Chapter Two

Albus Dumbledore, arguably one of the most brilliant men alive, was almost exactly as J.K. Rowling described him. He had periwinkle robes on, his beard was long enough to tuck into trousers if he was wearing any, and his blue eyes seriously twinkled behind the half moon spectacle he was wearing. His eyes were lighter than my own deep blue ones, but they had a keen awareness and wisdom that I knew mine absolutely lacked. He was a strange to me because I knew how powerful he was, and I could feel how powerful he was, but he had the demeanor of the eccentric grandparent down to an art form. I'm sure it made quite a few people underestimate him or trust him, but I was being wary regardless.

I had found out right before I asked if I could speak with Professor Dumbledore that the odd sensation I had been feeling ever since I woke up was my magical core. Not only could I sense my own core, being a foreign entity in my body (or would it be me that is the foreign entity? This was so confusing), but I could also sense another person's magic as well. Dumbledore's magic was soothing but immense, like a giant blanket over the room, and it was like when I was younger and would go into my parents bed and hide under their covers. The blanket was huge, comfortable, and warm; but it could still suffocate me if I wasn't paying attention or if someone caused it too. Not that I would ever be wary of a blanket, but the metaphor was accurate; Albus Dumbledore had a big presence that made me wary, safe, and apprehensive all at once. We had been sitting in relative silence the past couple of minutes as he waited for me to speak again now that we had introduced ourselves to one another and I had declined his offer of candy.

"Sir, thank you for coming." I said quietly, my eyes tracing the pattern my finger was making in the sheets on my bed. I knew Legimens needed eye contact for the skill to work most efficiently, so I was going to avoid meeting those twinkling orbs of his the most that I could.

"Absolutely, my boy. I am sorry to hear about the tragedy that has befallen your family." Professor Dumbledore said, his words matching the tone of sympathy his voice carried perfectly. "I am afraid it is dark times that we live in currently."

"Yes, sir." I agreed, eyes still downcast but glad that he had given me an opening to tell him exactly why I had asked to speak with him. "I guess you're wondering why I asked the medi-wizard if I could speak to you?"

"It had crossed my mind, yes." Dumbledore said, smiling benignly at me when I glanced up to see his expression.

"Well, sir, I was wondering if I could continue my education. At Hogwarts." I said, frowning at how timid I sounded. That wasn't like me. "As you said sir, we don't live in the best of times and if I ever come across.. His followers again, I want to protect myself."

"I must admit, I imagined you would ask to come to Hogwarts." Dumbledore said as I trailed off "And Hogwarts doors are always open to students willing to learn and ask for help. I think you would fit in just fine."

"Thank you, Professor." I said, relieved it had been that easy. "I was hoping I could start at the beginning of this next term. I would be in my sixth year, sir."

"Ah, yes. I will have to ask the Ministry for a copy of your O.W.L.'s then." Dumbledore said, smiling at me still. "I am curious, what are your plans until you start Hogwarts? There are quite a few months left still."

"I have no family left, sir." I said quietly, the thought of being alone quite daunting. "They are talking about putting me in an orphanage for a year until I turn of age, but I am going to try to file for emancipation."

"Emancipation?" Dumbledore mused, not sounding surprised at all. "Why is that?"

"I'd like to live at my home and be able to practice magic until I can attend Hogwarts, Professor." I said, fiddling with the sheets. I wasn't prepared for him to ask all of these questions, I was hoping the conversation would pretty much end after Dumbledore had given me permission to come to Hogwarts.

"Well, if you would agree to a couple of my friends stopping by every now and then, I think I could put a good word in at the Ministry about declaring you independent." Dumbledore said, making my eyes go wide and snap up to look at him. When our eyes met, I felt a tentative probe against the Occlumency shield I had built around my mind; One most people wouldn't notice, I'm sure, but I did because of how strange and new magic was to my mind even though this body had practiced it for years.

"Absolutely, Professor." I said, thinking about how much easier it would be to study everything I needed too now that the chances of me living on my own were increased. No one to loom over my shoulder and question me all the time.

