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Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 2

Time was passing about as quickly as the grass was growing on the lawn in the front yard of Number 4 for Harry Potter. He was sure of it, because he was sure the grass had grown since he had last blinked just seconds before.

But then again, that could have just been him overanalyzing things. That had become a habit for him all too quickly. Yes, very quickly. Within a week of returning back from the Hospital Wing that day, anyone watching him could have attested to the fact that Harry was a completely different person. But then again, there was no one watching him in truth. Well, there hadn't been.

That was before he decided that outside was a better place to read than inside a dark stuffy closet with minimal lighting.

And that was before he happened to decide that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to sit on the grass instead of on the porch in front of the door so Dudley could continuously open and close and open and close the door just to torment Harry as he read.

And that was before he knew that the Dursleys had their sprinklers timed for about 6 am, meaning that, even by 9:30, the grass was still fairly damp. Thus, he needed something to lay on. And Petunia would be damned if her sheets were used to be laid on on the grass, even the dingy, sadly old and used ones on the half-ass bed under the cupboard Harry was subjected to make due with. So, off came the shirt.

Harry was sure that he wasn't much to look at, he was a pale, all too thin boy laying on the grass reading. But as he realized something, the only boys around their age in the near vicinity were the guys in Dudley's crew, and they were all either 50+ pounds over weight, looked as if they were recently caught in and trampled in a rhinoceros stampede, or both. And Dudley seemed to see this, and opened his big mouth, mentioning "St. Brutus'".

And it all backfired. Badly. Thus returned the age old question: Why do good girls like bad guys?

So every so often Harry would catch the realization that the same two or three girls would walk by number 4 and 5 minutes later, walk by again. Harry, at one point, watched them for a few moments, and noticed their little act of doing laps around Privet Drive, walking by Number 4 much more slowly than any other house.

Shaking his head, he wondered about the other sex. He couldn't figure out some of the things they did, but he shrugged and went back to reading.

Something Harry learned quickly was, laying out in the sun not moving, even in the typical, or more, stereotypical overcast skies of England, one still tans. And he realized this one day as he decided to read while lying on his back, as he lifted one of the lighter books above his head to block the sun. He later saw the darker color of his skin, only slight, but there. And, not wanting to appear uneven, he kept mental track of the time and turned the other direction. If he had to tan, which wasn't a bad thing as far as he saw, he might as well tan correctly. No reason to be tanned on the front and pale as a ghost on the back, or vise versa.

This being the case, there were the days that he, in fact, wasn't reading light books but still had to lay on his back to balance things out. And so, thus began change two in Harry. After that one week, he was able to see a bit of muscle forming already. He could understand why, seeing as several of the books he was toting weighed more than 30 pounds, and he was kinda shocked. He never realized the effects the want to learn could have on him physically. He wondered if perhaps this was the true reason Hermione loved it so much. And he was sure if Ron knew of this fact, he would be the first one in the library each day.

He smiled at the thought of his two friends, and wondered if they had heard anything of what had happened to him in the space of the first few days of summer vacation.

But as that week ended, he realized that, if they truly had the intention of contacting him on his well-being after his little…episode, they would have done so already. Either that, or it wasn't made public knowledge. And Harry had a great hope that it wasn't, as, should it have been that they knew and didn't care.

"But would I care is the question…should they not?" Harry muttered to himself as he laid on his back, setting the book down to look up into the oddly cloud-less sky.

"You know, talking to yourself could become a very bad habit to have."

Harry looked up, having to sit up with his arms behind him to hold him up as he looked to where the voice came from. There was a girl walking up the walkway toward the door. She had on a pair of shorts and a tank top with some flip flops and a head band set to the middle of her head, holding her hair back. She was looking at Harry from the second step on the porch, seeming to have stopped in her walk toward the front door, something Harry was horrified he didn't notice. He was supposed to be watching for potential threats, and here he couldn't even notice a girl around his age waking in flip flops along the cobblestone walkway.

She was smiling at him and he managed a half smile. "Well, it's not a problem until yourself starts talking back." He quipped back, smirking as he remembered a quote from one of the books he had been reading, which, for some reason, likened muggle philosophy to the magical theory and even a bit of divination.

