Chapter 03

One hundred years into the past… Harry Potter had just arrived back at Number Four, Privet Drive with his relatives after his fifth year at Hogwarts. His school year had been anything but peaceful, and having witnessed the death of his godfather, the Order took it upon themselves to threaten the Dursleys on Harry's behalf.

Unfortunately, big angry men such as Vernon Dursley rarely took a hint when given one, and took the threats as an insult to his person. Once home, he immediately shoved Harry's trunk – which contained his wand – and books into the cupboard under the stairs and Hedwig was barely saved an equal fate as Harry dashed her upstairs to his room.

Uncle Vernon was a simple, narrow-minded man. He would not allow some 'freaks' to order him around. Despite the warnings about not hearing from Harry for three days, he locked his nephew in Dudley's spare room and again, barred the windows shut like in Harry's second year.

And so, here sat Harry, three days after his imprisonment, sitting at his bed. Empty soup cans littered the floor, for that was all he was given to eat, as were the water bottles that collected themselves on his desk. Surprisingly, Aunt Petunia had taken it upon herself to buy Harry's food, and while not that healthy, the stews did a good job of filling Harry up. He was fed thrice a day, though to his uncle he ate only once. Harry was never sure why his aunt had started to 'help' him, but he certainly wasn't going to risk his food by asking her. He sat on his bed, stroking Hedwig's neck as she crooned sadly.

"The Order should be here today," Harry told his owl. Although, given the Order's actions as of late, he couldn't help but give an involuntary wince. "I hope."

A flash of white light caught his attention. Hedwig gave out a startled screech, and with a flurry of feathers, she disappeared behind the dresser. Harry, unable to move upon seeing such a sight, sat riveted on his bed as he watched the ball of light that appeared in his room.

It seemed to take shape, slowly changing into a glowing humanoid form. For a brief moment, Harry wondered if this were some sort of trap of Voldemort's, but decided that it probably wasn't, since the 'blood wards' prevented the Dark Lord from coming here.

The white glow finally dissipated and lo and behold, there stood a young woman. She was beautiful. She was definitely Asian by the looks of it, and held a delicate but strong looking visage. She had a beautiful face, Harry couldn't quite describe her beauty, but it seemed almost Veela-like, despite the fact that she had very long and straight black hair instead of the silver Veela usually had. Her eyes were what drew Harry in, as he unconsciously rose from his bed.

Such beautiful eyes they were, so perfectly shaped and framed. Harry felt he could look into them for ages. Unfortunately, the young women disagreed.

"Are you going to say hello, or just stare at me all day?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her rich voice. She placed a slender hand on her somewhat unnaturally small waist.

Harry just then realized that she was transparent. "Er… are you a ghost?" he asked hesitantly. She didn't quite look like the ghosts of Hogwarts, as she still held color but she certainly was see-through.

She shrugged. "I'm apparently just my soul," she answered. "Are you Harry Potter?"

He nodded, words unable to work for him at the moment. Just what was going on?

"Alright, listen," she said, floating over to Harry's side. "Apparently you lose some war against some Dark Lord or whatever, and Fate decided to send me back to help you… somehow."

"Lose? How did I lose? Are you from the future?" Harry asked rapidly. Things were never normal for him, he was slowly beginning to accept that.

She held up her hands. "Whoa, take it easy," she laughed. "I don't know how you lost, I was never told. And yes, I'm from the year 2098."

"Bloody hell!" was Harry's eloquent response.

"Indeed."

"How are you supposed to help me?" Harry asked curiously.

The woman sighed. "I'm Tashaneri Kadonshi, by the way," she said.

"Oh, that's a nice name," Harry blushed, he probably should have asked who she was…

"Thank you. Fate said that my soul was going to be bound to yours and that I'd help you somehow." She wrinkled her brow cutely. "I have no idea how, I'm not even magical or whatever…"

She looked up at Harry. "Will… will you accept my help?" she asked hesitantly. "If you lose, the future as we know it will cease to exist. And I rather liked it…"

Harry took a deep breath. A maelstrom of emotions and thoughts raged through his mind. Surprisingly, the thought on whether to trust this Tashaneri Kadonshi was at the back of his mind. Queerly, his thoughts about her soul being bound to his were foremost, and what it would entail worried him the most. What was so drastic in the near future that made it come to this? What was so bad that Harry needed the help of someone from the future to come back in time?

Harry shook his head, banishing such thoughts. Now was not the time for second guessing, he had done that all year and look where it got him. After the death of Sirius… he needed all the help he could get.

He looked Tashaneri square in the eye. "What do I need to do?"

Hundreds of kilometers away, Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk at Hogwarts and couldn't help but let an involuntary twitch bother his left eye. Glaring at the pieces of destroyed objects around him, he thought, damn that brat! I never should have put the tracking devices out on display on my desk, and now look what happened! I need to repair these quickly! At least Harry didn't destroy my ward sensor.

The wizened old wizard looked over at a silver instrument on the shelf nearby. It was currently spinning very quickly and emitting strange clicking noises. Albus quickly strode over and gave it a look.

"That's odd…" he murmured. "It says that a magical presence is near the brat. Impossible! I told the Order to keep away from Harry, to keep him isolated and his stupid friends were easy to convince, they're not even sending him letters! Stupid thing must be malfunctioning again…"

He gave the instrument a prod with his wand and it seemingly stopped whirring about. "That's better, stupid thing. I should replace it soon."

Back in Little Whinging, Harry and Tashaneri had just taken each other's hand…

Neither were prepared for what happened next. With a startled scream from each of them, Tashaneri and Harry were quite literally sucked into eachother.