"Now, there is something I must ask you." Dumbledore said, face and tone turning serious instantly, which caused me to unconsciously reinforce the barrier around my head once more for comfort more than necessity.

"Yes, sir. Anything." I replied, swallowing nervously

"What do you remember of the attack on your family?" Dumbledore asked gently, eyes boring into my own.

"I-I don't remember much, honestly." I said, thinking about the repressed memories that weren't even my own but repressing tears anyway because though they hadn't been my parents, I remembered their lives and they had no one else to mourn them. "I remember them killing my father, and then my mother and I trying to fight them. I think they were toying with us, and then there were lights, and screaming, and then I woke up here and they told me my family was.. That they weren't here any more."

"Did they say or do anything you thought might be strange?" Dumbledore asked, blue eyes twinkling at me in full force.

"N-no, sir. Not that I can remember." I said honestly, shrugging my shoulders.

"Thank you, my boy. I'm sorry I asked you to remember those things." Dumbledore replied, standing up out of his seat. I was honestly surprised by how tall Dumbledore was; he towered over me as I was sitting upright in my bed, and although he was very lean, he cut a striking figure all the same. Dumbledore bid me a pleasant evening and turned to go, only stopping with his hand on the door handle when I called out to him.

"Sir." I called out hesitatingly, worried I would step too far but hoping this would be enough to plant a seed in Dumbledore's mind that I could be trusted. "They say you are fighting him. Is that true?"

"Why do you ask that?" Dumbledore asked me, turning around once more to face me. Thankfully it wasn't anger or suspicion on his face, just curiosity.

"I want to fight him sir. For what he did to my family. I know the Aurors are but that would take too long once I graduated and got all of the training they require." I said, my blue eyes locked onto his. In my head, I knew Dumbledore wouldn't let a kid going into his sixth year be apart of the war; but I needed him to know I might be interested in fighting and this may be the only chance I have to speak with him one on one. Granted, I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to join the Order but I might need to in order to get some of the things done that I do.

"I admire your bravery and your courage, Mr. Tatham." Dumbledore said gravely, eyeing me as though analyzing me. "Ask me again once you graduate Hogwarts and I may have an answer for you. Until then, I encourage you to enjoy what times you can while you can."

"Thank you, sir." I said, and without another word he left. I had expected that reply and so I was satisfied with the conversation with Dumbledore. Going over it in my head, I was sure that there was nothing suspicious that I had said and that it was the best I could have done. Sighing, I collapsed down into the slightly lumpy hospital bed. There was nothing left to do now but wait until I could be released and see what the Ministry would have to say.

A few weeks later I walked out of the Ministry of Magic with a small, satisfied smile on my face. I wasn't sure if it was Dumbledore's word or if the orphanage's were just getting crowded, but looking at what little money my parents had left me and how old I was, they had deemed that I was capable enough to look after myself and was now emancipated. Only one of the witch's present had seemed to doubt me, but I presented my argument as to why I should be logically, and had convinced her by the end. I had, after all, the money to survive, working knowledge of magic with good greats in most, great grades in some, of my classes and I had sought Dumbledore out about finishing my education myself. They saw I had a decent head on my shoulders and so I was now virtually an adult.

I was wearing simple brown robes, with a tan shirt and light brown pants. I walked out of the ministry twirling my wand which I had found out was Aspen wood, eleven inches, and with a unicorn hair core. The memory of Jasper getting the wand when he turned eleven came unbidden as soon as one of the medi-witches had given it back to me. It was strange, the first time I held it, because it felt foreign but familiar at the same time. I had felt a rush of warmth travel along my arm and into the core of my magic, which had startled me enough to drop the wand and thankfully I had been alone. I had been carrying it ever since and it was now second nature to me to have it on hand. I had finally been released from St. Mungo's today just in time for my hearing, and I was now free to do as I wished until it was time to go to Hogwarts in a few months.