"Touché" she smirked and then stepped from the porch and walked toward him, gingerly crossing the grass, as her feet tried without luck to not get wet. Finally she just gave up on her tip-toeing across the grass to simply walking. When she made it over to him, she smiled and stuck her hand out. "Name's Kelly. I live down the street, and I am just going around to advertise the car wash we are going to have later today and for the next few weeks to raise money for…" She leaned down slightly and said in a softer tone, "Well, I won't lie to you. Really it's just to get money, period. But adults will contribute more if they think it's for something other than just to line our pockets." She smiled at him again, this one much more sly. "Don't tell anyone, ok." and she gave him a wink. He nodded once.

"My name is Harry." He said upon observing her look of waiting for something. She nodded and with another shake of their oddly still joined hands she let his go and started toward the house.

As she was on her way, she turned and said slightly over her shoulder, "You should come out. Just follow the signs all over." and then she was at the door, a soft rapping sound all Harry could hear of her presence anymore.

5 minutes later she was out of the door, hitting a light jog to get away from the house as Dudley's large, pink, fat face called to her from the house for her to come back and describing in detail, explicit detail, too much detail, all the fun they could have were she to return. Harry saw the sickened look on the girl's face and made out the slightly greenish tint to her face from even half a block away.

And he turned back, flipping through his book, trying to remember what he had been reading about and where he had been in said book. But as he was flipping through, a section caught his eye. It was a section on magical theory and how, with the proper amount of mental and magical awareness and ability, one's view of the world could be altered to visually recognize the status of other people around. This included their current physical health level, as well as the amount of magic they held within them and the ranking level they were in terms of using it and such. It was basically a mental way or organization.

It was speculated that this was used and developed in the mind of ancient Mage-Riders, or ancient magic-using knights, as a way or organizing their enemies so they could see who was most powerful and who should be dealt with first as the biggest threat.

Also hinted at in that section, was an ability that was unlocked deep in each person's mind. An ability that was built up to more and more over time, as certain circumstances were met, until it was let free and directed toward someone or a group of someones. The most recognizable, and actual only known exhibition of said technique was during the Grindlewald War, when one "A. Dumbledore" released a shot of magical energy that actually enveloped all of the battlefield and was the actual noted cause of Grindelwald's fall.

But as Harry intended to read more on this subject, he turned the page, completely enraptured by the story and the theory it transcribed, and as the page was turned, there was a bit clear block missing. There were about 20 pages or so missing, clearly ripped out by the fragments of said pages still attached to the binding.

Harry growled in anger as the build-up was all let down by the missing pages. He took this as an omen that he was to get up and leave, as the sun was getting fairly hotter, and he figured he would head toward the car wash. It would, at the very least, be a change of pace from laying on the grass at number 4 all day reading. Even in the short week of stuffing his brain with magical and muggle theories, spell incantations and wand movements, and even creature indexes, his brain was on full burn-out. It needed to cool off before it shut down completely. And the heat from the weather was no help with his overloaded mind running on fumes, running so much it seemed to be releasing his exhaust from his ears.

So gathering up his books, Harry walked into the house. He set everything down under the cupboard and then went up to the room that he had called his for the previous 4 summers. They did not keep him out of it, but made his life hell if he attempted to sleep in it, after he was escorted home by the Order the week before. So he simply stored his belongings there, he rarely slept anymore anyways.

"You can sleep when you're dead" He had read. And unless he didn't sleep and read up, he'd be sleeping eternally very soon.

So, changing into a pair of jeans of Dudley's that he had cut the bottom half off of, but yet which still reached the middle of his calves and looked as if he could fit both legs in one pant leg, he slipped a simple white t-shirt on and then headed out of the house, walking to the end of Privet Drive and catching sight of the bright orange sign that advertised the Car Wash a block or so away.

So, as he began heading in the direction instructed by the sign, Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and got a bit of time to reflect on the things that had occurred over the week since he was let back from Hogwarts and Madam Pomfrey.

He had been reading so much he was fairly sure that, with his current rate of 3 or so books a day, and about 4 a night, he could catch Hermione by the end of the summer in number of odd, little known facts that he could produce randomly in a conversation. And would surely surpass her in the amount of relevant information he knew within about 2 days.

But no matter how odd or little known the things he was learning were, they were still amazing information. He had learned about the Mage-Riders early on in the book he had been reading earlier that morning. The Mage-Riders were a very interesting discipline of wizards, as they embraced and even helped to shape early muggle culture. Their ability to understand and harness magic was so high that, should their magical techniques be taught to a muggle, it was believed that said muggle would be able to "wield" magic, as they said then, better than normal magicians or wizards of the time.

