Chapter 7

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and the Harry Potter universe. I'm just playing with it.

Harry watched as the older man abruptly made a left hand turn and headed towards another doorway, calling out, "Ginny, can you get our … guest … some food?" As the door was left open, Harry could see him frantically searching through a desk for something.

The older Ginny gave out an exasperated huff, muttering something too low for Harry to hear. Drawing her wand, she summoned various sandwich fixings from the kitchen and let Harry help myself to them, while keeping an eye on him.

The man returned holding a rather thick collection of parchments, which he proceeded to page through. And page through. And page through.

After five minutes and one satisfying sandwich, Ginny demanded, "Harry, what are you looking at?"

"Hermione's Mastery project."

Harry was somehow unsurprised at that. That they would have an older Hermione too. That she would go for a Mastery. That her research paper would be very … thick.

"Which one?"

"History of Magic."

"Which one?" Harry echoed. "How many does she have?"

Ginny had a look of fond exasperation on her face. "Three. In Transfigurations, Charms and History of Magic."

Harry goggled at that. He wasn't sure that even Dumbledore had that many. But a moment later, he remembered her third year's rather … packed … class schedule and wryly wondered why he was surprised.

"It would have been four," the older Harry muttered to himself, "with a Mastery in DADA but the Department of Mysteries confiscated her research project and drafted her as an Unspeakable."

"WHAT?" shrieked Ginny.

The older Harry cringed. "I should not have said that. Should NOT have said that."

"Explain!" Ginny demanded with narrowed eyes. "I thought she worked for the International Magical Office of Law."

"She does, but…" the man sighed. "Certain things she discovered when researching for her History Mastery lead her to another project that would have earned her a DADA Mastery too. But when the Unspeakables discovered what she was researching, they classified it as too dangerous to publish." Then he smirked, "Then they decided that she was too smart for her own good. They pressured her to join the Unspeakables so that they could control her. It didn't work too well. She joined, learned her way around, found where all the bodies were buried and then used that to free herself from their 'control' and make a place for herself in the Law Office." He smirked viciously. "They're quite wary of her now."

"Hah. Good for her!" Ginny said with satisfaction. "But what does that have to do with him?" she said pointing to Harry.

"This," the older Harry said, shaking the paper, "is about Samhain. Also known as Beltane."

"Soooo?" Ginny challenged. Harry nearly echoed her, but bit his tongue. He so did not want to raise this woman's ire.

"So, the Samhain may very well be how the Founders created the Room of Requirement. And it may be how he," old Harry levitated his finger to point directly at Harry, "got here!"

Ginny's eyes narrowed, "Explain!"

"Hermione was researching the origins of the Room of Requirement. Hoping to discover the spells that created it and so on. She was never able to gather enough details for a transfiguration or charms paper, but found enough vague references in a lot of dusty old books to the Samhain and Druidic priests that she could build a case that the Founders used a ritual combined with the Samhain to create the Room. It may even be responsible for a lot of the Magic of Hogwarts."

"Samhain is, basically, an ancient druidic festival, usually held around October 31st to November 1st. It marked the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Cattle were brought down from summer pasture, livestock were slaughtered for the winter, and Celtic clans gathered to meet for various purification rituals and religious ceremonies. In Ireland, it was even associated with a god called, Crom Cruach. But more importantly," old Harry looked down and read, "…it was also known as a night when the door to the otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead and other beings to come into our world."

"Hermione found a lot of references and descriptions of things exactly like that. Reports of the dead visiting relatives and old friends. There's a report in here of a woman who, supposedly murdered her husband. And he came back a few days later on Samhain for revenge. There are also accounts of people getting lost in Faery mounds, returning years later, but still young."

"Hermione speculated that, the Samhain was a night where extraordinary powers could be called forth by Druidic rituals. Power to build, power to come back from the dead, power to even travel to unseen realms."

Old Harry turned and looked at Harry. "Our young friend here, went to the Room of Requirement on the Samhain. A room that may well have been created on the Samhain, maybe even drew its power from the Samhain. He called on the Room for help and guidance, on a night when the power of the Room may well have been at its strongest. A night when the door between worlds could open."

Harry's mouth went dry, his eyes wide in shock.

"He's not from this world. He's from another world. An alternate reality."

"He's another Harry Potter."