The first thing that I did was use the Knight Bus to get home since I wasn't old enough to apparate yet, I had asked if I could since I was an adult but they said I wouldn't be eligible until seventeen and then explained how to use the Knight Bus. I was dropped off at my house and stumbled with the onslaught of unexpected memories that surrounded the house where this body had grown up. I tentatively walked up the stairs to the front door, my fingers trailing against the handrail, and looked around the neighborhood. It seemed ordinary enough of a place, the houses were pretty far apart and it was a relatively rural area, but I knew I was surrounded by muggles. My parents had to cast a notice me not charm on the house and some other advanced muggle repelling charms to avoid them coming to the house and so that we could use magic in the backyard when Dad and I used to duel.

I explored the house that I had only seen in memories so far with an odd sensation of nostalgia. I went to the kitchen first and half expected to see the blonde haired woman I called Mom to be chopping food or potion ingredients while she sang along to the wireless wizard radio. I glanced at the table I could see in the dining room where I had memories of doing homework throughout my childhood. Everything was exactly the same as I remembered it, which surprised me even though the last memory I had of this place was from a month ago and no one had been in since besides Auror's. They must have fixed all of the damage from the spells and from the fire before they had finished that night. Because of the fire my parents in this time had not gotten a burial or a funeral at all, which I was selfishly glad for because I wasn't sure how I would handle that.

I made my way up the stairs and unconsciously went to the right, where I knew my bedroom would be, and flopped down on the bed, casting my eyes and observing the space. It had a desk, a chalkboard, a chair, a bed, and a dresser inside of it. There was also a small closet in the corner of the room. Even though it would have been nice to just curl up and go to sleep, maybe after a shower, I knew that I needed to get my priorities straight. So, I did what I always do before I needed to organize, and I made a list. The first thing I needed to do was get access to my vaults. Then, I needed to get some books and begin learning everything I could in the coming months in preparation for Hogwarts. I also needed to get the timeline written down so that I wouldn't forget it, but before I could do that, I would need a powerful enough spell to conceal it so no one could see it but me. I could also write it in a code only I would understand so that if they did they wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of whatever I had written on the parchment.

Sighing, I wrote all of this down on the chalkboard, and then tucked that into the closet in case I had any unannounced visitors while I was out. I found out, happily, that the closet was quite massive compared to what I had thought it had been; it was basically a walk in closet, and not for the first time, I was extremely glad magic existed. With that done, I went downstairs and opened the fridge to make something for lunch before I went to visit Gringotts. When I saw the space empty besides two cans of lemonade and an onion, I decided to just eat lunch at Diagon Alley and get groceries later.

Without anything else to use as an excuse to procrastinate, although I wasn't avoiding it too hard because who as a child had ever not wanted to visit Diagon Alley, I called the Knight Bus back and told Glenn, who had obviously been replaced by Stan in the future, and a much younger Ernie to take me to the Leaky Cauldron. The trip was just as disconcerting as it was on the way to my house; the bus went insanely fast and squeezed itself through impossible gaps in the London traffic. I was honestly happy I had an empty stomach at this point because it lurched slightly without any food inside my belly, so I wasn't sure how it would handle Ernie's driving if I had eaten lunch at home.

Glen bade me to have a good afternoon cheerfully enough and I was soon walking through The Leaky Cauldron. I tried not to stare but it was hard because this was an interesting place filled with very interesting people. The atmosphere was a lot less robust than I had imagined it would be but I was going to contribute that to the fact that a war was going on. I had stolen quite a few copies of The Daily Prophet during my stay at the hospital, and thankfully kept from grinning stupidly at the fact that the photographs really did move on their own, and found out that while it wasn't a full blown war yet, the Death Eaters were certainly getting more bold as of late. They were comparing Voldemort to Grindelwald, talking about his views on muggle-borns, and various other things. So it hadn't gotten as bad as it would, but it was definitely beginning to get more and more grim.