Thus it was also said that someone holding their abilities in modern day society would hold more magical ability than current wizarding mindset would know what to do with.

Harry shrugged this thought out of his head as he walked into the parking lot next to the park to the sight of a multitude of teenagers in shorts and swim suits alternating between washing cars and each other with the hoses and the buckets they had everywhere.

Harry walked along the sidelines of the lot, watching and looking for the girl he had seen earlier that day. As he was looking, he became aware of footfalls behind him. He turned to look and saw a guy chasing a girl. Actually, it was a guy chasing Kelly. They were both laughing, and he pulled his arm back and launched a water balloon at her. She swerved in her running pattern, and the balloon was left flying right at Harry.

Harry stood there, watching. Watching as the pink balloon flew at him in slow motion to his mind. And he watched it and was so confused by the events that all he did was watch it hit him. Watched as the thin rubber hit his stomach and a ripple went through the material before it broke at the point it hit him and the rubber literally tore itself apart from the impact, firing the water to Harry's body by the lack of material holding it any longer.

And as it inched up and down his shirt, the time sped up as Harry stood there with his shirt soaking and bits of pink rubber before him. He looked to the two, who were fairly oblivious to the action that had just occurred, and as Harry looked to them, the guy caught the girl, who didn't seem to fight much and half tackled her to the ground and then stopped moving completely as he lay over her. They locked eyes and then started to kiss.

Harry saw this and his brain had no thoughts on what had just happened. He wasn't exactly shocked or mad or anything, just lacking all understanding and feelings.

But as he stood there, watching for no apparent reason at all, he thanked the powers that be that after 2 kisses they were up off the ground. And then they saw him and the pink remains sitting on the grass and on his white fairly beat up shoes.

"Uh…oops." the guy said, Upon inspection, Harry was able to see he was fairly short. Actually very short, maybe barely making eye level with Kelly. He had a wide back and was wearing a tank top that seemed too small. He wasn't built very big, fairly thin and lithe, but because of how wide his back was, he looked bigger than he was. He had brown hair cut short and spiked in every direction with blonde tips.

"Ahh, Never mind him. Harry, this is Abel. Abel, Harry." Abel nodded at Harry, Harry did the same. Then Kelly observed the spot of water on Harry's shirt.

"Well, better we got you now than Tony or Kally got you with the hoses." She smirked and then started toward the lot where a line or 3 or 4 incredibly dirty cars were heading in at that moment. She looked over her shoulder and called out "glad you could come Harry" with what Harry was sure was a wink.

Harry turned and looked at Abel, who was brushing off his shorts from the grass that had attached itself in this short time on the ground. Once done, the other boy looked up at Harry. "Don't think anything of it. Nothing at all. She's flirty and if you think there is gonna be anything more out of it, then you are more dumb than you look."

Harry looked at him, and thought that it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself instead of Harry. And as he headed toward where Kelly had gone, making it so he had to walk by Harry, he brushed shoulders with the other boy. This might have been a frightening motion was it not made known by that action that, one, Harry was quite a bit taller than Abel, and two, Abel, for all the physical power he seemed to have, was stopped dead as he attempted to push Harry. He tried two and then three more times, but it didn't work. And for all the simplistic willowy appearance Harry gave off, Abel might as well have tried to shoulder-charge a tree.

Finally giving up, Abel side-stepped Harry and headed off toward Kelly. And there was something coming off of Abel that Harry thought was very foul. Something that set off any alarm in his mind.

Harry shrugged it off and headed out to the lot as well, watching as the young people there observed the 4 new cars with clear disdain before the hoses were turned on and the cars were literally attacked with water. And in the process, so were the teenagers within the 10 foot radius.

As Harry neared the area, water was being thrown around and splashed about, and soon he was hit as well. So much so that his shirt became completely soaked, so he took it off. He placed it on a tree limb to dry and took a seat, facing the car wash as he sat on it. He smiled to himself as they all laughed and played, and then watched as Kelly and another girl walked toward him. They were smiling to each other, both wearing bright colored bikinis and shorts and talking animatedly.

Finally they made it to him and Kelly spoke. "Harry, this is Kally." Harry looked to the girl. She looked remarkably similar to Kelly, only she had really bright hazel eyes. They were odd as, every few seconds their tint or color seemed to change, which was a very interesting contrast next to Kelly's blue eyes. They both had blonde hair that seemed to barely be making blonde, and border-lining red, and dimples on each cheek as they smiled and laughed on their way over.

