effort to write a different twist on the whole 'time travel' plot.
As always, please review!
Next Chapter: What happens in Alex's memory of the future?