I made my way through the crowd and tapped the necessary bricks in order to reveal Diagon Alley. Thankfully, I had memories of coming here often with my mother in this life, so it was easy to remember the combination to get in. I felt as though it was getting easier to recall things from my memory, way easier than it had been in my past life, and I remembered far more. While I still couldn't remember what my old mom's name had been or my sister's, I meant that it was as though I was suddenly granted a perfect memory and I could pick through it to find what I needed. I thought about it as I navigated the streets of Diagon Alley, trying and just barely succeeding from getting distracted by all of the store's, and finally attributed the newfound memory to Jasper, or I guess me. He had obviously been smart, studied a lot, and had a great memory before I was put in this body so I guess it was just a perk of being reincarnated into him. Just like being short was a slight disadvantage. I was used to being six feet and an inch, but this body was five feet and eight inches; and I didn't think I was going to be growing anytime soon.

The goblins at Gringotts were certainly more intimidating that J.K. Rowling had written them to be, or at least they were to me, because their small beady eyes followed you as you walked up to the huge counter where a goblin waited expectantly. I didn't understand why they needed such high desks anyway, it was most likely just because they had a problem being shorter and wanted a way to look down on anyone who had to use their services, but I certainly wasn't going to bring up that idea here of all places.

"I need to access the vault my parents left me. They passed away recently and I was told to come here to sort things out." I said awkwardly, trying not to shuffle my feet and to appear like a kid.

"Name." The goblin said dispassionately, eyes narrowed into a scornful look.

"Jasper Tatham." I replied, keeping my voice level and projecting it so that he could hear me. Being a single child, Jasper had never talked very loudly, so I had to consciously make an effort to speak up sometimes.

"Follow me, Mr. Tatham." The goblin said, as though it were the low point of his day to stop what he was doing and help me. I was beginning to understand why people didn't care for goblins, but pushed that thought out of my head as soon as it came.

'Wizards and goblins have a long, bloody history and wizards wrote the history books. You don't know why they act the way they do, so just grit your teeth and be polite' I thought to myself, following the goblin through a pair of double doors and trying to shake the trepidation I felt.

The next two hours were filled with boring, menial paperwork and the same goblin, who's name I found out was Pagnuk, pointed out important parts before telling me to sign. While they were less than considerate, the goblins were thorough I had to admit because I understood everything they said and when I didn't they explained it for me. My parents had not been rich by a long shot but had enough in their accounts that I could live comfortably for my time at Hogwarts and a couple of years afterward if that is what I wanted to do. I let out a thankful groan when Pagnuk said the paper he had just laid down was the last one, which earned me a glare from aforementioned goblin, and shook out my hand from where it was cramping a little. After he had filed everything away, I stood and followed Pagnuk down to the vault and got quite a few galleons out in order to do some shopping before I left Gringotts. A quarter of an hour later had me leaving the bank with a sack full of money, my vault key, and my eyes searching for somewhere to eat.

After I had eaten fish and chips in a small cafe on a corner near the bank, I walked up and down the street's trying to find the bookstore. I knew, from my past life, that it was named Flourish and something, but I couldn't remember the second part. It only took about ten minutes of searching for my eyes to find Flourish and Blotts bookstore and pretty quickly after that I was perusing the shelves of books with a smile of satisfaction on my face. I got three books; One was about warding, one was about useful charms, and the last one was curses. I bought the books and decided to call it a day after I had gotten enough things from a nearby store to eat for a couple days, so I lifted all of my bags and called the Knight Bus back to pick me up after I made it through the Leaky Cauldron.

After I got home and stored all of the food away in the fridge, I went upstairs to my room which seemed to have the least amount of memories attached to it in the house, and pulled the books out to begin reading. If I was going to be in this world, and going to be using magic, I needed to protect myself so I started with the book about warding which was a bit thicker than the other two and settled down for the evening. When I realized how complicated it was, I got a notebook from the closet so that I could take notes as I read, and prepared myself for a long few months with nothing but books for company.

A/N: Second chapter! Review to let me know what you think :) Thank you!