Harry looked up to Kally and smiled, nodding at her in acknowledgement before rising from his seat under the tree. He stuck his hand out and smiled. "Hey, I'm Harry."

"Wow, he got up for you. He didn't do that for me. Must be someone special." Kelly cooed sarcastically.

"Either that or my leg fell asleep." Harry replied, but then glanced at Kally. She was smirking slightly.

"Harry, I asked you over here so you could meet her. Since I couldn't directly make any passes at you, seeing to my current relationship status, I figured mini-me here would do fine until I can ditch that asshole I affectionately call my boyfriend." Kelly said all of this in an overly-cheerful voice and with a big smile.

Kally rolled her eyes and then pushed Kelly and as the girl moved, Kally kicked her in her behind playfully. "Shut it you." She said with a laugh. "Besides, what are you talking about, I'm 20 minutes older than you."

Kally turned to Harry and smiled. "Look, forgive her, she's the tweedle-dum out of our little duo."

"So you two are twins…"

"Cousins actually. Very odd that we were born the same day and look this much alike. Add to it that we are related by our fathers, and therefore have the same last name, and with our mothers being oh so creative with naming us, it's a mistake everyone makes." Kally's smile hit Harry like a ton of bricks, its dazzling feeling shocked the hell out of Harry. The freckles across her nose added to the affect somehow, and Harry couldn't help but smile as well. Kelly looked at the two and smiled.

"Seems you two have hit it off, think I'll leave you two to it." she winked and walked off. As soon as she was back to the car wash, Kally let out a long breath and sighed.

"Its frightening how much I hate her actually. Really very scary. She has this notion in her head that I should be like her." She looked up to Harry. "Sorry about that. She wants me to be her replacement, wants to live her life through me, since we all know Abel won't let her go. Gotten herself into a hole with him and lives vicariously through her friends.

"You see, she refuses to believe yet that I want little to do with any guy she has her little 'instant attraction' towards, they usually all turn out dunderheaded pompous assholes. No offense. I just want to find my own person, not take anyone she throws at me."

Harry observed her through what could only be considered a rant, and nodded at the end. He was a little confused by her mood swing, but took it as a simple made-up speech to "let him down easy" as the girls often did to some of the guys at school. He shrugged his shoulders, nodded and sat back down. But she showed no signs of leaving once rid of him. She just stood there, looking at him.

"Do you intend to sit out here like this all day or something?" she asked, and before Harry could answer, he was pulled up and she stood him up and began dragging him over to the cars. She disappeared for a second, and reappeared holding a bucket and a sponge. She handed them to Harry and then disappeared again. Harry looked around for something to do, and saw many a car that could use a washing, but he cleaned when at home, why do it there too?

After standing there for about 3 minutes without moving, Kally reappeared, holding something behind her back. "Oh, I forgot the water," and with that she pulled out a hose and began spraying Harry with it. He was utterly drenched in seconds. And finally she stopped the downpour and stood there, laughing. What she missed was, although the bucket had been empty before, with her little impression of a London Rainstorm, she had nearly filled it up. And Harry was not about to let her treachery stand.

Moments later the bucket was emptied atop her head. And to emphasize his point, he placed said bucket on her head and gave it a pat. The entire car wash stopped completely. Everyone was watching, and suddenly they all began to cheer. Kelly walked over to Harry and gave him a pat on the back. "You did it! In 5 minutes of being here, you overthrew our little hydromanical tyrant here." She smiled and proceeded to give the bucket a pat as she walked by, something that had yet to come off of Kally's head.

She removed the bucket slowly, and her lack of appreciation for Harry's little prank reciprocity was clear. "You die. Now." and with that she began chasing him. Harry being no fool took off running from her. He had the advantage, wearing proper shoes and all, but she was one determined girl. She chased him around the lot about 4 times, around the grassy park area and even through the little tanbark and sand kid's playground area. It looked really odd, two teenagers running about through swings and slides and across monkey bars.

Finally Harry stopped and laid down on the grass on his back staring up at the clouds. "You win. I'm done running." Harry said, breathing deeply. He became aware of another gasping person next to him, and turned his head slightly to find Kally laying next to him.

"I'll let you off with a warning this time. Don't let it happen again." They had a light chuckle and then just laid in silence for a while.

And as Harry's eyes began to close and he became peaceful, he heard a voice he recognized clearly.

