Chapter 9
Harry blinked. "The beginning?"
The apparition rolled his eyes. "Really I though you were more intelligent. Oh well, I guess this is partly my fault."
Harry's eyebrow's disappeared under his fringe. "Partly?" he could hear the slightly hysteria in his own voice.
He just stared apathetically. "Arguing will get us nowhere. Anyways, I suppose you're wondering what happened?" He stretched his arms above his head, the chain jingling eerily. When all he received was a blank look, he dropped his arms with a sigh and shrugged. "Alright, alright. I decided to try an experiment and it backfired. Happens all the time."
Harry blinked. "You experimented…with time?"
"Well…" he tilted his head to the side. "I would say I experimented with Death, really. You see, the spell I used was originally designed to bring back someone who had been killed by another, by simply substituting the murder's life for that of the victim. However there were some flaws in my theory."
"Flaws?"
His hair fell back in his eyes as he nodded. "Yeah you see…when I originally created this spell, it was only supposed to be used directly after the act of murder. But considering I've been stuck on a shelf for hell only knows how long, I thought I could stretch that boundary."
"How did you get stuck in a book? Who are you?" Harry was trying to process the words his ears were hearing, but his brain had taken a break to recover from the shock.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You have a one track mind don't you? How I got stuck in this infernal book is not really important, I ain't getting out anytime soon. And if you must have a name, you can call me Dante."
"Dante? Okay." He nodded as his grasped on to that and tried to focus. "You said flaws, plural…" his eyes narrowed as he stared at him.
Dante tapped his chin with his finger. "I did, didn't I?" He sighed. "Well, it seems I really messed up in picking you as a test subject." He shook his head. "Your life is so entangled with everything that when your life changed, it changed more than I expected. And now, the fabric of time is trying to repair the hole I tore through it." He admitted.
"You tore a hole through the fabric of time?!"
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?!"
Harry took a deep breath and reminded himself that arguing would not make this make any more sense. "Okay, how do you know it's fixing itself?"
Dante's eyes took on a faraway look and Harry was disturbed to see the red spread throughout the whites of his eyes. "I can see it," he intoned. He blinked and the red receded as he once again focused on Harry. "But it's going to take time…"
"How much time?"
Dante shrugged. "Six months, a year…" he nodded to himself. "Probably less than a year…"
Harry rubbed his face, unknowingly spreading dirt now all over his face. "So what about my other life? Is time moving there as well?"
Dante shook his head. "No. When the rip is repaired it should drop us right back where we left."
Harry nodded. "What about if something happens to me here? Will it cross over?"
Dante looked confused. "Like what?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well for starters, I'll be a year older, if it indeed takes that long."
Dante ran a hand through his dark hair. "Now I'm only hypothesizing here, but I assume that any changes you make in yourself here, should carry over. But don't get yourself killed. I don't know if that would just fix the timelines, or screw us all to hell."
Harry nodded to himself as an idea started to form in his head. He smirked, rather evilly judging by the raised eyebrow from Dante. "I should thank you."
Dante blinked. "You should? Why?"
Smirk still in place Harry walked towards the book. "I'll tell you later, can you…" He motioned with his hands until Dante understood and sank back into the book. Harry closed the book softly. "You can still see and hear everything around you, right?" he had his theory, but he wanted to make sure.
"Of course." Came the arrogant voice.
"You mind if I shrink you? You're kinda on the big side." He pulled his wand out.
"Whatever." Came his answer.
After carefully shrinking the book to the size of a charm, he placed a secure sticking charm to it and stuck it on the backside of his dragon pendent.
"So where are we going?" the voice was quieter than before, but still very audible.
Harry took one last look around the dusty and run down room. Thinking that the Order really had done a lot of work to get the house livable, he walked out and closed the door softly.
"Home." He answered quietly and pulled his shirt back up over his mouth as clouds of dust were kicked up. He made it all the way out the door without incident and after rewarding the door behind him, apparated back home.
He stalked up the walkway and quietly opened the backdoor. He managed to close the door when the fire flared in the kitchen fireplace and he was met with a sight that made him cringe.
Lilly and Severus were sitting at the table. Severus looked calm, if one didn't know him. Unfortunately, or fortunately because it gave him some sort of heads up, Harry did know him and could see this conversation would not be fun.
Add that to Lilly looking like she was ready to kill him on the spot, made Harry back against the wall. He looked from one face to the other, waiting for the explosion. He wanted to look at his watch, to see exactly how late it was, but he didn't really want to draw their wrath before absolutely necessary.
"Where the Hell have you been?" Lilly's voice was more controlled than Harry would have figured.
Harry racked his brain. "Um…nowhere particular, I just went out to get…a drink…and forgot the time."
He knew he was screwed when she raised one of her eyebrows. "Do you generally drink in dusty places?"
He stared at her confused for several seconds until Severus sighed and conjured a mirror and held it up so Harry could see himself. His face was a mess of dirt and dust and his clothes had a layer of dust coating every inch. Oh yes, he was royally screwed.
Harry figured he would try for a half-truth. "Well…" he started out slowly. "I went to Grimmauld Place." That caused Lilly to halt, with her mouth open. She obviously hadn't been expecting that. Severus looked more confused than mad now.
"And why did you go there?" Severus was studying him intensely and Harry averted his eyes.
"I was looking for something, a book. But it wasn't there."
Lilly blinked. "How did you even know where that place is? And I'm sure there are wards surrounding the place…If Sirius took you to that dark infested place, I'll kill him!"
Harry held up his hands. "It's not Sirius' fault. He doesn't even know I was there."
"Then how did you get there?" she reasoned.
Harry sighed. "I knew about it from, my other memories."
Severus nodded as if some theory of his had been proved, but Lilly's eye's widened in shock. "You're still having those dreams? Maybe we should take you to St. Mungo's."
Harry backed up another step and reached behind himself to put a hand on the doorknob. "You aren't taking me anywhere."
"Lilly, stop." Severus' voice broke through to her. "Go to bed, it is entirely to late to be discussing this. Harry wash off that filth and get some sleep as well. We will talk about this is in the morning." He stood and ushered Lilly towards their room, throwing a look towards Harry as he cautiously made his way to his room as well.
As he walked down the hallway, he muttered. "Great, now my mother thinks I'm a nutcase."
"You are a nutcase. Why are you so filthy?"
Harry jumped about three feet in the air. "Holy shit, Emily! You scared the crap out of me!"
He could see her raising an eyebrow in the moonlight that filtered through the windows in the hall. She was outlined in her doorway, dressed in a pair of sleep pants and one of his old shirts. "What's going on, Harry?" She asked softly.
Harry looked away, hating the look on her face. He sighed. "I can't tell you right now, please Emily?" His heart almost broke when he remembered she would be nothing but a memory when the rip in the fabric of time was fixed.
She nodded and chewed on her lower lip. "Hey, Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I stay with you tonight?"
His heart broke a little more. "Of course." She followed him across the hall. "I'm going to take a quick shower." He told her as she climbed into his bed.
She nodded and crinkled her nose. "You better. You look like you've been rolling around in the dirt." He smiled and left for the bathroom, a fresh pair of sleep pants held carefully as to not get them completely filthy as well.
When he got back from his shower, Emily was already breathing deeply, curled on her side. She looked so young to him then. Memories of her sneaking into his room after a nightmare flooded his mind, but she hadn't done that in a few years.
He climbed in bed next to her, carefully pulling the blanket up to her chin. He watched her face for a moment, trying to completely commit her features to memory. He kissed her gently on the forehead and settled down on the bed.
"Goodnight, Emily." He said softly, before closing his eyes and falling to sleep.