Dudley

"What is that fat bastard doing here?" he muttered to himself as he sat up and looked around. And sure enough, there was Dudley across the street with his friends, cigarette in one hand, and a rock in the other, watching traffic for a prime target.

And as a break in the cars appeared, Dudley and Harry locked eyes.

"Potter…" And Dudley launched the rock at Harry, it was coming straight at him when Kally sat up. It was then heading straight for her.

Harry reacted as quickly as possible, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her down toward him. The rock sailed over them both, hitting the grass and rolling a few times. Harry let Kally go and stood shakily. He looked to his cousin, who was snickering quite a lot to himself. However, what he missed was the police car that had just been waiting to drive into the lot for a wash. And the officer who had witnessed the whole thing. And was currently eyeing Dudley, who was dropping his cigarette from his mouth dropped open in shock.

It seemed that Fate had it in for Dudley, and Harry thanked her for that. For as the cigarette fell, it seemed to hit a lone patch of spilled motor oil, and the flames flared up and attached themselves to his pants, and slowly began to eat away at the material, burning along Dudley's fat leg.

Screaming in a high pitched sound boarding between a 5 year old girl and a pig, He began shaking his leg and screaming more and more. As he did this fanatical action, his hopping on one leg, besides inducing little jumps on the seismometer, he carried himself out into the street. And Harry saw this and almost laughed to himself at the irony. Many a times the Dursleys had requested he "go play in traffic" only, as it seemed, that one of their own would be killed by such an activity. Harry could see it, "Dudley Dursley, age: 16, cause of death: Dancing in the Streets."

Harry nearly laughed to himself, but was knocked out of his reminiscing of his cousin's death as a loud horn signaled its imminence. And as the car careened toward Dudley, time slowed for Harry as he watched his bug-eyed cousin's face as the automobile neared him, having swerved to miss him only to end up on a more direct and lethal path for the rotund roadblock.

He laid on his bed. Reading was moved inside that day, as the rain made its return with a vengeance. The gentle drum rhythms against the rooftop did not serve as appropriate reading music, as he found his eyes drooping closed every few seconds.

Yes, home alone for the first time in damn near ever, and he was upstairs, in his "room", reading.

"My, not only do I fail as a wizard. Fail as a savior. But I'm a failure at being a good teenager to boot. Wow, amazing. Can't even manage to die correctly either…"

And after his little rant, dust billowed up in a cloud as the large tome was slammed closed and tossed to the floor. Turning over onto his back and staring to the ceiling to, once more, begin counting the cracks in the ceiling, Harry allowed himself to rest.

And as he did, the world once more spun into and out of existence at the same time.

"Karma."

"Harry."

They greeted each other as such, and then sat down in two chairs, which were, outside of themselves, the only thing in existence at all it seemed.

"So, need I comment on the events at the park, or should I just let you deal with that in your own mind?" Harry shook his head, and she seemed to know which answer he was giving. "Now you see. Now you begin to realize the power you are achieving."

"But why then? Why couldn't they have shown up, like, 2 hours later or something? I mean, they had to mysteriously appear the one time I wanted to be completely helpless."

"But that tub of fat and bile that is your cousin must live. It is decided. He may be a grimy little bastard, well, not so little, but he has a purpose in everything, and we shall come to see soon that time can heal any wound or rift, given enough of it."

"That, or make it worse." Harry grumbled under his breath. She smiled at him and then stood and walked over to him. She stood him up and put her hands on his shoulders, holding him facing her.

"Harry Harry Harry, oh how I love you. You are the cynicism I need to live. Eons of people doing as you believe and seeing things as you do is boring. This is why I care about you so much, outside of other reasons. You are my opposite, and where I have pushed the world to the edge of existence, you will pull it back from extinction." And she did something odd. She kissed him. Not a kissy kind of kiss, but a sweet kiss on the cheek, so chaste it was almost sibling-like, or even motherly, as Harry could only guess, in some warped way.

And as she pulled away, she looked very sad. But she forced a smile and forcibly shoved him back into his seat.

"Now, Standard Meditation Form will be worked on for now. Alterations can and should be made for comfort and optimized performance, but the basics shall have to suffice…"

And long after, Harry having no sense of time in the place he was could only assume it had to at least be 3 hours or meditation and forms, Harry stood with a pop in his knees and a cramp in his lower back. Karma didn't make it any better as she slapped him squarely on the spot hardily and laughed. "Go get 'em Tiger. Grrrrr." and then she smiled and winked before the world began the slow transition back to its all too colorful and boring existence.

But as his eyes opened, after a period of rapid blinking and trying to clear away the light, he realized something. Light. There hadn't been light before. And there hadn't been voices.

"I really don't know. Its like, he refuses to move or something. Physically he's alive and breathing. By all appearances, its almost like he's just in a very deep state of concentration."

Harry looked up, glad his glasses were still intact and in place after his rest. He looked and saw bright hair. Tonks. And across from her was some other man Harry didn't recognize at all. But as he adjusted himself, the man took one look at him and nodded once, before heading out of the room and probably the house faster than was necessary to just leave. It was damn near a run, almost a fanatical, frantic one, and the door hit the wall and then closed behind him.

Tonks stood there, staring at him.

And staring

And staring

Finally it pissed Harry off. "What!"

And as she looked at him, suddenly he was laying back on his bed again from the force of her offensive action toward him. It was very…odd what she had done, and it hurt like hell.

She had literally dive-tackled him back onto his bed and laid there, half on him, and just looked at him. And finally she placed her head in the crook of his neck, hit him on the chest repeatedly and muttered, "Damn it Potter, what is going on inside that head of yours? Something is going on here, I can feel it. Open up to us…lemme know, please. I'm begging you."

And Harry stared at her. This was a totally unexpected thing. And he wondered why the world was spinning off of its axis around him. And then it hit him. Literally. The answer to his question came in the form of a bundle of paper from a brown Post Owl.

And the headline hit Harry. Hard. And it explained why the order was all around him. Why they were watching him. Why Tonks was so overly…whatever she was being.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Murders Whole Island Cluster, Over 150,000 dead in under 3 hours.

With Death Eaters nowhere in sight many wonder exactly how You-Know-Who was able to effectively kill all these people alone. The Islands, a cluster rarely noticed or documented, an island specializing in Magical Advancements and Ancient Relics slated as the next Base of Operations for the "Dark Movement". Only one island remains, and within minutes it is slated for attack as well. The Ministry of magic, sadly, sits idly by, lacking the resources to act at the current time. More one page 2…

Harry dropped the paper and he stared up at the ceiling before the world left as his consciousness abandoned him and the world went dark. And this time, there were no footsteps or Karma, just nightmares, or more, memories he didn't know he had. As screaming people tried to run but were surrounded. Surrounded by vile green flames as babies were burned alive and some tossed into a bonfire-like pile of burning green flames by animated furniture and people killed by their own families, and other ingested by their houses in some sick mimicry of some kind of perverted Disney movie sequence.

And as a woman with super-long black hair and Amethyst eyes ran past him, blood staining her front, but clearly not her own, flashes of lightning, blasts of water and shards of ice exploded all around her, small stuffed animals chasing her carrying knives and such, and Harry realized what had happened. He realized the sickening mind of the one people refused to name.

Animation Charms

Simple things that they were. one part transfiguration, one part charms, something simply taught in the last 3 years of Hogwarts, something he knew even Ron could pull off by the end of that coming year. Simple charm to animate the inanimate to do the biding of the caster. These simple, usually innocent charms, mostly used to make a playing card hover for seconds longer, or even to make chess pieces play on their own in Wizard's Chess, were being used to murder people.

And as the screams continued, the heat intensifying and the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils…Harry realized something.

Smell

Feel

These were no ordinary nightmares.

"Harry Potter, how nice of you to join us. Seems I can indeed make this a clean sweep here and now. So, are you prepared to meet your wretched parents once and for all." Came the slithering, snake-like voice.

And Harry whirled around to find his enemy before him, his wand leveled. And Harry stood there, in his pajamas, defenseless and lost, in the middle of a war.

"Say Nighty-Night."

And the beginnings of an all-too familiar spell began to form on his thin lips. And Harry closed his eyes, running the information through his mind, and trying to gather up all the energy he had. And suddenly the words died down and time slowed down.

He opened his eyes to see two things happening at once. One, the world was slow. Super slow. Too slow. As in, the ash falling from the sky from the sickening fire was barely moving, almost suspended completely in the air, and everything around Harry was near a pause. Including the green spell heading toward him.

And also something else he noticed was, the woman who he had seen with the long hair had since fallen, and a small, round stuffed toy was diving at her, knife held somehow in its little paw.

Harry began to move, finding it difficult to move, taking a lot of time, but he was moving easily 2 times as fast as everything else. Meaning he might as well have not been moving to his mind.

But eventually he was out of the way, and as he put his mind into it, fought for it, his energy began to die down. And time sped back up. He made it to the doll as it finally fell toward the woman just as time resumed its speed. he grabbed its other arm and flung it, sending it flying back and into the course of the Avada Kedavra curse. And something very very odd happened.

You see, and animation curse is as close as possible to the opposite of the Killing Curse. And when two opposing spells collide, one of two things could happen.

If they are weaker spells, normally they would either cancel, or ricochet back randomly somewhere else. But with both spells having the power of Voldemort fueling them, the backlash was the second possibility, only, a lot worse.

The spells hit, and they seemed to slow before suddenly a soundless explosion erupted. It was much like WWII videos right after the A-Bomb hit, as a huge explosion would spread, but much too fast for even sound. And soon the sound caught up, so powerful all houses not burned down were blown away, and all fires were put out. And a rift was created. A big, solid crack in seemingly the material of the very world. A white crack surrounded by faint black outlining.

"What the…" and as Harry tried to finish speaking, the wind rocketed at him, and his voice disappeared as the crack seemed to begin to cause an earthquake that shook the whole island seemingly out of the water.

And then, as a rock sailed at him from its wedged place in the ground, Harry looked to Voldemort, and would have laughed so hard he would have died would it have been possible. He thought, "at least I'll die laughing."

As Voldemort, The big bad Dark Lord, stood there, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, and the most amazing look on his face.

He was scared. Scared paralyzed. So scared he was shaking more than the earthquake was causing. And then, to Harry's shock, The all powerful You-Know-Who, fainted.

And Harry smirked before the rock slammed into his head and his mind began to go blank. But as it did, Harry assumed it was all just hallucination of his injured head, but he knew he saw a tall figure step out from the crack that was ripped straight up into the sky. And the figure seemed to observe everything and then walk toward him, shaking his head.

"You know, that was arguably the most wonderful display of pure, unadulterated luck I have ever seen. Who'da thunk that you would become a better ambassador of Fate than even I could, and I am Fate! Seems odd really, that somehow you saved that woman, who will have a bigger impact on your fate than you could even hope to realize, without my instruction. And purely and solely on your own devices.

"Potter, I really have no idea what to do with you. You scare me so, but amaze me more and more each day." came Karma's voice as she kissed Harry's head softly as he lay in his bed at Number 4, blood staining the gauze wrapped around his head near his right temple. She had taken the liberty of destroying the Dursley house until she found a first aid kit, and then moved Harry back into his room from the cupboard, and then had doctored Harry up as much as she knew how. She could not make appearances to people she had to influence directly. But as she looked to him, she figured, it was either that and she deal with the repercussions, or the world no longer have anyone to worry about her helping. She brushed her hand lightly over his hair before standing and raising her white hood and seeming to become more and more transparent before she walked toward the wall and seemed to go through it before disappearing completely.

"What do you mean vanished?" Albus Dumbledore asked, an edge in his voice clear even though he strained to hide it. And as Tonks opened her mouth to speak, the door opened and Severus Snape entered.

"Sir, he's here."

Dumbledore nodded and made a motion for Snape to let him in. Snape stepped aside, and in walked a tall form. And it was odd, as he stood there by Snape. Both men were tall, pale and thin, but it was still some contrast there as the man just let in was much more…solid and purposefully thin, while Snape was more…anorexic looking. But the biggest contrast was yet to come. Taking off the hood of the black hooded sweatshirt he wore, long white, perfectly straight hair cascaded out, which has an odd effect next to Snape's greasy black hair.

"Hello. I am Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore introduced himself in a very polite and moderately calm voice. His usual calm voice that was so calm it was almost antagonistically devoid of emotion. The man, even from behind his sunglasses, was still able to make a face that showed he was, in no way, impressed.

"Yeah, well, since you British like going by last names, you can call me Nox." Upon saying this, every light in the room died. "What, did I say the magic word or something." He muttered as Dumbledore revived the light with a word and a weak wand movement. "So, ol' greasy dragged me here, what for."

"It would be very helpful should you remove your sunglasses. I assure you, it will not be too bright in here, but I would like to be able to know where you are looking and make eye contact with you."

Nox shook his head. "No, that's ok."

Snape fumed. "You insolent little prat. Don't you see who you are speaking to? He holds the power to exterminate someone like you easier than you would step on an insect. Do as he says, right now. Now!" and with that, Snape slumped to the floor. Nox had dropped him faster than Tonks or Dumbledore could even see what happened. Nox walked over, took off his sunglasses, but his eyes were still closed as he pulled the chair over and sat down. He faced Dumbledore, and Tonks, who was sitting on the edge of Dumbledore's desk, and then opened his eyes.

And Tonks and Dumbledore both sat back and looked at him. They were both in shock. Empty, completely black eyes. With no whites or colors, just straight blackness.

Dumbledore was the first to regain composure. He looked at Nox deeply, and for some time. Suddenly Nox leaned back in his chair languidly and smirked. "Your mind tricks won't work, sorry. You see, I've been through more and learned from it than you could in many lifetimes. I know, it took me a few to get this far." And he looked at Dumbledore intently.

This unnerved the wizard, but suddenly something left Nox's mouth that freaked him out even more. "So, you want me to join your little Order and be some kind of muscle-for-hire for you, run out there and kick people's asses for you so you get recognition, but none of your people get exposed, that the gist of it?"

Dumbledore stood there, in shock. He nodded slowly. "Well, you can shove your answer up your ass. Goodnight." He stood and made to the door. He stopped and walked over to Tonks and looked at her. He stared for a while, and she did the same. He smiled at her, something very odd, and then turned and was out of the room very quickly.

Tonks sat there, staring at the door which he had…which he had walked right past. And instead, had climbed up on the windowsill and leapt. She ran to the window, thinking it was weird if he would have rather killed himself that joined the Order, and when she looked, she saw something frighteningly odd.

He was walking, his hands in his pockets, his whistling reverberating off the stone walls of the castle to make it very loud. And where she realized he would have landed as he jumped, there was deep cracking and a small crater in the hard rock and dirt ground. And there, visible from even a few stories up, were the indents of his steel-toed boots where he had landed.

Tonks stood there, her jaw dropping. That man had dropped from, easily, 6 stories up, landed on his feet, and was walking away, bouncing with each step and whistling happily.

"Whoever you are…more like, whatever you are…" Tonks muttered before turning and leaving the office, through the door instead, making it a point to step on the still unconscious potion's master.

"What are you talking about?" Petunia Dursley shouted loudly. "And who is this you speak of!"

Harry sat up, wiping his eyes. He groaned loudly, and reached around for his glasses. He found them and put them on. But as he looked through them, he found that they blurred his vision more than they helped. Taking them off, he looked and there was a note under where they had been.

It basically told him that the person who had been doctoring him up had attempted to save his vision from his blow to the head. And in doing so, she appeared of have "accidentally" fixed the eye that had been harmed by the hit from the rock. And in doing so, she figured she might as well fix the other one. There was a little smiley face drawn at the bottom of the note, and no name, but he knew who it was from.

Harry wondered about his old glasses, for memento sake, but upon seeing the gauze and where the dried blood stain on it was, he realized that the rock must have destroyed the old frames. He smiled and mentally thanked Karma for doing what she had done, as his glasses had always caused an inconvenient weakness for him in combat. Any competent opponent would summon his glasses, and have him left there for easy pickings.

Remembering the screaming, Harry got up, unwrapping the gauzes from his head and tossing it to the trash after feeling and finding that it was not still bleeding.

He headed out of his room, and looked down the landing to find the police officer who had arrested Dudley the day before, or had intended to, standing there. And petunia did not look Happy. "Yes, I am here to speak to you about Harry Potter. My daughter, Kally, has asked to see him, and I felt the need to speak to you regarding the Dudley Dursley incident yesterday. Do you know of this Miss…"

"Mrs. Dursley."

"Oh, then I assume you do know of the incident then. If that is the case, then I will leave you. I am sure Kally can speak to Harry later." And with that the man left and Petunia closed the door, looking quite flustered.

Looking for answers on the "incident", Petunia turned and headed up the stairs. And as she did, she looked at Harry. And suddenly she grabbed his arm and dragged him into his room. She closed the door and stood against it, almost as to hold Harry captive inside.

"Tell me, Potter, clearly. What happened yesterday with my son and you?"

Harry regarded his aunt, and slowly began to open his mouth, when he saw something. Something interesting in her eyes.

His aunt was scared. Very…scared.

"OK, well, it started like this…"